June 6-8, 2008: Jeremy Bulloch ("Boba Fett") and Daniel Logan (young "Boba Fett")
June 13-15, 2008: Peter Mayhew ("Chewbacca") and David Prowse ("Darth Vader")
June 20-22, 2008: Amy Allen ("Aayla Secura") and Matthew Wood ("General Grievous")
June 27-29: Dave Filoni (director of the upcoming "Star Wars: The Clone Wars")

The Star Wars Weekends fun is included with regular admission to Disney's Hollywood Studios. Guests can access more information by visiting disneyworld.com/starwars or www.starwars.

Cesenatico, 1-4 maggio 2008: Peter Mayhew, Chewbacca nella Trilogia Classica di Guerre Stellari (1977/1983) e in "Episodio III: La vendetta dei Sith" (2005), ospite della quinta Convention su Star Wars, il Fantastico e la Fantascienza fatta dai fans per i fans.
Questa quinta edizione della manifestazione, da giovedì 1° maggio a domenica 4 maggio 2008, celebra l'anno Fantastico: entusiastiche ricorrenze (il 25ennale de "Il Ritorno dello Jedi", il 40ennale de "Il pianeta delle scimmie", il 70ennale di Superman); sospirati ritorni (Indiana Jones, i Supereroi, lo Hobbit); grandi finali (l'Harry Potter letterario).

"Chewbacca, qui, è il secondo pilota di una nave che farebbe al caso nostro" (Ben Kenobi, Guerre Stellari 1977)

Cesenatico, 1-4 maggio 2008: Peter Mayhew, Chewbacca nella Trilogia Classica di Guerre Stellari (1977/1983) e in "Episodio III: La vendetta dei Sith" (2005), ospite della quinta Convention su Star Wars, il Fantastico e la Fantascienza fatta dai fans per i fans

La YC è la grande Convention nazionale primaverile del Club Yavin 4 e di tutti gli appassionati italiani di Star Wars, del Fantastico e della Fantascienza, fatta dai fans per i fans. Come ogni anno ci riuniamo tutti nella soleggiata e cordiale Cesenatico (prov. Forlì/Cesena), sulla riviera romagnola, nel Villaggio Stella Marina (completamente riservato alle centinaia di partecipanti alla Con!) per una quattro giorni che, tra entusiasmo ed amicizia, festeggia i nostri eroi, i nostri miti, i nostri sogni. Ospiti, conferenze, giochi, proiezioni, eventi tutti nel nome della fantasia!
Questa quinta edizione della manifestazione, da giovedì 1° maggio a domenica 4 maggio 2008, celebra l¹anno Fantastico: entusiastiche ricorrenze (il 25ennale de "Il Ritorno dello Jedi", il 40ennale de "Il pianeta delle scimmie", il 70ennale di Superman); sospirati ritorni (Indiana Jones, i Supereroi, lo Hobbit); grandi finali (l'Harry Potter letterario).
Come da tradizione la Convention offre ai suoi partecipanti la possibilità di affrontarsi in tre sfide agguerrite: Star Pursuit XIII, Tolkien Trivia V e Potter Pursuit III. Tre tornei a livello nazionale ideati sul principio del gioco "Trivial Pursuit", ma a tema rigorosamente Fantastico! Lo Star Pursuit, giunto alla sua tredicesima edizione annuale, vedrà ingaggiare battaglia tra i fans più sfegatati di Star Wars provenienti da tutta Italia. Il Tolkien Trivia, quinta edizione, eleggerà la squadra italiana più edotta sul mondo del Signore degli Anelli. Infine, il Potter Pursuit, terza edizione: basato sull'universo di Harry Potter, decreterà chi è Babbano e chi no.
Inoltre, la quinta edizione della Grande Parata dei Costumi Fantastici: un torneo di Cosplay Fantastico tra i più spettacolari e serrati d'Italia. Sfileranno, tra applausi e musiche a tema, magnifici costumi ispirati alle due Trilogie di Star Wars, alla Terra di Mezzo, a Hogwarts, ai più popolari film e libri di Fantascienza e Fantasy.
Ciliegia ­ o meglio, ciliegiona - sulla torta il tradizionale ospite d¹onore: un attore della Saga di Star Wars; dopo David "Darth Vader" Prowse (YC anno 2004), Jeremy "Boba Fett" Bulloch (YC anno 2006) e Kenny "R2-D2" Baker (YC anno 2007), ecco l'imponente e amatissimo Peter Mayhew alias il potente Wookiee CHEWBACCA ­ direttamente dalla Trilogia Classica 1977/1983 e da "Episodio III: La Vendetta dei Sith"! Chewie (o Ciube) scenderà dal Millennium Falcon ed incontrerà in esclusiva i fans italiani, firmerà autografi, racconterà i suoi aneddoti sulla lavorazione stellare con George Lucas.

