Enjoy The Next Few Days

[Matt_Fury]

What a great post Scott.  It got me thinking again about the first time I saw Star Wars in the theater.

I was six.  My dad took me, my brother, and my cousin David to the theater to see this movie coming out that was generating all this talk.  When the opening crawl hit the screen, my father had to read it to me because I couldn't read the words quick enough.  (Cut me some slack....I was in kindergarten!)

When the battle aboard the Tantive IV started, I thought the stormtroopers were the good guys, because they were wearing white (all the heroes wore white in old westerns)....until I saw Darth Vader step into frame.  If ever there was an embodiment of evil....it was Darth Vader!  From that moment on, I was hooked on this story.  I saw Star Wars dozens of times in theaters, drive-ins....there was no Blockbuster back then and very few people had VCRs in there homes.  It was a regular trip for my family.  There were many days where my brother and I got into "Lightsaber" duels with our whiffle-ball bats....my knuckles seemed to be permanently bruised!

In the summer of 1978, my family went on a summer vacation of driving across the country.  My sister (about 18 months old at the time) was being a brat to me, which seemed to be her usual hobby at the time, and just when Ithought I couldn't take it anymore, my mom suggested I look in a bag that she had just produced from the front seat.  Inside was something I had been bugging her almost non-stop to buy for me for months....my very own STAR WARS FIGURES!  The long days in the car that trip were not only spent ste-seeing, but also having small adventures with Luke Skywalker, Chewbacca, R2-D2, C-3PO and the Tusken Raider.

1980 came along, and a new Star Wars movie was coming to theaters.  I remember being there opening day, waiting in the long lines with my family to get tickets and then to get into the theater.  My mom left the line to go get us a pizza that we ate in line.  The movie was just incredible!  My heroes were having a real tough time, Luke discovered a new teacher, and I was shocked when the Evil Darth Vader told Luke he was his father!  I don't think anyone could believe that one!

That summer, my parents planned a summer trip for the family to go to Hawaii.  It was my first time in an airplane, and I sat at the window seat with my new favorite figure.  A Bounty Hunter, Boba Fett that I had to send a couple of proof of purchases away for.  The rocket didn't fire like originally advertised on the back of the action figure cards I had, but I didn't mind.  I was content to have him in a superman style flying position, against the widow of the 747 we were on looking like he was shooting across the landscape far below.

1983 came.  I was 12 years old and graduating from Elementary school.  Girls were rapidly becoming less icky and one evening I'm watching television when I see none other than a clip of a new movie and Han Solo getting back-handed by someone who looked amazingly like some sort of stormtrooper!  I immediately ran upstairs to the kitchen where my mom was making dinner and excitedly yelled, "THERE'S A NEW STAR WARS MOVIE COMING!!!"

This new movie didn't disappoint.  My favorite story finally came to an end.  I realized there was one really icky moment in the previous movie, and I learned the most evil person I had ever seen maybe wasn't that bad afterall.

14 years later, I'm an airmen in the US Air Force living on the coast of North Carolina.  I'm home on leave in new York and my brother wants to go see the new Star Trek movie.  I begrudginly go with him, we don't get to spend a lot of time together like we used to and the preview for the Star Wars Special Editions hits the screen.  All of a suddne, I'm that 6 year old boy again....my brother had to tell me to calm down in the movie theater!  I see each on opening day and think it's great to see them on the big screen again....wait a second...did Greedo just shoot at Han before he fired??  I also get something cool when Return of the Jedi comes out.....a new Star Wars figure!  (Two actually, since my sister was visiting me in NC and I dragged her to go see it and she gave me hers.)

By May of 1999, I have just moved to Fairbanks, Alaska just after being Godfather for my niece at her baptism.  I find a movie theater before I find a place to live!  When I ask if I can take a day of leave for the opening of Star Wars, I'm given my callsign, "Obi-Wan".  I think I saw The Phantom Menace 12 times in the theater, when the film had finally broken in the old projector to the point where the film was just unwatchable.  Luckily, in the next three years, they build a new state-of-the-art  theater with better projectors and stadium seating.  Also during this time, my niece has a little brother who I start buying all these cool playskool star wars toys for (the 12" figures I kept buying for my niece never really interested my niece).

