With the end of the Skywalker Saga just around the corner, Team Goggler takes a minute to reflect on their first encounters with Star Wars. Completing the original trilogy, Iain chronicles his life-long love for all things Star Wars.
Unlike my esteemed colleagues I can’t actually remember when I first became aware of Star Wars. The Force ™ has always been my ally. Always in the background, for my entire life. Sure I might have been a little confused about what exactly happened in the films at first, and in what order when I was a “youngling”, (“No, there’s only a Death Star in the first one, of course I’m sure”) but it’s always been there.
Star Wars is inextricably bound to my childhood, my teens, my life.
My Star Wars?
My Star Wars is running through the hallway of my parent’s house as a child, my Kenner Millennium Falcon held high, chasing my cousin holding my X-Wing.
My Star Wars is losing my tiny goddamned mind when the curtains closed in the middle of the speeder bike chase in Return of the Jedi in a Dublin cinema. My introduction to something called an “intermission”.
My Star Wars is applying battle damage stickers to my X-Wing while in hospital after getting my tonsils removed.
My Star Wars is losing my R2-D2 action figure in the sand that my dad used to build the garage. (I presume the little droid is still there, somewhere. Encased in concrete, not carbonite.)
My Star Wars is discovering my cousin’s friend’s collection of Star Wars vehicles that I had no clue had been made into toys; AT-AT’s; Y-Wings and Vader’s TIE Fighter.
My Star Wars is “inheriting” my cousin’s Star Wars Mini Rigs.
My Star Wars is watching any sci-fi movie of the 80’s involving star-ships, including Battle Beyond The Stars, Space Raiders, and The Ice Pirates in the hope of recapturing that Star Wars feeling again.
My Star Wars is trying to convince myself that Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure and Ewoks: The Battle for Endor are worthy additions to the saga.
My Star Wars is playing the frustrating Star Wars: Droids game on the Commodore 64
My Star Wars is buying a physical copy of Tie-Fighter as soon as I got my first PC, 10 years after the game’s release.
My Star Wars is buying the Star Wars technical manual and reading Timothy Zahn’s Thrawn Trilogy to fill the Star Wars shaped hole in my life in the early 90’s.
My Star Wars is wearing an Empire T-shirt to a school disco when it was DEFINITELY not cool.
My Star Wars is waiting in the computer labs in Trinity College Dublin for the quicktime version of the trailer for The Phantom Menace to load, and then watching it over and over again.
My Star Wars is being increasingly baffled and confused by the prequel trilogy.
My Star Wars is strongly identifying with Tim Bisley’s feelings on the new trilogy in Spaced.
My Star Wars is hating fucking Jar-Jar.
My Star Wars is learning to let go of the anger, to not give into hate. Eventually.
My Star Wars is continually forgetting to finish the CG Clone Wars animated series, and Star Wars: Rebels, and forgetting to start watching Star Wars: Resistance.
My Star Wars is coming to the realisation that the B-Wing and A-Wings are objectively the coolest fighters from the original trilogy.
My Star Wars is swinging anything I pick up that even remotely resembles a lightsaber, just like Obi-Wan does in the prequels while making “whumm-whumm” noises.
My Star Wars is waiting with bated breath for The Force Awakens trailer.
My Star Wars is loving most of Rogue One.
My Star Wars is loving the new generation of heroes and villains and fresh discussions around the series.
My Star Wars is taking time to look at the Ultimate Collector Series Y-Wing every time I pass a LEGO shop, knowing full well I have neither the time nor the budget for it.
My Star Wars is wondering when The Mandalorian will develop something resembling a plot.
My Star Wars is spending hours researching what cinema in Dublin to watch Rise of Skywalker in, while I’m home for Christmas.
My Star Wars is completing another trilogy tomorrow and always having hope that that we’ll continue to see great adventures from a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, long into the future.
