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| "Something out of a dream", made real! SECRET CINEMA: THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK. All images: SECRET CINEMA. |
The four-month
long immersion into the worlds of Classic STAR WARS may now be over, but Scott
Weller recalls just what a good time over 100,000 fans (including a few disguised cast and crew from The Force Awakens) had during this highly ambitious, very special, and
surely to be fondly remembered, recreation of George Lucas’ universe.
Opening night:
June 4th, 2015
Arriving at the picturesque
cuboid waterside of Canada Water at London’s Docklands around 5pm-ish, with
only the local duck pond and other inhabitants oblivious to what was soon going
on, my party of Rebel X initiates (where
I was now officially in my new identity as “Galactic Explorer” Silas Krell!) were
quickly herded by efficient stewards, our scarves up and in as incognito a fashion
as possible into the main entry point through large tented sections, where we
entered a hangar area and found ourselves taking part as maintenance workers
shifting all manner of equipment around until boarding our Star Tours-esque simulator outbound Rebel Transport (but without
the floor bouncing around beneath us!). The massive one side to the other
screen graphic showed our departing Earth and swiftly jumping to Hyperspace for
arrival on the desert world of Tatooine- where we had been pre-warned to prepare
for possible sandstorms!
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| Imperial inspection. Image: Mike Massaro |
The location chosen
for SECRET CINEMA would be a converted former printing newspaper printing plant
that had been so prevalent in that part of London back in the day, before pioneer
Eddie Shah came along to transform everything- its length and size converted,
its orienting middle section removed - perfect to house the worlds of STAR WARS.
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| Back to that place of sum and villainy. |
TATOOINE
Once out of the
pod, where Imperial officers and Stormtroopers would do a flash inspection and
take people away, we proceeded through the imperial checkpoint, where we had to
show our credentials to an actress wearing a large domed alien head certainly
giving lots of strict rudeness to all and sundry (especially children), and
then we entered our first vista- a recreation of Tatooine and Mos Eisley, in
front of a splendid twin suns painted backdrop, enthused attendees got to
Luke’s igloo home and later his enormous landspeeder, Ben Kenobi’s pad, Aunt Beru’s
dining area (with added blue milk!), a look at an decaying Imperial jail (bars
perfect for crumbling!) with Stormtroopers patrolling on the lookout for
potential rebels and troublemakers to arrest (Actor/singer Goldie was the
secret prisoner of the day to watch out for-his face posted around various
areas).
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| Watch out, Artoo! |
That esteemed and
feared bounty hunter Boba Fett coolly walked the sandy and packed streets,
filled with additional Bedouins atmospherically set dressed (to doe Roger
Christian proud) with exotic props, set decorations and exotic aromas- a giant
plane wing in the middle of the set representing a spaceship crash. Plus a small
used droid lot featuring the domed droid and the spider droid seen in and
outside the Jawa Sandcrawler (sadly no sign of it that expansive vehicle here,
though).
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| The odd Jedi roaming the place. |
Two Jawas became swiftly
obsessed with stealing or rifling through the contents of my man bag, and whom
I had to swiftly move away and shout “utini” at. There was also petulant Luke
being told off for childish behaviour by his stern Uncle Owen. A well-costumed
Aunt Beru could also be seen navigating her way on all the floors. Sadly, no
Biggs, Camie, or the Fixer.
People around me with
equal cosplay enthusiasm, though some didn’t have the chance-literally coming
straight from work. Additionally, some of the ladies were dressed in costumes
that weren’t anything like Princess Leia’s but they were nonetheless very
pleasing to this guy’s eyes! Though things would change later, this day wasn’t
anything like the cosplaying you’d get at an official CELEBRATION event- you
could see that there was more a collection of film fans mixed with the STAR
WARS enthusiasts, just as happy to relax, booze up and take it all in whilst
watching things all unfold.
