Source: Star Wars Celebration | Posted By: Dan Geer

Hmm… where to begin? How about 1 AM Saturday morning? That’s when I got up to get ready and go wait in line at the Orange County Convention Center to see first hand The Main Event interview between The Daily Show‘s Jon Stewart and the maker himself – George Lucas.

It sounds like a pain in the neck, but this was a cake walk compared to the first time I waited to see Lucas in person at Celebration III in Indianapolis, Indiana back in April 2005. It was cold, rainy and it even started to snow while we were waiting outside to get in! Eventually, they moved us inside, but we were outside for a good three or four hours. This time, the temperature was in the 70s and it was not raining at all. I believe we were outside for no more than two hours before they let us in to the air-conditioned convention center.

The line was quite a sight to behold, as so many people were sprawled out onto the hallway floor napping away. I was right there with them, tired as heck. I slept as much as I could, because I knew I wanted to be awake for this event, and of course the rest of the day. However, there were other people, plenty awake, playing games like “Ninja” while waiting in line.

After about 9 hours (I told you Mark Hamill’s line wasn’t the longest, now didn’t I?), we were heading into the main Celebration Stage. Even though people were tired, there was still a massive amount of energy from the crowd. When it finally got started, a few Stormtroopers walked out on stage, and one of them took off his helmet to reveal that he was none other than Jay Laga’aia, Captain Typho from Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith (you might also know him as Senator Turner in Daybreakers).

Then, after an extremely long wait, it was time for The Main Event to begin. Jon Stewart walked out, and the crowd already went crazy. In fact, I think there were just as many people in line to see him as there were to see Lucas. He didn’t dink around too much, and simply gave a little comedic intro and then introduced George Lucas. When the maker walked out on stage, it was “The Beatles” moment for geeks. The crowd went berserk!

For the 1.5 hour interview, Stewart basically read a series of questions that fans had submitted online for him to ask Lucas. Of course, being the witty comedian that he is, he added a lot of funny banter to the whole thing. However, the majority of the time George Lucas just talked and gave us much to sink our teeth into, including footage from season 3 of The Clone Wars and the announement of the Star Wars saga on Blu-ray, which is set to hit shelves some time next year.

What was great about this announcement was that it gave them an excuse to bring out Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher onto the stage! Hamill gave a little introduction to a new deleted scene from Return of the Jedi that will be on the Blu-ray set, where it basically shows a darker side to Luke, hinting the possibility of him turning to the dark side. In the scene, Vader is tempting him telepathically when Luke is at Jabba’s palace constructing his lightsaber. It is a very cool deleted scene, and I cannot wait to see what other ones will be included with the set.

I was genuinely pleased with the interview, and Jon Stewart really showed much respect to Star Wars, the fans and Lucas. I really don’t think they could have picked a better person to conduct the interview. It may have even topped  Lucas’s appearance at Celebration III. For any fan, this was truly the highlight of the weekend, particularly if you actually got into the same room as Lucas, as there were other fans who arrived later who could only see the interview simulcast on various screens elsewhere in the convention center (by the way, StarWars.com has a great breakdown of everything discussed in the interview here, and you can also watch a cool video from StarWars.com about Day 3 and The Main Event here).

When all was said and done with The Main Event, it was time to go get some autographs. I had not yet obtained Mark Hamill’s, so I went to check when my ticket number was going through his line. As it turned out, it wasn’t quite time yet for me to go, so instead I attended to some unfinished business and went to get Ashley Eckstein‘s autograph. For those of you not in the know, she voices Ahsoka Tano (Anakin Skywalker’s apprentice) in The Clone Wars. I got the chance to talk and joke around with her a little bit, and she was super nice in person. I also asked her when she was going to be on The Force-Cast again, to which she replied, “soon.”

Soon after that, my Mark Hamill ticket number was up, so off I claimed my place in line. To my surprise, even though the line was long, I don’t think we waited much more than 1.5 hours. When we finally got his autograph, my dad and I introduced ourselves and once again briefly discussed our love of the Universal Monsters and Ray Harryhausen films with him. Just like the day before, Hamill was extremely nice and very polite. I will always treasure the brief moments I had with him at this Celebration, as he was so down to earth and simply felt like my next-door neighbor.

