Ladies and Gentleman we made it to week 5. How do you follow-up an incredible SWW debut of Mark Hamill? You do it with a full cast reunion of The Clone Wars! That’s right, joining host James Arnold Taylor and Her Universe’s Ashley Eckstein, we had the lovely Catherine Taber (Padmé), Dee Bradley Baker (EVERY clone who ever spoke in all 6 seasons), Tom Kane (narrator and Yoda), and Matt Lanter (Anakin Skywalker). Plus as a bonus, we had Steve Blum who is voicing Zeb Orrelios from the highly anticipated Star Wars Rebels!
This was a weekend I had looked forward to since the celebrity guest list was announced. To have the opportunity to see all this wonderful talent on the same stage was incredible, especially since, thanks to the cancellation of The Clone Wars, we don’t know when or if this will happen again. I planned on making the most of it.
My weekend actually started Friday this week. I along with my pal Robbie took off early in the morning to get in line. I was third in line for Tom Kane, while Robbie wanted to get in the merchandise line to get the exclusive MagicBands that Disney had released specifically for Week 5. Things didn’t work out for him unfortunately, so he jumped in line for Steve Blum. While in line some cast members were passing out the week 5 brochures and what do my wondering eyes to appear???? A Conversation with Dave Filoni at 5:00 PM Saturday. I geeked out when I saw that! Saturday was gonna be awesome!
So after we got our tickets we headed home. What you say, home? You read it right. I knew I had to take my daughter to a doctor’s appointment in Gainesville. So i picked them up, drove almost 3 hours there for the 30 minute appointment and drove 3 hours back directly to Hollywood Studios and ran to the ABC Soundstage for my Tom Kane appointment. Tom Kane was great. Kind and straight forward. Of course he was very optimistic of his future in Star Wars.
Tom Kane and I (sorry for the quality)
Robbie wasn’t able to return for his autograph session, so when I dropped him off at home that morning he gave me his armband and ticket for his Blum session. So when I was done meeting Tom Kane, I ran over to the line for Steve Blum. Not a long line at all, but while standing in the line, the heavens opened up and the rains came. It poured for a good 10 minutes. Just long enough for me to get soaked and get to the front of the line before it stopped. Blum was amazing. Very kind and extremely excited to be apart of Rebels. Like most of the cast who was there previous weeks, he was blown away by Star Wars fans. He even commented how amazed he was I stood in line and got soaked just to meet him. We talked about Coffee With Kenobi and told him we look forward to him being on the show sometime.
Steve Blum and I
So after our pictures were taken, I left the park and went home to dry off, but not before discovering via Twitter that due to production scheduling, Dave Filoni was not going to be joining the fun on Saturday.
Saturday was crazy. The autograph lines were extremely short. So short that I ended up with 3 autograph sessions that day. Catherine Taber, Matt Lanter, and Dee Bradley Baker. I had one each of the first 3 sessions so it worked out great. Ms Taber was first. She was lovely and elegant, just like Padmé. Obviously the roll fit her great.
Catherine Taber and I
I then took a quick trip on Star Tours and caught the Rebel Legion and the 501st Legion in the parade. A new Pre Vizsla costume marched with Bo-Katan (you know them from the Maul arc in season 5 of the Clone Wars). Great looking costumes.
Bo-Katan and Pre Vizsla
Matt Lanter was next and again the skies opened and the rains fell. Storms were so bad, they moved the signing from Echo Lake to a breeze way at the exits of American Idol. Honestly it was chaos. Hundreds of people crammed into this little area, not just for Lanter, but for Taber, and Dee Bradley Baker too. So I stood there crammed in with everyone else until my time and celebrity was called. The signing was very impersonal and hurried by the cast members. They took one picture then pushed you out into the rain. Honestly I wasn’t very pleased. I was even more upset when I got to the Star Of The Saga show and realized the pictures taken didn’t turn out cause somehow the flash was turned off in the camera shuffle. The only good thing was I did get to complete my piece of Clone Wars art that I had everyone sign. Lanter was the last.
The Saga show was incredible! It was a great cast reunion and they shared stories and memories from the “little padded room” (to quote James Arnold Taylor) that they all shared. It was fun to see them all on stage laughing and having a great time. They shared stories like Dee making cricket sounds in the studio, to Matt and Ashley having a joke war involving ketchup. Great time!
The cast of The Clone Wars and Jedi Mickey
I also had the opportunity to meet up with Gian Pietri again. He joined me as I decided to pursue Matt Lanter’s autograph again so I could make sure I got a picture with him. Only way to do so was via a walk up. By this time the rains had stopped, so at the 4:30 session, I tried again. I missed out. I immediately got in line for the 6 pm session. I’m happy to report it was a success! Matt was awesome. Even though it was rushed, he remembered me from the first session. Awesome guy! He enjoyed his time in Star Wars and if asked, he would definitely return! Fingers crossed for an Anakin flashback during Rebels!
Matt Lanter and I
When I was done there, I ran around the park to get to my Dee Bradley Baker session. Dee as usual was hysterical. By this time my camera batteries were low so it was taking time for the flash to charge up between takes. At one point, he made his famous cricket sound while we were waiting. Hilarious man!
Dee Bradley Baker and I
This did conclude my Star Wars Weekends. I have to say the extra week was tiring but over all I found it quite the success! A lot of great things happened, I meet a lot of great people. Disney really out did themselves this year and I can’t wait to see what happens in the future. Stay tuned for the videos to be posted from weeks 4 and 5. Thanks for following my antics. I hope you enjoyed this time as much as I did. There is so much more to come, the future is bright. Please leave your thoughts and comments below or you can email me at aharris@coffeewithkenobi.com
Until then, may the Force be with you….always!
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