Ian writes:

I would like to report on two different showings of ROTS in Ohio.

The first was in my small place of residence, namely Zanesville.

Aside from my friends, very little care was being aroused about the final installment, and so an early line-starting session was fully unnecessary. Regardless, I, along with three of my friends proceeded to wait in line for 24 hours outside of our local Cinemark, signing a rather odd instruction and disclaimer sheet presented to us by the theater manager (Reading along the lines of "Fun IS permitted" and "No permanent structures may be erected while waiting in line"). I ACTUALLY had planned on building a large bronze monument, but alas, they were too quick for me, and all hopes were dashed.

Continuing, the line was stagnant until two hours before the show time. It seemed to be a lesser crowd than the last two films, but the spirit remained. I half expected the local small time news outfit to show, but the day before, the news van had driven by, seen me sitting in a lawnchair, dressed in full Anakin garb (Scar and all), along with three friends, all enduring a harsh toy lightsaber battle, and thusly, the van continued without stopping.

So it goes.

The screening went quite well on the decent sized screen, as the film was clear enough in this non-digitized theater to cement it as my favorite of the Epic, but no other decorations or preparations were made by the theater to cater to the fanbase.

My third screening took place on the following day, at the Marcus Cinema's Ultra Screen, in Columbus, Ohio.

Though not possessing a DLP setup, the sound was fully THX certified, and it boasted the largest screen in the midwest, standing at 70x35 feet.

A stormtrooper waited outside of the entrance (The quality of the outfit made me assume it had sworn allegiance to the 501st), and the setup inside the theater was quite well done. Posters and tie fighters sprawled across the ceiling, and above the theater entrance was a rendition of the now-classic frame featuring the lightsabers of Anakin and Obi-Wan clashing.

Once past the ticket-taker, we entered a rather cheaply constructed (I'd guess cardboard cut-outs and construction paper) replica of the Tantive IV's first hallway.

Still, it's the thought that counts, I suppose.

Though the picture quality was not perfect, very few times was clarity an issue, and it was great to be pulled into the screen like so, as there was nothing else to look to.

Initially, the battle above Coruscant was a bit difficult to follow, an effort had to be made to keep eyes focused on both ships due to their individual size, but after I had adjusted, many other scenes thrived from this scale, simply because no matter how large the image is stretched, imperfections are simply non-existent, in their stead, smaller details on every piece of equipment, every effect with far more intricacies and facets than I had originally seen.

Suffice to say, the third time's viewing was indeed a charm, and well handled by the theater in question.