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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

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

Discussion in 'Sequel Trilogy' started by PymParticles , Apr 5, 2018.

  1. wobbits

    wobbits Force Ghost star 4

    Registered:
    Apr 12, 2017
    Childhood, tradition, my favorite story. Comfort. I can watch the OT and no matter how old I am, I still feel the same way today that I felt watching Princess Leia grab a blaster and take part in her own rescue. Shoot, not just take part in it but end up taking charge of it. I had never seen anything like that before. She colored my world when it comes to stories about Princesses. Yes, the Princess fell in love with the Scoundrel but just as they fall in love he's taken away and she helps execute a plan to rescue him! (No, it didn't work out her way and she had to be saved by Luke but she freaking killed Jabba the Hutt!! Huttslayer!!) I loved the revelation that Leia was the other Skywalker and she could potentially be a powerful Jedi just Luke. The family connection and tragedy is such an emotional story.

    To this day I have never been a fan of Cinderella, Snow White, or Sleeping Beauty. Because of Leia my other favorite stories are of strong female characters like Mulan and Merida. I passed this on to my own daughter through Star Wars. When she was 5 she wanted to be Padme for Halloween instead of one of the popular Disney princesses.

    I never had any Star Wars toys as a kid and never got attached to EU novels so for me, George's universe and his story in the films have been my favorite place to be for a long, long time.
     
    Last edited: Apr 17, 2018
  2. Alien Vanguard

    Alien Vanguard Jedi Master star 3

    Registered:
    Jan 1, 2015
    Nostalgia is the main driving factor for me as well. I laid a solid foundation for SW fandom by watching the (unaltered) OT over and over, and then also by playing the many excellent games that really captured that SW atmosphere. Much thanks to John Williams.

    I remember playing Tie Fighter and then Dark Forces, and being completely blown away. Later i would plow through Jedi Knight I & II, Shadows of the Empire, Rogue Squadron, X-wing Alliance and KOTOR I & II. Many of those are still very enjoyable.

    I never read any of the (now) EU legends books, so for me it was solely through gaming that i kept my SW hunger at bay.
     
  3. Luke'sSeveredHand

    Luke'sSeveredHand Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jul 21, 2014
    Star Wars has always been about a bit of an escape to an immersive alternate universe where ultimately the good guys win, the bad guys lose, and hope triumphs over fear. It's also been a source of imagination and creativity in various forms; as a kid, having my own adventures with Luke and the gang by way of action figures, video games, and dressing as my favorite characters with friends for Halloween to act out our own stories, to sitting and drawing my own heroes and scoundrels, and ultimately writing my own "fan fiction" for fun. As I've grown older, the memories of all those cherished moments recalled by all the mediums have attained almost equal footing with the universe itself, but most recently, the opportunity to share all of the above with my son throughout his childhood (with the hope it brings him equally as much joy), and to see the directions he takes the universe in his own sandbox will be the most fulfilling thing.
     
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  4. MarcJordan

    MarcJordan Force Ghost star 4

    Registered:
    Nov 17, 2014
    Saw both with my dad as well. :D (not on the same day though). [face_peace]

    MJ
     
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  5. Luke'sSeveredHand

    Luke'sSeveredHand Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jul 21, 2014
    Oooh look at @PymParticles bringing the heat with these threads -- great idea!

    My first Star Wars memories are from the late 80s and are of playing with my 16 y/o uncle's star destroyer model and watching Return of the Jedi at daycare, but all I really remember is the Jabbas Palace sequence and the ewoks. My first "THIS IS THE BEST MOVIE OF ALL TIME I MUST HAVE ALL THE THINGS" moment must have been the 15 year anniversary (if I remember correctly, was that a thing?) special they did on SciFi with Carrie Fisher presenting all the films/sharing stories from production -- Empire was the first of the movies I watched from start to finish and remains my favorite to this day. I remember scouring TV Guide so I could record them all to VHS. I must have watched those bootleg copies 100 times until they re-released the movies in 1995 or 96? Then I remember finally getting to see all of the movies in the theater during the Special Edition run. My step dad took me out of school to see A New Hope (or either it was a half day towards the end of the year...I don't rightly recall). Then came the second wave toy and video game blitz that lasted throughout the PT through my first or second year of college.

    But the absolute coolest thing related to the films I've experienced (on top of meeting Mark Hamill and getting to "fly" the Falcon in Harrods during Celebration a few years back) was introducing my sister to the saga and the look on her face when Vader said the immortal words. The only thing that could possibly top that would be experiencing the same with my son, supposing he enjoys the films as we do.
     
