THE CLONE WARS: A SENATOR IN DANGER!

He's been prior unhappily undercover as a Naboo pilot, but Anakin Skywalker, worried about Padme's re-involvement with old flame Rush Clovis, soon discovers his wife in trouble, poisoned during her so-called diplomatic mission. A tense finale awaits to The Clone Wars Animated Series second season episode, Senate Spy.

'HAPPY HALLOWEEN!' (2023)

Han Solo and his ever-loyal first mate Chewbacca have gotten themselves in and out of a lot hairy and dangerous scrapes over the years, but none so macabre and horrific than their encounter with the zombie-fied Empire cohorts infected with Blackwing virus, from the acclaimed Death Troopers horror story written by Joe Shreiber.

Great art linked to the tale used to promote the then popular Star Wars Galaxies interactive video game series, which also got to incorporate a lone Jedi into the gory action via the shapely form of Aayla Secura.

STAR WARS AFICIONADO wishes its worldwide readers a very memorable 'HAPPY HALLOWEEN!'

CLASSIC INDY: INDY VS THE MACHINE MAN!

The ultimate showdown between the forces of good and evil as Indiana Jones takes on the despicable German SS nasty Helmut Von Mephisto for control of an ancient civilisation's mysterious and lethal power, in this great cover art by Greg Knight for the much-missed author J.W. Rinzler's one and only Indiana Jones Young Readers Adventure published specifically for the US during 2009: Indiana Jones and the Mystery of Mount Sinai, a lively read where Rinzler channels the adventure of Raiders of the Lost Ark (bringing back two of the story's semi-supporting characters in the process) with a World War II era semi-prequel to the then 2008 released Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

Intriguingly, the villainous Mephisto, with his Darth-Vader like mechanical arm/energy discharging weapon, would be inspired by a villain of the same name from the ultimately aborted Indiana Jones and the Monkey King movie script.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! (2020)

Art by Indika.

The scary poster visage of a lone blood splattered Stormtrooper helmet, its once occupant long since dead or amongst the living dead, effectively and atmospherically headlines the cover to one of the Star Wars saga's best Expanded Universe attempts at blending action with atmospheric, gruesome horror: Death Troopers, a 2009 tale unlike any other, created effectively by Joe Schreiber. Here's hoping we get another attempt someday of putting the Lucas universe back into this creepy realms of the unknown, perhaps inspiring a future live-action series tale...? 

STAR WARS AFICIONADO wishes all readers worldwide: HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

THE CLONE WARS: TO RESCUE A PLANET!

Now in an uneasy alliance with the rebel forces of Ryloth led by the enigmatic fighter Cham Syndulla, Jedi Master Mace Windu plans the last phase of the Republic's bold attack to win back the wrecked planet from the slavery of Count Dooku's allies, in The Clone Wars Season One highlight Liberty on Ryloth.

THE CLONE WARS: AN UNLIKELY LEADER, INDEED...

The Clone Troopers are getting used to their new 'leader' in Jar Jar Binks, as their mission to negotiate and release the captured Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan from pirates continues, during the memorable The Clone Wars episode, The Gungan General.

THE CLONE WARS: HE'S NO JEDI...

The despicable bounty hunter Cad Bane dons a Jedi disguise to capture a future Jedi youngling of Rodia for his paymaster, Darth Sidious, in this memorable and chilling scene from THE CLONE WARS Season Two episode, Children of the Force.

THE CLONE WARS: DEATH WATCH ATTACK!

Uncovering their plot to take control of Mandalore, an escaped Obi-Wan Kenobi and the Duchess Satine are attacked by members of the re-emergent Death Watch terror group, in the memorable finale to THE CLONE WARS Season Two episode, The Mandalore Plot.

THE CLONE WARS: CORUSCANT CRISIS!

Under siege in their own capital, Clone Troopers are armed and ready but ultimately powerless to stop Cad Bane and his bounty hunters flee with the now released Ziro the Hutt, in a memorable scene from the gritty Season One finale to THE CLONE WARS: Hostage Crisis.

THE CLONE WARS: PRESSING THEIR ADVANTAGE...

Anakin Skywalker and Ahsoka Tano assist the injured Ki-Adi Mundi and his soldiers in capturing Geonosian prisoners, after a tense, fiery conflict, during Landing at Point Rain- the adrenaline-fuelled first part of the epic re-taking of Geonosis, beginning Season Two of THE CLONE WARS in action-packed style.

THE CLONE WARS: DISTANT VIEWPOINTS...

It seems that time doesn't heal old wounds, as Obi-Wan Kenobi and the Duchess Satine get into a heated debate, threatening to get personal, regarding the state of the Republic and the Jedi, in this memorable moment from THE CLONE WARS Season Two episode Voyage of Temptation.

THE CLONE WARS: PADAWAN PRESERVATION!

Before ultimately becoming an outcast Jedi, framing poor Ahsoka Tano for murder in Season Five of THE CLONE WARS, misguided former healer Barriss Offee would show her mean streak with a lightsaber in an altogether different kind of attack on the Togrutan female, under the possession of a deadly Geonosian worm, during Season Two's memorable Invasion of the Body Snatchers-esque episode, Brain Invaders.

