I struggled with what to write for the sixth and final post in this series and it just fell into my lap. This morning my wife said "It's Star Wars Day."
"What?" I asked.
"Today is Star Wars Day" my wife replied.
"Like a literal day about Star Wars? May the Force be with you."
"Or may the 4th be with you."
Hard as it is to believe, there really is a Star Wars day. So it is time to reflect back on what Star Wars meant to me in the 70s. And what it meant to me was everything.
I saw it right there on my grade school report card, the teacher wrote "Star Wars! Michael talks about Star Wars all the time" or something to that effect. Because I was obsessed with this movie, saw it about three times in the theater and was jealous of those who made the news viewing it over 100 times. Adults have all the fun I thought. It was a sensory experience I had not seen before, everything moved fast and sounded faster. I began to learn the dialogue by heart. I drew an endless series of pictures featuring the Millenium Falcon or X Wing fighters. And I had to have every single item with the Star Wars label on it.
Yes, my poor parents were the victim of George Lucas as he completely reinvented movie merchandising. And being a kid with no concept of money, I had to have it all. ALL OF IT! I had to have the little Star Wars dolls, even the ones you had to mail away for, so I could put them on that plastic rotating stand. And watch in horror as those little light sabers permanently slid out of the arm of Luke Skywalker, Obi Wan Kenobi or Darth Vader shortly after beginning to play with them. Got the first four collections of Star Wars bubble gum cards (blue, yellow, orange and green) until they started to resort to pictures of models used in the background of a one second scene to fill space. I had Star Wars T Shirts, posters, books, artist conceptual art, book bags, toys, bed sheets, buttons, hand held games, board games, soundtrack albums, narrated albums, disco albums based on Star Wars, and probably a plethora of stuff I can't even remember. Yup, I was Star Warzed from head to toe, body and soul.
You see, Winnie and I learned something that day. Something changed, Wayne would never ride a bike again...wait, sorry, wrong type of flashback.
Aunt Lily then went to art school, leaving Uncle Barney in charge of the money. And that was how I met your mother...damn, having a hard time getting the right memory here...
Star Wars in addition to my Star Trek obsession put my mind into outer space (from where it has yet to return! Ha ha). The original Star Wars movie was perfection, it has sort of gotten lost in the shuffle after sequels and prequels added so much detail (Midiclorins? Bueller...Bueller?)to the SW universe that it's hard to remember the incredible mystique it once had. But for one moment in time, every boy wanted to be Han Solo and shoot first at a galaxy of wonder. Happy Star Wars day or as Princess Leia would wish, Happy Life Day.
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