Okay, so in a recent post (titled "Ask Us Anything"), Zyra solicited questions from all of our wonderful followers. Well, this is the first of a series of posts to answer those questions. Please feel free to visit that post and continue to ask questions of us. Questions can be about anything at all. Our stories, general writing questions, previous posts...anything!
The first question we are going to answer was the first question submitted. It was submitted by Emma and she asked: "How long have you been Han & Leia fans?" We thought this was an excellent question to kick this entire idea off. So, thanks, Emma! And here are our answers:
We'll start with me (Push): Well, I was 6 years old when the first movie came out and I saw all three in the theaters as they were released. I have an older brother (two years older) and he and I and the neighborhood kids would play Star Wars. I was the only girl and of course I was Princess Leia. I never looked at it as a romance back then, but I do remember being very upset when we left the theater from watching The Empire Strikes Back because Han Solo was in carbonite and my mother had to explain to me on the entire ride home that they were going to make another movie and we would find out what happened to him then. I had never heard of such a thing. Movies were supposed to tell the whole story, not make you wait three years to find out the end! My brother and I had tons of SW action figures. We had a Millennium Falcon and a bust of C-3PO that housed the figures inside of them. I remember that I really liked the Jawas and thought they were really cute and probably Artoo was one of my favorites. I definitely played with Leia but don't really remember paying too much attention to Han or Luke.
After that, Star Wars fell off of my radar for a long time. I didn't go see any of the prequels in the theater and ended up watching them on DVD's later. I didn't go see the re-releases in the theater, either - whatever year that was. I think it was around the time I was getting married and I had other things on my mind. Then I started having kids in 2000. I had two boys - one in 2000 and one in 2002. After years of Barney and Elmo and the like, I was excited that they started to like Star Wars and began watching the movies with them. So, now I'm in my thirties and seeing these movies again for the first time in practically two decades - these movies that I used to absolutely love and I distinctly remember watching ESB and saying to myself right after the kiss scene on the Falcon, "Wait a minute. This is a love story!" And really, I was totally floored. I was a real tomboy when I was little. I kept up with my brother and his friends climbing trees and playing Star Wars, but I saw it through their eyes - all lightsaber duels and good vs. bad. The boys never dwelled on the love story aspect of the movies and neither had I. It was quite a revelation! And I guess another thing is back then, at least for me, we saw a movie once and that was it. My mom had four kids and we didn't go see SW in the theater 4 and 5 times. And it seemed like it took a whole lot longer for us to ever own a movie after it was in the theaters - I don't think they released them on VHS just 6 months later...you know what I mean? We never memorized movies like you can do now.
So anyway, nothing else happened immediately - other than the fact that a Star Wars movie was almost always on my television and my house was full of Lego Star Wars and toy lightsabers and Halloween costumes were Star Wars themed and the like. And then around Summer of 2009 - I am now thirty-eight years old and I can't really remember how it all started but I think it was the Clone Wars cartoon or some other cartoon my kids were watching with all of these new characters and I did see that George Lucas interview where he says something about Han cooking burgers in the backyard after he and Leia get married and I Googled Princess Leia and I distinctly remember when I found her page on Wookieepedia and her name was Leia Organa Solo - I was FLOORED (again). I couldn't believe that they actually acknowledged that she got married on the interent somewhere - I was totally clueless of the EU or AU or fanfic or anything. I read her Wookieepedia story and it was surreal. Well, sometime after the initial shock wore off I ordered my first EU book. After a few EU books, the first fanfic story I found was Sue Zahn's "Into the Fire". I still think that was a very fortunate stroke of luck. After I finished reading 'Into the Fire' I actually e-mailed Sue to find out if she had any more stories because all I had found was the one somehow. She promptly returned my e-mail with a link to her website and I guess the rest is history...
And here is Zyra's story: Well, thanks, Push. I wasn't born when Star Wars came out, though I was when Empire came out, but not old enough to be going to the movies. That said, I've been a Star Wars fan probably since whenever it was that I first watched the movies, as far back as I can remember. I don't recall which one I saw first, although I actually do remember going to see ROTJ in the theater... when I was in pre-school. I went with a friend and his mom and I still remember thinking it was awesome that Leia was under that mask, and moving to the back of the theater during the Rancor scene because it was a little too loud. I'm sure I had seen at least one of the other movies before then, but that is my first memory of watching the movies.
