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2014 Rhode Island Comic Con In Review

Posted by Chris on November 10, 2014 at 12:24 PM CST


With a total of 12 Star Wars guests in attendance, half traveling from outside the US, this years Rhode Island Comic Con seemed almost like a mini Star Wars Celebration which is great since there wasn't one this year. The tagline was "The biggest show in the smallest state" and they were not kidding. The event took place over the weekend of November 1-2 and was held at the Rhode Island Convention Center in Providence, RI. With all those Star Wars guests, you can bet there were a few panels worth attending.

First up was "Wookiee Talk" moderated by Kevin Liell, which featured four celebrities who had portrayed one of these tall beasts throughout the six live-action films. This would include John Coppinger (Yaura the Wookiee Senator, Jabba the Hutt sculptor), Stephen Calcutt (Chewbacca stand-in), Michael Kingma, (Tarfful), and Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca).


The panel began with each actor explaining their work in Star Wars and Peter Mayhew decided to skip over any Episode VII talk for fear of Disney strangling him like he did to Lando in Episode V for betraying Han.

Michael describes trying to "break the ice" with George during their first interaction where he casually asked when they would be breaking for lunch just as the day began. George wasn't impressed.

Stephen talked about literally running back and forth between the sets during all three original trilogy films to do whatever was asked of him which included stand-in roles for Darth Vader, Chewbacca and Bib Fortuna.

John, discussed the process of sculpting Jabba the Hutt and how he wasn't allowed to be inside of him because he didn't have a union card. He later was thankful for this as he describes Jabba as "being in the worst wet sock".

Peter reminisced about the Star Wars Holiday Special and said it was a good time, though everyone was pretty screwed up as people played parts vastly different from who they really were (example: adults playing children, girls playing guys, etc.). He also went on to let the crowd know that he had a surprise for everyone...20,000 copies of the Holiday Special to hand out! This received mixed reviews and seconds later was taken back.


When asked about their favorite Star Wars memories: Peter said he loved the Dejarik Table scene with C-3PO and R2-D2, Stephen preferred the Ewok village scenes, Michael liked meeting all the other actors and says he wasn't so much a Star Wars fan before he was actually in one of them and John talked about putting a tattoo on Jabba's arm and making the Hutt out of foam latex saying he was 5' tall and 15' wide.

Peter describes the different forms of face casting, putting straws in your nose and waiting for the plaster to harden. Stephen recalled a Star Wars musical called "Space Wars" and being Darth Vader in a 1996 commercial which recreated the council meeting on the Death Star and said he made more money doing that than all three original trilogy films.

When asked who their influences were: Peter said Alec Guinness, Michael said Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, Luc Longley and Superman, Stephen also said Alec Guinness, and John said various engineers including Isambard Kingdom Brunel.

One fan asked them what their favorite Star Wars film was: For Peter it was Episode V, for Michael it was Episode III, for Stephen it was Episode IV and for John, it was Episode VI.


One of the highlights during the panel was when all four gentleman gave the crowd their best wookiee growl! This was met with thunderous applause. It was a fun hour of listening to Star Wars history from guests featured in both trilogies and the first time all four had been together on one stage.


The other Star Wars panel, also moderated by Kevin Liell, was a Q&A with Ray Park which actually turned out to be a Q&A with Ray Park and author Ryder Windham. Ray was running a little behind, so Ryder came in dressed in full Rebel Pilot gear to chat about writing, a blood drive taking place that weekend, the current state of Star Wars books, and to answer any questions from the crowd. Ray arrived and Ryder stayed to participate in the Q&A which allowed the two of them to discuss the character of Darth Maul. Ray received questions about some of his other roles including Snake Eyes from G. I. Joe, Edgar from Heroes and Toad from X-Men.


The show was absolutely packed on Saturday, so the autograph area was hopping with activity. All 12 Star Wars guests were lined up on the same aisle which included Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca), Michael Kingma (Tarfful), Stephen Calcutt (Darth Vader, Chewbacca & Bib Fortuna stand-in), John Coppinger (Sculptor & Yaura), Ralph Brown (Ric Olié) , Orli Shoshan (Shaak Ti), Gerald Home (Tessek & Mon Calamari Officer), Femi Taylor (Oola), Brian Muir (Sculptor), Matthew Wood (voice of General Grievous), and Ray Park (Darth Maul).






Amongst the heavy crowds, I did see a few Star Wars costumes along with the 501st Legion & Rebel Legion base of operations for the weekend which was complete with a trash compactor photo op area.




The Star Wars presence seems to grow each year with this event, so I'm looking forward to seeing what they offer attendees next year. Thanks for a fun weekend, Rhode Island!


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