Let me look on you, with my own eyes…

Let me look on you, with my own eyes…

These may have been Darth Vader’s dying words, but they also have been the words of millions of fans who have wanted to see George Lucas since his last public appearance in… yes… 1987. Talk about fashionably late!

However, as stated in my blog yesterday, I had no plans (or hope) of seeing ‘The Maker’ as he is often called (see www.thankyougeorge.com) at the convention today. There was WELL over 50,000 people at the convention, and that total is days old! People were in line since the middle of yesterday and ALL NITE in the freezing rain to see him. So we decided to do like yesterday, and wait out the crowds and come late. Well, this may be one of the coolest (if not the most significant) occurances of Proverbs 16:9 in my life: “In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps.”

The doors opened at 9am, so we arrived around 10am, parking is a nightmare, but a lady was standing out in the rain with a sign offering $9 parking for the day (our first sign of good luck), it was on the lawn of her business around the corner from the convention center. It was the most miserable 15 minute walk around the building – bitter cold, cutting wind, it forced tears from our eyes which practically froze to our face – we couldn’t believe people sat in this weather all night for a mere sight of George Lucas!!!! We finally got to the door and walked right in. I heard a volunteer saying “If you want to see George…” and he was passing out blue wrist bands, “…put this on and go up the escalator to the second floor.” Many walked right past him, but we took the bands and walked along. We were like sheep before the… well, we were just being ushered along with a bunch of other dazed and confused blue wristband wearing fans wondering where we were going. We were led through a bunch of now empty line dividers. Someone said it was only to see a video of George’s interview this morning, so some left the line. We continued on thinking even a video was better than nothing. Finally we got to the room where George was already speaking and THE DOORS WERE CLOSED RIGHT IN FRONT OF US! So close… but then they said we would be FIRST in line for the next session, and had we gotten in, we would have only seen the last ten minutes of the current session! So we waited 10-15 minutes and then were ushered in (by troopers!) and got to sit right in the front! I was on the first seat next to the center, third row, but it was the best seat! The two rows in front of me had a security person blocking the view, and the center section had heads and monitors in front of them, whereas I had a straight shot view with nothing between! There honestly wasn’t a better seat! (except on the stage, of course.)


So the man isn’t CGI after all!

George Lucas was joined by Rick McCallum, Star Wars director/producer (left), George Lucas (center), and Jay Laga’aia (Captain Panaka in EP1) who hosted and facilitated the interview. There wasn’t much significant or news worthy in the substance of the interview but it was really neat to see him in person, and to be part of a large group of fans expressing our appreciation to him for his creativity and dedication over the years to something that has brought a lot of imaginative fun to millions of people. I don’t get fans of Star Wars who don’t like George Lucas. I’m not sure what they expect – he is just a man, and no one is perfect. Most interesting to me was the one question he was asked: “What is your religion?” His answer was basically, “I am a very spiritual man but not a member of any organized religion.” It’s a bummer – the Kingdom could really use his imagination and creativity.

But enough about that – there was more to the day. And I DID finally dress up today in my Jedi outfit, which led to some interesting events….


Fellow Master Jedi


The Circle is now complete.


It isn’t wise to upset a Wookie!


Dressing up as a Jedi does have its disadvantages.

Today we also got to see the Star Wars Musical, which basically took classic songs from musicals and rewrote them to tell the story of A New Hope – such as the old Obi-Won singing to Luke, how the Force flows like music, “The Music of the Knight.” Sara also got to see the One Man Star Wars (I saw it Thursday, but I’d see it ten times) – if you ever can see this, you must!!


The latest action figure from Hasbro!

It was a great day – meeting George Lucas, seeing some great shows, and after a short stint in the exhibit hall again, we headed back to hotel room. Still not sure whether we are going back for more tomorrow or not. (Complete Celebration III Photo Gallery still to come!)But for now, as Yoda once said, “Tired I am. Need sleep I do.”

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Kidologist

Karl Bastian is the founder of Kidology.org, the creator of ToyboxTales.com, and the author of OrderoftheAncient.com. His personal website is Kidologist.com He is Big Kid with a passion for equipping and encouraging those who minister to children.

2 Comments:

  1. New slashing attack, woo hoo!

    Why does that first fellow master Jedi look like a Stormtrooper wearing a skirt? Heehee!

    Welp, I’m off to watch my ‘ANH’ DVD! ‘Empire’ is playing on Fox, which got me really itching to watch the series again.

    Strong you are in the Force, Jedi Karl, yes. Much strongness you have…

  2. That Jedi is Obi-Won from the Clone Wars cartoon series!

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