Five of the my most painful missed opportunities in fandom

[lazypadawan]

Over the past 33 years as a SW fan, I have seen and done a lot of cool things. But, you can't always get what you want. Once I missed out on a SW author book signing because my dad broke his leg after slipping on black ice on the driveway. I missed Celebrations I & III (though I don't consider the Great Denver Mud Party of 1999 much of a loss). As you all know, last year I missed the Comic Con fan club breakfast that I'd paid for.

Believe it or not though, I have had even more painful missed chances than those calamities. In most cases, I'm talking about them for the first time on LJ:

Honorable mention: A friend of mine who interviews actors and other celebrities for an entertainment website asked if I was interested in going with him to New York City to help interview Natalie Portman in 2004 during the promotional rounds for Garden State. The problem was the projected date for this was several days after I'd planned to leave Virginia for California. The only reason why it's an honorable mention was that my friend didn't make the publicists' cut, so even if I was willing and able, it would have been a wash anyway. Oh well.

5. Harrison Ford At The Kennedy Center (1994)

The world premiere of Clear And Present Danger was going to be at Washington, D.C.'s esteemed Kennedy Center during the summer of 1994. Not that my friends or I could afford tickets at the time, but there was going to be a big red carpet to-do with all of the stars, including Harrison Ford. My friends got very excited. We made plans to go to the red carpet strutfest and have dinner nearby afterwards. It would have been pretty easy for me, since at the time I was interning at the U.S. Copyright Office and all I had to do was go by Metro after work.

Then I started having second thoughts. I was VERY shy about meeting SW celebs in those days, or even just being near them. I told my friend Debbie I was considering not going. Then I decided to see how I felt the day of. I chickened out and bailed on going to the Kennedy Center. Just as well, otherwise this would have been the biggest or second-biggest missed opportunity. Around the time I left work, I could see the skies getting dark with clouds. It was part of a big thunderstorm that hit the Northeast, stranding Ford in NYC. He missed the premiere and all my poor disappointed friends could do was head off to TGI Fridays.

4. Bullrun (2006)

This is the only missed opportunity I've previously discussed, which you can read in its embarrassing glory here:

http://lazypadawan.livejournal.com/251423.html

But I had a chance six years ago to be in even closer proximity to the hunky Hayden...

3. Interview with Hayden Christensen (2003)

The same friend who almost hooked me up with the opportunity grill La Nat mercilessly almost had the opportunity to interview Hayden around the time Shattered Glass came out. He knew I was a big fan, so asked if I wanted to come to New York for the junket. Uh, heck yeah! But as it turned out, he forgot to return some publicist's call and well, sadly that was that. Waaah...

At least I hadn't bought my Amtrak ticket yet.

2. Charity showing of AOTC (2002)

In April or early May of 2002, I got an e-mail distributed to various SW fan groups in the D.C. area. It requested fans to don their Jedi duds, stormtrooper armor, and other SW costumes for the local charity premiere of AOTC several days prior to AOTC's release. If you remember, the charity premieres were for those paying $500 or so a head and local underprivileged or sick kids. The organizers wanted costumed fans to entertain the small fry before and after the movie. I decided against going because the screening was on Mother's Day and we were told we wouldn't be allowed to see the movie (only the kids and those who paid the $$$). Even for a good cause, I figured my mom would have gone ballistic if I ditched her on Mother's Day for SW. Then after I said no to attending the event, my mom announced she was going to Spain to visit my aunt for two weeks, missing Mother's Day. Then I find out after the event that not only were fan costumers given goody bags, they got to see the damn movie after all. Bah!

1. Interview with Mark Hamill (1996)

I wasn't going to interview Hamill, but James, my co-conspirator on Blue Harvest, was all set to chat with everyone's favorite ex-farmboy. It would have been a HUGE get for our humble little zine. Hamill was supposed to be in Chicago one weekend for a sci-fi/comics/etc. convention and through the con, James was able to schedule a time to sit down and interview him. Then on the day of the interview, everything that could go wrong did. Thanks to a messed up train schedule, James missed his time slot and couldn't reschedule it. Waaaaaahh...

Comments

[ladyaeryn.livejournal.com]

Missing out on Hayden twice? Oh, man!

I think my biggest miss was GL at C3. It was cold and rainy almost the entire time in Indy, and I'd heard people were going to camp out as early as the night before to get in to see him. My friend and I decided we didn't want to risk catching pneumonia and slept in. Then when we got there, we spoke to ami-padme, who had lined up sometime that morning and got in to see him. *facepalm* Still kicking myself over that one.

I suppose you could also count my hands being stuck in my camera bag while kneeling on the floor at C4 when Seth Green walked five feet in front of me. Not that I would have had the guts to say anything though, probably.

[lazypadawan.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I remember the Lucas thing. D'oh!

[a-blue-moon-cat.livejournal.com]

I could have seen Phantom of the Opera for very cheap via my travel agent friend when it was first on B'way with at least the same leads as the West End production. Instead, I took my money and spent the summer in DC. Museums=fun. Strange bf=not fun, after all. I'm still kicking myself over this mistake. Enjoyed the tourist bits and the yummy seafood and real delis, though.

Only thing that I can add to the SW fandom misses is not being able to convince my parents to let me attend the '76 Worldcon (Big Mac) with my friends. Poor college student. Myself and one other good friend were the only ones of a group of about 25 people who didn't get to go. Mark Hamill was there to promote SW, and some of these same people later remembered seeing him. Had I been there, I would have visited the booth all the time. :) That I later on dated for a while a sweet but not-so-smart guy who could have been Hamill's cuter brother doesn't make up for the fact that I could have met the Real Deal.

Last but not least: I had an original Force button from the press packet that was given out at an advance screening, and given to me by a dear friend. It lived in my jewelry box for many years, and was only taken out and worn on special occasions, like a new SW movie first show viewing. Alas, it was lost in a house fire a decade ago, and I've never had the heart to replace it. It might have had value on Ebay, but the sentimental value was much more important to me.

That same friend also gave me an early copy of the SW novel. I knew from that book that this movie was going to be great. How important it would become, and how it would change the face of movie-making forever, was something that never occurred to me in my wildest dreams. I was just hoping for a fun, action/adventure SF flick like from the good ole days. And I got so much more. SW will always be in my Top Ten list of best movies of all times. I've seen it more times than any other movie, I think. Only movie that could come close (for how many times viewed) would be RHPS. :)

[lazypadawan.livejournal.com]

Oh man, missing WorldCon in '76! As for the pin, it sucks to lose something irreplaceable like that.

I found a beat-up but really cheap copy of the first edition of the ANH novelization, the one that came out with the different cover in 1976. I picked it up at a used book sale in Washington, D.C. not too long before I moved. It's cool to have even though it's not the best shape.