logo Sign In

How has Star Wars aged with you?

Author
Time

One thing is for sure, we all like Star Wars. No matter what decade we saw it, or how old we were, we all liked it in some way. It begs the question of how you feel about compared to how you felt about it say 30 years ago,  20, or 10.

Now I am not talking about the changes, I am talking the essence of the originals. Is the nostalgia as strong? Do you see a kenner figure as a piece of gold at yard sales? Do you do certain things in life because of Star Wars, say a job or something?

I would like to here it from others like me, pre 97 fans. Really the core question is, do you like it as much as you did at the beginning, or is it one of those pleasures that have never been topped?

Is the posters still on the wall? Share your childhood or like some of our Old farts, your early adulthood. Share the things you did with friends, or your first Star Wars experience. I am just interested, because when it comes to Star Wars, the experiences I had while watching them were what made it worth while.

"The other versions will disappear. Even the 35 million tapes of Star Wars out there won’t last more than 30 or 40 years. A hundred years from now, the only version of the movie that anyone will remember will be the DVD version [of the Special Edition], and you’ll be able to project it on a 20’ by 40’ screen with perfect quality. I think it’s the director’s prerogative, not the studio’s to go back and reinvent a movie." - George Lucas

<span> </span>

Author
Time

I think over the years it has been diluted, the childhood wonder has given way to thoughts of "fucking hell, not another milking" - as such, my emotional attachment has become quite severed and with Indy IV basically cutting respect for any more releases of anything. It's trite.

Back in the day I would've wet myself with all the media available today - I was an avid collector - any picture I could see from the movie would get me excited - this was the days before a VCR in every home.

To answer the question "do you like it as much as you did at the beginning, or is it one of those pleasures that have never been topped?" - no, i don't like it as much as I did at the beginning. Something that hasn't caught the cancer of franchising, something like Back To The Future, gives me far more nostalgia today than the fucked up Special Editions.

 

Would I go and see "untampered" editions of the original Star Wars. No. I just cannot be arsed with that shit anymore. George has proven time and time again that he is a fortunate businessman and little more.

Author
Time
 (Edited)

Time may change me but I can trace time (not like that rank amateur Iggy Car-rust)

Author
Time
 (Edited)

I would have to say, for me, it hasn't aged well at all. 

The original film was something I lived in 1977.  The single most representative entity of Star Wars for me was the John Berkey poster that came inside the soundtrack;

That poster was hanging in my bedroom. It captured perfectly how I viewed the adventure when I wasn't watching the film.   The soundtrack was just about all I listened to and going to the theater to see Star Wars was a weekly occurrence at least.

I was 15 when Star wars came out, so I wasn't a toy buyer or collector of anything other than printed matter.  Star Wars wasn't a group\kid\toy\costume\shared-experience thing for me.  It was largely a personal nerddom of just the film, the music, and my imagination.

The emotional feel for me is most clearly expressed in the original theatrical trailer.   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gvqpFbRKtQ 

That distant, serious, dark tone was how I felt about the film.  Empire had none of the distant, desolate, loneliness of Star Wars, so it didn't connect with me the same way because it didn't feel like it was part of the same story.  I dug it alright, but I eventually drifted.  Return, on the other hand, was my prequel trilogy.  It was where I said goodbye. 

I drifted even further from the franchise after Return and didn't really reconnect until the Faces set was released, and then it was really only a one-time watch of all three.  I had Star Wars & Empire on laserdisc, but hadn't watched them since the 80s. They were eventually lost in a flood.  Purchasing the 93 laserdisc set in 2002-ish was where I fully reconnected, but only with Star Wars. It's also what led me to this board.

These days - having grown tired of The Machine, the lies, the suppression, the contamination, etc - that original emotion from 1977 exists only in the NPR Star Wars, Splinter Of The Mind's Eye, & The Han Solo Adventures.  They have all supplanted the original film for me, which I last watched four years ago when the 1977 theatrical version was released as a non-anamorphic bonus disc. 

So, in answer to the original question;  Star Wars 1977 hasn't aged well for me - but the original emotional connection to that Far Far Away universe is alive & well. It's just in a different form now.  A much better form.

 

 

 

Forum Moderator
Author
Time
 (Edited)

I was 7 when it came out. I saw it in a drive in although I fell asleep during the Death Star attack. :(

I collected the books and comics and watched the holiday special when it premiered.

ESB I saw in a theater on my birthday. One of if not the best cinematic experiences I ever had. I feel lucky to have seen it when the surprises were surprises. ROTJ didnt have such an impact on me--I liked it at the time but after a while I could see how it doesnt really follow ESB in tone, and both sequels are rather different from the original 77 movie which stands on its own as a separate complete movie experience and story. It felt like an infinite universe of adventure and possibilities.

I didnt favor SW media  over anything else though--I liked Star Trek, Indiana Jones, Spider-man etc...

I would say SW has aged well for me--I used to dislike Hamill's performance in SW but now see it as appropriate, and I can appreciate things that I hadnt thought of before(like its connection to spaghetti westerns).

 

The big change was that for years I saw Lucas as a secretive Tolkien like creator who had planned out everything years ago-and I had anticipated the prequels for many years--but now I know he made it up as he went along and benefited greatly from collaborators. I now feel that MacQuarrie was probably the single most important contributor to the SW experience with his designs(especially Vader and the stormtroopers).

I think the artwork surrounding SW is a separate media phenomenon all its own--the light saber, the ships, Darth Vader etc..

