Episode 4 (7)
Look-In, 1978
In the very early seventies, say 1970 to ’72, our local cinema in East Kilbride used to do Saturday morning children’s matinees. These would usually be a Tom and Jerry cartoon or three, a Warner Bros. cartoon (or Disney if we were unlucky), something from the Children’s Film Foundation, and an episode of Flash Gordon. I used to go along every Saturday before stopping off on the way home to buy an Airfix kit and a copy of Look-in.
I was 18 when Star Wars was released and, like everyone else, saw it lots of times. I always liked to get a seat in the middle of the cinema for that moment when the fighters swoop down into the “canyon” on the Death Star, enjoying the vertigo rush. Star Wars, more than any of the others in the series, reminded me of those children’s matinees; not just for the obvious shout outs to Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers, but also the tropes lifted wholesale from Tarzan and Robin Hood.
Now I’m 56 and The Force Awakens rekindled that feeling for me in a way that the others in the series didn’t. I even enjoyed the 3D, which I’m usually not fussed by. And we went see it again on Boxing Day.
If anything, I enjoyed it even more the second time through.
I’ve seen a lot of criticisms of elements of the film, and social media is awash with theories about mysteries left hanging. This is all reminiscent of the buzz around the initial movies, except we didn’t have social media then. Although I’ve dipped into these, and agree intellectually with some of the criticisms I’ve heard, in the end I don’t care. It wouldn’t surprise me one bit if I see it again in the cinema before, inevitably, buying the Blu-ray.
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