'Star Wars Celebration Europe' Recap - Day 1

Image via comingsoon.net

Today, Star Wars Celebration Europe finally began, thus kicking off Nerd Christmas. Granted, those of us on the east coast had to wake up before 6:00 am, and our less fortunate friends on the west coast had to drag themselves out of bed before 3:00 am, forcing themselves to stay awake (see what I did there?). Anyway, the atmosphere was absolutely electric. From the fans, to the hosts, to the actors, directors and Lucasfilm personnel, you could tell that this was the place to be. Now, what happened on the first day of this glorious weekend?

Q&A with Mark Hamill

Kicking off Celebration was none other than Luke Skywalker himself, Mark Hamill. Hamill spent an hour answering questions from fans that covered a variety of topics, from Star Wars to his role as The Joker. There wasn't anything new, or particularly juicy, in terms of information about Episode VIII or certain Force Awakens rumors. However, one particular fan asked a question about Michael Arndt's script for The Force Awakens, which Hamill said he didn't get a chance to read, but he did talk about concept art that had Luke in scuba gear, accompanied by Rey. But, in this exchange, Hamill forgot the character's name and then was subsequently asked by the fan, "What's her last name?" Obviously, being the pro that he is at Star Wars secrecy, Hamill didn't budge. Also, Hamill did say, "I was looping Episode VIII  yesterday and there's dialogue in there - I thought, "Oh boy, I can already see this on a t-shirt. Seriously, Rian Johnson is so good. He'll make you forget all about "May the force be with you. He's come up with so many new catch phrases." So, it appears as though the script for Episode VIII is pretty fantastic.

Ahsoka's Untold Tales panel with Dave Filoni, Pablo Hidalgo and Ashley Eckstein

Image via thewookiegunner.com

The second panel of the day featured the man behind the character of Ahsoka Tano and Star Wars Rebels, Dave Filoni, Pablo Hidalgo of the Lucasfilm story group, and Ahsoka Tano herself, Ashley Eckstein. This panel, accompanied by a PowerPoint showcasing different character ideas and story arcs revolving around Ahsoka, was pretty awesome. We learned about how she was discovered by the Jedi, some of her adventures before, during and after The Clone Wars. They also spoke of the Ahsoka novel, written by E.K. Johnston, that is set to be released this fall. The novel will cover the period between Episode III and Episode IV. Filoni also stated that Ahsoka did reunite with Anakin after she left the Jedi Order, as well as have a run in with Darth Sidious himself. Finally, before ending the panel, Dave Filoni did say that we may not have seen the end of Ahsoka. So, we should expect her return for season 3, but we shall get more information about the upcoming season tomorrow during the Rebels panel. Ashley Eckstein also unveiled the new Ahsoka Funko POP! figure that'll be released later this year. That will definitely be an item that a lot of fans will want to get their hands on.

ILM Presents: Star Wars Archaeology

The third panel of the day centered around the special effects and visuals of the films. Chief Executive Officer, John Knoll, Vice President Executive Creative Director, Doug Chiang, and Supervising Art Director, Kevin Jenkins showed the audience what it takes to create the visuals, from miniature sets, to how the films look before and after certain special effects are added. They also discussed the use of models for Rogue One, as well as how they incorporated a lot of miniature sets into the films. It was definitely the type of panel that an artistically adept mind would enjoy much more than someone like myself. With that being said, I would still recommend checking it out because you do view, specifically, The Phantom Menace in such a different way. Also, it's Star Wars and that's why you're here in the first place.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story panel w/ Kathleen Kennedy, Gareth Edwards, Kiri Hart, John Knoll and the entire cast

Image via screenrant.com

Finally, the most anticipated panel of the day, hosted by Captain Phasma herself, Gwendolyn Christie. First off, we got to see the first official poster for Rogue One. Very different from the saga films, so they are stressing the fact that these definitely are stand alone films, both narratively and visually. There was a lot of speculation as to what we were going to get from this panel. A trailer? Some new details about the film? Footage or images of Vader? Well, for those of us at home, we got a chance to see a brand new behind-the-scenes video of Rogue One, reminiscent of the one released last year at San Diego Comic-Con for The Force Awakens. In it, we saw some new images and footage from the film, as well as Gareth Edwards talking about the film as a whole. Also, the cast was able to talk a bit about their respective characters and their role in the film. Unfortunately, there may have been a huge spoiler during the answer from Jiang Wen. Out of respect to the readers, I will not say what the spoiler was, but if you view watch the panel, it would be wise to skip his response. Another piece of information that was circulating for several days was that a new trailer for the film was going to premiere during the panel. Lucky for those in attendance, they were able to see it. For those of us at home, we may have to wait a little longer. What I can tell you, thanks to Perri Nemiroff of Collider who is in attendance, is that Darth Vader does appear in the trailer. She also gave a description of the trailer, which was a little over 1-minute in length.

That was Day 1 of Star Wars Celebration Europe and it definitely had a lot of interesting information (some of which you may want to stay away from). Come back tomorrow afternoon for a recap of Day 2!

May the Force be with you.


*Links to the ILM and Rogue One panels will be posted if and when the videos are available.*