‘Star Wars’: What it felt like the first time

Thrilled by just the trailer
I clearly remember the first time I saw a TV commercial for the new soon-to-be-released Star Wars movie. In the Spring/early Summer of 1977, I was the FNG (F____ New Guy) on USS BUTTE (AE-27), having just flunked out halfway through my senior year of college and washed out of the NROTC program one semester shy of becoming a commissioned officer. So I was an enlisted man with marriage plans for the summer to be immediately followed by a scheduled seven-month deployment to the Mediterranean in the fall. I was not a happy person.

One day after knocking off ship's work, I was passing through the berthing compartment when this “Stars Wars” trailer came on the TV. I stood transfixed. I still see the gleaming stainless steel lockers around me, the green linoleum deck, the sleeping racks stacked three-tiers high in the dim light of the TV screen, and the strange, fascinating extra-terrestrial creatures in the cantina, the lightsabers (what's a lightsaber?), the old weather-worn space craft with exotic laser weapons ... I had to see it.

I waited a few months before my new wife and I saw “Stars Wars” on our “honeymoon” in Virginia Beach. I loved the movie, but I will never forget the feeling and images from the first time I saw the trailer for it. —Roger Mitchell, Peninsula, Ohio

Inspiring a career choice
I saw “Star Wars” in San Diego at the Mission Valley Theatre. I remember the owner, probably some guy who bet the farm on this sci-fi flick, who came out, cigar in mouth, rubbing his hands with glee at the crowd that wrapped around the theater twice. I was immediately hooked when the blockade runner came across the screen, thinking it was the coolest shot I had ever seen. Then, the Star Destroyer took FOREVER to cross and I knew I had found nirvana.

So now, years later, I find myself waiting for the final film to come out and, because of the inspiration from “Star Wars,” I have become an independent TV producer.  —Reginald Mizell, San Diego Calif.

‘Bravo, George Lucas’
I remember when I saw “Star Wars” for the first time. I was sitting close to the front of the theater and a friend had already seen it and insisted that he be allowed to take me to see it. I remember sitting most of the movie with my mouth open in astonishment. The special effects were so innovative and so unlike anything I had ever seen, that I literally could not speak for awhile after the movie was over. I just sat there in total wonderment that someone had been able to do the special effects. I knew little to nothing about computers in those days, so it seemed to me like geniuses from another world had come to Earth to make a movie which would change everything. And, to a great extent Star Wars did that. From that time on, the viewing public has come to expect fantastic special effects, especially from Industrial Light and Magic. I say, “Bravo, George Lucas” for your contribution to the movie world and for giving us all a great series in “Star Wars.” I have made a commitment to my nephew to take him when it opens and we both are feverishly awaiting the next installment in the story, dark or not. —Holly Price, Memphis, Tenn.

First memory
I was three years old. My dad took me because we had some time to kill before seeing my mom, who was in the hospital after giving birth to my new baby sister. I don't remember the movie in its entirety, but the part with R2-D2 playing battle chess against Chewbacca while Luke is practicing his Jedi and lightsaber skills stayed with me my entire life — I can honestly say that the movie gave me one of my first/earliest memories.  —Mike Miller, Charlotte, N.C.

Not ‘a dumb boy movie’
My older brother was excited by the commercials and couldn't wait to see it. As for me, I called it “a dumb boy movie.” I was a 13 girl who soon had to eat her words. I got dragged to it by visiting cousins. It took me about five minutes to become a convert and see the errors of my ways. How could any teenage girl resist Luke Skywalker standing in the double sunset? I couldn't! I have been a diehard fan ever since. My license plate even reads “77 JEDI.” “Star Wars” is the quintessential story of good versus evil. Thank you George Lucas for starting my continuing love affair with Science Fiction. However, “Star Wars” will always be my first love! —Kari, Victorville, Calif

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