My Love For Star Wars in a Party

When I was 11, I received my first copy of Star Wars Insider from Lucasfilm after writing a letter to George Lucas (I did not get reply from him, alas).  Within the issue, they had a section where they printed letters from fans and readers.  One letter started out as:

Dear Insider,

I have been a Star Wars fan for over 20 years…

That sentence has stuck with me throughout my life.  Why?  Because family and friends thought I was going through a “fad” or “stage” in life with my Star Wars obsession.  And there is nothing that irks me more, even at that young age, than people thinking I’ll grow out of something or won’t like something as much in a while.  I saw that sentence and thought, “I want to be a Star Wars fan for over 20 years as well.”

I haven’t reached 20 years, but I’m currently at 18 years.  Actually, technically I’m over 20 years if you count when I first saw Star Wars, but I only count the age when I became obsessed as the starting point in my Star Wars journey.

Throughout this journey I have:

• Gone to two Star Wars Celebrations (the biggest Star Wars cons),
• Got inked with the Rebel Insignia,
• Completed a Rebel Legion approved Old Republic Jedi Knight Costume,
• Named my daughter’s middle name Rey,
• Gone to 4 midnight showings of Star Wars movies,
• Started my second Star Wars blog (woohoo – hi guys!),
• And hosted my first annual Star Wars party.

Yup, that Star Wars party happened this past weekend.  Why?  Because what better time to celebrate my true love than around Valentine’s Day?

I know “first annual” is an oxymoron of sorts, but I wanted to make it clear that this is something that will be continual on a yearly basis.  Due to some bad weather the day before, we only had seven people show up (12 RSVP’d as a yes) but I was more than happy with that!  This was the greatest party I could ever throw, in my opinion.

And, oh the discussions!  It was so wonderful to sit with friends, drink some wine and blue milk (yes, I had some blue milk and Yoda soda), watch a Star Wars movie, and discuss Star Wars for four hours.  Heaven.

What movie did we watch?  Ah, the suspense!  No one knew until they showed up and there was a prize for those who guessed correctly.  Surprisingly, there were a lot of ROTS guesses, which I thought was very strange.

But the movie I chose was The Force Awakens for two reasons: 1) In honor of my daughter, whom I hope will grow to be like Rey, and 2) It was the one movie I had not seen and discussed with a lot of my friends.

To reiterate: the discussions!  I have missed talking about Star Wars and guessing what will be coming next with good friends.  Here were my favorite discussions that happened during the party…please chime in with any thoughts you might have as well.

1. The Force Vision/Knights of Ren

When Rey touches Luke’s lightsaber on Takodona, there a bunch of scenes that go by very quickly.  One of them involves what looks like a massacre by the Knights of Ren, with Kylo leading them with a lightsaber in the rain.  We don’t know where this is or what happened.  Rey sees someone coming towards her who looks like they are about to kill her, but instead gets killed by Kylo Ren.  When Kylo Ren starts stepping towards her, she gets scared and backs up, where the scene immediately shifts to a young Rey being left behind on Jakku with Unkar Plutt dragging her away.

My friend brought up this theory: what if Kylo Ren had, in fact, saved a young Rey (though we are seeing her as an adult) from another Knight of Ren?  That Knight of Ren could have been going to kill Rey as part of the massacre, but Kylo Ren steps in to save her.  He then takes her to Jakku where she is left behind, which would explain why it seems like Kylo Ren knows her.  Why would he save her? That’s the question.  Guilt?  Is he related to her?  If so – why wouldn’t Han recognize her?

When I previously thought about this scene, I thought Rey was seeing some insight into what happened when Kylo Ren turned to the dark side and those were all of Luke’s Jedi pupils.  I never thought about her actually being there, but the more I think about it, the more I like this theory and it seems to make sense.

2.The Force Vision/Artoo Shut Down

This is my theory and I have brought it up before, but it did become a discussion point again at the party.  In the Force vision, we see Luke put a hand on Artoo.  Artoo is clearly “awake” here and not in hibernation.  Is Luke shutting Artoo down and somehow using the Force to make sure the next time he awakes, it will be because of Rey?