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| Time for drinks and some close encounters at the Cantina. Image: Paul Cochrane/SECRET CINEMA. |
The Cantina Bar interior
recreation was excellent and much needed after thirty minutes in the smoke and
incensed fuelled atmosphere, of which my throat was parched. I never saw the
price of a single drink, paid via my Connectcard, but I know it was probably one
of the priciest Cokes I’ve ever had. A Moroccan type band also played nearby. If
only someone could have dressed up as Wuher. “No blasters, no blasters!”
Back into the main
square, more shady characters were starting to emerge, though a few more villains
would have been nice-perhaps an unsuspecting Sandpeople attack would have added
some happy shocks. Then Han and Chewie made their first appearance, literally
bursting out of the Imperial jail, of which the soon assembled crowd around them
smiled and cheered.
More Imperial Stormtroopers
and sneery officers walked around, with dealers talking with accents not unlike
Wattoo. Plus selected Rebel infiltrators with
secret messages, on the lookout for particular scarf-wearing in-character guests
to interact with, giving them assignments and practical tasks to carry out.
Having visited and
seen all I could of Tatooine, I discovered a shuttle was ready to go elsewhere,
of which I climbed the metal clanging stairs to it, ready for what was to come,
but not before I had to manoeuvre past the attendant, offering her some special seeds
(pinched from my garden shed!) as a payment method to get onboard.
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| Into the Death Star! |
DEATH STAR
Back into space,
our shuttle- a more tense atmosphere than before, was soon intercepted by TIE
fighters and the tractor beam of the fierce Death
Star whose grip and nearby docking bay we were soon taken into, amongst red
alert blares and klaxons.
Being an early arrival
on the Death Star, captured by a
Rebel posing as an Imperial Stormtrooper who had no choice but to take
prisoners, I and a small party were escorted through the cell bay, which, at
that time being quite empty, I have to say had a strong aura and atmosphere
about it, effectively repressive, what with Stormtroopers roaming around separately
or in pairs, Imperial commanders both male and female on alert for intruders or
escapees. Having seen the captured Princess Leia, I immediately shouted out a
promise to rescue her and found myself separated from my small party for doing
this, locked up in an opposite cell with a cloaked Jedi. We soon broke out
thanks to his latent abilities in the mysterious hocus-pocus that is the Force.
On the way back to the docking level, we bumped into the ominous figure of
Darth Vader, of which I go the Goosebumps in this darkened environment. Having
vowed to rescue Princess Leia, my trip back to the upper levels saw rooms full
of weird objects, security camera areas and other props well positioned, plus
some weird and effective sound design emanating from the all-around speakers– a
nice homage to Ben Burtt’s work. Soon after, on the main overhead walkways,
some classic scenes from A New Hope
would be enacted: Leia’s meeting with Vader on the Blockade Runner, and her being forced to watch the destruction of Alderaan in
front of the Dark Lord and the ruthless Tarkin, plus the duel between Obi-Wan and Vader
that was very well done and incorporated some new lightsaber clashing moves,
including several Force pushes from both opponents, and ending with Obi-Wan
disappearing into smoke filled nothingness.
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| A capacity crowd watches the classic Vader/Kenobi duel! |
As Grand Moff Tarkin proudly and
mindfully walked along the floor levels, proudly checking the grim militaristic
might of his Empire, I proceeded to the end corridor bar, which was very militaristic-
packed with patrons being happily taken away and arrested at varying points if
the bartenders thought you were being rude. Imperial security was also
monitoring from a glass covered cubicle station, too. A wall side huge
monitor screen on the far left end of the environment showed Death Star computer graphics and
schematics instrumentation readings, and the destruction of Alderaan as seen in
the film.
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| Dark and atmospheric when empty. Image: Will Cooper. |
My feet ready for
more wandering, I saw Leia once more, the lovely actress playing her surely
thinking I was quite mad when I enthusiastically shouted out at her, “Long live Alderaan!”