    Last edited: Apr 18, 2018
  6. wobbits

    wobbits Force Ghost star 4

    Registered:
    Apr 12, 2017
    I wore out my original vhs copies and lucked out with the 97 release of the gold box set.
     
  7. PymParticles

    PymParticles Manager Emeritus star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Oct 1, 2014
    I still fire up Rogue Squadron every time I go home for the holidays. I also have a copy of Shadows of the Empire that I play whenever the cartridge decides to work, which is like once out of every ten attempts.
     
  8. Luke'sSeveredHand

    Luke'sSeveredHand Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jul 21, 2014
    I had those as well; my prized birthday present that year -- the gold box was the "formatted for your TV" version and the silver box was letterbox, right?
     
  9. wobbits

    wobbits Force Ghost star 4

    Registered:
    Apr 12, 2017
    I believe so, I only had the gold box.
     
  10. Luke'sSeveredHand

    Luke'sSeveredHand Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jul 21, 2014
    Me too.
     
  11. TCF-1138

    TCF-1138 Anthology/Fan Films/NSA Mod & Ewok Enthusiast star 6 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Sep 20, 2002
    I bought Shadows of the Empire at GOG a couple of weeks back. I had totally forgotten about that; I need to play it some day. Great game!
     
  12. EHT

    EHT Manager Emeritus star 7 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Sep 13, 2007
    Lame. I had the silver letterbox ("widescreen") version. :p
     
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  13. Darth Chiznuk

    Darth Chiznuk Superninja of Future Films star 8 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Oct 31, 2012
    Lame. I still have both! :p
     
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  14. Deanna Montgomery

    Deanna Montgomery Jedi Master star 1

    Registered:
    Oct 3, 2014
    I was ten years old in summer 1977, and my parents took me to the drive in to see SW for the first time. There is nothing like seeing the Death Star Luke/X-Wing scene against the backdrop of a dark, starry sky. I've been addicted ever since, and now, so is my son. I in turn took him to see ROTS at the very same drive in I saw ANH so long ago. Ahh good times.
     
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  15. themoth

    themoth Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Dec 5, 2015
    Watching the trilogy for the first time, via the special editions. Pure magic.
     
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  16. rpeugh

    rpeugh Force Ghost star 4

    Registered:
    Apr 10, 2002
    1. Playing Super Star Wars for the Super Nintendo for the first time in Dec. of 1992. I was 13 years old. I was a big video game fanatic, but I was at most a casual fan of Star Wars. I had seen EMPIRE and JEDI at least twice and A NEW HOPE at least once. Some on t.v., some rented on VHS. Even though it had been a long time since I had seen A NEW HOPE, I could tell that the video game was doing a good job of creating the atmosphere of the movie. Up until that point, movie adapted video games just didn't feel like the movies they were supposed to be adapted from. There were some good ones at the arcade like Terminator 2, Robocop, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (based on the 80s cartoon series). But nothing for the home game console. Super Star Wars was the first. After playing the video game, I had to go out and buy the entire original trilogy on VHS the very next day. Watching A NEW HOPE for the first time in years and seeing how it matched up with the Super Star Wars video game was a real treat. (One of the reasons I'm such a big defender of the Special Edition is because it opened up Mos Eisley and A NEW HOPE in general the way that Super Star Wars did.) I then had to watch the rest of the trilogy that very same night. That might have been the first time I had done a trilogy marathon in one night. I then became a big fan of Star Wars. As you can imagine I was salivating for Super EMPIRE and Super JEDI the following years.

    2. Seeing The Phantom Menace in the theater for the first time. I was 19 years old and I had had a falling out with Star Wars. I was not looking forward to the prequels and thought they would be at best underwhelming. I didn't understand the point of making prequels or telling the story of how Anakin became Darth Vader or how that would be inspiring. I didn't understand how that would work with 90s filmmaking technology when these movies take place 30 years before movies that were made in the early 80s. The release of the movie had snuck up on me and I didn't see it until a week after opening day. But I ended up loving it and being blown away. Some how George Lucas had taken 90s filmmaking techniques and made it work for Star Wars. It was the same but different in all the correct ways. The politics made it feel authentic the same way the World War 2 style space dog fights in the Battle of Yavin made A NEW HOPE feel authentic. The more colorful and pristine aesthetic and the more melancholy atmosphere made the fall of Anakin Skywalker seem much more interesting all of a sudden. Imagine how you feel when you go to see any movie that you don't think will be good and you end up being pleasantly surprised at how good it is. Imagine how great that feeling must be with The Phantom Menace or any Star Wars movie. I then had to go buy the Special Editions of the Original Trilogy on VHS (which I had not bought yet because I assumed they would soon be released on dvd) because I wanted to remember how digital technology had improved the effects of the original trilogy and I wanted to compare it to the awesome digital effects of The Phantom Menace. I then became an even bigger fan of Star Wars.
     
