Weekend assignment

Yes, yes, the world is going overboard with the whole Star Wars thing today -- so why not join them for the Weekend Assignment?

Weekend Assignment #60: Recount an interesting moment in your life that somehow involves Star Wars. It can be deeply tangential -- it doesn't have to have happened at a Star Wars movie, for example. But let's face it -- for the last 28 years Star Wars has been part of the common culture. Surely there's an interesting moment in your life in that time, in which Star Wars, its characters or its merchandise has been a part of it.

Extra Credit: Ewoks: Cute or Evil? Explain.

   I remember so clearly the first time I saw Star Wars. It was in the theatres, on its first run in 1977, so I would have been about twelve, or so. The title crawl was cool, and the music was cool, and then the Rebel Blockade Runner came screaming over my head, and I suddenly understood that I was in for an ride like nothing I had ever before experienced. I watched, slack jawed, as the pursuing Imperial Battle Cruiser flowed past, and flowed past, and continued to flow past. I remember turning to the friend I was with (I no longer even remember who that was) and saying, "did you see that. That was huge!" No movie I had ever seen had portrayed something that large before. I must have breathed at some point during that showing, but I do not recall doing so.
   I saw Star Wars in the theatre five times in total. I know, that sounds lame compared to today. Heck, some people have already seen Revenge of the Sith that many times and it has not even been out for twenty-four hours yet. For me in 1977, however, seeing a movie was a treat. Seeing a movie more than once was very unlikely. Five times? Unheard of!
   For Halloween that year, I wanted to be a Jawa. Other kids wanted to be Luke Skywalker, or Han Solo, or if their mothers were really adventurous, a Storm Trooper. I liked the Jawas. I was funny that way. My favourite comic book character was The Atom. I just had to choose somethingthat was not already everyone else's favourite.
   First, I had to explain to my mother what a Jawa was, and what it looked like. She had not been to see the movie. She made me a long, brown, hooded robe, and we pinned the hood up around my face so I was only looking out of a small oval opening. Other than being about eighteen inches too tall, I looked just like one of the diminutive Tatooine scavengers. I will tell you, if I had a nickel for every time I heard the phrase, "and what are you supposed to be?" that Halloween, given the passage of twenty-eight years, and the miracle of compound interest, I would have a tidy little sum today.
   It's all good. The next year, I threw the hood back, and I was Obi-Wan Kenobi. The year after, I used a rope for a belt, and I was a monk. I got a lot of mileage out that brown robe.
   Fast forward twenty-two years, and The Phantom Menace was the first movie I ever took my son to see. He was only four at the time, and in retrospect, he was too young. Somewhere about the pod race, it got too loud and too scary for him. He crawled into his mother's lap, and cowered until the race ended. Then he promptly fell asleep. Next weekend, however, after all the becostumed fanbois have dissipated, he and I will be going to see The Revenge of the Sith, and neither of us will be falling asleep. We may even let Mom tag along.

Extra Credit: Ewoks=evil. They are the only thing that kept Return of the Jedi from being a better sequel to a sequel than the sequel was to the first movie. That didn't make any sense, did it? If you need more proof, simply consider the Ewok song. It was so evil, even George had to have it taken out of the Special Edition DVD release. Listen, my younger sister and her friends memorised all the words, and used to sing it around the house. That's evil!