A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...

Nearly 35 years since it first played in movie theaters across the country, Lincoln David Merrill officially joined the Star Wars Fan Club. We watched the original movie Saturday night as a family and then followed it up with "The Empire Strikes Back" on Monday, when his school was closed for teacher training.

Needless to say, he was rapt for all four hours and loves to breathe out loud like Darth Vader.  He also finds Yoda to be a "funny little dude" and thinks the "abonimable snowman" (It's called a Wampa and it didn't even appear on screen in the 1977 original, but I didn't want to overwhelm him.) was the scariest part so far.  Interestingly, he already knew from books and friends that Anakin Skywalker and Vader are one and the same, so the "Luke, I am your father" moment at the end of Empire didn't rock his world like it did mine when I was eight.

Bring on "Return of the Jedi" and then we'll tackle Episodes 1-3. If he's enamored of Jar Jar Binks, I'm borrowing from his college fund.