Paula S.
As a girl I was interested in horses and Barbies, not sci-fi like my brother. We only had one TV though, and since he was 3 years older, his shows usually won out over mine. When he started watching Battlestar Galactica I suddenly realized space stuff wasn’t just for boys. When he finally convinced me to go see Star Wars at the theater - it had been showing there for almost a year.
Once I saw it I fell in love with Luke Skywalker. My brother capitalized on this to convince our parents we needed to go see the film again and again. Of course, they were just happy we weren’t fighting and gladly gave us money and a ride to the movies. To pass the time waiting for Empire Strikes Back, my brother even made me a lightsaber of my own. Yes, he had the perfect excuse to beat his little sister half to death while she enjoyed it.
By the time Return of the Jedi was released my enthusiasm for Star Wars had waned. My brother, though, has always remained a loyal fan. When we heard about the new film, Phantom Menace, I knew we’d go see it together despite living almost 300 miles apart. He bought tickets to take his kids to the opening night and, of course, he got one for me. And yes, you bet, I drove all the way there to go with them! :)
Nancy
I can't remember the first time I saw Empire Strikes Back or Return of the Jedi. They were just always there in my brain as "I've seen this, I know this". And until I was about 13, that's all I knew. I'd never seen A New Hope. I was obvious to me from Empire that Han, Luke and Leia already knew each other. Heck, it was obvious that they'd already had adventures together. ("That's two you owe me, Junior." If that was two, what was one?) I simply figured I'd missed some TV show or book. It never occurred to me that there might be another movie.
One day my mom found out I'd missed the beginning of the story and she said, "Well, we have to fix this!" We rented A New Hope and watched it. And I was hooked. Some 15 years after the movie was made, the magic still worked! From then on I couldn't get enough of Star Wars: the movies, the music, the art, the story...everything. And I've been a fan ever since.
