The Elstree Star Wars Day

Science Fiction Convention
Name:	The Elstree Star Wars Day
Dates:	13 November, 1994
Frequency:
Location:	The Venue, Elstree Way, Borehamwood, England, UK
Type:
Focus:	Star Wars
Organization:
Founder:
Founding Date:
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The Elstree Star Wars Day was UK's first Star Wars convention.

It was a promotional, for-profit con sponsored by George Lucas and Star Wars PTB.

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  The Elstree Star Wars Day - booklet cover

Similar Con

A similar con in 1977 was the Elstree Star Trek Day.

Con Reports

As far as I know this was the first SW con ever in the U.K. It was held at a cinema called “The Venue” opposite the Elstree Studios. The event was called “The Elstree/Star Wars Day”. The guests were Dave Prowse, Kenny Baker, Mike Edmonds and Jeremy Bulloch. Due to some problems, the scheduled events were a bit late starting. The guests were introduced to the audience at about 11 a.m. Bulloch was a surprise guest. He replaced Brian Johnston who couldn't make it. The guests were escorted onto the stage by 2 fans in excellent hand-made costumes of Boba Fett and Boschh. Next they showed all the movie trailers for the Trilogy. I hadn't seen them in a long time. The early SW ones are strange. They have a sinister quality to them. After that, the stars began signing autographs. Unfortunately, since the event was held in a cinema, there wasn't much space. There was a bar with some seating area, but that was occupied by some dealers' tables, so the guests had to do signing in the corridors. There was an exhibition room with some excellent props on display: TIE fighter helmet, stormtrooper helmet, 4-LOM mask, various weapons, and a complete Darth Vader costume which had been fitted with a breathing sound. Very impressive! As the day progressed, it became obvious that most fans were getting more than one autograph from each guest and so it was going to take a lot longer than expected. Around 2 p.m., they showed “The Making of Empire”, then at 3 p.m., the highlight of the day — a film called “Return of the Ewok.” I say highlight because this was the first time it's ever been seen. It was made in 1982 by Dave Tomblin during the production of ROTJ. Tomblin became friends with Warwick Davis and decided to make a short comedy film with him in their spare time. It's about 30 minutes long and concerns Warwick trying to get a part in ROTJ. He goes around Elstree meeting many of the production crew and cast. Eventually, he travels to Endor as Wicket and meets Han, Luke, Leia, 3PO and Artoo. Then he meets the other Ewoks and there is a battle with stormtroopers. After which Warwick's parents turn up to take him home. He tries to tell them of his adventures but they don't believe him. It's really quite funny and charming. It almost made me like the Ewoks! The items on the dealers' tables seemed very expensive so I didn't buy anything. Later in the afternoon there was a charity auction of rare and unusual SW items. Around 6:30 p.m., there was a question and answer session with the guests. Dave Prowse seemed rather bitter. He said he hated ROTJ (several times). He also complained about the money he gets in residuals and that he wasn't allowed to see a complete script during shooting. Kenny Baker was the exact opposite. He was very cheerful and had nothing but happy memories of working on the movies. Jeremy Bulloch seemed a bit bemused by the attention of the fans in a character he knew very little about. However, he did say that he thought that Fett would have escaped from the Sarlacc.

Well, it was a great day and although there were some organizational problems, it went surprisingly well for a first con. 1 spent most of the day talking to pen friends, some of whom I was meeting for the first time. Hope we can do it again soon!

Not so long ago, November 13th 1994 in fact, not so far away, Elstree just outside London, the UK's first Star Wars convention took place. I'd heard about it a couple of weeks before from the UKSWFC's Craig Stevens - and the rest, as they say, is history.

My sincere thanks go to Shaun Danby who kindly gave me a lift down there, as without him I wouldn't have been able to attend. After arriving after it was supposed to open, thanks to a local person's useless directions, I settled down to watch the opening ceremony (which was thankfully late itself) - after collecting my souvenir brochure and badge first, both of which were included in the £8 entrance fee. One of the convention's organisers, Jason Joiner, then introduced the 700 strong gathering of fans to Kenny Baker (R2 -D2), Dave Prowse (Darth Vader), Mike Edmonds (Logray) and special guest Jeremy Bulloch (Boba Fett), who came on flanked by two fans in Boba Fett and Boushh costumes. Warwick Davis (Wicket) and effects man Brian Johnson were also due to appear, but both had sent letters of apology for not being there.

After the initial opening, fans were treated to a presentation of each film's original cinema trailers, which included the one for 'Revenge Of The Jedi'. The 'Empire' trailer included clips of scenes that were cut from the film, including Luke and Leia's first kiss in the medical centre on Hoth. Some of you may remember that I wrote an article in issue three of the UKSWFC magazine some years ago about Empire's missing scenes, so actual proof that this scene existed nearly blew my socks off! Then the rest of the day was free to do whatever you wanted.

The actors were available for autographs in the foyer of the building, or you could visit the props room, where actual pieces used in the movies were on display. After seeing the length of the queue for the autographs, I decided to head for the props room - and I'm glad that I did. On display were two of Luke's lightsabres, Jawa rifles, Luke's rifle he used on Tatooine, Imperial blasters. Tie Fighter pilot and Stormtrooper helmets and a whole host of other pieces, including Vader's costume from 'Empire'. A selection of Gerald Crotty's award winning artwork was also on display, along with some production drawings from the films.

The dealers room was so packed, that in the end I gave up and began talking to other fans instead, some of which I had been writing to for years and some that I'd never even met before. That was one of the things that I enjoyed most about the convention. Then, as morning became afternoon, I tried to get to the dealers room again, but once again couldn't get near! Instead, I made my way back to my seat and watched a cut version of 'SP FX : The Empire Strikes Back', which was followed by a world premiere of a film made by Warwick Davis called 'Return Of The Ewok'. This involved Warwick's journey through 'Jedi's film sets, Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher making cameo appearances from their dressing rooms and C-3P0 becoming a lampshade! To round off the film showings, 'A Tribute To Lucasfilm' was shown. By the time this was over, I decided to get my brochure signed by the actors.

All of them, especially Mike Edmonds, were very friendly not to mention being funny - and didn't seem to mind the,signings taking almost two hours to complete. I doubt any of them could have predicted they'd be in such demand! Finally, the signings came to an end and the charity auction began. Parts of the Tantive IV sets, George Lucas' autograph and promotional R2-D2 cardboard cut outs signed by Kenny Baker were among the items auctioned off. I only wish that I had taken more money with me! Still, I finally made it into the dealers room just before leaving and came away with some excellent items to add to my memorabilia collection.

Unfortunately, I had to leave before the end, but I can honestly say that I had the time of my life, as I'm sure many other fans did as well. On the whole, the convention was a huge success and I sincerely hope a similar event is held this year. So, keep your eyes peeled for any details of a future event because believe me, a Star Wars convention is one thing that you won't want to miss!