The force is strong with this State College family

Jeff Filko was 8 years old the first time he saw “Star Wars.”

That fairly lackluster lede might have played better if it had crawled up the page in yellow block lettering, adrift against the stark background of space as it laid out in crisp and explicit detail the epic back story behind a sprawling intergalactic saga.

A score by John Williams wouldn’t have hurt either.

The problem is that this is a tale that requires little embellishment — so little, in fact, that an effort to expound at any great length on why such an occasion should qualify for landmark status would be akin to engaging in protracted discussion on why children enjoy getting Christmas presents.

Suffice it to say that on a summer day in 1977, a young boy sat in a dark movie theater with his brother and father. The lights dimmed and within minutes, two gigantic spaceships were flying across the screen.

And that was that.

In a galaxy not that far, far away

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas inside the modest home in State College that Jeff shares with his wife, Kimbr, and their two young children, Lukas and Sofia.

Tucked away in the corner, a tree has been dressed to the nines with brightly colored ornaments, like flare lights illuminating a landing strip for incoming presents.

Speaking of which, a few lucky toys had already made their way onto the mantle, unwrapped and as proudly displayed as any ceramic St. Nick.

There was a holiday-themed Darth Vader (with amber-hued armor), R2-D2 and C-3PO dressed as Santa’s little helpers and the cream of the crop, a miniature tableau of bounty hunter Boba Fett clutching a candy cane like it was a laser blaster, while behind him Han Solo stood frozen in a block of carbonite, literally gift-wrapped for Jabba the Hut with a big, red bow.

“It’s not Christmas until I put Boba Fett on the mantle,” Jeff said.

Many of the figurines were still in their original packaging, falling strictly under the heading of do not unwrap until Christmas — and maybe not even then.

Jeff is a collector of “Star Wars” memorabilia — the self-employed curator of a private museum’s worth of collectibles that spans between 15 and 20 boxes stored somewhere in the recesses of his house.

He’s particular about what he buys. There are more than enough Luke Skywalker coffee mugs in the world, thank you very much.

Jeff’s tastes run more toward the eccentric.

“I like things that are uncommon or a little unusual,” Jeff said.

The bulk of his collection centers around the character of Boba Fett, who himself is something of an oddity in the “Star Wars” canon.

In a universe where the good and evil are sharply defined, Boba Fett operated primarily on the fringe, just an honest bounty hunter trying to earn a living in this cock-eyed galaxy.

He should have focused on getting a cut of the merchandising.

A Boba Fett alarm clock, a Boba Fett lamp, even a Boba Fett Budda — odds are that if anyone ever had the good sense to manufacture and brand a Boba Fett fondue set, it’s buried somewhere in Jeff’s collection.

“I’m just fascinated with the history of the character,” Jeff said.

It’s a perfectly reasonable explanation, but it feels almost too measured.

The truth is, looking out at Jeff’s table of oddities, even without knowing the intrinsic value of a Boba Fett-themed bottle of Nestle Coffee-Mate, one thing is absolutely clear.

It’s super cool.

Life force

Kimbr Filko is really more of a “Star Trek” person. That’s important to know up front.

Fortunately she’s also a huge “Star Wars” fan in her own right and it’s difficult not to imagine she and Jeff 20-some years ago conducting parallel arguments on separate playgrounds about whether Darth Vader really is Luke’s father.

Before they met, Jeff worked in guest relations at Disney World and had the opportunity to escort actor Mark Hamill ( aka Luke Skywalker) and his family around the park for a few days.

Kimbr, who also worked at Disney, snapped a few candid shots of Hamill with her camera. Years later, she was surprised to discover that her future husband was in the background of almost all of them.

When they got married, Jeff sold some of his memorabilia collection to help pay for the wedding and the honeymoon.

And that, folks, is love.

There are perks of marrying a partner whose wardrobe includes an authentic Jedi robe that is complemented by a lightsaber fashioned out of bulletproof glass.

“People offer him candy at Halloween,” Kimbr said.

The downside is that trying to get one over on a guy who bested a “Star Wars” trivia contest by correctly naming the year that principal photography on “The Empire Strikes Back” commenced is easier said than done.

“I can’t surprise him with any information,” Kimbr said.

Padawan learners

Ten-year-old Lukas Filko has a plastic TIE fighter toy, a replica of one of the many spaceships that populate the “Star Wars” universe and a mainstay of the Empire’s tyrannical hold over the galaxy.

To the uninitiated, it might as well be a tennis ball with twin satellite dishes for wings.

“I just found it one day in the box,” Lukas said.

His connection with “Star Wars” stretches back before his birth.

Jeff had always thought that it would be cool to name a child after “Star Wars” creator George Lucas. Kimbr always thought that he was joking.

Then she became pregnant.

“She said, ‘Oh, you were serious about that?’ ” Jeff said.

In the nearly four decades since Jeff first saw the original Star Wars debut in theaters, the franchise has evolved into a multi-platform powerhouse, an expanded universe of books, toys and video games.

Lukas cruised into the galaxy far, far away courtesy of his Nintendo Wii. To him, films aren’t made up of scenes, but levels that he’s already beaten in his video game.

Seven-year-old Sofia, meanwhile, is just as smitten with Boba Fett as her father. She dressed up as the bounty hunter for Halloween and has been known to mark the occasion with a drawing or two.

Loving “Star Wars” isn’t a prerequisite for living in the house — it just seems to be an unavoidable consequence.

“I don’t force it on them but I also rarely say no,” Jeff said.

Return of the Jedi

Jeff and Kimbr are going to an early screening of the latest installment in the series, “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” on Dec. 17. The next evening they’ll return to the theater with Lukas and Sofia in tow for an encore.

For his part, Jeff has been trying to stay away from promotional materials that might spoil surprises or warp his expectations.

He is excited though. Very, very excited.

“I know I’m a nerd and I know I’m a geek and I just don’t care,” Jeff said.

This story was originally published December 11, 2015 at 1:57 AM with the headline "The force is strong with this State College family."