"Chewbacca, qui, è il secondo pilota di una nave che farebbe al caso nostro" (Ben Kenobi, Guerre Stellari 1977)

YAVINCON

La YavinCon oggi è, per eccellenza, il luogo dove tutta la grande famiglia degli appassionati italiani di Guerre Stellari e del Fantastico si ritrova: una volta all¹anno, in primavera, tutti nello stesso luogo e nello stesso tempo. E' l'occasione nella quale si rivedono i "cugini" lontani, i vecchi "parenti" che perdiamo un po' di vista ma che, annualmente, ritroviamo seduti intorno al nostro stesso tavolo a discutere, giocare, conoscersi.
Il "menù" della convention nazionale YC prevede, ogni anno a fine aprile, il raduno presso un'unica struttura, la quale viene interamente occupata per quattro giorni dai fans di Star Wars, del Signore degli Anelli, di Harry Potter, dei Supereroi, della Fantascienza, del Fantasy, dei fumetti, dei costumi, dei giochi, ecc. Quindi un programma fisso fatto di proiezioni, conferenze, incontri con ospiti - che provengono, sempre, dal mondo del Fantastico (dagli attori della Trilogia Classica di Star Wars ai doppiatori italiani dei più importanti film di settore).
La YC è sede dell'assegnazione annuale del Premio Skywalker ("l'Oscar italiano di Star Wars"). Inoltre ospita l'edizione annuale dello Star Pursuit ("il campionato nazionale di Star Wars").
Parallelamente a questi incontri ci sono tutte le attività collaterali: sfilate di cosplayer, sessioni ludiche, tornei di videogame, coppe e premi a tema. Ma soprattutto convivenza e divertimento in comune!

Link al sito Y4

- News e aggiornamenti:
www.yavinquattro.net

- La pagina ufficiale dei prezzi e prenotazioni della VYC08:
http://www.yavinquattro.net/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=114

- La pagina ufficiale della YavinCon, aggiornata:
http://www.yavinquattro.net/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=13

I don't think Spielberg would hire him.

The film was not so much interesting for what happened in it (Quatermass rip-off with and incredibly protracted opening set-up, half the film, it felt like -- reminds me of late period Hammer films when the producers started writing them, and sure enough, turns out this was written by producers*) as for what you could read.

Opening credits. Edited by Peter Mayhew? THIS Peter Mayhew? I guess that might explain why it's on the primitive side. Wookiee's aren't known for their mastery of Russian montage.

I was psyched to read that there would be Electronic Effects, and I was NOT disappointed. It's my opinion that most movies could be greatly improved by the addition of Electronic Effects. Even LES ENFANTS DU PARADIS could be gussied up by a Moog.

Roger Delgado was The Master in Dr Who -- here he plays the Mexican consul, in an entirely unnecessary scene which might be intended as comic relief but they forgot to make it funny.

Sheree Winton was Dale Winton's mother. For those of you outside the UK, Dale Winton appears as a game show host in a hallucination in TRAINSPOTTING -- the role he was born to play. In real life, he IS a hallucinatory game show host.

Space Positioning!

Just beautiful. Lumbering shadow shuffles across blood bank signage, a great B-monster moment.

Space Medicine?

The fathead from the top ends up like this (cosmic rays -- maybe Stan Lee or Jack Kirby saw this flick?), and it's actually quite moving.

"Doctor? I've been searching for you... Everything seems strange and dark... I couldn't find you! ... Under this stuff, I feel like I'm suffering from some terrible disease... like I got no blood in my veins... I have no memory... Only an instinct to stay alive...until I found you... I've been groping my way through a maze of fear and doubt..."

