The Star Wars Talk - I'm Ill Prepared.

I'm sure many of you have already seen this hilarious talking to your kids about Star Wars PSA.  If not, please take the time to watch it now because it's pretty funny.

Now that you are up to speed, I have a small leeetle confession to make. It's nothing really. Not sure if it is even really worth mentioning, but here goes.  Despite what the title of this here blog might indicate, I would have by no means been qualified to star in this PSA myself. That's because, though I do enjoy the films I am not a - how do you say it - 'dedicated' fan. 

Hey! Alright, who threw that shoe at me?  You, in the back.  Yes, you.  Please put down the pitchfork and consider that I have a young child.

The truth is, even though I have watched all six films, Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back are the only two I have even watched a second time, and it has been at least 5 years since Empire (see, I don't even call it Episode V) which was the last one I watched.

In fact, it wasn't until after Episode I came out, which was during the lovely Mrs. LIAYF and my honeymoon, that I had actually watched the original Star Wars movie. (Do I earn back a few of my rapidly diminishing geek points by admitting we watched it during the honeymoon? On Maui? No?)  One of my first movies at a theatre was Empire and I, along with everyone else I knew, watched Return of the Jedi when it was released.  But it wasn't until I watched the original that the plot line made real sense to me.

So that leaves me where I am today.  A fan of Science Fiction movies, and a dad with a Star Wars themed blog title.  But a Star Wars Geek? Unfortunately, not. 

I say unfortunately because I wish I had watched the movies several more times each.  They are fun and the cult culture around them is undeniable.  And, of course, this has led to Star Wars having a pretty big presence for our kids as well.  Even though we don't have television, and Lukas gets amazingly little media for a 4 year old kid, he is exposed to Star Wars.  He has Star Wars clothes, Star Wars bobble heads, and a few other Star Wars toys as well.  Plus, the neighbor boy has a set of Lightsabers that he generously shares with Lukas.

He likes these things so much so that last night, Mrs. LIAYF actually ordered him his first Lego Star Wars set, an X-Wing Fighter, that was supposed to arrive with our groceries this morning.  However, what was in there was actually a Lego Star Wars board book that loosely followed the plot of the original film.  Nonetheless, he loved the book, showing off to all his friends at pre-school and pointing out who the 'Bad Guys' were, and saying things like "This is the Deaf Star!"

And, as Lukas implored me to read the book to him in the parking lot of his pre-school, I found myself becoming re-familiarized with the plot, and also some of the trivia surrounding it.  for instance, did you know that the little brown robed rodent like guys that salvage and sell robots (like C3PO and R2-D2) are called Jawas? And the desert planet was Tatooine?

Yeah, I thought you did. Now that he's 4, if I am going to have the talk with Lukas about Star Wars, I had better brush up myself.

And decide whether or not to tell him who Luke's Father really is.