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lazypadawanSaturday August 14
There was no way no how we were going to bother with the vaunted "Main Event" with George Lucas and Jon Stewart. Debbie, Marie, and I have seen Lucas speak before, at an event at George Washington University's Lisner Auditorium back in '97. We didn't have to camp out on the concrete all night. Besides that, none of us really liked Stewart either. I wasn't expecting any Earth-shattering news, with my prediction being that if anything was brought up, it would be the SW Blu-Rays. So, on Saturday morning we did our usual routine, said howdy to the staff at Denny's (they knew us by now), and got into line for the bus. We met a very animated, amicable fellow who was an airline pilot for U.S. Airways and he kept us entertained for the next few hours. He showed us pictures on his iPhone of different locales from the cockpit, usually shot during takeoff. He also mentioned that pilots frequently do "tour views" over places just for laughs and giggles, as long as it doesn't lose any time or fuel. He talked about one time when they pushed back from the gate, leaving behind Adam from "Mythbusters." The other staff from the show mentioned it to the pilots and since they were fellow geeks, they pulled up back at the gate to get him.
Anthony Daniels came by the Star Wars Fan Corral again and I saw him pose for a picture with a girl in a Snowbunny Padme costume, which I recognized as ladyaeryn. Lucky duck!
The plan for Saturday was to follow the airline pilot, Debbie, and Marie to the Hallmark booth, since Marie wanted to buy an ornament for someone who couldn’t attend the con and Debbie wanted the buttons they were giving away. They capped the line just as we got there, no thanks to exhibitors, VIPs, and volunteers who got in line before the rest of the great unwashed. But we learned a new expression that day…never leave the gate until the plane pushes back. Despite the line cap, they still had ornaments left so Marie was able to snag one. Debbie and I got buttons. Next we all headed to the Cartamundi booth. I hadn't known until now that they cut corners on a promotional card to give you a daily exclusive playing card featuring Ralph McQuarrie's artwork. I showed them my card and my four day pass, so they gave me three cards to make up for the days I missed. Nice!
From there we split up. I went over to the Official Pix section to see if Jaime King had started signing yet. She wasn't there; she like almost all of the VIPs were at the Main Event. But there was already a big line. This hawk-faced, unsmiling woman in a red shirt who worked for Official Pix walked over to the volunteer working the line and barked out a bunch of questions. She waved at the back of the line and said, "Who are these people?" Uh, we're paying customers waiting for an autograph?? She pointed at the guy in front of me and said, "Cap the line here." What about me? Especially since there was no one behind me? When Ilsa She Wolf Of Official Pix walked off the volunteer shrugged and told me I could stay. No one else could get in line until Ms. King showed up, and no one really knew when that would be. After a while we were told King wasn't going to start signing until 12:30. That was at least an hour and a half away. I didn't feel like hanging around, so I decided to come back around then.
I took advantage of the 6500 fewer people to look at the amazing R2 Builders' exhibit. It's certainly not a cheap hobby…every placard listed how much each R2 unit cost to build, and it's the price of a used car. Many of the builders are what one would expect: engineers, an auto body specialist, graphic artists, prop builders, Hollywood VFX artists, etc.. Then you also had a self-described scrapbooking mom and a 17-year-old girl. I couldn't build one of those things out of papier mache, much less craft one out of real metal, fiberglass, or wood. In addition, the room had all kinds of cool life-sized dioramas, even a snowtrooper with a gun that read "Free Rebel Photos. Smile And Wait For The Flash." R2 building has come a long way since it started as a somewhat obscure hobby about 10 years ago and I wouldn't be surprised if someone very soon figures out how to put an Apple G4 into one and have it do all of the cool stuff you see Artoo do in the movies.
From there I headed upstairs to check out the Ralph McQuarrie exhibit. Lots of very beautiful pieces were on display and I could actually get up right in front to look at them. It's too bad the frail McQuarrie couldn't make the convention but I wrote a few words for him in the exhibit's guest book, which is supposed to be given to McQuarrie after the show.
