Modern society loves to label people. Put people into boxes. While that can at times be a bad thing, sometimes it is necessary for one to set your allegiances clearly. You are either in one camp or the other, never both. While I am not a fanatic, I have always identified myself as a Star Wars fan, rather than a Trekkie. If you are not a nerd or geek, you will not understand these two distinct factions and how this rivalry plays out. To the point where on the release date of The Force Awakens, Paramount decided to release the trailer to the third contemporary Star Trek film.

I recall the major event to see The Phantom Menace with my dearest friends in June 1999. This was an Inbetweeners right of passage moment for us. It was also the same day that Pav passed his driving test and we drove in his father’s white Proton. (Although, obviously this event was from the PBE (Pre Blogging Era) it is discussed at length over 10 years ago)

A year ago, when the first trailer was released for the then unnamed Star Wars : Episode VII film, I wondered what I would be doing twelve months from this moment when the film would be evading cinemas across the globe. Due to circumstances outside of my control, I would not yet be visiting a galaxy far far away. I have yet to book tickets, but hope to catch at the biggest screen in the country – the BFI IMAX. Meanwhile my friend James will have notched up his fifth – yes his fifth viewing by this weekend just gone. I now have to work extremely hard to avoid spoilers, which is difficult in the digital age. I have installed Star Wars spoilers blocker extension into Chrome and try my best to avoid Twitter and Facebook. Back in the early November 1999, I walked into my A Level English Literature class and Richard ruined Sixth Sense by revealing the key twist. I was devastated as this was a film I was hoping to watch that weekend, as it had only recently been released. From that day forth I made a promise to myself. I would watch all the big blockbuster movies on opening weekend, to avoid anyone spoiling the experience for me ever again. The moment I got home (and more recently on the way home via my smartphone) I would check Wikipedia to learn all the little facts. A movie to build an entire marketing campaign around the mystery of the subject matter was The Matrix. People will tend to have plenty of things to say about me, good and bad. One thing high up on that list will be that I have perhaps the greatest patience known to man. Well I can tell you, dear reader, it is being fully tested this Christmas time.