Gordon writes:

So my friends and I are watching the midnight showing of Episode 3 at the Grand Lake Theater in Oakland, California. Great time being had. Everyone's loving this movie.

But right at a crucial scene .... the image freezes for an instant and the film begins melting right in front of our eyes. It's amazing to hear hundreds of people gasp all at the same time!

A local television reporter was in the audience with her cameraman and instantly started trolling the auditorium, seeking reactions to the shocking interruption.

People were flipping out- yelling obscenities, demanding an explanation and generally venting their frustrations. A rep from the theater positioned himself in front of the screen and attempted to apologize and explain that the film would be fixed shortly, but gave no indication when that might be. He, instead, suggested that this might be a good time to visit the restroom. The audience reacted poorly to this individual, to put it as gently as possible. DO NOT mess with a disgruntled Oakland movie audience!

Shortly after, the rep was whisked away with a security escort of sympathetic costumed Jedi. It was about two minutes into a televised interview with somebody in a Yoda hat nearby that the film started flicking back to life. The projectionist adjusted the framing of the film on the screen in about 15 seconds after that. All in all, we probably missed a little less than a minute of actual film time, but the momentum of the movie had dropped considerably.

Despite the flub ( or ,perhaps, "aided by the flub"), I'll never forget the first screening of Revenge of the Sith in Oakland, California!