New ‘Star Wars’ movie awakens passions in film series’ fans
More than 10 hours before tonight’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens premier, Chad Binge of Decatur and Brian Knobloch of Highland set up camp in front of the sold-out Lory Theater in Highland.
“He’s the one who got me into Star Wars,” said Binge of his college buddy, Knobloch.
Knobloch and Binge purchased their tickets for tonight’s movie premier when they first went on sale, over a month ago.
“Part of the fun of Star Wars, even though you have tickets, is to wait in line and hang out with people who like Star Wars,” said Knobloch, who will wear a Wampa Ice Creature outfit at the premier, which starts at 7 p.m. Doors of the Lory will open at 5 p.m.
While growing up, Knobloch said he liked to watch the Star Wars movies.
“But I wasn’t super into it as a kid,” he said. “While I was in high school, I kind of discovered it again. There is something about the story, the adventure, that sparked me.”
Knobloch loves everything about Star Wars now.
In fact, Knobloch, who owns Blockplaindesigns (a marketing, graphic design business and web development) in Highland, and Binge, a self-prescribed “recovering political hack,” were so excited about the movie coming out, they even took a day off from their jobs.
“I’ll make up for it tonight after the movie,” Knobloch said. “I’ll stay up late and do some work.”
Binge said that being at the premier “is part of his recovery process.”
“I liked watching the Star Wars movies as a kid. Growing up, I had some of the toys as a kid. But I was not really into it. You cannot help getting into it, being a friend with this guy,” Binge said pointing to his friend.
Binge and Knobloch are also avid collectors of Star Wars memorabilia.
While recently shopping at Target for items to add to his ever-growing collectibles, Binge said he had people look at him when he started to talk about Star Wars “Midichlorians,” the microscopic creatures responsible for generating “The Force.”
“They asked how I know about this,” he said and laughed.
Knobloch said he just happened to be in Walmart when they released the first Star Wars toys.
“Something told me I had to buy these,” he said.
Knobloch has since purchased carts full of Star Wars toys over the years. He has more than 1,000 Star Wars action figures, Star Wars Legos, and a number of Star Wars lightsabers in his collection. He will be bringing his Darth Maul double-bladed lightsaber to tonight’s premier.
“I think it’s the kid in me that comes out,” he said.
Knobloch’s three sons and his wife, Sara (a teacher in the Triad School District), will also be attending the movie tonight. He said he thought for a while about having his three sons skip school. They, however, will come to the premier tonight donned in the appropriate attire. One will be dressed as a clone trooper, another will be dressed as Luke Skywalker, and one came will come as Darth Vader. Meanwhile, Knobloch’s wife will be dressed up as Princess Leia.
“It’s fun,” Knobloch said. “Obviously, you got our generation, who grew up with the original movies. Then you have got another generation that grew up with the prequels. Now, you are going to have this new generation that is already consuming the Clone Wars cartoon and Disney’s Star Wars Rebels.”
Knobloch and Binge each believe the latest movie will play well. He believes having the original cast will only help.
“Obviously, I tried to stay spoiler-free,” Knobloch said. “But, I got really nervous when they announced J.J. Abrams was the director.”
He believes the new faces introduced in the movie will only help to carry the story forward.
Knobloch also wishes that would mean more shopping for his own collection.
“But, now that I have kids, they get the new stuff,” he said. “I just buy things at garage sales, where I hope can find the old stuff cheap.”
AP Review: ‘Star Wars’ is fun fan service
J.J. Abrams may not elevate the language of “Star Wars,” but he sure is fluent in it. “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” is no more and no less than the movie that made us love it in the first place. In fact, it’s basically the same thing. Isn’t that what we all wanted anyway?
It’s hard to talk rationally about “Star Wars.” It is a deeply silly thing, with a genuine, undeniable hold on our culture. Chalk it up to nostalgia, collective arrested development or the ineffable. But for many, the magic of “Star Wars” is inseparable from the magic of the movies and, hey, that’s no small thing.
These movies make us lose ourselves in the spectacle. They make us forget our best instincts. They make us love the advertising as much as the art. They make us kids again.
In this way, “The Force Awakens,” the seventh movie in this improbable yet inevitable series, delivers.
It’s a movie made by someone who loves “Star Wars” deeply. Someone who can see more clearly than even its creator what made it so special to so many people. Abrams has taken everything that we adore about that first film, delicately mixed up a few elements, and churned out a reverent homage that’s a heck of a lot of fun to watch.
-The Associated Press
This story was originally published December 17, 2015 at 7:55 AM with the headline "New ‘Star Wars’ movie awakens passions in film series’ fans."