NORTHERN PLANNER

And so we have a new Star Wars trailer.

No point telling you I’m looking forward to a new Star Wars film.

Since I was born in 1974 and I’m male, it’s sort of inevitable.

Sort of.

Because the Star Wars world is divided between those too scarred by the prequel trilogy and those that insist on living in hope.

Anyway, the prequels were not as bad as received wisdom likes to claim.

It’s just that die hard original fans saw the first film as little boy and nothing can ever match how it felt to watch those films for the first time.

When I listen to my five year old begging for a Darth Maul lightsabre you know those films had something good about them.

From time to time, we all need to feel like little boys and little girls again.

It’s why I just read the Hobbit again. When I was eight it was magical. It still is, not because I haven’t grown up, it’s just that the wonder of being that age comes flooding back.

The feeling that everything was amazing and special.

That Mummy and Daddy were much loved constants that knew everything and would always be there.  

Where December seemed to take forever and ever.

That nothing mattered more than if Vader really was Luke’s father, except, perhaps, the Raleigh Chopper you were hoping against hope would appear on Christmas morning.

How lucky I am to have grown in a little world where I never had to worry about real things, apart from the odd bully and relentless teasing from my elder sisters.

How fortunate (for now, you never know what’s around the corner) my children are able to grow up in a similar way. 

That's why some folks can't get over Star Wars and similar things. It's what their childhood was made of and who doesn't want to feel like that again every now and then?