Okay, let me say first that I love this little film! Whatever has happened to Star Wars in recent years, there still are and always will be the true fans who thrill to share their love of the saga with others. This spot shows the kind of energy that we used to have at a new Star Wars movie. The costumes, the mock lightsaber fights, screaming lines from the movie out loud...
...it was a whole different and in so many ways better world than it is today. I know, I was there. I didn't just see it with my own eyes, I was part of it. Maybe it will come back someday. Especially for the youngsters. The ones who George Lucas intended Star Wars to be particularly for. The grownups have tried to make Star Wars into something it was never meant to be. So we get bullcrap like The Acolyte and movies with no clear plan in mind (coughcoughsequeltrilogycoughcough).
Actually, I'm coming to like Episodes VII through IX now. The more time that goes by since that trilogy ended, the better those movies seem. And the children seem to like them well enough. I saw lots of young girls dressed as Rey when The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker came out. If they were enjoying that, just as my generation did Star Wars in our own youth, well... what's wrong with that?
Anyway...
Coca-Cola has this new film that celebrates what it means to be a Star Wars fan. Here it is:
Okay, like I said I love that spot! But my memory can be a harsh thing. Because what might be to the chagrin of some, I also remember a time more than a quarter century ago when that was not Coca-Cola in cahoots with Star Wars. And this is why things like YouTube are so handy.
Behold the Pepsi commercial that premiered during the Super Bowl in 1997, days before the Star Wars: Special Edition was released in theaters:
Not kidding: in the space of two months I saw Star Wars movies eleven times altogether. A New Hope four times, The Empire Strikes Back four times anda three for Return of the Jedi. That was my second winter at Elon and I was sort of the stereotypical "Star Wars geek" for our campus. Ahhhh, those were good times.
Okay, I'm feeling my Star Wars mojo coming back, a little. We will always have the original movies at least to bask in.