AFICONADO REVIEW (2009): 'LEGACY OF THE FORCE: INVINCIBLE'

STAR WARS: LEGACY OF THE FORCE 

BOOK NINE- INVINCIBLE

By Troy Denning

Released in paperback in the UK by ARROW BOOKS

Reviewed by Scott Weller

With the intriguing Tatooine Ghost and the epic volume Star by Star of THE NEW JEDI ORDER already under his literary belt, popular sci-fi novelist Troy Denning knows the characters, old and new, of the STAR WARS SAGA and its EXPANDED UNIVERSE by heart-and he has a writing style, alongside Matthew Stover, that fans have always enjoyed. So it is no surprise to discover that he had been chosen by the people at LUCAS BOOKS to bring to all-important life the next, and final, chapter of the LEGACY OF THE FORCE saga after previous devastating developments in books like Sacrifice and Revelation. And if you thought your heart strings had been effectively plucked out with the former, and the tragic murder of Mara Jade Skywalker, brace yourselves for the darkness ahead, as INVINCIBLE takes four of our primary characters –in particular the two key children of the Solo family- into a arena of evil and conflict, and a lightsaber showdown, that make you wonder if they’ll ever get out of it…they say it’s always darkest before the dawn and INVINCIBLE may prove it!

This final novel has so much to tie up there are moments when you wonder whether it can be done successfully and so live up to reader expectations. Well, for the most part it does. And, fortunately for us, Denning has never been afraid of such challenges. Surprisingly, many fans expected an adventure the size of STAR BY STAR-which you can damage your fingers from holding-it’s that weighty!! But, as any good book reader knows, the page count shouldn’t matter as long as the story is told well and can be read well. Despite that smaller page count, the author puts everything into INVINCIBLE’s story and characters that needs to be told.

Denning’s writing style is fast and fluid as expected and the descriptions of the action are fine, as are the stronger characterizations which, intriguingly, many feel are far superior than they have been in the last few LOTF books and in certain parts of Denning’s previous novels within the cycle.

As mentioned earlier, the book focuses on four characters who have proved highly popular with LOTF readers- Jacen, Jaina, their father, Han Solo, and Luke’s son, Ben (the latter mostly in a B plot that utilizes his character in a better way than most of the previous books in the LOTF series), though primarily on Jaina and the challenge of meeting her destiny as “Sword of the Jedi”. Many fans may bemoan the lack of participation of most the other main classic characters (like Luke and Leia) in major ways this time, and miss the way all the previous STAR WARS books have criss-crossed the stars in following the numerous plotlines-there is less of that here and the story is much more concentrated in a manner that you could say is all the better for it-there’s no serious epic Death Star type weapon or major league Imperial plot to be blown up, or a race against time in that kind of sense. The search-and-destroy mission aspect of this book is not handled the way you expect. Also positively, many readers have enjoyed Boba Fett’s appearance in this adventure much more than previously in this particular series, and he has some enjoyable in-character dialogue…has he outstayed his welcome? Probably, but everyone loves him regardless!

Additionally, as well as Jaina, hero turned baddie Dark Lord Jacen Solo also has some fine character moments, and there are links to the past thrown in that work effectively for long term readers, too. The final duel between brother and sister, as depicted on the nicely realized cover, is a finely described one, though again some readers may find it a bit anti-climactic as part of the overall arc of the series story…

To reveal too much of the book and its story would be a crime, and we at AFICIONADO aren’t party-poopers! All in all, there are some pure STAR WARS/ space opera moments of the best sense and some well described action… and loyal readers may get a shock surprise at the end of the adventure, too…

Judge for yourself and then look forward to STAR WARS: FATE OF THE JEDI!

AFICIONADO RATING: Whether INVINCIBLE ends the LEGACY OF THE FORCE saga in the manner that you’re after is up to you and “your own point of view.” However, with a writer of Troy Denning’s calibre on board to helm such a special LUCAS BOOKS event, you have a better chance of enjoying this read than with some of the other authors out there… 8 out of 10

CLASSIC INDY: 'INDIANA JONES: THE ULTIMATE GUIDE' BOOK

INDIANA JONES - THE ULTIMATE GUIDE 

By James Luceno

Published by DORLING KINDERSLEY - MAY 2008 FIRST EDITION

Reviewed by Scott Weller

If adventure has a name then it has to be Indiana Jones. And if you’re looking for the name of a book publisher to chronicle his amazing adventures then I can think of nobody better than DORLING KINDERSLEY for their excellent new release, INDIANA JONES: THE ULTIMATE GUIDE visual/text reference work. 

