As I learned last year from my old friend Barchan, today is May the Fourth Be With You Day. Back in 1977 I went to see Star Wars (the first, real, one) on its opening night at the Uptown Theater with a bunch of friends, which establishes my geek cred if there was any doubt. All the shows were sold out, there was a line around the block, and we ended up seeing the added-on midnight show, and some of us appeared in a photo in the Wash Post the next morning of all the geeks in line to see a movie. But we all knew it was an event somehow, and the line was the place to be. The Uptown is still the best theater in DC; it's got a huge screen and a balcony and the blockbusters open there. I've stood on that sidewalk out on Connecticut Avenue for dozens of movies since and nowadays I drag my daughters along, or vice versa.
Each of the subsequent movies in the SW franchise have been another big step down for me, until when the last one came out and I was ready to throw something big and wet at the screen. The above cartoon was drawn before I saw it, but I'd already figured it wasn't going to be much fun. George Lucas will likely spend the rest of his career tinkering with his Star Wars oeuvre, reworking CGI effects and monkeying with the explosions and stuff. Which is fine by me as long as he doesn't make any more crummy movies.
5 comments:
I see Spiff! Only in CGI could Watterson return... Thanks, CGI!
The first Star Wars at the Uptown????
I'm having serious movie screening envy.
The first time I saw STAR WARS, I saw it in some mall theatre in Cleveland. Where ELSE would teens see a movie?
I watched it with my friend David Pogue, who, from the Internets rumors I've read, is now kinda in the upper echelon of geekdom! Who knew?!
The Vader sitcom would've been most entertaining!
Uptown forever baybee!
I'm a huge fan of your work, Richard. And this is just brilliant! You have to do some more of these! Did you get to see the latest Indiana Jones yet?
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