Worked from 8 to 2:30 Janet drove me to the airport Got on flight 1170 to Indianapolis at 4:58 Sit on the runway for a half hour because they don't know what the weight of the cargo is A nice flight to Indy, arrive at 6:30 Wait for RM in the food court until her flight from Dallas arrives at 8:25 Meet RM, who I have known online for nearly three years. She is such a cutie. My first thought is, "Why isn't she married with a family?" Take a taxi to the Embassy Suites hotel and sit up talking and planing our weekend until midnight
Wake up at 8:00 and eat the free breakfast. Start our 2 hour quest for entrance at 9:00 There is no way to know which door to wait at. so we look for the end of the first line... never find it Someone in the crowd points to a line blocks away across the railroad tracks and says that's the line for people with memberships We get to the end of that line. The doors are suppose to open at 10:00. We finally make it in after 11:00. But met some cool people in line, including a guy from Venezuela who has lived in Indy for 8 years We head straight for the line to the store We waited about ten minutes and I went to find the front of the line and couldn't, so we gave up and went to find the line for the Opening Ceremonies
12:00 "Opening Ceremonies" Coruscant - Sagamore Ballroom - Master of Ceremonies Anthony Daniels
We were one of the last ones to make it up the stairs before they blocked it off, which was ridiculous, because half the ballroom ended up staying empty We had great seats, saw Steve Sansweet, Anthony Daniels, Hayden Christensen, and Rick McCallum. They showed videos from the people in E2 who couldn't be there. Showed teaser trailers and showed the most awesome Yoda trailer! RM and I decided the Opening Ceremonies were worth the entire trip! Until we had more fun!
2:00 "Life, Death, and Rebirth: The Expanding Sage of The New Jedi Order" with the authors Aaron Allston, Troy Denning, James Luceno, and Bob Salvatore; and Shelly Shapiro from Del Rey Books and Sue Rostoni from Lucas Publishing. Naboo - Hosted by Doug Steves.
We sat in the second row and RM gets Aaron's autograph!!! He wrote "Yub Yub!" in her Starfighters of Adumar I was floored by all the spoilers and deaths and babies.... I heard tooooooo much!!! RM kept telling me not to listen
3:00 We finally make it to the Celebration Store.
No one is there because they are out of everything I get a pin and a shirt that is way to small
3:30 Ticket line for the Concert
It's very short. We get them right away. $12 a piece and a lime green paper that designates the section we have to sit in.
4:00 RM and I meet Tark from the Council/Senate in the Exhibit hall
Meet twin sisters Tark and Darth Sis, who are so cool! They are full of spunk and laughs. Tark is an artist with an animated film in the Fan Film Awards Buy an Oola action figure and Luke and Dak pilot figures Then it's time to get in another line...
5:00 "The Lando/Lobot Reunion" Tatooine - 500 Ballroom - Hosted by Scott Chernoff
Billy Dee Williams took questions the whole hour and the brought out John Hollis for the last five minutes There were a lot of idiots asking Billy how many times people come up to him and say "Hey you old Smoothie!" There was a little boy dressed like Lando who asked, "Did you cut your hair?" and Lando asked him up on stage. He was a doll. It was a great show!
6:00 "Joel and Nash Edgerton Talk About Filmmaking" Dagobah - Hosted by Doug Steves
We get some pizza and chill out watching the brothers Joel plays the young Owen Lars and Nash in Ewan McGregor's stunt double Then we go wait in another line...
