“I still remember the first time I saw Star Wars. I must’ve been in about 8th or 9th grade. I’d gotten hooked on Sliders and was getting into sci-fi as a result. I was gonna spend the night at my grandma’s, so my daddy and I were at Blockbuster picking up a rental–a tradition for slumber parties over there. When he realized my newfound love of sci fi, he said he knew exactly which movie I needed to rent. He walked off for a minute and came back with Star Wars. And I loved it. I watched the trilogy a bunch of times throughout high school, and thought I was fan. Then I came to MIT, and realized I was nowhere close to the epic levels of fandom that many of the new friends I made had reached.
Then there was the whole Star Wars Trilogy: Musical Edition thing. Yeah that was interesting. I assume most of you reading this know exactly what Im talking about, but if you dont, yes I was in a musical theater production of Star Wars. I played a range of characters including (and I know Im butchering spelling) Dengar, Admiral Ozzel, dancing Jawa, dancing Bespin guard, MIT Quiddich player (yes you read that right), but mostly just random imperial officer in the background. I’ll say it was an experience, and I’ll leave it at that.
As far as the movie, to be honest I dont care so much for A New Hope anymore. Once I discovered it, I’d watch it every time it was on tv, and its a lot more readily available than the sequels so I think I saw it a few too many times. Dont get me wrong, Im not in any way trying to belittle it. It just has lost a bit of the magic for me. And, I’ll also admit that in general I’d prefer watching the prequels. I know, that blasphemous statement could result in my death, but bear in mind that I like recent movies best. And its more the visual and a cast Im more familiar with than anything else. I wont argue with you if you try to convince me the originals are better, but I can only handle so much old school special effects. Although I am vehemently against total CGI muppet-less Yoda.
Amusing antecdote that just happened. I was too lazy to turn off the tv, so I left the credits rolling while doing the write up. The roomie walks in, looks at the screen and hears the music. “”Superman?”” she asks innocently. Her BF yells out “”Star Wars!”” from the other room. It doesnt sound as funny written out, but it did have us all laughing.
Anyhoo, have a happy what’s left of Easter. Hoping to get in one AFI this week (aiming for Tues) before heading home again for a few days, but we’ll see what happens.”