This theory is a little far-fetched, but I keep coming back to it, because WHY are they showing Artoo in this vision?  It could be because Abrams wanted to keep Luke as hidden as possible until the end of the movie, but I also don’t think there were any throwaways in this movie.  They could have not had this scene if he wanted Luke to remain hidden.  Why show Artoo?

I believe Artoo was getting some kind of direction here and it is interesting that he is “awakened” just when Rey shows up on D’Qar.

Here’s a video of the Force vision for your reference:

3. Your favorite 15-20 minutes in Star Wars

This was a question someone asked at the end of the party.  What is your favorite 15-20 minutes out of all the Star Wars movies?

I thought that would be hard and there were scenes that flit across my brain very fast as I tried to think of something.  I thought of Amidala speaking to the senate (“I was not elected to watch my people suffer and die…”), I remembered Luke staring out at the binary sunset, I thought about Vader revealing he is Luke’s father, I thought about Rey rescuing BB-8, I remember Order 66, I remember Leia and Han’s exchange before he went into carbonite (“I love you!”  “I know.”), but then one part of the saga stood out to me the most.

My favorite scene in the Star Wars saga would be the end of Return of the Jedi.  Luke is trying to control his emotions but Vader gets to him when he realizes that Luke has a sister and says he will turn her to the dark side.  Luke loses it and goes after Vader with such hatred and bests him in their final lightsaber match.  He cuts of his hand in anger – only to hear the Emperor’s sinister laugh behind him.  The Emperor is sure of his victory; sure that Luke will take Vader’s place.  And then….Luke turns away from the dark side.  Seeing his own hand cut off, he turns to the Emperor and tells him:

You failed your highness.  I am a Jedi, like my father before me.

It makes me want to woop with joy every time I see that scene.  Talk about good triumphing over all!  Talk about doing the right thing even when you know it means death!  Aggggh that scene – everything about it: the lightsabers, the ominous music, the Emperor’s moment of triumph – only to have Luke come out on top and throw away his lightsaber.

The best.  That is, in my eyes, the best scene from the entire saga.

 

My party was wonderful and I had a great time.  It’s the perfect thing for me to look forward to since I’m not a fan of Valentine’s Day.  This is a way to celebrate my true love in a way that honors it.

I can’t wait until next year’s party.

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Third Times the Charm

(Please, please, please…if you have been reading all the spoilers on the internet – do not write about them here!  These are all my own theories and I want to be happily correct or incorrect WHEN I SEE THE MOVIE and not beforehand.  Thanks.)

Okay.  So.  This:

This happened last night.

These are my thoughts in no particular order and I am spoiler-free so these are all just MY theories:

