Yes, yes there are already 'reaction' threads, 'review' threads and so on, but nothing beats the excitement of a Star Wars premiere.

I'd just like to take this time to describe what this day means to me, as nerdy and rediculous as that seems.

I've waited for this day since I was 4 years old. Ever since I heard Obi-wan tell Luke how his father died and how the Republic was crushed in the fist of the Empire. When episode 1 was released, all I thought about was Episode III. It was the film that mattered. I and II were just the buildup to what would be the most crucial movie in the series. I started my official countdown at around -210 days til this day. Within my msn nickname I had the number of days in brackets, which I updated daily. My cell phone's display banner was manually updated with the countdown as well.

What I mean to say, however sad it may seem (though I'd assume not at all since we are all posting on a Star Wars messageboard), is that this day marks the climax of an adventure I embarked on all those years ago. It means more to me than I can put in words.

It may not kick in yet, but this is historic. The nostalgia will set in when 'A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away' graces the screen, and your tears will shed once you've realized it's all over. I am indebted to what these movies have done for me. If I ever met George Lucas, there would be no sheep ranting and raving or questions on how he conjured up this brilliant universe or what he was smoking when he imagined Jar Jar Binks, just a warm and honest "Thank you."

Amen.

only 5 when this began.

it kind of hit me today w/ a strange nervous feeling that I was going to see Darth Vader tomorrow. it's been a long time since ROTJ and i’ve missed him.

Spare a thought for my generation (im 21) who weren't even born when ROTJ came out in the cinemas. I grew up with Star Wars on videos my dad had taped in the late 80's. The one thing i regret looking back was that somehow i always knew Darth Vader was lukes father. Another thing i always seemed to magically know was that Darth Vader wore the suit courtesy of Obi-wan and lava!

So what does all this mean... it means i am looking forward to tonight (8 hours to go now in Melbourne, Australia) with the kind of anticipation i have never ever felt for a movie before... and probably never will again in my entire life! Seeing the final scenes of Anakin becoming Vader and that climactic battle are going to be awesome... we have been waiting for this ever since the SE came out and we knew the PT was going to happen.

All i can say is enjoy the moment, and as someone else here has already touched on... when that opening crawl comes up, realise it will be for the last time you see a premiere of a Star Wars movie... CANT WAIT!

I've never seen a midnight premier, nor any movie on a digital screen, and I'll be doing both tomorrow, so this is going to be even more exciting.

I'll never forget leaving Ep I and thinking these next six years are gonna be tough.....

.....Six years later and we're here at last!

Well said CoGro

I second that, I almost get a tear thinking about it...wait I mean it's dust or something.
Rock on everyone it's been a helluva ride, just over 24 hours here on the west coast
Chewie...do your thing

28 years we've known this story...

22hours and 30 minutes to go...

6 shows in 24 hours

1201am
1015am
115pm
415pm
715pm
1015pm


End of an Era

Happy Empire Day

Hi there, I've been hanging around for a while, but never really posted anything. Now it's time I guess. I'm just an ordinary Star Wars fan from Hungary, and I'd like to share my thoughts with you now, with the first screening just 14 hours away here.

I'm not into this thing for so long as real old-time, hardcore fans - I was 11 when I became a fan, 12 when TPM came out. But still, it was a crucial thing in my life, I've grown up on Star Wars. I made a Millennium Falcon from paper, made a fan-film in the garden (never finished), I burned custom CD-s with pictures, created a homepage, and who knows what else. In the last few years the intensity of the whole thing may have weakened, but when I got up this morning I realized that the feeling haven't changed a bit. When the credits will be rolling tonight, I'm sure I'm gonna shed some tears. It's about losing something that you'll be never able to get back again. But this is the way of life I guess - the way of the Force.

For sure, there will be bad dialogue, silly lines, and wooden acting in ROTS. But the fans who are gonna be yelling and cheering with me tonight know that this is not the point. Not now.

Thank you, George Lucas!

I guess we are lucky here in Germany. We dont have to wait for midnight.
They are showing the movie at 8pm German time. Back home in the states that would be 2PM EST.

Oooh, I've got 5 hours to go !!

The anticipation is killing me !! Arrgghh !

Well i've waited since 7 when i first saw ESB.. god do i remember back then

just 6 hrs till midnight, i'm leaving now to line up..

Tonight's the big night... Unfortunatly I was scheduled to work tonight, so I had to move my reservation to May 19, so I guess I'll be viewing it the same day as everyone else.

I haven't been around since 1977 but this still is the most anticipated movie of my generation. It'll be sad to see the Star Wars logo crawling into the infinity of space for the last time, but at least SW will go out with a grand finale not soon forgotten.

