Some background...way back in 1997, I was co-writing/co-publishing a SW fanzine called Blue Harvest. One of the articles we ran that year was from a reader who was in Europe during the Special Editions. She saw each movie in a different country and it was about the language differences as well as how the movie-going experience differs from country to country (i.e. you can buy beer at the movie theaters in Germany).

After TPM came out in 1999, I had the idea of writing something similar because of all of the different places I'd seen the film (VA, MD, the District of Columbia, and NY). This originally appeared in Blue Harvest #18 and I wrote similar pieces for AOTC in 2002 (originally posted at one of my small cheapie web sites) and will post one soon for ROTS.


Jar Jar and Junior Mints: TPM Memories

Trailer A
Date: November 17, 1998 ("Trailer Tuesday")
Theater: Loews Theaters White Marsh
Location: Baltimore, MD
Snack of Choice: None; too nervous

I was paying to see The Waterboy but I was really there to see The Mother of All Trailers, my first live action peek at The First New Star Wars Movie Since 1983. I went all of the way to Baltimore, more than an hour from home (Vienna, VA), because my only other choice was the Brad Pitt three-hour epic, Meet Joe Black. In three hours I could drive to Balmer, watch the trailer twice, see all of The Waterboy, and drive back home before rush hour. I got lost on the way there thanks to Yahoo's crappy directions. A cashier at a K-Mart set me back on track. The theater didn't open until a half hour before showtime, so I forced myself to eat lunch, wandered around, and came back. About 20 people were waiting, and all of them asked, "Are you showing the Star Wars trailer?" before buying tickets. After waiting the longest 15 minutes of my life with several guilty-looking twentysomethings, The Trailer was the first thing shown. It all went by so fast, but it was all so cool. Thrilled, I immediately ran to the restroom after it ended, thanks to my "nervousness." I returned and sat through The Waterboy. I really enjoyed it (God help me), but I think I was so giddy I would've laughed at anything. Once The Waterboy ended, I stayed for the trailer's second showing after the film's credits. It still went by really fast. But it was okay. I loved what I saw and I got to watch it in greater detail as every broadcast outlet from The Arab Network of America to The Playboy Channel ran it 20 times a day.
Highlight: An older businessman in the audience was chatting via cell phone with his secretary during The Waterboy's credits. As soon as the 20th Century Fox logo came up on the screen, he abruptly cut off his all-biz conversation and says, "I'll call you back later."

Trailer B
Date: March 9, 1999
Downloaded it off of the internet; never saw it in the theater

Viewing #1
Date: May 19, 1999
Theater: Loews Fairfax Square
Location: Tysons Corner, VA
Snack of Choice: None; too nervous

This was far from the best place I could've seen the movie for a variety of reasons. One, no THX. Two, there just had to be an obnoxious group of teenage boys in the audience who mistook the film for The Rocky Horror Picture Show, except they weren't funny. Three, we (mom, dad, bro, and me) sat all of the way in the back and the sound back there sucked. People cheered before and after the film, but it wasn't a fun crowd. My jet-lagged mom fell asleep and missed about half the movie. Despite all of this, I really enjoyed the film, but I knew that in order to appreciate it I had to catch a show at Fairfax Town Center, the place to see a movie in Northern Virginia.
Highlight: A 12 or 13-year-old goth chick with a Darth Vader lightsaber in the audience; probably the way I would've looked if TPM had come out 10 years earlier.

Viewing #2
Date: May 22, 1999
Theater: United Artists Fairfax Town Center
Location: Fairfax, VA
Snack of Choice: None; too stuffed from a meatball sub

My friends Derek and Bill were visiting from the UK. They'd seen TPM four times already and we were loading up on SW goodies because they were going home the next day. All I had to do was mention that Fairfax Town Center was showing TPM in THX and we were on our way there. I went from being very pleased with TPM to being blown away. Derek and Bill thought it was the best presentation of TPM they'd seen thus far.
Highlight: Finding the E.T.s in the Senate. They were hard to miss from the second row!

Viewing #3
Date: June 6, 1999
Theater: Fairfax Town Center
Location: Fairfax, VA
Snack of Choice: None; too stuffed from Taco Bell Gorditas

I had to see TPM at least once with my friends Debbie and Jason. We spent the morning shopping and raiding the local Taco Bell for toys and cups. I knew it would be a few weeks before I could see the movie again, so it was kind of a bittersweet moment.
Highlight: When Captain Panaka says to the Neimoidians, "You can kiss your trade franchise goodbye!" some little kid in the audience says, "Bye bye!"

Viewing #4
Date: July 3, 1999
Theater: The Uptown
Location: Washington, D.C.
Snack of Choice: Junior Mints

This was my only solo venture to see TPM and for me, it was the most fun. I hadn't seen TPM in four weeks and I was in serious withdrawal. The Uptown is THE theater in Washington, D.C. and it's where the local line-ups happened. Six weeks into the film's release and there was still a line for a Saturday matinee. A long line! Bliss! It was hotter than hell that day and my Junior Mints were half-melted, but it was all good once I was seated in the air-conditioned auditorium. After the movie I ran into some Uptown line campers and former SW exhibit volunteers who were going to see the 7 p.m. showing. I bought a t-shirt ("I Lined Up at the Uptown") from Erik, a veteran of both the line and the SW exhibit. The shirts were sold to benefit the D.C. Food Bank and well, I really did line up at the Uptown, didn't I?
Highlight: A pair of foreign tourists sat next to me, and even though I couldn't understand one word they were saying, I could tell they were really digging the movie.

