When was the first time you ever saw Star Wars IV : A New Hope ? What did you think?

To learn more about you gals and guys out there, I'm going to be asking a bunch of fun questions like this one. When, how, with whom did you see the very first Star Wars ( episode IV, A New Hope). What was your reaction to it?

Ok, me first. In 1977 I was extremely cynical in mindset at that time in my life. I was 25, and just married. Nothing could compete with 2001:A Space Odyssey. I felt I was not very interested in the fancy space opera overhype that was Star Wars. I was denying the positive power of Star Wars, and I failed to understand the lines around the block I was seeing on the TV newscasts.

I did not see A New Hope until it was re-released around the time of The Empire Strikes Back. In fact, I was a bit ununsual in that I saw The Empire Strikes Back first, before A New Hope. It was Empire Strikes Back that hooked me.

Once I saw TESB, I went to see A New Hope with my wife Paulina. It was then I understood the lure of the people to see Star Wars. A New Hope was good both as a standalone movie, and as an homage to the swashbuckling / sci-fi serials of movie archetypes.

That was when it hit me. The Star Wars series represented the old story of ultimate battle of good vs. evil, updated for modern times, told in a new and fresh way.

Now that I had the depth behind the story, I could enjoy the films on multiple levels.

 

I saw it at the Plaza Theatre over in Chapel Hill sometime during the first two weeks it came out.

I was almost 7 and fell in love immediately. I went handful more times to see it - remember in the summer in the 70s when you'd see a movie a bunch of times as a kid.

I had to have all the action figures and everything - at seven all of that was very important

I know a bit part of the early appeal to me was Princeless Leia. I was a tomboy and she seemed like the greatest.

 

Growing up we had taped ANH and ESB on a single tape and I used to watch it every once and a while, but I never got to into it and I don't know if I ever watched them all the way through.

What did it for me was when I was in 8th grade going to see the Special Editions on the big screen, I went to see them all within a week and for me that was a lot of moviegoing. I was hooked (plus I had never really seen Return Of The Jedi so it was all new to me, maybe that is why it's my favorite).

I had been down visiting my Dad in Raleigh (now I live here) and I was going to be making the trip home so I always went to the bookstore to get a book for the plane ride. Well there were huge stands of Star Wars books there and I had no idea that they existed and I knew I wanted one but had no idea which one. I ended up picking up Truce At Bakura which was a good starting point and from then on I just kept reading them, I think I've read 114 books now, and there aren't to many more to go!

~Natalie
http://www.jediquest.net

 

Well I have a very vague image of seeing SW:ANH at the drive in with my parents (I was maybe 5 at the time). The only image I really have is of stormtroopers and cruddy tin can sound.

Then when I was 6-7 Empire came out. Oh the excitement of seeing that. My older brother and I had been playing with the toys for awhile by then and went to see the movie for a friends birthday party. I remeber seeing it 1-2 more times, by telling different people I had nto seen it. And that year we got tons more figures, a Darth Vader carry case, the Rebel Base Htoh Playset, and a Snow Speeder. I however, being the youngest, got stuck with the Bespin Leia figure, how could my mother by us boys an icky girl figure???

For Jedi I went to see it first with my brother and soon to be Step-Father and a friend. It was great, back then Ewoks were cute and speeder bikes ruled. While I do not remember seeing the movie to vividly I do remember seeing the trailer (I think when I went to see Gremlins) and getting really excited at seeing Chewie swing through the air doing a Tarzan yell. I also Saw it one other time during a rerelease in 84, at the Yorktown Theaters in Durham. All the other movies were seen in my home town of Waterloo Iowa.

A few years later I had Empire and Jedi recorded from TV and loved to watch them. But my true passion for the movies started with the Toy Release in 1995 and the Special Editions (all seen at the first screening in Chesapeake VA) Actually that is a bit of a lie because the Tim Zahn trilogy that started the current novelizations peaked my intrest and I got those as they came out (When was that humble Jediquest.net web mistress?) During that time I also read the older Han Solo books (found in used book stores at that time), movie novelizations and loked for but could not find the older Lando Series.

