Episode 1: Star Wars – May 25 1977

Episode 1 of the Opening Weekend podcast, hosted by Jason O'Connell, Fred Berman, Dan Matisa, titled "Episode 1: Star Wars – May 25 1977" was published on May 25, 2020 and runs 54 minutes.

May 25, 2020 ·54m · Opening Weekend

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Summary

OPENING WEEKEND celebrates something we’d all love to be doing right now - going to the movies with our friends. Three self-professed movie geeks and best friends look back at opening weekends from the past 40 years, and bask in the warm, buttery glow of nostalgia. First up, the weekend and movie that started it all: Memorial Day 1977 and the original STAR WARS.

Episode Description

This inaugural episode of OPENING WEEKEND introduces hosts Jason O’Connell, Fred Berman, and Dan Matisa, establishing their “movie geek credentials” (“Starlog” subscription? Check. Childhood obsession with film critic Pauline Kael? Check...) before diving into a funny, freewheeling discussion of the first film to melt the minds of a generation: STAR WARS. Join this trio of comfy college buddies as they recall the toys, the commercials, and the characters that fed their imaginations and shaped their playground fantasies even before they saw the film in theatres. What made the first Star Wars so captivating? How did the sequels, prequels, and (so-called) “special” editions either up the ante or drop the ball? What is Fred’s greatest regret as a reader of “Bantha Tracks” and a card-carrying member of the Star Wars fan-club? Why was the concept of “sand people” so frightening to a young, impressionable Jason? And why is Dan so obsessed with ranking the saga’s major battles and minor characters? (Spoiler Alert: Aunt Beru makes a surprisingly strong showing…) A summer of cinematic time-travel begins right here with the very first episode of OPENING WEEKEND!