7 Days Was All She Wrote

So here we are officially seven days away from the release of the last Star Wars movie. I know I have made some jokes and perhaps mocking posts of some of the super fans, but I have always enjoyed Star Wars even if George Lucas is an egomaniac and has made some questionable decisions over the past few years that have affected the integrity of the Star Wars brand. But I am still excited about the end of an era so to speak.

I was born in August 1977 a mere three months after the release of the original Star Wars film. My parents saw it that summer and so my mom was very pregnant with me at the time. Perhaps that's why I love it so much. I was exposed to it in the womb. But whatever the reason, I have stuck with it through all these years. Like the excitement of the idea of the Special Editions and getting to see them all in the theater. Or the disappointment of The Phantom Menace after all of the hype leading up to it.

It will be sad to know that there will not be any more Star Wars movies after this, but at the same time, it's been 28 years...it's probably time for this whole thing to get wrapped up once and for all. I know that there are persistent rumors that George Lucas will someday make another trilogy but I sincerely hope not. As much as I love Star Wars, Lucas has managed to taint the brand by his excessive merchandising and inclusion of horrible characters so that he can sell more action figures (Jar-Jar Binks, I'm talking to you!). And I'm really not sure how I feel about Darth Vader selling M&M's or Yoda using the Force to get Pepsi in a restaurant. Pretty shameless really.

But from what I am reading about the final installment, it might actually go out with a bang and not with a whimper. We'll all see in a week or so. I for one will not see it the day it is released. I vowed to to play that game again since I saw The Phantom Menace on opening night. It was not worth it. I saw Attack of the Clones about a week or two after it was released and was better off for it. No hype, no anticipation. I just got to sit there and enjoy it without waiting in a line for hours at midnight. In honor of this last week before the release of the movie, pay a visit to Jeff Tweiten's blog that he has been doing since January from outside of a movie theater in Seattle. That's right...the guy has been out there "in line" and blogging for five months. When he wakes up in the morning on May 20, I have a feeling that he might be a little regretful of how he chose to spend most of the first half of 2005. Or maybe he'll be glad. I guess we'll have to wait and see how good or bad Revenge of the Sith is!