A Long Time Ago in a Theater Far Far Away
In my daily scouring of the internet, I came upon a news announcement regarding the release of yet another version of Star Wars. Two reasons why this caught my fancy was I grew up on this movie and an internal thought, How many versions have they released already?
It just may be closing in on the Bond series for the most different versions the studio can come up with to get the fan base to fork out more money on something they already own, multiple times. At last count I do believe this may make 6 or 7 versions of Star Wars that has been released.
In most cases a new release usually has something more or extra added to make the fan (or uber-geek) need to own this version. The uniqueness of this release is that the film makers have decided to release the original theatrical version of Star Wars in it’s basic form. Nothing special added, no fancy effects. Just the basic movie. The really sad part is they will probably still sell a crap load of them.
But in learning all this I thought back to the very first time I ever saw Star Wars on the big screen and the excitement it brought.
It was a warm night in Vancouver, B.C. on May 27, 1977, or should I say late afternoon. Star Wars had just opened on Friday and by Sunday night, (late afternoon), the frenzy was well underway. My parents decided to see what all the hype was about and since my father never gave into hype of any type, we all went to the theater.
Now being a young lad of almost 13 years of age, I was in awe of the quantity of people lined up already. Past movie experiences had not had this much buzz or hype. I personally don’t think there was much of a line up for Herbie The Love bug or The Apple Dumpling Gang releases.
Thankfully we had the good fortune of having Star Wars come to a theater that both my Mother and Grand Father had worked in. Knowing that the manager was still and being a very good family friend, there we were able to bypass the incredible line-up and proceed directly into the theater for the first show of the night. What we didn't know was close to 600 people had already entered the theater before us and this left us with only two choices for seats, at the extreme front, or the very back of the balcony. The kids out voted the parents 3 votes to 2 for the front. Unfortunately for the kids, parents get double votes. We sat at the back.
Now the Dunbar theater was one of those classic long throw theaters that had a balcony. Not very wide, it still held about 700 people. The place was all abuzz with excitement. Popcorn was being consumed with eager anticipation of the movie to come and there wasn’t a spare seat in the place. As I sat at the very back I could just barely see the whole screen. The bottom being cut off by a gigantic head, (back then all adults heads were gigantic). So I stood up and sat on a wall behind the last seats. Now I could see the whole screen. Then the theater dimmed, the screen curtain opened and the audience let out a deafening scream of excitement.
Now I am not one to bore you of the minor details of what trailers played but then again I don’t remember. I know there was no damn commercials that’s for sure. But I do believe I started in on a new chapter of my life when the opening bars of the main theme accompanied by the emblazed Star Wars logo came across the screen. You could see everyone reading the scroll and then the pan down to the Tatooine planet lulled us into a sense of calm.
Then it hit.
One of the greatest moment in cinematic history. The Star Destroyer coming over from the top of the screen. From that moment on, Earth did not exist. I have been transported to a new place. I had nothing here now, I needed to come with Ben and learn the ways of the Force.
Unfortunately the movie had to end and us poor Earth bound souls had to vacate the theater. As I left I walked by all the eager souls who stood in what was by far the longest line-up I had ever seen. How little I knew that this was only the beginning of the line-ups.
The summer of Star Wars had begun and I had to go back to school the next day.
Thankfully it was only a half a day. So I promptly left at noon, convinced my friend to join me on a hike and off we went to the theater once again. Not wanting to repeat the experience I opted for the front row. I was not to be out voted this time.
It was just as good the second time around, new stuff that was missed on the previous night was seen, jokes were laughed at again and the booing of Darth Vader was done. The thrill was still there and thankfully it has never left.
It just may be closing in on the Bond series for the most different versions the studio can come up with to get the fan base to fork out more money on something they already own, multiple times. At last count I do believe this may make 6 or 7 versions of Star Wars that has been released.
In most cases a new release usually has something more or extra added to make the fan (or uber-geek) need to own this version. The uniqueness of this release is that the film makers have decided to release the original theatrical version of Star Wars in it’s basic form. Nothing special added, no fancy effects. Just the basic movie. The really sad part is they will probably still sell a crap load of them.
But in learning all this I thought back to the very first time I ever saw Star Wars on the big screen and the excitement it brought.
It was a warm night in Vancouver, B.C. on May 27, 1977, or should I say late afternoon. Star Wars had just opened on Friday and by Sunday night, (late afternoon), the frenzy was well underway. My parents decided to see what all the hype was about and since my father never gave into hype of any type, we all went to the theater.
Now being a young lad of almost 13 years of age, I was in awe of the quantity of people lined up already. Past movie experiences had not had this much buzz or hype. I personally don’t think there was much of a line up for Herbie The Love bug or The Apple Dumpling Gang releases.
Thankfully we had the good fortune of having Star Wars come to a theater that both my Mother and Grand Father had worked in. Knowing that the manager was still and being a very good family friend, there we were able to bypass the incredible line-up and proceed directly into the theater for the first show of the night. What we didn't know was close to 600 people had already entered the theater before us and this left us with only two choices for seats, at the extreme front, or the very back of the balcony. The kids out voted the parents 3 votes to 2 for the front. Unfortunately for the kids, parents get double votes. We sat at the back.
Now the Dunbar theater was one of those classic long throw theaters that had a balcony. Not very wide, it still held about 700 people. The place was all abuzz with excitement. Popcorn was being consumed with eager anticipation of the movie to come and there wasn’t a spare seat in the place. As I sat at the very back I could just barely see the whole screen. The bottom being cut off by a gigantic head, (back then all adults heads were gigantic). So I stood up and sat on a wall behind the last seats. Now I could see the whole screen. Then the theater dimmed, the screen curtain opened and the audience let out a deafening scream of excitement.
Now I am not one to bore you of the minor details of what trailers played but then again I don’t remember. I know there was no damn commercials that’s for sure. But I do believe I started in on a new chapter of my life when the opening bars of the main theme accompanied by the emblazed Star Wars logo came across the screen. You could see everyone reading the scroll and then the pan down to the Tatooine planet lulled us into a sense of calm.
Then it hit.
One of the greatest moment in cinematic history. The Star Destroyer coming over from the top of the screen. From that moment on, Earth did not exist. I have been transported to a new place. I had nothing here now, I needed to come with Ben and learn the ways of the Force.
Unfortunately the movie had to end and us poor Earth bound souls had to vacate the theater. As I left I walked by all the eager souls who stood in what was by far the longest line-up I had ever seen. How little I knew that this was only the beginning of the line-ups.
The summer of Star Wars had begun and I had to go back to school the next day.
Thankfully it was only a half a day. So I promptly left at noon, convinced my friend to join me on a hike and off we went to the theater once again. Not wanting to repeat the experience I opted for the front row. I was not to be out voted this time.
It was just as good the second time around, new stuff that was missed on the previous night was seen, jokes were laughed at again and the booing of Darth Vader was done. The thrill was still there and thankfully it has never left.
posted by Spiny Norman at 10:04 PM
1 Comments:
Good one. I don't have as much a memory of that, being so much younger and all. I only have snippets of the whole experience and a vague idea of the feelings it created. But I can remember enough to identify with this post and I do remember being really far from the screen...
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