Give me a scene from any of the classic Star Wars movies and I bet you anything I can recite word for word exactly what each person says, but give me a question like what are the names of Chewie’s parents and all I can do it look at you like a deer caught in the headlights.Years ago I heard about a movie, that I thought was an awesome idea.  Based in 1999 around the time of the release of one of the most anticipated science fiction/ fantasy movies of all time, Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace. I never got to experience the line ups outside the theater just to buy some tickets so I can say “I got first showing”, no that wasn’t me but I know people who waited there for days. Luckily I know someone who was working there and was able to score a set of tickets before they were “officially able to be sold” (gotta love multifunctional self serving ticket machines). I remember the build up of it really well, and final release day brought out more people dressed up as Lord Vader than a guy would ever need to see. The lines were long and stretched along the side of the mall. I remember getting there later than I would have liked and hoping to god that I at least would get a good seat. As we entered and found ourselves a spot, we were introduced to what we all were waiting for, the opening scroll shot.

Story:
Linus, a terminally ill, cancer struck Star Wars fan and his group of friends, decide that before he passes, they go out and see a copy of the film before its official release. There’s a big catch, the movie, is locked up under guard at the prestigious Skywalker Ranch. To get to it, they would have to drive across the country and find away into the main editing room so they can give a dying friend his last wish.

Characters:
We have your four main characters Eric played by Sam Huntington, Linus played by Chris Marquette, Hutch by Dan Fogler, and Windows by Jay Baruchel. These four friends are a normal geeky clique who drive around in a van made to look like a starship only to be forced to carry along another passenger who we are also introduced by a character by the name of Zoe played by Kristen Bell. Kristen was a must have she provided to be the most talented out of everyone in this film also providing us with a female presence over what originally looked like to be an “all sausage fest” . I am shocked by the amount of guest star appearances. We have Billy Dee Williams, Carrie Fisher,Kevin Smith, Ray Park and a host of others that really helped shape the look and feel of the movie.

Movie:
Bad:
- When our fearsome four (at the time) go to war with the Trekkies, I was surprised they couldn’t get the rights to the Star Trek insignias and characters really hurt the feeling of hatred between both fan base.
- An appearance of George Lucas would have been awesome since this movies does nothing but boost his most worshiped of all creation the god send which is Star Wars.

Good:
- Nothing but the right actors for the right job. Well done casting director.
- Again we have throw backs which were all executed with excellence. They reference almost everything that Lucas helped create even the weird THX 1138 because there’s nothing funnier then the security guards from THX securing the grounds of Lucas Ranch.
- Just because it deals heavily with Star Wars the writers of the film never forget why the four friends started this adventure together in the first place.
- All I’ll say is the very end is pure gold.

All I can say is I came out of this movies wanting to: A) Own my own comic book store, B) Looking back at when Episode 1 came out and C) Get a van, get a bunch of us together and go on some crazy ass trip.

This film gets my full rating.

If  any of you think you are a “Fan Boy” of Star Wars here’s a question, What was the model of astromech droid I used for the rating system?