8:30 "Star Wars Fan Film Awards" Coruscant - Hosted by Scott Chernoff
In line we are at the front. We talk to some people about the novels and I have to cover my ears to more spoilers We watch a couple make a mini film where a guy is slipping through the curtain sneaking someone's McDonald's fries. They get a stormtrooper to play along, too The awards were golden C-3PO and R2s The Awards are filmed for the SCI FI Channel and Jim Ward accidentally says shit. Then of course Scott Chernoff has to say it, too! Lou Tambone (T'bone) and Jeff Cioletti's film "Silent But Deadly" took two honorable mentions and second place in the Fan voting at Atomfilms.com. Bernice Gordon's (Tark's) film, "Words of Jedi Wisdom" didn't win :( George Lucas gave his pick by video, it was an animated musical called "Christmas Tauntauns." The rest of the winners are here Finally got to meet T'bone and his wife and son. T made a be-line for me after I said, "There he is!" But they had to get Zack to bed, so they left. We also met Nalini Krishan from Episode 2, because T is her personal assistant. But it wasn't nearly as exciting as meeting T'bone. I might be sorry for that when she becomes a big star. She certainly was beautiful, she is Fijian, Indian Nepalese and moved to Australia when she was 2
10:00 Tatooine-500 Ballroom
We watch the end of The Phantom Menace and the beginning of A New Hope with a couple hundred other people In between the movies was a funny guy putting on a one man show of Star Wars parodies I was bored adn playing with my action figures. Then I was falling asleep so we went back to the hotel We got slightly post trying to find it and were in bed just after midnight
Wake up an hour earlier at 7:00 Grab a bagel and banana and run End up in the same place in line, about 6 blocks from the door, but it moves fast and we are right behind the greatest Darth Vader and his 20-something daughter! They were a riot! Some idiot scheduled a 5K race through downtown the same weekend. All the streets were blocked off. As the runners ran by they yelled out, "The Force is with us!" and Vader, with his Vader voice, waved his hand and said, "move along, move along." Then kids, who were running in the race, started coming up to Vader and moms were taking their pictures. It was hilarious! We are in by 9:30, we get in the line for the store and stay in it! By 11:00 we each have 2 Jorg Sacul action figures (the Rebel pilot with George Lucas' face) and I have a shirt that fits me, but RM didn't get the shirt she wanted :(
11:30 "Rebel Heroes: Time Rose (Admiral Ackbar), Mike Quinn (Nein Nunb), Ian Liston (Wes Janson), Garrick Hagon (Biggs Darklighter), William Hootkins (Jek Porkins), Angus MacInnes (Gold Leader), and Bruce Boa (General Rieekan)." Tatooine - 500 Ballroom - Hosted by Scott Chernoff
They were so COOL!!!! Mike Quinn and Tim Rose are also puppeteers who worked on Jabba and Sy Snootles Ian Liston was a good looking Englishman!!! William Hootkins was a riot! Witty and hilarious, I wish I had written down all the things he said! Bruce Boa told a story about how Star Wars fans come together to make one big happy family (or something to the effect) and he was so serious about it that I felt like I was listening to Rieekan himself!
1:00 Pop Culture Room
A dark room with a projection screen showing 6 straight hours of Star Wars tv We only stayed long enough to rest. We saw a clip from SNL where they sold Mark Hamill on the Home Shopping Network, some old commercials, and a trailer for Star Wars (ANH) from 1977
1:30 Exhibit Hall
We finally find some postcards to send the Arena members Watch another fan film being made with a man in a awesome Wookiee suit standing next to the giant action figure box Off to another line...
2:30 "Rick McCallum's Spectacular!" Tatooine - 500 Ballroom - Hosted by Scott Chernoff
SPOILERS GALORE! McCallum showed us 8 minutes of Episode II, the newest trailer, a short on the digital graphics process, and the best trailer ever.... again.... YODA!!!! The music to the digital production short was damn cool, but McCallum wouldn't say who wrote it
3:30 Fan Club Room
Get my picture taken with a cool rebel pilot (named Mike I think) and talk to of some stormtroopers and pilots I recognized from Dragon*Con (That's George Metz below) Get some free crap and meet some cool people from Minnesota
4:00 Lunch
Fill out our post cards, eat, and chill at the little café in the convention center We missed out on getting autographs and getting in to see T'bone which sucked
5:30 "An Hour with Warwick Davis!" Tatooine - 500 Ballroom - Hosted by Scott Chernoff
He pronounces his name Warrick He allowed people to take pictures of him while he was being "dramatic" He was "dramatic" a lot! He did the voices of all his characters and was scary when he did the Leprechaun! He showed a film he had made during the filming of Return of the Jedi which included Han, Luke in black, and Leia in the bikini. He's hoping it will make the DVD one day, he has the rights to it. Davis put on the greatest show! He was born to be a stage performer!
