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American Morning
'Star Wars' Convention in Indianapolis
Aired May 03, 2002 - 08:59 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Pull out your old jedi saber. The newest "Star Wars" movie "Episode II: Attack of the Clones" opens May 16th. The latest installment of the saga continues the adventures of young Annakin Skywalker and his Jedi mentor Obi Wan Kenobi, in the never-ending battle between good and evil. But in Indianapolis, they're not waiting for the premiere to go ahead. They've already got the force with them, at the "Star Wars" convention, which is where we find Anderson Cooper.
Do you have the force with you this morning?
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: I absolutely have with me now. I've had it with for quite a few hours now. I just want to introduce you to Kerry Phellan. She's the licensing director for Lucasfilm. What should we be anticipating. There's going to be a lot of products coming. What kind of products are we looking for?
KERRY PHELAN, LUCASFILM: We have millions of "Star War" fans that in addition to enjoying the movies really also enjoy collecting merchandise as well. So we have a very exciting new program that we're showcasing here at Celebrations (ph) today, beginning today, and with lots of categories, one of our most popular of which is toys.
And here with our partners at Hasbro, we have some exciting new action figures and vehicles that are based on the movie that are coming out this week.
COOPER: OK, so what do we have, these are...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The action figures. And yes, we really put the action back in action figures. All the Jedi in the movie have force. So do our action figures. As you can see here, we can summon a light saber.
COOPER: OK, so it's got a little magnet in the.
And these are Jedis, you can have them fight each other.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, you can have them fight. You ready to go?
COOPER: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here we go. No winner.
COOPER: No winner, all right.
And this is a voice-activated R2-D2.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right. Hey, R2-D2.
Hey, R2.
COOPER: What do I ask?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you remember...
COOPER: Darth Vader?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, R2, do you remember? Do you remember?
He's acting up. Do you remember? He's a feisty droid.
COOPER: He's a prototype. It's got a lot of things it can do.
We're going to quickly move on. With a lot of fans here, about 30,000 people expected, these are some of them. This is Bobba Fett, some storm trooper, and now you're with -- who are you with?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm Ron Mitchell. I'm the president of the Indian Knights (ph).
COOPER: And that's the local "Star Wars" fan club here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's correct.
COOPER: And who are these guys.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is Bobba Fett, which is Kevin Wilson, and TK-616 storm trooper Scott Syndeway (ph).
COOPER: Now how excited are about this upcoming "Star Wars" movie?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's going to be awesome, just from what we've heard, from the previous we've heard, the trailers, the commercials, it's going to be awesome.
COOPER: What is your favorite "Star Wars" movie?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "Empire Strikes Back."
COOPER: What is it you love about "Star Wars?" I mean, what is it that draws you here. What is it that draws these guys here in uniforms?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's really a lot of uniforms, a lot of costumes and the props, the toys, and just being around people with common interest. You know, I mean, there's 75 of us here in Indianapolis, and we're all really great friends.
COOPER: Now you spend a lot of time doing this. How does your wife feel about this? Does she get it?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She's real supportive of it. I have certain days where I have to not do any "Star Wars," and has to be dedicated to her, so it's a good trade-off.
COOPER: This weekend is certainly not none one of them. You estimate there are about 30,000 people here over the course of the weekend, maybe.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Between 25,000 and 30,000 people.
COOPER: It is a huge, huge event here in Indianapolis, and CNN's going to have some reports all day long.
Paula, back to you.
ZAHN: Keep the force, Anderson, all right.
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