Obi-Yawn

Teachers and bosses across Ventura County may have noticed some glazed eyes Wednesday, as if their students and employees were in a galaxy far, far away.

“A lot of kids were sleepy this morning,” said Thousand Oaks High School clerk Caroline Cleaver. “So they may have gone to the movies last night.”

Hmmm, wonder what they saw?

“Star Wars: Episode 1--The Phantom Menace” opened at seven packed Ventura County theaters in the wee hours of Wednesday morning. Fans, mostly 20-something males, lined up as early as 3 a.m. the previous morning to get prime seats for 12:01 showings. A 3 a.m. screening in Camarillo drew about 400 night owls.

“We’ve been waiting for it for 15 years,” Camarillo computer programmer Dan Hanchey said. Hanchey had to check his light saber at the theater door but was allowed to watch a midnight show in the monk’s cowl of Jedi master Qui-Gon Jinn.

Still more opening-day die-hards played wookie hooky from school and work on Wednesday, although 10 schools contacted by The Times said attendance was about normal for the day.

“I feel sorry for whoever misses the movie today,” said Hector Hernandez, a 14-year-old Hueneme High School freshman who risked being grounded by his parents for a morning of Jujubes and Jar Jar Binks at the Century 16 in Ventura.

Garni Tarazon, attendance clerk at Rio Mesa High School in Oxnard, said the students weren’t the ones causing a problem. She was keeping a close eye on the principal and a few of the counselors Wednesday morning, having heard rumors they were planning to sneak out and go to the movies.

“They’re adults and they’re acting like kids,” Tarazon joked. “Everyone is wearing Star Wars shirts and it’s just becoming one of those uncontrollable situations.”

For parents who were at midnight showings when the original “Star Wars” debuted in 1977, followed by sequels in ’80 and ‘83, keeping their kids up late for George Lucas’ $115-million prequel was a historic event akin to witnessing man walk on the moon.

“It’s like an eclipse . . . . You stay up for it,” said Tony Hernandez, 46, who stood outside Edwards Cinemas in Camarillo on Tuesday night with his stepson and the boy’s friend, both 12.

Cecilia Gutierrez said she was “training Jedis” by taking her godsons, ages 8 and 9, to the PG-rated film.

“It’s bonding time,” Gutierrez said, “with the force.”

Indeed, the force was so powerful that even disappointed film critics could not lure crowds to the Dark Side.

“They can say it’s the worst movie ever made and it ain’t going to make a difference,” said Ryan Weinstock, manager of the Century 10 in downtown Ventura.

Shelling out $7.50 apiece--despite some patrons’ protests that 12:01 a.m. merited matinee prices--Star Wars fanatics were rooting for “The Phantom Menace” to supplant “Titanic” as the highest-grossing movie of all time.

“I’m not here to see a good, well-acted movie. It’s a fun movie,” said Jeff Pitblado, who took the day off from his accounting job to catch a 1 p.m. screening in Thousand Oaks.

Michelle Kelley, who is deaf, could not wait until a captioned screening this weekend in Van Nuys, so her husband, Ray, signed the dialogue while she cradled their sleeping 21-month-old son, Colston.

“It’s our generation’s movie and we want to pass it on to him,” she said. “He’ll be the next generation.”

Kelley could feel the film’s galactic battle scenes through the seat-rumbling digital sound. To familiarize herself with the new episode’s good-vs.-evil plot and exotic characters she read books before the screening.

Other fans chose to ignore all of the pre-hype.

“I’m afraid to put it on too much of a pedestal because I don’t want to be let down,” said Matt Hanchey, who joined his brother and other costumed friends for a pre-screening tailgate. He had painted his face in red and black, like the movie’s villainous Darth Maul.

After catching the 12:01 screening--”the 12:02’s for losers,” Hanchey said--he left the theater feeling a little disappointed, and very tired. But by Wednesday afternoon, the Camarillo engineer said the film had grown on him and he planned to see it again.

Ventura High School senior Jeremy Black risked failure on an Advanced Placement physics test Wednesday by staying up late the night before. He dozed off in English class Wednesday morning but said seeing the “Menace” was well worth it.

“It’s the same ‘Star Wars.’ It’s the same George Lucas, except it has better effects,” Jeremy said afterward. “I had that same great feeling when I left the theater.”

Incidentally, Jeremy’s birthday is May 4--as in, his friends like to point out, “May the Fourth be with you.”

Times staff writer Anna Gorman and correspondent Jennifer Hamm contributed to this story.

* MAIN COVERAGE: A1, F1