Luke sees Star Wars on the big screen!

Labor Day was a very nice day for the Baileys. Luke slept in, Mom slept in, and Dad, of course, decided to join in just to make them not feel guilty about how they were wasting away a purely fabulous day. We did have to catch up on our laundry since we had gone up to Bear Lake Friday night, but generally we just relaxed at home (which is something we don’t always get the chance to do and is very refreshing when it does happen.)

Many people were very surprised when I told them I had not yet seen Star Wars: The Clone Wars. It had been released on August 15, yet here it was two weeks later and I had still not seen it. I think there are three big reasons that combine together to explain why.

1. I’ve grown up a little. I know, this is hard to believe, and while I freely admit that this is the least likely of the three, it might be a teensy weensy part. Don’t be shocked, I still play video games, goof off a lot, make a lot of seventh-grade level jokes and most importantly I still love Star Wars, but seeing a movie on opening night isn’t as important as it used to be. Who’d have thunk?
2. I had just started back to school in preparation for a new year – which limits my weekday activities – and we’d had busy weekends. It’s amazing what a big chunk of time work takes out of your day. There really hadn’t been an opportunity to go see it.
3. Luke. Now, don’t misunderstand, I’m not blaming Luke for destroying my movie watching habits (although you could probably make that case if you wanted to.) I say Luke because I wanted to take Luke along to see it with me (it was optional for Brenda.) Up until about a year ago I thought Star Wars movies were done and over with. When I heard that it was coming out as a movie, my first thought was, “I have to take Rake to see it!” (it was before Luke was born so we didn’t know yet if he was a Luke or a Rachel.) I’m not sure how many more chances we’ll have to see Star Wars in a theater. While the build up to Clone Wars has been relatively muted compared to Episodes I, II, and III, I’m sure there were still plenty of rabid fanboys who went to see it on opening night and I didn’t want anyone yelling at me telling me to get my baby quiet – so we waited a little while to go see it.

However, as Labor Day dawned, the decision was made. We were going! I probably should have saved the ticket stub for Luke’s book of remembrance (which I don’t think we actually have.) We had lunch with our friends, Matt, Dawn, and their son Rodney. Then we headed out together to see the movie. On the way, I realized that though Luke spends a significant amount of time in his car seat, I don’t have many pictures of him in it, so for posterity’s sake, I snapped two pictures. I’m so glad I did, they turned out just awesome (it’s so convenient when he smiles!)

I saw two former students in the lobby at the movie theater which I thought was fun (it’s always fun to meet them out in the “real world.”) I had wrongly assumed that the theater would be fairly empty (this was after all, a two week old movie aimed mostly at kids.) I was wrong, it was actually pretty darn full, but we were lucky enough to find five seats together in the back (Luke sat on our laps, Rodney sat in his car seat in another chair.) I had hoped not to go all the way to the back because it would such a long walk if one of us had to take a baby out. Both babies did great though, and no one had to leave

As for the movie itself, I quite enjoyed it. It was fun and the lightsaber battles were especially cool. The interaction betweem Anakin and his new hot-headed Padawan Asoka was fun, but it also made me wonder why no one had ever bothered to mention her before. Maybe the lack of hype helped this movie – the other Prequels had all been hyped beyond their capacity to perform. I’m not sure why they got Samuel L. Jackson to be in the movie since they only gave him like three lines.  And I actually thought that rescuing Jabba the Hutt’s son, (nicknamed Stinky) was  pretty exciting, especially as Dooku kept trying to blame the whole thing on the Jedi.  The music, though not composed by John Williams (some guy named Kevin Kiner I’ve never heard of before did it) was really enjoyable, especially the different arrangement of the main Star Wars theme. I bought the soundtrack on iTunes because I liked it so much. Overall, I’d recommend the movie, especially to Star Wars fans (most of whom have probably already seen it.)

In case you haven’t heard, the movie was originally going to be the first three episodes of a new Clone Wars TV series, but I suppose George Lucas remembered that he hadn’t made a billion dollars in a few years so he decided to make it into a movie instead. One thing Clone Wars definitely did do was get me excited for the new TV series (it starts next month!) to continue the story.  Don’t worry George, I’ll be watching!

And who knows, maybe the bearded, flanneled one (George Lucas for those of you not in on the Star Wars lingo) will decide he needs another billion and release another movie someday for me to take Luke and Rack (Rachel or Jack) to go see!  Brenda, is of course, invited to join us. 

This sizzling blade that can cut through ANYTHING . . . is nothing against the powers of Jedi Luke. The Force is strong with this one.