The scene was 10 years ago plus a couple weeks. I had been dating Somara for several months and matters were pretty serious (see 3c). We’re hanging around at the old Kenny’s Coffee back in Round Rock. Somara is probably reading a book and I was doodling out a letter or something on my PowerBook 5300 in those pre-WiFi days…
“Somara?”
“Yes?”
“I’ve got something to tell you.”
“What?” (excitedly).
“I’ve got a pair of tickets to the Phantom Menace on opening day!”
Somara was honestly excited. Based upon past experiences with my ex-girlfriends, I was bracing for the stink eye but what a relief.
Anyway, Ethan’s older brother (Michael) had the opportunity to take an afternoon off from work so he scored a dozen tickets (the limit at Gateway 16). The people who camped out for a couple weeks were gone as they bought there’s for the midnight show. Michael nicely let me buy a pair off him at cost. He snagged the 1145 PM show on opening day. Not bad because when you work in a computer-related job, you better catch it as soon as possible or co-workers will blather the whole plot and surprises.
I remember how this movie was expected to cause hordes of people to call in sick too. Some employers issues warnings requiring anyone who did to provide a doctor’s note or receive disciplinary action. Seems like an urban myth though yet I’m sure it was likely up at ol’ Dellcatraz.
So we went with Michael, Ethan, Darren and Garrett. I don’t recall who bought the remaining tickets. I’m confident Michael knew them. How energized the evening was. It almost had the same vibe I had as a kid in 1977 waiting to see the first movie at the Virginia in Champaign, IL.
Then we saw it.
You probably could hear the jaws dropping with the first mention of midochlorians followed by the boy who’d become Darth Vader saying “yippee!” I think all the people ripped on Return of the Jedi started retract their criticism too.
Still, a great evening with friends always trumps a bad movie. Especially when we started making jokes about it on the way home.