It's the subleties of the Saga ...

Oh, the nuances of Star Wars.  Our house is all about it these days.  It is very surreal to debate your kid on George Lucas' seemingly never-ending storyline.  The irony really hit home when Atticus started saying, "In a galaxy far, far away ... " in the car this morning.  To add to this unexpected blast back to 1977, I had to FB message my friend, Coye, in Chicago this morning as follows:

"Please tell me, in your opinion, who is the best Jedi of all time? My 4-year old and I had a very heated argument about the subject this morning on the way to daycare. I vehemently defended Yoda, while he claimed Anakin Skywalker to be the best. His reasoning is that Anakin is the only one who could defeat Count Dookoo. Is he correct in this assumption? My defense was that Yoda is the beginning of all things Jedi. He taught Obi Wan, who in turn taught Anakin. He also trained Luke Skywalker. And Anakin turned to the dark side anyway, so he doesn't count. I don't think Dookoo even comes into the scenario.
What say you?"

I can imagine having this conversation with my brother, now 40 years old, when he was 6 years old.  My sister read him the opening credits back in the day and was delighted to do the same for her son when the time came.  It was actually kind of weird to do so now for Atticus.  Giving him pneumatic devices to remember the name Boba Fett (Bubble Helmet, Boba Fett, Bubble Helmet, Boba Fett) is just kinda trippy.  My "out" when I fall short with enlightening about the narrative is my "go to" that we'll have to ask his cousin Dawson, another resident expert.

We watch marathons on Spike t.v. on a regular basis now (yes, they repeat ALL the freakin' time).  We'll have to watch Episode I sometime to find out how Darth Maul comes about.  I still don't know exactly how General Greivous fits into the storyline either.  No, I don't know why Dookoo had so much evil influence, and I don't know why Emperor Palpatine was so creepy all along and turned Anakin to the dark side (besides being quite an ugly bastard).  In fact, I can't quite understand the whole Sith role.  

What I do know, or at least feel in my heart (lol), is that Yoda is the end all be all of Jedis.  I know my heart also fluttered to watch Mark Hammill on the big screen when I was a pre-teen and it still kind of does now (pre- and post-car wreck disfigurement).  It makes me feel good to only now even mention Darth Vader.  What a disappoint in the good-versus-evil sense.  I also know it was an assault on my indie-loving soul to see Ewan McGregor go from the likes of Shallow Grave and his full frontal in Velvet Goldmine to gracing Pizza Hut boxes and McDonald's cups as Obi Wan when he became known to the rest of the world.  And I sure miss Alec Guiness. 

It's gone from enjoying what I consider to be classic indie films to "which episode is this in which order" weekend marathons.  Wow.

Now, can't wait to hear back from Coye.