As I sit on my couch and watch Season 1 of Star Wars: The Clone Wars I’m reminded why I love this fabled franchise. Not that I really like The Clone Wars, which I’m watching for the first time as I write this as I’ve heard some negative things, but I’m willing to give it a chance. After all, it’s the only continuation of the Star Wars universe in moving picture form. No, I love Star Wars for many other reasons.
As a kid, I must have watched the original trilogy on VHS that was purchased at Costco every weekend for a couple of years. To this day, I stand behind my decision that ROTJ is the best movie in the entire franchise. Maybe it’s the adorable ewoks or Luke’s green lightsaber and all-black getup; I don’t really know nor do I care. Episodes IV-VI are the only movies I can watch over and over again without getting bored and I’ve seen each a few hundred times. If not more. I loved those movies as a kid and I still love them as an adult. But I can’t explain why.
It was more than just the movies, I think. It consumed my entire childhood. My brother went as Luke one Halloween and I think I tagged along as a wannabe C-3PO or R2-D2 – I was a green robot of some sort, so who knows. I was jealous of his ROTJ cloak. I secretly still want it.
I still feel extreme guilt for losing and/or destroying my brother’s collection of original Kenner Star Wars action figures. He had the whole shebang or pretty damn close to it. (Sorry, dude. When I’m rich and famous, I’ll buy the entire collection for you. Promise.) I spent countless hours recreating the Battle of Hoth with AT-ATs and wampas and everything in between. What I wouldn’t give for an original T-47 again. Godammit, I loved that thing. *checks eBay* Kids immerse themselves in a fantasy worlds with toys all the time but Star Wars was the only one I could really get into. Nothing else compared. Hell, I find myself tinkering with today’s Star Wars LEGO sets and Hasbro toys when no one is looking. I proudly show off my Mimico SW thumbdrives any chance I get. I have Lobot, do you? And both Darth Vader variants!
After Comic-Con I fulfilled one of my boyhood fantasies by visiting Skywalker Ranch, Big Rock and the Presidio campus. It’s cliché to say that I felt like a kid in a candy store but I really did. I couldn’t stop smiling after my visit to the Presidio and seeing the statue of Yoda. I’ve seen a lot of neat things, traveled to a lot of cool places and met a lot of famous people because of my job, but nothing holds a candle to last week’s trip. I spent a lot of time with the folks at LucasArts, Lucasfilm Animation and Lucasfilm and I’ll be sharing the things I saw with all of you over the course of this month. Everyone at Techland will be sharing memories and stories involving the movies, TV shows, video games, toys, comic books, EU books and everything in between. And we’ll have plenty of giveaways, too! We hope you enjoy everything we have to share and if you’re celebrating Empire Strikes Back’s 30th anniversary at Celebration V next week in Orlando let us know. We’ll make it worth your while.
And to kick things off is Seth McFarlane with a special message. We also have five sets of DVD and/or Blu-ray bundles of the first two episodes of Family Guy’s Star Wars spoofs: Family Guy Presents: Blue Harvest and Family Guy Presents: Something, Something, Something, Dark Side courtesy of Fox to give away. The third installment, Family Guy It’s a Trap won’t be out until December. For a chance to win follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook. But that’s not all. @ us on Twitter with your best Yoda pick up line with the hashtag #starwars and #yodapickuplines. These must be original since we have droids monitoring the Interwebs. For those of you on Facebook, comment on this post with your best wookieleak. And for those commenting on the site, tell us about your fondest Star Wars memory.
May the Force be with you, nerd.