." I •. ' ..• . .•... •. ..•. e.: "." -- ISSUE 32 SUMMER 1992 UNIFYING STAR WARS FANDOM A Panel Discussion Held at MediaWest*Con 12 Thanks to Tim Blaes for Providing the Tape Panel Mamers: Oleree cargill, Melea Fisher, Pat Grant, Judith Yuenger ("Aud." indicates caIlrent fran audience. Individual nares will be used if recognized.) cc: Hi, everyone, and welC'Clle to the Sl'ARSKY & cargill and I dO ~. ENClAVE and A HUTCH panel. (laughter) Well, obviously, 'I'REJIm IN 'mE ~. this is the srAR WARS panel so if yru' re in the wrcng place, stay anyway because we'd JY: I'm Jutith Yuenger and I run the Star like yoo in the faman. We might get yoo Awards. interested. MF: I'm Melea Fisher am I pJblisb <Ii A CLW PG: What is the title of this? DAY YOO CAN SiE JWDWI. cc: ''Unifying S1'AR WARS Fandan", which we kind PG: I'm Pat Grant am run Forces of the Eq>ire othfe rset awrteered sltaisltl yloetasr . anWde ldoitssc oavnedr eldo tsth oaft 'atHnEd wFem P:Elb alimsh a a znienwe scleatltleerd cIaMllmedU l1JnIl NwDh icBhY STAR WARS fans rut there rut we were all I premise will be rut by next year. Now broken up into little groops. And noOOdy that we have Anal helping us with it. knew about anyOOdy else, so we decided we (Recognizes Arwen RaIenbauI in the would try to get us all together in one big audience.) group again and have lots of fun and I think we've been fairly successful over the past AR: Well, then I'll be helping yru and Melea. year. JY: And me! PG: Unification, Part 3. The Next Generatioo. am <X:: Anen s1wld staBi up take a bow. cc: SO, I sUPIX)3e we shoold introluce rurselves to those who dCIl't koow us. I'm <lleree PG: I think Arwen bas becDE fandan' s atnyypbeosdeyt tneere.d h"erl pc?a"n dSoh ety'lpl elseeatrtnin! g. Ikles ftahnadt ahma,v e wfOeO'rIXel Sso(E ignrtoeorpc mannde,c telidk,e mit'sst alnost like networking. ScEbody reads a MF: Never volunteer! zine and sees sarelxxly else's DaIle and AR: Stop !Ie before r volunteer again! dtheecridee. s they'll write and it goes fron ffi: CAAndN Iw'INe Aa, lswoh ihcahv ei sa anvewai lzaibnlee, t'fhAi1s& )y eFRaCrM. 'IHCEkl Aud: SSToA Rth WeA RpSr ofbalenmda nr eiasl ly"d wyainsIgl "I t, siot ljIIulCsht ltohastt the dealer's table, if we ever get it open, camtmicatian. or in the cantina which, by the way, we are running a STAR WARS auction. Anylx:x:ly's 0::: Just lost CCIIIIlII1icatian. Yeah. welcaJe to care in and go through the auc tion. It's silent bids. There's a lot of tlY: Everylxxly was off in different sections. really nice ittm3 in there. You're welcane. cc: PG: Fragmented. Well, I don't really know what we're ... ctlviousl y , we got together and discussed Ann Birnstiel: what we t re going to talk about. You know, I used to take MariCll McOlesney' s aBlUNICATIOOS cr:fi00lE but it had a dif MF: Actually, we just opened the program lxx>k ferent list of zines. But then she quit and were reading through it and said, "Ch, about three years ago and I kind of fell out I'm on a panel!" of it and then last year I picked up a flyer for ZINE SCENE and I foond out about SOOIH ffi: I don t t know about the rest of you but I :ffiN ENClAVE fran there. have found that the last year, ever since tthheis ,l as"tC hM, edsioa Wtehsta tw'she nw hwoe ykoinud aorfe ;s tawretleld, cc: bI egr owt rao -wlehtot ehra df rdacnn es ailBluesatlrea-tiIC clalSn 'fto rre SaTaAtR let's keep in touch," I've gotten letters WARS zines back in the mid-SO s and then fron allover the world this last year. I kind of got out of fandan and I the people got a letter fran two different Italian they had been illoing for had also gotten cluOO who want to corresJX)Ild with us. Ckle out of fandan, and that was their ooly link. who does sarething similar to what we do So, this persm had been seardling for Iiv e wi th personas and doing corresJX)Ildence back