What does Star Wars Mean to You?

Hello Imon, I hope that you are well. I first saw star wars when I was about twelve years old. My uncle introduced my siblings and I to it for a movie night at home. Ever since then I would watch the films on the big screen. Star Wars serves a cautionary tale about how to deal with loss, Redemption, fear, self esteem, keeping an open mind, learning the importance of maintaining a balanced lifestyle, minding your pridefulness, etc. So many lessons can be learned from this film series.

awantonio110

Honestly I can't even remember when I first watched Star Wars but I do remember seeing the OT and Prequels on TV at a young age but I wouldn't have considered myself a fan. I think I must have been around 12/13 years old when I came across a Clone Trooper tribute music video on YouTube and kind of went down a Clone Wars rabbit hole and fell in love with the clones. (I always root for the regular soldiers (the red/yellow shirts if you will) in media (e.g. Band of Brothers)) So yeah, tbh I'd say I'm more of a clone/clone wars fan rather than a star wars fan (although I do love non-clone elements of SW too). Unfortunately they cancelled Clone Wars just as I was getting into it. When they announced the final season 6 years later you better believe I was beyond hyped. Community is another show that I hold dear to my heart, which is why I'm so excited to see your reactions to that and Clone Wars!

Andreas Wong

I love that you use it as a stress reliever! I think that is something I will start doing especially with the great quotes that start the Clone Wars episodes. They are really uplifting. I am really happy to hear that! Thank you for watching and your support

Imon_Snow

So The Force Awakens was your first Star Wars experience? I think its awesome how much you enjoyed the movies! Did you watch the OG films after ou fell in love with the Sequel trilogy? I have seen those comments, I am sorry that that energy has made something you enjoy feel a bit painful. That really isn't fair. I wish there was less hate and more love. And I mean that in general as well. I hope you can find the same love you had for the movies as you did in the beginning when you first watched them! You get to like what you like o matter what anyone has to say

Imon_Snow

Growing up I always liked Star Wars but what drew me to the series was definitely a set of identical human characters that were all Clones. They were the cannon fodder foot soldiers of a grand Republic in a war they had no say or part of. I always wonder what drew me to this originally basic, unassuming/unimpressive list of characters. I assume when I was young I was just into cool-looking space soldiers and armies and battles. I did a deep dive mentally into why I continue to feel so connected with these characters. I think I linked it back to the fact I felt very redundant and unimpressive growing up. I was another brown boy with black hair, brown eyes, a medium build, glasses, and no real traits. I was predominantly just cast in with the other brown kids and struggled to be unique So when I saw the same group of youngish brown-eyed, tan boys who all looked the same I felt something. But idk. These tan boys in white were cool. But they stuck with me cuz I saw these identical clones who had not a single unique trait at birth, develop interesting personalities, mindsets and colour schemes to fit their own desires and struggles. Perhaps a representation of how people like me are made in mass quantity. But there might be something unique deep down there and I hope I can discover that.

Tomahawk

I was seven when Episode 1 dropped. I think at that point I had already seen the original trilogy on VHS. But my main exposure were the video-games. Among the first were Rogue Squadron 3D, a dogfighting game that lets you pilot classic ships like the X-Wing, and Episode 1 Racer, the podracing game. But the ones I got truly obsessed with were Jedi Knight 2: Jedi Outcast, and especially its sequel, Jedi Knigt: Jedi Academy, first person shooters with third person lightsaber combat. These games are wonderfully customizable ("moddable"), with fans building all kinds of new locations to explore, new character models, and even entirely new game modes to play. So I had to learn how to do all of that, and it almost led to a career in video-games. Nowadays, I look at Star Wars as a fun sandbox to play in, and I love seeing interesting creators have a go at it. But I'm weary that Disney gets to kick people out of the sandbox. Still, they mostly do okay.

