So the end of my childhood has finally arrived. Episode III: Revenge of the Sith completes the circle of the Star Wars epic and I would be lying if I said I wasn't a bit emotional. I was six years old when the first movie was released and remember watching it several times at the old Rosemead 4 theatre. I was a member of the Star Wars Fan Club when I was a kid and spent the night outside Graumann's Chinese in 1983 to see Return of the Jedi. I have ditched work for The Phantom Menace in 1999 and Attack of the Clones in 2002, seeing both at the Chinese, so of course the natural thing to do was call for a sub and take another "sith" day (credit to Brian for that one).

Brian first hooked up tickets at the Arclight. This is the venue that George Lucas personally chose, passing up the Chinese where the other five episodes opened. Go figure. We initially got 11 a.m. tickets but then Giarncarlo, Brian's cousin who hooked us up for Comic-Con, reserved us a couple of seats for the midnight show. Suh-weeeet! The Force was with us.

I want to thank Cesar Castellanos and his mom (seriously, this is not a mom joke) for making Jedi outfits for Brian, Mike and me. They seriously rule. I borrowed Cesar's outfit for the Gong Show movie about a month earlier but he needed it for his own Episode III screening.

Armed with our own Jedi apparel we naturally couldn't wait for the movie. Since the prom happened to fall on the Saturday before the screening...


...we took the opportunity to show up as Jedi "formal" knights (again, credit to Brian).




Chicks dig the lightsaber.




The day before the movie opening Kosal Taing showed up as Darth Vader (we had lightsaber battles in the hallway between each period).




Elizabeth Ishida came as Princess Leia.




That night the preparations began.




Almost there.




He looks so natural.




The world famous Cinerama Dome on Sunset. The background story is that fans began lining up at Graumann's Chinese on Hollywood Bl. about a month earlier before news arrived that the film wouldn't be shown there. Most remained and became fodder for comedians everywhere.




We were lookin' so smooth....




...Reuters made sure the world had the opportunity to enjoy us.




As did Entertainment Weekly...




...and Variety. Seriously, talk about being in the right place at the right time.




Kit Fisto (the tentacled Jedi on the left for you Star Wars neophytes) is portrayed by Giancarlo Volpe, Brian's cousin and all-around cool dude. Giancarlo is responsible for our midnight seats so thanks again. (btw, Giancarlo is the animation director for Nickelodeon's Avatar: The Last Airbender) Bonus points to Giancarlo for the sweet Kit Fisto smile.




Yes, Giancarlo impressed Reuters also.




A side shot of Giancarlo's costume, one he constructed himself. Genius.




As Miss Maudie explained in To Kill A Mockingbird, some people think that anything of pleasure is a sin.




The Devil himself.




Here is a screenshot of the toolodsatan.org homepage. Classic. (At least spell Yoda correctly.)




The ladies were strangely attracted to Brian this night.




As was the camera.




Mother and daughter.




The people were in a frenzy over Kit Fisto.




A cool Star Wars car.




I'm pretty sure the car belongs to this dude..




Coneheaded Jedi Knight Ki-Adi-Mundi.




The crowd parted when the more-machine-than-man appeared.




The scene was much different for the 11:00 a.m. showing.




A happy Jedi.




Ready to save the universe.




This is the guy we were waiting for, the geek with balls enough to show up in a Star Trek outfit.




This dude went where no man had gone before.




As the movie ended it became clear Mike had been seduced by the Dark Side.