My new piece up on Tablet, “The Force Isn’t With Me Anymore,” is about how my lifelong love of Star Wars is clashing with my commitment not to go to the movies. Yes, it is true, this fangirl, the child formerly known in some circles as “Chewbecca,” will not be watching “The Force Awakens.”
O Death Star Play Set, how I miss thee!!
Writing the piece was loads of fun: I got to relive many happy minutes of my childhood. In the original draft, I described the scene when I received my beloved Death Star Play Set (from Kenner!) in loving detail, and included all sorts of wacky stuff that I had to cut for length before turning the article into Tablet.
Editing out all that material was painful, and so I give you…
THE TOP 5 THINGS I HAD TO CUT FROM “THE FORCE ISN’T WITH ME ANYMORE:”
- The first Star Wars toy I received was the 12-inch Princess Leia doll. My grandparents brought it from the U.S. to Israel, where I was living at the time, for my fourth birthday. My sister got stuck with a Luke doll.
- The reason my sister wanted a Leia doll instead of Luke was because you could style her hair. Unfortunately, the year after my sister and I received our Death Star Playset, Princess Leia’s plastic head split open due to excessive hairstyling by yours truly. Uncle Larry and Uncle Ira came to the rescue again: they bought both my sister AND me new Leia dolls for Chanukah.
- When I got stuck playing “Chewbecca” on the yard at school, my sister got to play Princess Leia. I pretty much hated that.
- I liked the ewoks. Embarrassing, but true.
- Whenever people above the age of 10 at the time “A New Hope” came out told me that they hadn’t seen the movie, I would tell them, “That’s what’s wrong with you! Not seeing Star Wars is the root of all evil.” Yes, I actually said that. Multiple times.
Do you have any embarrassing Star Wars confessions? Feel free to share them in the comments.