Viewing #5
Date: July 22, 1999
Theater: The Ziegfeld
Location: New York, NY
Snack of Choice: Junior Mints

I was in NYC with the parental units for a couple of days because my dad wanted to attend MacWorld, kind of a con/trade show for Apple computer geeks. We stayed in a hotel just across from The Ziegfeld theater, where TPM was still showing. As Qui-Gon said, nothing happens by accident. As it so happened, a friend of mine worked a couple of blocks away from the hotel, so we decided to go and see TPM again (it was her 16th time). My jaw dropped at the $9.50 ticket price, but it was SW and more importantly, it was SW in a legendary movie house. The place was enormous and it had a lovely old-time movie palace feel to it. It was also the only theater I'd seen where they had lobby cards on display.
Highlight: Everyone in the theater whispering, "Look, his braid changed sides" during the "another pathetic lifeform scene."

Viewing #6
Date: August 14, 1999
Theater: Cineplex Odeon Inner Circle
Location: Washington, D.C.
Snack of Choice: None; candy counter looked scary

"Inner Circle" indeed; from the look of the joint I'd say it was the Inner Circle of hell. This weird theater was located deep within a hideous 1970s office building. Basically it was one long hallway with three auditoriums off to the side. My ticket stub is completely unreadable; it seems to be punched out in Braille or something, but I'm not certain. The auditorium showing TPM was so small Grandma could've hurled a carton of nachos from the back row and hit the screen without any trouble.
Highlight: Another kid yelled out "bye bye" in response to Captain Panaka's farewell to the Neimoidians. Also, on the subway train ride to the theater, my companions started chanting, "Pal-pa-tine!" I put on my bet "I don't know these people" look but since I was wearing a SW t-shirt and sitting right next to them, it wasn't convincing.

Viewing #7
Date: September 25, 1999
Theater: University Mall
Location: Fairfax, VA
Snack of Choice: Junior Mints

This was my first visit ever to my local discount movie theater as TPM was hitting the dollar movie circuit. In a nutshell, this place was a dive. The print they had was jumpy and scratchy, and Darth Vader's breathing at the end of the credits was cut out. But did we care? Nah.
Highlight: This theater had the world's stickiest floor. Did they wax it down with molasses or something?

Viewing #8
Date: October 16, 1999
Theater: Arlington Cinema and Drafthouse
Location: Arlington, VA
Snack of Choice: None; no Junior Mints

Otherwise known as the Brew-N-View, the Cinema and Drafthouse offers the unique experience of getting carded while going to the movies. Imagine being able to get riproarin' drunk, smoke a pack of cigarettes, eat a pile of Buffalo wings, and watch SW at the same time outside of your own home. Well, not me. But you could if you wanted to.
Highlight: Everyone cheering when the lightsaber fight got underway.

Viewing #9
Date: December 3, 1999
Theater: Hoyts Potomac Yards
Location: Alexandria, VA
Snack of Choice: None; just dashed out of an IHOP

This was my swan song, on the first night of the charity re-release. I would've tried to make an even 10 if I hadn't come down with the flu three days later. It was a great theater, complete with SDDS and the greatest cinematic invention since color, stadium seating.
Highlight: Three guys in front of me adding a certain popular curse after all of Mace Windu's lines during the Jedi Council scenes. Another highlight was overhearing one guy tell another as they were leaving the theater, "That was a masterpiece! Just hearing this music (Duel of the Fates) makes me want to take on Darth Maul!"

Viewing #10
Date: January 26, 2001
Theater: National Air and Space Museum Langley IMAX Theater
Location: Washington, D.C.
Snack of Choice: None

Technically my last paid viewing of TPM on a theater screen of any kind, this was part of the National Air and Space Museum's annual Science Fiction Film Festival. No it wasn't in IMAX format but it was still great to see on the big screen again with a terrific sound system.
Highlight: It seems like every SW geek in the metro region came out for this...it actually sold out.

Places Where I Wish I Had Seen TPM:

1. The Senator Theater, Baltimore, MD

The Senator set up a cool SW display in its lobby, printed up special tickets, and even sold commemorative t-shirts. I'd heard the print they had was so crisp and clear it rivaled the digital version exhibited last summer.

2. Hoyts Manassas, Manassas, VA

The only theater in the entire D.C. metro area with the new Surround EX system. Somehow I just never made it out there.

3. AMC Pleasure Island, Walt Disney World, Orlando, FL

Aside from being one of those spiffy new super theaters with something like 24 screens, I saw a group of kids dressed in Jedi robes hanging around there one night. Man, it would've been fun watching it with them!

4. Mann's Chinese Theater, Hollywood, CA

Some people want to climb Mt. Everest. Some people want to try skydiving. Some people want to run with the bulls in Pamplona. My insane dream is to camp out and see a SW movie at the Chinese Theater. Or at the very least see a showing of a SW movie at the Chinese Theater. Well, I've got two more chances, don't I????

Alas, no--MJF