Gaming & Culture

Growing Up Star Wars

By Matt Selman | January 10, 2009 | +

(WARNING:  THE FOLLOWING POST IS RATED “M” FOR MAWKISH)
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Looking for a hardcore dose of un-ironic Star Wars nostalgia?  Want to remember what young-you felt for Star Wars, before Jar Jar, Jango and Jedi Younglings?   Before the 800 million billion Star Wars parodies where the only joke was that something not Star Wars said something from Star Wars?
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This flickr slideshow will make you forget everything terrible that happened after the Ewoks’ original Yub Yub song played its final notes.
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These pictures really do seem like they are from a long time ago in a galaxy far far away.  Were these shot during the 1980s or 1940s?  There is a lot of genuine emotion in these photos.  Do kids today love Power Rangers and Pokemon as much as the photostream kids loved Star Wars, with such pure and overwhelming adoration?  Call me old, but I think not.
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As we watched this stream in the Simpsons writers’ room, there was no snideness, or crapping on these photos.  Only deep, private personal affection.  I think I even saw one of the writers tearing up.  I just hope it wasn’t me.

Related Topics: movies, star wars, Gaming & Culture
  • thepagandaddy

    I forgot I was watching football for a moment there. I can see my daughters and my own enthusiasm in those pictures. Our little family making her Jawa Halloween costume this year was the best. My wife told her a couple of times how lucky she was to have a Geek for a dad. But I think it’s more of a honor to have a Geeky 5 year old who wants to be a Jawa for a daughter.http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewImage&friendID=104280830&albumID=2310162&imageID=34522325

  • pattiofdarkstar

    Yeah- those were def “the good ole days”!
    I had just married and all of my new nieces and nephews were calling ME Princess Leia!
    (I had long brown hair- which ended up wrapped around my ears for a while!!!)
    They loved it because I was goofy enough to play Star Wars w/ them…it was great fun…my
    95# German Shepherd got to “be” Chewbacca, as well…
    (Geeks Rule!!)

  • paxadm

    Ahh man, I forgot about my Return of the Jedi bed sheets! I’m also happy to note that my mom wasn’t the only one weird enough to take photos while we were sleeping.

    Seriously, we have these exact same photos somewhere – me freaking out over my ewok village on christmas, the Darth Vader birthday cake that my mom made for my brother with the icing that turned everybody’s mouths blue…this is great. Even the living room carpet, the brick fireplaces, the dining room tables, the church rec-rooms, they’re all the same! Thanks for posting.

  • fonaza

    I remember the endless wait for the next Star Wars movie, which was supposed to come out in 1986, but never did. Remember that? The Prequel Trilogy was supposed to be released in ’86, ’89, and ’92, and then the big finale trilogy was supposed to come out in ’95, ’98, and ’01. There wasn’t an internet and SF reporting was pretty spotty back then (Damn Starlog!), so I didn’t get concerned that nothing leaked out about the new production for ’86 – I mean, fairly little leaked out anyway in those days.

    And it never came. And then 1987 began, and I started to realize how awful “Return of the Jedi” really was…and it’s been downhill ever since.

  • http://www.kemple.us/2009/01/growing-up-star-wars Kemple.us » Post Topic » Growing Up Star Wars

    [...] a couple of days ago did a little feature called “Growing Up Star Wars” The article itself wasn’t anything too special, but they also included a photo album with [...]

  • fonaza

    This is like the nicest, sweetest, least-snarky thing ever posted on this blog, and I can’t believe no one has anything more to say about it. Geez.

    Oh: LAST!

  • http://www.carpetcca.com alexandriacarpetone

    Yep.
    When I was 10, my mom rigged up a cheesey R2D2 costume for halloween.
    She did her best… if I can find a picture it’ll generate much mirth.bloggit

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    [...] Matt Selman's Growing Up Star Wars [...]

  • tereglith

    Wow, your guys’s blog gets commented on by itself… I’m a bit scared…

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