Star Wars is 35 Years Old Today

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I was 6 when I saw Star Wars on opening day. We went to go see it at the Fashion Island Edwards Theater in Newport Beach, CA, which was one of the largest screens on the West Coast at the time. I remember being irritated that my summer day was being interrupted by "some movie."
I can still remember the cold air on my feet from the a/c in the theater, just waiting, then looking up at the music started and that scroll, then the Star Destroyer flying over my head. Space, explosions, robots, a new world. It was seared into my brain and I have been a sci-fi geek ever since.

It was life changing moment for me and I try to keep that feeling of wonder alive everyday.
 
Suairyu said:
Yes. I recently re-watched the original trilogy on DVD. It was the only one I thought stood up as a decent film.
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All three are golden. Have watched them dozens of time. I can understand why Empire gets the most votes but they are all great. Episode 4 is worth it due to the great performance of Alex Guinness and the Deathstar battle alone. Wonderful stuff.
 
Darth Pinche said:
I was 6 when I saw Star Wars on opening day. We went to go see it at the Fashion Island Edwards Theater in Newport Beach, CA, which was one of the largest screens on the West Coast at the time. I remember being irritated that my summer day was being interrupted by "some movie."
I can still remember the cold air on my feet from the a/c in the theater, just waiting, then looking up at the music started and that scroll, then the Star Destroyer flying over my head. Space, explosions, robots, a new world. It was seared into my brain and I have been a sci-fi geek ever since.

It was life changing moment for me and I try to keep that feeling of wonder alive everyday.
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Same here. It was a life changing event. No other film has had that effect on me. Not even close.

I'm a grown man with a wife and kids and I still want my own R2 unit.
 
I didn't see it in its first run, as my parents didn't take us to movies at the time. I did see ESB and all the others in their first runs.
 
Star Wars truly has one of the greatest, if not the greatest OST of all time. John Williams is a god.

The Imperial March has to be the most memorable theme songs ever.
 
IceCold said:
Star Wars truly has one of the greatest, if not the greatest OST of all time. John Williams is a god.

The Imperial March has to be the most memorable theme songs ever.
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It can be played at sporting events as no one blinks an eye. Not sure if there's another similar theme with the same presence.
 
IceCold said:
Star Wars truly has one of the greatest, if not the greatest OST of all time. John Williams is a god.

The Imperial March has to be the most memorable theme songs ever.
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I am not arguing against it, but he did get a LOT of inspiration from classical pieces.

Still really beautiful OST.
 
thecouncil said:
you missed the series best song:
Across the Stars

...though no fault of yours. if youd listed the good songs from the series, it would be nearly ALL of the songs.
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Agreed. And you'll get no hate here for posting the PT. Some of the PT is the best SW music, haters gonna hate.

The end credits of Revenge, when the song subtly switches to Luke's theme, then Leia's, had me tear up. I fucking teared up during credits - who does that...


Khold said:
I like A New Hope more than ESB, just a tad.

Both are great films to me
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I have my moments.

Empire is just an awesome gritty space opera with great twists and turns.

Star Wars is an adventure film with a flawless pace.

It's like comparing a great adventure film against a great period drama. Both are equal, but for different reasons.
 
I would say that The Matrix and Terminator 2 were the two other sci fi movies that rocked me as much as The Empire Strikes Back.
 
Cheebo said:
Not happening. His daughter who he is grooming to take over Lucasfilm after he retires/dies is Christopher Tolkien level devoted to her dad and his vision of the franchise. She got very VERY upset on Twitter when the changes to the blu-ray got attacked and is pretty adamant about her dad's vision being the only thing that matters. She takes this stuff pretty damn personally.
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Yea I saw that too. Don't have high hopes for anything good coming from it. She seems totally brainwashed. Wish Lucas never, ever made the prequels. One of those cases of be careful what you wish for I guess ....
 
Cheebo said:
Not happening. His daughter who he is grooming to take over Lucasfilm after he retires/dies is Christopher Tolkien level devoted to her dad and his vision of the franchise. She got very VERY upset on Twitter when the changes to the blu-ray got attacked and is pretty adamant about her dad's vision being the only thing that matters. She takes this stuff pretty damn personally.
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What does defending your father have to do with anything?

The episodes of the Clone Wars that she has written have also been excellent and some of the best of the series. If anything she understands Star Wars better than her father. Her taking charge would be for the best than a faceless studio taking it and further running it into the ground.
 
