Thursday, May 25, 2017

Star Wars 40th Anniversary

 
Well, I can’t believe it, it’s been 40 years to this day that Star Wars first arrived in theaters. That’s right, it’s the 40th anniversary of one of the most iconic films of all time. This was a movie that changed so much. With today marking 40 years since it’s release, there will be many that will talk about how the movie came to be, there will be many that will talk about how the movie broke records, and how the movie has had an impact 40 years after it’s initial release. And since there are many that will take care of those areas more likely, I decided to focus on two things, how I got introduced to the Star Wars universe, and briefly go over a few Star Wars related items that had an impact on me. First, let me briefly describe my entry into the Star Wars universe.



I first discovered Star Wars back in the summer of 1994. What initiated the series for me was a video game for the Super Nintendo, called Super Empire Strikes Back, obviously based on the second chapter of the original trilogy. I don’t know what made me want to pick this game, but I saw it and rented it at my local video store, and played it, and got to explore many of the different worlds of the movie through the passwords that were written on the instruction booklet (this was before the internet, and before I figured I could find any passwords elsewhere, so thank you whoever you are that wrote those passwords on the instruction booklet). Before that I am sure I saw clips of the Star Wars movies beforehand, and I did ride the Star Tours ride at Disney World in 1992, but this game was the one that started my official journey into the Star Wars universe. From there, one week when I was at my Aunt’s house, I found out about The Empire Strikes Back, and watched it, that’s right, the first Star Wars movie I watched all the way through was not the first one, but the second one, and obviously after watching the second one, I needed to see how everything turned out at the end so I saw the third one the next day, and then shortly after (don’t remember when) I saw the first one. The summer of 1994 was when I first became a fan of Star Wars, and was captivated by the world. If anyone asked me what my favorite movie of the series was, I would say The Empire Strikes Back, yes the story is more complex, and has the greatest twist in history, but the worlds we get to check out were just incredible to me, especially as I was a 9 year old kid experiencing the Star Wars universe for the first time. We had the movies on VHS at the time at my home, the first one a store bought copy, and then the second and third that were taped off Showtime when they played. We later got the Star Wars Trilogy set on VHS when it got re-released in 1995 (in fact it was one of those Christmas presents we discovered under the tree after Christmas morning was officially over, so kind of a late Christmas present).

Throughout the years following my somewhat random introduction to the Star Wars universe, I got my hands on many awesome things (toys, collectibles, games) , and I want to share a few of them with you:


-Star Wars (Game Gear): The first movie was made into a Game Gear game, actually all of the Star Wars movies were made into a video game over many different formats. I got this game for my 9th birthday, shortly after watching the movies for the first time. I would play this game a lot. I made it to the Death Star, but not much further than that.

 
-Super Star Wars Trilogy (SNES): I mentioned how Super Empire Strikes Back started my journey, but I did play the other two games as well. I only rented Super Star Wars once, but I rented Super Return of the Jedi quite a few times, I would say I played that game more than the other ones (mainly because that one was more available at my local store).

 
-Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire (N64): One of the first N64 games I played, and the best part was I got to explore some cool worlds in the Star Wars galaxy, and in 3D, so I got to explore a ton and it was so much fun to play. For those who don’t know about this game, it took place between Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, and involves you playing a guy by the name of Dash Rendar, who helps Luke and Leia out after Han is put into carbon freeze. There is a comic series as well for this story. This is one of those games, even though the graphics are very outdated, I can put the game in and still play a bit of it, that’s how much of an impact for me it had. In fact, I made a short movie with my family when I was a teenager, and this game played a huge role in the movie.


-Millenium Falcon (toy): For Christmas 1995, I got a big version of the Millenium Falcon. I don’t know if I could give the exact dimensions of it, but I had small action figures that could easily fit into it and play around in the falcon, that includes the area in the first movie where they played that chess game and Luke practiced with his lightsaber against that training ball.

 
-Star Wars Monopoly (board game): Today you can find a themed version of Monopoly for just about anything, Ghostbusters Monopoly, Back to the Future Monopoly, Nightmare Before Christmas Monopoly, and the list goes on and on. I would like to say that this version started it all, but I don’t know if that was true or not. I got this for Christmas in 1997, during the year of the 20th anniversary of the first movie. It was fun to play, and to buy the great landscapes of the iconic films.

 
-Star Wars Galactic Battle (board game): Remember Battleship? Well, then you basically know what Star Wars Galactic Battle is. I got this during Christmas of 1998. It was an electronic game, so there would be voice commands given, so I didn’t have to play against an actual person, but I could play against the computer.

 
-R2-D2 remote control robot (toy): I got this during Christmas of 1997. It was a robot I could control and it would make the little noises. You could turn it or you could let it go forward.

 
-Death Star Waffle Iron: This is a more recent thing I got. I got for Christmas of 2015, but it was seriously cool. I love waffles, so having waffles is a big thing for me, so I was glad to receive this appliance.

 
-Darth Vader/Princess Leia Christmas ornament: I got this ornament for my Christmas tree this past Christmas. It was the scene when Darth Vader first encounters Princess Leia in the first Star Wars movie, and it even has an audio clip of that scene. The reason I include this because it was a day after learning of Carrie Fisher’s heart attack, and while I was hopeful that she would make it, I was still concerned for her health, as was many, and to learn that a few days later we would lose her was a sad shock. That ornament has more meaning now because of the events that happened, and also with Rogue One coming out a week before, which added a new dimension to the Star Wars universe.

 
These are the ones that stood out to me the most, there were many other cool Star Wars things I got over the years. I could share so many other Star Wars related things, whether they come through video or books or music or whatever, but this is what I decided to narrow down on for this post. If you want me to do another Star Wars related post and go more into other things that have impacted me in the Star Wars universe, I am willing to do another one. Star Wars has had a huge impact on my life, as it has had on many in the world. And I am so excited for Star Wars The Last Jedi, and most importantly, I am excited to see what it gets us talking about, like Rey’s lineage, who President Snoke is, etc. Until then, may the force be with you. 


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