By this time it was getting to be close to the end of the Main Event and I had already noticed that a t.v. outside of the 501st's room was simulcasting it. The volume was really low, even as I was standing right under the t.v., but I could hear bits and pieces of what was being said. I showed up in time for Stewart to get his custom stormtrooper figure, a gift from Hasbro. Hey, I've been here 33 years and I haven't got boo from them. They also showed some clips from Clone Wars Season Three, including one where Lucas's character from ROTS gets into a crazy shootout. One thing I know from many years of seeing the Steve Jobs speech at any convention is that the good stuff gets saved for last. Sure enough, Lucas brought up the Blu-Rays. What did I tell ya? He didn't give a specific date--starwars.com later noted that the Blu Rays were set for Fall 2011--but he did talk about new stuff and deleted scenes. Then they brought out Mark Hamill and rolled tape on the now-widely-viewed ROTJ cut footage. The crowd went nuts. The people around me went nuts. I have to say, it's a very cool scene and my first reaction was, "That has to go back in." Had I seen this footage in 1995, I would have thought it interesting but not essential to the film. Having seen it now, in light of Eps I-III, it's too awesome not to use! The scene really emphasizes that Luke could have gone either way in ROTJ, something that was never apparent until you saw the prequels and noticed that no Jedi save Anakin ever dressed the way Luke did or choked anyone. Dave Filoni raved about this scene later on during the Clone Wars Season Three panel, saying it reminded him of Darth Sidious. Yes, Sidious or ROTS Darth Vader.
Once that was over, I headed over to a Nathan's booth for a hot dog, which I ate with a banana. Then it was back to Official Pix Land for more pain and misery.
By now, King was at the table and signing but the line was, yes, long. Official Pix decided to retroactively apply its numbered wristband system. I was fine with letting people with smaller numbers ahead of me, but once again, they tried to make everyone with a larger number go away and come back whenever. When these people can't even tell you when somebody's signing and they don't know how long that person is signing, forget that! I stood my ground. King was only signing that day and if I leave, by the time the Clone Wars panel was finished, she might be gone and I'd have a $20 ticket that I can't use and can't return for a refund.
An aside about OP. I don't know if the organization is getting too big or if the folks running it now are new, but it just isn't as efficient as it used to be. I experienced this at Comic Con, when they were haphazardly announcing when people were coming to sign and they couldn't tell you someone's hours or how much the autograph was going to cost. I have been to many conventions since the early 1990s and have gotten into many lines for autographs. At virtually every one of them, a personality has a set day and time to appear. I know these folks are human too and need potty breaks, smoke breaks, or lunch breaks. I know many of them are working actors and have professional obligations that might prevent them from attending or cut an appearance short. There are traffic jams and cancelled/delayed flights. They could have personal emergencies or get sick. I get all of that. But while OP probably needs its stars more than the stars need them, at the same time, they're taking OUR money and they need to respect the fans. Everyone should have a set schedule with a cost in advance and Official Pix ought to have that information available to people. Let me tell ya, I was plenty steamed. This is so it for Official Pix as far as I'm concerned.
So I bided my time in line but I grew worried that things were cutting too close for the Clone Wars panel. Sure, if worst came to worst, I could have seen it on Sunday but goshdurnit, I wanted to see all of the Season Three stuff FIRST.
Anyway, I finally got to the front and Jaime King couldn't be nicer, though it sounded like she had a little bit of a cold. She's very pretty too. I was wearing my sparkly Her Universe hat and she said, "I love your hat! It's awesome!" I told her she needed to get Ashley Eckstein to make her one.
From there I dashed up to the fourth floor to line up outside of the Digital Theater, praying it wouldn't be too late. I saw ladyaeryn and sreya in line but I was good and got into line without cutting. I met up with them once I got inside and sat with them. Prior to the panel, they were showing shots from the mega expensive, 1500 lb. Star Wars Frames. When they showed the frame from TPM with Darth Maul falling in half, people cheered. Heh heh. They had a great Anakin/Padme shot from ROTS too.
