Forty years ago today, Star Wars hit the theaters for the first time. From the moment I saw the trailer, I longed to see this movie. It was unlike anything I (or anyone else for that matter) had ever seen. It was epic on a whole new level. I was almost seven years old and had never wanted to see a movie as badly as I wanted to see this movie.
I begged my parents for weeks to take see Star Wars. Many of my friends got to see it before I did. Some of them saw it numerous times before I could see it. My parents used it as leverage to get me to clean my room (and it worked).
I remember seeing it vividly. My parents took our whole family to the Barco Drive Inn in Lamar, MO. We put the speaker in the car window so we could hear the movie (the days before they had a radio station). We sat through several trailers. I usually love trailers but I was so anxious for the movie to begin, I couldn’t hardly stand it. Then the movie started with the scrolling text. I couldn’t read very well so my parents read it to me. The KOOLest thing happened. A large spaceship zoomed across the humongous screen. Then another ship came across and it made the first ship look tiny and overcame the first ship. The moment the Star Destroyer seized the Corellian Corvette cemented my fandom for Star Wars.
The KOOLest thing ever keep changing for me through the entire movie. Darth Vader was an awesome but scary villain. Han and Chewy were wild and fun. I wanted to be trained by Obi-Wan and learn the ways of the force just like Luke. The Death Star could blow up planets? Really? The wonderful characters, the classic story-line of good beating evil, and those awesome special effects. I didn’t stop talking about this movie.. well I still haven’t stopped talking about it.
This movie changed everything for me. It changed the games I played at recess. It changed the toys I asked for from Santa. It changed me and I am so glad it did.
As I write this, I am watching Empire Strikes Back with my own 8 year old son, who is as big of a Star Wars Fanboy as I am.
Happy Geek Pride Day and Happy Anniversary Star Wars, the movie franchise that changed my childhood.
Stay Geeky My Friends!
