Your earliest Star Wars memory

[AAYLA SECURA]

What is the earliest Star Wars memory you can recall?

I can't remember the exact time or the specific thing that introduced me to Star Wars, but I remember it showing on TV as a young child. I believe my earliest recollections are of Return of the Jedi. My mother used to tell me that it was on TV, as if I was interested in it. Of course I took the opportunities to watch it, but I couldn't have fathomed how much I'd be into it a few years later.

[Aus_Jedi_Killer]

My earliest memory of it was watching it as a kid on vhs. I'd rent it every couple of weeks.
I didn't re-find my love of Star Wars until 12 or so years later when i bought the VHS boxset from a garage sale and watched them over and over...
Fast forward a couple of years and i went SW nuts lol :)

[Scruffy Nerf Herder]

Mine started with ROTJ which I saw in the theater at 6 years old (yes I just dated myself).  With good grades, birthdays and holidays I ended up with quite an extensive collection of the toy figures and ships...I mean I had about 99% of any Star Wars ships and figures.  Wish I still had them :(

[Forgetful Jedi Knight]

I vaguely remember seeing the commercials for the original in 1977 and the going to an old theater in Canarsie back June of 1977 to see it it was about 3 weeks after it came out. I remember being upset, because I wanted to see when it first hit the theaters, but I was sick at the time, and my parent waited until I was better before taking me. By the time ROTJ came out I was in high school and couldn't wait to find out what happened to Han Solo, and what would happen between Luke and Darth Vader. The speculation was wild back then.

[gucabe]

I'm 35 years old, I was pretty much born when ANH came out, and too young to watch ESB on the theaters... but i was 6-7ish when i went to see ROTJ with my cousin and uncle. It was incredible... i remember mostly the ewoks and the sceene where the emperor force lightnings Luke.. i was scared LOL

[darth kovetous]

I don't remember how old I was, But I remember me and my parents walking to the theater to watch ROTJ. and wow, did I have a great time. I remember every second of it. we didn't have a lot when growing up. So it was cool for Mom and Dad to set aside some money to take me to the movies that night.

Love those little trips down memory lane. Thanks AAYLA!

-Chris

[LordBlako]

i'm not sure about how old i've been (maybe 12), but it had to be in the mid 90's when they showed up the movies in tv. i was sitting on the ground in front of the tv, watching with my parents... it was ANH and i was fascinated by it! when luke turned on the lightsaber i was very excited as i've never seen anything like that before...  :)

since that moment i've been a fan of SW with growing enthusiasm...  :)

[fragrax]

It was sometime before Chirstmas 1990. I was 4 years old. I watched "A new hope" for the first time on VHS in the back of the video rental shop my folks used to own while my mom was working at the counter. I absloutely loved it! From that moment I was hooked, I must have worn out that tape!

[Ari-Jaq Xulden]

I was just over 6 and half years of age when my father called me downstairs to watch a trailer on the TV. My parents were separated and, it was his weekend with me. He wanted to know if I would be interested in seeing the movie. I recall being totally enamored with the commercial, like a puppy who who tasted his first treat. I said yes I wanted to go. The next several hours hours were spent in the grueling heat of New Orleans standing in line in the parking lot of the Lakeside theater. I remember my mother came and her being furious at my father for not having me home when I was supposed to be. She was wanting to take me home and I really wanted to see this movie. My tears and being so moved by the commercial that I could describe it to her in detail was what convinced her to let me stay and watch. In fact she waited in line with me while my father went to get us some food.

Once inside, as tired as was, I recall forcing myself to stay awake. I remember relating to Luke. Although I hadn't lost my parents, having them separated at such a young age, and not always seeing my father regularly, to a 6 year old its was kind of the same. When Obi-wan gives him his fathers lightsaber and he turned it on, I was wide awake and hooked for life. I remember going home, grabbing a flashlight, and making woosh sounds trying to describe what I saw to my mother. My Christmas list that year included The Deathstar play set with trash compactor, The Millennium Falcon, the cardboard sandcrawler that would suck up R2-D2 and of course the inflatable flashlight saber.

We have certainly come a long way from then, but it seems the more things change, the more they stay the same. I stood in line for episode one, and many of those memories flooded back to me. I never lost my love for sabers either obviously. Who could have guessed that a movie from our childhood could have such an impact on all of lives.

