Star Wars Celebration III: Thursday!

The Celebration didn't officially begin on Thursday until noon, so I got to sleep in till 7am. I knew it would be a zoo down there, so I wanted to arrive around 9. I rolled out of bed, put on my Jedi costume for the first time this trip, and strolled down to my free Best Western continental breakfast. I was told by my friend that they would have a build your own Belgian Waffle station, so I was sorely disappointed to find the choice of Frosted Flakes or Golden Grahams. I dejectedly grabbed my cereal, sat down at a table, and gingerly began eating. It can be tough for a Jedi to eat Frosted Flakes with milk and not spill on one's tunic! I somehow succeeded, and without even a second look from the foreign front desk worker, I sauntered out to the car and was on my way.

9:30am: Parked and fully cloaked (so to speak), I strolled over to where the Star Wars Fan Club line was (members were special...they got to stand in a much longer line). The organizers decided to run the line up on the roof of the building, switchback Disneyland style, instead of letting the line travel over a mile around a dome the size of the old Kingdome (like at Celebration 2). Climbing to the roof, I made a mental note: Jedi costumes don't lend themselves to easy stair ascension. That must be where the Force would come in handy...

Reaching the end of the line, I prepared for a two and a half hour lonely wait. But lo and behold, one switchback further ahead were my plane buddies! They invited me to come stand with them, which I happily did. I met their friend Mike, and had many smartaleck discussions about the movies and the other folks in line. Together, we met a couple of charming girls from the ISPCE, or the Intergalactic Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Ewoks. For picture reference, one was dressed as an X-wing pilot, and the other was in official beige ISPCE attire complete with baby ewoks hanging off her. Now I have no particular feeling one way or another for ewoks, but the girls' tragic story about orphaned woklings and persecuted furballs has since convinced me to throw out all the extra ewok steaks that were in my freezer. They even gave me a pamphlet, my official first souvenier of the convention!

So yada yada yada, I waited in line, chatted, and finally got into the building at around 1:15pm. My friends and I immediately headed for the first show that was playing, which was, ironically enough, "Mystery Ewok Theater 2005." This was hosted by Warwick Davis, the midget that played Wicket the Ewok. He showed a special film that was made concurrently with Return of the Jedi, a kind of behind the scenes movie that is quite funny. My friend Jenni and I first saw this at Celebration 2, and her favorite part of it was a moment with Darth Vader chasing Wicket through the Death Star, yelling "Come back ewok! COME BACK EWOK!"

After that show, the next stop was the "1-man Star Wars Trilogy." This consists of one man (no, really?) performing a condensed version of the entire trilogy, doing all the voices and pantomime that accompany it, along with some rather amusing commentary. Example:
"The other Yoda spoke of was your twin sister.....for now she will remain safely anonymous"
"Leia! Leia is my sister!"
"Well, she is the only woman in the movie..."
Entertained I entirely was.

Afterward, I stayed in the room for a panel of four actors from the original films. They played Admiral Ozzel ("He is as clumsy as he is stupid" - Vader), Admiral Motti ("Don't try to frighten us with your sorcerer's ways Lord Vader"), Biggs Darklighter (Luke's buddy, killed on trench run), and Wes Janson (Rebel pilot, Wedge's gunner on Hoth). They gave some interesting insight into the filming of the original films and how they got the parts. Then they were put through the paces with some Who's Line is it Anyway acting antics by Warwick Davis, the host. Tomfoolery ensued.

After all of that, it was 7pm, and I thought it would be a good time to get in line for the Opening Ceremonies, a grand event that officially kicks off each Celebration. Usually it takes place first thing in the morning on the first day, but this time they decided to have it at 8:30pm. Opening Ceremonies is one of the things definately NOT to miss at the convention, so I was quite dismayed to find the line already stretching through the building, out the doors, and back up onto the roof again! Apparently, some folks had been waiting in line for five hours. Not one to give up, I decided it would be worth the wait to attempt to get in, and began my trudge to the back of the line. But wonderfully, I met up with my plane friends again! They invited me in line (again), and I had a new hope. That is when I received an alarming call. It was from my friend Emily who's camera I borrowed for the trip. Her phone number was taped to the camera, and she received a phone call that the camera had been found in the Warwick Davis hall! Apparently, I thought that the camera was in my backpack the whole time, when it was in fact NEXT to the backpack. So, when I picked up the backpack, no camera. Being that replacing the camera would double the cost of my trip to Indy, and on top of it I would lose all the pictures I would take during the weekend, and would never hear the end of it from my friends for the rest of my life, I had no choice but to abandon my choice place in line and RUN all the way back to the other side of the huge convention center, where I was sent on a goose chase first to the lost and found, and finally back to the hall where I'd lost it and behind the curtain to the stage hand that now had possession of the precious. I recovered the camera and RAN back toward the line, which was now moving into the building to get seated. OH NO! Scampering, scampering.....I found my friends in the nick of time, slipped under the railing, and managed to get a seat with them and see the most excellent opening ceremonies. They had much fan fare, confetti falling from the celing, and marched all of the stars that were at the celebration onto the stage at the end of the show.

So, after the opening ceremonies were over, I bid farewell to my plane friends, not knowing that it was the last time I would spend any significant time with them for the rest of the weekend. It was 9:30, and everything had pretty much shut down. I FINALLY then managed to hook up with my friend Mike, who I learned would be spending the majority of the Celebration in one room, the "Behind the Scenes" room, a smaller venue for authors, animators, sculptors, and the like to give presentations. He walked with me to my car, I changed from Jedi to normal pedestrian, then we went out for a beer at a local pub. And by beer I mean big beer. And by big beer I mean friggin huge 32 oz tankard of beer. I guess when the bartender asked if I wanted the small, medium, or large, I should have said medium. I got to meet Mike's friend Chad, who was also working at the convention, and got a chance to unwind from the busy first day. What an exciting trip this was already turning out to be!

So, long story longer, by the time I got back to the hotel and into bed, it was after 2am. The alarm was going off at 6:30 am. Tune in to see how that worked out...