or six years for SCE way to get get back . and forth in character, and they want to into fandan and they finally foom scltuabr.t upA nadn ai nctleurbc louubt rienla Atiuosntsrhailpia w tihtha to wuer EthNeC lAoVthE eor rz iHnIeBsm aNnAd TsICalil dS, ''IHey~, I 'mor~ rcunte thoef heard fran and it's like there's this last lir ing STAR WARS fan in the world. blossaning and it's so waxlerful. You know, '!here are still others rut there. a few years ago, it was like nobody wanted It to omtiCll anybody else's groop or zine and Z.P. Florian: now it's wooderful. It I s really great. If I may say, shooldn' t we have a kind of a cc: newsletter, SCEthing, maybe maxinD two It's like we had gotten to the point of, pages, that a:sts barely IJI)re than the ''Ch, rol~playing. I doo't want to talk to mailing, at least mce or twice a year, to them! They're those weirdoo. II go out to everyJxdy in the wOOle world wOO ever wrote a fanzine. MF: Yeah, they write those weird letters in that- MF: (to JY) Well, I think yoor Star Awards go cc: out to just about everyixxly, deD't they? I think it really has cane tcgether in the last year. 1here was a trefOODdous response JY: Yes. as Pat said, really, fran allover the world. We heard fron a lot of people we 0::: We tried to CCJIl)ile as many IlCIIES as edvidenry I t isksmuwe owfe re~ out th efrNeC.l AVAEn dS OOI I\Sk notwo JX)SSible and get them (J} a mailing list. have new names in it. New fans caning in ZP: Yes, get a mailing list. Mail out- 2 Cheree Cargill, Melea Fisher, Pat Grant JY: It's 300 people long. PanelYisetash:. caoo on up here. Get up here! ZP: -who's seeking c.'ontributions, what is (Applause) available, what is for sale. But, like, I know anything in the whole world that CClIeS MW: (Joins panelists at table) I stnUd have out in mmERN ENClAVE or HIBERNATICN known better. Well, basically, that's it. aSlIxCJKuNt EFSoS.r cesI odf otnh'et ~kniorwe a. blNooatnhiinngg . thNin0g- Wcoe uhpalev eo fb eyeena rsh oalbloeorti ncgam-aulnl :iocfa tiuoos -afmor ita thing that they have for sale, what they're wasn't until I pulled my blaster and said, doing, what kind of zines they're doing. "Okay, .YQY do it!" (IOOicates JY) This gal And I always have more stories than zines. is the IOOSt incredibly cx:ncise perscn yoo'll So, it's not that I'm not looking. It's ever want to know. She has everything but that I don't know who to look for. the eye teeth and this is the kind of thing we need. But we also need input. lots and lots of input. Ming Wathne: Well, obviously, this has been oor problan, which I've been speaking about for two cc: I think Ming and Judith both deserve a hand years. And we are trying, all of us, in for all they have dale in the last year. different situations. All those zines that (Applause) we're putting out now should have advertise Ilelts for other zines. PG: I've got <ne. (Pulls a <IisneIN:lered hand fran a bag) JY: Which they didn't do before. MF: Yeah, she's got I.nke's in there. MW: Which they haven't done for quite a long tine. And with the Library and the Star PG: We just roasted I.nke Skywalker. 'Ibe Eq)ire Awards, we were also lIVre or less planning is returning sane thiDJs to him that he left to make a cross-reference and this is behind. Wilding within the area itself of artists, costme-makers, story-writers, so that JY: Cb, I'm sorry I missed that 1 people can cross-reference and find out who is doing what, but it's going to take a lot Tim: I had a l.oC to ~ ENClAVE that got of effort not only on our part rut also on gobbled by the mail and I bad sugqested the the guys that do the writing. Let us kncM naDl! the "Antilles Award". 'lbat way you what you want to do, as well. coold give the winners a ''Wedgie.'' {Boos and hisses} CC: Ming ought to cc.too 00 up here. She's one of the- PG: Anyme have a blaster? 3 cc: Tina had a questioo. PG: There's IX> definite proof, rut everything is JX)inting to it. Tina Bentrup: Well, what are the n.m:>r8 about what George Aud: I don' t krnf if 1'm the only one who' s heard is doing? Is he worJci.ng 00 the novie or this, but a couple of years ago, I heard what? I mean, can we- that there was as definite 1997 release date. ro: George says the sane thinq. ''When I get through- with my present project, I will CC: Yeah, that seem to be the date. start working 00 the next STAR WARS series." Aud: I heard that they were going to start cc: In other words, the novie will be out when working on it before then, but it would CUI€ we re standing in line waiting for tickets. out in 1997. I haven't heard that that has I changed. TB: Srnething that Maggie wrote in SOOIHERN ENClAVE about a ruIDr about how IIilch the Aud2: That would be 20 years then. film was budgeted for and aOOut a set, a miniature of the ~rial City that was AudJ: I work in a bookstore and the reason they're 1/6th of a mile long-- out is the new HEIR 'ID '!HE EMPIRE sequel. The latest children's rooks to caoo out and cc: That CanE off, I think, the Prodigy bulletin is is their way of reintroducing... So, 00ard. they've rereleased all of the original and they're redone the Han Solo rooks because men: they're out of print now. So that's why. I saw sane stuff on Internet that said sure It's got nothing to do with the norte. special effects shops had closed down all outside work and were working on one-- Tim: Sorry, but if the market can sustain these reprints, that's maybe not nnch but sane CC: Yeah, that rmvr's been going around for additional :iqletus to <XIltinue tmtil the about a year. next novie' s rut. ro: There was a definite I1IIOr that I heard a Aud3: But it's got nothing to do with it. couple of years ago fran... The ruIDr cane fran a persoo that worked for MW: Well, there are two things yru have to keep Lucasfilm ... for what that's worth ... that in mind about Hollywod. and I..ncas. Nllnber Lucas, at that tiJoo had just finished the one, he is a great me for hitting things script and they were looJci.ng into casting. when they're hot. NtIJiler 00, Hollywoexl is This was two years ago. NcN the IUlDr's Hollywood and can yru figure a better way of going arot.md that ILM has shut d<M1 and is building IOOrcenary-if yru want to put it working on me particular project. The that way- JX)ints for books, magazines, new timing on that is just about right if the this and that, than saying there's going to original IUlDr had any truth to it at all. be another picture? Keep that in mind tmtil We might be looking at saoothing within the you actually see the ad in the paper for the next year or tw'o. picture at the novie ioJse, dat't get too excited about it because this goes 00 all ZP: sarething DlISt be going CIl because I walked the tiE rut there. into the Dal too's Bookstore and they have this display. They are selling all the STAR Aud: Well, about the film, I think yru have to WARS rooks, all the Han Solo rooks- watch VARIEIY and the trade publications. PG: Yeah, everything's being revanp:rl right now. cc: I think that's true, that prOOably VARIElY or 00lLY\OD ~ or even the LA '1'IMES cc: Circtm3tantial evidence, everything sort of woold have nore ccncrete informatioo- JX)ints to it. Aud: Did it say anything abwt the idea that they ZP: The new Dark Horse canics. were going to do all three novies at ooce and then edit it and lllt them out me after 4 the other? cc: ocmRERN ENClAVE is prOOably geared rore to fandan than say, IllJND BY '!HE~, or saoo MF: Yeah, I think that's what I'd heard. of the others. ~TI~ SICI<NESS is- Aud: For 1996 or 1997 release, for the first Aud: Well, aren't you writing the Library? trilogy. Aud2: Yes, I'm writing the Library. cc: As sareone said, ''May