May the Fourth
All Wings Report In.
Today is May the 4th, what has become known by fans around the world as international Star Wars Day. May the 4th was never really officially set up by Lucasfilm, but more by fans as an excuse to take this beloved franchise and give it our collective recognition and appreciation. Star Wars has been on my mind a lot lately. Not just because a few minutes ago I did an interview with Sveriges Radio about the phenomenon that is May the 4th. Star Wars has captured the imagination of several generations now, leading to a franchised and a rich deep appreciation unlike anything. I've been asked to write today's text, with little more advice on "write something Star Wars Day related", so if you'll bear with me, I'd like to share a bit of my history with the beloved franchise.
I no longer remember when I first saw Star Wars. I remember it was Episode 4, I remember being very young, perhaps 3-4 and I know it was a bootleg VHS copy that my father or mother recorded off of HBO. As a kid I would watch most movies ad nauseum. Constantly rewinding a tape over and over again with risks of wear and tear never in my mind, only the impatient yearning to watch again. I remember at some point our bootleg copies of Star Wars broke and it would be several years until I saw it again. In 97, digitally remastered editions of the films were released. I was too young to really care about how blasphemous many of the changes were at the time, I was more just thrilled to be able to see the films again. Then for many years Star Wars wasn't as central to my life, until I was hit by a truck on my way home from school one day in my teenage years.
For quite some time afterwards I wasn't really able to party or go to shows, a central part of my adolescent life. Friends had largely been a matter of geography, those I went to school with and those I saw at concerts, or bought illicit substances from. Being homebound for several months I felt isolated and depressed. Thankfully I had three great friends who understood that if I cant go out to hang, they'd come to me, and Star Wars reentered our lives. I don't remember who amongst my friends suggested it, but we began playing the Star Wars Roleplaying Game by West End Games. Our campaign lasted several years, and spanned the outer rim to the heart of Coruscant, to Secret Chis space. Around this time, and because of the game, each of us became fascinated with all the Star Wars lore and supplements that were produced by numerous authors and by West End Games. From the now classic Thrawn Trilogy, to the obscure Star Wars Infinities Comics. We all dove in deep in Star Wars lore in order to enhance our campaign. If you want to know more about that campaign, buy me a beer some time and I'll gladly tell you.
When news broke in 2012 I was already knee deep in my transition to Sweden, so Star Wars wasn't a big priority again. My friends were more irate. They thought all hope was lost as the empire itself had managed to hold mythology itself at their whim. As I began working at SF-Bokhandeln, I finally found pragmatic use of my Star Wars knowledge, recommending books to customers or perhaps suggesting plot hooks for their RPGs. In fact my job application here included that I had played five years of Star Wars Roleplaying and was well versed in the Extended universe. Last year when I sat in a dim theater, next to my girlfriend and one of my new best friends I've been able to make here in Sweden, who just so happens to be even more obsessed with Star Wars than I am, watching Rogue One, I was transported back to
the tabletop with my friends back in San Diego. As I saw the party made of a tongue-tied engineer, force sensitive, merc, revolutionary and an outlaw I was transported back to the fist time we did character creation and chose from the basic party recommendations. As I witnessed Chirrut using a forcepoint to locate the master switch or Jyn risking literal life and limb trying to get to the top of the tower, stopping only for a moment to make a dexterity check, I imagined my best friend using the vinyl sleeve of the Return of the Jedi soundtrack as a GM screen narrating the consequences of our rolls. I was a feeling I'll never forget, and an experience that I wouldn't be possible without Star Wars playing such a large role in my formative years and even now.
So whatever your plans are for today, if Star Wars has meant half as much as it has to me, I hope you raise a toast to the universe and to George Lucas for making it all possible. May the Force be with you, always.
Andres
