The last Star Wars is coming out in a week or so. The end of an era? In many ways, yes. George Lucas turned Sci-Fi movie-making on it's head and has influenced nearly everything that came after. From Alien to the post-original-series Star Treks, to -- good lord -- even Ice Pirates. Lucas showed us the right way to do special effects, creature effects and even good vs. evil -- and nothing has been the same since that summer of 1977.

Where were you in the summer of '77?

I remember that summer -- I was 13. I saw the trailers for Star Wars and read the Newsweek article and the newspapers. I heard the radio talk shows. But, I admit, I was afraid to go see it. I remember seeing the ads and thinking that the Sand People and Darth Vader were horrifying. (Remember, this was before Sand People and Darth Vader were part of 20th century lore.) They were scary for the time. This was no happy-clean-sanitary Star Trek universe. This "Darth" thing was really evil. And was he a person, an alien or a robot? No one knew.

No one knew that this was going to turn into the biggest film event in history. By mid-summer a friend who'd already seen it a few times dragged me to the theater.

And that was it.

I was hooked. My life changed. Sci-fi was unbelievably cool. My god, the worlds that could be imagined -- it was mind-boggling. I became a voracious reader of Sci-Fi and fantasy. That summer opened my eyes to worlds and stories and imaginations that I had never conceived of. That summer was life-changing. Not because I fell in love with Star Wars, but because Star Wars showed me that imagination was good -- that Sci-Fi could be socially acceptable, even that being a geeky kid was OK, because George Lucas was our king.

SO -- Thank you George Lucas. Even though I think you fucked up big time with JarJar and the acting was the worst of the series in Episode II, you still showed the world what was possible in sci-fi movies and you changed the lives of most people of my generation in, at least, a small way. For that you are to be commended. I will pay you my $8 to go see the new one, ever optimistic, so that you can make me feel 13 again and bring me back to that summer of wonder and awe.