A New Hope

This weekend, the kids attended a Star Wars themed birthday party. The party was great--the birthday kid's parents had planned all kinds of fun and games, had music playing, a light-saber shaped cake, even re-labeled the sodas "Yoda Soda" and "Vadar Juice." It was for a friend of Aidan's, but Annika and Aaron came, too, and all three were running about in their brown Jedi robes with foam light sabers saving the galaxy. All in all, very cute. Since then, Aidan has told his story of battling Darth Vadar to at least 3 people already, including the new family in church who happened to sit behind us today.

So, the kids are all hyped up for Star Wars. Even I am feeling nostalgic for the ol' Lucas magic. Plus, tonight Tony's out of town and I'm looking for a low-key way to keep them occupied, so into the DVD player went Episode 4. Crazy thing about this generation--there's so much existing knowledge that I actually had to prep my kids by explaining that this story takes place AFTER the Clone Wars and is about Luke Skywalker, Anakin's son. Throughout, Aidan asked questions like why they are called "storm troopers" rather than "clone troopers" and what happened to the Republic. There were several creatures on Tatooine that he wanted to know "what species are those?" and my own nerd knowledge failed me. Tony will have to fill in on his return.

They are the absolute perfect age, though. When Obi Wan first walks up all be-robed, and they're asking "who's that?," then start putting it together and all, it's pretty cool. Annika remembers a bit more of the back story and enjoys being "in the know" but still doesn't know everything that's coming; Aaron runs around during the first 40 minutes or so, but is intrigued enough to eventually climb on my lap and watch it to the end. Aidan, of course, can hardly contain his interest. In the final flight battle, he has me pause it so he can go get one of his ships "just real quick."

Watching it was tremendously fun for me because, while they know a lot of Star Wars stuff, the kiddies are experiencing the excitement of the movie itself from innocence. They don't know that Han's going to come out of nowhere at the end and cover Luke so he can hit the Death Star. I don't think even Annika remembers about Luke and Leia being siblings, so they can watch Luke's crush on Leia without thinking--hmm, a little wierd. I totally want to watch the rest of the movies now, because the good bits ("Get this walking carpet out of my way!") are all new to them, and even the stuff I don't like so much as an adult will be enjoyable because they will love it. They will totally dig the ewoks--I did when I was 9 and I don't have a problem admitting it. When we watch Epsiode 1, Aidan won't care if that kid is a lame actor, he will be so busy identifying with Anakin behind the controls of the pod-racer. I imagine they will even enjoy (Force be with us) Jar Jar Binks.

Okay, one more jem: in the first part of the movie, Aidan wonders aloud why Luke doesn't bust out his light saber to fight off the Sand People; he calls out to the movie a couple of times for "more light saber action." When it gets to the point where Obi Wan is sneaking around the Death Star and Vadar senses him, and heads off to find his former master for a final showdown, Aidan responds "Yeah, that's what I'm talkin' about! Light saber battle!"



The moment when the red and blue blades crossed--in what he calls "the big X"--was pure magic for him.

Perhaps I married Vadar--perhaps I just married a big sci-fi loving dork. But unquestionably, my young ones have much of their father in them. And so the Force passes to another generation.
--Queen Amidala