Date night in geek land

I’m ready.

I procured a babysitter for Friday night. (Can you procure your own mother?)

I’ve done my homework: we watched Episode I weekend before last, and rented Episode II this past weekend.

I’ve got gift certificates to cover the cost of admission and popcorn.

Hooray, I’m going to the movies!!!! (insert triumphant swelling of John Williams music here)

Not just any movie, I’m going to see Star Wars.

I love Star Wars, always have. I’ve read enough geek blogs lately about people’s seminal Star Wars theatre experience to keep me from kicking that dead horse, but suffice to say Star Wars has been a motif that resonates regularly through my life, providing milestones by which I can chart my own growth.

I was seven when the first movie came out, and we saw the movie as a family with friends of my parents and their kids. For The Empire Strikes Back, I was 10 and old enough to be dropped off at the theatre myself. By the time Jedi came out, I was 13 and my 8 year old brother and I made our way to the theatre downtown on our own for a screening at 8:30 on a Saturday morning.

When VCRs came out in the 1980s, Star Wars was one of the first movies we rented, and as a bored and pre-car teenager I would regularly watch my pirated copy to kill time until Friday Night Videos came on.

I spent my childhood pining for a tousled blond Luke Skywalker to burst into my life to rescue me, then in my teen years realized the roguish Han Solo would be a lot more fun at a party. I never did have enough hair to make danishes on the side of my head, which in retrospect is probably a good thing.

When Episode I came out, we saw it in theatres the first weekend, and like most fans, were more than a little disappointed. I don’t know how any movie could live up to the mythological expectations of a generation. It was only when we were watching the DVD for Episode II that I realized I had never even seen it. Somehow, it fell off my radar screen. It came out in 2002, which was the year Tristan was born, so I guess that’s my only excuse. It was actually pretty good – much better than Episode I, in my humble opinion. (Ãœbergeek, are you reading? Give it a try!)

I came across this little tidbit of Star Wars trivia recently that tickled me. Did you know that in every movie, someone utters the phrase, “I have a bad feeling about this.” Since I’ve memorized every scrap of dialogue from the original movie over the years, I can clearly picture Han Solo saying it in Episode IV. Over the past two weekends, I caught it in Episodes I and II. I am just enough of a geek to not only anticipate “discovering” it in the new movie this weekend, but to haul out our copies of Empire and Jedi over the next few weeks to look for it there, too.

It’s amazing to me to look back at my life and see these movies as the video equivalent of a soundtrack. I try to imagine what my seven year-old self would think of the woman I’ve become, a woman – a mother – who plans for three weeks to make a simple trip to the theatre but who hasn’t lost her sense of giddy anticipation, who is willing to relinquish her adult self to the wonder of an epic tale for just a few hours.

I think she’d be proud.

Author: DaniGirl

Canadian. storyteller, photographer, mom to 3. Professional dilettante.

18 thoughts on “Date night in geek land”

  1. OMG you are TOO funny!! I too had the entire script from the original Star Wars memoraized which was from listening to it on my LP record (remember those?) over a kazillion times – then I would go back to the theatre, see it again and recite out loud with the movie every word. I loved Star Wars, Luke Skywalker (similar fantasy(ies) as you) but for some reason each sequel/prequel that followed became less and less attractive to me. I have yet to see one of the recent three prequels, and have only seen the Empire twice and the Jedi once, can’t even say I made it thru the who show (I have those three on VHS).
    Move or not – bottom line to me is have a GREAT date, albeit geekish or no – enjoy feeling like a grown-up and not having to share popcorn or wipte a snotty nose throughout the show.
    xo
    P.S. I already have a sitter booked for June 18 and July 19 – how’s that for planning?

