In A Galaxy Far, Far Away...

So the animated Star Wars movie ‘The Clone Wars’ has come and gone (for those who remember, I reviewed it at the newspaper I work at and gave it a paltry one star rating). What I anticipated to be a summer’s worth of repeat viewings on the big screen for my daughter and me only turned into two viewings of this very poor movie. Even die-hard Star Wars fans can agree that creator George Lucas seems to have sucked the life out of his once-revered franchise.

After the first time that we saw The Clone Wars, my daughter looked up at me and said: “Dad, can we go home and watch the real Star Wars?” I had to admit that I agreed with her. As much as I wanted to like this movie, nothing can ever compare to the scope and grandeur of the original (except for maybe The Empire Strikes Back, of course). So now our Summer of Star Wars has come and gone. Even our computer room, which had been converted into the archive of my massive Star Wars toy collection - which my daughter lovingly refers to as ‘The Star Wars Room’ - has begun to be dismantled. As my wife’s daycare business slowly takes over the entire upper floor of our house, it is time to face reality. While it was nice having my Jedi and Sith stuff displayed for a short while, our kids do need a place to sleep!

So the posters have come down and the toys are being gingerly tucked away back into their Rubbermaids. It’s a solemn process. I know that it’s not likely these toys will see the light of day for many years to come, and the look on my daughter’s face as the room is cleared out simply breaks my heart. But we will always remember our Summer of Star Wars – or at least I will. The spectacle of seeing the original for the very first time will fade like an old photograph, but interest in the fate of the Jedi will renew each year as she is allowed to watch another installment (next year it’s my favorite: Episode V, The Empire Strikes Back!)

In the meantime, we’ll continue watching the original now and again, and I’ll smile each time I kiss her goodnight and tell her I love her and she responds with: “May the Force be with you.”