Being blessed with much slightly* older siblings I was exposed to 80’s pop culture way earlier than other kids my age. My earliest memories of Christmas as a child was Star Wars: A New Hope being on tv at Christmas, and Return of the Jedi being on tv at New Years (The Empire Strikes Back seemed to be forgotten, so I didn’t see it for years after seeing the other two). This carried on for years; I even had a VHS cope of Return of the Jedi taped off TV in the 80’s until fairly recently. I was also exposed to Barbarella long before it was age appropriate thanks to my older sister, and had an irrational fear of a facehugger climbing through my open bedroom window that persisted for years thanks to my older brother, but neither of those things had the same influence on me as Star Wars (probably for the best to be honest). Fast forward a few years, and I would play Star Wars in the local fields with my best friend; I was Leia, he was Luke and we’d have lightsaber fights with tree branches. We also did terrible things to his Star Wars toys that would be worth a freaking fortune nowadays. It only got worse from there.
In 2014 I read about this new cinematic experience in London, England. It was called Secret Cinema, where they were not just showing Back to the Future (another favourite of my sister and by extension, mine), but doing so in a way that brought the movie to life, literally. Ok, so I found out about it as the first few showing didn’t go according to plan, but it piqued my curiosity. I then promptly forgot about it.
2015 came around, and I happen to read another article about Secret Cinema, but this time it was The Empire Strikes Back. And I knew there and then I had to go. So I bought a ticket, made my character, assembled my costume and made the trip from Yorkshire down to London. Alone. At the height of summer. During a tube strike.
It was worth it.
I’m not lying when I say it was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. From meeting near Canada Water Library, that just happens to look like a Sandcrawler, to the sets built in the Printworks (later to be used in a fight scene in Avengers: Age of Ultron), the whole experience was just perfect. The moment the life sized X Wing lowered into view to fire the final blow to the Death Stars gave me chills. The recreation of the Throne Room scene was uplifting, the atmosphere was electric. I ended up going again with my husband a few months later. This is a man that could take or leave Star Wars, who’s main comment about the original trilogy is “Do you know what they made that blaster out of?! Do you KNOW how rare that gun is now?!” as he collects antique militaria. And even he found it amazing.
The following years they did other events I wanted to go to, from 28 Days Later to Moulin Rouge, but I never found the time to go. First I was working, then I was ill, then I had a baby, life just got in the way. And I expected the same thing to happen this year, when they announce Guardians of the Galaxy, which to me is one of the best entries of the MCU. After all, I have a 3 year old who couldn’t attend and I didn’t think I’d be able to manage to go by myself. I was wrong.
My older sister, the one responsible for getting me into Sci Fi to begin with, has given me a ticket, and my brother in law is going to help me get from Kings Cross to where they live in Hertfordshire so I can attend. I’m begining to see a theme though; last time I went there was a tube strike, this time I there’s a series of Avanti North West rail strikes that means I can’t book travel from Lancaster to London Euston, so I’m having to travel to Leeds to London Kings Cross as I need to have a seat booked and assistance on and off the train. So I’m guessing I can only go to Secret Cinema on years there are rail strikes.
This time the venue is in Wembly, so it’s going to be a totally new experience. And my clan, the Dark Star Bandits, are basically Space Goths, so choosing them was simple!
Once I’ve been I will write a full review, but I’m sure it will be brilliant. Sadly, at the time of writing London Printworks is due to be closed down to make way for office space. It will be missed, and I’ll have happy memories of the times I went there.
*my sister read the post so I changed this 😂