After I returned home, I built this LEGO MOC (my own creation) of the Weezer stage. At that point, I only had some Star Wars LEGO sets, so I had to pick up some additional bricks and minifigures to create this model. Notably, I purchased the cheapest Harry Potter set (for the bespectacled Rivers Cuomo) and a large brick assortment set for the stage base and back.
I based the stage arrangement on Weezer’s stage design at the Key Arena performance. They had a backdrop covered with equally distant squares. Lights behind the black squares illuminated and played lights on the backdrop. In front of the stage back was a large stylized “W” that descended from above when the band began playing.
For the backdrop lights, I used battery-powered Christmas lights.
For the stylized “W,” I cut it out from card stock.
Also, I used card sock to cut out guitar and bass shapes that I taped to rods that the minifigures held.
Apologies for the quality of the photos. I took the photos with my second digital camera. The first was a Sony Mavica with 3.5″ floppy disk. I sold it and purchased a Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-P3 (I think). I’m lucky to have these photos as I think I took them more to experiment with the camera than to memorialize the LEGO model!
While Rogue One (2016) comes in second to my love of The Empire Strikes Back (1980), the former film is more real in terms of foregrounding real people who want to fight back against the oppression of the Empire at all costs. The characters realize the stakes are high, but they fight on anyways. There is minimal space wizardry and instead people working together to support each other in the face of overwhelming odds.
Rogue One also signaled an inclusive-focused shift in Star Wars storytelling–a long needed correction to the franchise. Hopefully this trend will continue both in front of and behind the camera. And, with the new Andor (2022-) series, this corner of the Star Wars universe has new stories unfolding.
While Rogue One is far from perfect, it does a lot of things perfectly. One aspect of its perfection that’s important to me are its merchandising with LEGO. It had a large number of sets, which LEGO mercilessly divided main character minifigures between (as it did for The Hobbit, too). Nevertheless, the overall design of the U-Wing Fighter, Krennic’s Imperial Shuttle, Battle on Scarif (above), and AT-ST (which I currently have on my desk). These sets tied into the imaginative world of the film quite well and I certainly enjoyed building them.
Then, in 2006, my folks gave me the Master Replicas (MR) Anakin Skywalker lightsaber shown above as my Georgia Tech graduation present. It feels like a solid piece of steel or an alloy–heavier than aluminum. It is certainly heavier than the mostly hollow Graflex flash handle (sans batteries). Also, it doesn’t have a belt clip, but given its weight, it would not be practical to have this dangerously heavy lightsaber reproduction hang for your belt during anything more than standing still.
The MR lightsaber is designed for display, and it performs well in that function. The mirrored base illuminates the lightsaber with reflected ambient light. The plastic cover keeps out the dust. The shiny surface of the MR lightsaber attracts grease, fingerprints, and dust, so it’s best to keep a lint-free cloth or gloves nearby for picking it up.
Even sitting there on the shelf, the MR lightsaber inspires imaginative adventures as a Jedi defending the Republic, righting wrongs, and fighting for justice.
Before the 1998 Dragon*Con in Atlanta, Georgia, I had never been to a fan convention (con) before. I had been to small town comic book/baseball card shows, but there were no celebrities or cosplay at those.
My first girlfriend, who was a student at Wesleyan College, wanted to go, because she wanted autographs from Wendy and Richard Pini (Elfquest) or Marion Zimmer Bradley (The Mists of Avalon). I can’t find a guest list for 1998 and 1999–the two cons we attended together–and I recall from memory who was when.
Nevertheless, I do remember my interests at the con. I am a Star Wars fan, and I was watching Babylon 5 on TNT at that time, so I thought it would be cool to meet some of the actors in my favorite series. As an added bonus, Ray Bradbury and Harlan Ellison were attending, so I looked forward to meeting them, too (I plan to write more about this practice and my disavowal of it now, but I’ll save that for another post).
Looking at these photos now, it’s difficult to wrap my mind around the fact that 25 years separates then from now. While a lot of things have transpired during those 25 years leading up to my winding up in Brooklyn, New York, they seemingly passed in a blink of the eye.
Science Fiction Writers
Ray Bradbury
I took this picture after Bradbury had made the introduction to the Atlanta Radio Theater Company’s “The Man Who Walked Through Elephants,” an adaptation of a Robert A. Heinlein story that is Bradburyesque.
