"I was at my friend Chris's birthday party in 1977," Pegg says. "He'd already seen Star Wars, although at this point I had not. Someone had bought him a set of rub-on transfers of all the characters which I helped him apply to the Death Star diorama that came with them. I clearly remember being fascinated by the character names and not knowing who was who. I wondered why the old man's sword appeared to be on fire. It's the last memory I have before the day my parents finally took me to see the film. I had no idea I was about to take my first step into a larger world."
Pegg continues, "I was at exactly the right age when I saw A New Hope. It changed everything. Not just the landscape of cinema but of me, as a person. It informed every aspect of my life -- my creativity, my imagination, my appreciation of music and art. It had a comprehensive effect on my growth as a human being."
After seeing the films, Pegg's childhood memories often revolved around his excitement for Star Wars toys. "Christmas was made all the more exciting by the familiar shapes of wrapped action figures," Pegg recalls. "I knew what I was getting, I just didn't know who. The first figure I bought was R2-D2. I clearly remember twisting his shiny metallic dome and hearing him click. It was magical."
"I stopped collecting Star Wars toys until the amazing Master Replicas lightsabers appeared," Pegg adds. "I bought one at a collector's convention and couldn't quite believe how cool it was. I kept thinking if these had been around in the '70s, it would have been almost too exciting to bear -- the sound, the sequential ignition, the authentic detail. When I was seven, I had a plastic tube taped to a torch [flashlight] and I was happy. I'm 37 now and I have six Master Replicas lightsabers. My wife has caught me swinging them without a hint of irony, at least twice."
"'Spaced' was about a group of people in their 20s at the close of the last millennium," Pegg explains. "My character Tim, was a comic book geek, so inevitably, like myself, was a Star Wars fan. In Episode Six of the second series, the relationship between the six main characters becomes very strained and the group almost breaks apart. At the end of the episode, the audience was left unsure as to whether everything was going to come good. The Empire Strikes Back has one of the greatest low-key cliffhanger endings in cinema history and it only seemed right to reference it in order to communicate how desperate things had got for the 'Spaced' gang."
"The second season of the show came out just after The Phantom Menace, a film which, I'm sorry to say, I found immensely disappointing," Pegg continues. "Needless to say, Tim felt the same way and in the opening episode 'Time' burns his Star Wars stuff on a funeral pyre. The scene recreates exactly the moment when Luke burns the body of his father at the end of Return of the Jedi. I think it reflected the feelings of many fans. For the first time ever, there was a division in a group of people that had always felt very united. Fortunately, I had an outlet for my displeasure. In one scene Tim screams at a little boy for wanting to buy a Jar Jar Binks doll. It summed up the frustration of the older fans whose expectations were so high and the innocence of the small children for whom it was a colorful and exciting film."
"However, I offer up just one for debate," Pegg continues. "Even when I was a child, one of the key things about Star Wars that I found so enchanting was that it was so far, far away from my life and experience. With the exception of Chewbacca making a Tarzan noise when he swings onto the AT-ST during the forest battle there was nothing Earthly about it whatsoever, nothing to anchor it to our galaxy. In the prequels there are wise-cracking sports commentators, NASCAR style races, 'death sticks' and bars where you can watch robots playing a version of American football. It all feels somehow closer to home and consequently, less special. Discuss."
If given the chance to make his own Star Wars prequel, Pegg offers up a few suggestions. "I'd love to see the adventures of a young Han and Chewie,"Pegg says. "Perhaps they could land on some planet and discover a Jedi who had managed to evade Order 66. The younger duo could help fend off a squad of Imperial stormtroopers on a search and destroy mission. It would be great to see Han fighting beside a Jedi, long before his adventures with Luke and Obi-Wan. Afterwards, Han could be itching to get to the nearest cantina and tell his Corellian buddies about meeting this crazy old wizard and his all powerful 'Force.' The old Jedi, concerned that Han might inadvertently lead the Empire to his hiding place, raises his finger, looks deep into Han's eyes and says, 'Listen, you've flown from one end of this galaxy to the other, you've seen a lot of strange things but you've never seen anything that would convince you of some all powerful force controlling everything.' Bliss. You see, I'm not totally against a back story."
Reputation of Pegg's adamant admiration for the original trilogy eventually made its way to Skywalker Ranch. "When the original unmodified trilogy was re-released [on DVD], I received a parcel from Lucasfilm, with a note saying, 'Thought you might enjoy these.' I was very touched."
It's obvious chatting with Pegg how much loves to discuss not only Star Wars, but his appreciation for pop culture films in general. "I've always been a big geek," Pegg smiles. "I love sci-fi and fantasy and always have. Before Star Wars, I loved the Sinbad movies and the classic Ray Harryhausen monster flicks like Jason and the Argonauts. As I grew older and home video evolved, I developed a love of horror and this definitely fed into my work as an adult, particularly Shaun of the Dead. Above all, I'm a film fan and Star Wars really nurtured that within me. It opened me up to a galaxy of possibilities and set me on the path I currently tread, both as an artist and a nerd."
That path eventually led him straight to Princess Leia. "I was at the San Diego Comic-Con in 2004, promoting Shaun of the Dead and got in line to meet Carrie Fisher," Pegg recalls. "I told her that I used to kiss her picture every night before I went to sleep. She asked me if confessing this made me feel better. I said it did."
Recently Pegg, and his collaborators Frost and Wright, have tackled the buddy-cop film genre with his latest release Hot Fuzz. Much like in Shaun of the Dead Pegg's uncanny comedic timing make this 'Miss Marple meets Lethal Weapon' comedy worth its weight in both laughs and bullets. In Hot Fuzz Pegg plays Nicholas Angel, an overachieving police officer relocated to a seemingly sleepy village of Sandford, only to discover it's not so crime-free. He bonds over action films with his new partner -- naive police constable Danny Butterman played brilliantly by Frost, and soon the duo find themselves in car chases and gun fights worthy of the John Woo films they both love.
As Pegg continues to work on a variety of projects, he says the Star Wars films will always make him proud to be a diehard fan. "The films have a genuine cultural significance," Pegg says. "Star Wars had seismic resonance as far as popular culture is concerned. It affected everyone, even people who did not care for it. Something as significant as that can't help but be reflected in subsequent cultural expression. They inspired me and continue to do so."
