I’ve already blogged about my time at Gallifrey One in Los Angeles, but the time has come to talk about one of the most exciting days ever – my recent visit to the Lucasfilm and ILM offices in San Francisco.
I had a great day in the company of Mike Siglain, Sammy Holland and Caitlin Kennedy planning all kinds of hush-hush projects and also discussing some final plans connected to my recently announced Han Solo books and comics.
Much of what I saw is top, top secret, but thanks to Lucasfilm I’m allowed to share a few of the delights I spotted on my tour of the building.
Starting not in a galaxy far, far away but spooky old New York, I was a little bit giddy to find myself face to face with the portrait of Vigo the Carpathian (AKA the Scourge of Carpathia, the Sorrow of Moldavia, Vigo the Cruel, Vigo the Torturer, Vigo the Despised and Vigo the Unholy).
Thankfully, I didn’t get possessed but I did meet an ugly little spud…
And just look at this – the original animatronic for Slimer from Ghostbusters 2…
Oh, the joy of practical effects.
Talking of which, check out Nunzio of the infamous Scoleri Brothers…
And here’s what’s going on beneath that freaky face…
Isn’t that wonderful?
Also in the same room was a visitor from the stars…
And yes, I was subconsciously pointing the E.T. finger. Phoooone hooooome…
Seriously, walking around the offices was like dipping into my childhood.
Ghostbusters? Check.
E.T? Check.
All we needed now was Ray Harryhausen…
Oh, hello…
I want that statue – although Clare might have something to say if it turned up in our lounge…
And then there was the print that the great man signed every time he visited ILM…
From stop-motion to CGI… there were loads of Pirates of the Caribbean artefacts around, including this beautiful sculpture of Davy Jones head…
And this is the motion capture suit that Bill Nighy wore when performing as the squid-faced horror.
I was also tickled to see objects from Who Framed Roger Rabbit? including Judge Doom’s gun complete with Dum-Dum bullets…
… plus, old squeaky-voice himself hanging outside the men’s restroom…
Other precious treasures include the original T-Rex model from Jurassic Park…
… Igoe’s pod from Innerspace…
… and the Elizabeth Tower from Hook…
And of course, there was a lot of Star Wars…
From Han in Carbonite…
…to, er, someone else…
There were ships galore…
… and Stormtroopers a-plenty…
… not to mention Jedi Masters…
As for all those secret plans we were making, well, you’ll have to watch this space, but in the meantime…
… all hail the new Supreme Leader!
STOP PRESS – Added on 7th March
Something else happened on the day but I couldn’t mention it until now – I was interviewed on the Star Wars Show. You can watch it here!
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