Dun dun dun….

I can hardly contain myself.

I drove to work this morning with “Anakin Vs. Obi-Wan” from the Revenge of the Sith soundtrack on repeat. Holy crap it was pysching me out, I’m more excited than a little kid on Christmas Eve. When ever I hear a bombastic rendition of the Imperial March I just get the chills and grin from ear to ear.

This really is the last movie I can think of that I can really geek it up with. THE LAST STAR WARS MOVIE.

And you know, this movie can’t help but be cool. I know a lot of people either thought the first 2 sucked or were at least pretty disappointing. I can see how. But theres at least one reason why this one will be better, why I’ll get a charge out of it… it has my favorite character in it.

DARTH VADER. I grew up on Darth Vader. Darth Vader is one of the coolest bad guys to ever appear on screen. Everything– the menacing mask/helmet and cloak, the *uuuuupperrrrrr* sound that he makes when he breaths, James Earl Jones’ filtered voice, his great lines (I find your lack of faith disturbing…), the way he just destroys anyone who opposes him or even disappoints him so coolly… Darth Vader is simply cool, and this movie has Darth Vader. Who DOESN’T want to see him kick a bunch of wussy Jedi trash? That alone will be great, if not a little chilling to see the rise of the dark side.

When you see Obi-Wan and Anakin duke it out in Episode III, just remember their duel in Episode IV, haha…. a couple of old geezers trying to wave around their lightsabers (just imagine the old Obi-Wan doing a 360 with his lightsaber– tell me Vader couldn’t have brought him down during that half hour that it took Obi-Wan to go full circle, hehe…

No matter what, I’m nerdy enough that I’ll love it the first time through no matter what, especially since I’m a big Darth Vader fan. I had a blast the first couple times through Episode II, and this should be even better.

It’s funny. When I was in high school, I had some cousins that attended school at BYU who would be invited over for Sunday dinner frequently. These brothers were all big Star Wars fans and could quote it with the best. Pretty soon Clint had assigned Star Wars persona’s to a number of family members, calling himself “The Emperor” and referring to me as Darth or his young apprentice. It was hilarious– we would all e-mail back and forth as our alter-egos. Rod was Grand Moff Tarkin, Lance was Bossk, there was the Emperor and Darth of course, and it seems like Dan was Chewbacca, Marianne was Mon Mothma, Melanie was a Jawa (hahaha… I can’t abide those jawas, disgusting creatures), and so on.

Then in 97 all the movies were re-released as special editions, we all had a heyday going to see those movies. For my brithday in 97, Marianne and Mel took me to the theater and we watched all 3 movies back to back in the theater– so great. They even gave me a Darth Vader cardboard cutout which I still have. Darth Vader Rules…

On another note, I was talking to Mar recently and we agreed that even if the actual films for Episode I and II were somewhat disappointing, the one thing that never sucks in Star Wars is the music. I might even enjoy listening to the soundtracks to Episdoe I and II more than the soundtracks to the originals, though they’re all top-notch. Major props to John Williams for the music to Star Wars– he’s never let me down when it comes to those movies.

Having watched just Episodes I, II, and IV in preparation for Episode III, I was reminded of one of the things that makes the original trilogy so great that the prequel trilogy completely lacks– Han Solo or a similarly cool character. As soon as Han Solo appears on the screen in “A New Hope”, it’s just non-stop entertainment. There just isn’t anyone quite that cool in the prequel trilogy– Obi-Wan gets a few jabs or witty remarks in here and there, but that’s about it, and he doesn’t have the personality to be as funny/cool/badass as Han Solo.

I only have to wait 13.5 more hours for the movie…. (Dan only has to wait 6– has a friend with advance screening tickets. I might have to crush his throat.)