7:00 Get in line for the Concert
We had avoided the long lines for the Sagamore Ballroom all day. We were so far back in line that we curved around where we could see the front of the line. We sat with a guy from Michigan who was by himself and he and RM hit it off and talked nearly the entire time. He was really nice. We watched a fan film being made by a man whom I recognized from the diner scene in "Millennium's End: The Fandom Menace". He was the one who predicted in 1999 that Episode II would have an action word and a Star Wars word... Hence "Attack of the Clones!"
8:30 "Star Wars 25th Anniversary Concert" Coruscant - Sagamore Ballroom - Master of Ceremonies Anthony Daniels
Philharmonic Orchestra of Indianapolis, Jackson Wiley and Orcenith Smith conducting The Circle City Chorus, directed by Tony Exler, sang Duel of Fates We were seated my the color of our tickets, our were lime green When we walked in the door there was a line of stormtroopers blocking the seating so you had to sit where they wanted you to. I ran up to the front and RM wondered why It wasn't because I wanted to be in the front, it was because I saw Tark and Darth Sis and their friends Shane and Shawn, and the short Jango Fett named Eric, we sat directly behind them. Minutes before the concert started they tried to start a wave. On the fifth try the wave made it clear to the other side of the ballroom and a cheer went up and Shane yelled "Green Rules!" and then the lights dimmed Being with a group of friends made the experience wonderful! During the Imperial March stormtroopers marched down the aisles! R2 came out on stage, but I don't remember when I sat with my eyes closed throughout the concert and day dreamed. It was the best part of the trip for me. And also the worst, but I won't elaborate on that now Behind us was a man dressed like Episode II Obi-Wan, and dang was he gorgeous! During intermission we took pictures of the "Obi Obsessed" Tark, hugging him!
Princess Leia's Theme had a huge impact on me. I can't explain it, but it was so relaxing it made me all tingly We all went back to our own hotels afterwards
Wake up an hour earlier at 6:00 with a horrible "No Mountain Dew" headache Grab a banana and a coke We check out and leave our bags with the bellhop and put our name on the list for a cab at 4:30 End up two blocks closer than our normal place in line, we are in by 9:30 We had a plan... I get Carrie Fisher tickets and RM gets the autograph tickets. Of course that doesn't work out. We had the two-way radios today and it was a good thing, because it was only one ticket per person, so RM had to come up and wait with me Once we had our little gray tickets THEN we ran down to get autographs.
10:00 Autograph Area
There wasn't a line to get tickets, just a line to get in the autograph area, but we waited 20 minutes at the most We saw a big argument in the line ahead of us for autographs between the staff and fans over someone saying "Yo momma!" and I expected Stormtroopers to come running! FINALLY met up with T'bone and got some pictures. He was at Nalini Krishan's table working. I got pictures of Femi Taylor (Oola) and many other people, it was only crowded near David Prowse and Billy Dee Williams RM was very excited to see Ian Liston (Wes Janson) and his assistant told her that she was his most excited fan all weekend! He was very nice and gave her a hug and a kiss on both cheeks. He signed her Starfighters of Adumar book and wrote "More yub yub!" I wanted William Hootkins (Porkins) autograph, but there was a line and he was busy signing pictures for people who had put in orders for them Because I had to buy a ticket for $15 just to get in to see T'bone, I got Peter Mayhew's autograph. He wasn't very personable, he never looked at me or even looked up when I asked to take his picture. He looked really tired. I think I would have been more thrilled with T'bone's autograph... Richard LeParmentier (Admiral Motti) was thrilled with the Elvis stormtrooper and everyone took pictures of them together Then we hurried to line up again at 10:30
11:45 "Lorne Peterson, creator of C-3PO for Episode I. R2-D2 and his creator, Don Bies. The Carrie Fisher Interview!" Coruscant - Sagamore Ballroom - Master of Ceremonies Anthony Daniels
Definitely worth all the line waiting! Anthony Daniels interviewed Carrie and they spent most of the time talking about the times they were drunk on the set of Empire Strikes Back She also made jokes about doing drugs and said, "I don't drunk anymore, but the other stuff is good" (making us believe she still does drugs) A guy in the audience yelled out, "You still look good!" and she quickly flashed her jacket open at him. I was lucky enough to have my camera pointed at the big screen when she did that. It's the only good picture I got of her
