When he wasn’t busy blowing up the Death Star as Luke Skywalker — or flying across the universe — actor Mark Hamill was likely listening to The Beatles.
Hence why in 1987, Hamill introduced Beatles cartoons to a new generation thanks to MTV. At the time, MTV actually showed music videos and music-related shows (shocking, I know), so airing Beatles cartoons still made sense for the network.
Despite the original Star Wars trilogy ending in 1983, the movies were still tremendously popular, so Hamill on MTV introducing the Beatles was quite the combo.
The series originally aired in 1965 and lasted for 3 seasons. Due to the massive popularity of the band at the time, its ratings were very high for a daytime show.
In a video clip shared by Derian Imp on YouTube, Hamill expresses his joy of watching Beatles cartoons on Saturday mornings in the mid-1960’s as he introduces the next episode.
Each episode’s plot would mostly be themed around a Beatles song.
As Hamill points out in the video, George Dunning produced the Beatles cartoon and also the 1968 animated Beatles film Yellow Submarine.
Hamill, who would later be hired to voice the Joker in the highly successful Batman: The Animated Series, told ComicBook in 2021 that his Joker voice was partly inspired by the Blue Meanies from the Yellow Submarine:
I thought, “Teeth, teeth, teeth, he’s all teeth!” I threw in a little, the Blue Meanies from Yellow Submarine, “Hello, lovey-dovey,” I wanted to alter him so that he didn’t have just one sound. I lucked out.
So, Hamill’s love for the Beatles ultimately had an influence on his acting career. Whereas Luke Skywalker’s theme could’ve been a Beatles song, Darth Vader would likely have preferred Black Sabbath instead.