Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Happy Get a Life Day!

Here's the thing: I LOVED "Star Wars" when it came out in 1977. Loved. And I loved it in 1978. In fact, the movie must have still been showing in theaters then because I know I had a birthday party that was primarily an excuse to see "Star Wars" again with a bunch of friends, and that would have been in January of '78...

Which is why I find it so puzzling that I have absolutely no memory of watching the infamous "Star Wars Holiday Special" when it aired in 1978. Did I just not know about it? We had a TV, and I know I was watching a lot of it at that age, so it seems odd that I wouldn't have heard about it. Did I actually see it, and block it completely out of my memory because the awfulness of it was so traumatic? Did my parents keep its existence a secret because they knew if would be awful, or, more likely, because there was something else on at that time that they wanted to watch?

I may never know. But part of me is glad I missed it as a kid--or forgot about it completely--because I think it might have permanently tainted my "Star War" love had I seen it, and that was something that I'm grateful didn't happen until the prequels were released. (Well, OK, it kind of began to happen towards the end of "Return of the Jedi," but let's pretend it didn't.)

Regardless, I'm happy it's relatively easy to watch these days, even if the video quality is for crap. Happy Life Day, everyone!

1 comment:

Jeff H. said...

Unfortunately, I remember watching watching this all too clearly.