Willi Schinmeyer

As someone who enjoys Star Wars for the genius that it is I can articulate why the sequel trilogy gets so much hate. I can agree that it's not fun nor fair for new Star Wars fans trying to get into the universe to be ridiculed for enjoying Star Wars regardless of the era. That being said, i believe a lot of the hate comes from the seemingly lack of effort for the sequel trilogy and the fact that they killed off a lot of the OG characters in the process. Luke's depressive state also seemingly contradicts his growth from the OG trilogy. - That being said, there are a lot of things coming up that will connect a lot of the shows together and bridge the gap towards the sequel trilogy and i'd hate for anyone to miss that.

Sharnia Buford

Star Wars saved my life. Before my love of movies, Star Wars came first. •How old were you when you first saw the movie? -I was maybe 4 or 5. I honestly don’t remember the first time I watched it. But my earliest memory was that of a lightsaber. A lightsaber and Luke Skywalker. It was the very first thing that started my imagination as a human being. A Galaxy Far Far Away. •Where were you? (Movie theater, Home) Did you see it alone? If not, who did you first see it with? -I guess I technically saw it at home first on VHS. I don’t remember which film it was. However, I used to go to Catholic school and in middle school there used to be a movie night that would happen once every other month. In the past, it was always animated kids movies but one year, it was Star Wars Revenge of the Sith. It was PG-13 so I had to get a parent's permission form. I think I was 8 or 9 years old. The movie just came out on DVD. It was shown on one of those old flat screen TVs with the giant speaker at the base. I sat in the very back on the hardwood floor with my sweatshirt earring Pizza. While I may not have understood all the storytelling aspects at that time, I understood this was a tragedy. And I loved it. It was my first ‘Mature Film’. My first Star Wars film I watched in a movie theater was the Star Wars The Clone Wars movie. My Dad took me for my birthday, which he drove almost an hour to the theater early Saturday morning. These are two memories I cherish. •What Does Star Wars mean to you? Have you been able to introduce these movies with loved ones later in life? (Children, significant others etc) -Star Wars means everything. It sparked my imagination, started my love for cinema, and helped me better understand the world around me. I had difficulty making friends as a kid, but those movies were there for me. I relate so much to Luke, Anakin, and Ahsoka. Their struggles helped me cope with my own struggles. Unfortunately, none of my friends and family members got into it like I did. But I’ve been trying to find others online who appreciate it the same way. YouTube Channels like Heroes Fan Productions, Catherine LaSalle, and now your channel. Thank you for your questions.

Hunter

Sorry this is a little late. I wanted to put thought into these questions and my answers.

Hunter

Something JJ Abrams ruined.

