After months of pestering her about it, kiddo relented and agreed to watch the original Star Wars with me (which I will always know as ANH even if I complain about special edition changes, so I guess that’s where I am on the Star Wars purity scale or whatever).

I haven’t watched this in maybe a decade? I noticed the seams and flaws in the movie more than I ever have before, but I can’t not give it full marks for the world that it created. It was interesting to think about all the different directions the not-yet-franchise could have taken after this movie and how many of them I might have liked to see, even if I am a Star Wars canon nerd even to this day.

It was also interesting to think how much of that bigger universe I read into the movie now—and how little of it is actually present in what’s kind of a silly adventure movie if you start poking at things.

Kiddo’s reaction was “meh,” so I don’t know how much more we’ll be watching anytime soon, but it was interesting to revisit something I discovered at her age with much older eyes.

• A New Hope