Land of Oz
My journal, my thoughts, my life.
The way the world is and the way it should be.
Friday, May 20, 2005

I first saw Star Wars when I was about 4 or 5. My brother and sister took me to a drive-in. The screen was huge, and we had one little tiny bad mono speaker that hooked onto the car window. I loved it. I fell asleep before it ended, although I wouldn't admit that for years.

"I loved it!" I would say.
"You fell asleep" the'd reply.
"No I didn't," I'd say.
"Then how did it end?" the asked.
"The blew up the Death Star and then danced around with a bunch of short furry teddy bears." I said, convinced it was true.

Needless to say my jaw fell open when I saw Return of the Jedi a few years later. But that's another story.

From that moment on I loved science fiction. I had every star wars toy I could get my hands on. That's all I wanted for birthdays, christmas, etc. I played with them constantly. I read star wars books, ate star wars cereal, and couldn't wait for the next movie. I started watching Battlestar Galactica, Buck Rogers, and Star Trek reruns. I loved them all, but Star Wars was still number one.

I made my parents take me to see Empire Strikes Back when it opened. We went one night after school. Earlier that day a friend told me they were making 9 movies, and I was really excited. The movie was after my bedtime, but we went anyway. About half way through I started getting tired, and panicked, thinking "I can't make it through 9 movies tonight!!!" Yoda quickly became my favorite character of the star wars series. I was devastated when the movie ended and I realized that not only was there only 1 movie now, but it ended on a cliffhanger!! For weeks afterwards at school we used to re-enact scenes from the movie at recess.

I bought the movie storybook of Return of the Jedi before the movie came out. I remember seeing the pictures of the half completed Death Star. Seeing the movie made me happy and sad. The empire was destroyed, but Yoda died!! That wasn't right!!!

My love for Star Wars never faded, but took a backseat to other, newer things that came out. Star Trek: The Next Generation became my favorite tv show, followed by Babylon 5 in the early ninties. Eventually news came of a new Star Wars movie, and my excitement started to build again.

By the time the Phantom Menace came out, I was in my twenties, and had a baby of my own. She was still too young to experience Star Wars. We stood in line for hours, just to buy tickets to the first showing. This was a month before the movie even opened. On opening night we again stood in line for hours to get a good seat. Talking with my friends, I knew the movie could never live up to my expectations. What could live up to 15 years to waiting? As the lights dimmed and those famous words, "A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away..." came up, I felt like a kid again. Within just a few minutes, however, I began to worry. When Qui-Gon said, "I have a bad feeling about this" I did too.

The movie wasn't all bad. I mean, it had lightsabers! Yoda! Samuel L Jackson as a BMF Jedi!! But the story had no heart. What were these midichlorians that supposedly gave the jedi their power? And who was the Jar-Jar creatures, and in interviews George Lucas claimed people would love more than Yoda? But it was still Star Wars, and it was still fun.

Three years later, Attack of the Clones made it a little better. Again, the acting seemed stiff, and the emotion was gone. But the story seemed better, and after all these years we saw why Yoda was truly a Jedi Master. I watched Yoda's fight scene over and over, laughing, smiling, and enjoying it each time.

Last night I saw Revenge of the Sith. The final Star Wars movie. While it still had a few scenes that could be among the worst of any movie, overall it made me feel better about Star Wars again. Ewan McGreggor's captured Obi-Wan perfectly. There seemed to be more emotion and investment in the film from all the actors. Yoda proved again why he's the man, and the ties and connections made to the first Star Wars movie made it feel truly a part of that story, unlike the first two. It also picked up the threads laid down in the Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones, and managed to improve them by association. The final image, recreating one of the most famous images of all the Star Wars films, brought the entire saga full circle.

And now its over. Sure, they will still be books, and tv shows, and toys, but the main story is over. I'm 31 now, and Star Wars has been a part of my life for most of those years. A part of me is sad, knowing its over. Yet a part is happy, to have experienced the whole story, flaws and all. It's like reaching the end of a really good book. You want to know how it ends, and yet don't want it to have to end at all. The characters have become friends, and people you care about, and even when they survive the story, in a way they've died, or moved on to a place where you will no longer see them again.

I love stories. If you've read my blog you know how much I love books, tv, movies, etc. The good thing about stories is that there are always news ones to find, and no one can take away the ones you've seen, or heard. I'll miss this story, and these characters, but I'll always be glad I was able to experience the in the first place.






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