Source: Star Wars Celebration | Posted By: Dan Geer
Before I knew it, it was already the last day of Star Wars Celebration V. As a fan, you wait and wait until the next Celebration, and when they finally come around they’re already over with. It is always bittersweet, but at the same time the last day of the convention is always the most relaxing – which is a very good thing after being awake for literally 24 hours the day before.
It’s the day where not a lot of huge events are going on, and so this is usually when I like to walk around and see things I hadn’t seen in the days prior, and also take care of any other autographs I paid for that I hadn’t yet obtained. Since there wasn’t anything going on for a couple hours, I rushed over to the autograph hall.
First up was Gary Kurtz, producer of The Empire Strikes Back. It was kind of strange, because you had to by a special ticket for his autograph like for Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill, and yet there was never a line to wait in like the lines for Hamill and Fisher. I guess they over-anticipated how many people would be lining up for Kurtz. When I went to meet him and get his autograph, there was no line at all. He seemed fairly polite and courteous, but he didn’t say a lot and it was very brief and over with before I knew it. But I am really glad I obtained the autograph, as his work is highly celebrated in the annals of Star Wars production lore.
I really wanted to meet Tom Kane, the voice of Yoda from Star Wars: The Clone Wars (especially after he did that crazily accurate impression of Morgan Freeman the day before on stage) so off to his table I went. What’s great about The Clone Wars voice actors is that they often do the voice for you, even if you don’t ask! So, of course, when I went to meet Kane that’s one of the first things he did while he was signing. I believe he said in Yoda speak, “Strong with the force, you are,” or “May the force be with you” after I got his autograph. I can’t remember which line he said exactly, although he did sign the photo with “Strong with the force, you are,” so perhaps that’s what he said as well. Whatever the case, I had once again met a great guy who works in the Star Wars universe.
The final autograph I went to get was none other than Caroline Blakiston, who played Mon Mothma – the character who founded the Rebel Alliance and made her first appearance on film in Return of the Jedi. Prior to the convention, she had said that Celebration V would be her last time coming to the States, so I figured I had better take the opportunity to get her autograph now or I may never get it again.
I did talk to her about it, and she confirmed that she had said that because traveling from her home in England was really wearing her out now at the ripe age of 77. However, she also said to me that she isn’t totally 100% sure yet if she’ll be retuning or not (I figure it is because the Celebrations are just too much fun, but I don’t really know for sure). I actually was able to sympathize with her a little bit and talk about my own travels to Europe when I go with my wife to Germany to see her family. I can definitely relate to the “tiredness” factor, however I’m not 77 so I can only imagine how tiring it must be for her. Whatever she chooses to do in the end, she was great to talk to in person, and I hope she decides to come to the States at least one more time for Celebration VI.
Oh, wait a minute! Scratch that remark about Blakiston being the final autograph I got. As I was walking past booth #536 (you convention-goers know which booth I’m talkin’ about) I realized that there was a signing going on by the artists of The Clone Wars webcomic series that first debuted on StarWars.com that I was told about the day before but had forgotten about. Thankfully, I jogged my memory by walking past the booth at the right time! Grant Gould, Katie Cook, Tom Hodges, Jeff Carlisle and even comic writer/developer Pablo Hidalgo were all signing! I picked up a copy of Star Wars: Tales from the Clone Wars Season 1 webcomic collection and had them sign it… well all but Tom Hodges who, for some reason was absent when I went to the booth (probably took a bathroom break or something). I’ll have to find him at Celebration VI whenever that comes around and have him sign it then. The book is definitely a great supplement to any fan of The Clone Wars and I highly recommend picking up a copy.
I had planned on attending the Postcards from the Princess: Carrie Fisher panel, but it turned out that she canceled to go visit her dad on his birthday. Since I had already seen her panel at Celebration IV in L.A., I was okay with it. In place of her panel, they decided to re-screen the Jon Stewart interview with George Lucas at the same stage Fisher was previously scheduled to appear at. To our surprise, however, Fisher made one final appearance at the stage before they started the video to tell us why she had to leave and to recite her “Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi,” dialog in its entirety for us, which was met with much applause.
