Thank God I'm Old

[heidi]

Star Wars is 30 today. I saw it at the Normandy on Collins Avenue the week after it came out with my sister, my dad, his best friend Bart and Bart's two kids. We brought bags of McDonalds into the theater and sat on the right hand side towards the front and left before the award ceremony scene which I didn't see until we got the film on betamax maybe a year later.

That summer I got a little R2 which I lost on the camp bus and sometime that year I picked up the photoplay novel.

I saw Empire two weeks after reading the novelization, with my dad in San Francisco because my mom had gone to Philly to be with her mother at my great grandfather's side during his final illness. I got the glasses at Burger King and used them for years.

I saw ROTJ the day it came out at the Byron Carlyle. It was the first time I was allowed to take the bus with just a friend and no grownups. And I saw it four more times in the next two weeks.

I have the original trilogy on vhs - and the first film on beta, still, but I'm sure it's unwatchable by now, deteriorated beyond belief. I've tried to get my kids to watch it but they're not that into it. Maybe I'll try again tonight. My daughter has Leia (technically, Leah) as her middle name in Hebrew, as do I and a dozen of my friends from elementary school. We thrilled that this amazing fighting princess had our name, when we were 7 and 10 and 12.

Back in 1996, I met Harrison Ford at my gym - he was playing tennis and I was getting ready for my wedding. He's that amazing close up.

Happy birthday, Star Wars - you changed the world.


(Also? Morissey is 48. That makes me wibble!)

Comments

[sandy-phoenix.livejournal.com]

Oooo... I like being old, too! I saw Star Wars a few months after it came out, a few weeks before my 9th birthday. My parents, cautious about this new sort of movie *snerk*, went to see it first before allowing my older sister (who was nearly 15 and had already seen it with friends) to take me. We saw it at this grand ol' theater called the Cine Capri (Phoenix residents, please note! Do you miss that old place as much as I do???) and we were in the second group of people to be allowed into the theater. The line wrapped around the building even then. However, it was one of those GIANT theaters with only one massive screen showing only one movie at a time. *scoffs at the multiplexes* We had to sit in the second row on the far right side which was, sadly, next to a speaker. The movie amazed me and I loved it and talked about it for months afterward but I came out that day pretty nearly deafened. :P

I saw Empire Strikes Back in jr high and RotJ as soon as it came out. In fact, I remember seeing a trailer for RotJ when we went to see Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan *gigglesnort* and in that trailer, it was still called, "Revenge of the Jedi." Lucas hadn't yet decided that revenge was beneath a Jedi so there you go.

The Boy hasn't seen the original Star Wars trilogy yet but I'm thinking a 30th Anniversary celebration might be in order.

*bounce*


p.s. I just discovered I removed all my Star Wars icons to make room for HP book 7 icons and Heroes icons WOE! I should rectify this.

[heidi8.livejournal.com]

You could go for icons that incorporate both HP and SW, you know.... :)

[sandy-phoenix.livejournal.com]

Oh, now see? That would solve everything. Clearly, I need to go on an icon hunt this evening. ;)

[chickadilly.livejournal.com]

"Revenge of the Jedi." Lucas hadn't yet decided that revenge was beneath a Jedi so there you go.

OMG. I remember that trailer - my friends and I argued for weeks about it. There was a teeny tiny scene where Leia hugged someone and we couldn't tell if it was Luke or Han - our little shipper arguments back in the day. Bwah. (It turned out to be the scene where she hugs Luke after he comes back from his trip to see Yoda.)

[sandy-phoenix.livejournal.com]

Oh! I'd forgotten that! Yeah, the hugging. The Hugging. True pre-teen angst abounded. WHO was she hugging? WHICH guy would get her?

"What do you MEAN you are rooting for Luke? Luke is a wuss. She loves Han!!!1!"

Ah... those were the days. :P