ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, January 30, 1997 TAG: 9701300008
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RICHARD FOSTER
A long time ago in what might as well have been a galaxy far, far away - at least as far as Marshall Odell is concerned - the last of the original three ``Star Wars'' movies, "Return of the Jedi," came to the theaters.
That was 1983, the same year that Marshall, now 13 and a seventh-grader at Northside Middle School, was born. Marshall is one of a generation of young ``Star Wars'' fans who only know the movies from videotape and TV. He's heard about the way ``Star Wars'' was an event in theaters 15 to 20 years ago, and now he's looking forward to experiencing the big-screen ``Star Wars'' for himself. -=r "It's going to be awesome," he said.
Marshall plays the ``Star Wars'' card game - he has about 1,100 of the cards - and he collects ``Star Wars'' comic books, action figures and spaceships. His favorite items are anything to do with the bounty hunter Boba Fett, a minor character in the films who delivered the frozen Han Solo to the space gangster Jabba the Hutt.
Marshall likes Boba Fett "because you don't know a lot about him. He's mysterious. Plus, he has an awesome-looking helmet." Marshall has two Boba Fett T-shirts, a mug, large and small action figures and a playset shaped like the bounty hunter's helmet. One of his two pieces of original ``Star Wars'' merchandise is a 1980s Boba Fett collector's glass from Burger King. The other is a rare Luke Skywalker figure with miscolored hair.
"You listen to it all day," said Marshall's mother, Sheila Odell, during a recent shopping excursion to feed her son's ``Star Wars'' mania. "He comes and gets the cards and opens them up before we even get out of the parking lot.
"He gets on the phone with his friends and they discuss what new [things] they got at the store today. They'll hide what they can't buy until next time and they put them in all kinds of crazy places. I'm sure the store clerks love it."
Still, as a mom, Sheila Odell understands when something's really important to her kid, she's willing to make some sacrifices, like standing in line at the theater on Friday when the new special edition of ``Star Wars'' comes out.
"It might be a skip-school day," she said, looking at her son coyly.
LENGTH: Short : 48 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ERIC BRADY STAFF. Marshall Odell poses with someby CNBproducts at the ``Star Wars'' display at Star City Comics. color.