Friday, May 21, 2010

Happy 30th Empire Strikes Back!


(CNN) -- Neil Sobleski of Dayton, Ohio had been looking forward to it more than anything else.

"I was 4 years old in May of 1980 and already a certified 'Star Wars' maniac," he said. "I had a slew of the toys, and they were my most prized possessions."

On the fateful day when he went to see "The Empire Strikes Back," the second movie in the original "Star Wars" trilogy, Sobleski had little patience for the movie to start.

"I remember that my mom and I were going to see the movie with my aunt, and I found the wait to get to the theater at the local mall in St. Clairsville, Ohio, excruciating," he said. "After what seemed like an eternity, we were finally seated at the theater, and the familiar 'Star Wars' title logo was blazing from the screen, larger than life, with the opening crawl going by as fast as I could read it. For the next two hours, I was riveted to the screen."

There is one moment everyone remembers from the "The Empire Strikes Back" more than anything else: The revelation that Darth Vader is, in fact, Luke's father.

Then 9-year-old John Booth remembers the moment well.

"I heard from some kids that Darth Vader was Luke's father, and even though it was spoiled, it made me want to see it even more," he said.

Read the rest here

4 comments:

JPX said...

No Empire love?

Octopunk said...

Aw sorry. When I think of ESB coming out, I think of JPX telling me details of the Battle of Hoth while we stood in the tennis courts at Hampden Meadows. For some reason we didn't see Empire right when it came out, so I had to rely on playground info. For me it was all about the Snow Walkers. When the commercials would play I'd sit with eyes glued for the one shot of the AT-ATs stomping from right to left.

I also knew about Darth Vader being Luke's dad, but somehow avoided hearing about the asteroids, the space slug, Yoda, Cloud City, Han in Carbonite... all surprises.

JPX said...

My first glimpse of Empire was when Octo showed up at our school's craft show with Empire trading cards! Imagine my delight as I thumbed through the cards and saw new Star Wars images, it was surreal. This was back when they were able to keep movie details a secret until they were released.

DKC said...

Aw, you guys are cute.

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