• The most obvious question on everyone’s mind is…where’s Luke?  He was not on the trailer poster released Sunday.  He had a voiceover in the 2nd trailer but it was revealed at Celebration that he recorded that later, so it may not be in the movie.  My theory is that Luke is missing or he’s locked himself away for some reason and the plot revolves around finding him.  I do not think he plays a large part in this movie.
• Rey is crying and it looks like she’s crying over a body (possibly dead?).  I believe she’s crying because Han dies.  I’ve believed from day one that Han will die in this movie only because it took a lot of convincing, and money, to get Ford to come back to Star Wars.  I think for that reason alone, his dragging feet, he will be written out of the story line.
• L. Palmer refers to Poe Dameron giving Finn a “bro slap” when he goes off to his x-wing…but I kind of interpreted it differently.  I’m not sure that looks friendly to me, nor do I think Finn thinks it’s friendly.  He looks a little thoughtful and definitely not happy after Dameron walks away.  It could just be that they’re heading into battle so everything is serious, but I’m curious.
• And speaking of Dameron…dude what are you doing hanging out with Kylo?  What is that all about?  There has been so much speculation since character names were announced that Poe is evil because of his name but I’m not seeing any evidence of that – until now when he’s chilling with Kylo.  Okay, he looks like he’s in a lot of stress and may be getting tortured, but he’s still with him.  
• Rey’s accent is English, Finn’s is American.  I was sure, and still am leaning towards, that Rey is the daughter of Han and Leia.  I also have this wild theory that Kylo and Rey are siblings (maybe twins) and she’s hiding from him on Jakku (which I believe is actually Tatooine, but renamed after the Empire fell because it’s WAY too similar to Tatooine and we go to Tatooine in the first movie of both trilogies).  That could be why she’s trying to be “no one”.  Maybe she doesn’t want Kylo to know where she is.  Not sure how all this ties into my theory of her being Han and Leia’s daughter unless she got hidden at birth (like some other twins we know!!).
• Kylo Ren wants to finish what Vader started.  What the heck did he start?
• Nice juxtaposition in the trailer of Finn being aimless versus Kylo who seems to have a very clear direction.
• Kylo will whoop Finn’s butt in the lightsaber battle at the end.  Finn looks nervous and not confident at all.  Maybe this is where Luke comes in and saves the day?  That would be awesome.
• How does Finn get the lightsaber?  It sounds like, from all the trailers and the title, that the Force can “awaken” in you if you know how to let it in or let it emerge.  So does this get rid of the notion from the Prequels that you are either born with the Force or not born with the Force?  That’s a lot to erase from something that is officially canon…
• Not sure if anyone has noticed over the trailers and the cool San Diego Comic Con clip that was released – Finn and Dameron share/switch jackets.  To me, it looks like the jacket belonged to Dameron, maybe Finn helped rescue him, and gets the jacket from him?  I only say this because of that brief, split second clip from SDCC when we see Poe being hurtled off in Starkiller Base (or a Star Destroyer) by two stormtroopers and he’s wearing the leather jacket.  Perhaps Finn is one of the troopers leading him away?
• I think it might be Lupita/Maz doing the majority of the voiceover in this trailer.  “Who are you?…The Force…it’s calling to you.  Just let it in.”
• It’s kind of cool to see how Han did a 180 from ANH to this trailer.  Now he believes in Jedi vs. telling Obi-Wan to shut up on his nonsense.
• Lots of other Kylo Ren peeps standing around Kylo Ren…probably the Knights of Ren we’ve been hearing about.  But why don’t they get lightsabers?
• Anyone see the cool Mandalorian skull on the flags around that temple?  Also, a droid!  JJ is not completely ignoring the Prequels!  It definitely looks more Prequel than OT.
• Did you notice BB-8 is all over the place?  He’s with Rey, Finn, and Poe during this trailer.  Which makes me think that maybe he doesn’t really “belong” to anyone, or he plays a more pivotal role that any of us suspect.
• I hate the name Captain Phasma, but she’s starting to grow on me because she looks BAD ASS.  Bring it.
• Another trench on Starkiller Base.  Another blowing up of a gigantic battle station?  Please no.  Let’s try to be more original.

And finally, here is what I think the timeline of events is based on the trailers:

Dameron gets captured by the First Order.  Finn is a stormtrooper, has a change of heart, rescues him. Gets in trouble, escapes via TIE and the Star Destroyer shoots it down.  He ends up on Jakkooine (my friend’s and I term for Jakku) and meets Rey. He’s a wanted man so they escape on the Falcon (still hazy on how she ends up with the Falcon other than she has been repairing it in her junkyard? Maybe?) to the Resistance.  Somehow they have to go find Luke because Kylo and his Knights of Ren are being talked about.  Finn and Han go to find Luke.  End up at a temple where maybe Maz or Luke is.  Finn gets a lightsaber.  No idea what happens to Rey.  There is a climatic battle at the end where Finn ends up facing Kylo, Han dies, Poe blows up battle station (boo).

As you can see, lots of holes!  But that’s my basic prediction…and I’ve got less than two months until I find out!

I got 7:00pm Imax tickets for December 17th.  Woot.  Excited.

WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS??  SHARE!