My First Blog, This Is....

The Yoda Statue outside of Lucasfilm in San Francisco.

Hard to even grasp what has happened today as far as the @starwars news goes. Very excited. Might even write my first ever blog about it....
— Jay WhoJedi Newnum (@WhoJedi) October 30, 2012

You might be asking yourself, why would Jedi be writing his first ever blog today of all days….

At the ESPN World Series of Poker Final Table.

I make my living in the business of poker.  It helps pays my bills, allows me the flexibility to do what I love and lets me express myself in this specific world.  Tonight, a new World Series of Poker Main Event Champion will be crowned.  Mainstream television coverage on ESPN will allow millions to watch history in the making on pokers biggest stage today.

However, this blog has nothing to do with poker.

Today, something historic happened.  It was announced that Disney has purchased Lucasfilm for over four billion dollars.  More importantly, they get the rights to the Star Wars franchise.  They immediately announced plans for the release of Episode VII in 2015.
 

Wait, what? Obviously some elaborate hoax.  Some Twitter genius had clearly started this rumor and it had somehow gained momentum overnight before I checked my Twitter feed.  I mean, this couldn’t be real. We, as Star Wars fans, had been told by George himself that the Star Wars movie franchise was over after Episode III.  We had grown to accept that.  His franchise, his decision and I was okay with that.

I grew up on Star Wars and it became a part of who I was and am today.  You might not understand that and you don’t need to.  I don’t understand why you post 47 pictures of your dog on Twitter everyday but that doesn’t mean it is my place to make any judgments about it.

Anakin Skywalker's speeder bike from Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones.

Anyway, it is part of me.  Everyone knows it, even in the poker world.  I mean, more people know me as Jedi than they do as Jay (yes, that is my real name).  My username, WhoJedi, has essentially turned into my name.  I have worked at Star Wars Celebrations (for you non-Star Wars people, it’s like Comic Con but only Star Wars stuff) for Lucasfilm and got to handle artifacts from the movie.  My youngest sons middle name is Lucas.  I have a diverse family of Star Wars friends that are totally separate from the poker community (except for B.J. Nemeth, who is a crossover like myself).  Needless to say, I am Star Wars geek and proud of it.

So I started digging….

One confirmation on Twitter, another confirmation and yet another.  Things were looking good.  I wanted word from the Official Star Wars account, but none came.  But after about another hour of searching, it finally became obvious that this was no hoax.

This was real, this was happening.

Possibly the biggest day in the history of Star Wars and we never thought it would happen.  So, the big question is, what does this mean to the franchise?

The original Jango Fett armor.

The simultaneous announcement of the purchase and the movie release caused an immediate uproar.  A new Star Wars movie from Disney in just three years?  This leads me to believe that they have been working on this deal for sometime now as well as developing some ideas for a new movie.

Will they have notable actors or unknowns in the roles and, more importantly, who will direct them.  Can you imagine a Steven Spielberg, Joss Whedon, Brad Bird, Jon Favreau, Chris Nolan, J.J. Abrams or Kyle Newman directed Star Wars film?

I can, and it is AWESOME!

The actors I honestly don’t care as much about because Star Wars has always been about telling the story, not the acting (thank god).  However, I would be lying if I didn’t think that the idea of geek legend Nathan Fillion as an older Han Solo didn’t at least intrigue me.  Also, what does this mean for the Indiana Jones franchise?  Will we see some new projects along those lines?

However, despite all of this, there is one development from today that is more important than any of these other things….

I will be able to grow old with my two boys, and one day their kids, in a world where Star Wars isn’t “that old movie that my Dad saw” or “the one with Jar Jar”. 

Now, I will be able to share the excitement of going to a movie release the day it comes out, standing in line raising money for a good cause while waiting in anticipation of getting into that theater.  We will be able to watch new Star Wars programs on TV, have new games to play and more attractions at Disney World that are Star Wars themed than we ever thought possible (a whole theme park, maybe).

It isn’t so much about the movies as it is being able to believe in something bigger and share that with the world.

This is, after all, what Star Wars is really about.  A story of good versus evil in a galaxy far, far away that we can share with those who we love….