we all live long enough to see Episode 9. JY: Ming has all the fanzines. II MF: Yeah, we'll all be geriatric. CC: We never introduced Ming. Minq Wathne nms the Corellian Archives which kind of started Aud: Yeah, they won't have to worry about old age out with Maggie Noiiakowska as kind of a makeup. lending library of Sl'AR WARS zines and they ran it for about a year and kind ot got MF: I don't know if they can afford Harrison OOgged down, I think, and had to give it up Ford's price anynore. and Ming courageously jlJll)ed in and took it over, and it has TlCIW really turned into an Tim: Then there was the red herring that was a archive project. Not just Sl'AR WARS zines, red herring-" Red Tails." We thought "Red but everything. Tails" was going to be a "Blue Harvest" but actually it turned out to be a real IIOvi~ Aud: Has anylxxly been here since SI'AR WARS came darn it! out? I!reaIl, how' old is anybody in faman? I've been in faman since:- cc: Which I haven't seen in the theaters either! I don't know if that one ever got-- CC: Well, Mary and I [indicates Mary Urhausen in audience] are two of the di.rn9aurs here. Aud: Like Sl..IPS'Im'AM? Did anyone ever see that? I've actually been in fandan since about '72. I was in Sl'AR 1mX fandan until about Aud2: I'm a new fan and I don't know where tcr- '78 and I went through a IxlmJut period and then in '81, I came back in. MF: If you're a new fan, probably your best bet is if you pick up saoo zines here and write MW: ()),e WARPED SPACE zine said, "Cootains no to those editors and say, "Can you tell Ire STAR WARS." about anylxxly-" Aud: When did they start doing m'AR WARS in Aud2: fu you have an APA, like the other ones WARPED SPACE? have? CC: <ll, I don' t koow. I think Bev Clark did one MF: No. of the first STAR WARS zines-~. I think she prOOably had the first pure Sl'AR cc: I think that was kind of like what Z.P. was WARS zine rut. ta1.king about, that it would be a gcx::d idea, cmcure, probably, to start an APA going. Tim: There was this really nearly letterzine that came rut before that called Aud2: Who do yw send saJebcxly to who goes, "I ~ACE. want to know IIOre about Sl'AR WARS fandan"? Who do you send them to? CC: And there was a letterzine called AImAAN. cc: Probably saJIllERN ENClAVE, I guess. Aud: And JUNDlAND ~. MW: ~ ENClAVE is probably the best place. CC: JUNDIl\ND WASm) came rut after AW£RAAN. Aud2: I just wasn't sure where to go to because Tim: Because the thing is, HYP'ERSPACE did nm I'm new to fandan in general. And I can't fictirn and poetry. It wasn' t just a total pick up a zine and go, okay, 1- news zine. '!hey IRJhlished my first stuff in there. 5 Ming Wathne, Judith Yuenger, Cheree Cargill MW: If I reneN.ler correctly, that was the one oc: Well, I don't think any of us were in that got slapped down. fandan, I IOOaIl Sl'AR WARS fandan, at the tiIre. Tim: No, not HYPrnSPACE. It was DARK LORD. MF: This was like, probably, '78. Right after MW: No, this was earlier than that. There were the first mvie. six issues and they had to discontinue because of Lucasfilm. It cane out for six PG: Yeah, right in the first year. I think it issues, then had to qui t producing because was like probably one of the first mes. they were told they were doing a "no-no". The mvie caire out and they went, ''(h, this is great," and the zine CCIIe rut and Lucas Tim: I don't tmderstand. What "no-no"? over-reacted. AM it was after that that saoo fan groops approached him and they sat PG: In the very begirming of Sl'AR WARS fandan, down and said,. '''Ihis is what fandan's George illcas did not tmderstand fandan and about. " ~re was one group in Florida-and I'm not sure where the one you're talking abrut- Aud: Yru used to send issues of yoor fanzine to him. MW: Sa!re me. MW: Yeah, that's where the beginning to the PG: That they sent the FBI into these people's Library cane fron. hooses, the FBI ccnfiscated all of their materials, all of their JU1dring machines, Aud: AM he'd pay yw for them, too. everything, foroopyright infr:i.nqEDelt laws. 