2002 and I'm getting ready to leave Alaska to go to Officer Training School.  I still manage to take a day of leave so I can see Attack of the Clones at the midnight showing.  I still manage to see this one in the theater about 10 times, even though I spent most of the summer in training and had to drive from Alaska to New York to Alabama.

And now here we are.  My sister-in-law in a moment of weakness has purchased a plastic lightsaber for my nephew....I don't think he's managed to get the dog with it yet.  Both my niece and nephew love the Ewoks, droids, and clone wars dvd's I bought for them.  My living room wall is adorned with all six movie posters.  My bookshelves have a plethora of different EU books from the Thrawn Trilogy plus two, to the NJO alongside all my Tom Clancy books, Lord of the Rings, the Hobbit, Harry Potter, and more.  My dvd collection has all five Star Wars movies to date, including a couple of bootlegs so I can someday show my kids what Star Wars was like when I was a child (see, I wasn't kidding when I said Han shot first!)  There are starfighters on my armoir, NASCAR vehicles with Star Wars themes and mini obi-wan sabers on my desk along with a Darth Tater, and just about ever Lucasarts Star Wars game you can imagine on the hardrive of my computer (Except Galaxies....I just don't have that kind of time).

In seven days, a part of me will be that six-year old boy sitting in the theater with my popcorn and a coke sitting in awe as this great story is finally told.

The more things change the more they stay the same.

[Infamy Of Crete]

Scott-

 That is a great post and very heart felt man.

Post like that take me back to this moment. It still brings back a lot of great memories.  I know a few of you  may have seen this post as I always claim I have pictures of my vintage collection.  The nostalgia that is occuring for me these days takes me back right here. I was the perfect age when star wars first came out.  I was 10 years old. My love of toys and all things sci-Fi were never higher than  captured in this moment.  I remember switching roles with Brandon at times he would be Luke and I would be Han or Vice versa. I remember we woul d have these great all out battles in his garage with our air filled ballon lightsabers(remember those). Then only moment later we would be on the garage floor making battle plans to attack the death star(which was a old tire at the time).

I too wonder where my friend  Brandon is today. Is he as excited and anticpating the movie as I am. Is he feleing the same way about it now as I do. 
Thank you Scott for taking me back to a place that is, forever, the happiest place on earth..... A galxay far far away   




Oh if oyu don't make fun of the picture I will be disappointed.

[CHEWIE]

Yep, that's a priceless pic.  I bet you got all the women back then.

 

[Infamy Of Crete]

You should see my collection now and my hair.   

[Mister Skeezler]

Walrusman is getting dangerously close to the Falcon in that pic...

[Scott]

Thanks everyone for the memories as well, it is both a melancholy and also joyous time.  In 7 days from right now I'll be sitting at the Oakdale UltraScreen in all my geeky glory with my good friend from high school, its great that we can all share this wondeful time together.  One Week Away!!!

[Famine]

I know. I've rounded up my 4 best highschool friends for this event! 7 days! I cant wait! Tommorow is my Birthday...and then...


A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away....


Kevin

[Jesse James]

I got a little good news...  Heard I may get to see it a day or two early at a private screening.  That'd be kinda neat I think...  I'm still doing the VIP thing at our Loew's Theater for the midnight show though...  That's going to simply be insane! 

I've seen all the prequal films by myself at midnight, actually, and now I'm gonna have a whole area of my buddies with me.  Should be a fun time.

[sfg]

When I was about 6 or 7 maybe, I had never seen SW (this would have been around 1990), but I had seen Star Trek stuff and I hated it all. I wasn't very open minded to SW due to the lameness of ST. My dad was stationed in Michigan at the time and we were in a teeny-tiny town called Oscoda. We rented our NES games and movies from a Supermarket called Glen's.

Now when my grandmother was very ill and my mom went to tend to her in Mississippi, my Dad and sister and I had a lot of time to bond together. We'd play lots of games and watch a lot of movies and such. Well we went to rent a new game and I remember wanting to rent the original Zelda (as usual) but my dad insisted on renting The Empire Strikes Back. I wasn't interested in a baseball game (I was a kid! I thought he said "umpire strikes back" ) But he rented it anyways.

