When the last house lights came back on, Harmer made sure he got up the courage to tell Lucas how he felt about the moving storyline. "Afterwards, I stood up and realized I had to say something to George because I'd never have that chance again, so I turned to him and said, 'What a great movie. Thanks for not pulling any punches at the end.' And he said, 'Yeah, I think some parents might be a little upset with me.' And I said, 'Yes, but your fans are going to love you.' And he smiled and said, 'Thank you very much.' And that was what was just so cool to see in his eyes that he followed what he cared about in making the film. And I thought, well played Mr. Lucas, well played."
Even though Harmer was impressed with Revenge of the Sith, he still says that The Empire Strikes Back will always be his favorite of the entire saga. "I've seen them all and I find things to like about all of them, but even to this day I still think Empire is the best one. When I first saw it as a kid, it seemed so desperate. There's a certain darkness in that one that's not really in the other films so much even though the dark side is always looming. There were so many struggles that as a kid it made the film seem so real. I always knew the Star Wars stories were made up and didn't really exist, but there's an element to Empire that made me think that was really happening somewhere in the universe at that point. It had a weight to it that was great."
The icy scene with Luke and the wampa ice creature seemed to have left a lasting impression on Harmer's friends as well. "I have a friend who has an old refrigerator and the freezer section over-frosts all the time where it almost chokes out anything you try to put in it and he never defrosts it. So instead, he has an old Luke action figure from Empire that he stuck hanging upside down inside the freezer. So when you open the door you see Luke with his arms dangling. I laugh so hard every single time I see it. It's almost the perfect excuse not to defrost your freezer."
Beyond Empire, Harmer describes the entire original trilogy as making him want to believe in a galaxy far, far away. "The original three Star Wars films were physical manifestations of what your imagination could be capable of doing," Harmer says. "I remember as a kid thinking if you can dream it and you believe in it you can make it happen. I still believe you can take something that's in your head and make it a whole other universe and believe in it that way."
As people continue to be touched by the saga, Harmer has a theory as to why its popularity has endured all this time. "It's an alternative universe that you can invest in," Harmer explains. "There are so many archetypes throughout the entire series that people can find bits of their personalities in. I love all those sorts of Jungian dissections of Star Wars over the years. I think there's something to that. It's also kind of nice to go to a world where there's right and wrong, where there's the dark side and then there's not. In the real world so many conflicts are convoluted and gray, as opposed to that struggle for survival and fighting the bad guys."
Thanks to the longevity of Star Wars, it's not surprising that so many movies, bands, books and TV shows reference the saga and its characters. Harmer says he believes that at a certain point it becomes a common denominator for people and it's easy to spoof or to write into a show or film. "It's like a McDonald's french fry," Harmer explains. "Who on the planet hasn't at least tasted one? That number is extraordinarily slim. It's the same with Star Wars. I don't know anyone who hasn't seen a Star Wars film. I know people who say they haven't seen a Star Wars film and I want to believe them, but I also feel like they're kind of just saying that because they know that everyone in the world has seen it."
Harmer also believes that another reason for the films' ageless appeal is its continual references to historical tragedies and human experiences on our own planet. "The thing that was so great about how Lucas structured his films is that there are just so many parallels in history -- the stormtroopers look like Nazis," Harmer says. "There's a whole historical thing built into our brains just from absorbing knowledge, and then you turn on these movies and see all sorts of iconic imagery and you understand those films on a deeper level. The movies reflect real life so much so that it resonates with people so they don't think it's just a sci-fi film. The films are very timeless in that way."