Having previously come up top trumps with their book range for STAR WARS, JAMES BOND and the hit TV series 24, the company seems the natural choice to present a superb compendium of the history of our intrepid archaeologist/ soldier of fortune, and his thrilling adventures throughout the world over the years. Expert travel writer/adventure fictionist James Luceno, whose previous STAR WARS original novels LABYRINTH OF EVIL and CLOAK OF DECEPTION carried on the grand tradition of the pulp adventure science fiction novels that also inspired George Lucas in creating the saga in the first place, showed writing talents on those books that impressed me greatly- his fast paced style proving totally in character to that universe that I have always loved, and bringing an equally precise concoction of character and adventurous flavour to the Indiana Jones series with his new work on THE ULTIMATE GUIDE.

Starting, where else, from the beginning, the book takes a look through, and charts, the history of  Indy from his exploits as a youngster, as witnessed in the early 1990’s semi-educational TV series (presented in a way that almost makes me actually want to watch it (though, puzzlingly, THE SECRET OF THE BLUES instalment with Harrison Ford’s front and back end cameo seems to be strangely absent from the book), through to the final (so far??) adventure in the KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL, and charting pretty much every other non TV/film event/adventure involving Mister Fedora man at the same in between, from the many adventures in books, to those of comic, video games and other media. The compilation of facts within Indy’s screen universe is very well done and Luceno’s prose style brings it all together well, adding great detail to events that lead in to the films (such as why Indy went to find the Chachapoyan fertility statue at the start of RAIDERS). As well as the words, the photography chosen to accompany the books epic adventure travelogue is equally excellent and there are quite a few new images I hadn’t seen before (C’mon OFFICIALPIX, go and release ‘em!). Where stills aren’t available for certain scenes/ moment, some great artwork from the comic books is used, as is the addition of screengrabs, the quality of which, presumably from the Lowry re-masterings for the DVDs, is extremely good. The design is beautiful (I loved the opening spreads intros for the films (done the same ways as with their previous STAR WARS books) and easy to read throughout-this really is one of those coffee table books that you really can dip in and out of properly and contentedly-today, if you feel like it, I may want to find out more about Walter Donovan, tomorrow, how about something on the Well of Souls or a look at the landscape of the Tanis excavation sites from RAIDERS. To add to the historical facts and educationalist stance of the YOUNG INDY TV series, KINDERSLEY, being a historical book specialist, also makes the most of the George Lucas doctrine to educate its readers, presenting accurate and highly interesting information on events happening in real life to the simultaneous fictional ones going on within Indy’s world. In some cases, the two have merged together beautifully…

On the other side of the visual coin, the diagrams and illustrations are, as ever, also first rate. Much like the ones created for the STAR WARS SAGA, showing you the insides of secret bases, heavy weaponry, and numerous fighters/alien craft, this book goes in depth into the landscapes and environments of the alternate universe of the Ark, the Shankra Stones and the Holy Grail, as the reader discovers all the exotic places Indy has visited, all the dangerous environments he has become trapped in, and all the foes he has just managed to defeat through sheer willpower, luck or a shrewd type of humanity and skillfulness (special notes must be made of the illustrations of TEMPLE OF DOOM, showing the Kali underground lair and the mountain/Pankot Palace in superb detail- bringing the environment to geographical, and logical, life). There’s even a nice spread on our heroes evolution as a character and that of his costume (including Indy’s weather beaten hat and action dusted casual fatigues).

To top it all off, outside of the character history compiled, there are also excellent sections going behind the scenes of the Saga’s creation, with some excellent artwork (it’s always nice to see that early Jim Steranko conceptual art used so well!) and some pieces that I hadn’t seen before (including unused logo designs early character sketches), nice storyboards from the early movies too, and  nicely production photos of the cast and crew (which add the “family” feel to the book that has been clearly evident on screen for so long), an intriguing behind the scenes ILM spread with some distinctive images of the filming of the Nazi deaths from RAIDERS, and a look at all the publishing (from the early MARVEL comics to the numerous adult novels, and merchandise (from KENNER’S early figures for RAIDERS to their current mighty mugs range!), and even a nice section on the video games over the years. A creation/ behind the scenes timeline tops it off, which is most helpful if you want to see how the Saga came into being-from a few jottings by Lucas in 1973 to it’s current, we can’t wait to see it new release in 2008. All these sections have some great little tit-bits to enjoy that I wasn’t previously aware of.

