Growing up I was a huge Star Wars fan, not just the films but the entire franchise and due to only being born in the year that the final film of the original trilogy - Return of the Jedi - was released It's little wonder that I found the franchise a little back to front. You see I was a fan of Star Wars long before I even saw any of the films, because by the time I was old enough to consciously watch television the franchise had already spawned 2 cartoon series spin-offs Droids and Ewoks both of which I was completely obsessed with as a kid.
R2-D2 was my favourite then and he still is to this day and I remember how excited I was when I first got to see the original trilogy for the first time. I think I must have been about 6 or 7 when I first saw them and my mind was completely blown, I'm pretty sure in my childhood innocence I thought it meant that R2-D2 was real since he was on screen with real people instead of just being a cartoon character.
When it was announced that the original trilogy had been remastered and had extra footage added to them using CGI and that they would be returning to the cinema once again I was the happiest little geek (in training) and was delighted to get the opportunity to see them on the big screen which I hadn't ever thought would be possible. Then when the prequel trilogy was started I was in love with the series even more, new stories, new characters, new lightsaber battles and most importantly more screen time with my favourite Astromech droid and his whiney golden companion.
At the time I thought Jar Jar binks was hilarious and that the prequel trilogy were fantastic, looking back as a fully fledged geek I can now see I was blinded by youth and that somebody should have probably just conveniently forgotten to tell him that they were leaving the planet and left him behind.
Despite their flaws I'm still really glad George Lucas decided to make them because no matter how bad you might think they are, they still introduced a whole new generation to the franchise and led to the continuation of the brand - without new fans to cater to there simply wouldn't be all the fantastic Star Wars products in shops today. We probably wouldn't have had any of the computer games, new cartoon series, lego ranges - including the rather epic lego Death Star which I would have purchased as soon as it was released had it not been for the small matter of a nearly £300 price tag and my depressingly empty bank balance.
Whatever you think of either trilogy, I for one am a geek who is glad the universe has Star Wars in it and I know that no matter how many times I might get distracted by new franchises and other assorted superhero or sci-fi goodness - i'm always going to want my own R2-D2 and Lightsaber!
May the Fourth be with you
