Having just
arrived back from Emirates, I of course have Star Wars on the brain. As every red-blooded Earthling knows, Star Wars VII is currently in
production. Maybe not everyone knows that it is hidden somewhere in the desert
between Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Therefore, with the Tatooine sand fresh between my
toes, I realized that I still owed Ted a Star
Wars movie.
When Ted was
an infant, possibly before he was even born, I started to consider how best to
approach the Star Wars problem. This was often debated up until his fifth
birthday, the date I had arbitrarily picked for his indoctrination into Star
Wars lore. Do we introduce the movies as we experienced them, IV-VI, or as they
were intended I-VI?
There are
those that will still argue with me, but unless you are going to watch the
movies with my kids, my final judgment stands. My rational is thus; the movies
defined childhood for my generation and the next one. Ultimately, I have to
accept that they are infact children’s movies. We loved them as kids for the
humor and the action. As teenagers we saw the beauty of the Force and idolized Han Solo's resistance to authority. The next three
were terrible, they didn’t reach the adult audience, they didn't have the layersf. Still, kids loved
them. Yes, the epiphany that Darth
Vader really is Luke’s father is lost, but kids don’t really care about that
stuff anyway. When Disney
announced that three more movies were forthcoming, my decision was made. My
kids would see them in order through the end.
When Ted
turned five I started the movies. Someone would take Josie out for something
special of her own and then Ted and I would make Star Wars an experience. I
would try for the projector or popcorn, but the first movie was most memorable. We watched in a Jo’burg hotel room and halfway through the movie the
computer battery died. I plugged the computer into the transformer and within 5
minutes the transformer blew up. I had to air out the room and then find an Apple
store to replace the fried cord before Ted could finish the movie. I stalled
for a while, trying to avoid movie III which was dark and scary for a five year
old. Over the course of the year, we fit all five in. Today we watched VI.
Ted
constantly asks questions not at all relevant to the story and talks over
dialog. Yoda is dying and all Ted can do is chatter on, “Is Yoda dead? Is Yoda
dead? How is he going to die?” “No, damnit! You just missed the line ‘There is
another.’ That is huge to the story line.” Good thing I can quote all the
missed lines, there were a lot today. He doesn’t care. He loved the Ewoks and
laughed when a storm trooper would die in some comical way.
Watching the
movie today brought flashbacks of playing with my cousins. They always had the
best toys. They had the Jabba the Hut that slid over a box/pit hiding an imaginary Rancor. I think they had speeders and the Ewok village too,
but it was Jabba in his lair that I remembered in detail today. Could even remember the smell. You know, that indescribable, plastic and rubber, new toy smell. We played for
hours with those figurines. I
distinctly remember the Ewok Adventure movie being overhyped and terrible. We
hated the movie, but still pretended to explore with Wicket. 30 years later, I still remember his name.
Watching the
movies with a child confirms my belief that this is a series for children. Kids
in almost every culture know them, whether in Tunisia or UAE. I am looking
forward to sharing Star Wars with
Josie next year.
