Watching the new trailer for The Force Awakens this week gave me serious nostalgia waves. It’s the last two seconds of the trailer that does it. You know what I am talking about!
It’s amazing to think how many people around the world have such a strong connection to this Sci-Fi universe. I thought it would be fun to share my earliest experience of Star Wars, in the form of a blog tag!
Any other bloggers with a love of Star Wars are welcome to take part. Just link back in the comments!
What is your first Star Wars memory?
I am at Blockbuster with my Dad and I maybe am around 6-8 years old. We were looking for a film to watch that weekend and as we were looking my Dad reached for a video from the top shelf and passed it to me and said that one day we would watch this film together.
He pointed out the people on the front cover and said this is a boy called Luke and this is the bad guy and she is a princess. Having a collection of Disney movies already I remember being interested in watching a grown up princess movie! I also liked that this princess had brown hair like me!
We didn’t watch A New Hope that weekend but from then on whenever we went to Blockbuster I was waiting for the time when Dad would decide that it was time to watch ‘the movie’.
What is your favourite Star Wars film?
Return of the Jedi. Ewoks and Jabba the Hutt made this the most fun film of the trilogy when I was a kid and my affection still holds for it. Plus I loved everything Leia, my princess, does on the moon – she races on those rocket things, becomes queen of a tribe of teddy bears and then takes part in a cool battle and kisses Han!
I know Empire Strikes Back is meant to be the fan favourite but when I first watched the films I found it hard to follow and used to get bored…plus it is miserable, all our good guys lose out and everything feels black and white. But watching it now as an adult I appreciate it more, but Return of the Jedi is still my favourite!
Did you ever have any Star Wars toys?
My brother had a modest collection of toys including the Millennium Falcon which I played with. I remember a time when Josh really wanted a Jabba the Hunt figure that was to scale with the other toys we had so that we could play out Return of the Jedi. This was before we really used the internet for shopping. It took Mum and Dad months to find one. We looked in toy shops in every town we visited and were even on the hunt when we went on holiday. Eventually they found one and Josh and I could play out our favourite film!
What was your first reaction to the prequels?
Bearing in mind that I was 12/13 when the Phantom Menace came out…I actually really enjoyed it! I found Jar Jar Binks hilarious and even started squeling ‘exqueeze me!’ to my friends. I’m so ashamed of this now!
As I grew up and as the other films came out I found them increasingly dull and disappointing but yeah, can’t deny it at the time I liked the Phantom Menace. Sorry, Star Wars fandom, 12 year old me did have the finest taste!
Favourite line?
C-3PO: Just you reconsider playing that message for him!
[R2 beeps a question]
C-3PO: No, I don’t think he likes you at all.
[R2 beeps again]
C-3PO: No, I don’t like you either.
I just like the idea that R2D2 is asking: Does Luke like me? Do you like me?
I really think that someone needs to put together a translation of what R2D2 must be saying based on the responses people give him because I have a sneaking suspicion that he has the best lines!
Scariest moment?
I always found it quite disturbing when they took of Darth Vader’s helmet and he is just an old ill man underneath. It was not what I was expecting and I found it quite scary. Now I think it is very moving!
Character you would most like to meet in a pub?
Han Solo. As long as I wasn’t chasing him for a bounty, that is!
Place you would most like to visit in the Star Wars universe?
The Ewoks city! I really do love those oversized teddy bears! Plus everywhere else is either too hot, too cold or too swampy!
And finally how do you feel right now about the Force Awakens?
Cautiously optimistic. They can hardly be worse than what we have been through and I am interested in seeing a fresh and unknown story. I never followed the books so I don’t really know what to expect!