Foreword "For me, it was love before first sight, and for that I feel blessed. I came to Star Wars in 1977 with only my own expectations, not some overfed media hype machine that seems to accompany so many flash-in-the-pan movies these days. I had devoured classic science fiction novels growing up, and was a fan of movie serials when they entertained me after school on my folks' small-screen TV. But Star Wars! That's always been something else. As a business journalist in Los Angeles, I had picked up some early rumblings about the film. There were a few mentions in the Hollywood trades and in a new science fiction magazine named Starlog. What really did it for me - and what became the first in a barn full of treasured Star Wars memorabilia - was a brochure sent to exhibitors to entice them to rent the film for their theaters. Wow! If the movie was anything like the huge color photos in this over-sized 28-page booklet, accompanied by a description of the film and its main characters, I couldn't wait to see it, Then, three weeks before the general opening on May 25th, 1977, I attended a press screening on the backlot at Twentieth Century Fox. From the moment the Star Destroyer passed overhead and kept going and going, I had a new passion in life. What hooked me personally was another scene without words. Luke Skywalker gets up from his aunt and uncle's dinner table in frustration, desperately wanting to leave this dusty, barren planet - and the road-block to his future that it represents. He walks up a small hill and casts his eyes toward the horizon to watch the twin suns of Tatooine set as some of John Williams's most plaintive music swells in the background. I could taste Luke's yearning, his need to leave home and establish himself as his own person. I so related to that. For Luke, the hero's journey was about to begin. I was already on my journey…and at that point, I didn't know how either was going to end. The hero's journey? It was that, and much more, as George Lucas deliberately set out to create a new mythos using many of the tenets of classic mythology-tenets that date back to before recorded history. There were few heroes in the late '70s, after Vietnam and Watergate. Movies had gotten dark, the lines between good and evil blurred. Then along came a film that, subtly, tied into mythological archetypes and spread through worldwide culture. That, and it had really cool special effects! The fact that George Lucas's epic space fantasy is still going strong after 25 years says something about the filmmaker, the films, and the audience. The saga is so ingrained in the worldwide popular culture that writers and artists feel secure using dialogue as punch lines without further explanation. Star Wars helps give many of us a shared identity and a sense of community. It's the dialogue, the characters, their relationships, the visual effects, the music - Yes, it's all Saturday matinee, but it's the best Saturday matinee imaginable. Star Wars has captured the hearts and imaginations of millions of people worldwide in large part because the saga celebrates heroism and the limitless potential of the individual. It engages us. It excites us. It inspires us. And most of all, it's fun to watch, fun to collect the merchandise, fun to read the books and comics, and fun the play the games, like the incredibly inventive one you hold in your hands. For an entire generation, Star Wars has been a defining cinematic moment, inspiring countless young men and women into pursuing creative careers of all types. The popularity of Star Wars is growing. The original Star Wars gene to subsequent generations. (The advent of movies on videocassette didn't hurt much, either.) It can't just be nostalgia that draws people to the saga. After all these years Star Wars is still cool. Whether it's Han Solo with his Elvis grin, Darth Vader's sharp but ominous black outfit, the craftily worn look of the spaceships, the eye-popping battles, or the lightsaber swordplay, Star Wars still feels hip. There's a timeliness element about the emotions they provoke that other films just don't seem to have. If you've been a part of Star Wars fandom for a while, or returned to it with the Special Editions or the start of the Prequel films, then you know what a wonderful voyage it has been. But if you've picked up this book as a relative "newbie", I want to welcome you as you proceed on your own path of discovery, your own "hero's journey". What a joyride you're in for!" - Stephen J. Sansweet. October 14, 2001