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May 21 2020
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40 Years !!!! Can you believe it ? The BEST of ALL the Star Wars films, in my opinion, was released 40 years ago today. It’s hard to believe especially when you were there to experience it. I am SO OLD 🙂
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I was lucky enough to be a kid during the original trilogy release, and feel so lucky I got to experience this first hand, before the special editions, and when movie audiences had an energy to them, an excitement you could feel while waiting 1 hour in line to get your ticket and then another 2 before the next showing started. No reserved seats back then, if you wanted a guaranteed good spot, you had to go buy your ticket way before your show started. X
It was such a great time I remember it like it was yesterday. Mom took myself and my great friend Natalie to the noon showing on opening day. We arrived at the theater, I was running ahead of everyone wanting to be sure not one extra person got a ticket in front of me 😛 We turned the corner and I was SOOOO HAPPY. There was only 4 people ahead of us – OOOOO We’re gonna get such GREAT SEATS !!! Then we give our tickets to the usher at the main entrance, he looks at the ticket and says “it’s NOT TIME to ENETER just yet, please take the elevator to the roof” Turns out the cinema lobby was too small to have a queue so they made the queue on the roof, ok, at least it’s not raining 🙂X
So we get in and press the roof button, the doors open and WHAT ? NOOOOOOOOO, I start to want to cry, there is a HUUUUUGE Line up of about 300 people ahead of us LOL. My dreams for good seats were crushed. I knew we should have come 2 hours before 😛 Well, after the crush of not being in the front of the line, it was time to wait the 90 minutes before we would be aloowed to enter and as I predicted, had to sit way way back on the side seats. Not Ideal but we were at the FIRST EVER SHOW. I had waited 3 years to see this and I was ready for more Star Wars…X
The lights dimmed, the Fox Fanfare played and then A long time ago… Star Wars Episode V – The audience was on fire, cheering and clapping. I was 16 at the time, and had seen Star Wars at least 20 times during the summer of 1977, and being LONG BEFORE the INTERNET, I had NO IDEA what to expect. Needless to say I was BLOWN AWAY. Hoth, Bespin, Dagobah, it was all so different and all sooooo cool. And then the ending…. Han Frozen, so sad, VADER WHAT ? WHOLY CACA !!!! No one saw THAT coming and EVERYONE GASPED in the audience, and then the HARDEST PART… NOOOOO – Now we have to WAIT 3 YEARS !!!! To find out what happens next !!!! 🙁 Thankfully that would be somewhat relieved by returning to the cinema to see Empire at least another 8-9 times to ease the pain LOL.X
I have to thank my mom for introducing me to her love of Science Fiction, Star trek, UFO, Space 1999, Planet of the apes, Sinbad, Logan’s Run. She is no longer with us for a long while now, but THAT DAY – back in 1980 remains one of my BEST and FAVE memories of her being the BEST MOM EVER. X
Happy Anniversary Empire Strikes Back. Nothing will EVER compare.
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