I'm not one for excuses, but if you look back at our 2 Idiots Strike Back blog, you'll see that once we get to the show, our blogging frequency drops considerably. Basically, we're out the door to the convention center first thing in the morning, and by the time we get back and finish dinner, we're too wiped out to recount the days events.
So, better late than never, here is our recap of the final days of Star Wars Celebration VI through our trip home.
Day 7
Friday got off to a grand start when we were visited before the show opened by Roger Christian and Robert Watts. Roger won an Academy Award for set decoration on Star Wars (utilizing Ralph's early paintings for inspiration), and Robert's amazing career includes being a production manager on Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, a production supervisor on Star Wars, and a producer on the original trilogy and Indiana Jones films.
Robert owns one of the very few original Ralph McQuarrie paintings from the Star Wars trilogy that resides outside of the Lucasfilm Archives: Vader's arrival on the second Death Star from Return of the Jedi. It was a gift from George when he completed his work on the films.
John and Robert bonded over the fact that they both hold Raiders of the Lost Ark as their favorite film.
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| Robert Watts & John |
Also on Friday was our long awaited premiere of our Ralph McQuarrie tribute video. We closed up the booth for the duration, and made our way upstairs to the main stage where it would be shown. Prior to the screening, Jon Berg and Dave Filoni (supervising director of The Clone Wars TV show) talked briefly about working with Ralph, and how his work continues to inspire those working in the Star Wars universe.
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| Stan the Producer before the doors were opened to the public |
The screening was well received, with a little less than a full house, which was pretty impressive considering we were scheduled directly opposite an hour with Anthony Daniels, the man who portrayed C-3PO in all six Star Wars films. Several people were kind enough to stop by an offer words of praise for the video, and even those who didn't attend got a taste of it when the first four minutes were posted on the official Star Wars blog.
We returned to the townhouse for another of Vonna's home cooked meals, and got another night's rest after a long day at the show.
Day 8
On Saturday we gave a presentation on Collecting Ralph McQuarrie to a small but passionate group of McQuarrie fans and collectors. Much to our surprise, our audience contained an employee of Proctor and Gamble, the company responsible for PUFFS tissues, that had a Star Wars license in 1980 for the release of The Empire Strikes Back. As a result of this fortuitous connection, we may end up with some original, unfolded PUFFS tissue boxes featuring Ralph's Empire artwork.
That night, Vonna prepared a special dinner for our guests the Sanda's from Japan. Everyone enjoyed the meal and dessert, which was a bit more relaxing than another night out
Day 9
Sunday seemed to fly by, but brought with it the announcement that the next Star Wars Celebration would be a return to Europe next summer. In Germany, to be precise.
John was particularly pleased to have acquired the first Star Wars playset ever produced, a Sears Exclusive Cantina Adventure Set in the original box, noted for containing a rare variation 'Blue Snaggletooth' figure. That figure alone often sells for more than John paid for this vintage find.
The show closed at 5pm, and we had our booth broken down and palletized within two hours. We decided to celebrate our last night in Florida with a trip to a different Brazilian churrascuria, Fogo de Chao. Everyone enjoyed it, and it actually managed to edge out Texas de Brazil as our favorite churrascuria in Orlando.
Day 10
Florida was clearly unhappy to see us go, as it decided to cry Sunday when it was time to leave the townhouse.
We met the Sanda's for brunch at the Peabody hotel (home of the ducks you may recall from our last blog) before heading out to the airport for our flight home.
Fortunately, Vonna was able to upgrade us to First Class on the first leg of our trip to Houston, and an emergency exit row for the rest of the trip home (where the added legroom was appreciated).
We managed to avoid delays to Houston (thanks, Hurricane Isaac!), although we would have welcomed it while we were in First Class...
Our flight to San Jose was delayed by almost an hour while maintenance attempted to fix the headset jack in a single seat (not even in First Class!). Crazy.
The sky was appropriately painted with McQuarrie clouds on our way home.
We arrived in San Jose to see that our bags had flown First Class the entire way, as they were waiting for us when we got to baggage claim. And just like that, another adventure was behind us.
We'll see you next summer for Zwei Idioten in Deutschland!
