It was thirty years ago today, Mister Lucas taught the fans to play ... A lot of people reading this tonight weren't even born then, and others went to see it that week. (My parents wouldn't let me go because they thought it was too scary.) The world changed, movies changed, everything changed after "Star Wars" premiered, even for people who weren't fannish.  Storytelling, mythology, the focus on details in the special effects, heck, the interest in the genre that allowed Star Trek to return as a viable franchise, the original Battlestar Galactica to launch, so much of what we take for granted as media to exist.  (Yes, even Doctor Who.  Sure it was already on and going, but tell me with a straight face that we'd have had Nine and Ten without the slow burn that's been going in genre ever since '77.)  For all that the prequels made us want to chew our own limbs off, and for all that the Special Editions led to a massive fannish backlash (Han always did, does and will shoot first.), the original film made us who we are, sitting at our computers, typing to one another about the latest doings on Heroes and BSG and Supernatural and Blood Ties.  We'd probably have still been geeks, had "Star Wars" never been, but we'd probably all be a lot more bored right now.

Now you too can be part of making that magic, even more easily than before.  For years, fan-made movies have been a small but happy staple of "Star Wars" fandom.  Starting today, fans can log onto the official website and upload videos and photos to create "mashups" of new content spliced with stills and video from Lucasfilm.  (If you're familiar with Fark, you're already nodding your head.)  Fans can share videos and view fanfilms that aren't available anywhere else, and submit their own films for judging.  Be creative.  Be silly.  Be fannish.  And please, think of something appropriate to do with the following image: