Star Wars

The Story of My First Movie

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It’s pretty likely that the first movie I ever saw wasn’t actually the one I’m talking about today. What I’m going to talk about is the first movie I remember seeing. I don’t even recall being in the theater for the entire thing, but I know I was there because I have one vivid memory from it. Based on the release date and my approximate age at the time, I must have been pretty young. Looking back, the fact that this movie is the first one I remember says a lot about me.

If you know me, you might have guessed that the first movie I remember seeing in a theater was Star Wars: A New Hope. It came out in May 1977, which would have made me a little over three years old. I’m not sure how long it was in theaters, so I can’t say exactly when I was taken to see it, but for the sake of argument, let’s assume I was about three. Was that a movie a three-year-old should see? The short answer: probably not. And, in full disclosure, before writing that sentence, I looked up when I first took my own daughters to see a Star Wars movie in theaters—it was Solo, the Han Solo film. They were five, so I think it’s safe to say that three was probably a bit young. (I’m not a hypocrite on this!)

I don’t recall if my mom was there. She isn’t in my memory, nor is my sister. That’s why I think my dad might have taken me by himself. All I really remember is getting up—or maybe sitting down—during that scene where Darth Vader is choking the general who, frankly, was being a bit cross with him.

That’s it. That’s all I remember just that one vivid moment. But I have a pretty good feeling that it set the stage for my love of the genre. With me wanting to write more recently this was one of those topics I wanted to write about. It also should come first before me talking about other stuff about me slightly older anyway.

The W Sisters and the story of Superman

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So funny story, this story was written back in the middle of September 2016.  I thought i published it however I published a draft.  I only recently noticed it was in my drafts folder on WordPress.  Now I am finally getting around to publish it.

I don’t deny that I’m a geek and into most things science fiction. Some of the most fun about having kids is introducing them to things I loved to do as a kid. One area that I felt I have been lacking at is introducing the kids to superheroes and other science fiction universes. When A was born and T was going to a play group every Friday I remember seeing kids at the time (about a year and a half old) having lots of different superhero action figures. Not the small ones like G.I. Joe’s that I had but bigger ones for toddlers. I felt I was not doing my job as a parent because I wasn’t exposing T yet to some cool stuff. I didn’t really think I need to act that quickly but apparently everyone else was. That was around the time that I asked for some of my old toys for my parents. I was then able to introduce her to Ironman, Superman, the A-Team for some reason. I also got Doctor Who action figures.

In the two years or so since then I’ve done an okay job of keeping them interested in superheroes and science-fiction. I bought the little golden books of Star Wars. Because of that the girls have read the abridged versions of all the Star Wars movies. They’ve also read several superhero books and have some superhero toys. I felt for a while that I had greater luck with exposing the girls to rockets and the space station and superheroes until recently.

A has had an Avengers book bag for over a year. Last year we went to pick out book bags that’s what she picked. T wanted something with frozen on it. Since I prefer Marvel over DC and Iron Man is probably one of my favorite superheroes I was pleased that she picked the avengers. I had absolutely no say in that decision. It’s after she had it for a while though she would constantly ask for it by saying she wants the Superman backpack. Apparently since Capt. America and Superman both are in blue costumes she associated the two and for some reason keeps thinking Capt. America is Superman. My super geeky side of me is torn since I’m not a Superman fan however I love that she loves Superman.

Last year A asked for a Superman watch. She always sees me changing my watch when I get home from work so she must know that I like them. biscuit roll factual and her have both had these little plastic watches they got at the dentist office toy been for almost a year. They love to wear them. I have wanted to get regular children’s watches for both of them however I couldn’t find something I really wanted to get them and was happy not to spend the money if they were okay with what they had. When A asked me for Superman watch I thought to myself challenge accepted. As I was shopping for watch and MC was putting the girls to bed A proceeds to announce that she also wants a Superman Dee Dee. What she meant was she wanted a Superman stuffed animal. She proceeds to turn to T and asks “ you want Elsa Dee Dee?”. Implying that T would want and also stuffed animal since she likes frozen. T already had to or more else the stuffed animals so she did not need any more however I added to my list of things to research a Superman stuffed animal.

I was able to find a kids Superman watch that helped tell time with the hour and minute hands labeled for kids to know what they are. Of course A would have to read in order for that to be helpful for however she love the watch regardless. The stuffed animal I found wasn’t the greatest. It had a hard plastic head and was kinda thin body. A did not seem to care. When I gave it to her she grabbed it and hugged it tightly. She was in her room getting ready for bed and took her Paddington bear which is her favorite stuffed toy and threw it down out of her crib as if she didn’t need it anymore. Don’t be worried that anything happened to Paddington bear she was all over him 20 minutes later. It was however pretty funny to see her throw him away so quickly when she got Superman.

