Rebuilding Rob

The Galaxy That Taught Me to Dream

As a kid, I was completely obsessed with Star Wars. It was really the first thing in pop culture that I can really remember becoming a diehard fan of.

I loved the movies, but I have to say that it was the Star Wars action figure line from Kenner the 1980s absolutely drove the obsession and was quite simply rocket fuel for my imagination.

Today, 49 years after the release the original Star Wars, I sum up the impact this movie by has upon me by saying “Star Wars taught me how to dream”

Rocket Fuel for the Imagination

Right around the same time that i was Star Wars-obsessed, NASA was getting ready to unveil its space shuttle program. Since NASA was sending man flights to the moon and the Apollo Rockets head the space program become a part of every day, kitchen table conversation. Between now, and the Star Wars franchise, it makes sense that the first thing that I ever wanted to be when I grew up” was an astronaut.

As a kid in elementary school, all my classmates near me is “the Star Wars guy“. The years that we did show until, everybody knew that I was going to either show something or tell about something Star Wars related. Keep in mind, this was in the early 1980s. This was even for VCR’s were a common household item. Movies typically got two theatrical runs back then.

I eat kind of slept, and breathe the Star Wars first few years there. I had the lunchboxes. We played Star Wars during school recess. I played with the action figures after school, on weekends, all summer long. I never really got into the Marvel Star Wars comics. At the time, they were just a little bit over my head.

Rekindling the Force

Sure, some Star Wars novels came along in the early 90s, but it wasn’t enough to get me completely hooked on the franchise again. It wasn’t until the VHS releases of the original trilogy in the late 90s, the special edition theatrical releases and the prequel trilogy that flowed that really jumpstarted my interest in the franchise once again. But it’s never been like it was when I was a young kid. 

I don’t think I ever totally “outgrew” Star Wars. But after Return of the Jedi was released in 1983, there was no new talk of another movie sequel. That wouldn’t happen for another 16 years. At 1982, I discovered another toy franchise that would likewise go onto redefine my generation: G.I. Joe. But that’s another story for another day.

From Playgrounds to the Odyssey

Yes, I got older, and eventually became an English teacher, I started to learn more about storytelling, plot, and some of the literary architects that George Lucas tapped into when he created Star Wars. Yes, I know now that the story is not terribly original. Virtually every great action adventure story of the last 2000 years is some sort of variation on The Odyssey. But it was always the way in George and Lucas told or presented Star Wars to us as movie goers. The characters were relatively simple, but that’s all they needed to be. Special effects did a lot of the heavy lifting and transporting is as movie goers to this “galaxy far far away“.

I’ve gotten older, I’ve come to realize that the dialogue Lucas wrote was clunky, at best. And I’ve heard the stories about actors explaining that he’s not exactly an actor‘s director. But the neat thing about Star Wars said it truly is an example of a movie being greater than the sum of its parts. There is a certain X factor to this movie. I would probably best credited to the chemistry between the actors. He did an amazing job of assembling the core cast that he did.

Han Shot First

Needless to say, I am looking forward to next year’s 50th anniversary release of the original Star Wars. “Special edition” that we’ve been subjected to you for the last 29 years, but the original 1977 version of the movie. After all…

Han shot first.

What about you? Was there a specific movie, toy line, or hobby that served as “rocket fuel” for your imagination when you were a kid? Whether it was Star Wars, G.I. Joe, or something else entirely, I’d love to hear what defined your playground years.

Drop a comment below, or if you’ve written your own response to this prompt, leave a link so I can head over and give it a read!

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Rebuilding a life takes grit, consistency, and a lot of ‘Option C’ thinking. Whether I’m closing in on 1,000 consecutive days of blogging or reflecting on the decade of work that brought me here, the mission remains the same: No glitz. Just the work. New to the blog? Start your journey here to see the blueprint and the ‘Tricorder’ perspective behind the rebuild.

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AI art created with Google Gemini.

The article “Star Wars: Rocket fuel for the imagination” first appeared on Rebuilding Rob.