October 2000
Return to "Events"

The most recent mini convention run by Star Walking was Force 3 and half. The mini convention was held in both Sydney and Melbourne with slightly different programs (see the side bar for links to program details.)

Highlights of the days included the Episode 2 hypothetical in Melbourne, hosted by H Gibbens with panellists George Ivanoff, Cameron Smith and Chris Brennan, while in Sydney an Episode 2 rumours session was run. In both cases the audience was encouraged to join in the discussion and many interesting points were raised. A favourite idea seemed to be that everyone who liked characters in the Expanded Universe (be it books, comics, etc...) would love to see a certain-blue skinned admiral lurking in the background in either Episode II or III. To get the creative juices flowing there was even an appearance by Jango Fett and the screening of a never-before-seen fan created Episode II trailer.

Characters appeared in costume and a new chraity raffle was begun, with the prize on display. World champion air-brush artist,Danial Power, had recently painted a huge picture of Darth Vader and Boba Fett in the carbon freezing chamber. Rather than sell it he gave it to Star Walking to raffle off for charity.

Melbourne featured an art show with a number of items on display, as well as a costume making panel and display by the Australian Costumers Guild, as well as a display of movie props, and a discussion on making your own props, creatures and masks. A sausage sizzle also ran hot for a few hours, despite the pouring rain (thank goodness we had an umbrella or two to protect the BBQ!

Both events also featured the screenings of a number of fan films, including the premiere of Desert Duel : Special Edition and the documentary, the Phandom Menace.

Sydney played host to a number of gaming events. In addition to the interstate trivia challenge (an event that has been running in both Melbourne and Sydney Skyforce events all year), Sydney also featured Customisable Card Game sessions as well as Playstation and Nintendo systems.

A new event run was the Fan Olympics. With events such as the chocolate eating contest, creature building and Star Wars battleship, it proved a big hit and will be featured at future Skyforce meetings.

And as a new exercise, Darren Maxwell walked around the venue near the end of the day, spot interviewing convention attendees and giving people alook at the day in both the main foyer and the fan Olympics room. Then the camera was handed over to Scott Lewis who conducted a number of interviews of his own. You can find these on side bar. They are compressed in Quicktime 4 format. If you don't already have Quicktime you can download it from the Quicktime site for either PC or Mac.

The original site advertising Force 3 and half and be found here
It also contains the programs for the Melbourne and Sydney event.