With the dialogue delivered in agonized gasps, through an inflexible rubber mask, the scene attains a kind of cheap poetry, to use Orson Welles' expression (describing stage magic at its best).

*Producers are just as likely to be good writers as directors, perhaps even more so. Unfortunately, they're also in a position to hire themselves as writers, even when nobody else would ever consider them capable of writing ANYTHING. I don't have a solution to this, beyond the utopian dream that people should be honest with themselves about their own abilities, or maybe seek a second opinion.

The highlight of last weekend was of course WonderCon, the comic & pop culture mega conference. I got there by noon, in time for the last ten minutes of Q & A with Steve Carell & Anne Hathaway promoting "Get Smart". I couldn't take my eyes off Steve's nose, that nose is the size of a sandwich triangle, wow. He did mention that he just put in some quality jury duty time, and that he is incorporating that in the new episode of "The Office". The only other star sighting worth mentioning was Gillian Anderson & David Duchovny, they were there to promote the new X-files movie in the making. It was mildly disappointing that Seth Green couldn't make it for the new Robot Chicken Star Wars spoof, but their pre-taped Q&A wasn't too bad.

While last year, I über loved the alien costume, this year it was this guy. But the truly weird moment I had was sharing a moment of extended stare with Peter Mayhew, the guy who played Chewbacca in Star Wars. It was too late before I saw the sign above his head that read "I know you love me, but don't stare at me". Too late. Since that was fresh in my memory, I avoided staring at the Darth Vader guy or the original Hulk. The day ended with watching the world premier of the new Justice League movie, which wasn't really great, but wasn't a bad way to kill an hour either.

I almost forgot to mention the guys at Haunted Memories, who convert regular portraits into "spooky changing portraits". The fun part is they sell their portraits in sets, a normal portrait and a spooky version of it. So you frame the normal one and hang it on your wall for a while and when people are used to the portrait swap it with the spooky changing one. They do custom work and just when I was plotting a prank, I was told the cost would be $500 per face for custom work, dang. But off the shelf they start at around $25.

OK, what can I say? Art College technician and filmmaker Fiona Reid suggests this happy-happy-HAPPY ending from the first STAR WARS (I refuse to call it by that other title) and who are we to judge?

I asked WHY, of course, and she said she liked the whole thing, it was a warm childhood memory, and she liked the way Leia winks at R2-D2, or whatever it was.

I thought, "She WINKS at R2-D2? The little dustbin robot? What's been going on here that we don't know about? Why would she prefer him over, say, the wookie?" (And why doesn't the wookie get a medal?)

We know R2 is anatomically correct -- I don't mean the third leg, I mean the contraption he uses to stick it to the Death Star computer and make the garbage compactor open up -- but he still seems a little bit too mechanical to play romantic interest, compared to, say, the wookie (although I've said that about Tom Cruise too). No doubt he has a winning personality, if only we could understand his clicks and whistles. But still...

Then it clicked (and whistled)! The sinister torture-bot Vader sends into Leia's cell (this is a roBOT torturer, not something to torture your BOTtom) -- this has caused her to suffer Stockholm Syndrome or it's galactic equivalent and she has transferred her passion to the nearest non-humanoid robot (C-3PO being both humanoid and obviously gay). STAR WARS begins to look like a colourful re-imagining of THE NIGHT PORTER.

So, there must be DELETED SCENES, previously unseen frottage, showing Leia's romantic tryst with the pint-sized mechanoid during the long trip back from the Death Star to Yavin, as I believe it's called. No wonder Han Solo is so frosty towards her. Princess-droid relations are still frowned upon in these post-Republican days. It is the love that dare not beep its name.

But given Lucas' well-known fondness for ripping off his fan-base, I'm sure we have only parsecs to wait before a new edition of SW hits the stores, full of restored, digitally-enhanced, hot droid action (actor Kenny Baker, sweating away inside the tin can, is replaced by a porn dwarf stand-in for these scenes), leading to further adult re-imaginings: in THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, Luke experiences a sentimental education from the experienced person of Yoda, and in RETURN OF THE JEDI, Jabba the Hutt... well, you'll just have to wait and see.

