May the, well, you know

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away ...

Ah, there's no phrase quite so evocative. But allow me to finish.

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away ... I saw Star Wars for the first time. Now, that's the original Star Wars, a.k.a. A New Hope or Episode 4, which was the first one made. And I have to say, it completely blew my mind. I was about 12. Some friends of ours invited me over one Saturday afternoon to watch this movie. At the time, I hadn't really read anything set on another planet or starring anyone other than a human except maybe The Chronicles of Narnia. Star Wars completely floored me. The cantina scene, with its myriad species, the members of the Rebel Alliance, the 'droids - I was overwhelmed. I walked home that afternoon with my mind buzzing. I remember sitting in church the next day replaying some of the scenes in my head. Sorry, Pastor.

The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi concluded the story. In a quite satisfying manner, I might add. When I heard that George Lucas was telling the backstory in Episodes 1-3, I was excited. I, like every other Star Wars fan, wanted to know why Anakin Skywalker turned to the dark side. Personally, I was disappointed. The films themselves were clunky and rather dumb. Part of that, I think, came from knowing how they were going to end. Everyone knew Anakin became Darth Vader, so there was no tension. As a viewer, I couldn't root for Anakin at any point because I knew he was going to go bad, and that made it harder to watch.

And then, when I heard the story would continue with Episode 7, I was pleased. I've played out my own post-Return of the Jedi stories in my head. The characters I created didn't appear in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, though. Alas.

The Force Awakens is familiar - from the opening scroll to the final credits. A desert planet, a green planet, 'droids in the sand, trying to blow up the enemy's main weapon, learning to trust new friends - it's all there. It was good to catch up with old friends and see what they've been up to. And it was fun to meet new friends and get to know them.

As the first film in what I'm guessing will be the third trilogy, there's a lot of introduction and exposition. It takes time to get to know characters, and that slowed the pace of the story a little bit. But that's not necessarily bad. It'll save time in the next two films. We've got a new trio of heroes - Rey, Finn and Poe. We've also got a new villain - Kylo Ren. I'm guessing there's some sort of connection between them, although that hasn't been stated yet.

I liked the new characters. Each of the hero three has their own strengths and has to trust the others to fill in their weaknesses. We've gotten to know Rey, a desert scavenger, and Finn, a disillusioned soldier, a little more than Poe, a rebel pilot, so I'll create my own character profiles for them. I don't mind.

Kylo Ren is a little more of a mystery, though. We know who his family is, but we don't yet know what happened that drove him to the dark side. Maybe he was just rebelling against his destiny or something. And now, we're wondering, can he be saved? What is he truly capable of?

The characters are currently separated (as of the end of the movie), similar to The Empire Strikes Back. Is that a deliberate nod to the original trilogy? I don't know. I have my own theories on what may happen, but I'm not going to share them here. At least not yet. I'll just savor the enjoyment of this latest installment to one of my favorite film franchises.

(hum the Star Wars theme here)

Happy New Year, everyone!