I've been a fan of Star Wars since I was four, with my first viewing of EMPIRE from a dodgy pirate video that my dad had brought home. That opened up not only the world of SW, but the world of film for me, but since then, SW has always been a part of me in some way. The prequels especially, even though I haven't been a fan thus far. I have midnight tickets for SITH, but probably the real showing for me will be the 9am the next day, where I'm taking the person who introduced SW to me; my father. It'll also be a slightly poignant time, because my mother - who always loved the movies - passed away in January, so I get a sad tinge when I think I'll never be able to watch this with her, at least in anything but spirit.

Still, at least for the first time, it'll be a family occasion. And whatever the outcome, I think a little piece of me will die tomorrow morning. Because it'll know it's the end. At least we get to find out if this saga really does hinge on redemption.

I must of begged him for them, cuz I still remember the day that my dad
brought home the VHS tapes, that his friend had copied using a machine that
could actually copy over the horizontal sync (Now that im a computer
engineer, I find this very amusing)

Or the Day my neighbor gave me his racor monster, kenner toys rock!

Today shall be fun, for sure.

I was seven when ANH came out and have lived Star Wars ever since. I'm sitting at home at 9.30pm (Australian) forcing my self not to leave to early for the midnight show. I've waited for this for a long time, finally all the questions of my youth will be answered. I know I will cry during this movie (I'm sure most of us will) but I'm not ashamed. I don't feel Lucas raped my childhood but he has shaped me somewhat., anger and hate lead to the darkside not just of the force but of life in general.

The ride has been great and the end is in sight. A part of my life ends tonight, the anticipation of youth will finally be gone. I'm not sorry, just thankful.

Well the butterflies are stirring, the music is on loud and I'm off to be a child again for a few hours.

I hope you all enjoy today as much as I will. Lets keep MF going, there is still lots to talk about. May the force be with us, always!

12 HOURS!!!

Went down to the cinema to collect my ticket. I'm shaking all over. This is going to be SO SO GOOOD!!!!

Aw guys seriously, I've always been the one guy who everyone asks about Star Wars. My dad introduced me to the films at a very early age. I remember being 10 years old and buying my dad the remastered Original Trilogy (the ones with the red logo) and watching them all back to back with him. I remember my Dad telling me how he went to London for the ESB premiere and how he loved the film so much. I remember him telling me how he was a hardcore science fiction fan and didn't think star wars was sci-fi and so didn't go straight away. He said that when he finally went to see it, he saw it again straight away.

I remember playing with my obi-wan and vader toys re-enacting their duel. I remember reading the ROTJ novelisation and imagining that lava crawling up Vader's back.

I'm so excited. I've waited for this my whole life. It's going to be wonderful. A dream come true (literally). I can't beleive it's finally here.

Star Wars fans are some of the greatest guys on the planet, and these films unite so many different people. Shit. I can't wait.

12 hours! WOOOO!!!

Yeah, I get to go in 6.5 hours, at the 8PM showing at the English theatre here in Hamburg. My wife is wearing my Emperor costume, cos I'm not willing to wear it on the U-Bahn ride there. Oh well. I'm completely psyched right now, and kept going back to sleep this morning, thinking, 'It will make SW come faster.' I slept like 11 hours, and part of that was an Episode III related dream. damn

We already got our tickets for Friday too.

Du Weichei!
Viel Spaß jedenfalls!

I guess I'll be wearing my standard clothing - mostly black.
And maybe I'll don a black glove on my right hand...

Danke. Ja, ich bin Weichei....

Do people here dress up at these things?

Anybody see any hot chicks in line, or just sweaty fat fucks?

Have fun tonight, guys! Enjoy this!

I love this board.

I'm going to the midnight show.........I want to get there early in order to wait in line and get good seats, but Im goin with stubborn people who dont want to have to wait around and refuse to go till around 11.

I remember the rerelease of Empire when I four. Loved it for some reason so much that I saw it six times back then. I remember going to the premiere of Return of the Jedi and seeing a guy dressed as Vader taking pics. I'd do just about anything to have the pic today. This is closure for me so I'm not really sure how to feel about it. I remember thinking how old I would be when the PT would be over. Considering my name is Luke, you can imagine the countless times I've heard "the line." Now with the greatest franchise that has always shadowed my life, it should be interesting to not here a mum about it.