Finally, the panel got rolling with Joel Aron and Dave Filoni. We saw many new sequences from Clone Wars with Asajj Ventress, who was sadly missing from Season Two. Dooku fights some invisible ninjas, and we meet the Nightsisters of Dathomir and Darth Maul's brother Bradley. But he prefers to go by his screen name "Savage Oppress." (Okay, I made up that part about Bradley.) Filoni, a Pittsburgh native, noted Savage had Steeler colors though that wasn't intentional. Right. In any case, Darth Maul having an evil brother kicking around might sound rather fan fic-ish but hey, if they made Anakin having a padawan work, I don't see why not. A longer trailer was shown at the end with a brief glimpse of Republic Commandos, which made the crowd go nuts. We can expect to see more of Satine, too. How about a catfight with Asajj over Obi-Wan? Now that would be hilarious.
There was some discussion about continuity, the expanded universe, and the show, which was rather interesting. Personally, I'm okay with leaving Aurra Sing as a kick-butt bounty hunter instead of a crazy Jedi washout with a bad childhood (Filoni noted that Asajj already fills that role). As far as I’m concerned, CW only needs to not contradict the films. The other stuff is apocrypha and being too slavish to the EU ends up being creatively stifling. How many of the eight year olds watching the show have read or played everything produced since the 1990s anyway?
Speaking of kids, I was there when the kid asked Filoni about any OT characters showing up in Season Three and when Filoni hedged, he uttered the catchphrase of the year, "Don't hide what's inside." Too funny!
After the panel, I wandered around in confusion, looking for where the fashion show thing was supposed to be held. I bumped into a collector I knew from Northern VA, chatted a little, and realized I had the wrong location. It was out in the exhibit hall, DUH! So after walking about half a mile, I was at the stage that was the very same one used at Comic Con. The fashion show was short, about 15 minutes long, and no big shakes. If you didn't catch it, you didn't miss anything terribly exciting. The only new stuff were some tees from Bloomingdales that will be out this fall (all OT only of course…pffft) and some new stuff from Adidas (dittos…pfffft).
Afterwards, I went over to Tattoo-land. I'd been by there on Thursday and I really admired the artwork done on some skateboards on display. Another tattoo booth had a banner with Yoda tattooing Vader and there are a long list of names below "Mom" that had been crossed out, heh heh. Another booth had a funny banner of several SW characters tattooing a Slave Leia. Now, I am not a tattoo person. I hate needles, I hate pain, and I don’t want my body marked up with stuff that's stuck there forever. Even if I was into tattoos, I wouldn't get one in a convention center. Now before someone complains that this is done all of the time at tattoo shows, I wouldn't get a root canal or a boob lift at a convention center either and they are all forms of surgery. Besides, what a hassle it must be to keep it all slathered with cream and making sure it doesn't get infected while at a con in a disgustingly hot and humid location. All of that said, I do like some of the artwork they come up with for these things. There were some flash sets for sale with some cool artwork, so I bought that, and I got "The Force In The Flesh," a show special at $40.
Tired for the day, I headed back for the Econo Lodge to get ready for Last Tour To Endor. We decided to drive there instead of taking the buses, since the convention center shuttles stopped running at 9 p.m.. Using Debbie's evil GPS navigator, we miraculously managed to find the park. Fortunately they waived the $14 parking fee. $14??? Sheesh. Anyway, we rode the tram to the park entrance and got our wristbands. Yet another one! It was hotter than ace at the park and very muggy, even with the sun going down. We found a place to eat, then we headed over to Star Tours. Debbie had never been at this Star Tours before, so she took a lot of pictures before going on the ride. Somehow, we totally missed the "trailer" for the new Star Tours that apparently played on the monitors. Oh well.
Let me tell ya, I've been on Star Tours at both Disney World and Disneyland many times but it was a blast to go on the ride with nothing but hardcore Star Wars fans. While I'll miss this version, I look forward to Star Tours 2.0 next year.