Around the huge
floor level and two upper levels of grating plated walkways, other role playing
scenarios were going on- the many selected actors clearly having a blast, with
some detainees even becoming initiated as Stormtroopers- notably two small
children in little outfits far too big for them- a true sight to see! - who soon
became a part of one of the patrolling units. Great fun!
As the room
finally filled to a weighty capacity, after about twenty minutes, the reenactments
continued with the ceiling showing a recreated Millennium Falcon engine blasting away from the Death Star. Its a shame they couldn’t recreate
the Death Star escape (more on this
with visit two)- I would have like to have seen Luke and Leia preparing to
swing across a chasm, then they could have cut to the footage from the film of
the actual event. If that got added to any of the other days of this immersive
event, please let me know.
Then, in the
middle of the second floor, everyone gathered as Rebel X’s leader showed the technical schematics of the Death Star and ordered all pilots to
their ships, emerging from side alcoves and determinedly rushing past to unseen
destinations, as the sounds of fighters taking off carried across the venue.
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| The amazing X-wing fighter suspended from the ceiling, moving towards its target! |
Then came the excellent
sight from the left of the ceiling of an immense X-wing fighter prop moving,
then suddenly dropping slightly, supported by strong wire, as it began its
movement to the torpedo bay graphic on the far right side, as the sound effects
of fighter squadrons, weapons fire and screeching power motors filled the air,
alongside the voices of Red Flight, of which battles with TIE fighters played
all around, with some fun use of special spotlights simulating proton torpedo
launches as Luke’s X-wing delivered its payload. We celebrated with joy the
destruction of the Death Star, of
which the now fully packed area burst into applause. Then, at the far right
end’s highest ceiling gantry we saw the Rebel pilot’s emerging victorious, the
last to climb down one of the ladders being the congratulated Luke Skywalker!
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| A victorious Luke returns home! Image: Hanson Leatherby. |
As the majestic
and beautiful throne room music of John Williams played, sounding better than
ever, we all stayed in the middle of the floor so as to celebrate our heroes
gathering. Walking amongst us, coming to the far end stairs to collect their
medals from the smiling and radiant Princess and her aides. By this point, the
crowd was really stoked, their hearts certainly roused and enjoying their
participation be it large or small into this galaxy far, far away, giving a huge
round of applause as our heroes all turned round, the final scene made gloriously real!
On that note, the
second level walkway doors opened to a previously unrevealed section containing
three immense segregated screening areas, where we brought in by Rebel Snow soldier
geared extras, and given free seating reign to watch and enjoy The Empire Strikes Back with a great digital
picture projector presentation and crisp sound as people walked back up and
down each left aisle offering a wide variety of sweets and drinks. A genuine
good time had by all.
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| The digital screening of THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK Special Edition (2011) was superb. |
Recreations
playing alongside the film were great fun, brought to life on the ground and
gantry above by three sets of actors in each cinema area, so no one missed out
on anything. At certain points during lightsaber actions or battle scenes the
lights would flare to add to the overall viewing effects-sometimes working
better than others, the odd moment proving distracting. Leia walked up and
down the room with Rebel pilots giving evacuation orders, whilst Luke said
goodbye to Han and Chewie (who gave his warm hug to the youngster) on a right
of us upper gantry. The arrival of
Darth Vader and Stormtroopers came with the Imperial March intro and our first
view of the Star Destroyer fleet.
As the Battle of
Hoth reached a climax, Han, Leia and Threepio raced with the evacuation order
to the Falcon.Unfortunately, poor "Golden Rod" almost fell over when he tripped up on unlevel carpeting that could
have been quite truly dangerous. Imagine what Anthony Daniels went through every day
on set!
Later, at Bespin, an
excellent Lando look-a-like gave a tour with his newly arrived friends whilst
the later carbon freezing “I know” scene played out directly beneath the screen,
with Han disappearing into the smoke via a trap door.
