I have an uncle that would rather be caught dead, than noticed paying for a movie…

That’s who took me to see my first “Star Wars Saga” film on the big screen.

Even my uncle likes the “Star Wars” movies.

When I was little, my best friends were my cousins who lived about 20 minutes away from us in Firth, ID. I used to go over to their house out in the country to spend the night and play G.I. Joes. I know that it was at the end of May after school was out as my uncle had come home from work and we were there all day playing together. That alone was fun for me, then my uncle gave us the biggest surprise ever…but he was a practical joker so he didn’t just come out and tell us what the plan was.

“Get your shoes on. We’re leaving.”

“Where are we going,” my cousin asked.

“You’ll see. Make sure you have your shoes on, we’re heading out.”

Now you never knew with my uncle. Sometimes this meant ice cream at the park. Sometimes it meant we needed to go move pipe, dig holes, pull weeds, etc. He liked to keep us lively and ready for anything. It was annoying at the time, now I appreciate it.

So, we got into the car. One of the quietest car rides the four of us have ever been on. Once we pulled into town, he couldn’t hold it in anymore and he said, “We’re going to the new Star Wars movie.”

We all yelled, “Yes!”

I couldn’t believe it. I got to play with my cousins all day (which I loved) and then I got to go see Luke Skywalker deflect bullets with a light saber after he was jettison from his speeder. It was better than unwrapping a present.

I was too young to see the original on the big screen, but I was able to see it in bits-and-pieces through it’s release on television. We went to the drive-in to see “Empire” (which later became my favorite of the three–there are not enough Han Solo and Princess Organa scenes in that movie; #thebest). I remember being spoiled by “our-cousin-we-didn’t-like” about Darth Vader being Luke’s pops, so that kind of ruined the experience (that and the drive-in speakers weren’t very good back then and the Scout that we were all laying in became uncomfortable in 15 minutes).

I remember being captivated and getting all of my questions answered throughout the viewing: “What happened to Han Solo?” “Where’s Chewy?” “Did Luke go back and see Yoda?” “How are they going to kill Darth Vader?” “THEY’RE MAKING THE DEATHSTAR AGAIN?!” “WTF?”

There is really only one thing to say–Speeders are AWESOME and I want one.

I feel that “Return” delivered to its audience on a lot of levels. Light saber fights early and often, monsters crushed by doors, the resolution of the father-son dilemma, Han and Leia gonna get married, The Deathstar got destroyed a-bigger-and-better second time and yes, Lando lived!

It was a year after “E. T.” and I already had my second largest big screen impact.

More to come…imagine that.

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