I know I watched Empire more than the others not because I had selected it as my favorite, but because we had recorded it off TV so that was the only one we had. Back in the early 80's it wasn't nearly as common to just go out and buy movies and have this vast library. I think back then official VHS copies of movies for sale were like $30, and that was when $30 was a lot of money. So we made do with what we could record on TV. I'll go ahead and say that I was a tomboy as well, and I used to play Star Wars with my brother and the neighbor boys and sometimes my cousins. Oddly, at that point in my life, I didn't want to be Leia. Leia didn't get to use a lightsaber, and it was really fun to pretend to have lightsaber fights with wiffle ball bats, so more often than not, I'd want to be Luke. I know, I know. Please forgive me, I didn't know any better. But at like six and seven years old you are far more impressed by ships and robots, lightsabers and yes, even Ewoks, and about the last thing on my mind was that Han Solo was the hottest man alive and that he and Leia had the greatest screen romance of all time.
I wasn't obsessed with Star Wars, but like any child of the 80's, it was a common part of the repertoire. I had no Star Wars bed sheets or tooth brushes or glasses. In fact, sadly, the only action figures I remember having were an Artoo and a Threepio. I'm still kind of mad at myself for not having asked for tons of action figures when I was little, but I didn't. I do remember one of my cousins having an awesome Millennium Falcon, though. While I don't feel like I was obsessed, Star Wars was always a big part of my interests. When I was eight or nine I did my own illustrated version of ESB that I'm still mad at my mom for throwing away. I can still picture a few of the illustrations, Luke on his Tauntaun, later upside-down with Yoda balancing on his foot, Leia flailing her arms in the air when Han flies into the asteroid field and the dialogue bubble above him that says, "They'd be crazy to follow us, wouldn't they?" And the long-distance shot of Bespin. Man, I'd love to have that back. I think more than anything it proves that I really haven't changed much from my childhood.
I can't pinpoint exactly when I made the switch from general Star Wars lover to Han and Leia lover, but the closest I can figure is when I was in some random store and saw the paperback version of COPL by the checkout and decided to buy it. At that point in my life I don't think I'd ever read a book because I wanted to, only because I had to for school. I had no idea it could be an enjoyable thing. I was in high school at the time and it was summer and I found myself really excited about the idea that not only did Han and Leia get married, but there was a whole book dedicated to how that happened. Keep in mind that I did not know yet that the book was utter crap, so give me a break. And because I didn't know any better, and even though I knew that Han and Leia would never act like that, it made me interested in reading more of these books that took place after the movies, so I became an avid EU reader, mostly getting the books almost as soon as they came out. And of course frustrated like most Han and Leia fans as they seemed to always be separated and rarely acted like I thought a married couple, especially them, would act. But I took what I could get. And I definitely went to see the re-releases of the movies when the special editions came out. Even then I knew it was crap that Han no longer shot first.
The internet was around at the time and I e-mailed occasionally, but it hadn't yet become such an integral part of our lives. So it was a couple of years later when I was in college that I stumbled upon the wonders of fan fiction. I had actually been searching for what might be happening on upcoming episodes of The X-Files when one of the links took me to a fanfic site for that. I read one Mulder and Scully story and then thought to myself, wait, if there are these kinds of stories, there must be Star Wars stories, right? Oh, boy, was I right!
I am pretty sure the first site I went to was the now-defunct fanfix.com. That was pretty much the go-to site for almost all Star Wars stories of any kind. Unfortunately, I also remember that the first story I clicked on was a Luke and Leia story... in the way that you really don't want to be reading about Luke and Leia. In my defense, it was the first story alphabetically on the page, and it didn't take me long to get out of there and pay more attention to the story descriptions. I don't know what the first story I read was, I just know I was thrilled that there were people writing these really cool stories about Han and Leia and giving their relationship what it deserved and spent quite a few nights staying up until 3am reading. And I'll also admit that I thought it was pretty cool that many authors gave them some sexy time as well ;) I even bought a few fanzines.
After that I kept up with the fanfic and joined a couple of Han and Leia message boards, all of which now I think are gone, and eventually discovering Nerfherder's Playground, which I posted on a lot. It was so nice to see that other people thought about those two the way that I did! So that pretty much explains that, aside from the writing part, but that's another story.
I don't read romance novels. I don't seek out romantic comedy movies. I don't really think about any other movie or television couples at all. But for some reason I am obsessed with these two. But you could probably already tell that :)
Thanks, Zyra! And don't be too mad at your mom because my mom literally kept EVERYTHING but then lost it all in a hurricane. So, some things just aren't meant to be. :-(
Okay, so there you have it. Our first "You asked...We answered" post. Hope you guys enjoyed it. If you would like a question answered, remember you can visit this post: "Ask Us Anything" and literally...ask us anything. (We do reserve the right to not answer, if necessary! So, don't get crazy...)