1:30 One last run through the Exhibit Hall
RM orders a lightsaber from Master Replicas and orders some Star Wars checks We both score on some Rogue Squadron comic books Buy Rebel Dream and get Aaron Allston's autograph At Suncoast we eat buy a copy of The Stars of Star Wars" by Scott Chernoff because Scott had advertised it all weekend in the 500 Ballroom and after the first day everyone was yelling out "Five ninety-nine!!!" before he could say how much it cost. We wander through the art room and I talk to Randy Martinez whom did some art for T'bone's site
2:30 "Stunts of Attack of the Clones with Nick Gillard and Nash Edgerton." Tatooine - 500 Ballroom - Hosted by Scott Chernoff
Because we wanted to get Scott Chernoff to sign his book for us It was a good show, Nick is very funny and showed clips of him training Ewan McGregor and Samuel L. Jackson He showed how Mace Windu's purple lightsaber started out as a joke. Jackson asked Lucas about the saber colors and Lucas said, "Because good Jedi have blue and green and bad Jedi have red, that's just the way it is." Jackson said, "What about purple?" and Lucas just looks at him for a minute and says, "We'll see." Afterwards, we run up to get Scott's autograph, he's so nice and personable. He used to be the editor of the Star Wars Insider. He cracked us up with his quick wit at every show he hosted, with everyone he interviewed
3:30 The weekend is nearly over!
We see the twins Shane and Shawn and sit with them a while watching for the other twins, Tark and Darth Sis There was a guy with a Jar Jar mask on with a sign around his neck saying, "Unemployed, Mesa have no Clone!" I HAD to take pictures! Everyone files out the doors, either very happy, or very upset by the whole experience
4:30 Back to the hotel
Every time I go home from anywhere it is a hellish experience... We get our bags and a big scary limo driver takes them from us saying he is out cab. I said I had my own bag and he grabbed it right out of my hand! Then a cab driver pulls up with a ticket saying our name and the time we wanted to be picked up, he is our real ride They get into an argument over us and RM and I are totally confused. Another cab pulls up and says he is our cab and he sent the other cab because he was going to be late. They are start yelling at each other and I had finally had enough. I took my bag out of the limo trunk, because there was no way I was getting in a car with that scary guy whom I saw fake crossing our name off the cab list in the hotel, and we DID NOT ORDER A LIMO! I wasn't going to let him bully us and steal the fair from the cab, which cost less. I scream at all of them and throw a fit and get in the cab and tell RM to get in the cab, too. The Limo driver gets a cop to stand in front of the cab so we can't leave and tells the cop to take our driver's keys. Finally Marcus, our driver, gets in and we go on our merry way. It was insane! At the airport RM checks in her bag and I go eat Panda Express for breakfast, lunch and dinner Then it's time for me to line up a security, so we say a quick good-bye and home we go My flight home was a nightmare, as always. We circled in a severe storm for an hour. Once we dropped and the whole back of the plane screamed, and it was all men. The guy next to me and I tightened our seatbelts at the same time and then we laughed about it. Just before entering the storm the pilot said, "To all the Star Wars fans.... May the Force be with you!" When RM flew back to Dallas both Carrie Fisher AND Billy Dee Williams were in first class on her flight!!!
Having someone to do everything with, RM was so much fun! Never, ever waiting in line for the ladies room! It was a man's world! Everywhere you turned every single conversation was about Star Wars and no one minded if you budged in on the convo because they all wanted to hear your opinion. It was a Star Wars fan's dream! And these guys (Mookie and DarthGoat) from Rebel Legion! I love a man in orange!
Not getting to see Star Wars in 30 minutes or the Archive Exhibit or the Toy Museum or the Book Giveaway Not getting to meet anyone from the Starwars.com forums, including Fermez, Elysia, Najal, Mrkob, MrSkinnee, and Lucasfilm's Pablo Hidalgo Not making any new friends, which I was really hoping to do Not getting to spend more time talking to T'bone and his wife and son (but we did get a pic of us together, man am I scary looking!)
