I was watching Reign of Fire last night when suddenly, in a scene located early on in the movie, Christian Bale's character, and another character started acting out the climactic scene from The Empire Strikes Back. Only in this case, since this particular movie takes place about 10 or more years in the future, some of the dialogue had been altered. There was the Light Knight, and the Dark Knight with the shiny black mask. They had the right color lightsabers too. The Light guy had blue, the Dark guy had red. The two men were acting it out for a group of kids who were so cute in their reactions. When the Dark Knight cut off the Light Knight's hand there were screams, and when the Dark Knight confessed to being the Light Knight's father, the kids were totally snowed. It was so funny. I had forgotten about that particular scene when I bought the DVD. And at the end, one of the kids asks Christian Bale's character if he made the story up-and what does he say? "Of course I did!" haha! I guess if huge fire-breathing dragons have decimated the human race to random populations, he can take credit for the story-since George Lucas was probably dead in this particular movie.

But this got me to thinking of all my favorite instances in movies or music where Star Wars has been "borrowed" or "included". I don't pretend this is a complete list by any means, just some of my favorite instances.

~Spaceballs-I think for obvious reasons. The whole movie is one big joke. Dark Helmet, Yogurt, The Schwartz, Pizza the Hutt...just to name a few. Of course there are other sci-fi films poked fun at, like Alien-but the crux of it all is a Star Wars parody. And I love it.

~Back to the Future-Marty uses Vader's heavy breathing, among other devices, to entice his father-in the past-to help him. (Forgive the vagueness here, it's been awhile since I actually watched this movie)

~Armageddon-Owen Wilson and ______(yikes, I can't remember who!) are talking about Star Wars, they are trying to decide who would be Han, Chewbacca, etc. The other actor assigns himself the role of Han Solo, and Owen Wilson deliver's a zinger-one that makes me laugh EVERY TIME I hear it, "Have you even seen Star Wars?" Man, I love that part. I would watch that movie just for that line.

~The Pretender-This now-defunct TV show, in it's first season on the air, had an entire episode devoted to, The Force. Throughout the show, Jarod and another character referred to using The Force, and having The Force. It was great. You can get this show on DVD. I believe it's the episode titled "Ranger Jarod".

~The O.C.-several episodes have features Star Wars jokes and gags, and of course George Lucas made a guest appearance on this show as well.

~That 70's Show-over and over there are Star Wars references. Poor Eric-meant to suffer at the hands of his friends for being a Star Wars fan-an "original" (if you will) fan. This show cracks me up as it is, but throw some Star Wars in the mix and it's even better.

~"Weird" Al Yankovic-Forget "The Saga Begins", I'm all about "Yoda". I think this is one of "Weird" Al's best songs. I mean, come on! How can a person not love this song!

I met him in a swamp down in Dagobah
where it bubbles all the time like a giant carbonated soda,
S-O-D-A, soda
I saw the little runt sitting there on a log
I asked him his name and in a raspy voice he said Yoda,
Y-O-D-A-yoda, yoda

I won't go on. But I have thought this song great ever since it was released in the 80's. If I had to pick a favorite "Weird" Al song, it'd be Yoda. Heehee.

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Again-I know there are many more occurances than what I listed here, but these are just some of the ones I enjoy the most.

Any fav's you want to share?