Futura
| Fan Club | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Futura |
| Dates: | 1978 |
| Founder(s): | J.J. Adamson? |
| Leadership: | |
| Country based in: | Australia |
| Focus: | |
| External Links: | |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Futura was an early Star Wars Australian fan club, and was part of the Guild of Adelaide Star Warriors. It appears to have also been associated in some way with USS Atlantis Productions.
At least one of this club's publications, Empire Star, began with this club before being absorbed by Nut Hatch Press.
From the 1978 editorial of Empire Star #1:
A year ago, on December 8th, 1977, over one thousand of us converged upon the Hoyts Regent Theatre One, just off the Rundle Mall, and at 8,45 that warm Thursday evening, a burst of spontaneous applause broke out from that audience for one very important reason: STAR WARS had finally arrived!
Of course, the United States had been watching it for over six months, (its characters had placed their footprints in the concrete outside Mann's Chinese Theatre in August 1977 four months ago!) England still had three weeks to wait to experience that spectacular kind of insanity we have come to know as STAR WARS fever, and Europe and Asia had many, many months still to wait.
But for us, the STAR WARRIORS of Adelaide, South Australia, it all really began to happen at the Hoyts 1, Regent Arcade, December 8th 1977. Since then we have grown in numbers, paid over $2m to relive the experience (quite a figure for a small state like South Australia, with a population of only 1,2 million!) and come to hunger for STAR WARS with a driving power that simply collecting its merchandise cannot even come close to satisfying.
Out of this hunger was born this creation, EMPIRE STAR. Our purpose is to quench the thirst for STAR WARS and more of the same, and to serve as a communication between fans. Before EMPIRE STAR, there was no communication between the STAR WARRIORS in Adelaide: for this we must offer some apologies — and a few excuses!
Fans in the US got themselves organised back in June 1977, and since then they have come up with magazines such as The Corellian Smugglers' Guide, Hyperspace, Sensor Wobbles, and so on. Slowly - very slowly- the STAR WARS Corporation got itself moving, initiating the only official STAR WARS Fan Club, and fan groups elsewhere became active, creations such as Skywalker and Continuum appearing with their efforts.
FUTURA took a little longer to mobilise, but the reasons for that are quite plain: we are hung up on QUALITY. In the US, to be a member of the official TCF Club is to pay 83c for an issue of their bimonthly news letter! Often, a fan creation spreads itself over 4-8 faces (2-4 pages!) of club news and space-fillers (quizes [sic] and junky games) and for this you can pay 80c! Printing is all too often terrible, to say the least: thus is the fate of the fan writer. What Vader's Raiders, Vader's Legion and the somewhat suspect Brotherhood of 'Jetti' Knights have to offer is equally meagre and equally expensive.
Now, take a look at EMPIRE STAR, and think again about the price! Quality and Value are our mottoes, and Quality and Value are what you will receive. Use this communications frequency: it is your channel to other fans. Please write to us, and through us to the many other members of the GUILD OF ADELAIDE STAR WARRIORS, and feel secure in the knowledge that by your own interest and purchase of EMPIRE STAR you are firmly rooted in the GUILD. There are no dues and fees to pay: this creation IS the GUILD.
FUTURA is a creative partenership [sic] concerned with science fiction in general and STAR WARS in particular, and spanning fields from literature to audio-visuals; we're a small organisation as yet, but we have ambitions the size of the Death Star! It will take time for us to gather the momentum of some of the older, longer established assiciations; [sic] we would love to have you with us!
Welcome to the GUILD OF ADELAIDE STAR WARRIORS, and ***MY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU***