For all of you suffering from some post-Celebration blues, here are some great memories and feedback from faithful ForceCast listeners!



Dear Jason & Jimmy,

Grab A Beer....you're gonna be here for a while.....

Star Wars Celebration V means a lot of different things to a wide variety of individuals. I realize that you had mad a Pre-CV call for input on what STAR WARS CELEBRATION means to you. I thought that after experiencing such a fantastic event that I would submit a POST-CV submission detailing what STAR WARS CELEBRATION V meant to me.

I have attended all of the Celebrations except for the first one in Denver. Each one was a progressively better experience than the last and after 15 years of going to convention STAR WARS CELEBRATIONS have really become the Gold Standard when it comes to conventions. CV was no exception.

The first aspect of the show that I need to applaud is the wonderful variety of programming that was very carefully planned by all of the organizers. The panels and grand extravaganza's seemed to go off without a hitch. I also found there wasn't a moment that i didn't have somewhere to be or something to do. For four days there was LITERALLY NO DOWN TIME! Personal faves include The Main Event, Return Of The Jedi w/ Mark Hamill, Why We Love The Prequels, & Star Wars Filming Locations.

The 2nd aspect probably receives the highest marks for the show: The Autograph Hall, especially the Clone Wars Cast & Creators. Over the last 10 years there hasn't really been a shortage of great personalities from the Star Wars Universe, but never before have I encountered a group of fantastic individuals that as a team really putting their best feet forward to represent and become the perfect ambassadors for Star Wars Fandom, Especially James Arnold Taylor, Ashley Eckstein, & Cat Tabor.

I do not have children of my own but the Family that attended the show with have 2 children: Kaitlyn (10) and Luke (6) who are the perfect ages for the Clone Wars experience. The Clone Wars cast went above and beyond to make these 2 kids (and I'm sure many many more kids) days there the best they could be. Ashley even went out of her way to set aside a few moments after what I assume was a Meet & Greet in one of the VIP lounges to give Kaitlyn some real face-time and then once more as she was on her way out to the Last Tour To Endor after the show on Saturday.

James Arnold Taylor seemed to really enjoy his time there and even took it upon himself to play Daytime Talk Show host during the WHY WE LOVE THE PREQUELS panel by running the Mic around to the fans with questions.

All & all, the accessibility to the cast was greater than I had ever experienced at any previous convention that I have attended. Even Dave Filoni and Joel Aron who may have been two of the hardest working guys at the con always accommodated a fan with a little face time when they were able to.

One non Clone Wars guest that I would like to point out is Christopher Muncke (Captain Khurgee in ANH) This man was a real gentleman who couldn't have been more nice and inviting. It was a real pleasure to have gotten the opportunity to meet him.

And FINALLY, I have to give HUGE kudos to YOU, the ForceCast for helping to make this convention the best ever for me. I started listening to the ForceCast shortly after C4 so this was the first Celebration I went into with a ForceCast Primer. I went to this convention with many goals, one of them was to meet the ForceCast family in person. As with everything else at this convention, I was not disappointed a bit by the Family. Jason & Jimmy, you were the first ones that I met. I met the two of you as you were entering the hotel with all your bags the night before the con. I was impressed by your willingness to stop and chat for a few moments on what I'm sure was the start 4 or 5 days on NON STOP ACTION. I also had a nice little chat with Paul Bateman on the last day of the show and from listening to the Roundtables I knew he is quite the Kurosawa enthusiast so I picked up a Ltd Ed. Screen Print for the A.K. Centennial Film Fest here in Nashville to give to him. Paul seemed genuinely touched and I was happy to pass that along to him. And Finally, Kyle Newman. Kyle was always prepared and happy to talk or pose for a photo with everyone that approached him.

Also, I usually skim through the Artist Alley area pretty quickly at these events, But with your continued coverage of Star Wars artists, I was able to match a personality with the artwork which enhanced my enjoyment of this area. Randy Martinez, to me, used to just be a guy who would draw funny little pictures in the Insider, but now after a few years of the ForceCast, Randy, Tom Hodges, Grant Gould, and many others have become much more than that to me and I'm sure many others.

Everyone I encountered over the 4 days were of the highest caliber. Thank you all and I can't wait to see you at STAR WARS CELEBRATION 6!!!

Thanks,
Tim Spaulding
Nashville, TN





Jason and Jimmy Mac,
I just wanted to send a note to thank you guys for all the time, effort, and
hard work you put into The ForceCast....as well as all the additional stuff you
do for the Star Wars fan community. I am a lifelong Star Wars fan -- I was born
in 1974, and my parents tell me that Star Wars was the first movie they ever
took me to see on the big screen. I don't actually remember seeing it when I
was that young, but I do remember seeing the re-release on the big screen a
couple of years later. I also have vivid memories of going to see The Empire
Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi several times during their initial runs
in the theaters. Like many other Forcecast listeners, I grew up playing with
the original Kenner action figures (which I still have). I made my own
lightsabers out of cardboard tubes, duck tape, and magic markers. I dreamed of
being Luke Skywalker and saving the galaxy from the evil clutches of the
Empire. Star Wars was a HUGE part of my childhood!!

As I grew older, my love for Star Wars continued.....but it wasn't something
that I talked about with most of my other friends. I was "growing up", so I was
supposed to focus on my career and other "grown up" things, right? After
college, I moved to Houston, TX and began my new life and career there.
Luckily, I was fortunate enough to find a great group of friends who shared many
common interests with me -- we were all young professionals pursuing our
careers, but we also loved going to Astros games together and talking about the
movies we loved. This included Star Wars, and I was able to spend time with
these guys discussing every nuance of the first trailer for "The Phantom
Menace", as well as lining up for the midnight showings of the prequels. I was
older, but I still loved Star Wars.

Soon after Revenge of the Sith (don't you love how Star Wars fans can use
movie releases as milestones without even mentioning the year??), I moved away
from a job I loved and my close friends in Houston to live in the same town as
my fiancee. While it was tough for me to leave such good friends, the leap of
faith I took paid off -- I now have a beautiful wife, two wonderful kids, and a
new job that I love with the same company I worked for in Houston. Life is
great....but the one thing I have been missing is someone to talk Star Wars
with.

So a little over a year ago, I stumbled on The ForceCast. I listened to every
new episode as soon as it was released, and I searched through back-episodes on
iTunes for any other episode that looked particularly interesting to me. While
I had never met Jason or Jimmy Mac, I immediately felt like we were long-lost
friends who would sit around for hours on end watching ball games and talking
Star Wars. When talk of a Star Wars Celebration started to come up, I was
immediately interested. You mean to tell me that there are official events
endorsed by Lucasfilm for Star Wars fans?!? How did I not know about this
before?!? I immediately contacted one of my old friends from my days in
Houston, and we decided to meet up for this big event. We didn't really know
what we were getting ourselves into, but we figured the worst that would happen
is that we would fly into Orlando and have a few days away from work to talk
Star Wars again. We were also fortunate enough to snag VIP tickets for the
event (again, we didn't really know what we were getting ourselves into....but
we figured "why not??") and we spent the next several months planning,
anticipating, and drooling over every tiny little bit of news that trickled out
about CV. All the while, The ForceCast kept us up to speed on any news, rumors,
speculation, etc about this big event that we were going to.

Now that Celebration V is over, I can truly say that it was one of the most
enjoyable and exciting events I have ever been to. I was able to meet up with
an old friend, we sat seven rows from the stage while watching Jon Stewart
interview the Maker himself, George Lucas (as well as Mark Hamill and Carrie
Fisher!!!!), we met several of our childhood idols while getting autographs, we
attended tons of panels to hear behind-the-scenes insight, and we met many other
great people with a deep love of Star Wars just like us. As the name of the
event implies, we were able to celebrate all things Star Wars.....but just as
importantly, we were able to celebrate friendships, camaraderie with other
like-minded fans, and that feeling of being a nine year old kid playing with the
cardboard and duck tape lightsaber once again.

Thanks again for all you guys do for the Star Wars fan community. I can truly
say that I would not have even known about Celebration V if it wasn't for The
Forcecast. Thanks to the hard work you do to make sure no fan is left behind --
you have brought even more Star Wars enjoyment to my own life, as well as giving
me an excuse to reconnect with old friends and make new friends in the process.
I look forward to continuing to listen and planning for Celebration VI in
(hopefully...) 2013!!!

Regards,
Andy Ashworth




Hey guys,

I was thinking about something the other day (scary, yes). I had never really tried listening to any of the other Star Wars podcasts out there. I have pretty much just stuck with the Forcecast. Why would I need any other?

But, in the wake of Celebration V, I figured I should check out some others to see what they reported on that I may have missed while I was at the show.

So, I downloaded a couple and tried them out and it hit me right away that there's just no way they can come close to the quality that you guys give us.

Here's the analogy I came up with to compare the Forcecast to other Star Wars podcasts....

The other podcasts are kind of like listening to the interesting Star Wars conversations you hear while waiting in line for a panel at a Celebration.
The Forcecast? It's the panel you're waiting in line to see.

Just wanted to share that little thought I had.

Great coverage at CV. I only got to catch 1 live broadcast, but it was excellent. I also very briefly met Jimmy at the TF.N party, but never got to bump into Jason. Next time for sure.

Looking forward to the new stuff in September, especially once Clone Wars kicks off!

Thanks guys.

-Matt
(aka MattDoc)