A Star Wars Virgin Takes On Episode V, VI & Free Comic Book Day

Well I officially did it – I watched the first 3 original Star Wars films prior to May the 4th and just as planned, I was able to bask in the glory of the day and understand what was being appreciated. LEVELED. UP.

As with my thoughts on Episode IV, I really loved Episodes V and VI, however, IV will remain my favourite, despite V being most praised across the board. I’m still blown away at the level of fandom for these movies. I can totally appreciate it, but I find it fascinating how epic these characters have become, more specifically the characters that had rather small roles, such as Yoda and Boba Fett. Yoda, I kind of get, but even in his case, going into the movies I thought he was a main character that said a million profound things, not just the few that make their rounds. I did, however, catch myself using the “Do or do not. There is no try” reference yesterday, so 5 points to me, even if I did butcher it a bit (I think I said “there’s no trying, just doing” – SAME DIFF).

May the 4th also celebrated Free Comic Book Day which was a GLORIOUS morning and afternoon spent with my friend Heather. We woke up bright and early (not as early as the 8am open doors), met downtown and exchanged fun treats for each other (poster, comics and buttons for her, and a wicked Star Wars pop-up book for me!). It was already a great start to the day. The participating stores in Toronto had a 10 book maximum which was awesome, especially since I heard other cities had as low as 3 maximum! So we hit up 4 stores, 3 of which were participating and proudly walked about the city with our heavy loot of about 30+ free comics, plus some fun purchases along the way.

One such purchase for me was The Guild: Volume One graphic novel. WHO FREAKIN KNEW. I definitely had no idea that these existed so I snatched it up right away, and was even happier when I realized it’s a prequel to the show! The first book goes through Cyd picking up the game for the first time, and the excitement of joining The Knights of Good. I sat and read it Sunday AM in bed, big smile on my face, and will probably re-read it again tonight. I can’t wait to track down Volumes 2 and 3.

It happened to be the most beautiful Toronto day in a long time, so after we hit up the stores, stocked up, explored and refueled at Sneaky Dee’s, we sat in the park, perused our loot and chatted nerd for hours. Such a great day!

A Star Wars Virgin Takes On Episode IV

My name is Tracy and I’m a 27 year old Star Wars virgin. Or rather, I WAS up until the romantic afternoon I spent with a hunky young Harrison Ford yesterday (I’ll get to that later).

I know, it’s weird. Who hasn’t seen Star Wars? AMIRIGHT?

The first 3 films were created before I was even born, so really I had my full life to watch them. (Actually, I did watch Episode 1 in 1999 – probably as a pre-highschool summer night out, which I completely forget so it doesn’t count.) But despite me having never seen one of the originals, Star Wars surrounds me and dips significantly into some of my favourite pieces of pop culture – most notably the Friends episode titled “The One with the Princess Leia Fantasy”. Because of this, the characters and quotes of Star Wars swim around in my head with no rhyme or reason. Going into yesterday, all I knew were the basics: Chewbacca is hairy, Princess Leia dawns the cinnamon bun hair muffs, and Darth Vader is Luke’s father.

This weekend marks May the 4th which marks “May the 4th be with you“ which marks a fan-made Star Wars Day of sorts. My pal Heather and I will be out and about that day, which coincidentally lands on Free Comic Book Day, and I thought no better time to see what all the hype was about. The original plan was to watch all 6 by then, but realistically I will get in the first original 3, and based on what I’m told, I’m strongly encouraged to stop watching after that.

So yesterday I popped in Episode IV, a remastered version (which I appreciated, but also wished was the original version with original footage – apparently the version I watched had new scenes added). I won’t get into a play-by-play as, if you’ve seen it you know it, and if you haven’t seen it, YOU MUST RIGHT AWAY! That is to say, I loved it. And many times throughout the movie, I kept thinking “why has it taken me so long to watch this?”. After watching, I debriefed with my partner (who has been encouraging me to watch these films for years) about what I just saw and he laughed most of the time at the ideas I went in with and how I finally pieced it together. This is basically my thought process throughout this first watch through:

1. Darth Vader talks a lot and walks around? I always thought he was this mysterious figure like Oz who shows up at the end to say a few profound things and tell Luke that he is his father. I also pictured him being enormous.
2. Carrie Fisher, you young sassy minx. I now understand why the mens loved you so much.
3. I never knew what or who an Obi-Wan Kenobi was, and was pleasantly surprised at this charismatic older gent who reminded me in both looks and spirit of Mike from Breaking Bad. Except I’m sure Meth didn’t exist in the Star Wars universe… although it would explain Jabba the Hutt‘s rotten skin and eye discolouration.
4. Isn’t Richard Gear in this? (15 minutes later) Oh yeah, there he is. Oh, heeeee’s Han Solo. (2 minutes later) Oh wait, that’s not Richard Gear. What’s his name? (10 minutes later) Harrison Ford. That’s his name.  (5 minutes later) I don’t see why everyone loved him so much back then. (20 minutes later) Oh, okay… now I do. Now I do…

5. R2-D2 and C-3PO = adorable, adorable, adorable. Also, didn’t know C-3PO would be British! Extra points.
6. Storm Troopers, definitely didn’t know you guys were bad guys. Nor did I expect your malt-shop-nice-guy voices. (This movie is full of surprises.)
7. Jabba The Hut, I didn’t expect to see him in the first film. (And then I found out from M that he isn’t originally in the first film, thus was added in my remastered version?)
8. Figrin D’an and the Modal Nodes (I had to Google this, or I would have called them “Alien Band”).  I’m more surprised that in all of my years, I had never seen them anywhere except for at FanExpo just last summer – I had to ask then who they were. That little diddy of theirs has been in my head all day. Also, I’d love to drink at that bar.
9. If only I had the force, the things I could do…

And last but not least:

10. THIS MOVIE IS FUN! That’s the only way to describe it and as weird as it sounds, I didn’t expect it to be as fun as it was. And now I’m really excited to watch Episode V, which my partner says was the best one, in his opinion.

ONWARDS!