Hot on the heels of the Star Wars viewing on Saturday, I showed Besh The Empire Strikes Back on Sunday. I had to run an errand during the first part, but I hurried home to be sure and catch his reaction to The Moment. You know The Moment. Everyone remembers the first time they hear Darth Vader uttering those four cursed words.
So with Luke using his one remaining hand to hold onto the strategically placed metal pipe in the middle of a huge hole of nothingness, Vader reveals the family secret. I watch Besh’s face–nothing. No reaction. Maybe he’s taking it all in. Luke protests, Vader starts talking about forming the greatest team since Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant, and Luke takes the plunge. Still nothing from Besh. I can’t take it anymore.
Daddy: “Besh–didn’t you hear what Darth Vader just said?”
Besh: “Huh?”
“Did you hear him?”
“Oh. Yeah.”
“What did he say?”
“I dunno. Something about ruling the galaxy.”
“The other part! Darth Vader just said he’s Luke’s dad!”
“Seriously? But…but he’s bad!”
Then it clicked. But we watched the rest of the movie before we talked about The Moment and some other important topics.
The conversation continued on into dinner where I told Besh there were two important things he needed to remember from the movies this weekend. First up: Han shot first.
Daddy: “You remember when Han Solo shot the green guy in the bar?”
Besh: “Oh, the guy with the gun?”
“Yes. So it’s important you know–they changed the movie. In the original version, Han Solo shot him first. Greedo–”
“Who’s Greedo?”
“The green guy.”
“Oh. Green. Greedo. Got it.”
“Greedo never shot first, Han just shot him.”
“Why?”
“Because Han wasn’t a very nice guy before Luke met him.”
“Oh yeah. And then Luke and the gray haired guy–”
“Obi Wan.”
“Yeah, him. They talked to Han Solo when Luke was doing his lightsaver practice and turned Han good.” [Yes, he calls it a lightsaver, I'm working on it.]
“That’s right. Han becomes a good guy because he’s friends with Luke.”
“Yeah! And now he’s a good guy and a good friend!”
The second big topic at dinner was that I told him he could not reveal that Darth Vader was Luke’s dad to any of his school friends. If they’ve seen the movie, he can talk about it with them, but otherwise I’m not raising a Spoiler. He got the message. But then he had a question.
“Daddy, when Luke went into that cave and fought Darth Vader and his helmet blew up, why did he see Luke’s head?”
“Why do you think he saw Luke’s head?”
“I don’t know.”
“Well, I think it was a dream. The Force was telling him that if he gives in and kills Darth Vader, he’d be just as bad as Darth Vader. So Luke needs to figure out a way to beat Darth Vader without killing him, because if he kills Vader he’ll be bad.”
“Oh. Hey–I’ve got a GREAT idea!”
“What?”
“They can cast a magic spell on Luke’s lightsaver so that it stands up all by itself. And then when Darth Vader comes the lightsaver will kill Darth Vader but Luke didn’t touch it so he didn’t kill him!”
I figured we’d had enough heavy conversations to try and tackle transferred intent, so instead Sara and I agreed that was an interesting idea but that Luke would probably still need to find a way to not kill Vader.
Although it’s not a bad idea.
