Hype for the New Star Wars Movie - The Force Awakens(Episode VII)

Dun,

da, da, dun,

dun dun dun,

dun,

da, da, dun,

dun, da, dun

STAR WARS

In these

troubled times a

new hope has returned

from the past. What once thrilled

millions enough to line up down the block and

around the corners and has sold billions of dollars in toys and

memorabilia has struck back against the dominion of phantom menace of wars and …

Okay, I can't figure out a way to work clones into normal conversation, yet the saga continues.

 I was nine when George Lucas first took the world by the wallet and shook out a new empire. I stood in one of those long lines. My mother wouldn't tell me anything about the movie we waited for. I wandered up to the front of the line to read the movie title, not hard to figure out since one movie was playing on five of eight screens. I was furious. I didn't want to wait in a line that snaked out of the theater, around the corner and down two blocks to see a war movie. My mother laughed at me.

More than an hour later, we were fourth from buying tickets, the sold out sign went up. A small riot ensued behind us. Some people drifted off, I was for that option. Most just yelled. Five minutes after that, the manager came out to tell us they canceled the showings of their other movies to open up all their screens for Star Wars. I was so confused. Why was a war movie so popular?

Sitting in the theater fuming, tired, hot and starving, my mother pulled a melted candy bar out of her huge purse, passed it to me and the music started. My mother leaned over. “Do you like the music?” I shrugged. She frowned, then smiled. “Don't be that way. Try to have an open mind. You'll like this.”

I'd lost my open mind almost two hours before, when I saw the lines. The title had nailed the coffin of my mind firmly shut. The scrolling dribble about a war did nothing to change any of that. Giant ships in space, boring. The laser blasts were a pretty cool special effect, but definitely not worth a two hour wait in line. Droids were interesting, but too impersonal for a nine year old girl to forgive the line wait.

But Lucas had me at the girl in white with cinnamon rolls on her ears, programming a droid. “Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi, you're my only hope.” Okay, my mind opened, maybe the line, now that it was done, wasn't a total waste of time.

The desert planet lost me again. At least Planet of the Apes had trees. But Lucas captured my imagination again with Luke Skywalker, the farm boy dreamer, denied a further education and knowledge of his father. Luke wanted to help the girl in white. He was my first crush, though I was too young to realize it until Empire Strikes Back came out.

My first born was four when Phantom Menace came out. He looked so much like little Anakin Skywalker. It was great fun for him to grow up with the movie hype as each new one came out. Now my youngest is still young enough to really feel the hype of this next series. Let's hope they don't disappoint home.

Where were you in life when Star Wars: a New Hope (Episode IV) came out?


Edit (12/14/15) : My family is re-watching the other six movies in preparation for watching The Force Awakens. We have gained a new appreciation for them and are surprised at how consistent the movies are. It's enjoyable to see how well Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith explain the little pieces and odd little comments and events in A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.

We have re-watched the first five. Tomorrow we will re-watch the last one. Then we'll be ready. We are humming the theme songs and drawing the characters on our hard boiled eggs. I just hope we don't OD on Star Wars before we get to see the new one.

What ways are you preparing for the The Force Awakens?