With the zipping of a Star Cruiser flying by and the whooshing of a lightsaber by your ear, you are drawn into the fantastical world of Star Wars. The inclusion of diverse characters through body type, sexuality, and skin color has allowed for a more divergent fan base. It used to be that only so-called geeks were the target audience of the films but now people from all walks of life can see part of themselves in the films and characters.

With May 4th, annual Star Wars day, coming up it makes one reminisce about their first experiences with the franchise and how much the series means to them. For some the story was nothing more than a movie they watched growing up but to some it was more than that, it was an escape into a world where nothing could stop the rebels from blowing up the Death Star and saving the day.

Typically, when someone thinks of a Star Wars fan they think of a super dorky kid who either hangs out alone or with his other seemingly awkward friends. He’s okay with me saying this, don’t worry, but Junior, Sam Gallagher definitely fits this description, and you can find him sitting with his friends and usually going over the most recent Marvel show or movie. Getting slightly embarrassed, Gallagher expressed his love of the Star Wars movie franchise. “I love Star Wars because as a child seeing those movies was super fun,” Gallagher expressed, “Who wouldn’t want to see cool space battles with laser swords?”

For others the Star Wars franchise has been a bonding experience between parents and children for generations. On the more popular side you could say we have the more extroverted seemingly “cool” group of fans that love the series just as much and would be happy to geek out about the franchise.

Junior, Anna-Grace Medlin tears up as she recalls her first experience with the world. “My grandpa made sure that the first movie the three of us saw was Star Wars. When we were little kids we would stay the night at my grandpa’s house every Friday night, and we would go upstairs and sit on the floor and watch Star Wars and drink root beer floats. My grandpa would read the whole title sequence to us,” said Medlin, ”Now that he had his stroke we still watch it! Not every Friday night but we still watch Star Wars. He doesn’t remember my little brother’s name but he still remembers watching Star Wars with us.”

Medlin’s sentiment seems to be one many people share, and will hopefully continue to for years to come. As for director and creator George Lucas’s inspirations for the movies, he said, “I want them to get beyond the basic stupidities of the moment and think about colonizing Venus and Mars. And the only way it’s going to happen is to have some dumb kid fantasize about it — to get his ray gun, jump in his ship and run off with this wookie into outer space. It’s our only hope in a way.”