Yes, it was as if a tractor beam pulled me into the Star Wars galaxy...the night I watched Return of the Jedi for the first time.

Now, twelve years later, I still can't explain exactly why it happened; but I do know how it did.

I had seen Empire http://blogs.starwars.com/ms_solos_scrapbook/4 and was getting very, very curious about the final part of the trilogy. I had no idea what would happen - well, apart from the events shown in the RotJ pop-up book: my first ever SW-collectible that my sister dug up at a friend's house. All that was in there was Endor, Ewoks, a new Death Star and Luke duelling Vader again.

I don't think I have found any movie since so exciting and so nerve-wrecking! I half-closed my eyes when the Emperor approached Luke ("Oh no, my young Jedi..."), I held my breath when Lando flew the Falcon out of a collapsing Death Star (after all, he was not in the pop-up book so there was the chance he would not survive). But most of all, I felt goosebumps all over when Darth Vader changed his mind and chose Luke over the Emperor. What a moment, what a plot twist!

But that was not it. Not yet. It was the final two shots. The spirits of Anakin, Obi-Wan and Yoda. During the scene right after Yoda's death I had actually said to my mother that somehow Yoda should be seen or heard as a spirit later on, like with Obi-Wan. Well, there he was: sitting on the fence!

And then Luke, Leia, Han, Chewie, the droids, Lando, the Ewoks, all together....I liked that bunch. I wanted to see, hear, read more about them.

The tractor beam had pulled me in and unlike that Death Star beam, this one would never let go anymore!