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

[sabaceanbabe.livejournal.com]

Yay for "old" people on the flist! *twirls you*

I made my mom take me and my friend illust8r to see the original flick upwards of 20 times. (It was just a little too far for us to be allowed to ride our bikes.)

I had such a crush on Harrison Ford. My room was plasted with posters of Han Solo and Luke Skywalker and then, not long after, Apollo and Starbuck. Heh.

By the time ROTJ came out, I had my first job at B. Dalton Bookseller, right across the mall from the theater. On opening day, I walked straight across the mall after I got off work and joined the line for tickets to the last afternoon showing. Got right in, too. There were a few people in costume, but nothing like we see on opening day these days.

[momebie.livejournal.com]

*flails* Am so jealous. <3 Star Wars. <3 Morissey. Are you going to see him when he goes through Miami? I didn't get to go to the Orlando show. :(

[misscake]

Star Wars being 30 makes me feel really really old! But I'm enjoying that my son is a total fan and we are totally taking his Anakin costume with us for the SW weekends at MGM next month.

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

Have you ever heard Christine Lavin's song "Harrison Ford" about her encounter with him at the door of a restaurant? It's absolutely hilarious. From the song:

Anyway, I know some of you are thinking "this is really pathetic. She has a three second experience with a movie star and she writes a three minute song." But if that's what you're thinking you would be very very wrong, because it was a one second experience and it's a four minute song.

It's on a really terrific album, by the way, Getting in Touch With My Inner Bitch.

[hedwig-snowy.livejournal.com]

"Thank God I'm Old"

Personally, I'd rather be 10 and watch them from Phantom Menace-Return for the first time...all in one weekend... ;)

Saw IV a year after it came out at Luke AFB in Phoenix. V in NJ, and took the day off to see VI at a mall in Baltimore. (I - midnight in Corvallis, OR. and II & III midnight at WDW)

At that point...we weren't as excited about SW as taking afternoons off when the newest Star Trek movie came out. Now, that was a party. 30+ sweater and tie-wearing Govt employees massing at a theater...scarier than storm trooper-costumed 30-somethings who live in their parents basements... ;)

[heidi8.livejournal.com]

Your icon makes me so happy.
Did you see the trilogy 10 years ago when they did the extended editions? I was living in NYC then, and going to see ESB and ROTJ at the Ziegfeld in the middle of a Saturday afternoon was really a consciousness-altering experience. The whole theater was just so into it (and I bumped into a college boyfriend there, who'd just come off playing Luke at the Toy Fair in NY and was doing lightsaber fights in line with fanboys, which was beyond amusing).

[heidi8.livejournal.com]

That? Is amazing. And one second in his presence *definitely* merits a four minute song!

[heidi8.livejournal.com]

You guys are going to have such a great time!

[heidi8.livejournal.com]

I don't know - I think it's while I'm traveling this summer. I'm saving all my concert-going energy for Crowded House (squeeee!).

[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.... :)

[seaislewitch.livejournal.com]

I remember being so energized after seeing Star Wars for the first time. We were all amazed by the special effects. Even way back when I was but a mere slip of a girl, I knew Hans Solo was HOT.

Morrissey...he can sing for me anytime.

[chickadilly.livejournal.com]

We thrilled that this amazing fighting princess had our name, when we were 7 and 10 and 12.


Hee - when I was in higschool everyone called me Princess Lea. XD

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.

*Lesighs* ALl my time in Jackson Hole and I never saw him - missed him at Starbucks by 15 freaking minutes. Wah.

[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.)

[imaginarycircus.livejournal.com]

Buh? 48?! Wow...

We ARE old.

[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

[sandy-phoenix.livejournal.com]

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

[tqpannie.livejournal.com]

Okay...yeah I'm sorry but it's not possible that Star Wars is that old. Because I'm not that old.

won't mention I heard Jack and Diane on the oldies station

[sabaceanbabe.livejournal.com]

Alas, I haven't seen the extended editions yet, although I do own the DVDs. That is too funny about the old boyfriend. Hee.

[leelastarsky.livejournal.com]

It certainly changed my world!

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.


I think I just swooned a little.

Hope you don't mind, but I'm gonna have to friend you now. ;~)

Also, you might enjoy these -
http://leelastarsky.livejournal.com/163807.html
http://leelastarsky.livejournal.com/166258.html