A long line wrapped around the theater. It was the longest line I had ever seen. I was so excited as I stood there with my brother. We had seen Star Wars an endless amount of times and while I was now 7 years old, I was wiser and thought I knew everything there was to know. It was the summer of 1980, and the line was out front the State Theater in my hometown. It doesn't get anymore Americana than that. A single screen theater, 1 of 2 in the little town that wasn't quite baking like it would in the coming July and August. No parents, just us two and maybe a neighbor kid, talking about the glory to come in the screeching of fighters and the blaring of blasters. There were no deep meanings of the Force and everything else to us, just seeing our heroes lit up once again on a screen in their quest to save the galaxy. They would have to do a lot to impress me, I was 7 after all. Of course they did impress us, whoever they were, kids didn't know or care about George Lucas. We just knew we wanted more Star Wars and they had delivered it again. We had went as a family to it in Drive-ins, and theaters with friends and cousins and Aunts. We travelled like mercenaries to any house that had a fabled Laser Disc(Google it, like the way of the Jedi it's time had passed it by with a remnant of it surviving in new technology). We owned all the figures we could get our hands on. It was not without controversy, like the now infamous R2D2-Chewbacca incident of '78, forgiveness is hard in these matters, but time heals most wounds. We spent endless hours in rooms and backyards in epic space battles, even crashing a TIE fighter complete with a carefully placed blue smoke bomb inside it's cockpit. First rule of Star Wars toys was find a kid who owned a Millenium Falcon and make friends with him. That glorious bucket of bolts that made a miraculous run in 12 Parsecs. We had no idea what the Kessel Run was or what a parsec was,(we didn't have google, and I don't think it was in the beautiful faux-looking leather binding of our World Book Encyclopedia's circa 1974) we just knew we had to make that infamous run. We made it in the Theater that night. I'm sure some folks further down the line behind us did not, I bet someone in a line like that went on to invent Fandango, so they would never miss a show of such importance again. This was Empire Strikes Back opening weekend there would be casualties and good men left behind in order to see it. We sat enthralled for the entire duration of that movie until the final end when Darth Vader reveals the true nature of his relationship to Luke. Did he just say that? He's lying, and it had to be a trick of the Dark Side, even I could see that. We had new heroes and villains that filled the canon of what we had already known about Star Wars. The theater erupted with applause at the end. I've been to a few movies on my life and I know there has been very few where clapping was involved. We walked out into the still warm night that drove the chill of the movie theater AC from us. If you've never been on the prairie when the sun is falling and stars begin to pierce the thin veil of wispy clouds and the slow turning of blue to soft purples to black velvet pin pointed by the lights of endless stars, well I might just feel sorry for you a little bit. This was one of those nights and one of those hours. We waited for the station wagon to come pick us up and we went home with thoughts of new battles and new adventure. As time wore on and we began to outgrow some of the magic the movies held over us(have to admit Return of the Jedi helped dissipate some of that enthusiasm, also the whole Luke kissing his sister thing was somewhat confusing for a 10 year old, for some people the controversy continues).
So, here we sat in another line decades later. 3 brothers waiting to see Star Wars again. The movie would be a continuation of our heroes' adventures. A renewing of the infamous Chewbacca-R2D2 controversy and bitterness pushed down in favor of keeping a good mood on the occasion. Once again I was older and wiser and they, as in Hollywood, couldn't show me much I hadn't seen or knew about. One brother had already seen it, but he kept his mouth shut, avoiding any new controversy. A nephew accidentally read something out loud from pinterest, so he ruined a few things for the oldest brother. I remained fresh going in. I had my thoughts and speculations, but I pushed them aside in favor of surprise. We were standing directly in front of one of the movie posters, the poster has all the elements we had come to know and love, characters standing in action poses, ominous enemies lurking over them and a gigantic planet-killing device that surely would destroy everything you knew and loved. Each of us had brought our children with us, ranging in ages from elementary to high school, there was 8 of us in all. It seemed like it should be a normal moment. It wasn't. Star Wars had been along for the ride with us since we were kids. Toys, Halloween costumes, family outings in Omaha, birthday and Christmas presents. Star Wars has always been common ground between kids, teenagers and adults since I was 4 years old. How could this be a normal moment including something we all had enjoyed for so long? It wasn't a nice warm summer evening though, it was the darkest of nights near the shortest of days in the year. Luckily we all fit inside the theater lobby. When they finally opened the theater door, we filed in with subdued excitement(fool me once Phantom Menace). No need to worry about tickets, thanks Fandango! We found a nice row of seats that would keep us all connected. We settled in and with little wait the theater screen lit up and the story began(after an hour of Preview Trailers). Much like life, our heroes had aged, they had gained responsibilities and had setbacks. I could draw the parallels of torches being passed between the old generation and the new characters and actors handing off batons. I thought about the collective memories our kids would have going to this movie with their Dad's, siblings and cousins. Then maybe the next movie that comes out, we'll all attend again. I have to admit, it made my 3D glasses go a little misty, of course it also might have been certain scenes in the movie, who knows. Much like things in Star Wars and life there will be myths and legends like the Kessel Run and the Chewbacca-R2D2 controversy, or even foggy 3D glasses. What really happened and where the truth appears is always somewhere in the middle. What we usually always remember is the people we shared those memories with and how it makes us feel when we think about them. I will hear the laughter of the kids at the funny parts and the quiet whispers as they tried to figure out what was going on in parts or predict what was going to happen. It's a good memory, one I hope to hold on to until the reboot 30 years from now when I hopefully get an invite to go to a Star Wars movie with my kids and grandkids and maybe some nieces and nephews. As the movie came to a close, much like at the end of Empire decades ago, people in the theater began to applaud, I smiled. As we left the megasuperawesomeplexin3D I could almost feel the echoes of that summer night so many years ago,a couple of bushy haired kids in high tube socks, terrible tank shirts and awful shorts not knowing how something so simple as the memory of a movie would still hold so much magic. I hope I helped create a similar memory for my kids, not just with me but with the rest of their family. Those are the kinds of memories that only come around every so often.They can stick with you for the rest of your life. Memories can fade into family lore or burn bright, like ancient squabbles about how an older brother used his careful manipulation to trick a sweet innocent 4 yr old boy into picking the R2D2 action figure over Chewbacca, just so he could get Chewbacca instead of his little brother. Leaving the poor little boy crying all the way home from White Mart pissed off at a seemingly useless toy droid, I mean come on, he didn't even have a laser pistol. Sonnuvabitch.
(SPOILER: Personally I enjoyed every second of the movie, and I believe it got a full 8 Wilde approval rating from the entire crew. I understand some people didn't like it, I just don't understand that some people didn't like it.)
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