Okay, so this panel was the big one for me, one that I was surprised to see wasn’t lottery ticketed. After hitting the Art Show and using our Lightspeed Lane passes to head into the store, Chris Cooke from Toys of the Jedi and myself headed down to the queueing area at 12.00pm with the panel due to start at 2.00pm. When we arrived we were happy. We were about 50th in the queue so would be guaranteed a place, no problem. We could relax.
In the line we made plenty of friends (still one of the most joyous things about any of this is the friends made along the way) and we had a great time talking to a group who had all travelled solo to met up again in London. Heather was from D.C, Luke from Oxford and Christian from France. All three had met at a previous show and remained lifelong friends, and it was wonderful to laugh and chat to them.
When it came time to head in…well…to put it mildly….we could not believe our extraordinary luck. One of the crew members loved Heather’s cosplay and gestured for her and her group to follow down to the Jedi Master VIP seating area where some seats had not been taken. Chris and I could not believe our luck. I had goosebumps. We were in the second row on this very special occasion to celebrate Jedi.
To my right were two more people, Paul and his wife Amanda, who had also been told to follow us to the front and couldn’t believe their luck too. We all got along like a house on fire and his wife was in fantastic Ahsoka cosplay (and she could also be seen dancing onstage during the closing ceremony.) We all exchanged swag and hugs and friendships were made.
“My God!” I shouted out.
“What’s the matter?” asked Chris.
“We’re so close I don’t need my glasses to see!”
When it came time for the panel our MC on duty was Ming-Na Wen and you could tell instantly that she was thrilled to be there and slightly awed by her situation. For the first 20 minutes, modern Star Wars creators Rob Bredow, Neal Scanlan and Doug Chiang came out to talk about the lasting impacting and legacy of this film on the rest of the series. A special shout-out was given to the late Norman Reynolds and Chiang was especially interesting on his points of how Jedi had to connect so closely to The Mandalorian.
And then it was time. Earlier in the panel, right at the top in fact, a special video message had been sent from Mark Hamill wishing everyone well and kindess. This was a smart move as it put to bed for those in attendance the lingering wonder that Luke Skywalker wouldn’t be walking out in a few minutes. No need to worry though, as something very special was about to take place. Onto the stage we welcomed Anthony Daniels, Warwick Davis, Ian McDiarmid and the legend that is Billy Dee Williams.
I don’t mind admitting it…it was here that I filled up (not for the last time though) with joyful tears. We were watching history. As these legends of the galaxy were onstage I couldn’t help but think that this might be the last time we see this. I nudged Chris next to me. ‘I’m filling up,’ was all I could say. He simply grinned at me like a five-year old on Christmas morning.
This was special. Daniels, David and McDiarmid were absolutely on fire. They riffed with one-another like an old married couple, so comfortable with the company after so many years, and while Billy Dee seemed more frail and tired, he certainly hasn’t lost ANY of his charm and smoothness. He talked about his new book ‘What Have We Here?’ coming out later this year and my favourite joke was from Warwick.
Anthony: “Of course, we know the trick title for this film was Blue Harvest. The tag was – Horror Beyond Imagination.”
Warwick: (without missing a beat) “Yes, I think that was named after you wasn’t it, Anthony.“
To hear Ian perform his Emperor voice and cackle was magic and great to learn that back in the make-up tests he noted that he looked vile so the voice needed to be vile too. He said the voice came from ‘essentially a throat full of sick.’
The cast spoke on elegantly and wonderfully of this beloved entry into the saga and little did we know there were two more surprises to come.
‘Somebody wanted to have the last word on this panel. A certain scoundrel,’ announced Wen. The lights went out and Harrison Ford graced our screens with a heartfelt message thanking the fans for their unwavering loyalty after all these years.
And the final surprise? Return of the Jedi would be returning to cinemas on April 28th for a limited engagement. A beautiful new poster had been designed and we could all pop along to collect ours right after the panel.
All in all, this was absolute magic and my heart will forever cherish this special, special memory.
- Hardcover Book
- Johnston, E.K. (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 368 Pages - 10/10/2023 (Publication Date) - Random House/Star Wars (Publisher)