But the most important question, on everybody’s minds I’m sure, as I write this, is...what about the CRYSTAL SKULL coverage!! Well, not to give anything away, there is a very good section on the film but I have deliberately tried not to read it too heavily-just skimming through parts of it have revealed plot info that I didn’t want to know, but hopefully it won’t spoil my enjoyment (in fact, I know it won’t cause that to happen-I just cant wait to see this movie, anyway!). Though there are no in-depth sections on the characters, environments and the Crystal Skull itself like the previous films (the Producers, quite wisely, wanting to keep it all secret), the on-set stills photography in this section is also superb, and ninety nine percent I hadn’t seen previously in any of the other current film magazines-again, the layout is good, but that really is all I’m gonna tell ya!! There is much deliberately missing in that section, with very little on the AREA 51 part of the movie in particular, though to compensate, there are nice production bits on the film in the making of section to continue to satiate the readers, alongside parts of the storyline (of which a fair bit of the film has probably been revealed-again, though, I haven’t tried to read it! It’s up to you if you want to read it!!). Perhaps they (LUCASFILM/DK) should have waited a little bit and released a fuller version of the book after the film was released. Would that have damaged sales? Possibly, but then they could still re-release the book with additional pages when it comes out on DVD, or perhaps when a fifth INDY film comes along (hopefully I won’t be at an age to match Harrison Ford, as he is now, when it finally turns up! Eighteen years was a helluva long wait, guys!) KINGDOM looks impressive to me in every respect, and the film’s photography within the book gives the impression of a well rounded, and heart pleasingly warm closure to the saga to come, with some nice references to the past thrown in (like the Ark of the Covenant and a special mention of the late, great Denholm Elliot’s character of Marcus Brody).

No matter what happens to cinemas, no matter what happens with movies, we’ll always love adventures stories. And whilst that is the case, Indiana Jones will continue to live on in our hearts and minds. This book is a wonderful celebration of that fact.

So, all in all, another exemplary book from the DK range to add, not only to their own impressive list of book case titles, but your own personal list as well!

REVIEW RATING: "X marks the spot!" An INDY-TASTIC 9/10

CLASSIC BLOG 2009: JAKE LLOYD - THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS

By Scott Weller and Chris Baker

My good friend and fellow AFICIONADO contributor Chris Baker has been an invaluable help during the creation of our recent Tenth Anniversary celebration issue of The Phantom Menace (and if you haven’t got hold a PDF copy of it yet, all I can say is: WHY NOT?!). In particular, amongst the many pieces of additional information and photos he’s provided, he sent me this interesting interview that Jake Lloyd did for MTV in 2005 that I hadn’t seen before, in which the young actor, after all the press controversy of his playing the young Anakin Skywalker in the first of the STAR WARS Prequels, and after a lengthy stint away from the camera to pursue his education, was getting ready to return to acting (he’s now more into behind the scenes work, and wants to get a directorial gig once he’s completed his USC work (C’mon George, let him direct a live action episode of the new WARS series when he’s able!!) and seeing what, away from Anakin, the big wide world had in store for him next…..

                                    

                       Jake Lloyd Talks “The Phantom Menace”

Posted April 21, 2005

MTV features an interview with Jake Lloyd, who played Anakin Skywalker in Episode I.

By Larry Carroll 

The phone call comes in from the receptionist: "Jake is in the lobby." Not knowing what to expect, a door is swung open and the entryway to the building is scanned. A smiling mother stands up, extending her right hand; an agent hangs up her cell phone and does the same. Then, as they step aside, parting like the Red Sea, the familiarly dour gaze of a teenager takes center stage.

Barely offering a smile, clad in jeans and a hooded sweatshirt, the owner of that gaze looks like your average, ticked-off 16-year-old. There's only a faint resemblance to the adorable moppet who once undertook the most high-profile role in the most anticipated film of all time

This is Jake Lloyd's first interview in six years.

"None of us really understood exactly how much that film would affect us for the rest of our lives," he says of 1999's "The Phantom Menace," the prequel that ended nearly two decades of Star Wars inactivity while casting the then-8-year-old as a pre-pubescent Darth Vader. "I had some issues," Lloyd says of his post-Anakin Skywalker years. "When I first had to deal with being in Star Wars, you know, who wouldn't?"

"Menace" inspired people to quit their jobs and go stand in line. Fans slept on sidewalks for days to witness a cultural event that would earn more than $400 million in the U.S. alone. Lloyd, whose exposure made him arguably the most easily recognized child actor at the time, was positioned to follow up the role with any project he chose. Instead, the boy simply walked away.

“As far as dropping off the face of the earth is concerned, thank God,” Lloyd says, offering up one of those teenage smiles that simultaneously borders on apathy and sincerity. He is more animated, more willing to show a friendlier, engaging side, it seems, in the midst of the interview than he was when he first appeared in the lobby. "No one really goes through an easy growing-up period when it comes to middle school and high school. I'm just glad that I haven't had to do it in front of so many cameras. I'm glad this is the first interview I've done in six years, because two years ago, I probably wasn't as well-equipped as I am now. And right now, I'm still not quite at the top of my game."

While pop culture continued a grand tradition of transforming children like Macaulay Culkin and Haley Joel Osment into punch lines, Lloyd retreated to a middle-America state (he declines to say which, hoping to preserve his safe haven) and attempted a normal adolescence. It wasn't easy. As he walked down the locker-filled hallways of his school, "people [would] come up to me making lightsaber sounds. It just doesn't make much sense to me. I didn't even touch one in the movie."

The Star Wars experience forced the boy to grow up fast, and it put his teenage-rebellion period several years ahead of his peers. "I used to spend every morning in detention at my old school," he remembers. "It was 7:10 and school didn't start till 8:10, so [I'd] get in there and [be] in detention all morning. I used to go ... every Tuesday and Thursday, and it got to the point where I'd just go anyways, so I could make up for the one I'd be getting the next time around. I was in detention a lot."

