Well, it's over. I can start breathing again.
It was a big sucess. It took most of the day on Saturday to get everything set up. The turnout was great. There was a good mix of both professional FX guys and fans and everyone, especially Lorne, had a wonderful time.
If you were there, we probably had about a half dozen ex-ILM/STAR WARS vets there plus other guys who worked on BLADE RUNNER, CE3K, ARMAGEDDON, TERMINATOR2, etc who just showed up to see Lorne and the movie. I managed to get Lorne, Dave Jones, Jon Erland, and Pete Kuran up on stage to do the Q&A at the movie. They actually had to put SOLD OUT on the marquee about 40 minutes before it started - we have a great picture of Lorne standing underneath it which will be posted as soon as I can figure out how.
First off, I have to thank Lorne for writing the book that gave us this good excuse to geek out. And Robbie from Insight Editions for helping set this up.
As I said before, Lucasfilm's PR dept. really got behind this and provided a lot of great photos. Everyone here should reply and say thank you to Tracy - she really helped to make this special. You know that bubble gum card with the ILM model guys posing with the table of models? Most of the guys in that photo were there. They couldn't believe that they were doing this 30 years later. They also couldn't believe the clothes they wore back then either, but that is another issue.
I gotta give props (get it?) to Master Replicas for schlepping out the Falcon to the gallery. The ILM guys were all amazed that 1) this kind of replica exists, reversed engineered from photos, and 2) that it is actually available. Thank you Barry, Bryan, and Amy. I want mine even more now.
Steve (swpropmaker) and Rolando (echoleader) also have to be called out and thanked. Steve busted his ass to get an Escape Pod to Rolando to build and primer so it could be here for the event. And for all his effort, Steve didn't get a chance to make it out here. That is my one regret. Steve - we'll do something like this again, and you will be there. The Escape Pod was a huge hit. I had to pop a few bubbles when I told them it was a replica. Most everybody there initially thought it was on loan from Lucasfilm. (And some of those guys woreked on it originally). There is another story about the Escape Pod that will be told - but I'm going to leave that up to Rolando to tell.
Speaking of Rolando - I had him on his hands and knees......in the lobby of the Aero, helping me paste up the photos onto foam core before the event. I wound up putting him to work.....and that's after he flew out here from Miami AND shipped out his repainted Y-wing (which rocks, by the way). I couldn't have asked for a better geek to be my assistant for the day.
And thank you RPF'ers - those who made it out there and those that were just with us in spirit. I'm sure photos will start appearing in this thread soon. Rolando had his camera and shot a bunch of stuff, but I was too busy worrying about something (anything) to really get a chance to use it.
This was fun. We'll have to do it again sometime.
Gene
It was a big sucess. It took most of the day on Saturday to get everything set up. The turnout was great. There was a good mix of both professional FX guys and fans and everyone, especially Lorne, had a wonderful time.
If you were there, we probably had about a half dozen ex-ILM/STAR WARS vets there plus other guys who worked on BLADE RUNNER, CE3K, ARMAGEDDON, TERMINATOR2, etc who just showed up to see Lorne and the movie. I managed to get Lorne, Dave Jones, Jon Erland, and Pete Kuran up on stage to do the Q&A at the movie. They actually had to put SOLD OUT on the marquee about 40 minutes before it started - we have a great picture of Lorne standing underneath it which will be posted as soon as I can figure out how.
First off, I have to thank Lorne for writing the book that gave us this good excuse to geek out. And Robbie from Insight Editions for helping set this up.
As I said before, Lucasfilm's PR dept. really got behind this and provided a lot of great photos. Everyone here should reply and say thank you to Tracy - she really helped to make this special. You know that bubble gum card with the ILM model guys posing with the table of models? Most of the guys in that photo were there. They couldn't believe that they were doing this 30 years later. They also couldn't believe the clothes they wore back then either, but that is another issue.
I gotta give props (get it?) to Master Replicas for schlepping out the Falcon to the gallery. The ILM guys were all amazed that 1) this kind of replica exists, reversed engineered from photos, and 2) that it is actually available. Thank you Barry, Bryan, and Amy. I want mine even more now.
Steve (swpropmaker) and Rolando (echoleader) also have to be called out and thanked. Steve busted his ass to get an Escape Pod to Rolando to build and primer so it could be here for the event. And for all his effort, Steve didn't get a chance to make it out here. That is my one regret. Steve - we'll do something like this again, and you will be there. The Escape Pod was a huge hit. I had to pop a few bubbles when I told them it was a replica. Most everybody there initially thought it was on loan from Lucasfilm. (And some of those guys woreked on it originally). There is another story about the Escape Pod that will be told - but I'm going to leave that up to Rolando to tell.
Speaking of Rolando - I had him on his hands and knees......in the lobby of the Aero, helping me paste up the photos onto foam core before the event. I wound up putting him to work.....and that's after he flew out here from Miami AND shipped out his repainted Y-wing (which rocks, by the way). I couldn't have asked for a better geek to be my assistant for the day.
And thank you RPF'ers - those who made it out there and those that were just with us in spirit. I'm sure photos will start appearing in this thread soon. Rolando had his camera and shot a bunch of stuff, but I was too busy worrying about something (anything) to really get a chance to use it.
This was fun. We'll have to do it again sometime.
Gene
I for sure won't miss the next one. . .