Don't worry if your question didn't get answered (yet), we will continue to post answers as long as you guys continue to ask questions.
The first question we are going to answer was the first question submitted. It was submitted by Emma and she asked: "How long have you been Han & Leia fans?" We thought this was an excellent question to kick this entire idea off. So, thanks, Emma! And here are our answers:
We'll start with me (Push): Well, I was 6 years old when the first movie came out and I saw all three in the theaters as they were released. I have an older brother (two years older) and he and I and the neighborhood kids would play Star Wars. I was the only girl and of course I was Princess Leia. I never looked at it as a romance back then, but I do remember being very upset when we left the theater from watching The Empire Strikes Back because Han Solo was in carbonite and my mother had to explain to me on the entire ride home that they were going to make another movie and we would find out what happened to him then. I had never heard of such a thing. Movies were supposed to tell the whole story, not make you wait three years to find out the end! My brother and I had tons of SW action figures. We had a Millennium Falcon and a bust of C-3PO that housed the figures inside of them. I remember that I really liked the Jawas and thought they were really cute and probably Artoo was one of my favorites. I definitely played with Leia but don't really remember paying too much attention to Han or Luke.
After that, Star Wars fell off of my radar for a long time. I didn't go see any of the prequels in the theater and ended up watching them on DVD's later. I didn't go see the re-releases in the theater, either - whatever year that was. I think it was around the time I was getting married and I had other things on my mind. Then I started having kids in 2000. I had two boys - one in 2000 and one in 2002. After years of Barney and Elmo and the like, I was excited that they started to like Star Wars and began watching the movies with them. So, now I'm in my thirties and seeing these movies again for the first time in practically two decades - these movies that I used to absolutely love and I distinctly remember watching ESB and saying to myself right after the kiss scene on the Falcon, "Wait a minute. This is a love story!" And really, I was totally floored. I was a real tomboy when I was little. I kept up with my brother and his friends climbing trees and playing Star Wars, but I saw it through their eyes - all lightsaber duels and good vs. bad. The boys never dwelled on the love story aspect of the movies and neither had I. It was quite a revelation! And I guess another thing is back then, at least for me, we saw a movie once and that was it. My mom had four kids and we didn't go see SW in the theater 4 and 5 times. And it seemed like it took a whole lot longer for us to ever own a movie after it was in the theaters - I don't think they released them on VHS just 6 months later...you know what I mean? We never memorized movies like you can do now.
So anyway, nothing else happened immediately - other than the fact that a Star Wars movie was almost always on my television and my house was full of Lego Star Wars and toy lightsabers and Halloween costumes were Star Wars themed and the like. And then around Summer of 2009 - I am now thirty-eight years old and I can't really remember how it all started but I think it was the Clone Wars cartoon or some other cartoon my kids were watching with all of these new characters and I did see that George Lucas interview where he says something about Han cooking burgers in the backyard after he and Leia get married and I Googled Princess Leia and I distinctly remember when I found her page on Wookieepedia and her name was Leia Organa Solo - I was FLOORED (again). I couldn't believe that they actually acknowledged that she got married on the interent somewhere - I was totally clueless of the EU or AU or fanfic or anything. I read her Wookieepedia story and it was surreal. Well, sometime after the initial shock wore off I ordered my first EU book. After a few EU books, the first fanfic story I found was Sue Zahn's "Into the Fire". I still think that was a very fortunate stroke of luck. After I finished reading 'Into the Fire' I actually e-mailed Sue to find out if she had any more stories because all I had found was the one somehow. She promptly returned my e-mail with a link to her website and I guess the rest is history...
And here is Zyra's story: Well, thanks, Push. I wasn't born when Star Wars came out, though I was when Empire came out, but not old enough to be going to the movies. That said, I've been a Star Wars fan probably since whenever it was that I first watched the movies, as far back as I can remember. I don't recall which one I saw first, although I actually do remember going to see ROTJ in the theater... when I was in pre-school. I went with a friend and his mom and I still remember thinking it was awesome that Leia was under that mask, and moving to the back of the theater during the Rancor scene because it was a little too loud. I'm sure I had seen at least one of the other movies before then, but that is my first memory of watching the movies.
I know I watched Empire more than the others not because I had selected it as my favorite, but because we had recorded it off TV so that was the only one we had. Back in the early 80's it wasn't nearly as common to just go out and buy movies and have this vast library. I think back then official VHS copies of movies for sale were like $30, and that was when $30 was a lot of money. So we made do with what we could record on TV. I'll go ahead and say that I was a tomboy as well, and I used to play Star Wars with my brother and the neighbor boys and sometimes my cousins. Oddly, at that point in my life, I didn't want to be Leia. Leia didn't get to use a lightsaber, and it was really fun to pretend to have lightsaber fights with wiffle ball bats, so more often than not, I'd want to be Luke. I know, I know. Please forgive me, I didn't know any better. But at like six and seven years old you are far more impressed by ships and robots, lightsabers and yes, even Ewoks, and about the last thing on my mind was that Han Solo was the hottest man alive and that he and Leia had the greatest screen romance of all time.
