Celebration VI (Fri)

by Darth Danno
on 2012-09-27, 07:36:22

Got up, got dressed, got ready, got in the car, got into the Convention center, got out of the car, got in line to get in, got onto the main floor shortly after 10. (Gee, that's a lot of “G”'s)

First we stopped at the Cartamundi booth and got the exclusive card of the day: the Jack of hearts (Darth Maul) then stopped at Topps to pick up their exclusive card. After that was done, went to the artist area to pick up my pre-ordered prints and my gold Greedo character key. I was there longer than four and a half minutes, but it sure beat the four and a half hours from CV. Got my prints and pics taken of me w/the artists and their prints, then just walked around the show a bit.

Went to the panel on Star Wars Origami, which was neat. Everyone who attended got to make Darth Vader's lightsaber and Boba Fett's helmet out of paper. Thought if you attended the panel, you'd get a coupon to get a discount on the book they were selling on the main floor, but no such luck.

Then we had lunch with Bill Cable. He gave me the figure he bought for me at SW Weekends and we had a great time together, but it was over all too soon. He headed off on his own path, and we walked around a bit more before heading up to get in line for the Clone Wars red carpet and premiere.

The red carpet was at 4:00, so we got there @2:15 and there were already over 160 people in line. We sat down and talked to people around us, just killing time until the event commenced.

Once they started to let people out, we stood up, stretched our legs, and waited until it was our time to move. Everyone was arranged in rows, we were in the second row, but after the first row filed out, they shut the doors again and told us to make ourselves comfortable as we were going to be here for another 45 minutes. WHAT??? We were in line for the past hour and forty five minutes and now had to wait even longer! Turns out that only the first 150 people in line got to be a part of the red carpet, the rest of us were SOL! (Where and when was that little announcement made?) But as we finally were released, some of the stars were still milling about, talking to reporters and the like. I shouted “Hi” to Dave Filoni, who smiled and pointed at me, giving me a look saying “please don't hug me again.” Dee Bradley Baker smiled at me and Ashley Eckstein actually stopped her interview to say “hi” to me. Sam Witwer was too engaged in his interview to pay me any mind.

As we entered the theater, we could grab small bags of popcorn and cans of soda or bottled water. Then we found some seats and proceeded to wait some more. As the stars entered the room and made their way to the front, they were met with applause and cheers. Then the program started.

We saw the final two episodes of Season 4, and the first episode of Season 5. After that, David Collins did an interview with Dave Filoni and Sam Witwer. Then they brought the whole cast onstage, followed by a Q & A with the audience, and somebody asked “Since Ian Abercrombe is deceased, is Lucasfilm in talks with Ian McDiarmid to step in and reprise his role?” Dave simply replied that they were currently just focusing in Ian A's passing, and would explore all possible options once the time came. So he didn't say no. The finale was a brand new preview of CW: Season 5!

Upon exiting, we were all given “Clone Wars” posters featuring Darth Maul and Savage. We then called Sean to hook up with him to get back to the resort. He and Lisa were going to the Mark Hamill panel, but as Cris and Ian had taken one of their backers out to dinner and were unavailable to drive us, Sean, being the stand-up guy he is, took us back, then raced back to the convention center.

We spent the rest of the evening in the hotel; I spent a great deal of time just sitting out on the balcony enjoying the evening. Then tragedy struck...Not sure how the subject came about, but Alfie announcedit cost him$40.00 to get from the airport to the convention center. Barry and I looked at each other. How much would it cost us on Sunday to get from the Con back to the resort?? Perhaps it would be better (and less costly) if we just spent the day in the hotel and skipped the convention altogether. As CVI ended @5, and our flight was at 7:35, there wasn't enough time to stay until the end, get back to the hotel, finish packing, and then race to the airport. So Saturday was going to be our final day here. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!