Dollieh Sanctuary

As some of you may have noticed by looking at the Birthday line at the bottom of the first page, I turned 50 today. Yep, I think I am now officially old. And I spent my 50th birthday in the way that any red-blooded, dollieh loving nerd should spend such a special day. I watched the original Star Wars trilogy before going to the 7:15pm showing of "The Force Awakens".

Why is this a special announcement?

BECAUSE THE MOVIE FUCKING ROCKS!!!!!!!

I will give no spoilers. I merely wish to state that as someone who grew up with the ORIGINAL trilogy - I feel that MY Star Wars finally returned.

Go see it.

I stood in line a hundred years ago to watch the very first Star Wars the first week it came out, down in LA. You may think 50 is old, but I'm 61. And that is officially OLDER THAN DIRT. You're just a kid...
Glad you like the movie! It'll probably come to our little cinema in about......six months. *sigh*

It was okay.

WAAAAAHHHHHHHH! I will have to wait to see it for a loooong time....

My partner, who is 70, has retired and so have I, and so there is no $$$ to spend on a movie.

On the GOOD side, though, I am hitting EVERY spoiler site on the web and reading the plot. Yes, it DOES sound as if "my" Star Wars is back!

You see... the original Star Wars trilogy, ANH, ESB and RotJ came out and each film led me to a new "doorway" and a new direction.

The first one, A New Hope, came as I had just entered Science Fiction Fandom. I was on my honeymoon (my ex hubby) in 1976, at the World Convention (MidAmeriCon in Kansas City). We were on the elevator with a couple of guys. One was wearing a baseball cap and had a beard and was pushing a dolly laden with cardboard images. The other was a light-haired young man who looked VERY earnest and hopeful. We struck up a conversation and he said "I play a farm boy named Luke in the new film, The Star Wars" He looks SO wiostful in a "I hope you'll like it!" way, that I smiled and said "Well, I may go and see it... when do you appear in the film?" and I was thinking "Farm boy... Luke... check! It's a 'Hick Flick'..." Beverly Hillbillies in Space.

"Well, I'm in a ditch or a hole, and this woman comes out and calls "Luke! Hey Luke! It's time to come indoors." he said. I nodded "OK, I'll watch for you." The man smiled and said "Come and see our presentation.". We did, of course. The man was George Lucas, and the light haired fellow... I can't quite recall his name... Hamill something? GRIN! It was the start of a beautiful romance!

We saw The Star Wars in a press preview because Craig miller was working LFL: publicity and we got advance invites.
WOW! .... Seeing it for the first time, in a theatre just BLEW me out of the water! I was hooked!

Then Empire Strikes Back came out and my life changed completely! I began writing for Bantha Tracks, began writing "The Executor Cycle" stories AND was part of the first published Imperial fanzine "Imperial Entanglements" I met the publisher, we fell in love, and I left my husband (we had drifted apart seriously in the intervening years, anyway) and we formed a relationship based around our mutual adoration of... the Empire! We fought a legal battle with LucasFilm Ltd over a "slash" story... and WON!

Then came Revenge... oops, sorry RETURN of the Jedi... Ohhhhh myyyyy GHODDDDDD! I was absolutely DEVASTATED. I mean... we KNEW that the Empire was going to lose... we knew it and were prepared for it... but... Darth Vader turning into Uncle Fester With Blue Sparklies?!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!

We came away from that film broken women! We diverged into other interests. Escape From New Yourk/LA, Babylon 5, the star Trek films, and we felt as if George Lucas had sold out to the toy manufacturers the prequels we did NOT go to see in theatres. We vowed that not another DIME of our money would go to LFL or that swine who had MURDERED Darth!!

Eventually, I saw the three prequels, and hated them. I hated Anakin. I hated Obi-Wan. and I HATED JAR JAR BINKS!! I came away from those films (watched on DVD borrowed from a friend! No WAY would I buy them!) convinced that George Lucas had died and been replaced by a cash register! I abvoided the "Expanded Universe" or whatever it was called, like the plague! Neither of us wanted ANYTHING to do with any of it. Pfaugh! >spit!< We would cherish our memories of the first trilogy and know that we had grown beyond them.

Well, my partner and I are still together! (next year we will legally marry IN our church... YAYYYYY! and celebrate 35 years of knowing each other, and 27 years of being together

When I read about the new Star Wars: Force Awakens film, I thought "Yeahhhhh suuuure.... " and was prepared for a nother chewing-gum-colored piece of crap. But from what I read... I am proven wrong... and that feels DAMN good!
I want to see it in a theatre, to re-awaken my glory days, but I am so far out of the loop now, it's laughable. We cannot afford the fandom we once reveled in. There will be no conventions, no dolls, no costumes, no buying products, no movie tickets. And perhaps that is the best way to enjoy it! Like looking through a frosty window at a brilliant scene inside. I will read the details, assemble them in my mind and return to the days of my clear-eyed youth. I'm saving up to buy the novelization when/if it comes out. It will be, for me, a whole new way to interact with a universe that abandoned me and now returns... or perhaps I am returning to it.

We can only be young once. But we do not have to let go of our wonder. I rejoice with those who have seen it, and read their words on the Intewrnet. I was jaded, skeptical, even sarcastic and spiteful, but my wounded heart has healed, and Force Awakens has healed it. Bring on the spoilers! Without them, I'd still be outside in the cold. But it is time, as someone once said, to let go of the anger. Time to come home.

Swan

George Lucas had exactly three good ideas in his life.

THX1138 (which had a lot borrowed from other dystopian sf plots).
American Graffiti, which is genius.
The world and original plot of the first Star Wars movie.

The second was fundamentally written by the film and sf genius Leigh Brackett with some tinkering by Lawrence Kasdan. The third was fundamentally written by Lawrence Kasdan.

victoriavictrix wrote:George Lucas had exactly three good ideas in his life.

THX1138 (which had a lot borrowed from other dystopian sf plots).
American Graffiti, which is genius.
The world and original plot of the first Star Wars movie.

And keeping the merchandising rights.

I saw the movie too, the day after the one it came out. I feared so much to hit spoilers that when my hubby said "I have a free afternoon, we can go to the movies and watch Star Wars" I made him go with me IMMEDIATELY.
It made me happy. Well made, and clever. I'm not an hardcore fan but god, how I hated Episodes I, II and III. They spoiled Darth Vader's character so badly.
I hope the following movies will be good, too. I cannot stand another fail, not now that I'm so full of hopes ^^'

I saw Star Wars: the Force Awakens on opening night too. It was great! I love the new characters. I also saw the Warcraft movie trailer that night. I'm really looking forward to that!

I was in my twenties when I saw the first one. I'd been at a comic con in my home state of MI and knew the person running it. He offered to buy my ticket if I could give him a lift to the theater. No prob. He brought a couple of guests with him...Ray Harryhausen and his producer Charles Schneer. It was memorable. They hated all of it and I loved it. Charles asked me 'you like that space cowboy?" referring to Harrison Ford. I said I wouldn't kick him out of bed and that man would be a STAR.

I've been intentionally seeking out spoilers for this new one and glad to have found them. I may or may not be able to see it in the theater since we don't get out much, but I'm going to try when the lines are a bit shorter. If I have to wait for the dvd, I won't mind tho.