After the ride, we walked into pandemonium at Tatooine Traders. It. Was. MOBBED. But did that stop us from attempting to buy anything? Of course not! I grabbed a few pins and got into line with Marie outside. Debbie eventually joined us. Yes, the line stretched outside and down the side. We waited over an hour to get to the cash registers and in the meantime, we just missed George Lucas. Figures. As we got close to the front, a guy who only wanted to buy a single pin for his son asked me if I would take some cash and purchase it for him. Hey, it was the kid's birthday and everything. I didn't think it was fair to have to stand in that godawful line for a single pin, so I said, "Sure." I bought the pin and refused to keep any of the change. I was just helping out a fellow fan.
Unfortunately, we got out of the store too late to catch the first Indiana Jones show, so we walked over to the Great Movie Ride and went on that because it was air conditioned. Everybody cheered when ANH came up on the big screen at the end. We went by the main stage where they were doing trivia questions. I thought the guy was asking, "What political party did Leia belong to?" Strange, since that was never addressed, but being me, I shouted out, "The Libertarian Party!" Everyone around me laughed. Then I realized he meant, political body. Don't blame me, I'm over 40. Anyway, we went from there to the Death Star Disco where we watched Darth Goofy and Stormtrooper Donald dance with fans. The DJ wore an Imperial uniform and the mirrored ball was made up to look like a Death Star. It was also air conditioned, which was nice.
We decided to head back over to see the Indiana Jones thing at 9:50, where I saw the ubiquitous Dave Filoni standing outside of the attraction without his hat. The theater was completely packed to the rafters and even standing room was two or three people deep. I'm a bit claustrophobic and at 5'4", there wasn't much I was going to see anyway. We gave up on the Indy show and walked toward the Tower of Terror, stopping off for a strawberry-flavored slushie. I needed it. The sultry air just hung there oppressively. There was hardly a breeze. If it was this bad for me, it was a nightmare for Debbie and Marie, neither of which have never done time in the tropics like I have. They went on the Tower of Terror, while I waited. I hate rides with freefall drops. Once they were done with the ride, we decided to go. They just couldn't take the heat and humidity anymore.
It would have been nice to hang around to see the fireworks show but I had a good time nonetheless. Nice job, Disney...just keep more registers open the next time.
There was no way no how we were going to bother with the vaunted "Main Event" with George Lucas and Jon Stewart. Debbie, Marie, and I have seen Lucas speak before, at an event at George Washington University's Lisner Auditorium back in '97. We didn't have to camp out on the concrete all night. Besides that, none of us really liked Stewart either. I wasn't expecting any Earth-shattering news, with my prediction being that if anything was brought up, it would be the SW Blu-Rays. So, on Saturday morning we did our usual routine, said howdy to the staff at Denny's (they knew us by now), and got into line for the bus. We met a very animated, amicable fellow who was an airline pilot for U.S. Airways and he kept us entertained for the next few hours. He showed us pictures on his iPhone of different locales from the cockpit, usually shot during takeoff. He also mentioned that pilots frequently do "tour views" over places just for laughs and giggles, as long as it doesn't lose any time or fuel. He talked about one time when they pushed back from the gate, leaving behind Adam from "Mythbusters." The other staff from the show mentioned it to the pilots and since they were fellow geeks, they pulled up back at the gate to get him.
Anthony Daniels came by the Star Wars Fan Corral again and I saw him pose for a picture with a girl in a Snowbunny Padme costume, which I recognized as ladyaeryn. Lucky duck!
The plan for Saturday was to follow the airline pilot, Debbie, and Marie to the Hallmark booth, since Marie wanted to buy an ornament for someone who couldn’t attend the con and Debbie wanted the buttons they were giving away. They capped the line just as we got there, no thanks to exhibitors, VIPs, and volunteers who got in line before the rest of the great unwashed. But we learned a new expression that day…never leave the gate until the plane pushes back. Despite the line cap, they still had ornaments left so Marie was able to snag one. Debbie and I got buttons. Next we all headed to the Cartamundi booth. I hadn't known until now that they cut corners on a promotional card to give you a daily exclusive playing card featuring Ralph McQuarrie's artwork. I showed them my card and my four day pass, so they gave me three cards to make up for the days I missed. Nice!
