
I did the impossible. I found a 46 year old man who had never seen a Star Wars movie. Not even parts of one. A totally clean slate. I took this oppuritunity and siezed it.
Padawan in Training
A friend of mine at work started asking me questions about Star Wars because he had seen all the hype surrounding the new movie (and because he knew I was the resident Star Wars nerd.) I answered his questions patiently and finally told him he should watch the movies. Since he had never seen any of them he wanted to know which movie he should start with. This was a tricky question. Do I start him with the Original Trilogy, the way most of us have seen them, or do I start him at the beginning with Episode I?
The Phantom Problem
I was about to introduce this guy to one of the greatest movie series ever, and I was scared to death he would hate it. Why? because I was going to start him on his journey with a big helping of Jar Jar Binks and little Ani. He borrowed my DVDs of TPM and AOTC. The whole weekend I was crossing my fingers that he wouldn't turn Episode I off before he got to the Jedi vs. Maul duel. I was thinking if he can make it to that point then we should be ok.
The Force is Strong with This One
When I got back from the long weekend I get a call at my desk. It was my friend asking me something work related. The fact that he didn't mention the movies right away worried me. I thought to myself, great, he hated them. So I brought it up.
Me: So did you watch the movies?
Him: Oh yeah, I loved them! Jar Jar and all!
Me: Really? You loved Jar Jar???
Him: He was great! [here he went into a very bad impression of everyone's favorite Gungan]
He went on to tell me how much he loved the Yoda vs. Dooku battle and how sad it was to see Qui-Gon Jinn go down. He also told me how he thought that since Anakin got married at the end of AOTC, that maybe he will have kids that will be Jedi. I was almost jealous wishing that I could have seen all the movies so un-spoiled. I also wondered If I had seen Episode I without the media dissecting it in front of me, would I too have liked Jar Jar Binks?
....Nah, probably not.
Now he is off to see Revenge of the Sith, and I have no doubt he will love it. Then I will let him borrow the Original Trilogy. I wonder what his reaction will be when he sees Chewie show back up, or when Leia and Luke kiss. How much more will the redemption of Vader or the defeat of the Emperor mean to him than it did to us.
A new Star Wars fan is born.
and I have a feeling that when he gets to Return of the Jedi, he won't have any problem at all with the Ewoks.
Aa-Ron Jinn