The former child actor says he and his family decided to pull the disappearing act after suffering through a Menace publicity tour that found the youngster defending himself against an endless stream of acerbic reporters. "One interview I was doing, this guy, he came in," Lloyd shakes his head. "I had to do about 60 interviews in a day ... This guy comes in and sits down and says, 'So, what's it like to portray Jesus Christ?' 'Well, I'm 10.'"

That question, referring to Star Wars creator George Lucas' divisive decision to reveal Anakin as a Christ figure whose mother birthed him through immaculate conception, was simply a tumbling speck of dirt compared to the avalanche of criticism that would assail Lloyd after the film's release.

Time magazine called the boy's line readings "flat, or flat-out wrong," while Variety dismissed him as a "standard-issue tyke hero." Those were kind, however, compared to the vitriol spewed by fans disappointed in a film that couldn't possibly live up to 20 years of hype. With Lucas still coasting on his reputation and actors like Liam Neeson and Natalie Portman too critically respected to shoulder the blame, the eyes of the world focused on the little boy with the bad haircut. "That bowl cut really drove me insane," Lloyd smiles, before getting serious about his critics. "I did my best. I walked out of there and I had fun. It's just like harshness for any other kid — yeah, mine was seen by a lot more people, but it's still the same basic concept. I don't really mind it. I find a lot of the stuff funny and I've learned to live with it because that's what you do. You can't go fighting everyone that's harsh towards you."

Although he still considers himself a Star Wars fan and speaks fondly of Lucas and of everyone else he worked with all those years ago, Lloyd's cinematic tastes — mirroring his former character's transformation — now lean toward the dark side. "I haven't watched [Star Wars movies] for a really long time. I've been busy watching other movies like Requiem for a Dream,'" he says of the controversial unrated movie about desperate heroin junkies. "I like the more cynical, darker films like Man Bites Dog... Fight Club, American History X."

Which brings Lloyd back to today's conversation, the first part of an intended career revival that has him auditioning around Los Angeles for the first time in more than half a decade. "The most important thing to me when it comes to auditioning," he says of his comeback, "is something where at the end, it's not going to be like, 'Oh, I wasted three months of my life making this movie, but at least I came away with cash.' That's not important to me. I'd rather go in and say, 'I spent three months of my life and I created something that I can appreciate, that I'm proud of, that I enjoyed doing and I can enjoy the end result of.' "

As he carefully considers the film that will reveal the new Jake Lloyd to the world, the former pod-racing youngster reminds himself that the impetus behind his self-imposed exile was learning how to deal with notoriety. Now, he insists, he's old enough to appreciate the fame — and young enough to have some fun with it.

"When I was on my way up here," he says of his arrival at the interview, "the guy who took my name down and let me into the building, I had to give him a photo ID. He looked at it and, as he was writing, his hand was shaking. He looked up and goes, 'You've grown up a little bit.' " Lloyd smiles. "I said, 'No, I've aged, but grown up? No.' "

                     Jake Lloyd Talks TPM 10 Years Later

Jake Lloyd was the little boy who played the young Anakin Skywalker in Star Wars: Episode One - The Phantom Menace. 

Amazingly, it's been a decade since the film that recreated theStar Wars universe on the big screen plunged George Lucas into what seems to be a never-ending divide between young fans and older fans of the Star Wars saga.

Whatever you think of the prequel Star Wars films, there's no denying their immense cultural impact; the sheer scale of the fame attained by all the Star Wars characters. But behind it all, there are real people, and whilst you may have your opinions about pod racing (and whether something is or isn't pod racing) or the infamous 'yippeee!', there's something quite arresting about the thought about what happened to the little boy who was 'little orphan Ani'. What's he been up to? What's he doing now? What does he look like all grown up?

Well, we have the interview that answers those questions.

Recently, Jake Lloyd came out to Australia as a guest of Supanova, and we had a chat to him, face to face. This is one of the most fascinating psychological profiles of what happens when you go back to school after being in the most anticipated film of all time

http://www.scifitv.com.au/Blog/2009/07/jake-lloyd-exclusive-ten-years-after-ep-one/

After having undeservedly gone through hell from both critical fans, the public and his schoolmates for years after-sadly, Lloyd himself, after that long painful period of criticism, has seemingly accepted their opinions, thinking his performance as Anakin Skywalker wasn’t very good- a sentiment at AFICIONADO that we feel is both wrong and unfair-there weren’t many child actors of his ability at that time that would, or could, have been able to hold their own in such a big scale movie as this, especially a STAR WARS one, and with such an important character. Despite some occasional goofy lines, like the aforementioned “Yippee!” dialogue, the young Lloyd is fearless in the role and manages to bring believability to important scenes like the still exciting to watch Pod Race, as well as tugging the heart strings for the scene where Anakin leaves his mother to become a Jedi. Throughout the film, Jake brings warmth, depth and fun to the performance with memorable distinction.

