Slobberknocking while wondering whatever happened to Howard Hessmann: Hi. The name's Devin. I'm a geek. Nice to meet you. When I grew up in Suburbia in the '70s, I didn't have any brothers or sisters. My parents didn't exactly encourage my athletic side (I truly didn't have one). The few friends I had didn't live close enough for me to walk to their house and play. So, I did what anyone in similar circumstances would have done... I stayed home and read. Read anything I could get my hands on. And the majority of that was science fiction. Truth be told, I didn't care that the other kids laughed behind my back when my parents, thankful beyond belief that I wouldn't need braces, bought me a replica jacket like the Warriors wore in Battlestar Galactica. I wore that brown faux suede jacket with pride, saying to one and all, I Am Geek, Hear Me Go On Incessantly About Drivel! When I was seven years old, George Lucas' labour of love came screaming into the world conscience. 'Star Wars' was manna from heaven to me... fast ships, wiseacre robots, a cosmic force that surrounds us and binds the galaxy together. Here was a young boy who was always a loner, not accepted by his peers, who knew there was a higher purpose to his life if he could just get past the next harvest and join up with the Rebellion. Gods, I was Luke Skywalker. I was first in line for both 'The Empire Strikes Back' and 'Return of the Jedi,' and for years I had the ticket stubs to prove it. But by the time 'Jedi' came out, I had already started to hit my stride. Developed social skills, which I lacked for so long. Shed the glasses I was saddled with for my first thirteen years. Grew my hair out long and got into the rock music scene. By the time Van Halen released '1984,' I was no longer considered a geek. Until this past week. Two things brought out the latent geek in me. The first was a Monday Night Footbal party at a friend's house. After the Broncos opened up a six-pack of Whoop-Ass on the hapless Cheifs, one of the hosts popped in a videotape of the 'Rocky Horror Picture Show.' Now, in my high school years, I went to 'Rocky' on the weekends almost religiosly. Most of the drama bunch did. Trick is, I went so much that I was invited onto the cast in several locations. I know that movie backwards and forwards -- including the Audience Partici . . .pation. So, as the movie went on, I did the accompanying dialogue. It has been seven years since I've been to a showing of the movie. It didn't matter. I still knew it all, to the amazement and shock of the rest of the party. I thought I had long since killed off those brain cells during my Liver Annihilation campaigns. Guess not. I was just another 'Rocky Horror' geek that night. Then, Tuesday night, there was The Trailer. You have to know the story by now... George Lucas has gone back to the well and is hard at work on the first of a new trilogy of Star Wars movies. The first of these Prequels -- they take place 20 years before the movie we saw in '77 -- comes out on May 21, 1999. Anticipation for this movie is so high that Tuesday night, they had a Sneak Preview of the coming attractions traier for the film. Not just a sneak of the movie, but a sneak of the sneak. It was our first glimpse of the new images, the new cast members (Ewan MacGregor as a young Obi-Wan Kenobi, Samuel L. Jackson as a Jedi Master, et al), and the new toys that will undoubtedly be flooding the shelves of Toys R Us. I was as giddy as a Boyd Schoolgirl on her first day of Crank Lab 101. When the Lucasfilm logo hit the screen, I wasn't the adult who has it all together. I wasn't the person who stopped going to sci-fi conventions because I just didn't see the point anymore. Instead, I was the 13-year-old who lead an expedition to be the first in line to see 'Jedi,' and camped out for two nights at NorthPark III-IV to ensure it. This new trailer rocked my world, as it did everyone around me. The Geek Is Back. Trick is, I'm not alone. Audiences all over North America went in droves to see the Sneak Sneak. It'll be interesting to see how much theatre revenue went up Tuesday... it'll be a nice gauge for the money in May. Also, the film's website (http://www.starwars.com/episode-i) had the Trailer available for download the next day, and several people snuck camcorders into theaters so they could post the Trailer on their web sites. Result? You'd think the Starr report had been updated. Net traffic slowed to a crawl, from people chugging a 15-meg download onto their computers. So, the Geek Nation is preparing to rise up. It's gonna be a helluva year. Oh... one more thing. If you haven't been watching Babylon 5 on TNT, you've missed out. Reason I bring it up is, the show's final episode airs Wednesday night at 9:00 pm CST. Non-fans will be awed. Fans will need two boxes of Kleenex, from what I'm told. Do yourself a favor and tape this one. Happy Thanksgiving, everybody. -- Devin Pike