Amazingly the
fantastically organised Polish Outpost had never had an official Star
Wars guest at one of their conventions. Present at Celebration
Europe, that changed the weekend of the 3rd August 2007 when Gerald Home
- Tessek and Mon Calamarian officer from Return of the Jedi and Paul
Blake - Greedo from A New Hope took the two hour, 800 mile journey
to Poland...
With more than
simply satisfying Polish fans dreams with their appearance the trip had
extra significance. Wojtek, a young ten year old Star Wars fan
with cystic fibrosis, would get his chance to fulfil a dream and become
Darth Vader...
Gerald Home,
Tessek and Mon Calamari officer, Return of the
Jedi
Gerald - "Poland
was amazing, totally overwhelming at times. It was
heart-warming to be part of this first Polish convention with Star Wars
actor guests. I made a lot of friends there."
Gerald,
Paul
and the many Polish Outpost members
Photographs courtesy of Lukasz Dobosiewicz, Lukasz
Mlotkowski, Mariusz Stormowski, Robert Bounty Hunter and
Gerald Home
Gerald - "There
were so many elements to it, as it was a real convention, with panels
and talks going on all over the place, indoors, outdoors, in a theatre
(the Outpost CO is an actor)."
Vader, Wojtek, Gerald and
Paul
Photographs courtesy of
Lukasz Dobosiewicz, Lukasz Mlotkowski, Mariusz Stormowski,
Robert Bounty Hunter and Gerald Home
Gerald - "Of
course there was Wojtek - the 10 year old with cystic fibrosis."
Paul and Gerald take
Wojtek to meet the press
Photographs courtesy of
Lukasz Dobosiewicz, Lukasz Mlotkowski, Mariusz Stormowski,
Robert Bounty Hunter and Gerald Home
Gerald - "He got
his wish - to be like Lord Vader, complete with his own costume. Very
touching."
Video
courtesy of Kasia Drabik
A
truly brave Star Wars fan - Wojtek
Photographs courtesy of Lukasz Dobosiewicz, Lukasz
Mlotkowski, Mariusz Stormowski, Robert Bounty Hunter and
Gerald Home
Gerald - "The
fans, the Bydgoski Fan Klub, I'm now an honorary member,were so warm and appreciative and eager to be part of the Star Wars
world."
Video
courtesy of The Bydgoski Fan Klub
Gerald
- "The
final day's trip to Obi-Wan Kenobi Street.....fantastic. TV cameras,
press...all were there. A
local councillor lives in that street and got the name changed legally"
gerald, paul
blake and various polish fans assemble on obi-wan kenobi
street...
Photographs courtesy of
Lukasz Dobosiewicz, Lukasz Mlotkowski, Mariusz Stormowski,
Robert Bounty Hunter and Gerald Home
Gerald
doing...well, we're not quite sure what he's doing...
Photograph
courtesy of
Lukasz "Miagi" Mlotkowski
Gerald
- "This
con was a big event in Poland and has given the fans there a great big
boost. They deserve it. It shows you what
a big deal the event was in Poland.Photos
taken by the press at Obi-Wan Kenobi Street have been syndicated to
Polish papers around the world, including here in the UK. Great for the
fab Polish fans."
The
convention certainly made a big splash in the Polish media
Gerald - "I
fell in love with Poland and the Polish people, and can't wait to get
back."
Video posted by Sandtrooper Mariusz
Mark - For more information
about
Dagobah 2007 click
here for Star Wars Turkey's podcast,
and
here for Polish television coverage
of the event.
