海角大神

As one might expect, watching the original 鈥�Star Wars鈥� trilogy as an adult is different than watching it when you鈥檙e a kid.

I鈥檓 part of a generation that didn鈥檛 see the original three movies in theaters, but instead viewed them at home on VHS for the first time. For me, going to see a 鈥淪tar Wars鈥� movie in theaters didn't mean seeing Mark Hamill or Harrison Ford again 鈥� it meant getting hopes built up, then being disappointed and saying, 鈥淢aybe the next one will be better.鈥� (It was not.)

Watching the original three at home happened during a time before we knew what midi-chlorians were, is what I'm saying.

At this point, I don鈥檛 even remember when I first saw the original trilogy, which also means that, to my disappointment, I don鈥檛 remember when I found out one of cinema鈥檚 best twists, that Darth Vader was Luke鈥檚 father. Similarly, anytime I watched it, Obi-Wan Kenobi鈥檚 death at the end of 鈥�Star Wars: A New Hope鈥� was not of huge concern to me. I knew he would be back, surrounded by blue light, pretty soon, anyway.

While I鈥檝e watched the first trilogy many more times since, as a teenager and an adult, I do remember some first impressions and misunderstandings that arose when I first watched the original three 鈥淪tar Wars鈥� movies. Here are a few memories.

鈥揥hen we first started watching the movies, my little sister was too young to be able to read the opening crawls that begin every 鈥淪tar Wars鈥� movie, so my parents or I would help her out by reading them out loud to her. This would start out leisurely, then lead to us talking more and more quickly to try to read all of it because the VHS format squashed the text, meaning you鈥檇 be halfway through a line before it would disappear. To this day, I automatically start reading the crawl at the beginning of the movie out loud before remembering that my twenty-something friends are probably capable of scanning it themselves.

鈥揑 adored Yoda, but his 鈥淓mpire鈥� training with Luke, replete with philosophy and mind-over-matter, was a little much for me at that age, so I usually sat impatiently through those sections while waiting for the movie to get back to that funny C-3PO and Han Solo鈥檚 wisecracking.

鈥揥hen I was in first grade, we were allowed to choose a bonus spelling word that could be anything we wanted. I chose the name "Millennium Falcon."

鈥揥hile I don鈥檛 remember being scared by anything particular in 鈥淪tar Wars," I unintentionally frightened my best friend at the time, who was also six years old, when I brought 鈥�Return of the Jedi鈥� for a sleepover at her house. We only made it a half-hour into the movie 鈥� Jabba the Hutt was too scary and it was turned off.

鈥揗ore verbose jokes often went straight over my head. When Han Solo lamented that during the time he鈥檇 been frozen in carbonite, everyone had gotten 鈥渄elusions of grandeur,鈥� I had no idea what he meant until maybe age 13.

鈥揂s I鈥檝e previously mentioned, during an early viewing my mother comforted my sister, distraught over an Ewok that got shot in 鈥淩eturn of the Jedi,鈥� by telling her it was 鈥渙nly sleeping.鈥� By this point, I was a worldly-wise older sister and figured the Ewok had bitten the dust, but graciously decided not to disabuse my sister of this notion.

鈥揈ven when I was little, I thought Leia telling Han Solo 鈥淗old me鈥� in 鈥淩eturn of the Jedi鈥� was cheesy.

鈥揃ecause we originally watched the movies on VHS copies whose cardboard cases are now almost completely destroyed, I was never subjected to an ending where Hayden Christensen popped up to hang out with an elderly Yoda and Alec Guinness at the end of 鈥淩eturn of the Jedi.鈥