When we started playing the game I was shocked to learn it wasn't baseball at all, but a guy on a snow planet riding a kangaroo (TaunTaun) with a laser gun and laser sword. I though it was pretty darn cool, but the real impression came when we started battling the AT-ATs in the snowspeeder. By this time I was completely immersed into a story that had captured my dad's generation. My dad told me that there were 3 movies like this and said he would track them down so I could watch them.

Later that night, my dad was upstairs watching TV flipping channels, and he suddenly called me up hurriedly to see what was on TV. To our astonishment I was staring at Luke Skywalker doing a handstand with a little bigeared green guy standing on his foot. Empire was on HBO!!!!    Looking at Yoda I had a flashback of sorts, only to realize that my earliest memory EVER was watching Yoda disappear in ROTJ. I suddenly felt comfortable, like this was familiar to me. I remember being a baby, only a year old maybe and watching ROTJ on a TV in a hotel room. We were travelling somewhere and my Dad later told me that SW was the only non-cartoon I would watch. I also rememered watching those lame Ewoks movies as a kid too.

A few weeks later, I caught strep throat and my Dad had to keep me home from school (kindergarten I think). He called his friend Rich and said he had to run to Rich's house for a minute (we lived in military housing which was totally safe to leave a child in for a few minutes. Rich lived 1 block away). He returned a few minutes later with 3 VHS tapes in his hand. He had borrowed the SW trilogy for me to watch in full for the first time.

Obviously, we know where that led us, but that was probably not only the best SW memory I have ever had, but the best MEMORY I have of my entire life thus far. It's also my most fondest memory of my dad, even though we gew to hate each other through the years I always remembered that time in my life. Now that I'm a father, I appreciate my dad so much more and we are even closer than ever. He still claims to have created a monster though . I can't wait until MY son's old enough for me to show him SW. He'll be 2 in July, so hopefull it will be soon.

[CorranHorn]

Wow these are some great stories  and they're bringing all sorts of memories to the forefront, things while always in there, don't come to mind as much as they used to even though my love for Star Wars hasn't changed....

I was born in 1978, just a bit too late to see A New Hope come out, but from as far back as I remember Star Wars was always a part of my life. As a kid, my dad had one of those old video disc players, the machines with the huge disks you had to flip over halfway thru the movie to see the rest of it. I watched that disc of ANH so much that it broke the player and my dad had to get a new one. I don't even remember a time where I didn't have Star Wars toys, they were always there. I still have what I believe to be my oldest figure, Snaggletooth, proudly on display, though sporting the wrong weapon.

I was only 2 when Empire came out, but I remember seeing it at the old Plaza theater with my dad, and the next door neighbor kids and their dad. We played Star Wars everyday, at their house, at mine, outside in the front lawn, in the backyard, wherever we could take our toys we played. Many adventures would take place, including the trials and tribulations of Hammerhead and whether or not he could climb down the stairs to the basement (he didn't do so well ). As brothers my friends always had two of everything, two AT-AT's, two Falcons, etc, so I was always a bit jealous of them for having a lot more stuff than I, but it also always meant there was something for me to play with that I might not have. And man did I play hard with my stuff, one time Vader and Obi-wan were having such a spirited fight, that Vader knocked old Ben's head right off...

Then 83 rolled around and ROTJ hit theaters and I saw it over and over again at the Lincoln Village theater. My fondest memory at the time was going into Toys R Us one night and seeing a huge display of new ROTJ figures. I have that image burned into my eyes to this day, rows of new characters just waiting to be torn from their cards. But alas Star Wars soon began to wind down in the public eye. Transformers, GI Joe, MASK, He-Man, and others were beginning to become more popular at the toy store and in my home. Most of my friends moved away and the new friends I had made were not into playing with Star Wars. So the SW toys got pushed aside, but they still were dear to my heart.

