Darth Vader in Hong Kong: A love of Star Wars shared from father to sons
A Star Wars fan since his dad took him to see the original film as a boy, Dickie Fowler is looking forward to watching the latest release with his own sons
A long time ago, in a country far, far away, a young boy set forth with his father on a journey to watch a film called Star Wars. It was 1977 – the first Apple II computers had just gone on sale, Jimmy Carter was US president and the first space shuttle got a piggyback on a jet plane.
Watch: Hong Kong family gears up for Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Fast forward 38 years, to the other side of the world, and Dickie Fowler is now a man – and a father – and he’s looking forward to taking his two sons to see the seventh film in the series.
He also happens to be Hong Kong’s most authentic Darth Vader.
So where did this passion come from? Perhaps it started when Fowler was given a Chewbacca mask at the screening of that first film; perhaps it was the sight of Darth Vader striding around the Death Star in his black cape, gauntlets and boots. Maybe it was the mask and that menacing voice.
Whatever it was, when the opportunity presented itself, Fowler took it – and bought himself a fan-made Darth Vader uniform. Later, he added a custom-built voice-changing microphone unit.
The force is definitely strong with this one.
