This is how old I am: I will NEVER call the first Star Wars film "A New Hope," get your bullshit retcon away from me, it is and always shall be Star Wars, forever and ever amen

[pirateguillermo@sfba.social]

@scalzi My kids honed their eye rolling skills on their parents’ insistence that, “watching the Star Wars movies in order,” means that we start with “Star Wars”.

[cratermoon@zirk.us]

@scalzi I also will never consider "The Phantom Menace" canon. Delete the entire film from the timeline and nothing of value is lost.

[lazarou@mastodon.social]

@scalzi "The Great Schism Has Begun!"

But not really because you're right.

[drangnon@hachyderm.io]

@pirateguillermo @scalzi

my partner is younger than I am and watches it in "machete order": 4, 5, 2, 3, 6.

...there's a slice of people who will just say "4" instead of "star wars" or "a new hope". at least that's unambiguous, they talked about it being "4" when it was first released.

[blowurwhorens@mastodon.social]

@scalzi ta and um no;! Y

[thanne@mastodon.sdf.org]

@david_chisnall @scalzi Based on the name I thought there must be other books in The Adventures of Luke Skywalker series, and was quite disappointed to find there weren’t any. The Star Wars books that came along later weren’t the same.

[butchh11@twit.social]

@scalzi YES and get off my lawn

[billiglarper@rollenspiel.social]

@david_chisnall @scalzi

The Star Wars novel was written by Alan Dean Foster.

Pointing this out because Alan Dean Foster is a fine writer and worth looking into.

Star Wars: From the Adventures of Luke Skywalker - Wikipedia

(en.wikipedia.org)

[soldusty@beige.party]

@scalzi
My first slice of sci-fi was Star wars, age 2, watching it on ITV at the beginning of the 1980s.

It & Doctor Who were my gateway drugs.

[robho@mastodon.social]

@scalzi A copy of the original screenplay of "Star Wars", as found in the Ripley's Believe It or Not! museum in Niagara Falls, Ontario. Luke Starkiller!?!

[virgil_tibbs@norden.social]

@scalzi
seen it '78 in the cinema

[jzb@hachyderm.io]

@billiglarper @david_chisnall @scalzi I really enjoyed the first few Spellsinger books. Need to finish the series one of these days.

[david_chisnall@infosec.exchange]

@billiglarper @scalzi

Huh, not mentioned on the cover at all, but not surprising in hindsight, it reads a lot like him.

I've read a bunch of his other things, but this was my one example of good writing by George Lucas, so now I'm just disappointed in him.

[david_chisnall@infosec.exchange]

@jzb @billiglarper @scalzi

I read his novelisations of the Star Trek animated series and didn't realise they were based on those, so had weird deja vu when I eventually saw the series!

I really enjoyed a bunch of his humanx novels and some other random ones. Most of the things of his I've read were novelisations, and most before seeing the thing they were adapted from. And, of those, the source material almost always proved disappointing when I did see it.

[juandesant@mathstodon.xyz]

@scalzi I’m afraid I’m old enough to have seen Star Wars when it debuted… and the fact that it was labelled as Episode IV was always in my mind… so it was Star Wars (A New Hope) for me.

(Of course, it was not Star Wars here; it was “La Guerra de las Galaxias”, which is even more powerful )

[trimtab@mastodon.social]

@scalzi
With all due respect I'm as old as many here and clearly remember: from day one in the 70's our brains boggled that it was episode 4. We immediately craved prequels from the start, for decades (which we got even if a bit disappointing). And the first thing you read right after the horns sing the intro fanfare is the title of the chapter. A new hope.

These are not the controversies you are looking for.

[ccooke@mastodon.ie]

@scalzi you sound like a “Voiceover Bladerunner” kinda guy 🧐

[tvaziri@mastodon.social]

@scalzi correct

[martyfouts@mastodon.online]

@scalzi Sure Grandpa, and I suppose Han shot first.

[chesi@mastodon.social]

@scalzi my grandad says the same. He never watched episode 4 a new hope.

Just star wars