MONSTER DAD: May the 4th be With You (2017)

Thursday, May 4, 2017

May the 4th be With You (2017)

Image from StarWars.com

May the 4th be With You!

Or... May the Fourth be With You! (your choice)

So, why have I decided to write a post on May 4th? Well, obviously it's Star Wars Day! But beyond that there's another reason for the ever more reclusive Monster Dad to crawl out of the abyss to write something new. Despite being what I think would be considered by most to be a pretty dedicated Star Wars fan, I have to admit to a little bit of a lapse on my part. "Star Wars" (or what I suppose should be termed "Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope"--even though it will always be "Star Wars" to me) was released back in May of 1977. That means that this month marks the 40th (FORTIETH!) anniversary of the Star Wars universe! That's a pretty big milestone. So, what was the lapse on my part that caused me to write this post?

Well, I had forgotten that "Star Wars Day", which occurs every May 4th, is a fan-generated holiday that has nothing to do with Star Wars (in an official sense). It has become a big enough event that many official Star Wars entities (Lucasfilm, Disney...) have been more than happy to cash in on the phenomenon, but it really doesn't have anything to do with Star Wars in any real way beyond the fact that saying "May the 4th be with you" sounds a heck of a lot like saying "May the Force be with you". But since Star Wars Day has become such a notable day and it happens to fall in May I had kinda-sorta started thinking that May 4th was the day that "A New Hope" was released in 1977. No need to bombard me with comments about how stupid I am to think such an erroneous thing, or how can I consider myself a Star Wars fan with thinking like that. I am here humbly admitting my mistake. Yes, the original "Star Wars" was released on May 25th, 1977.

But... Since I woke up this morning and put on my Star wars t-shirt thinking that today was the 40th anniversary, I was pretty dumbfounded by the lack of media overkill on the subject. Last September Star Trek celebrated its 50th anniversary with much media coverage. Obviously a fiftieth anniversary is a bigger deal than a fortieth anniversary. But I'd also argue that, despite the J.J. Abrams-ization of Star Trek, Star Wars is a bit more of a media darling in general (especially with the new Disney ownership, the current annual release schedule of new Star Wars films, the build-up to this year's "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" and, well okay, the J.J. Abrams-ization of the franchise). So I was shocked to discover that there really wasn't much being said about this big milestone. Google is always a good sport about noting big anniversaries and events (and the searches that are bound to be big on those days) with special Google Doodles (some of which are even animated) and which will bring you directly to search results of whatever subject they're commemorating. I've used examples of these Google Doodles in previous posts on subjects like the 46th anniversary of Star Trek and Amelia Earhart's 115th birthday. I was very confused when I went to Google only to find the most generic Google homepage one could imagine:

Today's Google homepage

I was also stunned to go to the Yahoo! homepage after checking out of my email, only to find NO stories trending about Star Wars! Luckily StarWars.com was able to set me straight on the subject. I actually realized my mistake when I went to IMDb and found the correct release date, but StarWars.com was able to give me more information on the origins of Star Wars Day (May 4th).

IMDb had a special section for Star Wars Day

Today's banner at StarWars.com

StarWars.com's history of Star Wars Day

And when all was said (and written) and done, the day wasn't a total wash. I WAS able to publish a new blog post--which is saying something these days. And I was also able to snag a great Star Wars-related deal! If there's one thing I like even better than Star Wars, it's getting a great deal. And, if that deal is Star Wars-related in some way it's even better. One of the few references I saw to Star Wars Day before realizing my mistake was an email from 80sTees.com about their one-day-only May The "One Fourth" Be With You sale.

Images from 80sTees.com's sale

I've been a fan of the retro offerings from 80sTees.com for some time now and get regular emails from them about current sales. But I rarely purchase anything from them--both because the sale prices are usually still more than this cheapskate is willing to spend, and also because I rarely feel that I'm hip enough to be able to pull off actually wearing some of the great designs they offer. But this "One-Fourth" sale wasn't one-fourth (25%) off of over 100 Star Wars products. No, in this sale all the merchandise for sale was going for only one-fourth of the regular price (75% off!). Add in the free shipping once you hit the $25.00 threshold and I simply couldn't resist. I decided to celebrate Star Wars Day (and arm myself for the upcoming 40th anniversary of Star Wars) with two cool Star Wars t-shirts and a VERY cool-looking Boba Fett bomber jacket. The list price on these items was $112.68, but I was able to get them all for just $28.16--and that put me over the free shipping threshold too. Bonus! Check out my loot: