30th Anniversary Star Wars Bash Will Feature Droid Builders, Fan Film Awards, Celebrity Guests

The Los Angeles Convention Center will be hosting Star Wars Celebration IV from May 24 - 28 of this year. The event is being built around a red-letter date in Star Wars history -- May 25, 2007 -- the thirtieth anniversary of the theatrical release of Star Wars. This year's jamboree promises "entertainment, guest stars and special surprises," and will feature a Fan Film Awards ceremony on May 27. The award winners will be presented with golden versions of C-3P0 and R2-D2; the top prize will be a "George Lucas Selects Trophy" meaning selected by George Lucas himself.

Celebrity guests "from all six films" are also promised for the event, along with personalities from the television and video game properties, although that sounds like a such a tall order that it makes me think that many of the guests might be on the order of "Padme's third hand-maiden" or something like that. Nevertheless, the Forcenet.com story notes that Official Pix, the licensed Star Wars autograph supplier, has a good track record of roping in guests at previous Star Wars events. In addition to signings, there will also be panels for the guests to sit on to discuss their involvement in the series and take questions from the rabid fans.

The most interesting draw this year will be droid-focused activities. There will be a group of "droid builders" on hand who will present a display of "movie-real models" of droids from the Star Wars films. It's not clear if these droids will be up for sale, but I assume so, if the price is right. There will also be a droid trivia challenge and an "XXtreme Droid Challenge," which I guess means droids doing battle with each other, like on that television show. The droid builders will also have panels to sit on and -- wait for it -- they will lead an actual droid parade. Did Lucas have any idea what he was getting into when he sat down to write that damn movie?