Watching Star Wars with Dad or Not

I have tried recently to avoid wondering so much about my son's future and our future relationship. Previously I have wondered about Bass Fishing and Seinfeld. Lately I have been trying to live in the moment and enjoy every day with Braden. I have made the executive decision that enough time has passed, and I now can wonder about the future again. Today I am wondering about the ever important topic of Star Wars.

I grew up the son of a dad who had a mild case of sci-fi fever. He was not over the top with his devotion to the genre, but that was probably due to my domination of the TV choices. I know that he loved the Star Trek TV show once upon a time. I remember watching those movies with him as well. That was never really my thing, but one area that our interests coincided was George Lucas' wonderful world of Star Wars. I loved Luke Skywalker and Han Solo as a kid. I had every toy and action figure imaginable. Somewhere in my parents dark, cramped attic some of those toys no doubt still exist. They are probably worth nothing and could never be passed on to Braden. That is because my Star Wars toys show the wear and tear of a little boys love. I am pretty sure that I loved my toys nearly to death resulting in as many broken parts as good times.

As I grew older I continued to like Star Wars watching each movie seemingly hundreds of times. I loved them in a different way. I no longer played with the toys, though I will admit some intrigue remains when I pass them in Wal-Mart. Now it was more about the characters and story telling. The characters are all amazing. The spectrum ranges from the ultra evil to the unsurpassably wise. On one end there is the greatest villain of all time Darth Vader. On the other end is the often quoted always beloved Yoda. The imagination behind all the different locales is second to none as well. Whether you were speeding across the desserts of Tatooine or traipsing around on the forest moon of Endor, it was always exciting. I feel obligated at this point to note that my comments do not pertain to the three prequel versions. The final installment was pretty good but the first two were shameful. Star Wars will always mean the three episodes from my youth and there will be no further discussion on that topic.

Someday Braden will be old enough to check out Luke, Han, Leia and the gang. Hopefully before then Lucas stops milking his cash cow to the tune of cartoons, movies, and cartoon movies. Maybe we can draw the line at some point before the whole beauty of the series is lost. I hope Braden can watch the movies with me in the same order as I did. I will be devastated if some kid introduces him to Jar Jar Binks before he is ready. If that is Braden's first memory of Star Wars then all is lost. I hope he has the right mixture of sci-fi interest that will lead him to enjoy this all time favorite, but keep him away from the conventions. Since I was so tough on my toys I may need to start saving money now. I am sure a Millennium Falcon doesn't cost what it used to.