From there we split up. I went over to the Official Pix section to see if Jaime King had started signing yet. She wasn't there; she like almost all of the VIPs were at the Main Event. But there was already a big line. This hawk-faced, unsmiling woman in a red shirt who worked for Official Pix walked over to the volunteer working the line and barked out a bunch of questions. She waved at the back of the line and said, "Who are these people?" Uh, we're paying customers waiting for an autograph?? She pointed at the guy in front of me and said, "Cap the line here." What about me? Especially since there was no one behind me? When Ilsa She Wolf Of Official Pix walked off the volunteer shrugged and told me I could stay. No one else could get in line until Ms. King showed up, and no one really knew when that would be. After a while we were told King wasn't going to start signing until 12:30. That was at least an hour and a half away. I didn't feel like hanging around, so I decided to come back around then.
I took advantage of the 6500 fewer people to look at the amazing R2 Builders' exhibit. It's certainly not a cheap hobby…every placard listed how much each R2 unit cost to build, and it's the price of a used car. Many of the builders are what one would expect: engineers, an auto body specialist, graphic artists, prop builders, Hollywood VFX artists, etc.. Then you also had a self-described scrapbooking mom and a 17-year-old girl. I couldn't build one of those things out of papier mache, much less craft one out of real metal, fiberglass, or wood. In addition, the room had all kinds of cool life-sized dioramas, even a snowtrooper with a gun that read "Free Rebel Photos. Smile And Wait For The Flash." R2 building has come a long way since it started as a somewhat obscure hobby about 10 years ago and I wouldn't be surprised if someone very soon figures out how to put an Apple G4 into one and have it do all of the cool stuff you see Artoo do in the movies.
From there I headed upstairs to check out the Ralph McQuarrie exhibit. Lots of very beautiful pieces were on display and I could actually get up right in front to look at them. It's too bad the frail McQuarrie couldn't make the convention but I wrote a few words for him in the exhibit's guest book, which is supposed to be given to McQuarrie after the show.
By this time it was getting to be close to the end of the Main Event and I had already noticed that a t.v. outside of the 501st's room was simulcasting it. The volume was really low, even as I was standing right under the t.v., but I could hear bits and pieces of what was being said. I showed up in time for Stewart to get his custom stormtrooper figure, a gift from Hasbro. Hey, I've been here 33 years and I haven't got boo from them. They also showed some clips from Clone Wars Season Three, including one where Lucas's character from ROTS gets into a crazy shootout. One thing I know from many years of seeing the Steve Jobs speech at any convention is that the good stuff gets saved for last. Sure enough, Lucas brought up the Blu-Rays. What did I tell ya? He didn't give a specific date--starwars.com later noted that the Blu Rays were set for Fall 2011--but he did talk about new stuff and deleted scenes. Then they brought out Mark Hamill and rolled tape on the now-widely-viewed ROTJ cut footage. The crowd went nuts. The people around me went nuts. I have to say, it's a very cool scene and my first reaction was, "That has to go back in." Had I seen this footage in 1995, I would have thought it interesting but not essential to the film. Having seen it now, in light of Eps I-III, it's too awesome not to use! The scene really emphasizes that Luke could have gone either way in ROTJ, something that was never apparent until you saw the prequels and noticed that no Jedi save Anakin ever dressed the way Luke did or choked anyone. Dave Filoni raved about this scene later on during the Clone Wars Season Three panel, saying it reminded him of Darth Sidious. Yes, Sidious or ROTS Darth Vader.
Once that was over, I headed over to a Nathan's booth for a hot dog, which I ate with a banana. Then it was back to Official Pix Land for more pain and misery.
By now, King was at the table and signing but the line was, yes, long. Official Pix decided to retroactively apply its numbered wristband system. I was fine with letting people with smaller numbers ahead of me, but once again, they tried to make everyone with a larger number go away and come back whenever. When these people can't even tell you when somebody's signing and they don't know how long that person is signing, forget that! I stood my ground. King was only signing that day and if I leave, by the time the Clone Wars panel was finished, she might be gone and I'd have a $20 ticket that I can't use and can't return for a refund.
