It's been a while since I've been very active around here. It's almost May and I've only posted a few entries, despite the fact that I have hundreds of topics to choose from in the Star Wars universe that I'd be interested in talking about. Yet... no inspiration would come. Of course, it's also been far too long since I've really been into Star Wars. Sure, I enjoyed playing KotOR II last month, and I watched RotS fairly recently, but it hasn't been very "Star Wars-ish" for me lately. And as everybody knows, life without Star Wars is like a nacho without guacamole; still really good, but a lot more boring.

Therefore I decided on a course of action. What better way to get back into the Star Wars mindset than to watch ANH while paying attention to lots of little details, and then think about them as I go about normal life? I've only made it to the blastoff on Tatooine so far, but I think I have enough ammo for a full blog entry. To make sure I remember all of my interesting/shocking/random thoughts, I jotted stuff down as I watched the movie on a sheet of paper that I have with me now. This way I'll be able to write down all of my tidbits that I find interesting enough to share with you. Of course, I think I made some of my notes too cryptic... I can't remember for the life of me what I was thinking when I wrote "Jawa laugh". Anyways, here are my topics in all their glory... enjoy, and feel free to elaborate on them or add your own.

-The Opening Scene. I just can't watch the Rebel Blockade Runner fly across the screen, a massive Star Destroyer in hot pursuit, without thinking about how purely awesome Star Wars is. It always gets me hyped up for the rest of the movie!

-What's with those blasters? The stormtroopers are blowing the ship apart with them! In the prequels the bolts just kind of zip around and disappear, but in ANH they make explosions like there's no tomorrow. Maybe they have them on high power or something, or perhaps it's a newer technology.

-I wonder how much R2 remembers. Has he been able to keep track of everything? Does he know who Darth Vader really is, and how the Jedi were all killed, and maybe even who Luke is? What's he hiding in that shiny dome of his?

-Those sure are crazy stun blasts. When the stormtroopers fired at Leia, I always thought those giant blue circles looked (and sounded) a bit too "Star Trek-ish".

-Vader don't get no respect. You know that guy who starts standing up to him and telling him that holding Leia captive is dangerous? It seems like in TESB Vader would've just strangled him or something. His troops don't usually do stuff like that. Ah well... maybe Vader was in a good mood or something.

-"There will be no one to stop us this time." Perfect bad guy line. Perfect.

-Jawa Laugh. Uhhh... moving on.

-Remember when R2 was zapped by the Jawa? And then how he falls face-first into the ground with a clank? Can anybody watch that scene without at least thinking "Poor R2"?

-The twin sunset. Or would it be the twin sunsets? Either way, it's one of my favorite scenes in the entire Saga, along with one of my favorite musical moments. There's something very special about it.

-What was 3PO hiding behind? When Luke buzzed him and he popped up and started babbling... what in the world was that big, metal... thing?

-The stun blasts were too "Star Trek-ish", yes. But seeing Beru cooking in the homestead kitchen was done perfectly. It could've easily been cheap-looking, or too sci-fi, or too much like normal life. But it looked natural and familiar, but in the Star Wars universe. Nicely done.

-I wonder what Luke meant when he said "or worse". 3PO informed him that there were several creatures approaching, and Luke thought they might be tusken raiders "or worse". Maybe he meant some kind of dangerous beast such as a krayt dragon? Hmm...

-As Obi-Wan appears for the first time, I realize once again what a good actor Alec Guinness is. He gets down everything perfect with Obi-Wan. Whenever I watch the LotR trilogy, I always find myself wishing that Gandalf had some more "Obi-Wan" in him, which is how I imagined him from the books.

-Strange eyes...? I could've sworn I saw them! When R2 was hiding from the tusken raiders in the dark shadows of the cliff, there seem to be two, yellow, glowing eyes, much like a jawa's, right next to him. Is this my imagination, or what?

-Talking to Luke must of been really interesting for Obi-Wan. He simply mentioned the Force, and Luke was quite confused. "The Force...?" he had echoed. It seemed as if Obi-Wan hadn't realized that Luke hadn't been exposed to even the very basics of the Jedi Order. Obi-Wan had to start from the veeeeery beginning with Luke.

-Obi-Wan likes droids? He keeps calling R2 his "little friend", yet the prequels (especially the RotS novel) gave me the impression that Obi-Wan was not a droid kind of guy. Maybe he mellowed in his old age.

-Back on the Death Star, Vader is still being mistreated. Tarkin could order him around as much as he wanted, which I'm sure irritated the Sith Lord. I mean, why'd Palpatine let Tarkin get so high and mighty? I wouldn't be surprised if Tarkin's death fit into his plans quite nicely.

-Was it really a good idea for Obi-Wan to use his lightsaber? I'm sure the stormtroopers got reports in the cantina such as "I saw this old guy in brown robes use a cool glowing sword to cut off this guy's arm lighting-fast!". If that got back to Vader, do you think it might give him a clue that Obi-Wan was still alive?

-Okay, I know stormtroopers can be incompetent, but really now. When they were searching all around the streets of Mos Eisley, they went up to a door, tapped on it a few times, proclaimed that it was locked, and then moved on. I mean, it's not like somebody's just going to open up the door to a bunch of stormtroopers he's trying to hide from!

-Unlike Obi-Wan, Han does not appear to be a droid fan. Did you see that look he gave 3PO when the droid tried to introduce himself? Maybe I just imagined it, but it was pretty funny.

Well, that's it for this time. It's nice to be getting back into Star Wars some more now, and I look forward to watching the rest of ANH and posting Part II! Goodbye for now, and may you escape your bounty hunters and obey your Wookiee life debts.