ST It Takes a Galaxy: What's your favorite holiday memory?

mine is actually of when the Special Editions came out specifically A New Hope. It came out in my Senior year of High school and the friday it opened we had a half day at school So the very first showing was my entire senior class.

That was the first time I saw A New Hope on the big screen and it was amazing.

 

Not a specific moment, but the latter half of the 1990's, when I really got into SW through the Expanded Universe. The YJK, the X-Wing novels, love them all. They got me through a really tough time in my life.

 

The premiere of The Phantom Menace and all the hype leading up to it. Such a magical time, and the audience I saw it with applauded through the whole movie and cheered at the end. It’s the only time in my life I’ve been part of a crowd that was that excited for a movie.

It was also what turned me from a casual fan to a hardcore one and set me on the path to being totally spoiled for the next two. I don’t regret that at all, but I’m glad I saw TPM not knowing what to expect, or even understanding much of what I was seeing.

 

I feel like you should be singing that Angelica song from Hamilton right about here...

 

Getting The Unifying Force for Christmas in 2003 and reading it.
One of the best endings of a story in SW imo.

Movie-wise, the lead up to ROTS.

 

15 years this November. Time flies.

 

Welcome to being old.

 

Won’t be long before we are saying that about this Trilogy.

I’d have liked to be lurking back then since I would have been too young to post back then. See all of the reactions.

 

Try being old enough to remember Han Solo's Revenge in bookstores (and begging my mom to buy it for me!)

 

Oh, I have to pick just one? There are so many!

It has to be when my Dad took us three kids to see the Special Edition of The Empire Strikes Back in the theater. Myself, my sister, and my brother had already seen the OT a few times and liked them, but of course had never seen them on the big screen. I was already a pretty big fan by then (age 10) and the TV commercials were driving me bonkers. I cried when I found out we could only afford to see one of them, and we had a family vote. To my dismay I was the only one to vote for Return of the Jedi. At that age I did NOT like The Empire Strikes Back because of what happens to Luke. So, reluctantly dragging my feet, I followed them in as we got our popcorn and found a seat.

Seeing ESB on the big screen for the first time was mind-blowing. I actually shed tears because of how amazing it was. Afterward I kept begging to see the other two in the theater, but alas we had to wait for home video again to see the SE of ANH and ROTJ. It would be 1999 before I saw another Star Wars movie in the theater.

The Special Editions are what fanned the flames of my fandom into a roaring blaze, and I've never looked back.

 

Going to see TPM in Leicester Square with friends. I'd just finished my Masters thesis and was really amped for it. It was a lovely day; lots of people were dressed in their SW T-shirts and gear and I remember us all really enjoying the movie. In fact, everybody seemed to come out of the cinema buzzing. It was a stark contrast to the backlash that followed some time later.

On the way home, some stoners were having a mock lightsabre battle on the tube so I joined in pretending that my hotdog was a blaster.

SW was very much in the air that evening in a wonderful way. I think it's one of the reasons I still love TPM. Nostalgia adds that extra spice and masks any flaws.

 

He he, you're just a whippersnapper mate, I remember going in 1977 with my old man to see it first time around.
My dad smoked back then, and carelessly dropped hot cig ash onto my crimpleen trousers, burning a hole in them. My mum was not impressed.

 

Ha, tell that to the grey hairs my girlfriend keeps finding in my temples

 

AND we're back. There were some really great responses last week, but this time I'm going to ask you to really dig deep and ask yourselves: what does Star Wars mean to you? Is it just a fun time at the movies, a way to escape for a couple of hours? Something you share with your family, maybe your parents or kids, or both? Or... is it something else?

I'll chime in with my own post later, but I'm going to open the floor to you all first. Have fun!

 

For me, Star Wars is much more than an enjoyable movie, much more than even an escape from reality. It is a reminder of my early childhood, and a reminder to never lose hope. Star Wars is the only thing that can always bring up my mood, no matter how down or depressed I am.

 

Watching ANH with my mom and two brothers on VHS. She got my hooked on this franchise so I blame her for my obsession. I've taken her to see every movie since, starting with the prequels.

My dad could never get into Star Wars. He took my mom to see ROTJ when it was in theaters. He hadn't seen ANH or ESB. When they first mention Jabba the Hutt on screen in ROTJ, my dad yelled out "what the hell is a Jabba the Hutt?"

 

Seeing Return Of The Jedi and Octopussy with my dad on the same day. They day before the local cinema was fully converted into a bingo hall.

 

My favorite Star Wars memory has to be when TFA came out in theaters. Nothing has ever matched the level of magic and excitement I felt that night. It was the day after Christmas, and it was the first Star Wars I had watched in a cinema (I was 12 when TFA came out, so I was too young to watch the Prequels in cinemas). I have been a Star Wars fan since I was 3, and TFA was the height of my excitement.

 

My brother leaned over and whispered the exact same thing to me in the theater after the opening village scene in TFA.

 

Nostalgia is probably the biggest hook at the moment. My interest in SW as a current, ongoing series isn't that huge, but I'll always appreciate looking back at the periods when it meant more to me than just another piece of entertainment I happened to follow.