playacting probably the whole damned thing with my best friend Caleb on the swingset.
Goodness yes. Matt and I (at Grandma's) and Brooke and I (at home) must have done the whole trilogy dozens of times through. No VCR - we had to make our own fun. (Not to mention our own live-action fan vids.)
My Star Wars action figures saw much use too. They also had many makeshift starships made out of cardboard.
Matt was a massive geek, junior edition, and had what seemed like every action figure on earth, and vehicles and ships and the 2-foot-tall walker AND coolest of all, the Darth Vader carrying case. And lightsabers.
Brooke always let me play Han Solo. Or maybe I made her let me. I don't remember which.
I think he did it once, and then thought it would be cool to reference it in every other freaking film he would ever make. Like 1138, but gorier.
Is the limb-lopping a Joseph Campbell thing? It certainly occurs in mythology, so Lucas is tapping into good stuff by using it, but perhaps it was a touch overused, mythologically speaking, by the end of Sith. However, in a segment of society that fights with energy swords, you're going to have to figure on some missing bits on the participants. Although, why, if they have cloning technology, they use mechanical bits instead of regrowing them, only serves a dramatic purpose and not a logical one, I'd suggest.
Hee. Caleb had the biggest collection ever of action figure. They lived (mostly) in a DarthVader helmet carrying case.
xpost! Hah! Same case!
They overflowed into bait boxes. My brother and I just had the basics.
When the new figures started coming out, I was mostly appalled and knew my brother would be too (he was serving in Macedonia at the time, spying on cows and goats.) So I got him some. His reactions were funny.
Han Solo Got Run Over by the Lawnmower should be a song.
We had an 8mm (is that right for film) no sound reel of that first light saber duel that we'd watch through the projector, but mostly we re-enacted. Often in the pool, for some reason. Maybe just because it was hot.
I like the Oreo Federal Budget thing:
[link]
Pretty much the only redeeming scene in the movie.
How can you discount the shirtless scenes? What sort of film connoisseur are you?
Reign of Fire. Pretty much the only redeeming scene in the movie.
I think the best part of the scene is when the kids ask, "Did you make that up?" and the lead guy cheerfully says yes.
And the meta point? They probably didn't have to pay a penny of royalty to Lucas, because they abstracted it just enough back to vague mythology to be "original," while leaving it recognizable to the (outside-the-movie) viewer.