Was born 9 days later but this meant I was probably 4 or 5 when it first screened on uk tv. I remember when return of the Jedi was released my dad surprised me and my brother with tickets to go to a special showing of the three films all in one go. That night was fucking awesome.

Also remember empire getting its first tv showing and my mum coming in at every advert break with a tray with treats on it and a torch pretending to be a cinema ice cream lady.

These films were my life for a good ten years, then again in my late teen and still really important to me.
 
Magnus said:
On May 25, 1977, a date on which I'm sure many of us weren't even yet born, one of the greatest fictional universes ever envisioned came into existence. Wax nostalgic with me; even if we only saw it many years later, it was still a part of many of our childhoods!

And for the benefit of us young-ins...did anyone here go see this opening weekend, or when it was originally in theatres at all in '77? Stories!
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Speak for yourself. :/ I saw it in theaters. I was probably six at the time. I honestly think it was the first movie I ever saw in a theater. It was me, my father and younger brother. Not only did it have an impact on me at that age because of it being my first movie seen in a theater, but also because of what I was watching onscreen. I was instantly blown away with the franchise.

Since my dad passed away going on 11 years, it's also one of my fondest memories of him. The series may have fallen from grace a bit, I still have a soft spot for the movies. They set in motion my love for sci-fi movies along with similar genres like comic book hero movies.

Bulbo Urethral Baggins said:
People who weren't alive at the time simply can't understand the enormity of that movie when it came out and the cultural influence it had. There has been nothing even remotely close to it since. Star Wars was my childhood.
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This post pretty much speaks for me as far as the impact these movies had on me as a child.
 
Speaking of reliving childhood movie memories, the Alamo Drafthouse Theaters (a mainstain in Austin, TX and some other cities) are having a 30th anniversary tribute to the films from the summer of 1982. They're replaying each of them on the same opening weekend that they came out back then. Here's the line-up:

http://drafthouse.com/1982

Some of films include Conan the Barbarian, Road Warrior, Wraith of Kahn, etc.

When I see the list I'm transported back to my childhood as well. :)
 
Was only 7 when I saw it in theaters. Don't really remember much. The Empire Strikes Back is the one that really made an impression on me. One of the best days of my young life. Still probably the best movie experience i've ever had.
 
Solo said:
I don't debate this. I debate the quality of the actual movies.
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I agree that the movies are flawed (the dialogue, for example, is often cringeworthy), but they clearly did something right to have such an enormous and enduring impact on popular culture.

And this isn't just a matter of appealing to dumb shits like the ones who line up to spend a collective $400 million on Bayformers -- a lot of really smart, creative people (or kids who ultimately became really smart and creative) were profoundly influenced by the original trilogy.
 
purple cobra said:
Speak for yourself. :/ I saw it in theaters. I was probably six at the time. I honestly think it was the first movie I ever saw in a theater. It was me, my father and younger brother. Not only did it have an impact on me at that age because of it being my first movie seen in a theater, but also because of what I was watching onscreen. I was instantly blown away with the franchise.
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I'm sorry! lol. I based that on a quick mental callback to a thread last year where GAF's median (or average?) age was determined to be like, 22 or something, which made me feel old.
 
Historic day indeed.

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Two things.

1)That opening scene of the Empire Capital ship in episode 4 STILL blows my fucking mind. I can't even BEGIN to imagine how audiences of 1977 must've felt.

2)If I could do one thing by going back in time, no doubt I would want to go to EVERY theater I could just to watch the reaction to the plot twist in Empire Strikes Back.
 
Wow at that Mars symphony. It sounds like all of modern action cinema scoring was derived from that one song.

What I don't understand is why they don't just throw the original version on the blu ray as a throwaway special feature. Just bury it in the menu, put it back out there, and make everyone happy. I felt this weird subtext in the last movie when all the jedi were getting wiped out, thinking that was George's burning desire to destroy all the old star wars prints slipping out in his writing.
 
eggsnbaken said:
Was only 7 when I saw it in theaters. Don't really remember much. The Empire Strikes Back is the one that really made an impression on me. One of the best days of my young life. Still probably the best movie experience i've ever had.
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Same for me -- I won't say that Empire is the best movie I've seen (that would be absurd), but it was my favorite movie theater experience.
 
Somehow the first one I saw was RotJ SE in 1997. Had no idea what was happening but still enjoyed it. The original trilogy appeals in the same way that Indiana Jones does: it's good wholesome pulp.

The prequels are god awful though.
 
Wow, this calls for me to re-watch both trilogies.

Was first exposed to Star Wars with Episode One. I'm young, okay? Don't judge :(
 
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