Once upon a time, in a galaxy far, far away... Star Wars is the greatest movie of all time, and should be revered by all. If you don't like Star Wars it is probably because you have not seen it. My friends and I showed our true nerd colors when Star Wars episode III: Revenge of the Sith finally came out a few years back. It all started when the Megaplex Theaters at Jordan Commons announced that they were going to open all 17 theaters as well as the Cricket Super Screen for the midnight showing of Star Wars. We knew it would be the spot to line up and prove that we truly did have the force with us. We called them about a month in advance to see how early they would allow us to begin lining up, and were surprised to find out that they were setting up the line on the monday before it opened, which was thursday, so really more like wednesday night. They said they would allow us to line up at 3:00 p.m., so we figured on getting there by about 1:00 to make sure we would be the first ones. We ran a bit late, and got there about 1:30 and were terribly angry to find two guys sitting out on the sidewalk just off the property, claiming to have started the line a half hour before.
At first we were pretty irked, but as the three days went on, we found out how much he deserved the first in line position. We discussed his trip to skywalker ranch, and the other midnight shows he had been to, then he told us that he had gotten a sponsor to donate a certain amount of money for every hour that the people who showed up the first day stood in the line to a muscular dystrophy camp in the summer. We became good friends, and we all sort of stood in our own group, shared a picnic canopy in the severe wind and rain and most importantly, shared the best seats in the house at midnight. We were also surprised to see how much the news cared about us out there. The first day we were hounded by several stations, and told by the weatherman that there was a huge storm on its way, and tried to get us to leave. We knew that couldn't stop us. Little did we know that there would be near hurricane force winds that night, and heavy rain. Our tents barely stood the night through, and our sleeping bags were completely sopping. Even a transformer blew that night, waking everyone. To make sure we were all alive, at about 5 a.m. one of the news stations sent over its helicopter just in time for the early edition. The interviews continued all day, as we tried to dry out.
"God Bless George Lucas"-Taylor Fugate, my line buddy.
Finally the night before, hundreds more people flooded in, and the sidewalk in front of Jordan Commons looked like a block party with t.v.'s and video games, even a Dance Dance Revolution tournament right there on the sidewalk. In another corner a duel was being fought with halogen tube "force" feedback lightsabers.
Eventually, at about two in the morning the noise died down, and we were barely able to sleep a few hours before the sun came up. That day the line grew and slithered on all sides of the building, and it was time to clean up, and consolidate the space. They allowed us to take trips to the car to put away all tents, coolers, and all that rot. By 5:00 there was no more room outside, and they began the process of filling in the hallways in an endless maze of people, as we waited for all the movies to clear out and begin seating at around 10:00 p.m.
As we all know, the movie was well worth it, and was one of the best installments of the epic saga. As luck would have it, we were also interviewed shortly after it finished.
Thank you George Lucas for this once in a lifetime opportunity.
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