Photo TR: Adam geeks out at Star Wars Celebration VI

Mechanic · August 30, 2012

A few of those chicks were entirely too hot for a Star Wars convention.

Rastuso · August 30, 2012

Here's my picture from Celebration V of the Wampette. She was amazing.

-R

Guy T. Koepp · August 30, 2012

I always wanted to own my own wampette.

Brandy524 · August 30, 2012

Awesome coverage, Adam! I always love to see cosplay pictures because so many people put so much detail into their costumes. I can only imagine how much money they spend.

DRACHEN_FIRE_FAN-BOY · August 31, 2012

This proves I really need to get to that convention one day......

aimster · September 2, 2012

That's cool Disney was doing the custom Star Tours name badges again. I got one made up during Star Wars Weekends. I've had so many people ask where I got it or if I work at Disney when I wear it. Hoping they offer it again next year so I can get some made up for some friends who are fellow Star Wars nerds.

jedimaster1227 · September 3, 2012

And you thought I was done! But that was not the end you were looking for!

If I wasn't broke, this wampa rug would totally be mine!

There were some insanely accurate Darth Maul's roaming the show floor on Days 3 and 4.

I'd never seen a Steampunk Vadress before.

Tuscan Jedi!

Mandalorean Juggernaut?

I'm not even a Tennessee fan, but I was amused.

Much like at Celebration V, they had a modeler's area where attendees could plaster and mâché notable scenes from the Star Wars films.

This is just too much.

Do you have a Bib forTuna?

It looks like Order 66 is about to be executed.

...

Papa Fett.

More Blue Harvest fans...

My lack of Star Wars costume gave away my media presence and the clone troopers converged on me. I escaped into the trash chute, which proved to not be such a great idea...

But I soon escaped and blew up their home base on Alderaan!

Oh, wait... Whoops.

A day that will forever live in infamy.

Time to try on a disguise to get out of here alive!

He knows!

This might've been the best Expanded Universe Darth Maul costume I saw all weekend.

Since the Star Wars Detours panel was so awesome the first time, and it had been teased that we would be seeing new content at the second panel, I went back for more...

Promise fulfilled!

After the panel, I caught Warwick Davis rolling around the show floor on the way to his own panel. He graciously stopped to grab a quick photo!

Impressive... Most impressive...

For those that couldn't read the sign at the end of the line for the Star Tours panel, we created a sign for those of us at the front of the line so people would stop asking what we were waiting for... It didn't work so well, but gave us all a good laugh.

The idea of updating Star Tours started back in 1998 ahead of the release of Episode I: The Phantom Menace. George Lucas approached Disney with the hope of bringing his podracing scene from the film to the ride. Yes, those infinite rumors were actually true, even back then.

Notice the Boonta Eve Classic advertisement placed in the concept for the updated queue.

The Droid Room would be updated to show the klutzy droids working on different integral parts for the racers.

These were the original design for the 3D glasses for the updated ride... Designed in 1998. That means 3D was conceptually part of the update from the beginning!

And it was scenes like this that would give a reason for there to be 3D.

Progress on the project was slowed when the Imagineers and Lucas agreed to wait until the release of Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, when other new locales and situations could be culled for use in an updated Star Tours.

Once that time came, it was evident that no single flight pattern would be enough. This is the original matrix detailing the multiple story paths designed for the ride.

Two years after the release of Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, Imagineers reconvened with Lucas to share basic storyboards of several of the courses designed for the updated ride. He asked that a basic animatic be created to demonstrate the scenes as they would look in motion...

We were treated to some of the footage from that animatic.

Destinations for the ride were chosen by the situations that could be used from their locales and the unique ways they would feel in the Starspeeder 1000... Naboo for aquatic motion, Tattooine for racing maneuvers, Hoth for an avalanche/slide and the Geonosis for space battles were examples given to us.

It was confirmed to us that the Starspeeder 1000s you ride today are the same Starspeeder 3000s that operated in the original Star Tours attraction before the update. Though parts were replaced during the refurbishments, the simulators were not modified in any way for motion--it was simply discovered that the original programming only utilized a small range of the simulator's much larger range of possible motion.

Once the timeline of the ride (between Episodes 3 and 4) were determined, it was confirmed that Captain Rex, the pilot droid from the original attraction would have to be replaced. ACE was the answer to that dilemma, at least initially.

ACE ended up being too confident of a character after it was realized that his more nervous persona was too similar to Rex. George Lucas gave input on this issue by suggesting instead that C-3PO be the pilot for the ride.

By the time this decision was made Anthony Daniels had already filmed his role in person and the sets needed for the shoot had been destroyed. Because of this ILM ended up fully animating the sequence seen inside of the cabin, seen here in its early form.

It was confirmed that one of the actresses that appeared in the original boarding videos was brought back to reprise her role in the updated video.

Next we were treated to a look at some of the gags and easter eggs included in the attraction.

Wall-E's boot and plant were smuggled thru the baggage scan.

"Let there be music from regions beyond" was always a reference to a galaxy far, far away!

The Geonosis sequence originally saw Boba Fett chasing Star Tours thru the Death Star.

The Oppee Sea Fish attach was another alternate concept pitched for the Naboo sequence.

The finale of the Coruscant sequence was originally intended to end very differently.

This toppling tower didn't make the final cut.

Added in-cabin effects like a leak in the windshield in the Naboo scene were tested but cancelled after it was determined that they would damage the cabins too much after a long period of time.

It was described to us how the Princess Leia hologram was brought back to life using the original negatives from the film, as well as a facial-actor matching the mouth movements to visually vocalize the "Help me Star Tours, you're my only hope" line.

The "hitting-the-wookie" scene in Kashyyk was actually tested for realism with different employees at ILM slamming against a pane of glass and sliding down.

Meep! Meep!

All this scene needs is Dr. Ball and my fan dream would be complete.

Intense.

Edited September 3, 2012 by jedimaster1227

jedimaster1227 · September 3, 2012

(Concluded)

A little out of place, but I still love that there was some TRON love on the floor!

This insane General Grievous costume from two years ago was back and still had my jaw on the floor.

And of course, it wouldn't be a visit to Star Wars Celebration without a viewing of my favorite Star Wars Fan Film, Wampa. Look it up if you haven't seen it.

The closing ceremonies for Star Wars Celebration VI included a sneak preview of Episodes II and III in 3D, as well as the announcement of when they will return to theaters next year.

I have to say, the 3D was far superior to that seen in the re-release of Episode I. I'm really looking forward to checking out the films in theaters once again.

And while the date and location of the next Star Wars Celebration in the United States wasn't shared, the announcement of a second Star Wars Celebration in Messe Essen, Germany was a cool surprise.

The announcement came complete with a Bavarian band playing Star Wars music...

I'm not kidding when I say that exiting the theater, I heard at least five different groups of people talking about booking their flights to Germany that same day.

So with the closing ceremonies finished, I ran back to the show floor one last time to see what I might find... This was a sad sight to be had on the way there.

Since we were on the topic of Ghostbuster Ackbar...

Though packed during the rest of the weekend at Star Wars Celebration VI, Disney's D-Tech Me Carbon Freeze Me experience finally was without a line, allowing me to get a good picture of the setup, transplanted from the Sounds Dangerous theater at Disney's Hollywood Studios temporarily.