My first encounter with Star Wars

I remember being in the back of the car on the way home from town one saturday after we'd been shopping. Let's face it, I was 9, and shopping was THE most boring thing I could do. The car was an old Vauxhall Viva and it was 1977. Dad had the radio on in the front of the car, and they were talking about this film that was in the cinema, something called Star Wars, and then they played the music from it. I remember Dad looking back at me and asking if I wanted to see it. To give you some background I loved things like Doctor Who and the Tomorrow People (the seventies versions) and I'm sure by then I had caught some Star Trek, but I can't be sure.

Excitement mounts –
the queue to see Star Wars at the original
 Odeon cinema in Elmer Approach, Southend
Of course I wanted to go and see the film, and given my dad was who I'd inherited my love of Sci-Fi from, it was more likely that Dad wanted to go and wanted to take me as an excuse.

I remember queuing around the block at Southend Odeon for hours to get in, and I certainly recall being blown away by the simple film of good versus evil and heroes, villains, and of the CLEAR romance between Luke and Leia...

Sue me, I was 9. They kissed. Right?

I never looked back, loved Empire, and oh my god, the moment it was revealed that Vader was Luke's father... GAH... of course by the time I watched Jedi, I was 15 and could see it was much more than just a simple story of good versus evil.

I can not believe it's been 40 years...


1 comment

  1. Oh good grief - I feel so old now; I was 22 in 1975. :-) I'm a big Star Trek fan but it took me a little while to warm up to Star Wars. While I will never be as big of a fan as I am of all things Trek I do enjoy Star Wars and have seen all of the movies.

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