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DarkFather Begins - Where did your Star Wars story begin?

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My dad urged me to come see the 1997 re-release of Star Wars. He liked the original, while having no interest in ESB or ROTJ.

So I figured I’d give this Star Wars thing a go, and went to a used comic, video game, movie, and book store to look for the movies. They had a lot of Star Wars books, which I wasn’t really interested in. The only Star Wars movie they had was the original, on an old VHS. I bought if for $8, took it home, and popped it in. The picture quality was relatively poor, and there were no updated special effects. It was charmingly crappy to me.

I’d watched every movie in my collection dozens and dozens of times to the point of memorizing every line of dialogue. Why should Star Wars be any different? I followed my natural inclination to watch it repeatedly.

Having little money, there was no chance back then to buy any more Star Wars movies, so that was the only one I had.

Needless to say, I fell in love with it. Later when I did buy the VHS pack for the Special Editions, something was missing. It wasn’t quite as magical as the original. Another problem I had with that pack was that ESB and ROTJ felt like unnecessary continuations of the first. They were newer, updated, but were somehow empty when set beside my single, old VHS copy.

That, my friends, is how a certain fan that wasn’t even alive in 1977 arrived at the same mindset most posters on this forum are at.

So what’s your story?

"Fuck you. All the star wars movies were excellent. none of them sucked. Also, revenge of the sith is the best."

- DarthZorgon (YouTube)

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seems like the same story for me. The SE was the first time I ever saw star wars

 

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I was 7. Borrowed the '95 VHS set from my cousins. I watched Jedi before Empire for some reason, and didn't finish Empire for a long time.

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Fall of '77.  Saw Star Wars at the drive in when I was six.  Popcorn in the back of the station wagon.  I fell asleep right at the end.  But I was hooked.  My folks drove me and my little brother home while we both were sprawled out sleeping in the back.  No seatbelts or nothin'.  

Different times.

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Sluggo said:

Fall of '77.  Saw Star Wars at the drive in when I was six.  Popcorn in the back of the station wagon.  I fell asleep right at the end. 

My Sister wanted me go to see ESB at a drive-in in 1980 and I declined. I still regret it! :-P

I saw SW and ESB for the first time when they were released theatrically in 1982 and I saw Jedi on opening day (May 25th) in 1983 (I was 12).

 

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1980 the empire stikes back,I was 9 years old I had friends who played with the original kenner movie toys but missed the first movie in theatres due to my parents divorce,moving and switching schools.I read the storybook though so I knew the story going in.saw the empire strikes back and have been hooked ever since.funny thing is,during the battle of hoth,it seemed so real to me as if it might not be happening on this earth but it was somehow happening somewhere.

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I first saw the Star Wars in 81, but I didn't see Empire until 82. Saw ROTJ in 83.

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I saw the 3 Star Wars back in 83 or 84 on pirate 4:3 VHS tapes, french version (I am french). In 3 days. As I was 8 years old in 83 the one I really wanted to see was ROTJ because it was out on the theater not so long ago and I did not had the chance to see it. I wanted to see all the great muppets at Jabba's palace that I have seen pictures of.

So as much as I loved Star Wars and Empire (I was not a great fan of Empire as a young child, too dark, not enough action in the midle of the movie, the end felt like a let down etc..) I think I did not appreciate them enough the first time because of my will to see ROTJ! Needles to say that I changed my mind quickly! Even if I still love ROTJ.

The thing that was funny is that in 83 I also saw Raiders of the lost Ark on pirate VHS. And I told myself: "Man, Indiana Jones really looks like Han solo!" Ah! I guess I was not very smart back then...

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My parents first date was to Star Wars, so it is likely that I wouldn't even exist if not for that movie.

Star Wars was always a part of my life as a kid. My earliest memory is talking to my brother about what happened in 'Star Wars' because we owned tapes of Empire and Jedi (taped of HBO), but we weren't exactly clear on our memories of the first movie, (which I think we must have seen on the bigscreen on the 81 rerelease).

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I believe it was around 1996 perhaps, when I was 5-6 years old. My family got the 95 trilogy VHS tapes (and we still have them). Me and my brother were taken by them the first time and I remember loving them more each time.

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watched the entire trilogy for the first time near the end of summr 1997 while recovering from a broken arm (the 1995 pan and scan "One last time" set)

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I'm pretty sure I first watched Star Wars on the VHS tapes back in '95, so I would've been 9-years-old at the time. I rented ANH at a local grocery store, became hooked and immediately checked out ESB and ROTJ. Then I bought them on VHS. LOL. And when I became introduced to something, I usually went all out - so I tried to learn everything I could about the films. I checked out all the books I could at the library. The next year, the Nintendo 64 came out and I bought Shadows of the Empire - I still have a big soft spot for that game to this day.... Hmm... Then in '97-'98, the Special Editions came out. I didn't even care about the new additions at the time, like Jabba in ANH. I just thought it was awesome to see the films in the theaters. Annnnd, it pretty much went from there. Kind of like a roller coaster ride. The euphoria of discovering the originals, seeing them in the theater and then the unbearable hype and anticipation for TPM in '99. And then, of course, the punch in the gut that the prequels ultimately were.... lol.