When
I first heard that Star Wars: The Clone Wars was premiering at Fan Expo
Canada in Toronto I KNEW I had to go…and not just for the bragging
rights. The United States gets all the cool Star Wars events,
celebrations, and early screenings and for once Canada got something
they didn't have! Other than that Yak Face action figure from 1985.
This
was my first convention and my friends and I had such a blast visiting
the booths, checking out the panels, and admiring all the amazing
costumes. Yet the 501st Canadian Legion events and The Clone Wars
premiere were by far the highlights of the entire weekend for me.
When
Saturday afternoon came along and it was time for the premiere, I
actually didn't wait in line very long in comparison to some people who
were there for hours. I cheated and had my friends wait in line for me.
What's great is that one of them doesn't even know who Darth Maul is and
I forced him to wait in line for a Star Wars event! He got me back by
dragging me to the Lolita fashion show the next day...
Now
the reason I wasn't in line? I was busy stalking members of the 501st
and Rebel Legions to the Lucasfilm booth to get pictures of their
spectacular costumes.
It
took what little ounce of willpower I had to keep myself from yelping
and dancing in excitement as Clones, Stormtroopers, Vaders, and other
costumed Star Wars heroes marched throughout the convention centre. Some
of the wicked Star Wars costumes included a detailed Clone Paratrooper,
an incredibly sexy Asajj Ventress in her ninja costume from the
Nightsister Trilogy of Season 3, an imposing Savage Opress, and a
gorgeous Aayla Secura among a dozen others.
After
fighting the surging crowds to get pictures of the costumes at the Star
Wars booth, I finally dragged myself away to go and stand in line for
the world premiere of The Clone Wars! The line into room 718 where the
screening took place snaked across level 700 of the Metro Toronto
Convention Center and it was such great fun to join the line such
equally excited Star Wars fans and even a Mandalorian!
When
it was finally time to slowly get escorted in to the screening room, we
had to give up our cell phones and cameras so we wouldn't take any
videos from inside the screening and Emperor Palpatine made sure we
complied…after greeting us with a donation box for
Make-A-Wish-Foundation asking us to donate to help build a new Death
Star. A good cause if I ever heard one…
We
got fairly decent seats near the Mandalorian, a young lad in a homemade
Rex costume, and a fellow Star Wars graphic novel fanatic who was also
at the Star Wars Comics: Expanding the Universe panel with Star Wars:
The Old Republic artist David Ross and LEGO storyboard artist Greg
Hyland the day before. While waiting for the show to start we discussed
various topics such as Star Wars pronunciations (Twee'lek vs. Twy'lek
and Savage vs. Savaage), random obscure Star Wars trivia, and even Clone
Wars continuity issues (my favourite topic). When us fanboys began
spewing Star Wars jargon like Alpha-17, DC-15, and Coruscant, my friends
I went with completely zoned out.
We
were soon surprised with a visit from the 501st who marched onto the
stage and the audience cheered…then groaned. We had all left our cameras
at the front entrance! Jango Fett, Commander Bly, Aurra Sing, Obi-Wan
Kenobi, RC-1140, and many others marched in and it was certainly a sight
to behold.
Fred
Kennedy, host of Teletoon at Night, took to the podium to give away
three Hasbro prize packs that included a FX lightsaber, Clone Trooper
blaster and more as well as several copies of Season 1 and 2 of The
Clone Wars on DVD. We each had a raffle ticket and Captain Rex was the
one drawing the winners, but if your raffle ticket was drawn you had to
answer a simple trivia question such as "Captain Rex, Commander Cody,
and Sergeant Palpatine were all leaders of the Republic. True or false."
Oh and for the record, the person who answered that question said true…
Once
the prize packs were given away and the rest of the audience was
feeling disappointed from not winning the fancy FX lightsaber, Savage
Opress began throwing shirts with his face on it into the audience while
screaming "TAKE IT! TAKE IT! TAKE IT!!!"
The
501st then took their seats, the lights dimmed, Dave Filoni in his
signature Cowboy hat appeared on screen saying we were in for a treat,
and then Kevin Kiner's Clone Wars theme exploded out of the speakers and
the Clone Wars logo filled the screen! The audience in the packed
screening room cheered and roared as the world premiere of The Clone
Wars Season 4 began!
Teletoon
Presents: Star Wars: The Clone Wars Season 4 Episode 1: Water War -
World Premiere occurred on Saturday August 27th, 2011 at Fan Expo Canada
in Toronto, Ontario Canada.
-Andy (@StarWarsCanada)
Editor's Note:
Thanks to Andy for providing us with this special report from Hoth Base (aka Canada). You can follow Andy on Twitter (@StarWarsCanada), on Facebook at Star Wars Canada, and on his new site, StarWarsCanada.com
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