  2. CRAP – hit publish too quick without finishing rapidfire speed review for typos and I see a ton of them – oops??? Sorry…

  3. I seen Star Wars on the weekend OMG Move over Mark Hamil I have a new crush that Haydon Christisan is the man for me. Those boording good looks (Yes I know he’s evil for now and burnt to a crisp) LOL! And man that mans moves….Had me breathless. Oh yeah and the movie was pretty good too. I want to buy them all. I always wanted to be Princess Lea! Strong and Sexy. I’m neither. LMAO!
    Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did Dani.
    Hugs
    Sharon

  4. Burnt to a crisp? No more spoilers please!! I knew he turned out butt ugly, but I didn’t know why.
    Dani, I was right along with you down memory lane as you marked off the milestones of your life against the three original Star Wars series. Well, almost with you, as um, you are older than I. But I was definitely in the same generation :~)
    I even remember the restaurant I went to with my parents before both movies “The Old Spaghetti Factory”. We went there before Star Wars, and it was such a big thing to my brother and I that my parents took us there before The Empire Strikes Back.
    By my teen years, however, I had no interest in Return of the Jedi. I didn’t even watch it until about 5 yrs ago, just so I would know what was happening for the prequal movies.

  5. Hurray for you Dani to have both a date and fulfilling a childhood trend.
    I too remember my first Star Wars experience…but unlike you I was already in university :~) Went after a long series of exams and was totally blown away by it. I think I’ve seen all the sequels/prequels but would be confused at this point on what happened when so like you I’d have to do my homework before seeing the new one. I think we may actually have a Star Wars DVD set, dh is really into those.
    have a great time!!

  6. HOLD IT!!! Dani says she was 7? Snack Mommy says she was younger? And twinmom was in university??? WTF? NO way twinmom is that old – I was 11/12 – grade 6 – also remember the restaurant prior, the b-day party, the hockey game after, etc…for each of my Star Wars experiences. All you younguns can bite me.

  7. I think my earliest memory is of seeing Return of the Jedi in the theater. I was only 3, and the only thing I remember was how bright the screen was when it showed the sun rising over the desert on Tatooine.
    Anyway, enjoy the movie, Dani. It’s super fun.

  8. I remember going to Star Wars. I think I was about 13. It was the second movie I sat in the theatre and watched it again (they didn’t kick us out back then). The first time I watched a movie twice in a row on one ticket was Phantom of the Paradise. Too cool.
    Good luck on your date. Hehe

  9. Hey SCM! If you like Hayden you should definitely rent the movie Life As A House. It’s one of my favrourite movies of all time, and it stars your young hottie. I personally liked him a lot better in that movie.
    Great story, great movie. Try it!

  10. I have never seen any of the first three Star Wars. But, I have seen all of the last three. Larry and I went to see the first show on opening day. He loves Star Wars more then I can say. And Grant has seen the first three too. He wants a Life Saver really bad. But, he can’t have it until he goes poop in the potty. 🙂 TMI??
    I know you guys will have a great time. Make sure to hold hands the whole time. Then you will feel like your on a real date. 🙂

  11. Hope you have a great date night Dani.I will wait to see the movie at home, but the boys have already gone. I wasn’t allowed to see the Star Wars movies when they first came out, so I had a small party before the release of the prequels. Dh still finds it funny that we weren’t allowed to watch space movies when we were little, but it didn’t really affect me, or so I thought 😉
    Snack Mommy, I loved that movie too!!
    Have a great date Dani,
    Anna

  12. LOVED Life as a House, but you should really add a 3-boxes-of-kleenex warning to your recommendation. I forgot that was him…
    Yvonne, this blog thing is really catching on! When can I expect you to jump on the bandwagon? 😉
    SCM, if I read it right, didn’t Robin mean “Life Saver” as in Grant misinterpreted the phrase?
    xo Danigirl

  13. I saw all five of the previous Star Wars movies on their opening day. I saw this last one a week and a half after it started. It took us three weeks of planning to find the right person to sit for our ten-month old. I’ve given up on my “opening day” days, but hopefully can reduce the amount of time for date-planning.

  14. Did I even see Stars Wars in the theatre…you will have to ask Übergeek…how old would I have been???

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