Well done, Jake. We at AFICIONADO, and I’m sure the larger STAR WARS community, wish you all the best of success for the future.

CLASSIC REVIEW: 'STAR WARS FAN DAYS III' EVENT 2009

STAR WARS: FAN DAYS III CONVENTION - 24/25 OCT 2009 - PLANO, TEXAS

By Ian Trussler

With the distinct lack of a Star Wars Celebration event this year, and suffering mildly from withdrawal symptoms, I decided to head off to my first Fan Days event.

Organized and run by the folks at Official Pix, Fan Days events have been going a few years now and offer a smaller scale but equally impressive alternative to Celebration.

The venue, Plano Centre, North of Dallas in Texas was perfect, offering something similar but on a smaller scale to the Indiana Convention Centre used for Celebration III.

The two-day convention, running over a Saturday and Sunday certainly offered plenty for all fans and didn't disappoint me in anyway, featuring a large array of celebrity guests, talks, panels and fan related activities.

What follows is an account of my experiences over the weekend.

Saturday 24 October

Saturday had an early start for me as I had purchased a ticket for the Fan Club breakfast, so I arrived about 7am for the 7.30 let in ready for the breakfast start at 8am. Actually, there wasn't that many people who got there early, most arriving just before they needed to, either for the breakfast or general admission.

The breakfast was well organized and I was issued with my great goody bag of exclusive T-shirt and assorted freebies, along with my pre-ordered VIP ticket.

As well as getting in early and having a buffet breakfast, the main attraction of the event was that celebrity guests attend and mingle and chat with fans, as well as a prize raffle for cool items.

This years guests were the ever present Steve Sansweet, along with The Clone Wars director Dave Filoni and Obi-Wan voice actor James Arnold Taylor. During the breakfast Dave Filoni talked to everyone about the future of Clone Wars, James Arnold Taylor entertained with his collection of voice impressions and also signed items for fans including the exclusive breakfast trading card. At the same time Steve Sansweet chatted to fans, and conducted the prize raffle. To my utter amazement I won the second prize to be given away, which was a pristine, sealed version of the Parker Brothers ”Battle at Sarlaac Pit” game, donated by Lucasfilm Archives. Sadly I didn't win the top prize of an exclusive trading card signed by George Lucas, that went to a very young boy of about 10 at most whom had already won a prize earlier anyway. Some people get all the luck, it seems.

Overall the breakfast was huge fun and something I would definitely do again next time I attend Fan Days.

Breakfast over it was into the main centre at about 9.30 for about an hour of either watching fan films or shopping at theOfficial Pix booth, where they had a great selection of classic photos and a large number of brand new never before seen shots.

Once things officially got started at 10.30am, the main attraction for many was the fact that Anthony Daniels was there to sign autographs and meet fans. Daniels was in town for the previous nights performance of Star Wars In Concert and was only available for a short time on Saturday so I, like many, headed straight to his area.

Interestingly earlier at the breakfast I had asked Steve Sansweet why the name of the concert tour had been changed from Star Wars A Musical Journey, as it was when I saw its debut in London, to the rather bland Star Wars In Concert. Steve's answer was that surveys in America had shown that they were confused by the original title, thinking they would be seeing a theatrical show with acting and a story, so the name got changed.

Mr. Daniels was in good form and happily chatted with fans while signing items, his assistants were a little over zealous at times in their attempts to grab as much money as possible and keep us at arms length from Anthony. Bizarrely the guy in front of me asked Tony to sign a baseball and Tony's face was priceless as he tried to work out how to go about signing it and clearly thinking "why?" to himself.

The line moved smoothly along and this out of the way I was free to enjoy all the other things the show had to offer.

The collector room had a series of panels on Star Wars toys and collectibles as well as a costume contest and trivia quiz.

Separate autograph rooms were available for the Clone Warsvoice actors and also for movie related actors.

The Clone Wars room had James Arnold Taylor (Obi-Wan), Matt Lanter (Anakin), Ashley Eckstein (Ahsoka), Tom Kane (Yoda), Dee Bradley Baker (Rex/Clones), Cat Taber (Padme) and Nika Futterman (Ventress)

The Movie room had Ray Park, Dave Prowse, Peter Mayhew, Jeremy Bulloch, Nalini Krishnan, Anthony Forest, Jack Klaff, Christopher Muncke, Hugh Quarshie, Matt Wood and David Accord. Unfortunately, Rusty Goffe, Jerome Blake and Phil Eason had to cancel.

But at this point it was the talks in the main auditorium that interested me, first up was Don Bies.

Don Bies assisting Anthony Daniels for EPISODE III.

Don Bies Talk

Don Bies hour-long talk was excellent, he talked in detail about his career at ILM and this is some of the great info he shared with us.

The first job he worked on for ILM was The Witches of Eastwick.