Rileymetal

Hey Amon! What a great question to ask people! Star Wars means so much to me so let me tell my personal Star Wars story… I was born in 1983, (the year of Return of the Jedi) but my parents weren’t fans and I never watched Star Wars when I was a kid growing up. Funny enough I did know about Ewoks though because of toys and coloring books I had, lol. Even though I was not alive when the originals came out, somehow I’m one of the lucky people who has experienced their first time watching every Star Wars movie in theaters!! How did this happen? Well…. In 1997 they re-released the origins trilogy in theaters, this is when I saw them for the first time and it blew my mind!! By this point I was 13 and super into movies and immediately fell in love with a new hope, Luke, Han, Leia, R2, Chewy, I loved them al immediately! Then came Empire Strikes back which is my personal favorite! I will never forget how excited I was when this movie was over! On the drive home I remember talking to my parents and guessing who the “other” was Yoda was talking about, I wanted no spoilers and thank goodness the internet was not a part of my life yet! 😂 Then Return of the Jedi happened and from that point on Star Wars had become my favorite movies ever! I got the tapes of the original release from my aunt and watched them dozens of times before I then got to experience NEW Star Wars in the theaters for the first time with the prequel trilogy. Now I don’t care what people say now, Phantom Menace was INCREDIBLE!! The build up to that movie, guessing what would happen, who we would see, oh man I love thinking about it. The hype on opening night was unreal and it did not disappoint me at all! I’m not a JarJar hater, lol, he always cracked me up and this movie is still feel is so underrated and unjustly hated on. This leads up to Attack of the Clones and let me tell you, I’ve seen thousands of movies in theaters in my life and have NEVER been in a more electric atmosphere then when Yoda came out to fight Dooku at the end!! (This includes when I saw Endgame and the Captain moment) That place literally went nuts the second you heard Yoda’s cane on the ground and then erupted when he pulled out his lightsaber!! It was unreal!! This takes us to Revenge of the Sith and wow….seriously this might have been my favorite movie theatre experience of my life. I loved this movie so much and left the theater so incredibly happy but also sad because I remember thinking, I’m never gonna get to experience new Star Wars again. Boy was I wrong! Hahaha. So post prequel trilogy time…I was die hard Star Wars junkie by this point. I was pumped when the clone wars came out and saw that opening night as well and then when the show came out I always DVR’d each new episode and loved it all!! This takes us to the Disney acquisition in 2012… I was initially so super excited by this news, thinking with Disneys money and great history of producing amazing movies how could it go wrong? Then the news of a new trilogy set in the future with the original actors as old versions of themselves and the idea I was gonna see Luke, Leia and Han again, I literally teared up from excitement when I heard it was happening. My hype for the force awakens was on a whole new level, the trailer’s blew me away and I was thrilled to see this movie!! That opening night is also burned in my brain, when Ray runs to the Millennium Falcon that place erupted with excitement! It was so strange though the emotions as this movie unfolded before our eyes and I don’t wanna give away spoilers cause I don’t know if you’ve seen them or not yet but let’s just say I left theatre that night for try first time in my life with a feeling of disappointment and scratching my head saying what just happened at the end of this movie? Still though my hope for redemption with the new movie was high and is spent the next 2 years watching YouTube videos of story speculation and was super excited for the last Jedi! This was the moment though when I walked out of that movie and said to my brother and friend, what just happened guys? How did they do this to us? I honestly was so upset immediately after this movie and this feeling only grew over the next few years as I waited for last skywalker and hoped beyond hope they would redeem themselves, spoiler alert, they didn’t. I disliked this movie so much I’ve only seen it one other time since opening night while I’ve rewatched the original and prequel movies hundreds of times over the year, I’ve probably seen force awakens a dozen times, last Jedi 4 or 5 times and last skywalker twice. But thankfully, there is another!! I am so thankful we have Dave Filoni in our lives!! He solely is responsible for my still continued love of Star Wars!! The Clone Wars, Rebels and then….the Mandalorian!! I LOVE THESE SHOWS SO MUCH!! I now also love Bad Batch and the whole animated world!! Unfortunately not everything is still a winner to me, I have big problems Kenobi and did not like Boba Fetts finale but for the most part have loved all the Disney+ shows oh and Andor was incredible!! Still to this day, I’m almost 40, I get together with my dad and we watch each new episode of whatever Star Wars show is on at the time. I can’t tell you how grateful I and to be able to get to do this with him. I watch tons of reaction videos to Star Wars (thus why I’m here Amon 😉) and it fills me with such joy getting to watch people’s reactions to seeing it their first time. I told you this at the time but your episode 3 reaction is my all-time favorite Star Wars reaction! So that’s my Star Wars story so far in my life and can’t wait to see where to journey goes from here!! Bad Batch season 2, Mando season 3 & the Ashoka show up next…here we go!! Let’s get it!! Thanks Amon, can’t wait to see your continued Star Wars journey!!!

