Star Wars
We showed Star Wars to D this week. He’s still a bit young for it, but T has been waiting for this since he was born. If you asked T what he was most looking forward to as a father, watching Star Wars with his child was pretty high up on the list.
It’s not exactly a subtle movie, so D quickly caught on that the guys in the white armor were bad (except for when the good guys are pretending to be bad), and the guy in the black suit was really bad. He loved the lightsaber duels and the x-wing fighters and only really got scared during the trash compactor scene. So now his fantasy games include such crossovers as the Powerpuff Girls v. Darth Vader.
We haven’t seen Episode III yet. T isn’t sure he wants to see it, having been so badly burned by Episode I. I’m willing to give it a shot, based on the reviews I’ve been hearing, and if I’m going to see it at all, I want to see it on a big screen. (Neither of us saw Episode II.) Maybe when the lines die down at the Uptown…
May 20th, 2005 at 10:10 pm
Mr. Geeky and the kids are watching all the movies together as we speak. I think this was pretty high up on his list for fatherhood as well. 🙂
May 22nd, 2005 at 9:45 pm
we saw III today. the story is good but the acting is sooooo bad, especially the actors who played Anikin and Padme, their scenes together are actually painful to watch… But I suppose it’s a must-see, we’re glad we went.
May 22nd, 2005 at 10:18 pm
We stopped at Burger King on our way to the beach this weekend (because I just don’t like McDonalds chicken nuggets) and realized only in the parking lot that Burger King has the Star Wars license. So now the kids have two Chewbacca toys, one R2D2, one X-wing fighter, and 2 Yogas. Yes, Yogas. Don’t try to explain what’s wrong with that to three four-year olds.
One daughter had a meltdown because there were no Princess Amidala toys. Apparently those haven’t been shipped yet. We tried to explain marketing and manipulation but she was not consoled.
Oh, by the way, for those counting, yes, we stopped at Burger King on the way back from the beach, too. Because Mommy is counting the years until it’s time to show the kids Star Wars. (Or, to call it by its philistine name, Episode IV. Not that I’m endorsing that, or the midi-chlorian crap, either. Not by a long shot.) And you can never have too much Star Wars stuff around the house, especially not at 95 cents a toy.
May 23rd, 2005 at 10:04 am
You should see III. It’s not a perfect movie, but it’s a _lot_ better than I and II and ties in much more closely with the “real” Star Wars movies than I and II did. I left willing to accept Lucas’s claim that they are 6 parts of 1 movie and strongly wanting to go back and re-watch IV (which, like you, I still call “Star Wars”) with all the new knowledge I have in mind.
As for bringing D, however, I suggest you see it first yourselves and make your own decision. Our 11 year old loved it. Our 8 year old loved it too, but he also found it pretty upsetting and snuggled up in Mary’s lap about halfway through.
May 23rd, 2005 at 10:08 am
Oh, and don’t worry about not seeing II (which was even worse than I). Pretty much everything from II that you need to know (which is not much) was foreshadowed in I….
May 23rd, 2005 at 12:39 pm
My husband also feels so badly burned by Episode I that he refuses to see III in the theater. “It can wait until Netflix” is his response. I saw II in the theater with my mom and thought the battle scenes on the big screen were worth it. But my husband, with his full collection of 70s/80s trading cards and action figures in the attic, refused to give Lucas another dollar at the theater.
May 24th, 2005 at 9:27 pm
I agree that III is worth seeing–not as good as IV-VI, but much much better than I & II.
When the original trilogy was re-released to theatres we were living in NY, so we went to see it at one of the really big theatres somewhere in midtown (can’t remember the name of it) and waited in line forever to see IV. I have never had so much fun waiting in a line before though, because we were surrounded by so many dads waiting with their sons and daughters and they were all talking about why Star Wars had been so important to them as kids and how cool it was and the kids were all so expectant and excited. I look forward to watching it with my kids too, I have to admit, but I don’t think my 4 year old is quite ready yet.