Star Wars: A New Hope

In light of all of the Star Wars excitement surrounding the new Jedi Luke figure, I had a strange opportunity to revisit the films. I work with a five year old little boy who has autism. During our two hour therapy sessions, we have little breaks throughout where he will play with Thomas the Tank Engine or watch Blues Clues. He watched the animated Sinbad a few weeks ago, and has been fascinated with sword play ever since.

I decided that it would be okay to watch the original Star Wars, and gave him a few choices for his breaktime this morning. When he saw the DVD cover with Luke, he immediately asked if his lightsaber was a sword. When I said yes, he decided that we must watch Star Wars. This was so cool, as new experiences can be difficult with autistic children, and he jumped at the chance to try something new. We watched until Luke gets his lightsaber from Ben.

This little boy was fascinated by C-3PO and R2-D2, knew from the second he saw him that Darth Vader was the bad guy, and loved the spaceships. At the end of break time, when it was time to get back to work, he told me "I think I'm not ready yet, just one more minute." I will certainly be bringing Star Wars back tomorrow!

A truly wonderful story. Please do share tomorrow's experience as well.

Awesome!! Please keep us informed.

Very nice, glad to see Star Wars help during a therapy session. I knew I liked those movies for a reason.

Quick update, as I need to get back to work, but I brought Star Wars back today, both episodes I and IV. I asked this little boy what he wanted for his break and he chose episode I. We got a few minutes in, and he asked to see a swordfight. I think he was getting bored and lost with the talk of Trade Federations and Senate Hearings ! Anyway, I skipped chapters to the "Duel of the Fates" and he was so glued to the whole sequence! I had to stop when Maul and Qui-Gon get separated by the energy barriers, and I explained that the bad guy gets away...

During the second half of our session he asked to watch the movie we watched yesterday, which again is an amazing thing, to see that sort of involvment and memory retention after such brief exposure. We normally work with flashcards for weeks to learn a new concept! I popped in A New Hope, and told him we would pick up where we left of, and jumped to the scene directly after the Owen/Beru murder and Jawa slaughter (inappropriate) and we watched the Cantina sequence. He watched for a couple of minutes, but asked about the princess. At the end of the session during cleanup, I set up the cell block escape, and he loved it! He fell right back into the whole story, giggling at R2, and scared of Darth Vader.
I think he has a little crush on Leia, and I told him I would bring it back tomorrow. Now I will be sure to pack along Empire and Jedi, since he seems to like the OT better

He also has a birthday next week, so I hope I can find an Obi-wan lightsaber for him!

That is so cool Sea. Working in the education field I've had the chance to interact with kids like the one your working with. When they get something or get into something like your kid is with SW I don't know who gets the bigger kick them or me.

very nice story man, let us know how it turns out.

Totally great story Seaward. Very exciting to see someone experience SW for the first time and love it so much. Can't help but bring me back to when I was a kid and the OT was my favourite thing in the world too. Guess that's why I still love SW so much as an adult. Even though the effects may be dated and the acting/dialogue hokey, the story and feelings are TIMELESS!

When I hear stories like this they remind me of why Star Wars is so timeless and great a story. I know it meant a lot to me as a child, and to see it have that reaction on an autistic child is just magical. I hope he enjoys the others as much as New Hope.... Just wait until he gets to Jedi!

This is all very cool to hear... make sure you keep updating us.

Seaward said:

Now I will be sure to pack along Empire and Jedi, since he seems to like the OT better

He also has a birthday next week, so I hope I can find an Obi-wan lightsaber for him!

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Very nice story, and a smart kid I must say. Best wishes in your continued interaction with him.

I knew you were sweet, Seaward, but now I know you're a saint. Awesome, my friend. Simply wonderful.

Inspiring experience, thanks for sharing.

Indiana Fett said:

Totally great story Seaward. Very exciting to see someone experience SW for the first time and love it so much. Can't help but bring me back to when I was a kid and the OT was my favourite thing in the world too. Guess that's why I still love SW so much as an adult. Even though the effects may be dated and the acting/dialogue hokey, the story and feelings are TIMELESS!

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Effects dated? They're more realistic then the CGI these days.

Re: Star Wars: A New Hope

Sachiel said:

Effects dated? They're more realistic then the CGI these days.

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Don't get me wrong Sachiel, I would take a stop-motion Taun-Taun over a CGI Boga anyday...I just mean by the standard of most kids today, those late 70's/early 80's probably look dated...not to me personally though...I'd take the untouched OT over a modern blockbuster anyday!

I agree. Stop motion models and animatronics still look more realistic than CGI to me. But I think they use CGI because it is less work. Not because it is necessarily better... A great example is Jurassic Park. Remember how real the mechanical T-Rex felt during the jeep by the fence scene? And then how underwhelming it's CGI incarnation looked in the finale?

JustinLuck said:

I agree. Stop motion models and animatronics still look more realistic than CGI to me. But I think they use CGI because it is less work. Not because it is necessarily better... A great example is Jurassic Park. Remember how real the mechanical T-Rex felt during the jeep by the fence scene? And then how underwhelming it's CGI incarnation looked in the finale?

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I would even say that the CGI T-Rex from the end of JP still looks 10x better than today's CGI in movies.

Funny how JP is 13 years old now but IMO still has some of the best CGI.

It's ridiculus how many movies use CGI now when there is no need for it...not to mention how bad it looks.

So today was the little guy's Birthday, and he turned five! I got him the Anakin/Vader color change lightsaber, and this was a big hit! I got to playing with him, explaining that the blue sword couldn't hurt me, but I was scared of the red sword and would have hugely grand deaths if I got stabbed with the red sword. He was really tickled with this, and took to trying to hit me with the blue light on, and when I would deflect this, he would switch and attack in full force!!!

The big hit for his birthday was a Playmobil castle, however, and man I wish I had some of these! It was a totally cool castle, with all sorts of cool features, and I was surprised at just how many little pieces it required. Once we finished putting it together, a good exercise in color recognition and shapes, he was playing with the knights and having them all fight. When I asked what all the commotion was about, he said the knights were fighting to get cupcakes!

The only downside today was watching the Maul/Qui-Gon/Obi duel again, and when I paused during the energy barriers, he became upset. I explained that the fight is over, and the bad guy just gets away...and he asked if we could watch that. Maybe some Geonosis Arena stuff or the Obi/Jango fight tomorrow to keep him at bay, as I don't think we are quite ready for dismembered Darth!

Thanks for all the feedback everyone! I have been working with this little guy since he was two and a half, and when I met him, he was entirely non-verbal, so it is cool to see how far things have come. I also have two nephews, one five and one who is two, and it is interesting to see how this boy's development is right in between!

What an awesome day!! I would have loved to see the look on his face today.

jlcmsu said:

What an awesome day!! I would have loved to see the look on his face today.

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agreed jlcmsu, it must have been a special birthday...in fact it sounds like it was a special day for both of you Seaward. Wish I could have been there to 'duel' too!