The Star Wars Syndrome

I use a homemade, laminated card like this while at work as a guide when reading written lines on paper.
The robot is from a colorized version of the 1927 silent film called Metropolis.



Here's a behind-the-scenes pic while making the movie.

I keep reading that this film was (and still is) a sci-fi film landmark, but I've never seen the whole movie.
Just little clips here and there.
I wonder if, when I eventually watch the whole film, I'll think it is sooooooooo fantastic, like all of the reviews I've seen written about it say it is.
Guess there's only one way to find out, and if it turns out I don't think the movie lives up to the hype, that's what I call...

The Star Wars Syndrome.

Back in 1977, the very first Star Wars movie came out, and it was a big, big deal.
Everywhere you went, people were chatting about it.
My classmates in school couldn't shut up about it, some going to see it many times.

Since going to see a movie wasn't in my dad's interest since it wasn't bass fishing or golfing, I didn't see it until my aunt and uncle brought me to see it a whole year later.
When the movie started to play on the screen, I buckled down and prepared myself to see this great movie that everyone blew up into something that sounded so great.

Well, by the time I was half way through it, I realized that I wasn't watching anything other than just another movie that had nice-looking (for 1977) special effects.
In fact, I liked the original Dirty Harry Clint Eastwood movie a whole lot better.
I believe what spoiled it for me was the solid year of hype I'd been exposed to, building this film up in my mind to something out of this world, something a movie couldn't match in real life.
I left actually wondering what the big deal was all about.
Maybe I didn't drink enough soda.

So, whenever I run across similar situations where hype doesn't match the real thing, I call it The Star Wars Syndrome. :)
Neat-o, huh?

Off to jerk,
-John