'Ibis was before they got mre specific in PG: Yeah, we sent him all cur club newsletters the laws and what was all<*CJble and what was and everythinq. not. And l.ncas took then to coort and sued them. Aud: 1Xles he ever write back? Tim: I didn't hear abrut this. PG: I never got anythinq fI'Clll him. 'We got stuff fron Maureen Garret all the time. cc: 'Ibis was the very, very beginninq. TiJn: I knew that this man does not have tiDe to Tim: That seerM like that would have drizzled read these thinqs. out. Surely we woold have fourd rut alxJut that. PG: He had his own inner police, I think. Fandan police. 6 MF: "Yoo might want to see this me, George." MF: He can write a letter sayiDJ, "I dell' t want yoo doing this." And she can take it anyway PG: I think he looked t:hrwgh sqre of the stuff, she wants. And, at the t~, since she pit because one of the letters I got fran a zine out- Maureen, she said, ''<ll., and by the way, George found the cartoon 00 page such and Aud: What's this about David Plwse caning to such rather aDIlSing." Now, I doo' t know if MediaWest? he actually read everything or just glanced through them, but she did make a remark- PG: There's a goOO chance that we may be able to get Dave to care here. I finally got a Tim: Gary Kurtz once let slip sanething-- Now letter fran him a few weeks ago and he's wI hdeoren 'ht et hwinankt ehde twoa natdemd itt ot hbae t ihne a reIXadlS iatnioyn rteoa hllimy einn tohuurs ilaestttiecr sab tohuat ti tth. isW ies enx'pt lagioninedg thing, but he let it slip out, just in to be your normal average convention. You casual conversation, that he did. By the would be caning here as a IIS1tler of the con. way, you ever hardly hear about Gary Kurtz There are no celebrities at MediaWest. As far as the schedule, we'd give you the pro anYlOOre. Where is he? gram lxx>k like everyone else and yoo' d pick Aud: SI LItPhSiI'nREkA hMe twhians gi.n volved in that horrible oyuot uw~ha,t yiofo wyoaon t wtaon td ot oo rn mdc na 'tp dano.e l, Aynodo, can contact the people and schedule a panel, cc: I was just thinking, talking to Melea, about but everything would be up to you. And, '84 or '85, Jeanine Hemrig was working on he's really excited aboot it. <De of the an ootline for a professiooal book on fandan reasons is that he hasn't been invited to a and had not actually written it, but had convention in the United States in several just done an ootline, maybe a chapter for years and he misses the United States fans. a Pl'OlX>S<ll and had sent it to Lllcasfilm for He's looking forward to it. So, it's look pennission, and she got back a very quick, ing really good. I've been told that might very curt "cease and desist" letter fran have a dooation for the cost of his travel expenses which would help trellBldoosly. them. S<miliJdy else suggested that we get Mark Tim: Wait a minute-- What? Hmll at the sane. I said, ''(De at a titre, one at a titre." CC: . Yeah! Aud: I see a trend ~ new zines and new fans. Tim: b could they tell her to stop doing a non You krtow, a lot of the old fans are back. fiction book about fandan? CC: Exactly. CC: '!hey did. PG: Well, I think a lot of it has to do with that there was a big period of t~ where Tim: ID! everybody was saying, "Why are yoo into cc: He did. Well, he threatened leqal actioo. that? STAR WARS is dead." The problem we were talking abrut- the lack of camamica PG: Because in the book there would be used the tioo. People l~t their soorces and didn't words STAR WARS- ktnhoiwn gws.h ereN owto, wgoit,h soth et hreeys ugrgoet nicnet oa mo ththeer Tim: You can't do that! pickup of the camunciatioos lines here, they're starting to tim oot, all these CC: He did it. things are still here--"1JOC)d-aOO getting back into it. PG: Well, the things he might have copyrights on-anything he has particular copyrights ZP: There are thoosaIxls of peq>le out there who on- have no idea that there are such things as fanzines. I got into the Prodigy network Tim: He can't stop anything that is not- and 14-year-old kids are talking about it. And they are aski.ng, ''What's a fanzine?" 