Star Wars—with all its space wizards, bug-eyed monsters, and starships that travel at the speed of narrative need—is not running from the real world. It reflects the joys and challenges of reality and opens doors for interpreting it.
That kind of reflection is what I get from my long Star Wars conversations with Ken. And that’s what you have in your hands or flowing into your earbuds right now. One long, fun, heartfelt conversation.
So, I encourage you to enjoy. Shout out when you agree with something! Whisper “hmmm” when you need to give something more thought. Jot down your own memories. Talk out loud to this book and imagine Ken listening to you with a playful, thoughtful sparkle in his eye. Your life will be better for it.
Because Star Wars is a fantasy. But the impact it can have on our lives is very real.
So, sit back, let go, reach out.
Make that stick move.
Make this book fly into your waiting hands.
A long (enough) time ago in a small, coastal California town…
Spring. 1983. Ten kids, all aged between seven and eight, were in the middle of a slumber party. Laughter and horseplay were in full swing as the sugar rush from the birthday cake they had all just enjoyed had yet to give way to the sugar crash the host parents had been praying for from the first bites on. From the television emerged some now familiar sounds from a galaxy far, far away. Spaceships roared. Aliens laughed. Laser blasts exploded. It was a trailer for the next exciting chapter in the Star Wars saga, letting every kid (and the adults) in that room know that Return of the Jedi would be racing to theaters that May. Every single one of the kids stopped dead in their tracks. The rambunctious energy vanished in a flash. Star Wars had them.
Cue the opening theme to Stranger Things? Nope.
This really happened. It happened to me at my friend John’s birthday. I remember the exact moment, the room lighting, the sleeping bag I was wrapped up in, and, above all else, I remember seeing Luke Skywalker, Jedi Knight and friend of Captain Solo, dressed in all black, igniting his lightsaber high atop Jabba’s sail barge, the Khetanna. Even when you consider the slower pacing of movie trailers in the 1980s, this trailer was full to the brim of the Star Wars imagery that would one day be a daily part of my life. Yet it was this one thing—Luke Skywalker hacking and slashing with his laser sword—that pulled me in. It stayed with me and, even now, I don’t fully understand why. Han Solo would eventually become my “favorite” Star Wars character. I’ve always found myself more interested in the inner workings of the Rebellion against the Empire than in Jedi and their lore. It’s not even my favorite Luke Skywalker moment. However, seven-year-old me was transfixed and beyond intrigued by the image of this hero with a blade. (I’m sure there are some self-help books I can dive into as a means to explain it. I’ll let you know the results another time.) What’s even more entertaining now is that, in reality, the moment was actually fleeting. A quick search online will lead you to the actual trailer and watching it will reveal that Luke is on top of that sail barge, lightsaber ignited, for less than a second. Blink and, poof, it’s gone. You’re onto the next shot. But for years—years I tells ya—it was so burned into my brain that I was convinced Luke was there for most of the trailer (probably alongside comedian Sinbad as Shazaam and the Berenstain Bears). I actually kept searching for another trailer. One with the longer, sustained shot that I knew I had seen. But it wasn’t there. All that remains is the brief glimpse of a Jedi Knight, a lightsaber, and the villains between him and safety. And that, if I may, makes it all the more impressive (most impressive) because that’s all it took. One, brief moment. That was when Star Wars hooked me.
And the great part is…I wasn’t alone. This happened to you as well. This happened to your friends. It happened to your uncle and your quiet next-door neighbor. It happened to your office buddy and the kid selling you a movie ticket. It happened to all of us. Maybe it was in 1977 when your jaw dropped as an Imperial Star Destroyer flew over your head for the first time. Perhaps it was in 1997 when George Lucas decided to rerelease his movies with all new additions and effects. This could have happened to you in 1999 when a wonderful teaser trailer announced that every legend has a beginning or maybe it was in 2015 when a more distinguished Han Solo proclaimed to his Wookiee copilot and us, “Chewie, we’re home,” and ushered in a new era of Star Wars stories.
We all have a moment that absolutely hooked us. While there are a lot of Star Wars moments to choose from amongst eleven theatrically released movies (for now!), two hit animated shows, and countless books and comics, we seem to gravitate toward little moments just as much as the big themes. These moments become the very reasons we love Star Wars. The reasons we keep coming back. Yes, you could define a “reason” to love Star Wars as directly as “it makes me happy” or “it teaches you a basic morality at a young age.” However, those textbook “reasons” jump out of the screen and off the page through these moments. The moments are the reasons we love Star Wars.
Let’s go back to 1983 and that Return of the Jedi trailer. An entire generation of fans soaked in every image over the course of two glorious space-minutes. Amongst the X-wings, yelping Ewoks, and exploding Death Star, I locked onto that brief image of Luke Skywalker. That was a moment, but the reason it made me love Star Wars is that, in one action-packed beat among many, I gravitated to the bigger adventure at play. A gallant figure was in the throes of action, but he wasn’t striking out in anger. This hero in black, lightsaber in hand, was standing proud against evil forces. Standing strong between them and his friends. He was in control. It was a picture of calm strength amongst the chaos of the galaxy rolling out before us fans. It was the pose of a hero. A reason to love Star Wars emerged from that moment and I have been fascinated with those moments ever since.
It should be clearly stated, though, that this is not a definitive list.
It can’t be.
And it shouldn’t be.
For one, it’s can’t even be final. Thankfully, the Star Wars saga lives on. We as a fanbase thought the last of the Star Wars movies had arrived in 2005 with Revenge of the Sith. That was supposed to be it. George had completed his saga, at least in terms of the big screen, and we were left with our memories, our collectibles, and the emerging digital media scene to analyze it forever. Sure, the excellent animated television series The Clone Wars launched with an uneven theatrically released movie that led us into the show—a show that did serve as an entry point into Star Wars for many fans and gave veteran fans more stories to chew on—but, for the most part, Star Wars was all wrapped up in a warm, nostalgic six-disc set. (Yes, with more variations and editions to come, but this isn’t THAT book.) It all changed in 2012. George Lucas sold Lucasfilm to Disney and new movies soon followed.
I remain forever grateful. New Star Wars movies means a large swath of new Star Wars moments that create even more reasons to love the saga. You’ll find a lot of those moments in the pages that follow, including moments from novels, comic books, animated TV shows, and video games. At the time of this writing, we’re all still waiting for Episode IX, a new trilogy from Rian Johnson, live-action shows (The Mandalorian and one focused on Cassian Andor), and a proposed series of movies from the showrunners of HBO’s Game of Thrones. The moments presented to you here represent a snapshot of fandom now. And, I guess, then. As Yoda said, “Always in motion, the future is.” (Do you like Star Wars quotes? Oh, good, stand by for a lot of those.) And so it is with Star Wars itself. This can’t be a definitive list because we’re just not done consuming new Star Wars. Thankfully.
This also can’t be a definitive list because one person is writing it. I certainly have lost nights and nights of sleep forming some kind of ranking here. (I’ve already changed my rankings three times since you started to read this book.) However, there was no scientific research that built the list you are about to read, no Buzzfeed polls to influence it, and we didn’t go door-to-door to ask every fan what moments they