When he took over running the Lucasfilm Archives in the late 80's one of the first things he had to do was oversee the destruction of the second original Landspeeder prop. This was the prop that had been fixed on an arm and used inTunisia. They simply had no room for it at the time so he was instructed to destroy it so he watched as a huge truck drove over it and crushed it. He was a little bit heartbroken by this, understandably. The only remaining original Landspeeder is the 3 wheel car version, which got repainted for re-use inEpisode One.

He worked on Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and was hired originally to do Donovan’s death scene effects. However he ended up being in the film in more ways than one. He was a Nazi in the Hitler scene and when they had to re-shoot an insert scene of Indy handing the Grail Diary to Hitler to sign, he played Indy, so that is Don's hand you see handing the diary over.

Don worked on the famed Energizer Bunny/Darth Vader commercial which was the first time George Lucas had agreed for a SW character to be used outside of movie promotions. The original concept for the commercial was somewhat different; it was to feature a line up of classic movie villain’s with Vader appearing at the end of the line up. George rejected this idea so it got revamped. Tom Deeley played Vader in the commercial, in a Carbon Freezing Chamber rebuilt using the original blueprints from Empire. Don actually played Vader in the close up scenes of Vader swinging his lightsaber.

Don also mentioned a rejected commercial for Pepsi at the time of The Last Crusade that was to feature Indy drinking Pepsi and a rival drink and riffing on the Grail Knights dialogue of "He Chose Poorly" and "He Chose Wisely". You can just imagine it. Again George nixed this idea.

During his time he has overseen the production of 18 Vader costumes for use in public appearances. He is known for his cameo in ROTJ-SE as Boba Fett but he candidly stated he was not a fan of the Special Editions, even going so far as to say there are only 2 good SW movies, clearly meaning A New Hope and Empire.

When he appeared on set as Boba Fett, he was not wearing the helmet and had his glasses on, and George laughed and said, "Look, it's Jabba's Accountant" and continued to make fun and refer to him this way throughout the day of filming. The costume of Boba was a mess from the back as the rocket pack was the one used in Yuma for the explosion scene, so it was all broken up form the effects explosion. It was George’s idea for Fett to touch the dancers face and the shot where all three of them suddenly look in the same direction was caught on camera when Lucas deliberately said something to distract them all when caught off guard.

When Don played the Bith musician in the Jedi Rocks sequence he was wearing Jon Berg's original Cantina Band member mask, which he had borrowed from his friend. He also played Stormtroopers in the A New Hope Special Edition when Han Solo runs into extra troopers after the chase down the Death Star corridor and as an escort for Vader to his shuttle in Empire's Special Edition.

Bies operating the puppet Threepio.

He designed the Episode I C-3PO puppets head. He was also going to puppet 3PO for Episode 2 but Anthony Daniels insisted on doing it instead. In Tunisia, at the Hotel Sidi Driss, used as the Lars Homestead in Episode II, Tony Daniels fell over with the 3PO puppet and broke the leg’s off, so they had to shoot the scene from the waist up, but it got cut and re-shot anyway.

ILM built 16 R2's for Episode I and 12 R2's for Episode II. Two R2's were made for Kenny Baker.

Don also cleared up a question I have had for ages. Which one scene did Kenny Baker play R2-D2 in for Episode II? Common thought has been that Kenny played R2 only in the scene inside Padme's ship on Tatooine when Obi-Wan's hologram comes through. However, many years ago, Anthony Daniels told me that Kenny only did the wedding scene. So I asked Don this when I got his autograph and he confirmed that Kenny Baker only played R2 for the wedding scene, shot against bluescreen in London and then composited onto theLake Como location shot. It was Don who played R2 in Padme's ship. He operated R2 from underneath while laying on the floor.

Don Bies was a great guest and given more time could surely have talked on and on. He was a pleasure to meet and get his autograph from.

Following Bies, Ray Park gave a talk about his career, but I decided to skip this, having seen him talk before, and went to get some autographs and check out the artists in artist alley and the dealers room.

Next in the main auditorium for me was the Future of Lucasfilm talk with Steve Sansweet and Dave Filoni.

Although good, there wasn't anything new about this presentation. Dave talked about The Clone Wars and we saw the Season One box set trailer. Steve Sansweet told us that he still couldn't announce Celebration V yet. Latest was that they are 6-8 weeks away from signing a contract so hopefully an announcement will be coming in the new year. No mention of the Live Action TV show. The highlight was the outstanding trailer for the up coming new video game The Old Republic, due in 2010 sometime. This trailer was amazing, the computer graphics and human character rendering so life like, with incredible action and slo-mo fighting. I think everyone in the room was dumb struck how good it looked.

After this talk both Dave and Steve did signings for fans at theOfficial Pix booth.

Last thing on Saturday in the main auditorium was the Charity auction.

I missed the auction as I went to meet all the Clone Warsactors and get autographs. Ashley Eckstein was definitely the most popular of these guests but they were all lovely, Cat Taber especially being so grateful and overwhelmed by the positive response the show has received.

