Star Wars: A New Hope was the first movie I remember standing in line for at the theater. It was 1977, my brother was a senior in High School, and I somehow doubt that taking his 7-year-old sister to the movies was what he had in mind for graduation weekend, but he took me. I remember him entertaining me in the line, and one of his friends running to the 7-11 to get us cokes while we waited.
Unlike my ill-fated Mary Poppins encounter, I loved everything about Star Wars. I still do. I remember the opening salvo of the horns in the soundtrack at the beginning of the movie, and one of my brother's friends leaning over to read me the words scrolling on the screen. (I also remember my brother saying, "Hey man, she can READ.") It was so exciting! There were no animated characters singing and playing, and it was all happening in a galaxy far, far away!
Maybe it was because I wanted to be in a galaxy far, far away from an alcoholic parent and a home life that was less than idyllic. Maybe it was because I never considered there might be something out there besides Earth. Maybe I just found my niche in watching things that made sense, but no one really talked about. Whatever the reason, A New Hope felt like home, and began my journey with the Force of Sci-Fi.
Star Wars was not my first glimpse into Sci-Fi, as my brother felt that I would be better educated watching Star Trek after school than watching The Brady Bunch. And while I also watched Land of the Lost and Buck Rogers, something just clicked when I saw A New Hope. Maybe it was seeing it on the big screen. I quoted the movie (well, I still quote all 6 at varying times), and years later when I had one of my first computers, I had a Star Wars sound pack on it so that when I got an error message, C3PO said, "We're doomed," and when it shut down, Obi-Wan said, "The force will be with you, always." I carried various Star Wars lunch boxes through elementary and middle school, had t-shirts that are now considered vintage, had the action figures, and became...something more because of my glimpse into this world.
This is the original, pre-John Williams trailer for the movie. It's so awful, I am amazed anyone went to see the movie!
This version, edited for the re-release and considering the first trilogy, has a little different appeal:
Use the force, indeed.
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