Star Wars Memories 2017

I was introduced to Star Wars a little under forty years ago. In the summer or 1977 my dad, mom, brother and I saw "Star Wars" at a movie theater in Wichita Kansas. I was seven years young.:-) At the time there were only a handful of action figures at the close by general store, which with the current plethora of all things Star Wars, is hard to believe.

Star Wars was fun and exciting, but "The Empire Strikes Back" really floored me. My family saw it at a very new movie theater in the Temple Texas Mall, the screen was low and wrapped around, which added to the more high tech feel of the movie to me. Episode 5 was/is almost perfect in every way. I recall some family debates of what Darth Vader's intentions were for telling Luke Skywalker that he was his father. My dad was convinced that Darth was lying, but I thought given the emotional or Forceful connection shown between father and son at the end of the movie, there must have been some truth to the matter. Three years later my dad and I walked in the snow to see "Return of the Jedi" at a U.S. Army movie theater in Bad Kreuznach Germany.

Believe it or not, there was a period between Episode VI and prior to Timothy Zahn's "Heir to the Empire" that Star Wars was in a hiatus. I can't quite explain the elation I felt to see that first Timothy Zahn Star Wars book and display at a Walden's Bookstore.

The latest two movies were well done, but the originals will always be the real deal to me. May the Force be with all of you, always!

(Adapted from Facebook, May 24, 2017)

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