Thursday December 17, 2015. The date is sure to stand out as one of the most significant of the modern times. What happened may not be the typical hard news event, but given the influence and impact surrounding this event, it may as well be treated like hard news.
Three years ago, the Disney Company bought Lucasfilm and announced the release of a new trilogy that would serve as a sequel to the original Star Wars trilogy. Now, after months of trailers, merchandise, tie-ins and overall feel of combining nostalgia and introducing a new generation, fans of the space opera franchise returned to that (unidentified) galaxy far, far away.
Even though I didn’t have a ticket to the premiere, considering they were sold out weeks in advance, that didn’t stop me from going to my nearby theater. I went to see how many people turned up and take pictures of people expressing their enthusiasm and devotion. I was surprised to see the large number of people who showed up.
I recognized several people, from old high school classmates to my cousin and his son to one of my high school teachers dressed as Obi-Wan Kanobi, who announced the screening times for those who had their tickets.
Speaking of which, even more astonishing was how people came to celebrate what was considered a major event. People dressed up as popular characters from the franchise, like Chewbacca and Darth Maul, or simply wore Star Wars-themed attire.
Some even brought props, such as a woman dressed as new character Rey bringing a soft plushie of BB-8.
However, light sabers were the star props, and friendly weapon of choice, with some staging mock battles with them or posing with them.
The biggest part of the night was seeing a replica of an R2-D2. The owner, a middle-aged man named Hank, used to do special effects in movies, such as Army of Darkness. He used a wireless controller to move the robot, which made its traditional beeping sounds and used an audio clip of a famous Princess Leia line. He said he obtained it due to his connections in Hollywood after he was told someone wanted to get rid of it. The robot was the source of amusing looks and photo opportunities. It was in the lobby for about an hour before it was rolled into one of the rooms.
After a while, I decided to walk around the mall until the first showing at 7 p.m. was done. I wanted to be in front of the theater to ask some of the participants how the film was. When approaching the Shopko opposite the theater, I noticed a lone cart, and decided, even though there was no point, to take a picture of it.
During my mall walk, I stopped in Hot Topic and spotted in front of the store, what else, Star Wars merchandise. What caught my attention was a storm trooper-themed hairbrush, and it reminded me of one of those ambiguous visual images where it can more than one thing depending how you look at it. Is it a storm trooper or a smiley face?
About 9:30, the first showing was done. People left the theater with smiles on their faces and carrying Star Wars-themed popcorn containers, some still filled with buttery popcorn.
Some of the words and phrases people used to describe the movie included “good””great”, “phenomenal”, “fantastic” and “too good for words.” One woman even claimed she cried twice. This showed me just how devoted of a fan base Star Wars has.
Chris Pamperin Blog 
Very nice! Very informative! And there are great pictures to accompany the story!