Repeat

Star Wars

When I was 7, the first Star Wars (okay, now known as Episode IV) was released in theaters. It was a watershed moment for me as for many others. I owned the soundtrack album on vinyl,  the figurines, a viewmaster with short segments to watch over and over. I saved my allowance for several weeks to afford the $14 X-Wing toy spaceship. Call me a geek or a cliché, but it left an indelible mark on my psyche relating to good and evil, technology, and optimism. Star Wars become the first movie that I watched several times - I think I saw it five or six more times in the theater. This was quite a feat for a 7-year old in the days before cable as we know it, VCRs, DVDs, and DVRs.

Now that we have all this stuff, and that the following two movies - The Empire Strikes Back (Episode V) and Return of the Jedi (Episode VI) - as well as the second wave - Episode I, Episode II, and Episode III - have all come out, I can now watch each of them to my heart's content. Okay, I'm not 7 anymore, and these films certainly don't have the pull they once had. Still, I was as excited as many others to see all these films made. Ewoks aside, I enjoyed all these movies and find myself watching them, or parts of them as it happens, on cable when they're on. I'm even starting to enjoy the second wave a bit more than I did after a first look.

This experience however simply reaffirms my feelings about the original Star Wars. It's the best of the series, the one that started so much madness and delight. It still takes me back to an age when I wanted and needed heros, to the 70s when the heros weren't so clean cut, and the special effects weren't so perfect. When outer space, only rarely depicted in this way previously, was magical and fresh. I've found that it's a movie that to this day, I can watch again and again with great pleasure and nostalgia.

Re: Star Wars

I wasn't around when Star Wars first made it's debut.  I was born a few years too late.  But I came to discover them and entertained a mild obsession for many years (is anyone interested in a huge collection of the Star Wars Collectable Card Game?).

I agree that the original, Episode IV is my favorite.  I guess a lot of people would say Empire Strikes Back.  Maybe better directing, better writing, more depth and emotion.  But the first one was the only one that can stand on it's own.  Of course it points to so much more, but at the time Lucas didn't know if he'd be able to make any more after the first one, so it had to stand on it's own.  I like that.