A number of years ago (in 2010) I went with my son Alex to Orlando Florida in August so that he could attend the Star Wars conference called ‘Celebration. It was 105 degrees Fahrenheit the entire time we were there. It was hot, stinky, sticky, and wall-to-wall Star Wars.
It was helf in a convention centre that I would estimate could easily contain our entire town. Thankfully it was well air conditioned, because amongst the thousands of fans there were fully costumed super fans dressed like Darth Vader and Chewbacca(and every other character of course)….the walk outside alone must have been perilous dressed like that.
Going there with Alex was a life-altering experience. Not because I am a huge fan of Star Wars, which I actually am, but for the first time in his life, Alex got to be a Star Wars super fan like he most certainly was and did not have to apologize for it. As we explored the convention centre, all things Star Wars that you could possibly imagine was laid out for all to see,
The big announcement at this event was that Star Wars was going to be released in 3-D before long, starting with Episode I. This news was met with great fanfare and much celebration. Who could have imagined: Star Wars in 3-D? We were gobsmacked.
Little did we know that George Lucas would eventually sell the rights to Disney. It certainly wasn;t on the map in 2010. And in October of 2012, an announcement was made….never mind making the other movies 3-D, they were going to make another 3 movies in the series.
Which leads us to now. Alex and I swore after the announcement that we woud see this seventh installment on the best screen we possibly could. In my naivety, I expected that this would mean going to Sudbury instead of our more local place (North Bay, Ontario). But alas, no….we are off to Toronto next weekend to see it on an IMAX 3-D screen.
Our rationale for this is that you only get to see the movie for the first time once. And so, as we had promised each other in 2012, we are dusting off our Fanboy shoes and making the pilgrimage to Toronto to watch something that is at the very centre of Alex’s universe.
Alex has autism. After many years of being plugged into his universe, we have discovered that Star Wars is very prevalent in the autism world. Whether it’s because the story is very classical in it’s intent, or that it has all kinds of cool gadgets, or that the characters are so distinct, for whatever reason, people like Alex are often drawn to this franchise.
As a father, it gives me great pleasure to be able to let Alex explore his love for Star Wars, to let him geek out, to enable him to be obsessive about all that is Star Wars(he has two rooms devoted to keeping his momentous proudly displayed). Being a Fanboy is not as easy as it sounds…you need to keep on your toes to keep up to Alex. I fail miserably but do my best. I guess you could say I am the R2-D2 to Alex’s Luke Skywalker.
In one short week, these Fanboys are travelling…..stay out of our way or we may have to punch in ‘Light-Speed’ to pass you!!e has two rooms devoted to Sta
Bill's Musings 