Not long or far until ‘A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away’

Published 11:04 am Friday, October 30, 2015

Fan: 1 (noun) devoted follower of a preferred subject in a specific media. 2 (Star Wars) Jedi or Sith. No gray area.

Back in 1977, Star Wars: A New Hope hit the screens of the local cinema with the power of a thousand exploding planets. I myself was -1 years old so I don’t remember going to see the movie, but my mom and dad told me that they went to see the movie the following year after I was born, so I was there.

My 3-year-old self made it to Empire Strikes Back, but alas, I don’t remember that either. I DO, however, remember going to see Return of the Jedi. I don’t remember seeing the movie as much as I remember a giant cardboard diorama of all the characters in front of Jaba’s palace. I remember thinking that it must have taken a long time to assemble. That’s all. No Luke fighting Vader. No Palpatine death lightening. No Ewoks.  Just cardboard.

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Those movies made their way into American, and the World’s, lexicon over the years influencing thinkers to think bigger and movies to stop treating Sci-Fi space operas as campy money pits. It’s not much of a stretch to say that George Lucas changed the geek landscape for better or for worse for all time.

The prequels happened. Moving on.

NOW! After so many years of wondering what happened after the Yub’s had been Nub’d and the credits had rolled, we finally have answers coming in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Kudos to J.J. Abrams for keeping a SERIOUS lid on movie secrets so far. By now on most films, some East European kid would be downloading a complete bootleg copy in Swedish translated into Celtic rune, but all we have is what they want us to have: a hunger for more.

Who is the new Skywalker? Fin? Rey? If it’s Fin, then why the ethnicity difference? And why was he a Stormtrooper? Where has Luke been? WHY HAS LUKE NOT BEEN IN THE TRAILERS?! Where is JarJar in all this?

Ok, not the last one, but I’ve already got my tickets. Have you?

May the force be with you, class dismissed.

Jason Reeves is a self-proclaimed geek tackling the biggest issues from video games to movies and everything in between.