Today is the last day that I can conceivably avoid spoilers for this last Star Wars film. I think I have done a good job staying away from early reviews and spoiler sites and friends who have played the game and read the novelization. It can be tough when the media onslaught is huge and there have been so many pre-release screenings and such. The most I have done is see the trailer and various commercials and checked out the figures.

Anyway, I am not sure why I started to write this. I guess I just wanted to get some last Star Wars related thoughts out of my head, so please forgive if I ramble or become incoherent for any reason.

The Star Wars saga began nearly 30 years ago, 28 to be exact, with the culmination of all that was good about independent cinema. It simultaneously helped to usher in the age of the blockbuster, along with Jaws. I was quite young and not yet ready for the movie experience. I am not sure when it was that I first came into contact with the universe. I know I saw Star Wars at some point in the early 1980's. I know I had a collection of figures which were routinely abused by yours truly. I also remember my first experience with Empire Strikes Back was while standing in line at a haunted mansion just before Halloween, what year? I don't know. It was being projected on a big screen while we waited forever to get in. I was enthralled by the Imperial Walkers at the beginning. Return of the Jedi was the only one of the original three that I saw theatrically, and loved every minute of it, even the goofy Ewoks.

I had the previously mentioned figures, some vehicles (I never did have the Millenium Falcon or a TIE Fighter), the story books, the sheets, and probably other stuff I don't remember.

From those early years the love affair began. I watched the films many, many times on VHS tape and on broadcast television, back when the networks still showed quality films on a regular basis. Then in the early 1990's talk started picking back up about the prequel trilogy, taking us back to show us how Darth Vader became evil, what Obi Wan was like as a young man, how th Emperor came into power, and I became giddy at the prospect.

Then something else happened, also in the early 1990's. There was a resurgence in interest in Star Wars novels. With that came the phenomenal, my opinion of course, Thrawn Trilogy from author Timothy Zahn, these three books remain the pinnacle of plethora of Star Wars related novels that this spawned. The three books (Heir to the Empire, Dark Force Rising, The Last Command) were incredible. They were set a few years after the events of Return of the Jedi, Han and Leia were married, Luke was trying to get the Jedi order back in shape, and the remnants of the Empire were trying to back what was there's. Leading this resurgence is the last of the Grand Admirals, Thrawn. Sadly, my memories are fuzzy, it has been years since I read them. Anyway, if you haven't read them, do so.