An aside about OP. I don't know if the organization is getting too big or if the folks running it now are new, but it just isn't as efficient as it used to be. I experienced this at Comic Con, when they were haphazardly announcing when people were coming to sign and they couldn't tell you someone's hours or how much the autograph was going to cost. I have been to many conventions since the early 1990s and have gotten into many lines for autographs. At virtually every one of them, a personality has a set day and time to appear. I know these folks are human too and need potty breaks, smoke breaks, or lunch breaks. I know many of them are working actors and have professional obligations that might prevent them from attending or cut an appearance short. There are traffic jams and cancelled/delayed flights. They could have personal emergencies or get sick. I get all of that. But while OP probably needs its stars more than the stars need them, at the same time, they're taking OUR money and they need to respect the fans. Everyone should have a set schedule with a cost in advance and Official Pix ought to have that information available to people. Let me tell ya, I was plenty steamed. This is so it for Official Pix as far as I'm concerned.
So I bided my time in line but I grew worried that things were cutting too close for the Clone Wars panel. Sure, if worst came to worst, I could have seen it on Sunday but goshdurnit, I wanted to see all of the Season Three stuff FIRST.
Anyway, I finally got to the front and Jaime King couldn't be nicer, though it sounded like she had a little bit of a cold. She's very pretty too. I was wearing my sparkly Her Universe hat and she said, "I love your hat! It's awesome!" I told her she needed to get Ashley Eckstein to make her one.
From there I dashed up to the fourth floor to line up outside of the Digital Theater, praying it wouldn't be too late. I saw ladyaeryn and sreya in line but I was good and got into line without cutting. I met up with them once I got inside and sat with them. Prior to the panel, they were showing shots from the mega expensive, 1500 lb. Star Wars Frames. When they showed the frame from TPM with Darth Maul falling in half, people cheered. Heh heh. They had a great Anakin/Padme shot from ROTS too.
Finally, the panel got rolling with Joel Aron and Dave Filoni. We saw many new sequences from Clone Wars with Asajj Ventress, who was sadly missing from Season Two. Dooku fights some invisible ninjas, and we meet the Nightsisters of Dathomir and Darth Maul's brother Bradley. But he prefers to go by his screen name "Savage Oppress." (Okay, I made up that part about Bradley.) Filoni, a Pittsburgh native, noted Savage had Steeler colors though that wasn't intentional. Right. In any case, Darth Maul having an evil brother kicking around might sound rather fan fic-ish but hey, if they made Anakin having a padawan work, I don't see why not. A longer trailer was shown at the end with a brief glimpse of Republic Commandos, which made the crowd go nuts. We can expect to see more of Satine, too. How about a catfight with Asajj over Obi-Wan? Now that would be hilarious.
There was some discussion about continuity, the expanded universe, and the show, which was rather interesting. Personally, I'm okay with leaving Aurra Sing as a kick-butt bounty hunter instead of a crazy Jedi washout with a bad childhood (Filoni noted that Asajj already fills that role). As far as I’m concerned, CW only needs to not contradict the films. The other stuff is apocrypha and being too slavish to the EU ends up being creatively stifling. How many of the eight year olds watching the show have read or played everything produced since the 1990s anyway?
Speaking of kids, I was there when the kid asked Filoni about any OT characters showing up in Season Three and when Filoni hedged, he uttered the catchphrase of the year, "Don't hide what's inside." Too funny!
After the panel, I wandered around in confusion, looking for where the fashion show thing was supposed to be held. I bumped into a collector I knew from Northern VA, chatted a little, and realized I had the wrong location. It was out in the exhibit hall, DUH! So after walking about half a mile, I was at the stage that was the very same one used at Comic Con. The fashion show was short, about 15 minutes long, and no big shakes. If you didn't catch it, you didn't miss anything terribly exciting. The only new stuff were some tees from Bloomingdales that will be out this fall (all OT only of course…pffft) and some new stuff from Adidas (dittos…pfffft).
