Articles... Dark Jedi Knight Korbane |
If you were able to go to Star War Celebration I, there is two things to assure you of about SWII: Bigger. Better. Dever
was fun for many 3 years ago. But those fans were challenged by endless
lines and rainey days. However, despite the challeges within the 10,000
plus fans many new friends and views were made. Now
we jump ahead 3 more years to Indianapolis, celebrating the silver
anniversary of a movie we all love, and less then two weeks away from
the opening of Attack of the Clones. It does not seem like it has been
25 years now that Star Wars has stayed in our hearts and minds for so
long. At
Star Wars Celebration II you had alot of choices in what you could do.
With more then 370,000 square feet of space available to explore at the
Indiana Convention Center. There was a variety of activities to take
part in, exhibits and many other places you could go to. The
Official Site
gave out the final numbers of the big show in an article from last week:
Didn't
we just leave this party? Celebration II has come and gone, but
thousands of fans ended the weekend with great memories of the biggest
Star Wars party ever. The numbers are in, and approximately 27,000 fans
attended the convention held in Indianapolis, Indiana on May 3-5. "Star
Wars Celebration II far exceeded our expectations. For the 27,000 fans
at the event, it was a can't-miss three-day experience that allowed them
to celebrate and take part in 25 years of Star Wars history," said
Steve Sansweet, Lucasfilm's Director of Content Management and head of
Fan Relations Anthony
Daniels really made my trip worthwhile. Don't get me wrong, everything
was great and fun, but he really put the icing on the cake. I
got to see the Hayden/Nick Gillard discussion on Friday evening and got
to sit front row center! Talk about close!! Anthony, who was MCing the
event, was hilarious. He came out after this announcer (who was supposed
to sound like Darth Vader) said, "First you saw him in Star Wars,
the Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, and Episode I. Now, see him
in person--Anthony Daniels!" Anthony comes out to a thunderous
applause and stops on the stage right in front of us, beaming. Everyone
was whooping and hollering. He calmed everyone down and said, "Wow,
I really liked that. Let's do that again!" With that, he literally
ran back across the stage and went behind the curtains. We
thought he was just going to come right back out again, but the lights
went off again, and the announcer started up again, "First you saw
him in Star Wars, the Empire Strikes Back...", and went through the
whole thing. It was priceless. Hayden
and Nick were great and obviously had a great rapport. At one point,
Hayden whispered something to Nick, and while Anthony was out in the
audience getting questions from the audience, Nick loosened the cloth
backing to Anthony's chair (they were director's chairs). At the end of
the Q & A, Anthony came back up and sat down, and almost ended up on
the floor as the backing of the chair gave way. Everybody burst out into
laughter. Anthony (in mock indignation) came to the front of the stage
and said, "Did you see that? Did you all know they did this?"
Everybody yelled, "No!" (even though we all did) "You
mean to tell me that nobody saw anything?" Hayden and Nick were
shaking their heads 'no' behind him; it was so funny. Going
to see the three Fetts was really funny. Tem Morrison sang at the end,
whihc was pretty cool. I also went and saw the panel with the Rebel
pilots from the classic trilogy, and I got to ask them what their
favorite experience was with the fans. I was laughing so hard when Bill
Hootkins (Porkins) told a story about how Star Wars fans are so much
more pleasant than Trekkies. It was hilarious! Helping
to control this crowd, as a kind of ad hoc security garrison, are 250 or
so members of the Fighting 501st, an unofficial worldwide costuming club
whose sole membership requirements are this: You must be over 18, and
you must own a suit of fully accurate Imperial storm trooper armor --
which can cost anywhere from $400 to $2,000, and is technically
violative of Lucasfilm Ltd. copyright. I do not how the 501st
got the contacts but I know that after the celebration their Website
hits went up by 25 percent. I would strongly encourage that the EH do
the same and try to get involved in Celebration III. I know that about 4
other EH members attended and that they as well as I tried to spread the
word to other fans. I think next time we should plan better for this and
have cards and posters ready. Maybe if possible try to somehow get a
booth. There was atleast 4 clubs there that had booths and they did not
have near as many members as the EH. I like the others did our best
however, I know I talked to the actors as they signed autographs (They
were all very nice) and talked to people while in line. I do not know to
what avail my talking did however. |