1980: The Empire Strikes Back debut

*Technically, the movie was released on May 21, 1980 which would’ve been a Wednesday but I lived in Springfield, IL then so it probably didn’t appear until May 23 or that’s when I went, my parents wouldn’t allow us to attend on a school night. Therefore, splitting the difference works out.*

This was the only (good) Star Wars movie I saw on opening night as a kid. It was quite a big deal when I was 11. My family would occasionally see a film during its opening weekend but never on a Friday evening; the small victories which always seem bigger when you’re a kid.

I recently received an e-mail from my brother and I was surprised he commented about how excited he was to see this too. Obviously it was the last Star Wars flick he ever cared to watch because he isn’t keen on such stuff; he pretty much despised it through his teens and college years. I need to get him to retell his Star Trek story from his time with Apple in Cupertino.

Anyway, thanks to the usual problem of life getting in the way, I completely missed the deadline for blathering on about the week we spent in Washington, DC while Dad was attending some computer training. Seeing all those monuments, museums and other delights took a backseat to getting out of school for a week. Maybe I’ll cover it next year should I be stumped for material.

What does DC have to do with the episode many consider the best of the six? A lot.

Before we returned to Springfield, Mom bought me something from the Air & Space Museum, the novelization of the movie. I didn’t really see it as spoiling all the surprises because I had been jonsin’ for a sequel for three years; the Marvel comics weren’t cutting it despite cribbing some of Empire‘s key plot elements while the heroes were trapped on The Wheel. How I poured through the book all the way home. For some reason I thought the Walkers (AT-ATs) were bionic horses General Veers and his snowtroopers rode into battle. I blame my grade-school reading skills more than the author for this. My perceptions were quickly corrected by a sneak preview on The Ray Rayner Show weeks later. I also kept the secret to myself about Darth Vader being Luke’s father so others could enjoy the revelation. The explanation that Lucas had in the works before Jedi was better too: originally, Vader was supposed to Anakin’s clone which would substantiate Obi-Wan Kenobi’s story instead of the copout he went with.

The movie was a great kickoff to the Summer of 1980 since the rest of it went rather downhill by June. Meaning, it was rather boring, filled with tension (for reasons I don’t want to discuss) and best forgotten.

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