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economist sunsuntribune movies saturday may 14 2005 revenge mrftbim umsjisid of em by ckbis traber staff writer its easy to tell who the true star r wars fans are they will be the blearyeyed legion with the frozengrinswho will happily endure themay 19 midnight premiere of revenge bftfie fsith the sixth and highly ahficipat- ed final instalment in the star wars series first introduced 28 years ago vj the franchise created by george hlucas has created a phenomenal international following u diehard fans seeking the pres- tige of a premiere screening are already lining up at theatres every where york region will be no different with all but three of its 86 canadian theatres including three in york premiering revenge of the sith which stars thornhill native hayden christensen cine- plex odeon had lineups forming for the thursday premiere since last friday the series has a strong follow- ing and people want to be the first to see it cinemax galaxy com- munication vicepresident pat marshall said we dont discour- age or encourage lineups we try and make sure theyre safe and taken care of wejust want people to be respectful of neighbouring properties rj gorman owner of the gem theatre in keswick who earlier saw the film at a private industry screening believes revenge of the sith is by far the best firm in the series it starts with a bang ties- up all the loose ends and answers all the questions he said with the gems policy not to presell tickets queues for the mid night showing are expected to start well in advance one of the first in line will be robert brooks a selfprofessed star wars superfan mr brooks keswick home is chock with star wars mem orabilia ranging from posters vhs and dvd films- action figures mod els puzzles replica darthvader and trooper helmets to books dixie cups and soap theres even a pack age of star wars cookies circa 1980 the force has long been with mr brooks a collector since 11 his love affair with all things star wars is almost three decades strong wield- ingone of his 150 lightsabfes lie pointsout the museum quality assemblage of star wars action fig ures festooning in his home office among the hundreds of figures in v original packages are true ran- ties such as yak face valued at 1000 all figures us r2d2 at 400 and a power droid at 225 most carry the original price stickers about 295 a lot of nuance goes into col lecting he said in the shrinelike homehe shares with wife donna arid sons michael vance and kyle a collector covets the rare and those items with variance in terms of condition what picture is on the package card and where it was made the ibm support managers motivation for amassing star wars memorabilia is more for the remi niscences than the monetary its a lifestyle he said i travel a lot and always lookforstores with star wars items i collect for nostal gic reasons some collect for profit i collect for the memories its a way to relive my childhood my 4-year- old is into it and i get to share it with him for me star wars is all about the special effects and robots ulti mately its agreat story about good evil and frailty mr brooks who has viewed the previous five star wars films absolutely hundreds of times was so enthralled by the first he paid to see it 78 times mind you it was only 150 to get in back then with every available nook and staff photosusie kockersheidt cranny utilized for display and stor age he estimates his collection has more than 2q00 pieces and is con- servativeiy valued at 30000 his favourite haunts for hunting items are garage sales stores and ebay on the internet he avoids star wars conventions where fans dress as their favourite characters i dont go that far he said the holy grail of star war col lectibles are genuine movie props if he had his druthers mr brooks would want the lightsabre hilt worn by mark hammil asluke jskywalker- alas the type of fantastic future techhblogythat permeates the star wars saga has in part decelerated his enthusiasm im starting to wind down because i cant be sure if what im buying is genuine he said tech nology has come so far that many people eveitexpeits cant tell the knock offs and fakes from the real tiling superfan robert brooks has a museumlike array of star wars memorabilia he has collected over the past 28 years mr brooks plans to be one of therirstin line thursdayto see the sixth star wars instalment revengeofthe sith r star wars by the numbers l revenge of the sith the sixthand final instalment oftfienskwars series opensthursdayat4heatress- lacrpss fegiqnlhe franchise flcreatla7idlaunchedfcl977byl pgeorgeucasisa globalcmematici tfzsomelntriguing us dollar figures contemplated ijl arl- 360 visual effect shots in stalrjvasj lvanewj6pe19i7 instar mrs llllfrevengef hif200 vsll5milhdrhcost to makerevehge of the st4v v -x-v- s 9tiillion dollar amount of star wars k harhmertieadactionfigure in 1983 socostof-jigyerstermrsjpromo- 600sc6llectors4yalueof promo v cbooktodayim ft v- fe2000itnumber of itemsjn keswick ic- 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