CS Daily Archive > The Big Picture > 5/20/05

What Star Wars Means to Me:
From the Minds and Childhoods of
The Staff of Creative Screenwriting and CS Weekly

edited by den shewman

Everyone has memories and emotions attached to George Lucas's creation. Here's how our little C.S. Publications family will always remember Star Wars.

With the opening of Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith and the closing of Star Wars's theatrical mythology, I asked the people behind CS Weekly and Creative Screenwriting Magazine to reflect on what George Lucas and Star Wars means to them. Here's what they said.

(And yes, some of us are old enough to believe that Star Wars is still the title of the first released film.)

"I was twelve years old when Star Wars was first released, and it was definitely a formative experience for me. I remember the opening…the Blockade Runner passing over the audience. That was cool, but when the Star Destroyer passed over us, I was blown away. Definitely one of the greatest opening scenes in all of film. Seeing Star Wars made me want to make movies, and definitely influenced the founding of Creative Screenwriting Magazine.
Thanks George -- love of movies has made for a good life."
– Erik Bauer, publisher

"In 1977, as a nine-year-old child, I saw Star Warsin the theater with my father. It opened up a whole new galaxy for our imaginations to explore. It bridged the gap between father and son. Now, four decades and six films later, I have Star Wars to thank for strengthening that bond throughout the years. To me Star Wars symbolizes the eternal fortitude of parental love no matter what side of the force you follow."
– Reg Seeton, writer

"Movies were always something my Dad and I shared and Star Wars was no
exception.  We lived in Indio, CA at the time and drove clear to Palm Springs just so we could see it in stereophonic sound! (That's the '70s equivalent of THX, for you young 'uns.)  We were a little late so we sat down front and when that huge Imperial cruiser entered the frame I felt like I was actually sitting underneath the real deal.  Wow!  Now THAT was a movie!  I was hooked, I had to be part of this business!!"

– Sean Kennelly, writer

"I met George Lucas in 1997 at a mall in San Francisco. Ironically, his son was buying a Star Wars toy. I couldn't find the words to express to him what these films have meant to me, and even now, it's hard to measure the impact Star Wars had on my life. All I can say is what I said to him then: thanks."
– Danny Munso, editorial intern

"I went to see Return of the Jedi at a ten o'clock showing with my parents the night it opened in 1983. Everyone was screaming and applauding. I'd never before been to a movie where the audience reacted as if the characters on screen could hear them. Star Wars made movies seem like much more than just two hours in the dark with a bunch of strangers. It made them an event."
– Ari Eisner, writer

"I was eight years old the summer night my mom announced we were going to the movies. I listened, spellbound, as she told me and my little brother about spaceships, aliens, an old wizard, a space pirate, a hairy monster, a little robot, and a big robot, and a black knight with a sword made of electricity…
   And then we went to the theatre, and my life changed forever. Star Wars made me read. Novelizations. Comic books. Magazine articles. And then, like so many people who read, I began to write.
Star Wars made me what I am today."
– Peter Clines, writer

"I think I always knew that life was more than the city block you grew up on. Star Wars proved it. The series captured such an amazing spirit of sacrifice and adventure. The films are 'escapism as art' in its most pure form."
– Jeffery A. Dobberpuhl, Esq., legal counsel

"Star Wars was a sledgehammer reminding the world what movies really are. The original trilogy pushed the boundaries of technology and imagination further than they'd ever gone before. It set a new precedent for filmmaking and gave an entire generation a renewed faith in storytelling."
– Dennis Sampson, writer

"The lesson of Star Wars is that economy and a certain degree of insecurity are always the alchemy which fuels great filmmaking. Lucas has had billions of dollars and state-of-the-art special effects at his disposal the past 20 years, but the series which will be his legacy really hasn't mattered since Yoda was a puppet with a hand stuck up his butt."
– Tom Matthews, writer

"Since I grew up watching Star Wars -- just hearing those words…"May The Force Be With You…" can transform a bad day into a good one. While a graduate student at USC, I read Joseph Campbell's books, The Hero's Journey, and Hero With a Thousand Faces. After some research, I discovered Campbell was George Lucas' mentor, and the momentous themes in Star Wars were based on Campbell's theories on the hero's journey. This extra layer to the story -- the creation of heroes -- and a story that shows their struggles and ability to overcome impossible odds -- has given Star Wars an even deeper, inspiring, and life-changing meaning to me (and millions of others)."
– Samantha Plotkin, writer

"Star Wars, to me, is our modern day War of the Worlds movie(s). To all that say it's fantasy or fiction, I say, that is exactly what our parents and grandparents said about the Orson Welles' War of the Worlds radio program. Where are we now?! The moon, Mars, Area 51, Roswell. If we don't think, dream, or work big, our worlds will close in on us, and we will be small and selfish in thinking like the Sith. Rather be like a Jedi, I would.
Thank you Mr. Lucas for sharing with us, better for it, we are."
– Kevin Minter, Allen Press (who takes CS from pixels to the page)

"When I wandered into the Zigfield Theatre in NYC on a rainy Saturday afternoon in 1977, I wasn't expecting much. What I saw left me so stunned that I sat through three showings in a row -- which you could often do in those days. Lucas created a new world out of whole cloth -- with a history and a culture that echoed back to my own life -- built upon universal themes and the myths of our ancestors. Yet the real magic of Lucas' creation was an underlying warmth and sincerity. No other filmmaker has been able to approach the success of Star Wars, because they overlook the truth of this creation. It's not about plot or character or action or money-shots. It's all about the heart of the creator -- even in a galaxy far, far away."
– Catherine Clinch, columnist

"I actually don't remember a world without Star Wars in it -- it was released barely three weeks after I was born. Growing up, Star Wars was a constant, with characters and adventures that I and everyone else knew by heart. Even now, Star Wars is chocolate for the soul-we've consumed tons of it, but it still manages to make life all the sweeter."
– Anna Siri, office coordinator


"My favorite part of childhood was the love of stories and storytelling my dad instilled in me. Star Wars was one of the first movies that felt as rich and exciting and mysterious as the stories he would read to us (or make up as he went along). And just as the stories spun by parents can ignite the spark of creativity in children, George Lucas' have fired the imaginations of several generations (myself included). That's a legacy that far outweighs the series' latter-day shortcomings."
– David Michael Wharton, assistant editor, CSW

"I was seven years old when I saw Star Wars and it blew me away. Next, The Empire Strikes Back solidified these films place at the top of my formulative years. As I grew older and the special effects aged with me, the greatness of their stories never grew old, because as I learned in adulthood -- great storytelling never dies. These films ultimately inspired me to travel down a path that is still slowly leading toward writing and making films of my own -- and for that I'm forever grateful."
– Jeff Goldsmith, senior editor, CS

"The third time I saw Star Wars in the theater, I went with my 72-year-old grandfather. Grandpa enjoyed it as much, if not more, than I did -- "that tickled me pink," he'd laugh, after relating another bit of the movie he loved. To me, that's the magic of Star Wars: an ageless amazement that enchants the child in all of us."
– Den Shewman, editor in chief, CS and CSW

Den Shewman wrote a script review for Creative Screenwriting five years ago, and somehow ended up as editor-in-chief of Creative Screenwriting magazine and CS Daily. Yet he co-wrote an episode of The New Adventures of Robin Hood (which, according to the producers, was the #2 show in France at the time) and never ended up as executive producer of Maid Marian: Bring It On. More proof that life is not fair.

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