Episode I
I Saw It!
After six movies, three hot dogs, two RCs, one Coke, one Pepsi and one bag of popcorn, I am the owner of a button that summarizes in one sentence what Tuesday in downtown Los Angeles was all about for die-hard “Star Wars” fans.
“I saw it!”
And Celebration IV hasn’t even officially opened yet.
It was the first screening of all six “Star Wars” movies in order on the big screen. With digital projection when available. It was an experience. Accomplishment? Well, physically and mentally all we did was get ourselves to the right spot, with the right free ticket, and stay awake during the showings.
Experience? That’s why we came. “Star Wars” at a Celebration is participatory. “Star Wars” fans cheer and clap at appropriate and other times. Fans clapped for many scenes and many moments, even for lines of dialogue. At character intros. When Luke stared the emperor down and said, “I’ll never turn to the dark side.” But also when Padme announced her pregnancy to Anakin. Big cheers, though it was impossible to tell if it was for her, them or him. Her line an episode earlier about Anakin always being that little boy from Tatooine did get a reaction from the crowd. As did the Luke-Leia kiss in “Empire.” But incest and innuendo are part and parcel of the “Star Wars” experience, if you care to go looking for it. For some dubious insight into this topic, watch “George Lucas in Love.”
The movie marathon was a once-in-a-lifetime experience both in probable fact and in survivability. The kids who saw “Star Wars” appear on the big screen in 1977 without “A New Hope” patched onto the titles are getting older. And at the next major anniversary, we might not be as ready to stay up past our bedtimes as we have been.
The shuttle bus driver on the return trip asked a front row passenger, “So, you watch all six movies?”
Yes, indeed.
“That’s a lot of movies in one day,” the driver said, to general laughter. He said something about “diehard” fans, but we were soon at the first hotel stop on his route. The driver got a thank-you from nearly every passenger as they left the bus and headed off.
I got the button, I got bragging rights, and as my mother might say, I got a memory.
I saw it.
Now on to CIV!
But first, on to bed.
I Saw It!
After six movies, three hot dogs, two RCs, one Coke, one Pepsi and one bag of popcorn, I am the owner of a button that summarizes in one sentence what Tuesday in downtown Los Angeles was all about for die-hard “Star Wars” fans.
“I saw it!”
And Celebration IV hasn’t even officially opened yet.
It was the first screening of all six “Star Wars” movies in order on the big screen. With digital projection when available. It was an experience. Accomplishment? Well, physically and mentally all we did was get ourselves to the right spot, with the right free ticket, and stay awake during the showings.
Experience? That’s why we came. “Star Wars” at a Celebration is participatory. “Star Wars” fans cheer and clap at appropriate and other times. Fans clapped for many scenes and many moments, even for lines of dialogue. At character intros. When Luke stared the emperor down and said, “I’ll never turn to the dark side.” But also when Padme announced her pregnancy to Anakin. Big cheers, though it was impossible to tell if it was for her, them or him. Her line an episode earlier about Anakin always being that little boy from Tatooine did get a reaction from the crowd. As did the Luke-Leia kiss in “Empire.” But incest and innuendo are part and parcel of the “Star Wars” experience, if you care to go looking for it. For some dubious insight into this topic, watch “George Lucas in Love.”
The movie marathon was a once-in-a-lifetime experience both in probable fact and in survivability. The kids who saw “Star Wars” appear on the big screen in 1977 without “A New Hope” patched onto the titles are getting older. And at the next major anniversary, we might not be as ready to stay up past our bedtimes as we have been.
The shuttle bus driver on the return trip asked a front row passenger, “So, you watch all six movies?”
Yes, indeed.
“That’s a lot of movies in one day,” the driver said, to general laughter. He said something about “diehard” fans, but we were soon at the first hotel stop on his route. The driver got a thank-you from nearly every passenger as they left the bus and headed off.
I got the button, I got bragging rights, and as my mother might say, I got a memory.
I saw it.
Now on to CIV!
But first, on to bed.
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