Star Wars Celebration III: Saturday! (part 2)

So, when we left off last time, it was 10:30am, and I was up in the Crow's Nest watching George Lucas answer fan questions. I had some questions I wanted to ask, but I had a feeling he wouldn't appreciate me yelling from inside the A/V booth. I was also too far away to poke him with a sharp stick, so that wish was unfulfilled as well (See blog entry from April 14). Nevertheless, it was an incredible experience. One of the highlights of my trip. Two George questions and answers I will relay that I thought were pretty cool:

Questioner: "So what is the deal with dark side users having/getting yellow eyes?"
George: "Well, the yellow eyes come about when someone is using the force for especially evil, angry, or malicious uses. After that activity, if the person feels regret about what they have done, their eyes return to normal. So it is not necessarily a permanent thing. But of course, for the emperor, he is always raging, so his eyes are always yellow."

Questioner (little 7 year old child): "Are the stormtroopers really good guys, cause my dad keeps telling me that they are the good guys."
George: -laughing- "Yes, actually they are good guys. They are just given orders by a very bad man."

So, I happily watched till the end of the show, and one of the A/V guys that I didn't know said to me, "If you want to stay up here for the next shows, feel free. But if you leave, the door locks behind you." I thanked him profusely, and decided to stay up there for the next presentation, which was Billy Dee Williams (Lando)! Here is where my restroom desires started to get the better of me. According to Mike via my tagboard today, there was a restroom up in the hallways of the crow's nest. But this is the first I have heard of any facilities up there. I saw an empty plastic bottle in the booth, and contemplated using it, but it wasn't quite enough of an emergency yet. I managed to successfully get through Lando's presentation, albeit with a little brow mopping.

Seeing Billy Dee was cool, but the only thing I really took away from the show was that he was now really old (he walked slowly and with a cane), and he talked really softly. I had to strain to hear what he was saying at times. He was quite frail, which was sad, since you want to think of Lando as being a ladies man forever. After that show, it was 12:30, and I decided that I needed to get food and restroom relief. So I said goodbye to my sweet suite above Sagamore Ballroom, and drifted back downstairs.

I grabbed some grub, then decided to visit my friend Mike in the Behind the Scenes room. He let me sit in the front of a presentaion given by Dan Gregoire, an animator for Lucasfilm. He showed some awesome rendered footage of animation done for Episode III, alongside ILM material of the same shots. I learned some very interesting things about the inner workings of Lucasfilm vs ILM. George Lucas may have started both companies, but they are two completely different entities now. A shot animated by in-house Lucasfilm animators can cost between 2 and 5 thousand dollars to do, while the same shot done by ILM (as a contracted company) could cost 30-50 thousand dollars! So the internal animators have an important job to do, fleshing out scenes before the final shots, in case Lucas needs to cut or re-edit some footage. Interestingly enough, I heard what could be described as contempt or disdain towards ILM on the part of the animator. Apparently, everything doesn't always go smoothly between the two companies. It was pretty amusing, since the company I work for uses contractors as well, and there can definitely be friction between the two groups. I guess wherever you go, business is business.

After that presentation, I wandered around the convention some more, taking pictures and scouting out collectibles prices. I purchased a cool silver clone trooper action figure and case for $9. Then, at about 5pm, I got stopped for more food, and sat in on an interview between Warwick Davis and Jake Lloyd, the kid who played young Anakin in Episode 1. I wasn't really expecting too much out of that interview, since he was only 8 years old at its filming (he is now 16), but it was good food-eating entertainment. In fact, it was more interesting than I thought it would be. But not interesting enough to write any more about here.

I checked the schedule, and saw that John Knoll the special effects guru was giving a presentation in Sagamore ballroom at 6pm. I had wanted to see him earlier, but the line was out of control. Sagamore was a different and larger venue, however, so I hurried up to get in line. It turns out the line was already filed in, and there were still plenty of seats, so I just got to walk in and take a seat. I saw more cool Episode III animation, including animation bloopers (like Yoda's hair with too much repulsion property flying away from his head, and flipping General Grievous having his cape fall in front of his face). It was kind of sad, though, because despite the excellent footage, I was having difficulty staying awake due to my incredibly early morning. So, when John Knoll was done, I went back and met up with my friend Mike. I was considering heading back to the hotel, but then he reminded me of the Celebration at Celebration III party.

Now the Celebration at Celebration III was an afterhours party that required an additional $15 ticket to attend. Participants were strongly encouraged to dress up, and there was actual hard liquor served to those over 21. You could buy food there, drinks, have caricatures made of yourself by artists, get temporary Star Wars tatoos, and dance, among other things. They had a live jazz band there that played pretty cool riffs of Star Wars music. I didn't buy a ticket, because when they were on sale (before they sold out), I was planning on going to the convention with my other friend Mike (Mike B, as opposed to Mike D, who was working A/V), and we were indecisive on whether we wanted to spend the money or the time to go. So, I didn't have a ticket, but Mike (are you confused yet?) managed to get me into the event via a back stage entrance. It was very cool. Unfortunately, Mike had the feeling while there that he was still at work, and couldn't really unwind. He wanted to go out to the local bars. I didn't know anyone else at the event (I briefly met one of my plane friends near the stage, but couldn't locate him again later in the evening), so it was just me all alone at the party with no one to talk to, which wasn't much fun. I did, however, get to have my picture taken back stage with Jay Laga'aia, one of the hosts of Celebration III and the actor that played Captain Typho in Episode II and III. But after that photo op, I basically cruised around the huge hall, taking some pictures of costumes and soaking in the festiveness.

Fairly early in the partying evening I was preparing to leave, when I ran into an exhibitor that Mike had introduced me to earlier. His name was Mark, and he was selling his Star Wars collectibles in the main Exhibition room during the convention. Now Mark is a wheeler and dealer. He was always on the phone, making connections with other folks and trying to get the best turnaround profit for items. He told me that he was driving from Indianapolis to Chicago that very night to sell some of the exclusive Vader figures from this convention. He was hoping to be back tomorrow afternoon sometime. I told him that I hadn't even gotten the chance to get into the store yet, let alone get my hands on any Vader figures. Then he told me something wonderful, that would save my Sunday from line-waiting trudgery: "Well, why don't you take my exhibitor badge, which will get you into the doors of the building an hour before everyone else. You can get right in line, grab your figures (plus a few more for me), and be out of there in no time." He paid me up front for an additional eight Vader figures, gave me his exhibitor badge, and sent me on my way. I thanked him abundantly, and promised to get his badge back to him the next day.

It was now about 10pm, and I finally stepped out of the building for the first time since the morning. What I saw was rather astonishing. It was snowing! The weather folks had forcasted a 30 degree plunge in temperature and a dusting of snow for Saturday night, but I didn't really believe them. After all, it was the end of April, and three days ago, when I arrived, it was in the mid to upper 70s! But there it was, lazily floating from the skies, tiny tiny flakes of snow. It was rather beautiful, actually, if you would allow me to get mushy for a second. No wind, completely dark except for the street lights, hundreds of miniscule flakes drifting as slow as possible from above...Ok, I'm done. Here, to cleanse the palate:

Kill! Kill! Die! I will destroy you!

Ok, that's better. Manhood firmly intact.

Anyway, I drove home in the snow, (which was not sticking, by the way) and went to sleep, sadly realizing that I had only one more day of experiencing the best Star Wars fan event of all time.