I am done now if anyone has read this far

 

Hmm the Zahn trilogy came out about '91-92. I think I read them in 1997 or so, since I was going in chronological order, they came a little later. Heh I think I went several years of reading only Star Wars books, I thought I would never get through them all. You should now be able to find the Lando books in the bookstores since I beleive they have been reissued, but I don't recommend them. Go for the New Jedi Order Series!

I think the Expanded Universe really got me into Star Wars, the books get you into the minds of the characters and I have always been fond of reading. Plus it dosen't end, like the movies. I think that I look forward to Ep3 a lot and in a way I'm glad its 3 years away because I don't want it to be over. At least the books will carry on! As long as Lucasfilm allows RandomHouse to extend their license, I think it would be a bad move to go elsewhere or end it.

~Natalie
http://www.jediquest.net

 

I was about 4-5 years old, living in Alabama. I dont remember all of the details but I clearly remember sitting in our old yellow Pontiac at a drive-in theater. I remember sitting in the front seat next to my dad and I can still see that door exploding and a big, scary dark figure walking through. I was hooked from then on. I was so excited to when the Special Editions were released, to be able to see them on the big screen again was incredible. I really got into it because I was too young the first time around to get into all of the hype and waiting in line and everything.
It is one of the first memories that I have, and it is still a very special part of my daily life.

 

The first time I saw a portion of ANH was in a store about fourteen years ago. They were playing it on te TV displays. I think I saw the destruction of Alderaan. It was the first time I had ever seen anything blown up, so naturally, I was hooked.

I got the opportunity to see all of ANH by pure chance and generosity. My family was visiting a friend in Charlotte, and I was bored. So I was wandering around upstairs when I saw the ANH box. After some more exploration of the movie shelf, I found the other two movies.The owner of the house came up and saw me drooling over the movies. I guess he didn't want them anymore, because he gave them to me. Since then, I've watched all three movies at least 5,000,000,000 times. A year.

 

I don't remember the actual first time I saw ANH or any of the OT, but I watched them all the time when I was younger. My dad would be watching them and I'd join in. The only thing I really remember is that I hid behind a chair when Darth Vader's helmet was removed, because it was scary.

I did go to see the Special Editions when they came out in theaters.

 

I first saw the Star Wars trilogy about 13 years ago, when I was living in Myrtle Beach. My dad had rented the movies from Blockbuster, and all I can remember of my first impressions was that the movie was exciting and sparked my imagination. But the only episode I owned was ANH, previously taped off an airing on TV, and it wasn't until something like 6 years ago that i saw ROTJ for the first time since that night in myrtle beach. After that I watched the trilogy dozens of times, but what really made me a Star Wars addict was the discovery of Timothy Zahn's trilogy, and after that I started reading all the Star Wars novels as they came out, I made a Star Wars website, and started writing Star Wars fanfiction.

 

Episode IV will always be my favorite--what a perfect movie, the storytelling is so tight, the characters great, and the attack on the death star still look so incredible decades later. I still scream in anguish "NOOO!" when Ben gets sliced up!

In 1977, I was 6 years old growing up in the suburbs of Los Angeles. Back then, I remember there was only one theatre nearby that showed any of the Star Wars movies. I remember seeing Epidodes IV and VI at the same theatre (Episode V we made the special trip to UCLA to see it in 70mm). Given my age when ANH was out, I'm sure lots of the deeper plot details were over my head. But my older brother and sister and I would be singing the theme song at the top of our lungs nonstop--we only remembered the first verse or so, so would keep repeating it over and over. We also would love to re-enact the Obi-Wan/Darth fight scene using wrapping paper tubes as lightsabers. My brother and sister were more creatively inclined and would draw their own comic books with crucial scenes from the movies. We also had this great handheld video game from the 70s that was sorta like some kind of Battleship variant where you would fight tiefighters. When VCRs came out (we're talking Betamax), I remember my uncle had a bootleg copy of Ep4 and we would watch it whenever we were there for Thanksgiving.

