Prologue: I’ve seen every Star Wars movie. Impressed? No? OK, I saw every Star Wars movie when they were released. Better? Star Wars is important to me for various reasons, and I’ve just realised that seeing ‘The Force Awakens’ tomorrow is actually rather significant; it continues a personal saga that stretches much further than a few VHS cassettes, DVDs, visits to the cinema and a load of action figures and toy space ships.
Chapter 1: When I was a teenager it occurred to me that the reason I’ve enjoyed science fiction stories, films and comics might all be due to seeing Star Wars when I was 6 years old (well done Miss Marple/Sherlock*, you’ve worked out how old I am. I know, I don’t look a year over 42). I remember little other than ‘the goodie ship going into the baddie ship’ at the beginning (which I confidently wrote in an exercise book when I returned to school after the Summer holidays that year). I soon had a toy lightsabre and started buying the action figures when ‘Empire’ arrived (after seeing ‘Return of the Jedi,’ the speeder bike and rider were my favourites).
* delete as appropriate.
Chapter 2: Then, ten years later after ‘Return of the Jedi’, came the prequels, the dark times, with bad dialogue, worse acting and little on the screen wasn’t a special effect. Bad George. They also had associated video games, which were rather better: all my Star Wars fan peers were now responsible adults and some were making games. I played the pod racing arcade game repeatedly, as well as the ‘Star Wars Trilogy’ game where you could pilot a snowspeeder around an AT-AT’s legs and have a lightsabre duel with Darth Vader (that’s what I’m talking about).
Chapter 3: Now we have ‘The Force Awakens and the video game ‘Star Wars Battlefront’. The trailers indicate that J.J. Abrams may well be sprinkling some of his magic (recent ‘Star Treks’ and ‘Mission Impossible 3’ certainly floated my boat in terms of story and action) onto what had become rather lame and laughable. I should really go into it with low expectations but the potential is so great I can’t help but be excited. I played Star Wars Battlefront on Friday and it was fantastic: I played as stormtroopers, Luke in his black ‘Empire’ garb, I flew a TIE fighter and piloted a scout walker. 40 player mayhem.
Chapter 4: My son’s story. He’s now only a year older than I was when I saw my first Star Wars film, and this will be the first live action film he’ll have seen at the cinema. I think that the fact he knows I’m so excited can only help. There will be two more films and a ton of associated games, toys, spin-offs and more. The Star Wars story has a brilliant cast of characters with a strong female role (Leia is no passive maiden) all set in a world that still inspires me as much as it did all those years ago. My family’s story is similar (my four-year-old daughter certainly knows how to give orders) and in a way it contains the same drama and themes of heroism, challenges and mentoring.
Stories, characters, peril. I can’t wait.
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