The 90's then saw a SW re-birth with the Zahn trilogy and the craze was back. 1996 came around and the Special Editions were announced and I was beyond psyched. Finally for the first time in over a decade I could see SW on the big screen as it was meant to be seen. I went to the opening night of each SE, and though I didn't like most of the changes brought forth by them, I was still thrilled to see them back in theaters. So were a couple of my friendsm, including my best friend, who shared in my joy of knowing SW was back. It was with those two friends that I saw TPM in 99 with at midnight on opening day. We were excited beyond belief for a new Star Wars movie. When we pulled up to the theater and saw the huge line and party going on, we jumped right in and had a blast. Sure when it was over we were kind of left scratching our heads at what we had just seen. But it didn't stop me from seeing TPM over a dozen times that summer (thanks to free tix at a local theater thru my work).

The time came for AOTC to hit theaters and this time my friends couldn't make it to the midnight show, so I went with the local collectors club. And though that wasn't as fun as the last time, the excitement I had for the movie did match the previous excitement. But still, I was left wondering what could have been with the movie if it had been executed a bit better. But that didn't stop me from seeing it again and again.

We're now 5 days away from the midnight premiere and I'm going to see ROTS with the same two friends I saw TPM with 6 years ago. My anticipation for the movie is extremely high. Everything I've seen and heard points to a great movie, something that does justice to the Original Trilogy. Even if my expectations aren't met, I'll be seeing the movie over and over again in theaters, filled with joy and delight, like the 4 year old boy who broke his dad's video disc player over 20 years ago. I can't wait for it to be Thursday 12:00am and the lights dim down and the Lucasfilm logo appears indicating the beginning of the last theatrical adventure. At the same time, I'm a bit saddened as this will be the last time I'll get to have this feeling of excitement. I'll be re-living my childhood all over again, but at the same time it feels I'll be losing a bit of it too when it's all over. 

Well that sure was a lot, I hadn't intended on typing so much, and I actually skipped a lot. But I feel good (though a lump in the throat after writing that last line) after doing so. 5 days, just 5 more days....

PS: Infamy, what's up with the pink pants in your pic? Were you friends with Matt as a kid? 

[Scott]

The movie is officially this week now (except for those living on the west coast )

I'm pee your pants excited and thanks to sfg and Jason for your nice stories as well.   It also hammers home the point that for most of us, this has been a lifelong obsession, and this week is like unlocking the doors to the vault and we can go inside

[Famine]

I cannot wait. 2 more days till the culmination of my entire life of fanboysim. Star Wars Revenge of the Sith. The reason WHY Anakin turns to the Dark Side. I mean, we know he does, and who his master is, but we learn WHY. Isn't that great? The saga will be (supposedly) complete and then I'll be kind of sad. I remember the first time I saw Star Wars. It was in north carolina when I was 7. The cantina scene of A New Hope scared the hell out of me with the weird aliens. The rest swpet me in, and my fear turned to fascination. My intrest weened for a while.

When I heard in 1997 that there was a prequal coming out, my reaction was "Yeah right, like that will ever happen."! I bit my tounge after that, because in 1999, The Phantom Menace came out, and I saw it for the first time at the Hi-Way Drive In. I was hooked and hooked hard, again. In my backyard I was Darth Maul, and I didn't die. In fact, Palpatine fixed me up, and I went out to get my revenge! Christmas hit, and I got a Darth Maul T-Shirt, and a ****load of figures. Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan, Anakin, Padme, Maul, and Sidious to name my favorites.

The Clone Wars were next, logically, so I figured...Maul could have been cloned! The title came out, and in 2002 Attack of the Clones was to hit. I did a dance because I remembered reading somewhere in EU that the clones were a bunch of Boba Fetts. When it hit theatres it took me a week and a half to see it, because my grandmother wasn't well, and couldnt take me. Eventually my cousin called me up and I saw it in Johnstown, and bought my first Clone figure. The SAGA Red one, with the gun, to be exact.

Since then, a monster has been awoken in me, called Figure Collecting. I have spent at least 5 grand on various toys, merchandise, movie showings, and magazines. Currently my collection of SW Figures alone was 300 somthing, with some figures MIA in boxes or in parts for customs. Thats not including whats in the mail, and what is to come. I army build, you see.

