Star Wars Celebration V

Ask A Jedi’s own Katherinne takes a look at the upcoming Star Wars Celebration V convention in Orlando, Florida, happening this August. It promises to be absolutely ground zero for all-things Star Wars.

While we certainly hope that Star Wars: The Old Republic will have a presence, at the time of this writing, nothing has been confirmed. So, even though it’s not exclusively related to our favorite upcoming MMORPG, we thought some of our readers might enjoy a quick-start guide as to what to expect!

As a side note, Ask A Jedi is based in Orlando, Florida – so we’ll be there, and we’d love to meet you! Drop us a line if you’ll be in town!

What: The official Lucasfilm Ltd Star Wars convention Celebration V
When:  August 12 – 15 2010
Where:  Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida, US

Star Wars Celebration is an official convention organized by Lucasfilm Ltd. to celebrate the fantastic universe created by George Lucas nearly 35 years ago. The first one was held in Denver, Colorado in 1999 to celebrate the release of Episode I: The Phantom Menace. Since then, there have been 5 more (3 in the US, and 2 internationally) and this one promises to be the biggest and best so far!

The headline announcement for Celebration V is the attendance of the maker himself, George Lucas! He will be appearing on stage for a live interview/Q&A session with The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart. If you have a question for George (or Jon,) you can submit them here. Now’s the time to ask him when Episode 7 is coming out.

Other guests include the good guys:  Carrie Fisher,  Anthony Daniels,  Peter Mayhew and the bad guys:  Jeremy Bulloch,  Ray Park and the ones caught in the middle: Jake Lloyd and Daniel Logan along with many many more!  There will be special autograph sessions throughout the whole show in the special autograph hall.

Disney is hosting a special evening enetitled  “Last Tour of Endor” on August 14 to commemorate their closing Star Tours for a big overhaul (they’re ditching the Death Star Attack Run and gaining a Pod Race – but don’t get me started).  Starting at 8pm, after the close of the convention, this awesome event will last until 1am and will include themed party zones, Star Wars shows, Death Star Disco and those awesome Disney fireworks orchestrated to Star Wars music.  This takes place at Disney’s Hollywood Studios theme park and Tickets are $75. This includes round trip transportation to and from the convention center. I’m looking forward to it for sure!

Other events at the convention will be a R2-D2 Builders Display,  Costume Contests (rules are here), a One Man Star Wars show, Collector’s Panels and of course the  Exhibition Hall. Exhibitors will include such well known names as  Nasa, Scholastic, Dark Horse Comics, Hallmark, HASBRO and LEGO. A full list can be found here.

Just in case you want to get married (or something,) there will be a Commitment Chapel and if you like to make movies, there is a Fan Movie challenge but you’ll have to be able to travel back in time because the deadline was June 24th.

To leave your mark for posterity, you’ll be able to submit your own Star Wars experience with My Star Wars Story. During the convention, you’re invited to take 15 minutes and tell your story, sing your song, or otherwise share what Star Wars has meant to you in a video diary.  But it’s a first come, first serve line be sure to sign up early!

Also as you may know, this year was the 30th anniversary of everyone’s favorite Star Wars episode – The Empire Strikes Back. There are some special events surrounding this, and we’ll add more as they are announced.  Here is what we have so far:

Echo Base Diorama – Frank D’Iorio, once an Industrial Light & Magic Visual Effects Artist, will return to once again lead us all in building a diorama of Hoth’s Echo Base Station. He will set it all up and then fans will be able to come in and build (for free) a portion of the scene. The best part is that you get to take your portion home!  HASBRO is donating a quantity of action figures and vehicles, but in order to assure that there are enough for everyone, a special “figure fund” has been created.  Fans can bring their own action figures or can mail them to the address listed.

If you’re traveling to get to Star Wars Celebration this year, a special hotel search page has been set up, and there will be a convenient shuttle services available. For other things to do while in Orlando, check out the Orlando 101 page.

Tickets are available here.  Adult prices run from $48 / $54 per day to $128 for admission to all four days of the convetion. Tickets are also available at the door while they last.

Don’t know about you but we can’t wait, and hope to see everyone there! And be sure to bookmark this page to keep up-to-date.