Fun Fact: I Love Science Fiction.

I love science fiction.

Now, that’s not to say I don’t love other things as well. I love fantasy and modernist poetry and period romance. I love philosophy and comic books and good old fashioned detective stories. I’m eclectic, guys. I’ll quote Tombstone and Moby-Dick as often and as eagerly as Star Trek. But what I’m really trying to impress on you guys, what I really want you to understand is that:

I love science fiction.

It’s important to me. It reminds me of my dad who passed away a few years ago. It was a safe place to go when I was younger and awkward and angry. Some of my first memories are of watching Star Wars and wondering dumbly if anyone in the world could be as cool as Han Solo (short answer: no). Some of my best memories have been made inside convention walls, lined up for a panel or to see William Shatner, debating the technical aspects of the transporter and wondering if evil clones are made evil or if they have the agency to choose an evil lifestyle.

People always like to ask “what’s your favorite” whenever you’re talking about anything. So “what’s your favorite work of science fiction?” is always bound to come up. Every time I hear it I want to shout “everything!” but that isn’t true (I’m looking at you Event Horizon) and when I really put my mind to it there’s one thing that stands above the rest within the scifi shrine I call my heart.

Yes, Star Wars is probably my absolute favorite. I’ve got a shelf of memorabilia, two tattoos, and a disturbing amount of trivia knowledge about all things regarding the series. I’ll be the first to admit that most of that trivia is now useless due to Disney’s retcon of the Expanded Universe, but it’s still there lurking in my brain and waiting for anyone to mention anything even remotely EU related so I can spring it on them. Star Wars is my joy of joys. I tear up during each newly released trailer. I tear up during certain soundtrack cues (Luke looking out at the sunset on Tatooine kills me every time). I tear up if I’m describing to someone just how much I love these freaking movies.

Once my old roommate and I went out and bought a VCR because we had stumbled upon a set of the unedited original trilogy and were desperate to watch them. We wound up setting up two TVs next to each other so that we could watch the original and the remastered in tandem. It was glorious, wonderful, and something I highly recommend if you’re even remotely inclined.

Star Wars has stuck with me. And you know why? Because it holds up. The special effects were revolutionary at the time and not even half bad for now. The story is simple despite the complexities of politics, religion, and technology because you don’t necessarily need to understand that stuff to get the message. Good versus Bad, Son versus Father, Liberty versus Tyranny. I understood that as a child and only as I grew up did I delve deeper into the history, the culture, the books and comics and video games.

Star Wars is popular, massively and inarguably popular, and it continues to be popular because anyone at any time can turn it on and think: Gee, this is freakin’ awesome. If you don’t believe me go on and watch one of those movies right now. I’ll wait.