Today, May 14th, is the 82nd birthday of George Lucas. “The Maker”, as he’s known to diehard Star Wars fans. In 1977, George Lucas took a risk and directed a space fantasy adventure film that would go on to change the world. The fandom started to form almost instantly, and nearly 50 years later the community is bigger than ever. Star Wars Celebration has become a landmark of our fandom world, with sixteen events held around the world. But when has The Maker made an appearance? Let’s take a look at all of George’s in-person appearances at Celebrations past, which include some of the convention’s best moments ever.
MAY 1987 – STARLOG SALUTES STAR WARS – LOS ANGELES, CA
Going back in time to before the days of Star Wars Celebration, we have to start with the event that is colloquially known as “Celebration Zero”. For the first movie’s tenth anniversary, sci-fi magazine Starlog hosted an event along with Creation Conventions, which was lengthily entitled “Starlog Salutes Star Wars: A 10th Anniversary Tribute to George Lucas and the Galaxy Far, Far Away Which He Created”.
pic provided by Pete Vilmur
George made a rare appearance on Sunday evening, May 24th, which is miraculously on YouTube thanks to Skywalking Through Neverland and Richard Woloski, who was in attendance. At timestamp 46:35 you’ll see George’s entrance to raucous applause, introduced by Darth Vader. George answers questions from the audience, with some easier to hear than others, including one about whether there would be nine Star Wars films. “Well, there are nine floating around there somewhere,” George says. “I’ll guarantee that three are pretty much organized in my head (…) but the other three are out there somewhere.”
The other stand out moment from this appearance is found at timestamp 1:30:00, when there is an appearance by the father of Star Trek, Gene Roddenberry. This was their first public interaction, and Gene kicks off the moment by saying, “I’d like to announce right here, I am a Star Wars fan.” The crowd goes wild.
George was then presented with a giant birthday card which was signed by fans throughout the weekend so far. This card made another appearance at CIV in 2007, the 30th anniversary, as seen above.
APRIL 23, 2005 – CELEBRATION III – INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA
It was announced late that George Lucas would be appearing at Celebration III in Indianapolis. The news came on April 5, 2005, only a little more than two weeks before the event. Registration, which had closed on April 1, ended up reopening for three days along with the announcement.
More details on his appearance came a week later, explaining that there would be three back-to-back sessions on Saturday morning where fans would have a chance to see George. The line is legendary, with fans waiting overnight, at first outside in a freezing rain and later inside the convention hall, sleeping on the floor.
The Q&A sessions, hosted by Jay Laga’aia (aka Captain Typho) and with George accompanied by Rick McCallum, can thankfully be heard on YouTube. Posted by user IndyDefense, here are links for Session 1, Session 2, and Session 3. I also recommend this episode of Blast Points Podcast, which breaks down the contents of all three sessions.
I also wrote an in depth previous blog post on this appearance, which you can find here, and click here to read my post about George’s visit to see the droid builders.
AUGUST 14, 2010 – CELEBRATION V – ORLANDO, FLORIDA
On May 21, 2010, it was announced on the official site that George Lucas would be appearing at the upcoming Celebration V in Orlando. More details came by mid-June, where Entertainment Weekly reported that Jon Stewart would be interviewing George at the convention. Their conversation was dubbed The Main Event.
seen here courtesy of the wayback machine
The Main Event had it’s own FAQ section on the official site, which by late July had details including that the panel would be streamed in three satellite theaters. This is, as far as I can tell, the first time these overflow rooms were utilized, which is now standard practice for larger panels. Additionally, the FAQ site explained that doors would open at 6 AM, but that fans could line up before that at their own discretion. “We understand that camping out and waiting in line is part of the Star Wars fandom experience,” they said. “Please, though, use your best judgment when deciding when you wish to arrive.” They encouraged checking the weather and staying hydrated, adding at the end, “Please, also, be aware of gators.” There was also a place on the site for fans to send in questions for George and Jon beforehand.
The hour-long panel, which is on YouTube (albeit in not-great quality), featured George discussing season 3 of The Clone Wars, which was released the following month. He also discussed generational love for Star Wars and all of it’s incarnations. One of the most memorable moments is when Jon Stewart asked what Obi-Wan Kenobi’s home world is, and George said the planet was called Stewjon. This tribute has gone on to become Kenobi’s canon home planet. The biggest announcement came when George proclaimed that the Blu-Ray release of Star Wars would be on it’s way the following year. George was also joined on stage by Mark Hamill, who introduced the deleted scene from ROTJ where Luke builds his saber, and Carrie Fisher also joined the fun.
According to theforce.net, it looks like George went on to attend the Last Tour to Endor event at Disney World later that day. There’s also evidence of George wandering the show floor with his family, including a stop at the droid builder’s exhibit which can be glimpsed here.
AUGUST 2012 – CELEBRATION VI – ORLANDO, FLORIDA
At the following Celebration in Orlando there was no scheduled appearance for George but that didn’t stop him from making a few surprise appearances! “Surprise appearance” and “George Lucas” are just not words that go together often, so this was a special occurrence. George appeared during one of the Clone Wars panels with Dave Filoni and Joel Aron, which you can see here. This wasn’t even at the main Celebration Stage but the smaller Digital Stage!
with dave filoni and joel aron, photo credit
George also appeared during the “Super Secret Star Wars Panel” on the Celebration Stage with Seth Green and the creative team behind Star Wars: Detours (if you don’t know what that is…head to Google and just…buckle up). You can see a clip of the moment here. He also walked the floor again with an entourage that included Ian McDiarmid, which you can see a tiny bit of here, and he also sat for a more formal but brief interview with the official site which you can see here.
APRIL 13, 2017 – CELEBRATION ORLANDO 2017 – ORLANDO, FLORIDA
George’s most recent in-person Celebration appearance was also unannounced, during what has become the absolutely legendary 40th anniversary panel at Celebration 2017 in Orlando. Thankfully, this panel is on YouTube from the official account and in great quality. Kathleen Kennedy introduces George and it was a complete surprise to the crowd.
This panel is, of course, iconic at this point, including appearances by Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Peter Mayhew, Hayden Christensen, and so many more. There was also an incredible tribute to Carrie including an introduction from her daughter Billie Lourd and then John Williams conducting a live orchestra. Just insanity. Panel highlights are here.
George and Harrison also packed the show floor when they appeared on the live stage, which you can see a clip from here. He also did a few backstage press interviews.
Now, we’re a little less than a year out from Star Wars Celebration 2027 in Los Angeles. The 50th anniversary of the galaxy far, far away. Will George join us in person again? Only time will tell!
*Did I miss an in person Celebration moment? Let me know!* *intoalargerworldproject@gmail.com*
the celebration database 