One of my favorite voice actors from Star Wars: The Clones Wars is James Arnold Taylor (Obi-Wan Kenobi), whom I made up my mind from the very beginning that I was going to get his autograph. I first heard him on The Force-Cast, where he did so many impressions of various cartoon and movie characters, including a wicked awesome Marty McFly impression. I told him how much I loved it, and his response was, “Whoa Doc, this is heavy!” in his McFly voice, followed by “May the force be with you,” in his Obi-Wan voice as I left his autograph table. What a great dude.

My day was far from over, however, as I went to sit in on the panel entitled Star Wars: The Clone Wars Behind the Microphone. This panel featured various voice actors from The Clone Wars, including Mathew Wood (General Grievous), James Arnold Taylor (Obi-Wan), Catherine Taber (Padme Amidala), Jamie King (Aurra Sing), Tom Kane (Yoda), Matt Lanter (Anakin Skywalker), Dee Bradley Baker (Clone Troopers) and Ashley Eckstein (Ahsoka Tano).

This was a really fun panel to attend, not only to hear some of these people do the voices from the show, but also other voices as well. Tom Kane did a killer Morgan Freeman impression, which, if I closed my eyes, I could swear than Mr. Freeman himself was sitting there talking. It was amazing. Also, James Arnold Taylor did a whole shpeal where he rapidly went from one voice to the next – going through various actors and characters like Jack Nicholson, Fred Flinstone, Marty McFly and others – perfectly choreographed to images on the screen behind him of the people he was voicing right as he was voicing them. I was blown away by the talent of these people, and am so satisfied that these are the people currently working on the latest incarnation of Star Wars.

By this point in the day, I was absolutely exhausted and ready to go back to my hotel. However, I was presented with an irresistible proposition. Basically, Star Tours at Disney’s Hollywood Studios is getting a huge overhaul and this night was the last night anyone could go on the ride in its original form before it closes. Even though I was tired beyond belief, I had to go since I had never actually been to Star Tours before.

Billed as The Last Tour to Endor, the night was filled with Star Wars at Hollywood Studios, not only with the last time to ride Star Tours, but also a huge stage show with people in Star Wars costumes having a dance-off. One group of Stormtroopers came out with Darth Vader and danced to “Thriller” by Michael Jackson. Of course, they won. This contest has been held at Star Wars Weekends in the past, and it was great that they presented it at The Last Tour to Endor.

Probably the highlight for me, however, was the Raiders of the Lost Jedi Temple of Doom show. Essentially, it was the regular Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular live show, but with Star Wars incorporated into it! Anthony Daniels, Jamie King and devout Star Wars fan Seth Green played as “extras” in the production, and to top it all off, George Lucas was with all of us in the audience watching the whole thing! The show blew my mind, to say the least. You can watch the video below, but it probably won’t do the show justice, as being there live was just an amazing experience. Also, FYI, The actual show itself isn’t until about 15 minutes into the video, just in case you want to skip all the introduction material.

The night ended with the most incredible display of fireworks I have ever seen, complete with Star Wars music and sound clips from the films blasting through the sound system. It was truly epic. Lastly, C-3P0 and R2-D2 gave a brief outro on stage in front of  Star Tours, closing out the night, and the ride. It was bittersweet, but a great way to end the event. You can watch StarWars.com‘s coverage of the event by clicking here.

From StarWars.com’s Last Tour to Endor Snapshots

Whew! Writing this blog post was almost as exhausting as actually experiencing the day first hand. I was literally awake for 24 hours straight, and I do not regret one minute of it. It was definitely the best day of the convention by far, and also the most exhausting. I think I was asleep within one minute of my crawling into bed.

You can watch the footage I shot from the George Lucas interview below (SD card filled up fast, so I don’t have the entire interview), however YouTube has been taking footage down from other people who’ve posted their footage, so I’m not sure how long it’ll last…

Next: Star Wars Celebration V Blog – Day 4

Return of the Jedi Deleted Scene: