Big Dick McGee said:
Look on ebay. I checked about, oh, three or four years ago, and they were seriously going for upwards of $400.
Boggles. Teh. Mind.
On a side note...man, do I feel old talking about this stuff. I can clearly, clearly remember the excitement I felt when Empire came out (remember when it was "Star Wars", and "Empire", and "Jedi", not some damned Roman Numerals??), and I remember my Dad pulled me out of school to go see Jedi. Best but most bittersweet two hours of my life. "It's over," I thought, "It's really over."
I remember going to the 1st one when I was a very small kid, but I was too young to really register the "importance" at the time. It was at the drive-ins and my parents took me, but other than remembering I was there, the only thing that jumps out at me was that a Donald Duck cartoon was shown ahead of it. (DD being more important at the time to a child of my age.) Thinking back on it now, I'm assuming this was the re-release of Star Wars in '79... as I only would have been 3 in '77... but then again, 5's a decent age to remember stuff... so maybe I did both and jumbled the memories together.)
I don't, however, remember seeing Empire at the theatre, which is odd, as I was TOTALLY wrapped up in the story, and the merchadise, and trading figures with my cousins, and the whole nine - I still
have those original Star Wars sheets. But I don't remember watching it until it was on HBO in the early '80's. (I could be wrong, I might have seen it.)
Jedi, yeah.... wow. What a rush. I was 9, and I still remember walking back to the car after the movie and just having been FLOORED by the action and revelations. At the time, to me, THAT was the best movie EVER made. A GREEN LIGHTSABER! Even the ewoks were cool. Then.
FFWD to the excitement I felt leading up to May of 1999 (GOD-SIX YEARS AGO!!). I saw The Waterboy just to see the prequel preview, and I almost came in my pants.
Remember the boss teaser promo South Park did for their movie that played on the fact that a new Star Wars was coming out? I'd love to see that again... It was hilarious.
Meh. Maybe I grew up. Maybe the films weren't meant for a guy pushing 30. But then, howcome the OT is still fucking brilliant?
It takes us back, man. The new trilogy doesn't.
HOWEVER...
I was wondering about that. I mean a lot of our memories are wrapped up in the OT, and the association of the time, and being kids, and playing with out friends and all that, right? Well, we don't really DO that as "adults" with these new Prequels, and I think when they came out we were hoping to re-capture a little of that - and the Prequel Trilogy HAS been cool - but our adult, jaded, cynical, critiquing minds rebelled against the story we had allowed to play in our heads, imagining what the Prequel story really was, and
what George eventually gave to us wasn't it.
I like the new movies. They're NOT the OT, and it's NOT the same; it is what it is, and I wondered whether or not today's kids dug the new SW movies as much as we did when we were young. Based off the kids I've seen in toy store aisles and having talked to a few, I'd have to say
they do. Granted, today's kids have a LOT more entertainment and stuff vying for their attention and SW is no longer quite the cultural phenomenon it once was because it's
inspired so much since then, and there's SO much cool stuff out there. Star Wars still reigns king, and
1977 changed the world.