This entire theory may actually be DESTROYED as soon as anyone looks at the clip and realises it's HAN SOLO the Princess is winking at in the Riefenstahl-inspired coda. But of course, this is just another example of Lucas' sinister Stalinist historical revision, recutting the film to remove all traces of the tender cross-category romance.

It's like the whole "Greedo shot first" thing all over again.

But we know.

R2 shot first.

1] IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE flopped on first release but became a Christmas television favourite, prompting director Frank Capra to attempt to capitalize on its success by producing yuletide versions of several of his other films. Results included IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS, SAINT NICK AND OLD LACE, MR. SMITH GOES TO CHRISTMASTOWN, SANTA'S DIRIGIBLE, and the rather surprising THE BITTER EGG NOG OF GENERAL YEN.

2] THE MUPPET'S NATIVITY was to have starred Kermit and Miss Piggy as Joseph and Mary, Little Robin as the Baby Jesus, and The Great Gonzo as Herod, before alarmed TV execs cancelled the project in favour of THE GREAT MUPPETS ESCAPE with Fozzie Bear as Steve McQueen and Professor Bunsen Honeydew as Donald Pleasence.

3] After the success of THE ABOMINABLE DR. PHIBES and DR. PHIBES RISES AGAIN, director Robert Fuest and A.I.P. planned a seasonal follow-up, I SAW MOMMY KISSING DR. PHIBES, in which Vincent Price's mad surgeon would execute the members of the jury who convicted him using methods derived from the song The Twelve Days of Christmas. But the script ran aground over the issue of how to murder somebody using eight maids a-milking.

4] Apart from the modern-dress SCROOGED with Bill Murray, and the porno SCREWED with Johnson Package, there have been numerous reimaginings of Dicken's A Christmas Carol, including a giant version with Peter Mayhew and Richard Kiel, HUGE SCROOGE, Chantal Akerman's Belgian translation, BRUGES SCROOGE, and the 1930s canine version from the makers of the Dogville Shorts, CUJO SCROOGE-O.

5] Steven Spielberg bought the sled supposedly used in CITIZEN KANE for $20,000. He said at the time, "Rosebud will go over my typewriter to remind me that quality in movies comes first." But in fact he just uses it for sledging.

Los dioramas presentados quedaron excelentes. La mejor parte del arreglo de la expo fue cuando faltando poco para dar paso a la entrada del público general faltaba colocar la exhibición de un modelo de Jabba the Hutt, todo el mundo pensó que estaba en la caja que por fuera tenía la figura de Jabba (era lo más lógico que uno pensaría). Cuando abrí la caja, encontré un cerro más de figuras para exhibición, pero ningún rastro de Jabba. Por fin lo encontramos, pero no puedo dejar de recordar el rostro de los presentes casi en pánico porque el Jabba no estaba en esa cajeta.

Adicionalmente contamos con la presencia de miembros de la 501 de Costa Rica. Para aquellos seguidores y no tan seguidores de Star Wars, la 501 se caracteriza por ser un grupo de fans de la saga dedicados a hacer replicas de uniformes (desde Vader hasta Storm Troopers) lo más exactas posibles (http://www.501st.com/), se encuentran en muchas naciones del mundo de forma organizada, entre ellas el vecino país de Costa Rica. Fue admiración de grandes y chicos el Darth Vader, cuyo uniforme no era apto para nuestro clima caribeño, me temo que el mae debió rebajar unas cuantas libras durante su estadía en Panamá para la expo. Pero la 501 no fue la única en lucir excelentes atuendos, el público en general también participó de forma activa demostrando su creatividad.

Y como evento principal, contamos con el mismísimo Chewbacca, Peter Mayhew, quien visitó nuestra tierra istmeña junto a su esposa e hija en ocasión de este evento. Tuve la oportunidad de llevarme una foto autografiada, y nuestro compañero César, quien había preparado el banner para el área de firma de autógrafos, se llevó el premio de llevárselo autografiado.

Chewie también entabló un conversatorio y como cierre de su participación en este evento, contestó a las preguntas de sus fans panameños. Hubo además una exposición de las colecciones de los miembros del grupo, venta de artículos relacionados a Star Wars, presentación de fan films y un tributo a Chewbacca.