Here we are, almost 40 years later, waiting for the next Star Wars movie to open. When the original was released, I read about this phenomenon in the newspaper and took the family to see it. My youngest, my son, was only about 1 1/2 years old, so it was his first movie. I remember spending part of the movie walking around the back of the theatre with him, little knowing how much it would affect his and our lives. From then until now, I can’t remember a time that Star Wars wasn’t around me – or under my feet.
There were the movies, anxiously awaited by the entire family. The first thing we recorded when we got a VCR was Star Wars. I still have the tape somewhere. And the toys! Packed in my garage are the figures and the tiny guns that I picked up so many times that I can’t count. The toys I waited in line for, the special figures only available from some cereal or by mailing off something. Some are stored in the big Darth Vader carrying case that’s out there somewhere. There’s the Millennium Falcon and the At-At and the Storm Troop Carrier (it actually spoke when you pushed the button) and planes and one of those big snow creatures they rode and no telling what else. My son collected lunch boxes and his Star Wars box is a prize. Later, we had Star Wars talking figures and large collector figures and whatever else came along. By this time, my son was in college and my daughters were marrying guys who had also grown up with Star Wars. One of my sons-in-law has his figures intact with their guns, packed away for safe-keeping. Nothing to snicker about either. This is important stuff.
They re-released the first three episodes in theaters when my oldest daughter was pregnant with her first son. She could feel him jumping as we watched our favorite scenes. Another generation has come along and all eight of my grandkids are familiar with the stories and the characters. I was at a 2 year old’s birthday party, a child named after my son, and he knew Darth Vader in his limited vocabulary. Good job, Dad! Here’s my son with one of my grandsons many years ago, passing down the fun…
So here we go again and I couldn’t be more excited. The next series will start and the comparisons to the old ones will be rampant on social media and we’ll all be swept into this wonderfully fun world again. Last week, I traveled to Oakland, California and was amused to hear all the references around the Bay area. First, I spotted this book in a gift shop. Where was this series when I needed it for my kid?
Then we drove by the entrance to George Lucas’ Skywalker Ranch, pointed out by a local. She remarked that the woods we were passing through were the setting for the Battle of Endor (she didn’t say that and I had to look it up). You know the one where the rebels and the Ewoks fight the stormtroopers in the woods. Of course, you know. That great scene where they rode those fast things that raced through the trees. Anyway, I could see what inspired it and where it was filmed (except for the computer stuff, of course). It looked like this area…
I learned that the cranes that we kept passing on the way across the Oakland Bay Bridge into San Francisco were the inspiration for many of the big machines in Star Wars. After all, George Lucas passed them all the time. It makes sense. From then on, I tried to capture the images as I was driven by them. Can’t you see them marching across the movie screen?
I guess I’m getting too excited. There are still months to go and more trailers to entice us and more products to show up in the stores and I know that we will all be in that theatre, waiting for the music and the opening and the familiar heroes. I’m excited that there’s a new generation getting their own episodes and new parents walking around picking up the beloved toys and just crazy fun for this old grandmother to share. Silly…
Confetti Thoughts 