Happy Birthday Star Wars. It's hard to believe that it has been thirty years since you hit the screen.
I will never forget my first viewing. The sheer magnitude of the Emperial Cruiser as we got the underneath shot. Absolutely blew me away. And the concept of A long time ago in a Galaxy far far away....mind boggling.
Star Wars blazed so many trails. The sassy heroine. The ne'er do well hero. The conflict between father and son. The special effects. The sheer scope of everything. It pretty much changed the movie world as we know it and opened up tons and tons of possiblities.
There's nothing like the first three (or the last three for you purists) The first three chapters just didn't compare because it was more about the speical effects than the story. But Han, Luke and Leia will live forever.
Now if someone would just get this walking carpet out of my way. I'm going to have a StarWArs dvdathon....
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Thirty years? Can't be. ::Linnea looks aghast:: I'm THAT old? Sheesh. ::pours a celebratory glass of vino and joins Colby for show...::
ReplyDeleteStar Wars blazed so many trails? Well, maybe in the movemaking business. Otherwise, I must respectfully disagree. Star Wars traveled a road beaten down by thousands of years of human history. The secret of its success is George Lucus' understanding of mythology. Star Wars resonates because it follows the path of storytelling which has resonated with the human spirit since the origin of our species.
ReplyDeleteI agree with everything else in your column, however, and raise my glass of Romulan Ale.
;)
Man! Now I feel old. SW came out the year I graduated highschool. I saw it then and it totally blew me away. Of course, a lot of that was the special effects -- they were revolutionary at the time. And yes, the idea of this all having happened somewhere else, and in the past instead of the future was a neat way to approach the temporary suspension of disbelief, though I must admit I didn't know anything about such story-telling techniques back then. For me, a teenage boy at the time, with a similar day-dreamer's disconnect from the larger world around me, the identification with Luke was incredibly powerful. It was a great quest story and a grand adventure.
ReplyDeleteSo, Happy Birthday, Star Wars! ::raises his glass in joint celebration:: May the Force be with you! Always!