STAR WARS: A NEW LOVE

Likenesses owned by The Walt Disney Company

By DOUG and Kayla Nunn

Iconsider myself relatively nerdy. I didn’t grow up watching many movies or playing video games, but I did read a lot of books and as an adult I’ve made up for all the television and movies I missed. Especially since I met my now-husband. He grew up watching movies and its been one of my favorite things about our relationship, visiting classics and obscure titles alike.

For most of my life, I’ve hated Star Wars. To start, I didn’t get the hype. Growing up with the original trilogy, I found it boring. Old British men, Harrison Ford? These were movies for my Dad. What I did like were the Ewoks. Wicket was simply the most adorable creature I’d seen in my life. There were two straight-to-TV Ewok Movies, “The Battle for Endor” and “Caravan of Courage.” These I would watch on repeat. Cindel and Wicket, with their friendship and adventures, who wouldn’t be enamored!? Apparently, a lot of people. They were critiqued as “aggressively simple” by New York Times columnist John J O’Connor (1984). But they still hold a very special place in my heart.

In the late 1990’s, three more Star Wars movies were made. Again, I didn’t care much. I was a teenager and there was a lot of politics. Who was fighting? Why should I be invested? What were they even fighting about? None of it made sense. The only thing I took away from it was JarJar Binks. He was hilarious and clumsy and getting into absurd situations, and somehow coming out of them with the upper hand. I love JarJar so much that at my bachelorette party in 2016, I gave a drunken speech to all my friends proclaiming my love and I didn’t care what it said about me that he was my favorite thing about Star Wars. Fuck the haters!

In 2019, we went to a convention in Puyallup. I don’t even remember how the conversation started but I ended up talking to a gentleman about how I didn’t like Star Wars, explaining that the fandom was so obsessive and I didn’t understand it and I refused to participate. He simply replied, “That’s ok, you don’t have to like Star Wars.” And suddenly something clicked. Just by one person giving me permission not to like Star Wars, I decided I would give it a real shot. Looking back, maybe I was being a jerk, maybe I was just being a contrarian. But, whatever it was in me that changed, I’m really glad it did.

Pretty soon after that, “The Mandalorian” was released. It was the first thing I watched once I decided I could give Star Wars a chance. I knew so little about the universe, and honestly I was a little overwhelmed at just how much content there was. I’ve put off watching Star Trek for the same reason. But the appearance of Grogu/ The Child/Baby Yoda made me an instant fan. The relationship between Din Djarin and Grogu is simple and sweet. The characters are complex, as are their situations and circumstances. Since then, I’ve revisited all the movies and started watching the “Clone Wars” and “Rebels” animated series. I even recently picked up a novel! I’m currently reading “Darth Plagueis” by James Luceno. I plan on reading the “Thrawn” trilogy by Timothy Zahn. I can pretty easily hold my own in a conversation with even the biggest of Star Wars Nerds. Including my own husband.

The original trilogy (episodes 4-6) has so much more depth now that I have all this knowledge of the universe and where the characters come from, and where they end up. I don’t even have time here to get into the marvel of filmmaking. The prequel films, while there are still several parts I have a hard time sitting through without rolling my eyes, mean so much more after the animated series of “The Clone Wars.” Seeing who Anakin Skywalker was as a Jedi, we don’t get to see much of that in the films so I found it hard to care why it meant so much to everyone when he turned to the dark-side. His adventures with ObiWan and Ahsoka round his character out and show the good in him.

There is so much more content now for the Star Wars universe, even released within the last 5 years with new stuff being rolled out constantly. Not all of it good. But I do find all of it entertaining so far. There are endless characters, organic, droids and cyborgs, each bringing something to the story. Some dark, some light, always in balance.

The most beautiful thing I’ve encountered in the Star Wars universe isn’t even the content itself and was one of the reasons I was so hesitant to get on board to begin with. The fandom. Where I thought people were being pretentious and overbearing, I’ve learned that there is simply so much to love and the more one asks questions and talks about theories and emotions behind the stories and characters, the more fun the whole thing is. Any question can spark the most interesting conversations. Of course, there are always going to be disagreements, but since it’s all made up anyway, it’s fun and no one has to take it too seriously (with nerdy passions, that’s kind of impossible to avoid though).

Now, Star Wars is a part of my everyday life. Not a day goes by that something in the franchise isn’t mentioned in my household. There are new shows coming out this year, I’ve got a stack of books I’m reading and we are even planning a trip to Disneyland to visit the Galaxy’s Edge theme park. Ten years ago, that would have sounded so dull to me. Now, I’m looking forward to it and saving money for tchotchkes. I still have plenty of other hobbies and obsessions, but to be a part of this fandom is great fun, full of adventure, hope and rebellion.

Doug and Kayla Nunn are owners and operators of The Time Capsule, a retro media hub that celebrates all things nostalgic and pop culture related.

Find them: @retromediaman | 23 Orondo Avenue, Wenatchee and at timecapsulecollectibles.com C