I was born two years after Return of the Jedi came out, so my first encounter with Star Wars was at my Grandparents house. We'd go over maybe once a week, and my Grandfather, who has since passed away, would show us a different movie every day. The very first movie I can ever remember seeing was Star Wars, and although I was not in a theater, I could have sworn I was, and I would have told you so. I was completely enthralled, totally ensnared by this mythology, and have been ever since. I had always hoped there would be more movies someday, but it wasn't until 1997 that I finally got to experience the Trilogy the way it was meant to bee seen: In a theater full of cheering fans. I'm sure I'll get some flak for this, but I love the Special Editions, especially the DVD's. I think George has earned the right to "finish" the movies and change things around (although I hate the whole Greedo Shoots First/Same Time as Han thing. But I digress.)

I have been awaiting this day of days since it was first annouced that there would finally be more Star Wars films. Episodes I and II were okay for me, not the best, but not that bad. But I still went into the theater thinking, "Okay, get through this one and move on, I'm waiting for Episode III". Now that the day has finally come, I am so excited that I can barely type. Yet, I can't help feeling that, when its all over, I will walk out of the theater with a smile on my face and tears in my eyes, because the end is finally here. I don't know if anyone here likes Star Trek as well, but when I watched the finale, even after all the publicity surrounding the end of Star Trek, it didn't finally hit me until the finale ended that this was it. And I did have a tear or two in my eyes. I grew up with Star Trek, just like I grew up with Star Wars, and now that the day of days is here, I can't help but feel as if it is the end a period in my life. And it is a bit sad.

This will be the 3rd midnight screening for me. Episode IV came out when I was 8 and I could not have imagined I would be here in 2005 still bathing in the delight of looking forward to watching another one.

I was nine when I saw ROTJ with my Mom in 1983. It was the first movie I really remember seeing. I've been a fan ever since.

I had seen ANH taped from the first TV broadcast with a bunch of cool behind the scenes info leading the commercial breaks. I watched that MANY times.

Then my neighbor said one day before ROTJ "have you ever seen the second one?" I watched ESB in at my neighbors on Beta-max, for me I felt like I was at the movie theatre. With the asteroid chase scene, and the orange glow and smoke from the carbon freezing chamber seemed the illuminate the entire room.

I saw the 2:30 am show of TPM opening night (cause the midnight show was sold out) and was blown away. I had never seen a film so dense and OB1 fighting in his youth, kicking ass!

I have midnight tickets tonight for my wife and I at our local theatre, and will be thinking about it all day.

"This will be a day long remembered." Have a great day everyone!

I just can´t believe this!
In 1983 I was 9 years old and saw ROTJ here in my hometown in Sweden.. and tonight 4 1/2 hours from now..
I´ll be going to the same theatre with a friend of mine and for the last time watch
"A long time ago in a galaxy far far away" appear on the screen..
and then... WHAM! (no not the band )

The final one.. the one everybody has been waiting for..
it doesn´t matter if you prefer OT over PT or the other way around.
(I love all 5 movies so far..)
This movie is gonna be special for every SW fan in more ways than one I guess..

I have tears in my eyes writing this.. and I´ll probably cry my eyes out when ROTS is finished..

As Rachel Green & Monica Geller once said . "It´s the end of an era"

George Lucas.. from the bottom of my heart..
Thank you for making my childhood life a wonderful fantasy that is still going on in my mind and soul.

Star wars forever!

From the first time I saw The Empire Strikes Back (taped off HBO, along with a Pee Wee Herman comedy special) in the late 80s, to the umpteenth time I watched all 5 movies this past weekend, I have been waiting for this night. Tonight is my first, and last, midnight showing of a Star Wars movie.

Thank you George.

The first movie I attended in a theater was ROTJ when I was about 6 or 7. I remember being so excited cuz I'd seen previews on TV and had seen the other movies and had to see this one. Our town was small and we had to drive 30 miles to the closet theater to watch it. My mom, aunt, cousin and myself got our $1.50 tickets and sat down. It was the most fantastic thing I had ever seen. I remember driving home imagining scout walkers marching thru the fields just before falling asleep in the car.

I was at the midnight showing for TPM with my youngest brother the first midnight showing either of us had been to. I thought it was really good, not great, but really good. Went to AOTC opening day (no midnight showing for that one) and thought it was great. Once the euphoria wore off I now see it in perspective and call it really good. I won't be able to attend the midnight showing this time, however. A 3 month old daughter, my brother's graduation, and not getting a ticket are hampering my attempt.

I'm gonna miss visting MF.com and TFN.net (I know, I know) multiple times a day. I always enjoyed reading reports and people's opinions on everything and even tho I was a lurker most of the time, I did post here and there. It feels like a family member is leaving and I don't know when I'll see them again.

I was 9, so, 'nuff said.

