I’m writing this blog post not long after we got tickets to the next Star Wars Celebration in London next year! Anaheim’s Celebration was my third conference having been to Orlando and Chicago. I did a detailed blog post about Orlando if you want to check it out. But now on to my highlights.
I will start that my one of my favorite things about this year’s celebration is that we got to see John Williams conduct the new theme from the Disney+ show “Obi-Wan Kenobi.” The Pacific Orchestra was hidden behind the curtains and a motorized stage brought them forward to everyone’s surprise! If you take a closer look at some of the pictures below, the orchestra was really well hidden! The new theme is gorgeous, dark, and moody which I thought really lent well to the story of Obi-Wan. Harrison Ford also came out to say Happy 90th Birthday to Williams and acknowledged that the “Indiana Jones” theme follows him wherever he goes (including his latest colonoscopy appointment). Williams also composed the music to upcoming Indiana Jones movie which comes out June 30, 2023! Also discussed at this panel was the new show “Andor” which premieres on Disney+ September 21st and the movie “Willow” which debuts on Disney+ on November 30th. We got to see a video greeting from Ahsoka star Rosario Dawson, a sneak peak of the Mandalorian Season 3 coming to Disney+ February 2023! We also learned about a new show called Star Wars: Skeleton Crew starring Jude Law coming to Disney+ sometime in 2023.
I was really interested to learn more about the new Obi-Wan show but even more excited that there was huge announcement at the panel; that not only there would be a exclusive red carpet world premiere that night but all that were in attendance were invited! We were pretty shocked! They gave us wristbands and we came back to the venue at 5:30pm to line up for the premiere. We “walked” the red carpet which had displays of the costumes of the show and were given popcorn and drinks. Then we settled in to watch two episodes on the big screen. I was really impressed with the experience and even met an actor from the cast in line (I didn’t know it at the time but I was hanging out with Dustin Ceithamer who played the droid NED-B!) At the end of the premiere we also walked away with movie style posters from the show.
After coming down from the shock of that first Lucasfilm panel we hustled over to The Galaxy Stage David W. Collin’s panel about the music of Attack of the Clones. Weirdly not to long after we sat down a fire alarm got pulled so we got evacuated out of the building. An all clear signal was released shortly thereafter and we were welcomed back. I went to Collin’s panel at Chicago and loved it especially since I studied music theory in college. A couple of the key things I learned from this panel was that music in Episode II was written around the central theme of forbidden love as we all knew that these two “star-crossed” lovers were doomed. He spoke a lot about the song “Across The Stars” and that the oboe solo is similar to Swan Lake. He explained that the songs is in a minor key making it sound more sad than music in a major key. He also pointed out that music in Star Wars that is in a major key is usually for lightside characters and music that is in a minor key is usually for darkside characters.
Another highlight panel wise for me the Mandalorian+ panel. We saw a clip from the new season as well as heard from the whole cast. I really loved that both the actor Pedro Pascal as well as his two stunt actors Brendan Wayne and Lateef Crowder shared the stage. The stunt actors are a huge part of the show whether we are aware of it or not so I thought it was wonderful that they were acknowledged and included. Fun fact: Brendan Wayne is the grandson of actor John Wayne. Another highlight of this panel was of course Grogu! Having him on the stage melted everyone’s hearts. I can’t imagine keeping the secret of him from the world! I also loved hearing from Temuera Morrison and seeing him perform a haka, which is a ceremonial dance in Māori culture. I also loved that Favreau confirmed that the Boba Fett theme song changed slightly by the end of the season to add the “Fett” lyric to it. Ludwig Goranssen is the composer of both the music from Boba Fett and the Mandalorian. I’m a huge fan of his and I think he’s one of the most innovative composers right now.
The next panel we went to was the “Behind The Scenes Of The Mandalorian And Book Of Boba Fett.” Hosted by Vanity Fair writer Anthony Breznican and brought out Janet Lewin (Industrial Light & Magic), Richard Bluff (VFX supervisor/”The Mandalorian”), Bonnie Wild and Matthew Wood (from Skywalker Sound), John Rosengrant (from Legacy Effects), and one of the puppeteers for everyone’s favorite, Grogu. A ton of great info was shared on the technology developed for both shows. They showed some test shots of the development of the Mandalorian costume from Angel Island which isn’t far from where I call home. They also shared that originally Grogu was going to be completely CGI but John Favreau also wanted it to be a puppet he could control in the post-viz phase so a iPhone app was developed for him. The app could read facial features and allow him to control the performance and animators would go in later to make it perfect. John Rosengrant thought that they could make Grogu’s performance be completely puppet so he put together a how-to video two weeks before filming and it was that last test where puppet Grogu was born.
Another tidbit of the 1st day’s LucasFilm panel was the surprise announcement of The Mandalorian Experience arriving at the convention. Basically almost every prop, display, and costume was going to be on display for the public from both The Mandalorian & Book of Boba Fett. You had to be fast to sign up for a spot in the que for this experience. A QR code popped up on the screen and I jumped to it. I was able to snag a spot the first day it opened!
I learned recently that the there were two puppeteers in the bantha prop making the creature move! I thought it was a motor or something. It was very cool!
I clearly remember the episode of “Book Of Boba Fett” where saw the drumset droid made it’s appearance so I was so excited to see it in real life! Maxo Rebo also was super fun to see. He reminds me of Hooter from Captain EO.
It’s not Star Wars without Star Wars Cosplay. As always the costumes are out of this world with amazing details. Below are some of my favorites:
Another great highlight for me was attending my first ever podcast panel featuring the Charlotte and Caitlin of Skytalkers! I have been listening to their podcasts for awhile and recently joined their Pateron. It was so cool to be in the crowd as they did a live podcast taping breaking down the first two episodes of Obi-Wan!
Well, that’s a wrap and can’t wait to do it again next year!
