Originally posted September 6, 2006
Hi, my name is Chris and I am a Star Wars geek.
It started innocently enough when I was nine years old. 1977 was the year of Star Wars, though it took awhile for the movie to make its way up to sleepy little Newport, Vermont. The movie opened in May of ’77, but it was early summer before it showed up here. Up to that point my interest in sci-fi and fantasy was limited to Planet of the Apes and the Six Million Dollar Man. I enjoyed those things as much as any other kid, but it was a take-it-or-leave-it thing for me. Neither one of those franchises consumed my young, impressionable mind.
When the movie finally made it here my parents took me to see it. This was a move they, and their bank accounts, probably regret to this day. I was excited, as everyone was talking about this new space movie, but again I would never have thought, especially at that young age that a single movie would impact my life for the next thirty years.
As most everyone knows, Star Wars (it wasn’t yet known as Episode IV: A New Hope) begins with the famous shot of the Star Destroyer chasing the smaller Rebel craft. But this was like nothing anyone had seen before; the realism of the effects, the apparent size of the Star Destroyer as it seemed to just keep going and going across the screen, this was all mind blowing to a nine year old that was given to daydreaming anyhow. I was hooked from that first scene. To this day I’m not sure I really understood the plot upon that first viewing but I didn’t care. The amazing creatures and planets, the exciting chases and battles, the cool looking villains (even back then I thought Darth Vader and the Stormtroopers were much cooler than the heroes…except maybe for Han Solo) all these things kept my little brain working overtime. I became consumed with Star Wars (apparently not an uncommon thing among kids of my age) and soon figured out the plot with subsequent dozen viewings I got in before the movie finally left the town. But even with all of that, Star Wars was a craze that probably would have soon died out with me to be replaced with something else, except for the fact that George Lucas, besides having made an amazing movie, was ahead of his time in one area: marketing. Up to that point, movie tie-in toys were not common. That was about to change.
Again, it started innocently enough and is again my parents fault. I had done well in school, a feat worthy of a reward, so my mom took me to the local J.J. Newbury store and let me pick out a toy. Lo and behold, there was a rack of Star Wars figures. I had never, in my short life, seen such a thing. These were small plastic figures, where I had been used to only the big GI Joe dolls. I eagerly grabbed a Luke Skywalker, who had a lightsaber that came out of his hand. This was going to be so cool! And even though I didn’t know it, this was yet another beginning.
After that first action figure it was all downhill from there. I became all Star Wars all the time. Christmas consisted of eagerly getting the Sears catalog and circling all the Star Wars stuff that I wanted, which my parents actually went and bought for me. For Easter I would get Star Wars figures in my Easter basket, I played only with Star Wars toys, forsaking all other toys. My obsession with Star Wars concerned my parents as was evident on the Christmas when they decided I needed something instead of Star Wars and instead of a TIE Fighter I got a wood burning set. To say I was unhappy would be an understatement. I still feel bad about getting so upset about it, but a) I was still a little kid and b) we are talking about a TIE Fighter here. As an aside, to this day I still buy any new TIE Fighter they come out with, all in some deeply disturbed way of making up for getting a freaking wood burning kit. But all that said, I did get a lot of the cool toys; the Millennium Falcon, the Death Star playset, an X-Wing Fighter, the droid factory, as well as lots of figures.
Soon my Star Wars stuff went beyond just the toys. I had magazines, trading cards, bed sheets, cereal bowls, basically anything that had Star Wars on it, I had to have. And, the Force bless them, my parents gave in and bought this stuff for me. The other remarkable part of all of this is that my parents didn’t throw away any of this stuff or sell any of the toys. Somehow it all survived with me into adulthood. This is very remarkable as I have heard so many stories of kids who had there stuff sold when they left for college. But thanks to my parents actually holding onto it all it developed into a collection that has grown to include thousands of pieces. And I still have that first Luke Skywalker. As well as the cardboard backing board it came on (what can I say, I was a weird kid.) If only I had known then what I know now I would have gotten cases of those old figures and would now be living quite comfortably. Oh well, live and learn.
Besides turning me into an obsessive collector, Star Wars also fueled my imagination. The creativity it showed to me and inspired in me made me want to be creative as well. When I was a child that creativity came in the form of playing, creating stories for my action figures, continuing the story of Luke Skywalker and friends. When I grew older that creativity took on the form of music and writing and helped in my decision to pursue a creative writing degree in college. And all because a movie helped a small boy learn to dream.
Of course there were two more movies to follow the original Star Wars, but those are stories for another day. Suffice to say, the entire Star Wars saga has had an impact on my entire life.
My name is Chris, and I am a proud Star Wars geek.