The W Sisters And The Story of Their Sonic Screwdrivers (And Doctor Who)

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I feel like I have been careful not to impose our opinions on the girls. I was generally pleased then when on their own they started liking Star Wars. I believe I wrote about how I introduced it to them previously.

Like many things we want to expose the girls to we got a book or two about it. They enjoy it so much that I got the entire series as Little Golden books. That segued into watching the movies with them. The girls have now seen all of the movies in the original trilogy at least once. They have also seen the force awakens several times.

Watching the movies was a good segway into the girls requesting for Star Wars stuff. A more than T however T has an Ewok pillow and a few other things. A has numerous Star Wars themed accessories and things. I find it extremely cute. I also love that I can share something that I enjoyed as a child with them. Of course who am I kidding I enjoy it now as well.

Star Wars is of course very mainstream and it was surprisingly easy to introduce them to it. There’s lots of children themed ways to have them engaged in Star Wars such as the books I bought. Other things I have wanted to introduce the girls to have been more elusive to me on how to introduce them.

Doctor Who has been something I’ve enjoyed since I was around 10 or 11 years old. I may have been exposed Star Wars much earlier science fiction franchises have played an important part in my history. Lets not forget partly how we named both girls. T story is here.

Even before I started buying any Star Wars books T had a plush TARDIS. Both girls have lunch boxes however not sure if he’ll ever use them. I still maintain they had to have them.&nbsp. I’ve also gotten the girls action figures. I can’t remember exactly when I bought them however they’ve had them since probably before A could walk. Both girls know of the action figures and they can even identify who is who. I have one doctor, and Amy, and Rory. I am not a purist so it’s a 10th Doctor. since I like him better than the 11th. I wanted the Amy for A. I haven’t found a T one even though I know it exists. Beyond being able to identify them and never really played with them.

Something changed in the past few weeks however. I’m not really sure what however they started taking significantly more of an interest. We were playing with the dollhouse and the girls had several action figures. It was an assortment of wonder woman, Superman, Batman, Belle from beauty and the beast, Ame Pond, Rory and the doctor. I thought it was pretty hysterical the dialogue they had interacting. After that both girls started talking about thr doctor and the companions and asking questions.

Previously I bought a sonic screwdriver that I keep near my desk. Every once in a while and the girls complain that they’re scared about some imaginary thing in their room I take it out and make it light up telling them getting rid of all the bad guys. Both girls love to play with it and make it light up and make noise. After their interest in the action figures the girls started wanting to play with the sonic screwdriver more. I decided to buy another one so I had two of them and give them to the girls. T got my 11th doctor screwdriver and I bought A the 12th Doctor one.

I’ve had to confiscate them so they don’t take them to bed at night and make noise. I also had to prevent them from going to school however A claims she took it to school one day anyway. For right now that’s unconfirmed.

I’m still not sure if the girls are old enough to watch any episode. They do ask questions and I am showing them pictures. I also have shown them some small clips on YouTube.

We are planning a trip to Disney World. M showed the girls a video about it. One of the things that we’re doing with them when where there is a treat to go to Cinderella’s Castle one of the breakfasts. I forget which one. The video showed that one part of the meal everyone has or can bring magic wands, swords or other stuff. We saw kids with an assortment of things. At first the girls asked if they could bring their light sabers. Now they’re asking to bring their sonic screwdrivers.

Overall I’m just enjoying being in the share things I like my two adorable little people. They continue to live up to the statement I always say that they are my entertainment budget. They always seem to entertain me.

The W Sisters and the Story of Watching Star Wars For The First Time

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Saturday I got a box of old toys from my mom that she had been storing for me.  Now that she gave me my lego’s earlier in the week she wanted to clean house and give me the rest of the toys she had of mine.  I was happy to take them.  Last night I started introducing some of them to the girls. There were some new matchbox cars as well as some small matchbox car sized fighter jets. Among the stuff was also my old metal star destroyer and the millennium falcon. I explained that the millennium falcon is the ship that Chewbacca flies in.  The girls are both into Chewbacca so that got some interest.

Yesterday morning the girls were talking about either the millennium falcon or Chewbacca when MC suggested I watch Star Wars with them.  We needed a distraction while she cleaned a bit around the house. I had wanted to introduce them to star wars the actual movies for a few weeks now. I had previously showed them the trailers of most of the movies and we read the little golden books a bunch of times.  That is how they started liking Chewbacca so much.

As a purest we started off watching A New Hope. We watched about half of the movie. We stopped when they found out the princess was in the Death Star with Han & Luke. That was over an hour for them and it was plenty. I was glad that neither of them got too scared.  There were some scenes that Teagan got a little bit scared but handled it a lot better than she did with finding Nemo last year.  The asked a bunch of questions like they do with any video or book however I think they liked it.  Teagan did continue to mention Star Destroyers periodically throughout the day so that is a good sign.

Next up is to finish the movie and then hopefully move on through the first trilogy.  After that I need to figure out how to introduce them to Doctor Who without scaring them.