[WEDGE ANTILLES]

I was seven.  I woke up one saturday morning and found a copy of the soundtrack album on the coffee table in the living room.   my parents had gone out the night before, so it must have been some kind of door prize at a dinner party or something.   the album was released ahead of the movie, so the movie wasn't in theaters yet.  I had not seen the trailer,  so I had no idea what this was.  it had a dozen glossy photos on the inside cover (screenshots from the film) and a poster with mcquarie's space-battle-art.  I think there was a booklet in there too.  I poured over the materials and I was fascinated,  the images were foreign and alien to me, I had never seen anything like it.  the music didn't interest me so much as the photos and the poster.   it reminded me of a medieval fantasy genre.   I found out later it had something to do with a movie that was soon to be released.   

--> when we saw the movie in theaters I was already familiar with the music, but do I remember one thing that stands out:  I had no idea what R2 was supposed to be.   when we first see R2 and 3PO in the corridor on the tantive4, it didn't occur to me that these were 2 sentient robots...  I thought 3PO was probably a sentient robot and he was pushing an automated food-cart.  honestly.   I thought 3PO was a waiter.  and R2 was a cart full of food.   it wasn't until they started 'talking' to each other that I realized R2 was anything more than an inanimate object.

[vulcan fox]

back in 1977 i was around 15 so i was being bombarded with star wars images from everywhere , my first memories are photos of a tie fighter chasing an x wing , two droids and darth vader ,,,,, i was hooked .

[Veldryne_Drakx]

Hrm, i vaguely recall being at a relatives place, i must have been 10? And ANH was on tv. I got pretty sucked in. A few years later, i was playing xwing and tie fighter and reading all the xwing series ...watching the movies on vhs like crazy...seing the remastered ones in the theaters...and generally sinking deeper into what would become a lifelong addiction.

[Smokiewan]

I remember being almost 3 years old and being in the theatre with my Dad, anticipating the crawl.
I didn't know what the crawl was, or that it was the crawl I was anticipating. It was my Dad saying "Here it comes. Here it comes!" that got me excited. I was 3! My Dad was god to me. (Still is.)

I even remember promising not to shout or be loud in any way and in turn, I  would get my own popcorn.

I barely remember ANYTHING from my childhood, but that memory is clear as day.

Also, I remember I got a 45 (that's a record, for the younglings) of Droids: Colors and Shapes for Christmas.

Good memories...:)

[scottjua]

I'm 36, and was not quite 1 when the first movie came out, so my memories of ANH and ESB are all from video. In fact I can't remember seeing the first two for the first time at all... they were just part of life for me. I had toys, and always looked forward to going over to my dad's to watch them.

I DO remember very clearly going to the theater to see Return of the Jedi... We stood in line at the local 4 screen for hours, only to be told it was sold out for the whole night. I was sooo bummed. But we went back the next day and saw it, and I'll never forget how awesome it was. I loved it... and still do. I remember clearly thinking Luke didn't have a lightsaber anymore because he lost it, and when R2 fired his new green one in the air I flipped out!

I still have the companion souvenir book we got at the theater.

[daddy solo]

So I guess I'm one of the older characters around here huh....... 1977 - I'm 9 yrs old and I remember nagging the begeezus out of my parents to take me to the new space movie I kept seeing advertised everywhere. They finally broke down and drove my sister (who had ZERO interest) and I in our beat up old station wagon to the theater to check it out. One thing I will never forget is literally being frozen the moment the music began as the intro  scroll rolled up the screen. Man 'o man was that guy named Han the coolest! My sister fell asleep on the ride home, but I was bouncing off the walls. That week I made my first movie props ever - a lightsaber from a broom handle and A LOT of electrician's tape, and a stormtrooper rifle from a 2X4 my dad made a grip for using a coping saw and  piece of plywood. Later, I signed up to get all the characters that Kenner was releasing a few months down the road, every toy I could afford, and joined the Star Wars Fan club. I still have my original newsletters.   35 yrs passed and  my father had a near fatal stroke which made me wax nostalgic and think back to that time (including standing 3 hours in the rain w/ my dad again to see ROTJ in the theater). Now every Halloween my inner Jedi comes out (I'm too fat to fit in my Han Solo holster  ;D) and Daddy Solo emerges to take his 2 sons on their own magical space adventure. MTFBWY always!