(From IMDb.com)
Buy it, my dear wife Karen said.
And so, the Friday that so many folks around America were flocking to theaters to be awakened by The Force, thanks to Amazon Prime we sat in the living room of the Little Bitty in the Syracuse city neighborhood of Eastwood and watched Star Wars: The New Hope on our widescreen.
My 38 years of avoidance were over.
This was her second time around. Karen was in high school in San Diego when the space show by George Lucas first came out 1977, and was smart enough to join friends to catch the adventure of Han Solo and Princess Leia and Ben Obi-Wan Kenobi and Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader.
Me? I had graduated from junior college at the small SUNY in Morrisville, cramming as many hours of work and partying as possible into one last summer in my parents’ house on Long Island, and then moving to Maryland to finish my journalism studies at the big University in College Park. I had paid no heed when the movie was released on May 25 and continued to ignore it thereafter.
Afterward, as it became a social buzzword, a cultural icon, a conversational mainstay, with not one, but two sequels in The span of a half-dozen years, it was easy to be defiant enough to declare that no, I’d not seen it and had no interest. I was busy building my career, you know. Moving up. To Syracuse, a bigger newspaper, new friends …
In the ’90s, when the prequel trilogy came out, it had become a bit of a badge of honor. No, I was not part of the Star Wars crowd. No time. I was the music critic, moved over from sports by then, different scene altogether …
But now. Blogger. Movie reviewer, weekly, one new release per week.
Time to watch the original before reviewing the new one, yes, Karen reminded me.
Lucas had something, sure he did, I thought as I finally allowed the 1978 classic to wash over me, seemingly from a galaxy far, far away.
Swashbuckling Solo was a great role for Harrison Ford, and Carrie Fisher’s enigmatic’s strength as Princess Leia was the right match. Mark Hamill’s semi-dorky Luke Skywalker of course opened his eyes to Alex Guinness’ wise Obi-Wan. Good vs. Evil. Fuzzy unique characters, robots, space travel.
A Star Trek fan, I may have scoffed at the effects back then.
I get it now.
I’m glad I watched it, eyes and mind opened for the new one.
Are you more of a Star Wars or Star Trek fan? Who is your favorite Star Wars character, and why? Which movie have you finally watched much later and said, oh, yeah?
Mark Bialczak 
Star Wars, fersure, Mark. But I had the advantage of being a kid, and falling in love with Ewoks 🙂 My cousin had all the toys and we played a lot of Star Wars adventures at his house. I think our wee girls love it every bit as much as The Mister, who also played with the toys.
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I’m glad to hear of your household devotion, Joey. That sure makes it more fun.
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I felt the same defiance about Grease, of all things.
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That’s an interesting choice to avoid, Ross. No John and Newton-John for you! 🙂
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So you are the other person in this country who had never seen the original “Star Wars”! I just saw it for the first time a couple of weeks ago, just to see what the fuss was all about. My favorite parts were the non-human creatures, especially R2D2 and C3PO. I loved their banter and bickering with each other. The bar scene was also great. I tend to yawn, though, at “shoot em up” scenes, even when the shooting them up is done in space.
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I’m glad I was not alone, Debra. 🙂 Yes, those two had a bond. And that bar! I think I’d like to go there. Oh, maybe not.
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I was never interested in Star Wars when I was a kid but my husband (who I of course didn’t know then) was and it’s rubbed off on my son. By default, I have watched every movie released so far other than the new one, at least once.
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Osmosis works, Marissa. 🙂
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glad you had a chance to see it and appreciate it for what it was. my fav was always r2d2.
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I am very appreciative at last, Beth. Robots and all!
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I loved Star Wars when it first came out. I am not a Star Trek fan, it seems way to nerdy. But Star Wars is cool. Funny thing is I haven’t seen any of the other Star War movies, but I am definitely going to see the new one. I will have to go by myself, because my boys aren’t into it, just like they were never into Pixar or Disney films. Oh well, more Buncha Crunch for me!!!!!
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Enjoy the movie and snack, SD. It is cool!
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Like you, I have not seen even one Star Wars movie. I watched Star Trek a few times but didn’t get into that either. Maybe I need to see at least one of the movies….???
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I would say try just one, PJ. Maybe it’ll open your eyes to a new joy!
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I will!!
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We went yesterday, and enjoyed its return to the original sentiment, Mark. It was well done, and so refreshing to see those characters again. ☺
It took me many years to see “Rocky Horror Picture Show”…I didn’t get the phenomena at the time, or understand the cult following. I guess I missed out.
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I’m glad now I can feel included in the ‘Star Wars’ gang, Van. And ‘Rocky Horror’ is one of those get-it–or-not movies, for sure. I hope you didn’t get soaked by enthusiastic act-it-out patrons in the theater when you showed up, Van.
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That one passed me by, Mark. ☺ Fun to watch, though.
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I was 10 when the first one came out – the perfect age to be sucked in. Only I wasn’t. I saw the first one at the theater, but have never seen a later one in its entirety. Just never caught the fire. Go figure.
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Stuff happens, Scott. I bet you were drawn to other kinds of stuff instead. More literary things.
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Every Edgar Rice Burroughs novel I could get my hands on.
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Well my movie maven friend Today is the day. I am going to see the new Star Wars movie with my Granddaughters and son this afternoon. He has already seen it but wants to see it again. As for Star Wars and Star Trek I am a fan of both. They are both tasty in their own unique way. Like prime rib from an oven or one from a smoker. Both good just a mite different.
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Great analogy. Both meaty with plenty of flavor. Enjoy the new one, my friend. Seeing it with your next two generations will make it much fun, I bet, Benson.
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