Afterwards, I went over to Tattoo-land. I'd been by there on Thursday and I really admired the artwork done on some skateboards on display. Another tattoo booth had a banner with Yoda tattooing Vader and there are a long list of names below "Mom" that had been crossed out, heh heh. Another booth had a funny banner of several SW characters tattooing a Slave Leia. Now, I am not a tattoo person. I hate needles, I hate pain, and I don’t want my body marked up with stuff that's stuck there forever. Even if I was into tattoos, I wouldn't get one in a convention center. Now before someone complains that this is done all of the time at tattoo shows, I wouldn't get a root canal or a boob lift at a convention center either and they are all forms of surgery. Besides, what a hassle it must be to keep it all slathered with cream and making sure it doesn't get infected while at a con in a disgustingly hot and humid location. All of that said, I do like some of the artwork they come up with for these things. There were some flash sets for sale with some cool artwork, so I bought that, and I got "The Force In The Flesh," a show special at $40.
Tired for the day, I headed back for the Econo Lodge to get ready for Last Tour To Endor. We decided to drive there instead of taking the buses, since the convention center shuttles stopped running at 9 p.m.. Using Debbie's evil GPS navigator, we miraculously managed to find the park. Fortunately they waived the $14 parking fee. $14??? Sheesh. Anyway, we rode the tram to the park entrance and got our wristbands. Yet another one! It was hotter than ace at the park and very muggy, even with the sun going down. We found a place to eat, then we headed over to Star Tours. Debbie had never been at this Star Tours before, so she took a lot of pictures before going on the ride. Somehow, we totally missed the "trailer" for the new Star Tours that apparently played on the monitors. Oh well.
Let me tell ya, I've been on Star Tours at both Disney World and Disneyland many times but it was a blast to go on the ride with nothing but hardcore Star Wars fans. While I'll miss this version, I look forward to Star Tours 2.0 next year.
After the ride, we walked into pandemonium at Tatooine Traders. It. Was. MOBBED. But did that stop us from attempting to buy anything? Of course not! I grabbed a few pins and got into line with Marie outside. Debbie eventually joined us. Yes, the line stretched outside and down the side. We waited over an hour to get to the cash registers and in the meantime, we just missed George Lucas. Figures. As we got close to the front, a guy who only wanted to buy a single pin for his son asked me if I would take some cash and purchase it for him. Hey, it was the kid's birthday and everything. I didn't think it was fair to have to stand in that godawful line for a single pin, so I said, "Sure." I bought the pin and refused to keep any of the change. I was just helping out a fellow fan.
Unfortunately, we got out of the store too late to catch the first Indiana Jones show, so we walked over to the Great Movie Ride and went on that because it was air conditioned. Everybody cheered when ANH came up on the big screen at the end. We went by the main stage where they were doing trivia questions. I thought the guy was asking, "What political party did Leia belong to?" Strange, since that was never addressed, but being me, I shouted out, "The Libertarian Party!" Everyone around me laughed. Then I realized he meant, political body. Don't blame me, I'm over 40. Anyway, we went from there to the Death Star Disco where we watched Darth Goofy and Stormtrooper Donald dance with fans. The DJ wore an Imperial uniform and the mirrored ball was made up to look like a Death Star. It was also air conditioned, which was nice.
We decided to head back over to see the Indiana Jones thing at 9:50, where I saw the ubiquitous Dave Filoni standing outside of the attraction without his hat. The theater was completely packed to the rafters and even standing room was two or three people deep. I'm a bit claustrophobic and at 5'4", there wasn't much I was going to see anyway. We gave up on the Indy show and walked toward the Tower of Terror, stopping off for a strawberry-flavored slushie. I needed it. The sultry air just hung there oppressively. There was hardly a breeze. If it was this bad for me, it was a nightmare for Debbie and Marie, neither of which have never done time in the tropics like I have. They went on the Tower of Terror, while I waited. I hate rides with freefall drops. Once they were done with the ride, we decided to go. They just couldn't take the heat and humidity anymore.
It would have been nice to hang around to see the fireworks show but I had a good time nonetheless. Nice job, Disney...just keep more registers open the next time.
