Sam Cosby 1976-1977
I once read a post that referred to George Lucas as a modern-day Mozart with film. From an early age, I have seen him orchestrate limitless and masterful compositions. These compositions have guided me to the path that I am currently traveling. Mr. Lucas has educated other concertmasters who have been able to follow in his footsteps. One example is Dave Filoni and the incredible composition of Clone Wars.
I grew up in Salt Lake City, Utah in the 1970’s. In some respects, Utah has always been 20 years behind the rest of the country. In some respects it still is. Growing up in this environment was not easy. Even though the rest of the country was moving forward from segregation and racism, my experience in Utah was they were not. Even today I can still see those who have not accepted that our country has moved away from this degrading behavior. I refer to them as the old guard. They are old and on their way out now and will be leaving this earth soon and with them they will take their hate. It took some time to realize, but I need to thank the old guard. It was because of them I would found ways to mentally escape their bombardment of animosity. That was not the only factor in me needing to escape, but hey played a major factor. So I, like many kids my age, attached themselves to something LONG AGO, FAR FAR AWAY.
FAR FAR AWAY…THANK GOODNESS!
Star Wars was a way to escape from everything. I spent many hours playing, living, imagining my world as the world of Star Wars. I would spend hours upon hours, days upon days, and weeks upon weeks escaping from reality into my world of Star Wars. To my parents, it seemed like the new latest craze that all the kids were into. I remember, I had a something no one in my neighborhood had. My father was able to get a bootleg copy of the VHS tape from 20th Century Fox, then it became apparent that something had stuck. It wasn’t out on VHS so I didn’t mention it to my friends in fear that the old guard would find out and spread their hate. I’m sure if they had, 20th Century Fox would have gotten an anonymous call about that bootleg copy. Yeah it was like that. I would listen to kids brag about what Star Wars toys they had and they would talk about parts in the movie that they hadn’t seen in months. They had it all wrong but I knew not to say anything. I just went home and watched it. I watched it so much I could see the red squares surrounding the Tie Fighters. I watched it so much that I could recite every word and I could close my eyes and listen to the music and sound effects. For me then it was priceless.
Through the years my cousin would come over. While we played every game console there was like Atari, Odyssey2, Intellivision, Coleco Vision, Atari 2600, Nintendo NES etc. We would talk about Star Wars and pose questions like, “What if we could be in that cantina, have our own Falcon, have a light saber, be a Jedi, be like Darth Vader or Han Solo? “ The conversations were endless. Then Star Wars video games came out. We played every one that we could get our hands on, but our little minds could never imagine the future and what we would experience.
As an adult, I began working on my own series, then entitled The Adventures of Larz and Ellis Beetle. I was living in a small basement apartment and I didn’t have much of a social life at the time. When I wasn’t tied up with something else (people trying to sabotage anything and everything I was trying to do) I would sit in my apartment developing characters, writing melodies and trying to figure the whole thing out.
On June 26, 2003 Star Wars Galaxies was launched. I, like many others, anticipated this game or a game like it for 15 to 20 years. Star Wars Galaxies was the game that would encompass my childhood dreams of wanting more after my introduction Star Wars 1977. I decided to take a whole day out to introduce myself to the game. After creating and naming my character I launched into the game on the planet Rori. It was at that moment that everything changed for me. It wasn’t the fact that I had grown up with Star Wars and enjoyed all the things it had offered for my imagination. It was the first time that I could see and immerse myself into a place where I had only read or seen snippets in the movies and heard audio books about. I’m not ashamed to say that I spent months exploring every planet in every place. Remembering the discussions with my cousin “What it would be like to go there?” always was discussed. “There” pretty much incorporated everywhere in Star Wars. So there I sat, experiencing Star Wars in such a grand scale. Doing so made me think about my series. “Why should I limit my ideas only to conform with either what people were telling me I needed to do to be accepted?”
When I finally got enough money to catch the shuttle from Rori to Naboo I found my answer. Star Wars Galaxies was more than just a game, it was an immersion. If you are a simple fan of Star Wars and have never read any of the books or listened to audio books, once you do you immediately discover that the Star Wars universe is infinite. The missions were like stories. Some short and some long. Playing the game I kept a pad and pen next to me and would write down ideas. I did this for six months and had two tablets full of what I could do. Soon it became I can do. Now it is I will do.
Just recently they’ve announced the closing of Star Wars Galaxies. It’s understandable considering The Old Replubic’s release coming our way (hopefully soon). The release of ‘Star Wars’ the Complete Saga in September and the Clone Wars seasons availability is something to look forward to as well. The Star Wars saga continues to influence me and my series.
The Ceruladons is my series and paying attention to what has been created has taught me so much. I’m proud to say that George Lucas has inspired me to believe in my universe. I’m sure that he is already aware that he has influenced people in many different ways. His movies, books, toys and games got me through my childhood and I had no idea that he was opening my mind so I could be free. I believe I can do anything with my series but I also know I’ll have to pay my own bills.
Being a musician I tend to keep a watch as great musicians leave us. Some of them I’ve had the opportunity to meet and talk to and some I wish I would have had the opportunity. I’ve learned that when somebody influences, inspire or encourages us it is better to tell them why they’re here. I grow tired of people not appreciating greatness while it’s here with us. You never know how much you miss greatness until it’s gone. Today, I am saying THANK YOU to George Lucas, Howard Roffman and to all those whom I don’t know who have and still make Star Wars happen. Your efforts are appreciated.
Lastly, last night my 3 1/2 old son held up his little light saber he recently got from McDonalds and said while watching a trailer for The Old Republic, “I fight the black!” he said and fell on the floor when the Jedi died. Priceless! 
