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Star Wars: The Past Awakens

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


From 1983-1999, the Star Wars saga remained hidden like Luke Skywalker on the remote planet of Tattooine. Legend became truth and in this era of darkness, the story would be recounted orally in a single misquoted phrase- "Luke, I am your father." Remnants of the distant galaxy would pop in popular culture in toylines and sometimes like Easter Eggs in strange movie cameos-


I was too young to have seen Star Wars in theaters. In fact, I wasn't even born until the late 80's. Many who did see Star Wars during its original theatrical run, have described it as a defining cinematic moment in their lives when the Imperial Star Destroyer flies overhead following the opening credits. The closest experience I had was when the T-Rex first appears and stomps its foot in Jurassic Park

The original trilogy was hidden in a pile of my dad's VHS tapes, not anymore remarkable than the others.Star Wars was revealed to me through my family's own clunky version of an astromech droid called VCR. Just like how R2-D2 relayed Leia's message of a new hope to Luke, VCR showed me the Star Wars universe.


There is a wonderful air of mystery and intrigue in the Stars Wars films, each character hints at larger forces at work. Even though I knew the plot twist about Darth Vader, it didn't make the character any less interesting or foreboding. I remember how Obi Wan described him as a great warrior who fought during the Clone Wars. I felt like even after watching the original trilogy that I had only been exposed to half the truth.


My favorite of the Star Wars films is The Empire Strikes Back. I remember going over friends' houses and just watching the Battle of Hoth alone. Although, A New Hope is a near perfect film, its sequel ups the ante in nearly every way. Seeing Han get frozen in Carbonite and loaded onto Boba Fett's ship is one of cinema's greatest cliffhangers. I had a book called Star Wars: Incredible Cross-Sections which gave detailed diagrams of various Star Wars vehicles and ships. I imagined being Boba Fett and taking on bounty hunting missions across the galaxy in the Slave I. 


One of the few bastions of Star Wars lore during the 80's and 90's were the school book fair and the local library. There was also Dark Horse comics series as well. These sequels and stories set in the Star Wars galaxy came to be known as the Expanded Universe (EU). The EU was meant to be as close to cannon as possible in which the books couldn't contradict the movies or any other books. One of the greatest of these is Timothy Zahn's Thrawn Trilogy which takes place right after Return of the Jedi. Zahn greatly reinvigorates the series with action that nearly jumps off of the page and new characters after Return of the Jedi left us with a still fractured galaxy.


 Star Wars is cultural phenomenon across the world. Even people who haven't seen the movies (yes, they are out there) can still identify major characters such as Darth Vader and Yoda and have a general idea about the story. Since Star Wars is a cultural icon, it begs the question, what separates a Star Wars fan from a Star Wars nerd? If I were to submit my own litmus test it would be if a person can properly name the AT-AT and AT-ST as a good starting point. Even then, with all of the video games, knowledge of Star Wars vehicles and planets is becoming more commonplace.  


I was lucky enough to see the original Star Wars trilogy on VHS. However, for those seeing Star Wars for the first time today, it is nearly impossible to see the original versions. It's difficult to explain how there is a different version in which Han shoots first. Also, the added CGI takes away from the impressiveness of the groundbreaking practical effects. My dad's old VHS tapes are now like a time capsule of a time now forgotten. I'm very happy to have been able to experience Star Wars when I did. 


What are some of your favorite Star Wars memories? Sound off below and may the force be with you!


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CDbException

CDbException

CDbCommand failed to execute the SQL statement: SQLSTATE[01000]: Warning: 1265 Data truncated for column 'rj_classics' at row 1. The SQL statement executed was: UPDATE `articles` SET `id`=:yp0, `posted_by`=:yp1, `title`=:yp2, `content`=:yp3, `icon`=:yp4, `column`=:yp5, `type`=:yp6, `featured`=:yp7, `contest_winner`=:yp8, `official`=:yp9, `smurf`=:yp10, `posted_on`=:yp11, `status`=:yp12, `category`=:yp13, `action_on`=:yp14, `edited`=:yp15, `reads`=:yp16, `retro_rating`=:yp17, `favorited`=:yp18, `theme`=:yp19, `colorcode`=:yp20, `show_in_header`=:yp21, `approved_on`=:yp22, `rj_classics`=:yp23, `reviews`=:yp24, `review`=:yp25 WHERE `articles`.`id`=9085

/home/ghostofvapor/public_html/yii/framework/db/CDbCommand.php(354)

342             return $n;
343         }
344         catch(Exception $e)
345         {
346             if($this->_connection->enableProfiling)
347                 Yii::endProfile('system.db.CDbCommand.execute('.$this->getText().$par.')','system.db.CDbCommand.execute');
348             $errorInfo = $e instanceof PDOException ? $e->errorInfo : null;
349             $message = $e->getMessage();
350             Yii::log(Yii::t('yii','CDbCommand::execute() failed: {error}. The SQL statement executed was: {sql}.',
351                 array('{error}'=>$message, '{sql}'=>$this->getText().$par)),CLogger::LEVEL_ERROR,'system.db.CDbCommand');
352             if(YII_DEBUG)
353                 $message .= '. The SQL statement executed was: '.$this->getText().$par;
354             throw new CDbException(Yii::t('yii','CDbCommand failed to execute the SQL statement: {error}',
355                 array('{error}'=>$message)),(int)$e->getCode(),$errorInfo);
356         }
357     }
358 
359     /**
360      * Executes the SQL statement and returns query result.
361      * This method is for executing an SQL query that returns result set.
362      * @param array $params input parameters (name=>value) for the SQL execution. This is an alternative
363      * to {@link bindParam} and {@link bindValue}. If you have multiple input parameters, passing
364      * them in this way can improve the performance. Note that if you pass parameters in this way,
365      * you cannot bind parameters or values using {@link bindParam} or {@link bindValue}, and vice versa.
366      * binding methods and  the input parameters this way can improve the performance.

Stack Trace

#2
+
 /home/ghostofvapor/public_html/protected/controllers/SiteController.php(1261): CActiveRecord->update()
1256                 $ifFavorited = $ifAction = 0;
1257             }
1258 
1259             $this->render('article', array('model' => $model, 'article' => $article, 'postedBy' => $postedBy, 'comments' => $comments, 'commentCount' => $commentCount, 'ifFavorited' => $ifFavorited, 'ifAction' => $ifAction, 'allArticles' => $allArticles, 'pages' => $pages));
1260             $article->reads += 1;
1261             $article->update();
1262         } else {
1263             $this->redirect(Yii::app()->createUrl('site/error', array('code' => 404, 'message' => 'This page was not found.')));
1264             exit();
1265         }
1266     }
#15
+
 /home/ghostofvapor/public_html/index.php(16): CApplication->run()
11 defined('YII_DEBUG') or define('YII_DEBUG',true);
12 // specify how many levels of call stack should be shown in each log message
13 defined('YII_TRACE_LEVEL') or define('YII_TRACE_LEVEL',3);
14 
15 require_once($yii);
16 Yii::createWebApplication($config)->run();
2026-04-02 20:20:04 Apache Yii Framework/1.1.11