Late 1970s, IIRC. I wasn’t born until the late 60s, thankyouverymuch.
Aha. I was thrown by the “first” in “first showed.” I remember watching it when I was five or six, which would have been 1960 or '61. And the marching guards scared the crap out of me! :eek:
If your father had done a similar thing, you would have been breathlessly watching a movie from 1947. The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer, perhaps.
Well, first for me. For me, it was the dead witch’s feet curling up and shrinking under the house. The flying monkeys never bothered me.
It would have been cooler, though, if you’d had a copy of “Star Wars,” which is a better film than the modified version with the unnecessarily long title.
I’m annoyed that someone else had this idea for the order of viewing. With the same rationale.
Kids today… I was 3 when I saw it, 5 is plenty ready for Star Wars (and that’s the name of the movie, btw, not A New Hope, which was only added, as a secondary title, years later). Maybe not to retain exact details, but certainly to get the sense of wonder and general awesomeness going on. I hope you’ll try again soon, maybe get him some action figures to play with after would help.
So, RhythmDVL, how’d it go?
Either he’s still trying to talk the boy off the ledge, or it was a non-issue. I’m hoping the latter.
My son’s barber announced that she had never seen The Incredibles.
That was a mistake. She was mercilessly ribbed by EVERYONE in the shop.
Without any hyperbole, it was magic. There may be other shoe drops in his life, lots of twists and unexpected moments, but none will ever compare. Ever. There is something about this age, with his full belief in daddy magic and Santa, when he has an absolute certainty that everything is black and white and absolute credulity and acceptance for fictional reality. He hasn’t a hint of impending jadedness or cynicism—he’s no too cool for anything yet and has instead been revelling in the total cultural immersion in all things Star Wars—from Angry Birds to character-shaped Ziti (to say nothing of playing with my X-Wing, Cloud Racer and AT-AT from my youth). And though in his time he’ll build nostalgic pedestals for his own stars and movie moments, their magnitude cannot reach the multigenerational wallop that is the Empire Strikes Back.
I made a slight mistake of capturing too much throughout and unwittingly draining my battery, but by some luck (or manifestation of The Force), there was enough power to capture the crucial moment—it cut out mere seconds later. I now need to sift and cut the rest of it down to a series of moments—his first screen AT-ATs, Han getting frozen, Luke’s test, etc. It took me this long just to figure out how to convert from MOV to something I can edit in Windows, so hopefully I’ll have it done in time for his 21st birthday.
Another reason for the delay is that plans have changed—it looks like the Phantom Menace is back on the menu. Couple reasons.
We could now move into broader science fiction. He’s still a bit young to begin his five year mission to explore strange new series (we’re going in order from TOS to the Animated Series, through to TNG and beyond). He’d get a lot of it, but the more cerebral concepts and scenes will stretch his attention span. And I’d like him to be able to appreciate the deeper, more philosophic aspects a little more than he can now. (Not all, just enough.)
So that means Battlestar Galactica. Holy cow, is that a good show. It’s a bit dated here and there, and there are plenty of 1970s conceits, but my decades-old recollection had no idea that there was that much depth behind it. This hasn’t been watching it with him to keep him entertained; it’s been watching it and being entertained as a family. But…
…but he likes Boxey. I was maybe nine when it came out, so I already had an air of too-good-for-that and kind of hated the little kid (and his little dog, too!). But he *likes *him.
So maybe he won’t be as bothered by little Jake Lloyd and JJ. Binks.
And speaking of Binks, there’s this Reddit thread: [Theory] Jar Jar Binks was a trained Force user, knowing Sith collaborator, and will play a central role in The Force Awakens.
It is … compelling.
How fun!! I didn’t think to tape it, but my son was 5 when he saw ESB with no foreknowledge. He went nuts - looking at me and saying “Dad!!! DADDDDD!!! Darth Vader is his FATHER!!!” for a few minutes. Completely blew his little mind and yes, we talk about it fondly now - he’s 17 years old. Great memory.
Either at Christmas break or next Summer Vaccation, I am doing this with my kids, aged 5 and 7.
I am going to bootleg the unspecialized editions so they can see them the proper way. I have paid for Star Wars IV-VI through the roof, so I have no prob. bootlegging a correct copy of the originals.
I’m not sure my 5 year old boy is ready for movies where people get shot and die. I know my 7 year old can handle it. Both listened to me read Narnia last year and the moment where Aslan died was pretty intense, though my 4(at the time) year old kind of didn’t understand.
I’m not sure. Star Wars is a great introduction to PG kind of movies, though. I hope they can handle it.
Note: My parents wanted to see Return of the Jedi badly enough that they took me to the theater when I was 5. So, I handled it, anyway.
This is awesome. We marathoned the OT this weekend with my 8 and 11 year old to prep for Force Awakens. They loved it!
Side note, we were at Target the next day, and they had a selection of character hoodies with masks built in to the hood - Yoda, Chewbacca, Vader, Stormtrooper. Both kids wanted one, so we let them pick one out. My youngest decided she had to have Vader. Which is incredible, because one of the things that made me fall in love with her mother is finding a picture of her at age 8, dressed up as Vader for Halloween. Guess it’s genetic!
My daughter came home from high school with an assignment. Her history teacher wanted them to watch** Schindler’s List** and Saving Private Ryan.
Of course, her 17-year-old self was not going to listen to mom, who told her not to watch them back to back. I shrugged and popped in the DVD of Saving Private Ryan.
After it was over, I said, “Ready for Schindler’s List?”
Very quietly, she said, “No, mom,” and went to her room.
For me, when those movies are on cable I have to watch at least part of it. I feel like I owe it to the survivors.
So, how did it go? I’d love to see an update.
See Post 31.
StG
I just watched A New Hope with my almost-seven year old son this past weekend. He’s been interested in Lego Star Wars and kids’ Star Wars books from the library, so I figured if I didn’t watch the movies with him now, it would all be ruined. So now we’re going to watch Ep V in the next few days. And I. Can’t. Wait!