35 years of "Star Wars"

Star Wars was the first movie I ever saw at a theater. The second half of a drive-in double bill, my parents piled the family into a rusty old baby blue station wagon and set off, not knowing that it would change me forever. There are flashes – images from that night – that are so clear to me even now. I was bopping up and down with excitement in the back seat as the film played. The laser bolts, spaceships, robots, and aliens captured my imagination like nothing else before or since.

After that night, I spent most of my time with Star Wars. I had the toys. I had the lightsaber. I had the posters, tee shirts, bed sheets, curtains, lunchbox, notebooks, pencils, comic books and records. You name it, I probably convinced my parents somehow to get it for me. It was easy because it was so popular that the merchandise was everywhere, but I wouldn’t have cared if everyone else hated it. I lived it . . . breathed it . . . LOVED it!!!

Although there is photographic evidence of me dressing as a cowboy or Superman or Spiderman for Halloween, it seemed like I was Darth Vader about ten years in a row. In fact, sometimes I’d just dress up like Vader for the heck of it. I just liked being in the costume.

Before you could reasonably buy a VHS copy of Star Wars, we taped it off television, with the commercials, and I ruined that video by playing it so often. Daily, I think. For a while, I kept track of how many times I had watched it, but stopped . . . somewhere around four hundred. Needless to say, I was obsessed.

As I grew older, and the years passed after the release of Return of the Jedi, other interests popped up, of course. The toys went into boxes and were placed in the attic or basement, but the love for Star Wars was always there. Occasionally, I would meet someone and discover that they also had a passion for “a galaxy far, far away,” and talking about it with them or just quoting it with friends was a great joy.

Although there were times when it seemed that Star Wars would never return to mainstream popularity, of course, it did. The novels and comic books picked back up around 1992, and their success showed that we were waiting and hungry for more; the fans had never let go.

I dug out all my old toys and displayed them on a bookcase in my bedroom. I started collecting the few new items around, but that wasn’t enough, so I began going around to antique dealers, comic shops, and flea markets looking for more Star Wars. I amassed quite a collection of vintage products still in their original packages. Around 1995, a new series of Kenner action figures came out, the original films were re-released on VHS “one last time,” and George Lucas announced that he would once again be returning to the director’s chair to continue the series.

It was at that point that everything was kicked into hyper-drive. The Special Edition Trilogy was released in 1997 with new scenes and improved special effects, and the prequels went into production with the first new film to debut in 1999. Once again, Star Wars was everywhere . . . and I couldn’t have been happier. I chose to stop collecting in 1999 after seeing the sheer volume of products that were going to come out for Episode I, but once in a while, when the situation presented itself to get something really cool, I may have picked up an item or two since then. Peter Pan’s not the only one who never wants to grow up.

From that point on, it’s kind of a blur. Adulthood does that to you, I suppose. I have some terrific memories from the prequel era and wouldn’t trade that experience for anything. “Haters” be damned! I love the prequels, even if it’s for what they gave me more than for what they are. And that’s really how I feel about Star Wars in general; I cherish the shared experiences that I’ve had with some pretty awesome people (you all know who you are) and for that, as much as for the movies themselves, I think I owe George Lucas a big hug if I ever meet him.


Thirty-five years really crept up on us, didn't it? Well, it did for me, at least. I used to think that I'd write a book one day about memories growing up in the Star Wars generation. Maybe I'll still get around to that, but for now, sharing these few thoughts today seemed appropriate. 

"The force is strong with this one."