May the Fourth Be With You: Happy Star Wars Day!

The cast for Star Wars: Episode 7 was recently revealed by StarWars.com. Returning to their original roles are Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew and Kenny Baker as Luke, Han, Leia, C-3P0, Chewbacca and R2-D2.

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April 29th, Pinewood Studios, UK – Writer/Director/Producer J.J Abrams (top center right) at the cast read-through of Star Wars Episode VII at Pinewood Studios with (clockwise from right) Harrison Ford, Daisy Ridley, Carrie Fisher, Peter Mayhew, Producer Bryan Burk, Lucasfilm President and Producer Kathleen Kennedy, Domhnall Gleeson, Anthony Daniels, Mark Hamill, Andy Serkis, Oscar Isaac, John Boyega, Adam Driver and Writer Lawrence Kasdan. Copyright and Photo Credit: David James.

I have some mixed feelings towards Episode 7 as Star Wars has a special place in my heart

Seeing the words “A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…” always makes my hair stand. In 1977, I watched Star Wars for the first time together with millions of people around the world. I remember fondly how my pestering power worked in getting my parents to take me to the cinema by repeated drawing the Star Wars poster (very badly) on every single clean sheet of paper that I can get my tiny 6 year old hands on.

It sparked a life-long love of movies in me. The original Star Wars trilogy had a very simple storyline (good vs. evil fairytale), out-of-this-world visual effects, a scary villain (for a 6 year old), spirit raising orchestral soundtrack and fantastic space dog fights.

But more importantly, it triggered a sense of curiosity and wonder that has always been with me ever since. Ironic because it took a science fiction movie to make me love actual science!

While I can tolerate the minor tweaks (Special Edition, Bluray Edition, etc) that George Lucas did to the trilogy, the horrible prequels nearly destroyed my love for the franchise. While the visual effects were better, the poor script (especially for The Phantom Menace) was the biggest let down.

It is with cautious optimism that I look forward to J.J. Abrams’ take on this much beloved movie franchise. I just hope that as he adapts it for a new group of audience like what he did with the Star Trek reboot, he can inspire a new generation of audiences (my daughter included) to have the same love of movies and science like what the original Star Wars did to me.

In the meantime, have a Forceful Star Wars Day!

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