The deepr we go into the era of Star Wars, the more anniversaries like this continue to pop up. Yes, 40 years have passed since the one and only television screening of The Star Wars Holiday Special and Lucas Seastrom, writing over at StarWars.com, chats with animator John Celestri about this infamous show, and the much-loved animation sequence that sits within it.
Today, animation and Star Wars go hand in hand. Many of our favorite stories in the galaxy far, far away have come to us via the animated art form. But where did it all start?
The story of Star Wars and animation begins in Toronto, Canada, in 1978. There, a small animation studio, Nelvana Ltd., was tasked with creating a 10-minute sequence to be incorporated into the upcoming television program, The Star Wars Holiday Special.
The animated debut of Star Wars proved to also be the debut of an iconic character: Boba Fett. The animator tasked with bringing this alluring bounty hunter to life was John Celestri.
“I’m basically a self-taught animator,” Celestri tells StarWars.com. “I’ve always enjoyed telling stories and performing. It wasn’t until I was in my early twenties that I discovered I had a natural ability to animate. But you didn’t have schools for animation back then in the 1960s.”
Last year here on Fantha Tracks we celebrated the shows 39th birthday, which you can read by clicking here.
Exploring the galaxy since 1978, Mark wrote his first fan fiction in '81 and been a presence online since his first webpage Fanta War in 1996. He currently contributes to ILM.com and SkywalkerSound.com, having previously written for Star Wars Insider, StarWars.com, Star Wars Encyclopedia, Build The Millennium Falcon, Starburst Magazine, Geeky Monkey, TV Film Memorabilia and Model and Collectors Mart.
He is a four-time Star Wars Celebration Stage host (the only podcaster to have appeared on every Celebration podcast stage since it began in 2015), the Daily Content Manager of Fantha Tracks and the co-host of Making Tracks, Canon Fodder and Start Your Engines on Fantha Tracks Radio.
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The deepr we go into the era of Star Wars, the more anniversaries like this continue to pop up. Yes, 40 years have passed since the one and only television screening of The Star Wars Holiday Special and Lucas Seastrom, writing over at StarWars.com, chats with animator John Celestri about this infamous show, and the much-loved animation sequence that sits within it.
Today, animation and Star Wars go hand in hand. Many of our favorite stories in the galaxy far, far away have come to us via the animated art form. But where did it all start?
The story of Star Wars and animation begins in Toronto, Canada, in 1978. There, a small animation studio, Nelvana Ltd., was tasked with creating a 10-minute sequence to be incorporated into the upcoming television program, The Star Wars Holiday Special.
The animated debut of Star Wars proved to also be the debut of an iconic character: Boba Fett. The animator tasked with bringing this alluring bounty hunter to life was John Celestri.
“I’m basically a self-taught animator,” Celestri tells StarWars.com. “I’ve always enjoyed telling stories and performing. It wasn’t until I was in my early twenties that I discovered I had a natural ability to animate. But you didn’t have schools for animation back then in the 1960s.”
Last year here on Fantha Tracks we celebrated the shows 39th birthday, which you can read by clicking here.
Exploring the galaxy since 1978, Mark wrote his first fan fiction in '81 and been a presence online since his first webpage Fanta War in 1996. He currently contributes to ILM.com and SkywalkerSound.com, having previously written for Star Wars Insider, StarWars.com, Star Wars Encyclopedia, Build The Millennium Falcon, Starburst Magazine, Geeky Monkey, TV Film Memorabilia and Model and Collectors Mart.
He is a four-time Star Wars Celebration Stage host (the only podcaster to have appeared on every Celebration podcast stage since it began in 2015), the Daily Content Manager of Fantha Tracks and the co-host of Making Tracks, Canon Fodder and Start Your Engines on Fantha Tracks Radio.
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The animated debut of Star Wars proved to also be the debut of an iconic character: Boba Fett. The animator tasked with bringing this alluring bounty hunter to life was John Celestri.