As each day began to wind down Official Pix would slash prices on their pictures and put out the One Dollar sale boxes. I, along with many others spent ages wading through the huge selection available each day. Infuriatingly, Official Pixkept adding new pics to the boxes every 10 minutes or so, so once you thought you had been through everything, you had to start again in case you missed something. It was all good fun though and I grabbed myself so many bargains.

Sunday 25th October

Sunday was a much shorter and quieter day by far after the craziness of Saturday. It was nice to take a bit more time in the dealer room and relax a bit without being on such a schedule to fit everything in.

Again there were some Fan/Collector panels but I stuck with the main auditorium and first went to Steve Sansweet and Anne Neumann’s talk about their new book 1000 Collectibles. This was basically a slide show of the book with stories from Steve and Anne about how and why they picked the items from Steve's vast collection. Steve gave some background to how Rancho Obi-Wan came about and the sort of problems he had and also some funny stories about both good and bad decisions he has made over the years relating to his collection. A very enjoyable way to pass an hour.

Next though was the highlight of the day and perhaps the whole weekend, The Clone Wars actors panel, with Dave Filoni, Steve Sansweet and all the voice actors in attendance. This started as a major love-in with Dave saying how wonderful all the cast were to work with and how talented they all were. Each actor introduced themselves using their character voices and Dave chatted animatedly about the making of the show.

Interesting info was that when they started making the show it had no network attached so all episodes were made initially at about 24-26 minutes in length. As all networks differ slightly they had to hedge their bets on episode time length. Once Cartoon Network picked up the series and insisted on 22 mins per show, all existing episodes had to be cut down. Hence we are getting longer director cuts of selected shows on the DVD boxset.

Image: LUCASFILM.

Later, I asked Dave Filoni about the major continuity error in the episode "Dooku Captured" with the pirates where Anakin and Obi-Wan's drinks are drugged but they appear to realize this and use the Force to swap the drinks, yet in the next episode they wake up in prison all hazy after clearly being drugged. Well, Dave explained that originally there was a scene that explained that all the pirates’ drinks were drugged, but this got cut out. Dave noticed the error and told George but Lucas said to leave the episode as it was.

After the verbal back slapping had finished we got a real treat. Filoni had written a short 15 minute episode to bridge the gap between the events of "Senate Spy" Season Two's fourth show and the upcoming episode 5. The show was on temporary hiatus pending the November sweeps.

The short script consisted of two scenes, one good guys and one bad guys.

First up we had Anakin, Obi-Wan, Yoda, Ahsoka, Padme and Rex discuss the events of Padme's poisoning as seen in “Senate Spy” and what action to take next in the Senate and Jedi Council. Watching Tom Kane perform Yoda live was brilliant and James Arnold Taylor as Obi-Wan excelled. All the other cast members were great too and you got a real feel for how the shows come together. However the second scene of the bad guys was superb, consisting of Matt Wood as Grievous being teased mercilessly by Ventress, played by Nika Futterman, as she also flirted outrageously, making comments of innuendo towards the droid General as his now reconstructed Surgeon Droid, previously destroyed in the Lair of Grievous episode, played by David Accord, fussed and fretted around them. Futterman bought such a playful yet sultry tone to the character of Asajj Ventress, it was something we had barely seen or heard before.

The crowd absolutely loved this little impromptu show and gave thunderous applause.

With a little time left for questions, Dave Filoni awkwardly managed to side step the question of who voices the Mandalorian warrior glimpsed so briefly in some of the promo footage, as asked by an audience member. Ashley Eckstein also took a question on the fate of Ahsoka saying she hoped she didn't ultimately die. Filoni said he had his own strong views on Ahsoka's fate but that ultimately George Lucas would decide what happens to her.

With Season Two finished and work well under way on Season Three, we clearly have so much to look forward to with The Clone Wars.

This was the last major talk of the day so afterwards it was time to meet Dave and Steve as they again did signings and to re-visit the Official Pix sale boxes for those last minute bargains.

In between these talks and panels one other small but great little feature was the Ralph McQuarrie exhibit. It consisted mainly of a small gallery of artwork, primarily for The Empire Strikes Back, showing previously unseen artwork of Lando and the Luke/Vader duel. Also on show was artwork Ralph did for crew and fan club logos and some of his last work for Galoob on the Action Fleet toys packaging.

In addition to all this you had Replica Prop and Costume rooms, courtesy of The Dented Helmet, the ForceCast guys were also doing live shows and all the hugely talented artists like Matt Busch, Russell Walks and Randy Martinez to name a few, treating fans to one of a kind sketch cards all weekend.

Overall the whole event was great, two days of fun, excitement and surprises. The organization was mostly great, just a few minor communication problems but much better than some previous Celebration’s I've attended.

As either an alternative or addition to Celebration, I would highly recommend going to a Fan Day’s event and can see these becoming a permanent fixture on my calender.

Thanks to everyone involved for making such a great event and to all the people I met and chatted with over the weekend. Hopefully some longtime new friends made.

Galactic Renaissance Man: Model Maker and Droid Maestro Don Bies Talks Artoo, Becoming Boba Fett, and More | StarWars.com