Most of the visitors to Celebration Europe were on the main floor, but up on the third floor you could find one of the hidden gems of the event; the Fan Stage, University Stage, Holonet News Stages and STEAM Academy. The third floor also offered carpeted floors, nice benches and bathrooms that were used a lot less than on the main floor, so cleaner and no queues, but that was not the main attraction. The stages on the third floor were not the place where you heard about the newest Lucasfilm releases or saw the trailers first, but it was filled with interesting and thought provoking panels, and to me that is what makes Star Wars Celebration special.
Most big convention have actors up on stage talking positively about their experiences, but up on the third floor you could hear people discuss if not the duel on Mustafar is just a big ”lip sync for your life” considering all the flashy lightsaber moves that do not hit anything, the faces and the hand moves. You could also learn that if you stay at Hotel Sidi Idriss, the location for the Lars homestead dinner scenes, you should be wary of the electrical wiring in the shower, from someone who had been there. A lot of the panels were made by fans for the fans and covered a range of extremely niche subjects. It ranged from science of Return of the Jedi to the quite academical panel on Andor and the Empire, which involved professors discussing the difference between ”to resist” and ”to rebel” and what it is that pushes us over the edge and make us prepared to make large personal sacrifices for a cause.
It was not only fans there though. In one panel, that discussed the history of Blue Harvest, they actually showed film from the Lucasfilm Archives of fans having figured out that Blue Harvest was the code name for the new Star Wars film, and now they were there on location. The girl who vehemently stated that Darth Vader was lying when he said that he was Luke’s father might have gotten a bit disappointed when the film was finally released though.
All in all the upper floor stages were filled to the brim with a love for Star Wars and a lot of knowledge about big and small things in a galaxy far, far away. The trailers and preview footage will be released eventually for all to see, but the internal image of ewoks as ”murder bears” is just something that the people who were at one or two of the panels on the upper leven can enjoy. So the next time at Celebration, head for the smaller stages; you might get the chance to hear something you had not even thought about when it comes to the large Star Wars universe.
Stay tuned to Fantha Tracks Radio for more from the HoloNet News Stages and LIVE episodes of Galactic Senate Stage as Good Morning Tatooine, Desert Planet Discs, Start Your Engines, Making Tracks and Planet Leia.
- Hardcover Book
- Johnston, E.K. (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 368 Pages - 10/10/2023 (Publication Date) - Random House/Star Wars (Publisher)