After introducing myself, Bradbury besieged me, “Jason, it’s good to meet you, but where are your Argonauts!?”
Harlan Ellison
The line for Harlan Ellison’s autograph was astonishingly long. Despite the cantankerousness attributed to him, he stood in his chair and shouted to us, “I’m not leaving until everyone who wants an autograph gets one!” Those of us in the crowd cheered! He was true to his word.
Star Wars
Meeting Kenny Baker, Anthony Daniels, and David Prowse was a highlight of my con experience. It was a strange experience meeting each actor. Having seen them play their roles behind masks and suits throughout my life was difficult for me to square with them in the flesh. Ecce homo.
Kenny Baker/R2-D2Anthony Daniels/C-3PODavid Prowse/Darth Vader
Babylon 5
Babylon 5 was nearing the end of its first five season run, so it was great to meet much of the cast in person. I’ll begin with Jason Carter, because I wanted to be a Ranger prepared for action with a Denn’bok.
Jason Carter/Ranger Marcus ColePeter Jurasik/Londo MollariClaudia Christian/Commander Susan IvanovaMira Furlan/DelennJeff Conaway/Zack Allan
The Atlanta Radio Theatre Company produced two back-to-back shows one evening of the con. The first was “The Man Who Traveled Through Elephants,” an adaptation of a Robert A. Heinlein short story that is Bradburyesque. Ray Bradbury introduced it. Anthony Daniels and Harlan Ellison played roles in the production.
Rory Rammer, Space Marshall: The Space Cycloplex
The second ATRC production was a Rory Rammer, Space Marshall story featuring Jonathan Harris (Dr. Smith on the original Lost in Space TV series).
The last time that I went to Dragon*Con was 2011 to participate on a panel organized by the Science Fiction Research Association (SFRA). I had to wait in a long line to get my badge and then there were crowds of other attendees. I am uncomfortable in crowds. According to numbers on Wikipedia, the weekend event’s attendance was more than 46,000. That’s 2.5x as many attendees as when I first attended in 1998, which was 18,000. In 1999, there were 19,000. And the last time that I attended as a fan with my cousin Ryan and friend Bert in 2000 there were 20,000 attendees, which felt slightly claustrophobic to me. So, you might imagine how overwhelming the 2011 event felt to me while navigating through the crowds in various places of the con.
Of course, this is a personal thing. I’m not necessarily suggesting that cons should be smaller by design (though, that would be cool for folks like me), but there are gobs of people who aren’t concerned by crowds in the least and in fact thrive off all of the humans in one place. I’ll stay at home and let those folks enjoy future big cons!
Skylab Orbital Workshop Interior, Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, Washington, DC. Photo taken in 2008.
As I wrote last week here, I reached out to Steve Lenzen via postal mail about Space Station L-4, the Earth Sciences Educational Program from 1977, after I found his contact information on an archived version of GPN’s website. He worked at GPN from 1976 to 2006, and he co-founded Destination Education. He kindly replied to me via email with important details about the history of GPN and why it might be impossible to find a copy of the series. He explains:
"The series was produced by Children's Television International, which was owned by Ray Gladfelter. When Ray was "winding down" his career, GPN took over distribution because Ray was an old friend of our director at the time. When Ray died, many, many years ago his old friend had also retired and GPN ceased distribution. Actually, GPN had ceased distribution years before that because there was no demand."
"Back when Ray produced the series many or most of the PBS Stations broadcast programs specifically designed for use in the classroom. This mode of getting educational programming into the classroom was started before the age of VHS and Betamax. The introduction of Betamax and then VHS is what led to the "death" of 16mm film and subsequently PBS stations airing a block of programs designed specifically for in classroom use. Starting in the late 80's, teachers were demanding that PBS Stations air only new, up-to-date programs depicting current hair styles, clothes, etc. If a series did not meet this criteria, teachers did not want it."
"Due to the lack of storage space, once a series was pulled from distribution GPN destroyed the submaster it had. The copyright holder/producer usually had a master. Space Station L-4 was pulled out of distribution long before advent of DVD which meant it cost of lot of money to keep old master, usually 2" Quad, 1" Helical, or Betamax in storage. As a result, the copyright owner also destroyed their copy."
"After Ray's death, his son . . . took control of Children's Television International. . . . The company, CTI, was, out of business by then so all he could do was find a place to give the tapes or destroy them."
My next move is to reach out to Ray Gladfelter’s son. I will report back with any developments.