I wasn't obsessed with Star Wars, but like any child of the 80's, it was a common part of the repertoire. I had no Star Wars bed sheets or tooth brushes or glasses. In fact, sadly, the only action figures I remember having were an Artoo and a Threepio. I'm still kind of mad at myself for not having asked for tons of action figures when I was little, but I didn't. I do remember one of my cousins having an awesome Millennium Falcon, though. While I don't feel like I was obsessed, Star Wars was always a big part of my interests. When I was eight or nine I did my own illustrated version of ESB that I'm still mad at my mom for throwing away. I can still picture a few of the illustrations, Luke on his Tauntaun, later upside-down with Yoda balancing on his foot, Leia flailing her arms in the air when Han flies into the asteroid field and the dialogue bubble above him that says, "They'd be crazy to follow us, wouldn't they?" And the long-distance shot of Bespin. Man, I'd love to have that back. I think more than anything it proves that I really haven't changed much from my childhood.
I can't pinpoint exactly when I made the switch from general Star Wars lover to Han and Leia lover, but the closest I can figure is when I was in some random store and saw the paperback version of COPL by the checkout and decided to buy it. At that point in my life I don't think I'd ever read a book because I wanted to, only because I had to for school. I had no idea it could be an enjoyable thing. I was in high school at the time and it was summer and I found myself really excited about the idea that not only did Han and Leia get married, but there was a whole book dedicated to how that happened. Keep in mind that I did not know yet that the book was utter crap, so give me a break. And because I didn't know any better, and even though I knew that Han and Leia would never act like that, it made me interested in reading more of these books that took place after the movies, so I became an avid EU reader, mostly getting the books almost as soon as they came out. And of course frustrated like most Han and Leia fans as they seemed to always be separated and rarely acted like I thought a married couple, especially them, would act. But I took what I could get. And I definitely went to see the re-releases of the movies when the special editions came out. Even then I knew it was crap that Han no longer shot first.
The internet was around at the time and I e-mailed occasionally, but it hadn't yet become such an integral part of our lives. So it was a couple of years later when I was in college that I stumbled upon the wonders of fan fiction. I had actually been searching for what might be happening on upcoming episodes of The X-Files when one of the links took me to a fanfic site for that. I read one Mulder and Scully story and then thought to myself, wait, if there are these kinds of stories, there must be Star Wars stories, right? Oh, boy, was I right!
I am pretty sure the first site I went to was the now-defunct fanfix.com. That was pretty much the go-to site for almost all Star Wars stories of any kind. Unfortunately, I also remember that the first story I clicked on was a Luke and Leia story... in the way that you really don't want to be reading about Luke and Leia. In my defense, it was the first story alphabetically on the page, and it didn't take me long to get out of there and pay more attention to the story descriptions. I don't know what the first story I read was, I just know I was thrilled that there were people writing these really cool stories about Han and Leia and giving their relationship what it deserved and spent quite a few nights staying up until 3am reading. And I'll also admit that I thought it was pretty cool that many authors gave them some sexy time as well ;) I even bought a few fanzines.
After that I kept up with the fanfic and joined a couple of Han and Leia message boards, all of which now I think are gone, and eventually discovering Nerfherder's Playground, which I posted on a lot. It was so nice to see that other people thought about those two the way that I did! So that pretty much explains that, aside from the writing part, but that's another story.
I don't read romance novels. I don't seek out romantic comedy movies. I don't really think about any other movie or television couples at all. But for some reason I am obsessed with these two. But you could probably already tell that :)
Thanks, Zyra! And don't be too mad at your mom because my mom literally kept EVERYTHING but then lost it all in a hurricane. So, some things just aren't meant to be. :-(
Okay, so there you have it. Our first "You asked...We answered" post. Hope you guys enjoyed it. If you would like a question answered, remember you can visit this post: "Ask Us Anything" and literally...ask us anything. (We do reserve the right to not answer, if necessary! So, don't get crazy...)
Don't worry if your question didn't get answered (yet), we will continue to post answers as long as you guys continue to ask questions.
Thanks for answering my question! : )
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome, Emma. I'm sure that was far more information than you expected when you asked that question :)
ReplyDelete