After that, at the same stage, was The Man, The Sith, The Legend: Ray Park panel. Ray Park was not only the man who played the villainous Darth Maul in The Phantom Menace, but was also the Headless Horseman in Sleepy Hollow, Toad in X-Men, and Snake Eyes in G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. I had first met Park at Celebration III, and I had my Master Replicas lightsaber with me at that time, so he asked if he could swing it around “Darth Maul” style in front of everyone. Apparently he likes to do that whenever a fan with a lightsaber meets him. The man is an amazing martial arts master and a really fun guy in person.
I had never actually got around to attending Ray Park’s Celebration panel sessions until now, mostly because I was off doing something else like seeing another panel I was even more interested in, or in line getting someone’s autograph. So I was excited to finally be able to go. The panel session basically was a celebration of his career and how far he has come since his role in The Phantom Menace. We watched various clips from his films and Jay Laga’aia interviewed him about working on Star Wars and other projects. The guy is so enthusiastic about his fans, and loves to talk about the roles he’s played. He is exactly the opposite of his character in Star Wars. Seriously, if you’re a fan of anything he’s done, and you have the chance to meet him, DO IT! He’s awesome.
Since I was still scheduled to get my photo taken with Carrie Fisher, and she had left to go see her dad, I had to go and see what the situation was with getting my money back. Thankfully it wasn’t a problem and I got a refund. However, it was still disappointing that I wouldn’t be getting a photo with her though, since the Mark Hamill one turned out so great! I hope that if there’s a Celebration VI, and Fisher attends again, that I can get a photo then. But hey, I still have my Celebration IV autograph from her though, where she signed and dated it “5/25/07” – the 30th anniversary of the original Star Wars.
My dad and I met up at The Art of Ralph McQuarrie room to look at some of the actual artwork from THE head honcho of Star Wars conceptual art for the original three films. Seriously, this guy is a master of drawing, painting and everything else under the sun that has anything to do with conceptual art. It is one thing to see his famous works in a book or a reprint on a poster, but it’s completely different when you actually see the brush strokes on his actual paintings or the pencil smudges on his drawings for Star Wars. This room also had some newly discovered works of his that had not seen the light of day for decades, so it was truly an honor to be able to roam around this room and just soak it all in. Lorne Peterson, model maker for all six Star Wars films, was wandering around there as well , which was really cool.
The last thing I would do at this convention was attend the Star Wars: The Clone Wars Season Three Revealed panel with supervising director Dave Filoni and CG supervisor Joel Aron. They showed a few clips from the upcoming season as well as a full-blown trailer, which you can see here. You can read more about my thoughts on it at that link, but let me just say that I was blown away by what I saw.
And that was it. It was all over. Sure I would be in Orlando for a few more days, but the Convention itself was done and there was so much more than I wanted to see. Celebration V was just huge! If you are a Star Wars fan, this was definitely an event not to be missed. I was sort of fearing that it wouldn’t be as great an experience at the first two Celebrations I went to, but honestly, they keep getting better and better!
It is really difficult to explain just how great these events are to someone who hasn’t been to one before. You really need to experience it for yourself, as a fan, to understand it fully. Dreams really do come true at events like this, and, as a Star Wars fan, there’s no bigger way to fulfill those dreams than to attend a Star Wars Celebration yourself (or get a job at Lucasfilm). It is simply one gigantic Star Wars fan experience, where you not only get to do the types of things I wrote about here, but you also make new friends – people who actually get Star Wars. As a fan myself, I know how difficult it is to find people who love the films in the same way you do, so it’s nice to wait in line with people who you can immediately start up a conversation with. You never know who you’ll meet and connect with at these events.
If you are a fan, and you missed out on this event, make sure you don’t miss out on the next, as I am sure it’ll be even bigger and better than this one was. You can check out StarWars.com‘s video of Day 4 by clicking here.
Update: Check out this fan made HD video of Celebration V by automattox. This might give you a small idea of what it was like.
Check out past Star Wars Celebration V Blog posts:
