Something you probably don’t know about my mother is that she’s a big fan of Good Morning America. This morning show, if you aren’t aware, is a staple on the ABC network. ABC, of course, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Disney. Therefore, any time anything in relation to Disney or any of its properties needs to be promoted, the good people at GMA jump on board that synergy bus.

Good Morning America is what led to my mother seeing the first trailer for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Not like me, who jumped onto YouTube as soon as it was made available to the internet.

Immediately after viewing the trailer, Mom sent me a text message…

You can probably see from this that we traditionally go to the movies on Christmas Day. Just one of those things we’ve done for years.

And… yeah… I really didn’t think my mother liked Star Wars. I mean, she’s never mentioned it in the past. As many DVDs as she owns, none of them are a Star War. So I was a little surprised when she mentioned she’d be willing to see Episode IX. Especially considering that there have been Star Wars related films on three of the last four Christmases. And if those movies weren’t my first suggestion to my mother and sister, I’d have to turn in my lightsaber.

Our discussion continued and she revealed that she liked the originals, but not the prequels. Well, duh. She’s intrigued by this being a sequel. But… it’s the third sequel. It took the final film in the Skywalker saga to pique her interest. Mom hasn’t seen a Star Wars movie since she saw Return of the Jedi in the theater. In 1983.

“Guess we’ll have to have a Star Wars night,” she said, implying that she would be willing to catch up before The Rise of Skywalker. Try weekend… And that’s if we rush it.

But we’re not gonna rush it. After all, the next movie isn’t out until December 20. That gives us some time.

We kicked things off this past weekend. Since she already knew about the Luke/Vader connection, I gave her the option of watching through the saga in chronological order or release order. She really had no preference. So I decided we’d go with the best trilogy first: the prequels.

Just kidding. Oh, man… I had you guys going! No, we started with the original trilogy. And this was basically just to remind her of what has come before. The plan now is to watch the prequel trilogy this Saturday. Then we’ll have a few weeks to work in The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi.

I’m really curious where she’ll land after seeing Episode VIII. Seems like half loved it and half hated it. And the ones who hated it were real vocal. Personally, I thought it was great.

I’m also curious what Mom will think about Jar Jar.