Star Wars Celebration V

by Chris Maddera on August 18, 2010

First, I need to tell you that Todd and I didn’t see any of the main events at Star Wars Celebration V: we didn’t see Mark Hamill speak (but it’s on YouTube…for now); we didn’t see Jon Stewart interview George Lucas because those people started lining up at 5PM the day before (but you can see it on YouTube, too…for now); and Carrie Fisher’s stage appearance was on Sunday, long after I had already made it back to Oklahoma City.

Okay, that said, I want to make one thing perfectly clear: Star Wars Celebration V was awesome!!! And that statement completely deserves three exclaimation marks.

As we made our way to the convention hall, we passed several people wearing Star Wars t-shirts and convention access badges, holding bags of swag, and a few people making their way from the hotel to the convention hall were dressed in costume. It was 9AM, and most people were getting in line because the doors open at 10AM. Standing in line is a show in itself. There were hundreds of people ahead of us, many wearing some pretty authentic-looking costumes, while other were majestically decked out as nerds, geeks, and dorks. Sensing a disturbance in the Force, we looked over at the line across from us, and saw Anthony Daniels making his way up the line, taking some time out for the fans, especially the kids.

The convention floor was jammed with vendors, selling any and every Star Wars thing you could ever dream of. We were shocked to see how much our childhood toys were going for these days. As we walked around, not sure of where to start really, we were amazed at everything, yet not surprised by much, which I think speaks to our own Star Wars nerdiness.

It all seemed perfectly normal. So much so that after about 15 minutes I stopped thinking about trying to get pictures of everything, and was just happy to wander around. I managed to get a few photos though.

We had tickets for only Saturday, but that one day had us worn the hell out. I think I needed more than one day (mainly just to pace myself, you know). I’m definitely planning on attending the next one.

About the only thing that could surpass this level of nerdy goodness is Comic-Con (Thursday-Sunday, July 21-24, 2011), and I’m hoping to attend that next year, too.

I better start saving my pennies.

And Todd’s got some Flickr pictures up, too. Check them out here.