Said I, "Mel, you're a psycho."

Comparing my fandom to Melissa's is like comparing an Ewok to a Wookiee.

Enter Jason. Ticket holder #2. He got lucky when Melissa offered him an unexpectedly free ticket.

"What's Melissa so obsessed about? That Jar-Jar Binks character is going to be so annoying. I bet this movie's going to suck. I'm just here to see how much."

Mel's response: "I'm not sitting with him, you know."

Enter Jennie. Ticketholder #4. A junior who probably thought we were all slightly nuts. On the way back home, she will admit that one racing scene is making her want to drive a little faster than usual. But for now, she asks, "Um, where are we going?"

A theater in Somerville. Melissa has directions. This is her project. If she'd had things her way we would have been at a 12:01 a.m. showing. But instead here we are, at 6:30 p.m.--"Late!" she insists--loading up on ridiculously priced movie candy and hot dogs and sodas. Melissa tells us that she has to finish her food before the movie starts. She doesn't think she'll be able to eat during it.

And here I am, secretly agreeing with her, wondering how I got lucky enough to have no one sitting in front of me (someone had a ticket and didn't come?), waiting for the first blast of John Williams' music, thinking that I have to save the ticket stub. Realizing that I am slightly pathetic. Not really caring.

You could find something wrong with The Phantom Menace if you wanted. Rag on Amidala's bizarre lipstick. Say the digitized characters look fake. Make fun of poor Jar-Jar Binks. Not I. Doing that is missing the point. I'm a fan. And sitting there, in the still-bright theater, I decide I can even get over missing Han Solo.

The theater lights dim. I watch Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi whip out their lightsabers. Another generation battles it out. I sit back and enjoy the ride. Vasugi V. Ganeshananthan '02, a Crimson editor, is an English concentrator in Holworthy Hall. Salacious Crumb is the small cackling being who tries to rip out C-3PO's eye in Return of the Jedi. Peter Mayhew played Chewbacca. And the ice creature of Hoth who attacks Luke in The Empire Strikes Back is a Wampa. As for Boba Fett's third cousin twice removed, she recommends you ask Melissa.