Return of the Jedi (1983)

As the target demographic for Star Wars, it was a foregone conclusion that we would see the final installment of the original trilogy (especially after such an unexpected ending to "The Empire Strikes Back").

Movie poster for "Return of the Jedi" (1983)

 

I think we saw "Return" at the original Square One Cinemas, in Mississauga.  My younger sister spent the summer in Ottawa, Illinois, and ended up seeing the movie 3 or 4 times (there wasn't much else to do in Ottawa, Illinois).

Carrie Fisher looked uncomfortable in that metal bikini - a deliberate homage to Dejah Thoris in "A Princess of Mars" and the influence of Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter of Mars Series on the Star Wars universe.

While the special effects were cutting edge, I appreciate the playfulness in using a tennis shoe in the climactic battle scene in the skies above the moon of Endor, as told in "The Making of Return of the Jedi".

I thought ewoks were dumb, but understood the rationale behind them.  (We purchased the soundtrack to "Return of the Jedi" which concludes with a song in which the ewoks sound "like drunken halflings" according to a friend of mine).

With the conclusion of the original trilogy, I didn't think much about Star Wars until the prequels came out.  There's certainly a lot to like, but I was more into reading, listening to Rush, and playing Dungeons & Dragons.

The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

There was a fair amount of hype surrounding the release of The Empire Strikes Back.  I was in Grade 6 at the time, and more into Marvel comics and Micronauts, but it was hard to escape the growing pop culture phenomenon that was Star Wars.

Movie poster for "The Empire Strikes Back" (1980)

I remember the buzz about Billy Dee Williams as Lando Calrissian (I distinctly recall seeing this issue of People magazine while shopping for groceries with my mother at Miracle Mart in Westdale Mall, in Mississauga).

There were plenty of schoolyard spoilers - soon, everybody knew that Darth Vader was revealed to be Luke's father - which, like rumors of the glimpse of Vader's unhelmeted head, only served to generate publicity, not disincentives to see the movie.

My mother took my siblings and me to see the film at the Westwood Theatre in Etobicoke, where we were pleasantly surprised to see two of my cousins, on our way out of the theatre.  We were all a bit perplexed about the ending (the bad guys won?)

When I saw the re-release in 1997, while living in Montreal, the campy dialogue struck me as a little stilted (one of the more notable exceptions being Harrison Ford's improvised "I know" in response to Leia's declaration of love).

A cool thing I've learned in recent years is that an early draft of the screenplay was written by Leigh Brackett, who also wrote "The Sword of Rhiannon" (1953), a planetary romance in the tradition of Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter of Mars.

Star Wars (1977)

I think I first learned of Star Wars when a kid in Grade 4 named Bruce asked me if I'd seen it yet.  Not only hadn't I seen it, I had no idea what he was talking about.  Before too long, everybody had seen it, and so I tried to convince my mother to take me.

Movie poster for "Star Wars" (1977)

It took some convincing, but my mom finally spoke to one of my aunts, who suggested that they take my siblings and me, along with my cousins, to see it.  We went to the old Odeon Theatre on Bloor Street West, getting there with plenty of time to spare.

It was rather late during the theatrical run, so the theatre wasn't packed.  I sat beside my cousin Vicky.  At one point I heard a disturbance to my right (my brother knocking my sister's popcorn out of her hands, after blaming her for dropping his).

Once the movie started, we were all rather into it.  None of us had ever seen anything like it.  I remember my mother trying to shield my 4 year-old sister's eyes from the sight of Uncle Owen's smoldering corpse.  And yep, Han shot first.

I owned a few Star Wars action figures, mostly acquired through trading, but never became a fanatic.  We got my parents to buy us the John Williams soundtrack, and I would read the Star Wars storybook while listening to the soundtrack.

I saw the re-release in 1997, and also episodes I-III when they came out, but I've yet to see episodes VII-IX (perhaps I'll see them all, back to back, one day).  I also enjoyed Rogue One (2016) when it was released, but didn't see Solo (2018), either.