The Trilogy always had a special place in my heart growing up...and this was rekindled when the Special Editions came out--I saw Star Wars SE at the Coronet Theatre in San Francisco, one of Lucas' favorite theatres. That was an amazing experience. Even though I had seen bits and pieces of Ep4 so many times on TV, this may have been one of the first times I'd watched it from start to finish since I was a kid. What an amazing movie, I had a whole new appreciation for it. I've probably watched Ep4 3 times in the past month or so in preparation for AOTC and I just can't get tired of it!

 

Watching the SE in the theater was cool. I remember I saw the ANH SE on opening day. The whole place was buzzing until the 20th Century Fox logo appeared. Then it got real quiet. When the main theme started, the whole place went up. Everyone was standing and cheering. It was great.

 

I don't remember how old i was...maybe 4 or 5. We had all of them on LaserDisc. I actually only saw Jedi when it originally came out in the theatre, or so my dad told me. I used to watch star wars when I was at home during the summer time every couple weeks, I loved it.

 

I'm with you, ohitsmagic. Ep4 is my fav too with Ep2 being right up there with it. Ep2 gave me that same feeling that I had when I watched the first SW movie in 1977.

The original trilogy is great and I think that TPM and AOTC has created a new generation of SW fans. My 5 year old daughter likes Queen Amidala. She also likes dueling with me with our hasbro lightsabers. She's pretty good too. Always seems to pop me once or twice on the finger. Boy, does that ever hurt.

 

When I first saw ANH I was 5 years old with two of my cousins and one of my uncles. I had seen the toys first and thought you couldn't get any cooler than the lightsabers shooting out of Darth's arm. Until I saw the movie.

The moment the Star Destroyer came across that screen I was hooked. Granted, my interest did wain somewhat during the dark years between RotJ and the Thrawn Trilogy, but ever since the SE release, I've been back on the wagon.

Since then I've seen each of the others in the same theater here in Roanoke Rapids, where I first fell in love with the series.

 

I was about 6 1/2 when I saw it first, way back in 1977. I remember being impatient as a kid having to wait in line, until I saw that famous standee of Vader flanked by two stormtroopers. I got excited when I saw that. Then, after almost getting knocked out of my seat from the Star Wars intro (while in deep thought for a 6 1/2 yr old, trying to figure what the "a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away" meant) I saw the Star Destroyer coming across the screen. And it kept going, and going, and going... and it took my fantasies right along with it, and has held them ever since!

Also, finally seeing Brians posting!!! Woohoo! (We are getting a Fan Club going elsewhere in NC as we speak! More on this soon!!!)

 

What actually got me hooked on Star Wars was a couple of things. I had seen all the movies before when I was young, but because I was so young I never really payed any attention to them. I had a few action figures here and there, nothing too big though. Then my sister met her husband around the same time that the Special Editions came out (I'm pretty sure she met him way before then but that was when we started hanging out ). One night I went with my sister and him to go see the Return of the Jedi on the big screen. I thought that was really cool since I never saw any of the other movies on the big screen. Then what really hooked me was Jimmy (my sister's husband) himself. I never met anyone as into Star Wars as he was. He had read a ton of books (although Natalie has read more than he has at this point ) and me and him just started talking about it one night. He got me to play some Star Wars Trivial Pursuit with him one night and I think that's what finally reeled me in. What got me was hanging out with him a lot. And we re-watched a bunch of movies and he explained stuff to me when I didn't understand what was going on and so forth and so on. But yeah, seeing the Special Edition and hanging out with a big Star Wars fan is what got me going.