Back in 1989, I worked on a really cool, little movie called “Spaced Invaders”. I was barely 20 years old, designing eyes, actually for the aliens in the film, doing drawings and making miniatures, working out paint schemes and so forth. One afternoon, a guy came up to me, very unassuming, and asked if the particular piece I was working on was finished. I kinda held it up, out in front of me and turned it a bit… “Yeah”, I said, as I handed the drawing to him. He looked at it, nodding his head. “Cool…” Then, he noticed the shirt I was wearing…

“Jaws!? I love that movie!” He cried… “I remember seeing it in the theater, the day opened… I even made a funny little spoof about when I was in high school on super 8!” I remember telling him it was my favorite movie of all time, and that Spielberg was God. We hit it off right away, talking about “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”, “2001”, “Raiders of the Lost Ark”, “Logan’s Run” and then the conversation quickly turned to “Star Wars”. I told him that I was 7 when Jaws came out, and my parents had to go see it before they’d let me watch it, but that I did however, see Star Wars the very day it came out. “Me too! That was so awesome, I’m gonna’ make a movie about it…”

That guy was Patrick Read Johnson, the director of the film, and what we talked about that very day, I have looked forward to ever since…

Well, it looks like the wait will soon be over. A few days ago, someone forwarded me a link to a trailer for an independent movie he thought I should check out. I went to the link, which merely read: 5-25-77… Now, being the enormous Star Wars geek that I am, I immediately recognized the numbers as the date that it opened back in 1977. Could it be? Was this the long awaited opus from Patrick Read Johnson that he told me about so many years before? As it played before me on my laptop, it became apparent… This was it! It had to be. How cool is that? Not only did the film get made, they got John Francis Daley, who I absolutely LOVED in “Freaks and Geeks”. I’m gonna go out on a limb here, and say that this is not only one of the most inspiring trailers I’ve ever seen, it’s probably the most fired up I’ve been to see a movie since Episode 1… It brought back so many memories from that era, which for me personally, was the best time in my life.

My passionate love affair with the greatest decade ever, is no secret to those who know me well. The 1970’s for me, has long held that moniker, for growing up in the time of megos, KISS, Sid and Marty Krofft, The Star Trek novels, Micronauts, “Planet of the Apes”, the bicentennial, and of course, “Star Wars” in a small, New York suburb, was the best life will ever get. I often look up into the sun, close my eyes and wonder how to get that back… How to replicate it… How to make life as simple, carefree, fun, and innocent as it was back then. Some say that you need to have kids, and that you kind of re-live through them. Others have told me that if I keep reading comic books, going to the movies, reading science fiction, and collecting toys and movie posters, it’ll always be the same… Well, I do all those things… Hell, I even eat my cereal every Saturday morning, with my “Land of the Lost” DVD’s on… The CD in my stereo right now, is KISS: Destroyer… I’m 37, and I still wear Vans, ride my skateboard everywhere and drink Kool Aid. I’m still a NY Yankees fan. I even drive a 1977 Volkswagen. But you know what? It’s not the same…

But I think Patrick Read Johnson might have figured it out… By making a film about it. More than anything, I would love to sit down with the guy and talk to him, to see if it worked… If it made him feel like he was back in 1977, back in high school, back when it was all monumental to us, when it all meant something, even if it was only for a short while… Because to be honest, I can’t think of anything I wouldn’t trade for even just a few minutes, a few seconds, of that feeling again…

I doubt Patrick would remember our conversation, or even who I was, but it doesn’t really matter. That’s not really the point… The fact that this guy not only lived his dream of being a feature film director, but actually got to make this film that he’s obviously had in his head since 1977 is so freakin’ brilliant, I can’t even find the words to describe it. It truly is, the fan film to end all fan films. Watching the trailer (for the 20th time), I get that tingle that runs over your entire body and makes you feel in your heart, that following your dreams is what life is all about, no matter how absurd or unachievable they may seem to others, or even at times… to yourself.

I am absolutely dying to see this movie. It looks so good, and so familiar… I mean, those guys were US. In my case, they were a little older (I was in 4th grade in 1977), but that same feeling, that same spark that all those awesome 70’s movies ignited in all of us, is there… Big time.

Patrick, wherever you are, whether you remember me or not… Congratulations, and may the force be with you. I’ll be there on opening day, just like I was a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far, away…

Till next time, peace, love, and an endless river of chocolate…

SC