Thursday-Sunday, Aug. 23-26 – Star Wars Celebration VI
with Carrie Fisher, Seth Green, Mark Hamill, Kevin Smith, Ben Burtt, Warwick Davis, Chris Hardwick and more
through Sunday, Aug. 26
Orange County Convention Center
9800 International Drive
888-334-8719
starwarscelebration.com
$55-$135
“The saga is complete,” proclaimed the posters in advance of 2005’s Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith. But if the saga were ever truly complete, we wouldn’t be writing this. Instead, George Lucas’ space epic pervades daily pop-culture life as thoroughly as it did decades ago, from cartoons and action figures to Gotye parodies. Celebration isn’t an annual thing – Orlando won the right to host the officially sanctioned event in 2009, leading up to 2010’s Celebration V, which boasted a Q&A between The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart and Lucas. (Celebrations 1-4 were held in Denver, Indianapolis and Los Angeles over a 10-year period.) Lucas’ approval makes for a much higher quality ratio, and the lineup of Part 6 – which would make it Return of the Jedi in episodic terms; not as cool as Empire/Celebration V, but nice – reflects that: Kevin Smith is on hand for a themed “Evening,” Luke himself, Mark Hamill, will be there for you to badger into doing his Joker voice (Hamill found his calling in voice-over work in the ’90s), and many other fan faves, including golden-eared sound designer Ben Burtt, recent Ricky Gervais collaborator Warwick Davis (Willow), Robot Chicken creator and action-figure guru Seth Green and one-woman force of nature Carrie Fisher. – Justin Strout
