Star Wars Celebration Coverage: Day 1

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Obviously the biggest news of the morning was the debut of the new Force Awakens trailer. Sadly, I was not in the arena stage for that presentation.

Nor was I in any other stage…

Due to my own ill preparedness I was still in the outside line to get in. So I wound up watching the event on my tablet.

Here are a few things that stuck out at me during The Force Awakens panel.

-BB-8 aka “Soccerbot” is a work of genius. He is an actual controllable prop, not a CGI creation. He’s the breakout star for sure.

-The new generation of cast really put their hearts into this. Their efforts showed not just in their performances in the trailer, but in the enthusiasm of the panel itself.

-The desert planet Rey is on is not Tatooine.

-Jon Boyega would not comment directly on whether his character Finn is a Stormtrooper or not.

-Carrie Fisher said you will positively not see her in a metal bikini in this movie.

Thoughts on the Empire Strikes Back presentation with restored music

-It’s amazing how just the adding or eliminating of background music can change the feel of a scene

-There actually was a score made for when Luke was stumbling around on Hoth. Overall, I think the lack of music may have worked better, because it made the blowing wind and cold warmore ominous.

-There was music scored for Luke training on Dagobah with Yoda strapped on his back. John Williams even scored the somersault flip.

Thoughts on Ian McDiarmid’s panel “The Emperor Strikes Back”.

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-Host James Arnold Taylor could probably host a interview talk show on TV. He’s that good of an interviewer.

-Ian McDiarmid is one of the most energetic 70 year olds you’ll ever see.

-He even did Palpatine Shakespeare style. It’s as awesome as it sounds. Video and audio here.

-Ian shared a few stories about making the four films he was in.

-He wasn’t the first actor cast for Palpatine. The first actor had trouble with the contact lenses.

-When asked if he could have played anybody BUT Palpatine, he said Yoda. He joked that he couldn’t play Leia as well as Carrie Fisher. Especially in a metal bikini.

-Unlike most movie audio where the lines are rerecorded, the “squid ballet” scene (where Palpatine tells the story of Darth Plagueis) used on set lines due to George Lucas liking McDiarmid’s voice at the time. His voice was raspy due to dust in his throat.

-Ian said Palpatine was 120 years old

-He didn’t like that Christopher Lee got Force Lightning. He liked that Palpatine was the only one to do it for bis time.

-He said that Liam Neeson and Jake Lloyd did not know that he was playing the evil Sidious at the time of filming. They only dealt with him as the seemingly noble Palpatine. He was under orders not to tell anybody though.

Thoughts on Phantom Menace and Attack Of The Clones in 3D

-Some of the best 3D I’ve seen. And that’s coming from somebody who doesnt care for 3D.

-The same reason these movies aren’t getting the 3D rerelease is likely the same reason the “Original Versions” won’t get released. It’s a company owned by Disney that would spend time, effort, and money on a project that only Fox (a competitor) can release.

I’ll have more thoughts in an upcoming podcast. But for now thanks for reading my brain dump about the first day of Celebration.

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