Can't go to the midnight show because nobody can watch the kids until 3am. No big deal, really. The noon crowd is just as rowdy.

Have fun!

A student worker in our dept had an extra ticket so I bought it from him. BRING ON 12AM!

In about an hour I'll be getting of work and then it will be 7 hours until I see ROTS.

I just wanted to thank everybody that's provided a spoiler here over the past year or so. You guys are the reason that I'm telling everyone that I know that ROTS will rule.

This will be my last post before seeing ROTS. I hope everybody has a blast tonight (and this weekend for those of you not fortunate to catch a midnight showing). MTFBWY!!!!!!!!!


Dance Chewie dance!!!

That has got to be one of the funniest things I have ever read

9 hours and 40 minutes. I'm leaving at 7 pm for the line.

O M F G

dies....

omfg = ohmyfuckinggod

Well, to paraphrase Rick in Casablanca: My two cents here probably doesn't amount to a hill of beans..." but, I know someone out there is going to read this, and whether you care and whether anyone actually responds, I just wanted it to be known that this has been one of hell of ride.

I've spoiled myself crazy for the first two films, but this time around was incredibly intensee, and it was so very nice to have this website to come to time and time again to be able share my enthusiasm for these films without censorship, stupidity or drama. I know I joined the forums fairly late, but I lurked here for a long time, and now I wish I had joined the community earlier.

I want to thank all of you who have made the spoiler reports possible, I now find myself in that position with Xbox 360 info, so I know what it's like now. I envied you for so long. Now I don't It's a tough position to be in. But fun at the same time.

It's sad to think that around 3:00 AM EST tonight, the whole purpose of this board will change for many of us. Instead of speculation about the final Star Wars movie, we will move into the realm of criticism and debate. And I hope we have passionate and fiery discussions about this movie, because FUCK, this movie deserves to go out with a bang!

The wait to this point has seemed interminable, and now, it's mere hours away, I'm getting ready to leave my house, drive to theater and stand in line for a few hours just to see a movie. Just so I know that ONE LAST TIME, I visited that Galaxy Far, Fary Away and had the ultimate adventure. The adventure that filled my childhood with wonder and delight, and playground speculation about, "IS Darth Vader Luke's dad?" Man, in a way those days were so much more fun. You had wide-eye wonder at everything, not this....cynicism that many of us exhibit on here. We're so goddamn jaded and old now...nothing is simple, clean and pure any more--no matter how hard we try to make it so, and no matter how much we can cleanse our minds of outside influence while watching these movies. In the end, all of us will pick this apart, even if only in our minds, thinking perhaps this could be better, or that coulda been done differently.

I'm not one for telling Lucas how to tell his story. I desparately want to be that kid again, watching ROTJ, and thinking, "Holy Shit. This rules!" Not worrying about acting, or CGI or Muppets, or dialogue, or political statements. I just want to be a kid again.

And tonight, may very well be the last time a movie has the power to transport me back all those years. No matter how great any movies in the future may be, they weren't there when I was growing up. They may be full of wonder and magic, but they'll never be Star Wars.

So, I raise my glass to all of us, to George Lucas and to his team at ILM and Skywalker Sound and everyone involved with these fantastic movies and the fans who kept the spirit of Star Wars alive through the end of the eighties and the early nineties. And I toast all of us. For being able to take this magical journey, and being able to share this wonderful experience.

May the force be with all of us...always.




Damn, I just nearly cried writing that....I don't want to know how I'll feel at the end of the movie.

Wow... I think u pretty much summed it up.

An interesting thing that I noticed, was that, because i was totally spoiled for this movie, I got a little antsy after the Dooku duel. But, interestingly, as the movie started to wind down around THE duel, I started to get a little sad. I didnt want it to end. I was aware of the rest of the scenes, yet i wanted more. Wonder if anyone else experienced that.

Fantastic movie, a few cheeseball lovey lines, tons of action, thought the end music could've been tied in a little better, but visually and emotionally the single most powerful movie of the 6, IMHO.

Hats off to Lucas. Fuckin' A, hats off to all of us, it's been a great ride y'all!

Did the part where Sidius tells Anakin he created him with the force get cut from the script?

I heard a rumor regarding this.

Thank you George for giving us what possibly may be the best SW film of all time. You've earned my respect as a filmmaker. I'm looking forward to your post-Star Wars filmography.

it's funny looking back to just 6 years ago . . . When we saw Ep I - I was prego & struggling to get comfy in my seat, praying I didn't have to rush to the bathroom or worse . . . go into labor - she graduates kindergarten next week!
it's been a long 6 years on many levels!