Then, beneath the
cinema screen, Luke fought Vader in the opening section of their lightsaber
duel recreation (though Vader’s red blade light sadly went out
half-way through), then the fight continued
at the top far left gantry, where Luke lost his hand and hung, what looked to
me quite precariously, over the edge before disappearing behind the projector
screen, once hearing Vader’s revelation and deciding to commit suicide. Kudos
to the SECRET CINEMA team for this great recreation that was much enjoyed by
the fans, especially the younger ones in the audience.
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| A Rebel Transport above Canada Water. |
As the film ended,
everybody descended the lower levels and walked one last time through the
Tatooine ground floor (where I was accosted once again by another of those
pesky Jawas), taking in their last evocative gulps of George Lucas’s supreme
universe before being person-signposted back to the underground station. The
fairytale had come to an end and I was happy for the fans that we would all be
discovering the adventure anew at Xmas!
Some incorrect
spellings of Tatooine here and there not withstanding, there was only one minor
niggle: despite there being there a shop in Shoreditch and what proved to be,
for me anyway, a lousy online service, the event could have had an area where
clothes/equipment could be purchased on the day beyond their selling of REBEL X
shirts.
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| My second REBEL X identity! |
July 24th,
2015
The second coming…
With thanks to the
generosity of THE SECRET CINEMA, AFICIONADO was given a special invite to the
event second time around. Whereas the first time I’d attended was in glorious
sunshine and sticky heat, the reverse was true here as I prepared for my new
identity as yet another Galactic Explorer, Olas Lendix.
Amongst the hundred or so early-arrived fans, we were all well and truly
soaked to the skin by the rain- the tents herding us to our secret destination
at the point being thoroughly waterlogged. But trying as hard as it might, such
foul weather, the stuff of British legend, did nothing to dampen the spirits,
within an event that now felt much more streamlined and faster paced. It was
also a far more packed with people affair than the first week. AFICIONADO
contributor Ian Trussler and myself got to play a mind-bending game of sabaac
cards with Lando Calrissian on Tatooine- the young actor playing him doing a
very creditable job and a firm hit with the ladies- Billy Dee, watch out you’ve
got competition; saw young Luke hassled by Stormtroopers then chased after
giving one of them a force push of resistance; Uncle Owen stopped to chat to
tell us to tell Luke to stop hanging around at Tosche Station, and we even got
to see Luke, Ben and the droids travel in the landspeeder across a section of
town.
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| "Move along!" |
Arriving on the Death Star, and this time not captured
and taken away by Stormtroopers for interrogation, there were some more
noticeable changes. The far end right section near the bar and an imperial
observation point had been partitioned off and bore some of John Barry’s
classic and familiar Imperial production design, I don’t know if the Alderaan
destruction scene was still being done, but the crowded lower area looking up
to the gantry observed and booed a speech from Governor Tarkin, flanked by
Vader, talking about the full power of their new battle station, and what it
will achieve- backed up with lots of new CGI created computer graphics
alongside some of the classics. Then came the classic Vader/Kenobi duel seen
previously, plus a recreation of the classic Han and Chewie chasing
Stormtoopers sequences before the Falcon
flew off at the top of the ceiling. With so much of the lower area packed with
people, though, it was impossible for pilots to rush to their ships again, but
the ending and the ceiling bearing down fighter had everyone impressed anew firing
its flame torpedo at the exhaust port, surrounded by classic movie dialogue
coming out from the surrounding speakers.
As the film began,
some of the previous interactions were sadly gone- like Han and Chewie saying
goodbye to Luke, but there were some new ones added, in a side gantry glass window
control room, Han and Leia argued as their onscreen counterparts did, whilst
our Darth Vader imparted threats to Admiral Ozzel. Sadly, Lando’s tour of
Bespin was no longer present, nor our heroes Hoth escape dash to the Falcon- I presume it was too dangerous
for Threepio to do anymore, especially after the last time!
Once again, fans
of all ages were spellbound throughout. The true, undisputed magic of the STAR
WARS SAGA continues…
AFICIONADO RATING
(both days): 8.5 out of 10
