At the closing ceremony of Star Wars Celebration, they always show a big montage of everything we experienced this weekend. One of the people they interviewed said, “I’m halfway around the world from home, but I feel like I’m with my family.”
Same, dude, same.
Preshow hype guy DJ Elliott said, “There’s nothing like being here, where everyone in this arena loves this thing as much as you do.” And it’s true; you never have to fear approaching a stranger here; you will always have something in common. It’s evident in the friends I’ve made this weekend in a matter of minutes while grabbing food or waiting for a panel to start, and the powerful hugs I’ve gotten from friends I made in Celebrations past, whom I never see in person anywhere else except for here, with years in between. That’s why I’m never afraid to fly solo at Celebration. I’m never really alone here.
For my final day, I wore my beloved lightsaber skirt.
Don’t hate, but today I opted out of the big morning panel on Star Wars Visions, Volume 3. It’s a lovely show, but it’s not my thing, and I had no problem with my highly-coveted VIP seat up front going to someone who loved it more.
Unfortunately, the first panel I wanted to go to today was in the University Stage, which is normally an actual stage but at this Celebration was for some reason located in a kind of a breakroom with a capacity of, like, 50 people. That’s the stage where the lecture panels happen, tying Star Wars into things like real-life mythology, history, and science. I’ve been trying all weekend to get into some of the panels there, but they didn’t have anywhere near the capacity they needed for those panels. So the Kurosawa and Star Wars presentation was already full when I got there.
Fine by me–that meant I could take it easy. I’d seen the whole show floor on Day 1, so now I could wander around and enjoy it. Take in the sites. Buy another can of special edition tea. (I got Empire Strikes Back this time.)
When I don’t know what to do with my time at Celebration, I always seem to forget about the Celebration Live Stage. There’s something going on there literally all day, and if a big name star was just in a panel it’s almost a guarantee that they are going to the live stage next, where the setting is kind of talk-show-meets-red-carpet-interview. As I wandered up, Rosario Dawson (Ahsoka) was dishing about all the exciting Season 2 reveals this weekend, so I spent a pleasant half hour watching.
At 1:00 was the Fett Family panel, featuring Temuera Morrison, who played Jango Fett and Boba Fett as an adult, and Daniel Logan, who played young Boba Fett in the prequels. There was zero chance I was missing this panel. I went to their panel in London and left it in pain from laughing so hard. Temuera has this gigantic, jovial personality that takes over any room he’s in, and his relationship with Daniel is very much like a father and son. Daniel even said something to the effect of he didn’t have a dad until he gained one through Star Wars.
They’re both from New Zealand, so Temuera opened the panel with what I assume is a Maori blessing: “The mountains and waters of New Zealand greet the mountains and waters of Japan.”
This guy has to be one of the best humans on the planet. He showed great love for Japan and the Japanese, remembering how wonderful they had been to him at the last Japanese Celebration in 2008 and even giving a couple of the ones he’d met that weekend a shout-out by name. Personally, I can back this up–I was lucky enough to get a photo with him in Anaheim a few years ago and he took as much time as he could get away with with each fan, really enthusiastically making sure they got a true moment with him. He said as much today: “It’s not about a picture. It’s not about an autograph. It’s about a moment we share together.” Just a quality dude.
They spoke with great respect about the late Jeremy Bulloch, who had portrayed Boba Fett in the original trilogy. Daniel remembered the three of them causing chaos together during Star Wars Weekends back in the day and said they were truly three of a kind.
The panel then improved a thousand percent because Temuera invited his tiny, precocious daughter up on stage. She was incredibly cute and had no qualms about singing into the mic over the top of her dad. Just to reinforce the family dynamic here, when she plopped down between Temuera and Daniel, Daniel asked her, “Who’s your brother?” and she immediately replied, “You.”
After a little more wandering the show floor, it was time for the closing ceremony. Celebration normally lasts four days, so this felt incredibly short. The only thing keeping me from getting a little emotional was the fact that tomorrow I take a bullet train to Kyoto for a leg of the trip I’ve been really, really excited about. It will be weird, stepping back into actual, real Japan, where I barely speak any of the native language and I won’t have the universal language of Star Wars to help me find family.
But in the back of my mind, I won’t be able to stop thinking, at least a little bit, about the upcoming Fiftieth Anniversary of Star Wars…
Which, if the Force is with me, I’ll be celebrating with my Star Wars family in Los Angeles in 2027.
Laura Writes 