7 And I have this yoong girl, my goo-daughter, 0:: Yw koow, I think ooe of the omt interest in her classvoam of 35 people, two of the ing things 1've heard recently about STAR boys, 13-yeaN)ld boys, are talki.ng SI'AR WARS faIKkln care oot of HIlDNATICN SICl( WARS-they have no idea there is such a NESS, and Lisa and Lorrie and Melanie had thing as fanzines. I mean, there are lots been contacted by a groop of Russian fans. of people out there who don't know and they SI'AR WARS has just-in the past year-been would be interested, they would want to shown in Russia. It's really because it was know. bt of the fanzines might be out of considered i.ntJerialistic, capitalistic their range financially but sanething like propaganda. It was considered by the Soviet saJ'lliE.JW ENClAVE or HIBERNATICW SICKENESS, goven:ment as Cold War propaganda. That the something that's not that expensive, would Empire was the Soviet Union and they were definitely be interesting for them and once the bad guys and so these people are abs0- a year or so a major fanzine. But I don't lutely brand-spanking-new to SI'AR WARS, at know how to get to those people. all! But it's got a fair following there. MF: They'd probably enjoy the fan club, too. MW: That persoo has a couple of questions- The Forces of the Empire. Aud: Why don't you put an ad in srARLOO and other Aud: Well, SI'AR TREK had the Welccmnittee. publications? You Ql1dn't have to put it in every IIDllth rut if yoo put it in a couple cc: Yeah, it's still going on. of times a year-- Tim: Would the Library qualify as the Star Wars CC: A lot of people do. Welcamri.ttee? PG: We've put Forces of the EBpire in there a CC: Well, no, not really. I don't think so. coople of tines, rut it's been a while back. It wasIl' t a big respoose rut we received MW: I think that sooething like that in SI'AR about five IIlE!Iilers out of it. But that was WARS definitely would be an advantage, but five nenbers we wuldn' t have had. It's first of all, we've got to consolidate what free advertising. we have and spread out with what we have and let people know we are still alive. That's CC: I've never advertised in Sl'ARI.OO because I the main thing. don't have the time to devote to the mail that would care in. It's all I can do to PG: And I think we've got to start in getting answer the mail I've got right oow. saoothing like that with what Judy's doing. I mean, she's caJPiling a list of everybody. JY: Well, we coold put that in. '!bat 'I«:ll1d be And everyone's beginning to know she's kind no big deal. We coold put as the Star Wars of a central infonnatiCll point and possibly Fandan File, because that's what we saoothing like that can bloon out of what originally naned it. she's starting. Aud: I know yoo. do 0CUIHF»l ENClAVE. MD does CC: Whatever happened to the infonnation center? HIIlrmNATI<lC SI~? Not the awards, rut ~ CC: Lisa 'Ibanas is the editor am lDrrie <llerry JY: Well, it's there. I've started 00 it, rut and Melanie Guttierrez ••• you doo' t realize. There's just tons of stuff to be done. And I've got 300 nane3 ZP: You can find flyers for Melanie allover the on the list of SI'AR WARS fans. Not all of place. For OOIHER SKY ••• which is her fan them ever respood rut I have sane clubs in zine. The secax1 issue is cm:ing out __ . Ehgland, Germany, Italy, Australia... So, Yoo