    Last edited: Apr 24, 2018
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  17. Blobofat

    Blobofat Chosen One star 8

    Registered:
    Dec 15, 2000
    41 years of pure escapist pleasure. Since seeing the original SW as a wide-eyed 4 year old, it's kept me young at heart and the core subjects of love, compassion, diversity, family and friendship remain as important to me as always. Don't give up hope even when life's throwing you curveballs.
     
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  18. SHAD0W-JEDI

    SHAD0W-JEDI Force Ghost star 4

    Registered:
    May 20, 2002
    Its hard for me to choose "my favorite", but I do have one that comes to mind often, and never fails to make me grin....

    I was at a midnight showing of REVENGE OF THE SITH, opening night. I think most of us were pretty well convinced this was "it". Not that there wouldn't ever be any more SW projects, but that this was going to be the last "real" SW movie. Walking up the the theater, saw a number of illuminated light sabers in the hands of various fans headed for the theater. Entering the lobby, saw a number of people in SW costumes. Others were "just" wearing SW T shirts. The demographics were all over the place...old, young, etc. I thought back on the various "opening nights" I had been to, I thought back to seeing the ANH in the theater, I just kind of took it all in, thought of the whole long experience of discovering and enjoying SW over the years, and how all these people and so many more had had their own similar but unique journeys. And now, here we were, at one "last" midnight opening (HA - little did we know... another Jedi-ism buried in here somewhere, I think..). It felt great - maybe a touch of melancholy at something so awesome coming to an end, but mostly, it felt great. Always smile thinking back on it.
     
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  19. Bor Mullet

    Bor Mullet Force Ghost star 7

    Registered:
    Apr 6, 2018
    When I realized that my cousin, who had borrowed my Jabba toy for a few weeks, had chewed one of his hands off.
     
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  20. Jcuk

    Jcuk Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Mar 16, 2013
    Taking the day off school in ‘83 to go see ROTJ with my dad at the Odeon in Leicester Square
     
  21. EHT

    EHT Manager Emeritus star 7 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Sep 13, 2007
    One of Jabba’s hands, or one of his own hands?
     
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  22. IlhamKamaruddin

    IlhamKamaruddin Jedi Master star 2

    Registered:
    Nov 29, 2017
    My first and favourite Star Wars cinema experience was for The Force Awakens, 17 November ( Thursday ) 2015, going to the mall in the morning. Went to Uniqlo to buy a Star Wars shirt to accompany the experience, and just could not imagine, that after being a fan for years, this is my first time watching a new Star Wars film in the cinema. I was too small when the Prequels came out and let's just not talk about the Originals. When the Opening Title came out, the audience just erupted, and I knew at that very moment, I'm home. :)

    Plus, people were clapping and cheering when Han and Chewie stepped on the Falcon, and Leia being revealed. Luke, everyone was speechless just like him. It was a new beginning, and the movie brought in many first's for me ( Luke, Leia, Han, Chewie on the big screen )

    My second favourite is The Last Jedi. Why? First time seeing Yoda back! Luke back in action and his arc is very inspiring. The Last Jedi challenged me, in many ways and still in my mind and still it, challenging what I know.

    I am just really proud of being able to be living in this very moment and having Star Wars films every year, till the 2030s, which have covered my time in Year 6, now in High School, hopefully later on in college, work, and marriage? Hoping for the best and more Star Wars memories.
     
    Last edited: Apr 27, 2018
  23. MarcJordan

    MarcJordan Force Ghost star 4

    Registered:
    Nov 17, 2014
    1977, 1980, 1983, 1999, 2017

    It'll take maybe 3 books to talk about the above. So I'll leave it at that. :D

    MJ
     
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  24. themoth

    themoth Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Dec 5, 2015
    Seeing TFA was a special moment for me. It rekindled a fandom that had been dormant for too long.
     
  25. Bor Mullet

    Bor Mullet Force Ghost star 7

    Registered:
    Apr 6, 2018
    Jabba's. At least, that's how I remembered it...
     
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