I be leaving you an e-mail through the contact-us link on the blog that it was I that did that outro.
sigh
Ya’ll just took me back in time to when I was a wide eyed six year old going to the movies with my dad. He took me to this movie that my mom didn’t think was appropriate for me at my tender age but dad argued on my behalf. Thank the gods above he did because when the lights went down and the crawl started I was enchanted. Then when the Tantive IV slid across the screen being shot at by lasers (!!) I held my breath and wondered if they would be all right. Then the star destroyed came into view and got bigger and bigger and kept coming and coming and OMG!!! Yup, right then I was hooked for life.
Some of my favorite childhood memories started that day and I will cherish them forever because not only was that day the start of my obsession with Star Wars but I think it made my dad and I just that much closer. I wish he would have lived long enough to see the new trilogy with me but that wasn’t the case. So I turned my memories of seeing the movies with him into new memories of seeing the new movies with my daughter. And her wide eyed six year old appreciation of them makes me realize just why my dad took me in the first place.
Okay, so if we’re all telling first time SW stories here’s mine. I remember going with my summer daycare camp when I was six years old. I have no memory of anticipating the movie, but loved it as soon as it started. Later that summer I saw it again with my family. On the ride home my cousins were talking about the movie and characters, and I remember realizing that that you’re actually supposed to remember individual characters names and whatnot. Up to and including that point I thought movies were just for seeing a bunch of cool craaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaap on a big screen.
A couple years later (about 9) I remember taking the subway uptown with friends to see it when it was re-issued. That was back in the day when city theaters just had one huuuuuuuuuuuuge screen for movies like that. It was pretty awesome…
I have to admit that my best viewing was actually in 1993. I was doing my junior year abroad in London, and one of the theaters was just showing the original Star Wars. After having been restricted to watching it on TV for over a decade it was great to see it again on the big screen and notice all the cool things that are cut out on the sides of the TV formated version. Also, at that time I began to notice some points where the effects could be updated so I was looking forward to the new version in '97. Ironically, in many places I thought spots that needed a touchup were left as they were, and new special effects scenes were added where I thought they weren’t necessary…
Audra - you may see Harrison Ford eternally as Indiana Jones, and I have moments when I do, too (ha, ha I was born the year ROTJ came out). But he’ll always be Jack Ryan for me. Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger… 
Darth Vader’s attraction is so not the cape. It’s the voice! And it can’t be the helmet, this isn’t Spaceballs. 
And looking at Leia from Han’s point of view? Han, Mr. I-Even-Say-I’m-Just-In-It-For-The-Money? and he’s right? That’s just craaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaap.
OMG Back to the Future jokes are never lame. C’mon.
Good to know, I just listened and I thought it was the Cookie Monster acting as a pirate…
sorry, i am still on the Kendo vein, i know people probably don’t care 
Remember how in the New Hope, Vader disarmed Luke and flipped Luke’s saber away when they were dueling? (not the one where he cut off Luke’s hand.)
That is also from Kendo… The video below and the way the guy was disarmed is exactly the same as the way Vader flipped Luke’s saber away.
Man I could take out all those Kendo guys at once.
With a gun.
Cause its no longer the middle ages.
And swords are lame
It was “Kyle Katarn” in the original Dark Forces game! Although that’s probably not canon, a number of elements from the game were, like Dark Troopers.
Also, my memory contradicts Lady D ifno about “Episode IV” not being on the original 77 release. I remember thinking, I was 16 at the time, that it was much like the Flash Gordan serials that were rerunning on local stations at the time. Back when they were made (the '30s), many serials started with the episode number and back story so the kids that weren’t there the previous week would knew what was happening.
But memory can be fickle. Perhaps I remember it from ESB or ROJ?
I wish I remembered the first time I saw ANH. It was likely on TV back when I was knee high to a grass hoppa but it’s so far back that I can’t remember ever not seeing it so I guess that’s cool.
Kyle…Kyle is a beast and I’m currently pondering restarting Jedi Outcast. Anybody else have it?
definitely no ep# on original ANH. I was reminded of this during last week’s frak party when I watched the “limited edition” 2-disc dvd that includes the original theatrical version. I remember when Empire came out, seeing the ep# at the top and thinking, 5-- WTF?
and as I mentioned in the frak party, the original really does hold up. the only “special addition” I really missed was Luke’s conversation with Biggs before the battle at Yavin
i think you are missing the point here. anyhoo, i suggest you not do that, since most likely you’d be arrested by the police in the sport events.
Niiiiiiiiiice.
That is completely irrelevant. And I’m kidding.
I completely understand this. And, like Starbuccaneer, they’re some of the few best memories I have. My love of “outer space,” astronomy, the planets, sci-fi, Star Trek, video games, all this stuff comes from my dad and the time we spent together when I was a kid.
It’s cool to know so many of our dads made a difference to us in the same way. :o
Didn’t you know? The monster’s name is Roderick. He was deposited there by accident when the Empire picked up some refuse on the planet Taglion, trying to grab free spare robot parts. Roderick was in the middle of a nice swim off the Eastern shore when the metallic claw lifted him and three hundred tons of scrap metal into its trash bin. Roderick had to learn to swim in trash water and eat insects that bore into steel. He was never quite the same after that.
To date myself (again) - to show how some things really do not change - the 2 movies I recall my father taking me (and just me) to when I was about 10 or so were Sink the Bismarck (the scene right before the Hood blows up is memorable - total silence on the Hood’s bridge as you hear the sound of one of Bismarck’s 16" shells zooming in on target) and Run Silent, Run Deep (best of the old WWII submarine films - starring Clark Gable and Burt Lancaster no less - stealthy Japanese sub sinking unsuspecting U.S. subs - they think they’re up against Japanese destroyers - the big line from the sonar man - “What’s that sound sir? I can’t make it out.” - propellers of the hidden Japanese sub, of course). Both in black and white circa 1963.
Of course, the point is that among the direct “ancestors” of ST, SW, BSG, etc. are naval films. From ships on/under the sea to ships in space. Many of the same themes. There is no doubt that my dad getting me started on those old movies led me directly to BSG et al.
Vader didn’t have the Storm Troopers kill uncle Owen, here’s what really happened.
I think in the original '77 release it just said STAR WARS. However, there were a number of theatrical releases, and I think it was shown again around '81 after ESB and Ep IV: A New Hope was added to the beginning… But then again my memory could be off as well, and I’m not confident enough to bet hard cash on it…
Yup. The original was just “Star Wars” as the title. All that Ep. 4 craaap was added after Empire.
My biggest gripe with GL is his constant revisionism. His picture should be next to both “retcon” and “memory hole” in the dictionary.
That’s next week.