The highest point so far of my fandom was going to Celebration 3 and meeting my friends from JediDefender, metting a mess of new friends, seeing actual props from the movies, getting autographs, giving some jerk some SPAM, and seeing the Maker himself, George Lucas! Second row, can you believe it? Despie a totaled car, money problems, and a ****** busride home, it was the best time I've had. And now it all revolves around this thursday morning, at 12:01, all our questions will be answered.

The cirle will be complete, as I will be whitnessing the end of a saga, but also veiwing it a few times at the very same drive in I first saw Phantom in. The memories will flood me, I'm sure. There are tons of things to look forward to, though. We have the movies coming out in 3D in 2007, another Celebration (C 3D, you wait and see!) a Television show, The Clone Wars Volume 2, and Revenge of the Sith on DVD, plus who knows what. These days as a fan are truely ours. Lets enjoy them, as hard as we can!

Kevin

[DSJ™]

Great post Scott, well said. Some great memories posted here. 

Being at the age of 43, it has been along road waiting to see the final installment. When Star Wars was released in May 1977, it changed and made cinema history. I was 15; my best friend and I saw this movie trailer on TV, space ships, laser swords, creatures, villains, heroes…  Wow, we gotta check this out.

We didn’t expect much from it, boy were we wrong! 

There was a big line up for this movie and we were lucky to get in. After a few movie trailers, the flick starts. Soon after the title crawl, there was this small ship being blasted at from another ship. As soon as this ship hit the screen, ours eyes got wider. It just kept going and going, man that thing is huge!

We were drawn in, talked about it for days on end.

Then in 1980, The Empire Strikes Back came out. My friend and I had to see this and we dragged my friend’s brother and his Mom to the theater. Snowspeeder’s and AT-AT’s, cool. Again we were drawn in.

Return of the Jedi came out in 1983. A few of us took the day off school and lined up. The trilogy was complete… or was it?

In 1995, my friend and I stopped into TRU. I was collecting other toy lines at the time and my cart was half full. We hit the action figure isle and there we saw Star Wars figures. I turned to my friend and said “hey, these are almost like the toys back in the 70’s”.  I had to have them, day after day collecting back my childhood memories and remembering the movie that started it all.

Leading up to the new Star Wars movies, I started collecting the vintage line and eBay at the time was a great source. I couldn’t believe how much was still carded or still in there boxes. It was toy and collecting heaven.

The Phantom Menace hit the theaters in 1999. Yep, we go and see it, not the best but it was interesting except for that Jar Jar! 

2002 brought us Attack of the Clones, a cluster of special effects and seeing the story grow more about the boy who will become Vader.

Now here we are, May 2005. 28 years later the final chapter, Revenge of the Sith. On Friday at noon, the lights in the theater will dim and then the movie will start. When the music starts and the Star Wars name appears on the screen, I will remember the roar and clapping of the crowds of years past.   

The Force will be with you, always.

[Scott]

I just know right now that I'll be more than a little teary eyed at some point on Thursday, I can feel it already.  In fact, last night, I was thinking about my sons and how I can;t wait to eventually show this to them.  This was after Max and I watched the end of TPM on Fox yesterday afternoon (the Celebration scene only)  It's a little bit disheartening that this one will be PG-13, it still is one of the greatest pop-culture phenomenons of our time.  3 days!!!! Amazing

[Brian]

We caught TPM on Fox this weekend as well, and kind of enjoyed watching it again, surprisingly.  Although not the best movie, and for me personally, my least favorite of the Saga...it isn't terrible either.  To me, the prequels are just a different "kind" of Star Wars.  They aren't (at least the first two) necessarily like the OT, but still Star Warsy in other ways.  Anyways, it was kind of nice watching it again (it had been awhile), and knowing a little bit about what we'll see Thursday in ROTS, some things in TPM seem to have more meaning as well.  I do sort of have a further appreciation for Darth Maul as well, to me he sure was a neat character/design, even if he was a fairly small part overall.  Pretty "cool" bad guy, for lack of a better term .  I liked the Qui-Gon character as well, too bad we lost him so early on in this new series of movies.  Liam Neeson seemed to do a nice job.  Anyways, back to the current movie, ROTS.  I can't wait for Thursday, it seems hard to believe it is actually this week.  Seems like we've been looking forward to this forever, and now the whole Saga will be complete.