Spencer Thurmond

I was 4 when I saw the first movie, I guess that would be around 1995. I think it might be one of my earliest memories. I saw it at home, we had the VHS of A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back, we didn't have The Return of the Jedi VHS for some reason. My dad showed it to me. He also took me to see the re-release in theaters in the late 90's. Star Wars means a lot to me, it reminds me of my father, who loved the movies, it brings back a lot of memories of childhood. I think it's a fun story. It has always resonated with me for some reason. And you wanted a fun fact. The guy who played Count Dooku (Christopher Lee) and the guy who played Grand Moff Tarkin the scary old guy from A New Hope (Peter Cushing) were good friends. They would go to movie theaters in the 1960 or 70s together and watch animated cartoons like looney tunes. They would be in the movie theater doing impressions of the characters, they did it so often they got kicked out of the theater at least once.

Frankie H

haha here we go 1. I don't remember exactly how old I should have been, but no more than 10 for sure. I already knew the world of star wars (in fact, as a child I was so afraid of Darth Vader that I couldn't even stand hearing him speak because I would cry LOL). I remember I had an album of the third movie (ROTS) and a TV game, but I hadn't seen any movies until now. I went to a Star Wars convention with my dad and I remember seeing the sets and the lightsabers, there my dad bought me a DVD of A New Hope and I remember being very confused because the special effects were worse than the first movies xD. That's why I fondly remember the fourth film. 2. At home, I watched it on my parents' TV. 3. I don't remember if I saw it alone or with my dad, probably with him since he is also a fan of the saga (He saw A New Hope in the cinema in its first days of release, when it was only called Star Wars, which had success ) 4. Very much, I would say that it is a fundamental part of my childhood and a good part of my life as well. I remember that as a child I had this TV game that was a controller, the so-called Plugs & Plays, in the shape of Darth Vader that contained 5 games. I also had a toy lightsaber, and a Darth Vader figure bought by my grandmother. I remember playing the games (Lego Star Wars, Republic Commando, among others), watching the movies on TV. I also fondly remember The Clone Wars, how every day after school I would buy sweets and cookies to get home and put on Cartoon Network, where they showed episodes of The Clone Wars. He was always present in my life in some way or another, and what intrigues me the most is that as a child I admired Anakin Skywalker a lot, and at the same time I was very afraid of Darth Vader. It was much later when I found out that they were the same person that was shocked, I didn't know how to feel about it. Now, at 23 years old, with all the difficulties of life and in which I felt like both an Anakin and a Darth Vader, I am beginning to understand all the meanings of this great story. Without a doubt, along with Harry Potter, one of the sagas that marked me the most.

JoloPolo

I recently got into Star Wars a couple of years ago and I absolutely fell in love with it. The story, the characters, everything about it was fascinating to me and I became really invested in it. Sometimes when I’m dealing with stress, Star Wars helps me escape from the real world because of how much joy and happiness it brings me. Since i’ve already watched everything Star Wars related, your reactions to it gave me that same feeling I had when I first started watching it. I hope you enjoy Star Wars as much as I do and I can’t wait to see your future reactions to it!

I believe that I was around 16 when I saw The Force Awakens in theaters for the first time. I was with my best friend and we saw it on opening night. Seeing The Force Awakens in a theater was one of the most fun experiences I’ve had when watching a movie. It made me a fan of Star Wars and I will always love it for that. While I don’t love The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker as much, I still greatly enjoy them. Unfortunately, after the Sequel Trilogy I really just stopped being a fan. A large majority of fans are very unpleasant and toxic and every comment I hear now is a very negative response about the Sequel Trilogy. Any fans who say they enjoy them are ruthlessly mocked (as are the actors who appeared in them). Even when a Star Wars property comes out and it’s liked by the fans, people just use it as another excuse to bash the sequel trilogy again (movies I genuinely love). Seeing YouTubers skip the sequels because a bunch of fans tell them they’re bad and not worth watching just has drained my passion for the franchise and personally I don’t think I can ever get excited over anything related to Star Wars again unfortunately. However, I’ll still watch them. Sadly though I don’t think I’ll ever feel the joy of watching a Star Wars movie with all the hate that’s been spewed not just towards the sequels but towards other people as well.

Adam Grunther