STAR WARS

On Tuesday night at 11 pm, Alec Longstreth and I got in line for the last Star Wars movie: Episode III, set to open 25 hours later. Here we are on our way out of the apartment:



For both Episodes I and II, Alec and I were first in line at theaters near Oberlin College, in Ohio. For this showing, we weren't quite first in line, but we *were* in New York City, at the premier theater here: The Ziegfeld:



The line started with a row of tents associated with a charity group representing 300-500 individuals which had setup a rotating camp almost 3 weeks prior. Alec & I were 3rd & 4th in the "Regular Joe" line, which had started just an hour before our arrival. The second guy in line (Greg) was certifiable, and not because of his enthusiasm for Star Wars. In fact, we weren't sure he really cared about Star Wars- it seemed he just liked waiting in big lines and harassing people, as evidenced by a bunch of passing Yankee fans who recognized him.

Greg was so crazy that the folks from the charity line knew who he was as soon as he appeared, and they moved the "Regular Joe" line halfway down the block just to get space between him and them.

The guys behind us in line, we should note, sold 2 extra tickets they had for this showing for $150. Fortunately, Alec got our tickets direct from the theater a month ago at a more realistic price.

8 of us RJs slept on the sidewalk that night. We were awakened in the morning by a newsvan trying to parallel-park. It took the guy fifteen minutes (no kidding), and he had that awesome BEEP BEEP BEEP thing going on when he was in reverse. Here he is (yes, that's my sleeping bag at the bottom of the shot):



That van was the first of about a billion news crews to show up. Radio, TV, local, national... it was insanity. All day long as the line grew and the news-teams and cameras multiplied, reporters kept gravitating directly to Alec. It was amazing- no matter how many people in amazing full-costume appeared, Alec in his old red hoody, lensless glasses-frames, full beard, and lightsaber at his side was some sort of beacon for interviewers.

Nevermind that we weren't first in line, nevermind the charity (I'm sure they just wanted to talk about their charity, and these people wanted to hear from the STAR WARS fanatics, not the children's charity fanatics.) - they all went straight to Alec.

We had reports of him being heard on NPR in Ohio, friends in New York recorded TV segments with both of us but featuring Alec, and people walking by the line on the street stopped, looked at Alec, and said, "we just saw you on TV!"

Here's Alec doing a radio interview:




To see the short version of the segment on local TV, click here and there's a video link right below the heading. Also, the "Star Wars defines my youth" quote in the text article is me.

Then, some lady came up and asked Alec to pose for a fashion magazine, which was totally hilarious. By that time there was every imaginable costume (from Vader to Lobot) in view, but she chose our hero:



As the day progressed, our party of twelve trickled into line with us. Here's our final crew:



From left to right, we have:
top row: Frunch (flew in from San Fran about 6 pm that day) and Alec
middle row: Sarah Fanucchi and Tom Taylor, Noah's head, Asher Rapkin, Carolyn Mraz (flew in from Ohio around 10 pm), Kelly Smith, me, Farah, and Ramy Sadek (those two drove in from New Jersey)
bottom: Alexis Macnab

As we approached the opening of the doors, the line was moved in short bursts closer to the door, and everyone began to crowd in. By this point the line was 10-people wide and around the block. A news crew approached the front-end of the line and said, "we need the biggest Star Wars fan, where's the biggest fan?" and the waters parted as everyone pointed towards Alec.

Alec turned to the camera, 10 feet away, leaned in without moving his back foot from his place in line, and said, "What do you want?"

"Can you come over here for a quick interview?"

Alec leaned as close as he could, well within the range of the mic, and said, "No. I can't lose my place in line. I'll talk to you from here."

"Ok! Why are you here?"

150 heads turned to look at Alec:
"ARE YOU KIDDING ME? WHY AM I HERE? I'M HERE TO SEE STAR WARS! I'M HERE TO SEE ANAKIN SKYWALKER TURN INTO DARTH VADER! I'M HERE BECAUSE THIS IS THE BEST THEATER, WITH THE BEST AUDIENCE, AND THE BEST SHOWING OF THE LAST MOVIE IN STAR WARS!!!"
And the crowd erupted in cheers.

10 minutes later, as they prepared to move the line forward 50 feet (and we all prepared to resist the pushing and scrambling of those behind us), another camera crew approached the front of the line and said "How excited are you right now?" to no one in particular. As 50 people contemplated answers, Alec said without hesitation: "We're so excited that we don't want to talk to you." The crowd laughed, cheered, and agreed, and the news people just nodded and moved on.

When they finally opened the doors, our hard-earned spot in line was compromised by an ill-planned ticket-checking process, so what should have been 12 people in front of us (the two folks in front of us in line both represented small groups) ended up being closer to 25. However, Alec had scouted the theater's layout carefully, and he and I knew not only where we wanted to sit, but two excellent shortcuts to getting there. We got excellent seats.

And the movie was amazing. Just amazing. Worthy of the Star Wars name. It's a real downer- far more depressing than The Empire Strikes Back. I'm not sure PG-13 is sufficient, really. Don't take small children. Gruesome, but fabulous. I was transfixed.

Frunch & Alec & I went back for a second viewing the following evening.

gcb