I was born in the 70s. I don’t remember much of it, other than seeing Steve Martin live in Vegas with my parents, “Bewitched”, and a vague notion of un-ironic green shag carpet. My greatest memory from the otherwise greasy time period was undoubtedly seeing Star Wars in the theater on opening weekend. My dad and I had dropped my mom off at the airport back in the days when you could smoke on planes and walk people to their gate. We left the terminal and went straight to a movie theater to see what this space movie business was all about.
One hundred and twenty-five minutes later (no, I’m not counting the previews for whatever disco-themed movies probably ran) my brain was altered. A New Hope had grabbed my tiny imagination by the scruff and shook it for all it was worth. I saw the movie again. And again. And again.
Soon I started collecting the action figures—enough to fill TWO Darth Vader head carrying cases. My favorite was the paper shredder-shaped and oft overlooked astromech R5-D4. I liked that he was orange and that you could stand him on his head. As a kid, Jedi was my favorite of the original trilogy, because it answered everything I wanted to know and also was the most huggable. As I grew older, the darker, more intense themes of Empire resonated with me. Still, nothing could ever supplant the space on my heart-shelf for Episode 4, which widened my universe for what a movie could be.
It may be no surprise, then, to learn that getting the privilege of visiting Skywalker Ranch and be allowed to see the original EVERYTHING was a wildly emotional experience. I’ve been to MANY Cons. I’ve seen lots of R2 units and Threepios—many of them REALLY impressively constructed—but to see THE Droids…like, the ones…from the movies…was a kind of star-struck I didn’t know I had left in me (sadly, no R5). It was so crazy how an inanimate object could hold so much warmth and condensed childhood for me, but that’s what happened. It was part of a tour we were given when my business partner Peter and I pitched Course of the Force, our charity lightsaber relay that is upon us in just a few days.
I tell this little backstory to share with you my love of—and devotion to—all that is Star Wars. Currently, we’re in a sliver of time where Nerds are the cool kids. This makes me happy, as I was mercilessly tortured for being into the things I loved when I was in grade school. The upside for Nerd culture is, we now get big budget sci-fi/horror/comic book movies but the downside is that inauthentic people and companies are scrambling to capitalize on what this coveted demographic is into so they can squeeze money out of it. But I don’t work that way. I love what I love and I strive to work closely with those things.
My girlfriend’s father, John Dykstra, happens to have helped develop the FREAKING LIGHTSABER. He did the visual fx for the first film. Now I’m not saying that’s why I’m dating her, but it certainly put a big check in the “Pro” boxes.
I’ll level with you: you’re going to be seeing a lot of me hanging around this digital Cantina. Please know that I DO appreciate this gift I’ve been given. Please also know that Course of the Force is a dream come true for me. And getting to host Star Wars Celebration in August means more to me than any words I could possibly mash together.
Though I am but a Padawan and many times succumb to my emotions while finding difficulty with authority, I understand the weight of these honors and I will not let you down! Thank you reading this unsolicited mini-bio. You are nice!
Stay on target,
ch
My idol, ladies and gentlemen
That was so beautiful….
Wow, this was an amazing thing to read. I didn’t grow up in the 70’s, but even as a mid-twenty year old I feel the same love for Star Wars. My dad watched all of the original trilogy with me, and my love has only grown. I love being an original nerd, and glad our time in the spotlight has come. Awesome.
If you saw the movie on opening weekend – then you didn’t see “A New Hope”. You saw “Star Wars” because “Episode IV: A New Hope” wasn’t in the opening crawl… Let’s be accurate here!
EasyMan! I never said I saw “A New Hope” in the crawl. That is simply how I refer to the film now. It’s unfortunate (though not atypical for the Internet) that rushing to correct a mistake that wasn’t even there is what you took away from this piece. Congratulations! You just became “that guy”. [cue "Celebration" by Kool & The Gang, enter marching band flanked by dancing elephants]
unless you’re kidding. in which case, I salute you, and you STILL get the Kool & The Gang parade. Either way, you’re getting a damn parade.
My daughter and I are big Star Wars fans. As a matter of fact we just finished our movie marathon watching them all.
What a dream come true for you to have taken a passion of yours and experienced where it could take you.
May the force be with you, always!
Wonderful! So very inspirational!
I saw star wars on opening weekend too. This movie too changed my life. I loved the special effects in this movie and watched the other five movies at least on opening week. My brother had the action figures and the darth vader case( he’s 35). Star Wars was the movie that made me love special effects at an early age and even now when I go to a movie, I can’t watch it without wondering how they do a digital effect.
[...] Why: Because it’s fun. Also to benefit the Make-a-Wish Foundation. And because… well, read Chris’ ode to Star Wars over at StarWars.com and you’ll understand what it means to him. 3. When: Saturday (7/7) through Wednesday (7/11), [...]
that lightsaber creeps me out
That was beautifully written. Thanks for sharing!
Awesome job man, you deserve it!
That’s an awesome thing for ya to be able to exspirence this i hope it’s the droids you’re looking for haha may the force be with you
That was a great article. I do love Star Wars, probably wouldn’t be on this site if I didn’t. And you just can’t touch the original. Sure,I like Empire and Return and all ( got a soft spot for Gamorrean Guards) but the first one is all I ever need, it has all the best moments (well maybe except for Darth Maul’s entrance and duel, which is easily the best lightsaber fight in the saga) anyway before I ramble on too much I have sooo much love for everything in A New Hope from the cantina and poor Ponda Baba and Greedo to Vader finding others lack of faith disturbing. Best dialogue, best moments all around. Favorite movie of all time!
At Chris Hardwick, I would love to make it out to one of the Celebrations eventually. I wish they had them in California along with Star Wars weekends at Disneyland and not just at Disneyworld. Oh I recently proposed Star Wars style at Disneyland and we will be having a themed wedding. It will be quite cool and dare I say maybe a little wizard!
this year I needed something to get interested in so i tried star wars and now i consider myself an official nerd. and thats ssssooooooooo cool that you got to go to skywalker ranch!!!!
fun-fact, the death star has a .3 hyperdrive.