My first exposure to Star Wars was in 1997, when the Special Editions were released. I was nine years old. I remember seeing store displays, and I especially remember an offer where you could send away for a Ben Kenobi beanie toy. I also remember that there was a great deal of excitement. I asked my mom, "Mommy, what are people so excited about?" She told me that a movie that she'd seen a long time ago was coming back out. "What's it about?" was my next question. "Well," she told me, "It's about a boy in space who finds out his father is a bad guy on another planet, and he cries." (Yeah, that's what she said. I'll explain it all later.) So I came away thinking, oooooookaaaaaaayyyyyy, this sounds like a really stupid movie. And unfortunately, I was also the kind of kid who thought that if mom and dad didn't expressly say it's good, it must be bad.

Fast forward to the next year. There was a lot of hype about Episode I's release, and my curiosity was kindled once again. I'd always loved space and astronomy, and when I saw the pictures of new planets, I was intrigued. I was intrigued even more by pictures of R2-D2. Soon, I became obsessed with finding out more. I even memorized the little paragraph thingy on the back of the Lay's potato chip bag. "Though he looks like a normal nine-year-old boy with disheveled hair and bright blue eyes, Anakin Skywalker..." And that's all I remember. My brothers and I found what we dubbed "The Pepsi Code" on the aluminum cans of Pepsi and Mountain Dew, and spent hours finding boxes of cans in the stores and peering through the handles to find the words to the code.

After several months of 'suggestions', my mom and dad finally decided to rent Star Wars. They were dubious of the Special Edition at first, because they didn't know what had been changed. They screened the movie, and sometime in late November 1998 (I think), we sat down to watch Star Wars. I still remembered my mom's description, and I wasn't sure I would like the movie. The opening text started to roll, and I knew I loved the music. For some reason, my brothers and I laughed at the phrase 'sinister agents' in the crawl. The text faded to a starfield, and the camera panned down to show a desert planet. Maybe this movie'll be okay, I thought. A ship passed. Whoa. Something was shooting... oh, there was another ship. That ship kept going... and going... and going... and going... that ship was HUGE! I leaned over to my dad and said, "I think I like this movie!"

Of course, as it turned out, I did like that movie. The next day I sat down and drew about four pictures (my best art ever, by the way; now sadly destroyed) inspired by my favorite scenes. I also asked my mom, "Why did you describe this movie as being 'about a boy in space who finds out his father is a bad guy on another planet'? It's nothing like that." I then found out that the only Star Wars film she'd ever seen was The Empire Strikes Back, and that she had no idea that there were more movies.

As time passed, we saw the rest of the movies in the Original Trilogy. I was especially impressed by Return of the Jedi, because of the emotional depth of Anakin's return to the light. I remember being so shocked by Yoda's death, and then, when Ben revealed to Luke, "The 'other' he spoke of was your twin sister," my jaw dropped. I really did not expect Luke to have a twin sister! I remember looking over at my twin brother, and he was looking at me with the exact same expression of awe. That was cool, finding out that my favorite heroes were fraternal twins, too.

When Episode I came to DVD, we rented the movie. I loved it! Darth Maul really scared me, I loved the fact that such a young boy was such a good pilot, and Qui-Gon's death made me cry. I remember just being awed by all the locations, like Naboo and Coruscant. And that scene where the Trade Federation invasion army is approaching Theed? I got chills all over. Duel of the Fates was the best music I'd ever heard, besides the Emperor's theme in ROTJ.

My fandom grew exponentially over the years. In early 2002, my dad had to move to another state a few months ahead of us, for job reasons. We had to stay behind and pack stuff up and get the house ready to sell. May rolled around, and I was devastated when we decided that we just couldn't see Attack of the Clones without my dad. We finally moved, and in June we went to the first movie I'd ever seen in a theater: Attack of the Clones. I was totally blown away. The battles were phenomenal, Anakin was adorable, the Jedi were better than ever, and just the whole movie theater experience was fantastic. I cried when Shmi died, even though I'd accidentally been spoiled months before by a kid's book. (I vowed never to be spoiled again!) I went back to see that movie twenty times before it left theaters. I virtually had it memorized! And two days after my first viewing, I bought my first Star Wars soundtrack. Across the Stars was what did it for me, really. I knew, as soon as I heard that music, that I had to buy the soundtrack.

The next year, I stumbled across the Star Wars Weekends at Disney-MGM Studios. I got Warwick Davis's autograph, and I entered the Tatooine Trivia Trials for the first time. The first few games, I found out how much I didn't know, but I eventually took third place. The next year I came back, and I met two people who would become some of my good friends, Wendy and Meghan Blair. Meghan had been in the hotseat at Who Wants to be a Millionaire- Play It! Star Wars Edition, and had mentioned that she was homeschooled (as I am). She and her sister were waiting for the Trivia Trials at the same table as my younger brother and I were, and I started up a conversation. Soon, Wendy and I became good friends. I've gone back every year since, so I now consider myself a Star Wars Weekends veteran.

2005 was The Big Year for me. All my many months of desperately trying to stay completely spoiler-free (think Star Wars message board withdrawal) were about to pay off. When May rolled around, my excitement had reached a fever pitch. I was buying Star Wars cereal, Pop-Tarts, trading cards, the soundtrack, posters, Kudos bars, calendars, and even Corn Flakes. And May 19 finally came. I saw Revenge of the Sith at a crummy little AMC Theater at 2:40 in the afternoon. There was an annoying little glitch in the upper right corner of the screen, and you could see the reels switch in the middle of the film, but I was totally, completely astounded. It was all I had hoped for. The music was incredible, the plot was simple but terribly emotional, the special effects looked cheesy in analog but were still spectacular, and General Grievous and Mustafar were simply amazing. After the film was over, I sat and watched the credits (I always do, even at home. It's a fan thing.) and when they were over, I still hadn't really processed everything. I had the kind of feeling where you just want to sit and think, and think, and think. I didn't want to speak at all; I just wanted complete silence to ponder in. Of course, that didn't happen, but that's what I wanted. It had that big of an impact on me. I've seen the movie three more times since (all in digital, so the special effects look great) and I hope to see it many more.

Star Wars has had such a huge impact on my life. I appreciate all the true fans out there, and I'd like to thank George Lucas for making it all happen.

May the Force be with you,
-- i12bajedi