On Saturday 7th June, Star Wars fans from around the globe – quite literally – gathered at Fordingbridge Town Hall in the New Forest to celebrate Andor. What’s usually the home of Farthest From became the stage for a massive celebration of the unsung heroes of filmmaking.
When the event was first announced there was a feeling that it would be something special, and it did not disappoint. A few of us Fantha’s live relatively close to each other, so at 6.30am on Saturday morning Good Morning Tatooine co-host Paul Naylor picked me up along with Mark Newbold, who was on stage hosting duties for the day along with his Making Tracks co-host Mark Mulcaster.
The event itself was broken down into wonderful bitesize chunks, with panels and interviews as well as time for autographs for those who wanted to get a special poster signed by all those who attended. The Town Hall looked fantastic with the stage set up with B2-EMO and some wonderful graphics on display behind. There was even a countdown clock, so everyone knew where they stood on timings.
The first panel was the Graphics Team with Barry Gingell, Dom Sikking and Tereza Hudakova all on hand to discuss their work on both seasons of the show. There was plenty of in-depth discussion surrounding Ferrix, and it was fascinating to see the care and love that went into every detail, especially the tarot cards!
The second panel of the day was Set Decoration which featured Solomon Honey, Samantha Redwood and Rob King. Seeing the guests share their stories like this was a real treat as generally speaking it’s only the actors that we see interviewed onstage. It was wonderful to see so many talented people get their moment in the spotlight. Celebration Japan featured a handful of panels, but those mainly focused on Doug Chiang and the 50th anniversary of ILM.
The third panel went to the Creature Workshop with Jake Lunt Davies, Lee Towersey and Tim Berry, who were on hand to tell their stories. The show was packed out and you can see why; Where else would we get to hear facts and personal behind the scenes details like this from all aspects of the storytelling process?
The fourth panel was a solo one that featured Production Designer Luke Hull, who held the crowd in the palm of his hand with stories from Kathleen Kennedy and Tony Gilroy. The love and care that went into Andor just oozed from everyone with Luke being no exception. It really felt like a special club to be able to attend.
The final panel of the day was a showstopper, a rare chance indeed, to hear the talented team from ILM with TJ Falls, Mohen Leo and Marcus Dryden. Many of the guests featured had been with Star Wars since The Force Awakens and some even before that.
The day ended with a Q&A and an auction of very special merchandise that was made up of crew items from across all Star Wars. The highest lot was an Andor S2 Crew Cap that was worn by the Set Decorating department that went for £310. I picked up an Andor Creature Department Sticker with the Pilgrim logo on it and was very happy.
This was truly the documentary that we needed, and even better it was live and in the flesh. Disney has missed a trick here by not delivering a behind-the-scenes look at Andor. Luckily, Dave Tree answered the call, and we thank him generously for it.
A massive congratulations to the team involved in every aspect of organizing this day. From Martin Keeler managing the stage to the team that manned the stalls (that featured exclusive merchandise for this event), the folks on sound, setting up the chairs, watching the shop over the road, the team that put the displays together. Everyone. If I’ve missed anyone then please don’t fret – THANK YOU EVERYONE.
The day, like any Star Wars event, was all about the friends there with you and the friends you meet. That’s what’s brilliant about this fandom; The shared love and the knowledge that everyone there is into the same thing as much as you are. That why I must also apologise to anyone that saw two chappies up to no good in the corner. You see, I hadn’t seen my old pal Paul Naylor properly for a while, and get us together and we giggle like two naughty boys in church, then we giggle and giggle some more, and for good measure we giggle a bit more (if you’ve seen Paul Naylor in real life then you’d just laugh too wouldn’t you?)
There’s already a buzz about this event not being a one-time thing. I certainly hope that rumour is true.
You can hear Mark Newbold and Mark Mulcaster discuss AndMore on episode #226 of Making Tracks.