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Date: 2010-08-20 07:47 pm (UTC)Mark Hamill coming out and introducing the deleted ROTJ scene was a highlight, and however badly Carrie Fisher may have behaved otherwise at CV, her coming out on the stage was another highlight. Mark knelt on one bended knee and extended his arms, as if to say, "Welcome, milady," and she curtsied...I think.
She then hugged and kissed all three men and proceeded to lend her...colorful perspective to the conversation. The sound wasn't that good, being as it was filmed on someone's (shaky) handheld camcorder, so one crack she uttered that had the audience howling was too garbled for me to make out. However, I did hear her crack about "working later in the sex booth" and then her leaning over and asking Lucas (Mark was seated between them), "Did you put the nude scenes back in the movies?"
It was a fun way to end the interview; I just wish Mark and Carrie could have stayed longer.
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Date: 2010-08-21 03:53 am (UTC)Wisely they steered away from the truly controversial though I have to say somebody needs to stop Lucas from making the sweeping generalization that older SW fans hate the PT while younger ones hate the OT. I don't know any fan who got on the bus with the prequels that dislikes the the first set of movies and the case that older SW fans hate the prequels is GREATLY overstated. I love all of the movies and most SW fans do too.
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Date: 2010-08-21 04:38 am (UTC)And yes, Lucas's remark about younger fans hating the OT was unwise, as well as untrue. It would be better, IMO, for him to talk about the movies as one saga, and not divide them up, or speak of the fans in "dividing" terms. We all know there are people who love the OT and hate the PT, and there probably ARE some people who love the PT but hate the OT...but why call attention to it?
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Date: 2010-08-21 05:18 am (UTC)Kyle Newman at the prequels panel said it wasn't smart to talk about the saga as two separate trilogies, as we often do intentionally or not, because that splits fans. I don't want to have to pick one over the other. It's not right to pit the prequels and against the first set of movies, pit the actors against each other, or pit fans against each other.
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Date: 2010-08-21 09:50 pm (UTC)Especially, I suppose, like when it must seem that nigh-well everywhere else he turns, like with the media and such - they're always harping and haranguing ad nauseam about the OT, and trying to vaunt it so far above and beyond the PT and even CW, at that....very likely this is the kind of response or feedback he's getting from the more self-styled "old-school" fans, as opposed to the newer, younger generation who may just be way the heck more about the PT and CW than anything else....and if these are the very fans he's met and talked to, if this is the kind of feedback he's gotten, then 'twould be no wonder at all that he'd have something to say about the difference in dynamic between the PT/CW and OT fans....because maybe he's the one who's experienced it directly, firsthand, above really anyone else. And, yeah, of course it'd be a mighty nice thing, and vastly preferable in any case, for it to just be considered by one and all to be a Saga as a whole....I-VI, and CW included in the mix, natch....
....for it just to be looked upon as one whole, blessed, beautiful Saga unto itself, absolutely that is far and away the preferable thing - and Papa George has said as much, too, that far as he's concerned it's all one story told over the span of six films (and now over TV too) comprising the whole of the Saga from start to finish....that is how he himself looks at it, he has said as much. And o' course, yeah, if only all fans everywhere would see it the very same, but alas - we know from painful personal experience that when it comes to some fan-types in particular, that's just not likely to happen....not yet, not with them. Though maybe there's still more positive hope to be had yet, in that regard, what with all the new fans who are coming into it by way of CW, the PT and what have you....just seems like they - by which I mean we all ;) :D - do have that far better sense of it, and intrinsically understand it - the Saga as a whole, the true arc and scope of the story - that much more.
Aaaahhhh, I don't know....food for thought, anyway, I suppose. :) But maybe so long as the Saga, and Papa GL, and the SW fandom as a whole has all of *us*, at least....there may, indeed, yet be hope. :D
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Date: 2010-08-21 08:01 am (UTC)But honestly, and I acknowledge this is anecdotal, but I've had it said to me by kids; they prefer the first three because there's more going on.
You're right though Lucas, & more especially Lucasfilm, need to start emphasizing the SAGA. I'll be very disappointed if that isn't the tack for this Blu-Ray release. My preference is for one complete boxed set. All six movies in one not, as has been the case in the past, two separate boxes collecting each trilogy on its own.