can get her address fran the flyer. one of these days ... I wanted to get these lIIlDNATICN SI~ is very decEIltly priced awards done because this right In' was the and lists all the fanzines that are cxming massive thing. cnce we get that done, I'm up_ It also has stories am poetry am ... going to start back CIl that again. CC: IIIBEmJATI<lC SI~ is a great little zine. It oores out quarterly am they have a real 8 fun sense of ht.llDr. It's a fWlZ:i.ne. doing, and they don' t know what- We've got to JXlSh a little nore on these conventions Aud: Well, you were talking alwt kids, but I that are being PIt together to say, "Hey! fOtmd a couple of people in our office fancy We're---" themselves writers and we just started talking alwt science fiction and they're JY?: You do the con! That's the point. In STAR fans, and I said, "Well, do you guys know TREK, we did the convention. And we had to about fanzines?" "What?" I said, bring in the people to pay for the hotel, "Fanzines. And they said, "Tell ne nore and eventually the S1'AR TREK guests wind up II about it." And I said, "Well, that's where and decided they wanted noney to cooe. But people learn to write, where they hone their initially they cane for free. Everybody. skills." And they were fascinated. So, I nean, Leonard Ninoy would just walk in the talk to your co-workers. It was like open door--"Hi, here I am." Andwe'dgo, "ell, my ing up a whole new world, I mean their eyes God-" and we'd try to lrussle him off before just lit up. he got tralll>led. I nean, they would just show up. Or they'd call up and, you know, ZP: I went into one of the colleges and I walk kids would answer the Jilooe, ''Hi, this is through the planetaril1ll and there sits this Lt. Ubura here, and they'd go, '''Ihis is Mr. II lady who is talking about the stars, and she Sjx)ck" and the kid would g~ plunk! and has this wonderful tissue oox--Yoda. So, fall out! But that's the way it was when we it turns out she's a srAR WARS collector. first were doing srAR 'mEK. I think the She doesn' s koow anybody. She thinks she's first was in '72. the only one in the whole world. MW: Well, obviously it's not going to be that JY: There are a lot of fans like that. way anynore. MW: That's why we're trying to open this up. JY? Well, these professionally run coos are very bad. Joyce Yasner? I think one of the problems is that it's CC: I will plug another fan-run em that I think really very hard to do a convention. I is up and caning and is worth going to and mean, I don't even koow if lncas will let that's Revelem in Houstcn. you do a convention but doing a con and I bringing the people in, it's very expensive. MW: Yeah, yeah. cc: I went to a snall convention in Dallas a few CC: I've gone the last two years and it's kind nonths ago that had Brent Spiner as the of increased in quality and in DaItlership guest and it cost twenty rucks a ~ to get each year and it's almst like MediaWest in. Sooth. Aud: A Creation Coo? Aud: Well, if you go to Revelcm, is there going to be eoough STAR WARS activities there to CC: No. I nearly fell over because, used to, make it worth your while? $15 would get you the whole weekend at a convention and 00If it's $20 a ~. CC: Well, let's make S1'AR WARS activities! PG: Yeah, I've seen a couple that are like $45 MW: That's what we're doing. <llereeand 1 were or $50 for the weekend but it's like because there this year. they're trying to bring in all these, like they might have six stars caning in and PG: 'lbat's what's happened here. 1 mean, at they're trying to cover them. MediaWest*Coo a few years ago, there wasn't a whole ... 