The force of Star Wars changed my life

 

There comes a moment in everyone’s life when something happens that causes a paradigm shift, forever altering your worldview.

That happened for me in the early summer of 1977. I was just shy of my 12th birthday and a die-hard “Star Trek” fan when my family went to see this new science fiction movie everyone was talking about. For me, science fiction began and ended with “Star Trek.” The trailer for this new movie looked stupid, but people lined up for blocks to see it.

When we left the theater after watching “Star Wars,” I knew that I had just witnessed one of the most profound things in my life. I couldn’t stop thinking and talking about it. I was obsessed. I wanted to be Luke Skywalker. Every stick I found became a lightsaber. Every gun-shaped object was Han Solo’s blaster. I still liked “Star Trek,” but “Star Wars” ruled my universe.

I spent a lot of time last week reliving those days in my mind in anticipation of seeing “The Mandalorian and Grogu” at the theater. Sandy and I went Thursday night and we were not disappointed. It was loaded with action and humor. We had a fun time picking out the Star Wars easter eggs, finding references to movies and TV shows.

It has been our tradition to see the very first showing of new Star Wars films. That meant going to midnight showings when each of the prequel trilogy movies came out. We quit doing midnight showings when the sequel trilogy and standalone films hit the theaters, but we always went on opening day. When “Rogue One” came out, I won tickets for my family to see an advance screening in IMAX 3-D a week before it was released.

On Thursday we arrived late and missed the first few minutes of “The Mandalorian and Grogu.” I guess that’s an excuse to go back and see it again!

My life with Sandy has its roots in Star Wars. We were living in the Denver area when the first Star Wars Celebration was held there in 1999 in preparation for “Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace.” We got three-day passes and it was while we were standing in line to see one of the actors that I proposed to Sandy. The Force was with me that day and we’ve been happily married ever since.

When “The Phantom Menace” opened in theaters, we went to the midnight premier and then I took the next day off from work and saw back-to-back-to-back showings. We went to Toys-R-Us and bought the full line of action figures “for the kids.” I still have them.

For the record, I’m one of the few who actually like the Jar Jar Binks character. I even have a Facebook page called Bring Back Jar Jar Binks. Don’t judge me!

There once was a time when I believed I was the world’s greatest Star Wars fan. Over the years, I’ve learned the painful truth that I am not the world’s greatest Star Wars fan. As I’ve attended comic cons over the decades, I’ve seen people whose Star Wars fandom makes my interest seem more diminutive than a mouse droid. Still, it remains a big part of my life.

In 2019 I did a phone interview with Anthony Daniels, the actor who plays C-3PO. During our conversation he said, “please tell me you didn’t name any of your children Luke.” Umm. I tried explaining to him that he was named for biblical reasons, not Star Wars. I don’t think he believed me.

Over the years I’ve gotten to meet many Star Wars and Star Trek actors at comic cons. The one I got to know best was Peter Mayhew, the gentle giant who played Chewbacca. At one point he even used one of my pictures of him as his Facebook profile picture. I was incredibly honored!

Another Star Wars honor I received came in 2011. I went to Houston’s Comicpalooza dressed in my Lone Ranger costume and Boba Fett actor Jeremy Bullock stopped me and asked to have his picture taken with me. Apparently, he was a big Lone Ranger fan.

This weekend is Comicpalooza but I’m not going. They quit bringing in A-list celebrities a few years back and it has hardly been worth the time and expense to go. Instead, I’m hoping to return to SpaceCon in San Antonio on June 12-14. It’s loaded with an embarrassment of riches in A-list celebrities, including Tom Hiddleston, Ian McDiarmid, Hayden Christensen, Jimmy Smits, Karl Urban, Zachary Quinto, William Shatner, and far too many more to name here.

Of all the celebrities I’ve encountered over the years, the holy trinity of Star Wars has eluded me. We’ve lost Carrie Fisher, but Mark Hamill and Harrison Ford remain on the top of my Star Wars bucket list. Seeing them would make my circle to 1977 complete. This is the way!