In My View: Renewing my love affair with the Star Wars universe

The innocent age when all we expected inside our advent calendars were pretty festive pictures, when computer games plugged into the telly and were little more than two large blobs hitting a smaller blob to and fro, and when the Christmas countdown started on December 1, not halfway through October.

Tonight, however, I will actually be transported back to those halcyon days when I join my brother to watch the next instalment in the Star Wars saga.

For a couple of hours I’ll be nine years old once again, captivated by the adventures of the rebel alliance as they wage war on the evil empire.

And, if the trailers are anything to go by, I’ll be meeting up with a few old ‘friends’ as well, as such fiendish creations as Darth Vader and possibly even Grand Moff Tarkin make their return to the big screen.

My love affair with all things Star Wars began back in 1977 when the first movie (now confusingly deemed to be episode four) was released.

As a treat for my friend’s birthday, a group of us were transported 10 miles along the road to the nearest cinema ... and then into another galaxy.

My over-riding memory is of the opening scence when a spaceship was pursued by a giant hulk of a craft. I stared an amazement as the pursuing ship grew bigger and bigger until it seemed to fill the whole cinema never mind the screen.

It the rumours are true then the new episode will take us right up to that iconic scene and answer some of the questions that have lingered for close to 40 years.

All this may seem a bit sad to some people, but if you can’t indulge in a sport of escapism at this time of the year when can you?