1 man, there was a lot going on, MW: Or, another problE!ll with your convention is there were a lot of fans here, rut there -wit h the exception of this one here-very wasn't a whole lot of organized things going often the fanzine roan is next to the toi on and, in the last couple of years, Lori let, three floors dcMl, and-they don't know has told \00 that we are oow the largest you're there, they dal't koow what you're organized groop at the CCIl. 9 CC: Three years ago, there was CIle STAR WARS full approval of-I.uke Skywalker kneels in panel am it was en lblday aftemm. And front of the ElrI>eror and says, "I am going I missed it because my plane left at 12:00. to join the Dark Side." Aud: Here? Aud: Yeah, we believe that. cc: Here. And so, it's like, the squeaky wheel ZP: Yeah, and I have ~ beachfront property in gets the grease. AriZCllc1! MW: And we can really squeak! MW: Well, whatever the individual fan feels about SfAR WARS is i.qx>rtant to a certain MF: Well, we pull so many Forces of the Ehl>ire degree am and that's why we are a very club nanbers here that's a big part of that large group with a very varied interpreta qroop. I mean, there's like 50 people just tion about what SfAR WARS is and what it playing in the blaster battle. rooans to us, and, okay, I'm a dyed-in-the banthafur Han fan--I love the lad, but I can Aud: I think fandan just fra<Jrented-- also see the I..nke things, I see all the other stories, Leia, there's scm:! really far MW: That's true. Faman did fra'JOOnt am that's out stuff there. en all levels. one reason why it's IIllCh IJl)re ~rtant for us to connect with other SfAR WARS fans. Tim: Farmish Roscharch test. MF: When is Revelcon? PG: Yeah. CC: It's mid-March. It's like spring break. MW: If we really like the idea of SfAR WARS, '!he second or third weekend in March. we've got to work for the wIxlle tiring, not just- MW: --care on, join us! Aud: And STAR WARS is interesting because, first Aud: I have my own pet philosophical theories of all, yru' ve got to know yoor politics and about why STAR WARS split up. Used to be, your history. Yru have to really have a a lot of people were wildly Han Solo fans grasp on politics to follow it. I mean, but tht. .. they fOtmd out, alas am alack, Han STAR 'J'REX, you throw rut the politics am, Solo was not the center of the STAR WARS who cares? It's just guys in a ship who fly lIDi verse and they went kind of "blah!" am- around am have adventures. That's fine. and okay, this is cool, we get it, am fut SfAR WARS is very political. And, noral that's what happened. STAR WARS is also and philosorhlcal and, there's all kinds of fmmy because it's not oorally black am tiring. going en. Wi te, it's sort of like saoowhere in the middle, it's making its own path am people Tina Bentrup: have a hard time dealing with that. A lot Sort of getting back to what we were tal.kinq of people got freaked. rut by JEDI because abrut before about other <DIS, for 100, liv they thought Vader shoold be thrown up ing fran one MediaWest to another is really am against the wall plugged full of lx>les excruciating. I live down in Termessee am am Han was going to be the last of the Jedi I don't know ~ other Sl'AR WARS fans within or whatever. And it didn't turn rut that 200 miles. '!hey' re over in North carolina way. It's so ambiguous. ... but there are a lot of S'mR WARS people in the D.C. area. I aean, that's one of the Aud2: '!hat's irooic because I think initially central Fast Coast locaticns. Wruldn't it there were kind of presenting, STAR WARS was be nice if we could all get together at the presented as being kind of black am white. opposite end of the year fran MediaWest? And it's progressively gray. cc: I know ooot fans are probably like I am, Aud: SfAR WARS got grayer with 9tPlRE and then financially. You save all year to ~ to really gray with ... MediaWest. WOO can go to twelve coos a year? I 1cJ"o I started going to Revelcon ZP: '!he secood part [DARKroRCE RISING] with the because Hooston is relatively near to Dallas 10