Remember, the Fourth will be with you. Always. Well, for today, at least. Today is May the Fourth 2015. It being #StarWarsDay, there’s every reason to celebrate all things StarWarsulent. What’s your favourite thing about Star Wars? Or if you loathe the Wars – and you’ve every right to do so – then, why?
I’ve blogged before of how the first trailer for the upcoming new Star Wars instalment The Force Awakens transported me back to the same levels of excitement and joy as when I saw the original Star Wars (it wasn’t subtitled A New Hope in those days) when it first came out, back when I was but four years of age. I’m sure legions of ageing Star Wars types out there felt the same way. And more so when that unbelievable second teaser trailer was unleashed last month.
Talk of ageing as prompted by #StarWarsDay also gave rise to a highly insightful tweet from my friend Anne Tynan this morning:
Damn straight. Ageing is a constant, just like change.
May the Fourth is also an auspicious day for birthdays (the day we celebrate ageing). Today is the birthday of one of the best bloggers and greatest gents I know, the one and only @flipchartrick (recent blogger of the year award winner, and author of the Flip Chart Fairy Tales blog).
Delightfully, Twitter talk of Star Wars day prompted Conor Moss to tweet the fact that today is his son’s seventh birthday, and that his son is excited about The Force Awakens. There’s such a pleasing circularity to all this!
The past can come back to life and transform before your eyes and ears, too. I can’t believe that it was only last week that I came across this 1979 Comic-Con trailer for The Empire Strikes Back, with voiceover by a frankly rather excitable sounding Harrison Ford (perhaps he had enjoyed a cold drink beforehand?). It was amazing to see this, particularly the shot of C-3PO tearing down a sticker from a wall on the Rebel Base – er… what?!?
This artefact from 1979 is exciting to me in 2015. Wouldn’t it be superb if today’s six (or indeed, seven, in the case of Mr Moss junior) year olds were able to uncover something equally transporting from back in the days of The Force Awakens, come – gulp – 2051?
May the Fourth, in a very real sense, be with you.
UPDATE1 (on the afternoon of May the Fourth): Kylo Ren and co unveiled
Star Wars Day would appear to be the gift that keeps on giving! Vanity Fair have now gifted us some truly beautiful images of the Force Awakens cast, as depicted by Annie Leibovitz, including the image below of Kylo Ren, who I believe is to be the next-generation Darth Vader. This could possibly be the best Force Awakens-related image yet to be shared. I make no claim to the copyright of this image of our Kylo, and will happily remove it immediately if required. I fully intend to procure the edition of Vanity Fair with these images the moment I see it. And I strongly recommend you do too.
Footnotes:
- Vanity Fair cover grab as tweeted by Battlefront News. I make no claim whatsoever to the copyright for this image, and will remove it immediately if required.
MJCarty 