I dont revisit SW films often-and dont bother checking out expanded universe, comics or anything associated with the prequels so it doesnt feel all that tarnished.

If one image sticks in my mind from SW above all others its the shot of the Millennium Falcon blasting off from Mos Eisley with the aliens and storm troopers watching in the foreground.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Author
Time

All the dumb outside baggage aside, I like those 3 movies just as much as I ever did. It's a little scary that I'm still not sick of them, instead they're oddly soothing. But that's not unique to Star Wars, I feel the same about a lot of quality pop art like Jaws, Indy, Superman etc. I'd be equally pissed if any of them were presented so poorly.

Author
Time
 (Edited)

For me, the original Star Wars Trilogy hasn't aged; I still very much enjoy the 1977, 1980, 1983 theatrical movies. I have fond memories of all the Kenner figures and vehicles I played with in the early 1980s, and listening to the SW LP again and again.

I can't say how many times I looked at the few pictures of the Millennium Falcon in an old model magazine, admiring its awesomeness and wanting to build a replica (the Kenner toy was functional, but big and bulky) :)

The modern Star Wars I just can't stand. The prequels are offensive. After the "special editions" I lost all respect for Lucas and LFL. The non-anamorphic "bonus" DVDs just sealed my disdain for the modern franchise as it had become.

So for me, there's the "golden age" of SW, from the early '80s to the mid-1990s. After that, I don't want to know.

Author
Time

 How has Star Wars aged with you?

not well.  I still enjoy seeing OT toys in stores, even though its like the 10th version of that toy(thanks mr businessman Luca$).  I still get a rush when I pop in the OOT VHS (faces) trilogy to watch.  I was 5 years old when ANH came out in 77', and like all you, I was smitten.  As a kid all I could think about was SW, so much that my parents stopped buying me the toys after 1977 Christmas.  Before the PT garbage, SW was such a great love and an outlet when times were rough. It was fun talking SW with my close friends who were also big fans.  I  read the books, built the models, collected the figures, bought and beat the video games up till' 1999.  I relished any interview with  Luca$, or any SW OOT castmember on TV, or magazine up til' 1999.  During PT, I was mystified about how something so great, all of a sudden....sucked.  Now Im in my mid 30's and as far as SW is concerned, I only consider the OOT, actual SW.  The PT is pure garbage.  The EU is a cluster-fuck of galactic proportions.  I stopped reading the comics around 96', along with the books, because both started to get silly.  When I go to a comic shop, I see EU comics and Ive no clue who or what is on the cover.  Or a bookstore, where there's a freakin library's worth of SW EU titles.  And the video games, I cant stand that stupid force unleashed II commercial with some jedi and vader duking it out.  Where has the storyline canon gone?  Luca$ sure as hell doesnt know, he just knows that its his claim to fame and $$$$$$.  Its because of the PT and all this EU bullshit, that Ive lost interest in SW.  All in all, I cant george Luca$ anymore for what he's done to SW.  The man's a phony IMO.

"There's no cluster of midiclorians that controls my destiny!" -Han Solo, from a future revision of ANH

Author
Time
 (Edited)

I saw Star Wars as a 5 year old in '77, so I have been there from the start.  Here are some random thoughts that come to mind when I was a kid:

-I always wanted to get as many stormtrooper action figures, so I could re-create when The Emperor enters DSII and they are all lined up like a huge army.

-When SW appeared on HBO in February 1983, it was an event!  Very few people at the time had VCR's, so it took 6 frickin years to see SW on a regular basis!  I probably watched it everytime it was on during that year, as my brother and I would see the 20th Century Fox logo and then hear the music, "Star Wars is on again!!!!"

-I remember in the summer of 1982 hearing the 3rd SW movie was called, "Revenge of the Jedi."  And that was the first time in my life I couldn't wait for a movie to come out when it was still a year away!

-I still remember exactly where I sat in the theater when I saw Empire and Jedi, but faintly remember where I sat for SW.  Empire, we sat on the right side about 10 rows back, and Jedi I sat in the middle/left about 20 rows up. 

-Around 1985-86, I was hoping for the Sequel Trilogy, and really wasn't that stoked for the Prequel Trilogy.  At that time we were suppose to get 9 Episodes, but it wasn't decided which trilogy Lucas would do first.

-My mom gave all my SW action figures to either a neighbor or one of my cousins, and we still joke today how much my collection would have been worth:   The Death Star, Millenium Falcon, Hoth, X-Wing Fighter, Tie Fighter, and every action figure.

-SW, Empire, and Jedi are the only movies that I have seen a zillion times and STILL not sick of them.  Even great movies from that time like Superman, Back to the Future, and Raiders, I gotta take a break from them.  If the OT is on Spike, or if I pop in the DVD's, still just as great as they were from 77-83. 

 

Author
Time

Haha I remember where I sat when watching Empire and ROTJ too.

During Empire there was a guy in front of me to my right who had a really weird ear-cauliflower ear or something-and during Jedi this idiot kept talking behind me with his girlfriend about some boy in the audience who he said had a girl's hairdo. I was so uncomfortable I wondered if he meant me. lol

Also someone flooded the washrooms in the mall where I saw Jedi.

Cant really do that with many other movies.

I saw Raiders in my pajamas.

 

 

Author
Time

I've learnt to appreciate Star Wars a little more and ROTJ a little less. I still enjoy the whole trilogy, of course, and they will be my favorite films to the end. Also I appreciate more and more the older stuff than ever and am trying to forget the prequels.

And in the time of greatest despair, there shall come a savior, and he shall be known as the Son of the Suns.