Happy 40th anniversary, STAR WARS! :-)

I was 5. I saw it late that summer, when my teenage baby-sitter saw me drawing X-wings and started talking Star Wars and I didn't know what she was talking about.
She jumped up right there, hustled my sisters and me into her car and took us to see it.
It was probably the greatest thing I had experienced in my life up until that point.

I remember the first time it was on TV was on PBS, uninterrupted, without commercial breaks.
This was in Colorado, probably around '79 or '80. This was the second time I saw Star Wars.
Then a few years later HBO started showing it 24/7, so I was over at my friend's house every weekend watching Star Wars.
Probably saw it at least 20 times on HBO.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, STAR WARS!
 
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Unfortunately I was only 10 months old in '77... so no theater for me...

I do remember when I first saw it though...


I was 6 or so? I was at a daycare waiting for my dad to pick me up. I was always the last kid by an hour or so. While I was waiting the daycare lady brought out a movie she had rented and put it on the little TV. I guess she got it for that night, but wanted something to keep me entertained so put it on early.

I remember I only got as far as R2 getting stunned by the jawa before my dad came to get me. I was GLUED to that TV. Luke hadn't even been introduced yet, but I was all in on the big black "robot" and the white "robots" with him (I remember thinking everyone who didn't look human were robots)

I begged to stay, but my dad said we had to go. When we got to the car there was a VHS tape there... He had rented it as well.

I watched it twice that night... then my dad took it to work the next day and made a copy (he was in the RCMP, and so had equipment to do it... ha)

And of course rewatched over and over and over and over.

And tonight I'll pour some gin, pack a pipe, and get drunk and baked watching it YET again*

Funny how one little movie ended up defining so much of my life. My whole career was formed from that screening. I still believe any success I've had as a screenwriter/storyteller/editor is because I've watched and dissected that movie going on 35 plus years now.

Even now, whenever I'm hired to write "high concept" scripts (nothing that experiments too much with story structure) I still find myself asking "Where am I in the 'Star Wars' story structure?".




*It's been a rough week at work though... could pass out before the end.
 
I was born a week before on the 13th so I probably didn't see this until I was 3. My recollection might be wrong, but I could swear I saw SW first on tv or maybe someone had a VHS player then. I clearly remember seeing the opening and Vader arriving. I later saw SW in a theater so I was able to see all of them in the theater.
 
I was 13 in '77. I couldn't get my parents to take me, so my Granddad did. I sat there transfixed​ from the very first moment to the end. On the way home I was going on and on about it. My Granddad was like yea ,ok , alright . He didn't get it at all ;-) He didn't need too, it was enough for him , that I enjoyed it. He was the best !

There are times when I wish Star Wars never existed. I've spent a small fortune on that movie. And still spend money on it. My Studio Scale addiction is expensive ! If Star Wars never happened, there would probably be no BSG or Aliens or any of these movies to build models from. Think of the cash we'd all have. Of course there would be alot less fun in the world. Alot less wonder and spectacle​. And although I hate where George took the films with the prequels, we will always have the originals in our memories. Han shot first, and Vader was not a whiny bitch ! ;-) Happy Anniversary !
 
Bryancd said:
Point of pride, we were the first family in my class to get a BetaMax and the first tape we bought was Star Wars....for $125 in 1982 dollars..
Click to expand...

I'm right there with ya. In 1980, my older sis got a job out of college at CBS in Philadelphia, where she won an office MASH trivia contest--a win I no doubt prepared her for by having MASH on the TV every night of the week all those years growing up. lol She blew every one away, knowing stuff like Frank's hometown (Fort Wayne, IN), and Henry's gynecologist neighbor's wife's name who Henry said was "really loaded for bear" (Sylvia Jaffe), and Winchester's poker tell (whistling louder), and where Trapper told Flagg that Henry could be found in Tokyo (at Madame Chang's Whoopee Parlor), and what Hawkeye forgot to order from Adam's Ribs in Chicago (coleslaw).

When she came home that night, beaming with pride, and thanking me and my Dad for having MASH on all the time, she was carrying a big cardboard box. She explained it was a VHS Recorder, and how we could use it. It was new to everyone in my family, and none of my friends had heard of a VHS machine. Some time later that year, the first video rental store opened in our neck of the Philly 'burbs.

I hadn't been so proud of being avant garde, since a decade earlier when I was the first kid on my block to get a Big Wheel.

The Wook
 
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The Wook said:
You have to hit "Edit" twice. In other words, hit "Edit" on your original post. As you saw, it only allows you to edit the body of the post, not the thread title. But if you hit the "Edit" button again, it will then allow you to edit the title.

Please hurry.

The Wook
Click to expand...

It worked! THANK YOU!!! :thumbsup
 
The Wook said:
I'm right there with ya. In 1980, my older sis got a job out of college at CBS in Philadelphia, where she won an office MASH trivia contest--a win I no doubt prepared her for by having MASH on the TV every night of the week all those years growing up. lol She blew every one away, knowing stuff like Frank's hometown (Fort Wayne, IN), and Henry's gynecologist neighbor's wife's name who Henry said was "really loaded for bear" (Sylvia Jaffe), and Winchester's poker tell (whistling louder), and where Trapper told Flagg that Henry could be found in Tokyo (at Madame Chang's Whoopee Parlor), and what Hawkeye forgot to order from Adam's Ribs in Chicago (coleslaw).

When she came home that night, beaming with pride, and thanking me and my Dad for having MASH on all the time, she was carrying a big cardboard box. She explained it was a VHS Recorder, and how we could use it. It was new to everyone in my family, and none of my friends had heard of a VHS machine. Some time later that year, the first video rental store opened in our neck of the Philly 'burbs.

I hadn't been so proud of being avant garde, since a decade earlier when I was the first kid on my block to get a Big Wheel.

The Wook
Click to expand...

Where in the Philly 'burbs were you guys? Also, fun fact for your sister (if she isn't in Philly anymore): KYW (channel 3) and WCAU (channel 10) swapped owners back in the mid-90s, so that NBC3 became CBS3 and CBS10 became NBC10. I still find it confusing over 20 years later.
 
Solo4114 said:
Where in the Philly 'burbs were you guys? Also, fun fact for your sister (if she isn't in Philly anymore): KYW (channel 3) and WCAU (channel 10) swapped owners back in the mid-90s, so that NBC3 became CBS3 and CBS10 became NBC10. I still find it confusing over 20 years later.
Click to expand...

Geez, that is confusing. lol

The borough of Jenkintown! Home of The Wook, Bradley Cooper, and The Goldbergs!

(I'm probably the most famous of the three--but it's close, I suppose.)

The Wook
 
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