Everything's Coming Up Roses

[Rutabaga]

Wow, I'm surprised no one has posted this news here yet!

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/14911919/

It'll be interesting to see how many floats work in any images from GL's movies, and if the Fighting 501st will march in the parade. ;)

[Lilaena De'Ville]

That should be really interesting. I predict that yet again I'll forget to tape it and will wake up just as the last floats are disappearing around the bend on the TV. :cry

[Jedi Master Carr]

That is cool I will tune it for this year.

[JMK]

I did notice that last week when it broke, but I didn't think it was that big a deal, otherwise I would have posted it. Oops.

But I think that it would be great if the 501st would march in the parade. That would be cool.

[Dara Shadowtide]

The 501st will be marching in the Rose Parade:

From http://www.501st.com/news.php?archive=2006,7


These Boots Were Made for Marching...
by tuskentrooper on Sat Jul 22, 2006 12:04 am
As part of his Star Wars Spectacular presentation at San Diego Comic-Con, Lucasfilm's Steve Sansweet announced plans to include the 501st Legion in the 2007 New Year's Day Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, California. George Lucas has been so impressed by the 501st's dedication to fandom and charity that he personally suggested the Legion's participation in the famed parade event as a tribute to the fans who volunteer their time in white armor. Plans currently call for 200 costumed, marching 501st stormtroopers to be flown in from more than 20 countries to emphasize the Legion's worldwide reach.

[Rutabaga]

So the SW stuff during the parade was pretty fun to see, sounded like the crowd really enjoyed everything, and the Grambling band was terrific being in costume and everything.

Best float, though, was Honda's fire-breathing dragons :thumbup.

[Jedi Master Carr]

The dragons was a great float. The SWs were cool too and fun to see. I did notice that they put no gungans on the Naboo float.

[Miranda Tarkin]

And Dara was there as one of the Scout Troopers :D

[Rutabaga]

I'll bet Dara's feet are sore! :D

[Rutabaga]

Oh, and I almost forgot...the guy with the rocket pack was amazing. :eek

[Dara Shadowtide]

At 5'2", it was super hard at the beginning of the parade when we had to lengthen our stride to close the gap between the first float and us. My full stride simply was not enough though and I was struggling with staying in step versus keeping up with the line. I was seriously double-timing it there for a while - I just could not keep up and it was really scary. I was hoping that the whole parade pace would not be like that. I was determined to complete the parade though so I just hung in there and did my best. I made it start to finish. :) I am still a bit sore today and I have some spots on my feet that did not turn into full-fledged blisters to contend with. But overall I'm feeling pretty good aside from missing all of my new 501st buddies. :( Here is a picture that was taken at our dress rehearsal on Sunday:

http://www.starwarsrpg.net/darkholocron/pics/RoseParadeDec31_61_copy3.jpg

I had a great time and this is truly an experience I'll never forget. I got to shake George Lucas's hand right after we took this picture and I told him "thank you". He was very soft spoken and genuinely thanked us for being there in costume.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Yay! Another tiny person like me! :hug's for Dara

[Lilaena De'Ville]

That picture is awesome! Sounds like a fantastic experience. :D

[Dasquian Belargic]

George Lucas, fraternizing with soldiers of the Galactic Empire? :o

Great picture. I wish we had stuff like that over here.

[Dara Shadowtide]

:hug s back to you too s'Ilancy. :) It really was a fantastic experience. Back in the summer, members of the 501st Legion were asked to submit marching audition tapes of us marching in costume. It was not revealed what it was for though. We were only told that "it was for something really cool and if you knew you would want to make the tape". So about 700 people got into costume over the summer and prepared their audition for the mystery event. It was only revealed after all of the audition tapes were in what the event was for. The event was a Star Wars Spectacular event and George Lucas had specifically requested that 501st Legion members march in his entry. Only 200 troopers were going to be selected by Lucasfilm to get to participate in this event. Lucasfilm also footed the bill to bring all of the marching troopers to Pasadena as well. It was very generous of him to do so. There was a nice representation of U.S. and international members. I enjoyed getting to meet so many fellow 501st Legion members.

We all arrived on December 27th and were completely shocked when George Lucas showed up to our welcome dinner that first night. For him to take the time to stop by and see us was just amazing.

We then had four grueling days of marching practice with army drill instructors. We marched with helmets on for the first three days and the biker scout helmet design really doesn't allow for any peripheral vision at all. So it's kind of like marching blind to the sides when you're trying to work on rank alignment. But we used other things to guide from and it worked well.

The final day of marching rehearsal was in full costume with the World Famed Grambling State University Tiger Marching Band. George Lucas specifically requested that band be the one to play his music in the Star Wars Spectacular parade entry because he was so impressed with them when he saw them in the movie Drumline. I really liked the Star Wars music arrangements that they played as it allowed them to showcase their wonderful style as well. George Lucas was present at our rehearsal this final day because he wanted to see us march in costume. He was very complimentary and then posed for pictures with the entire 501st marching group and then smaller regional groups of 501st members.

Out of the 200 marchers, only 16 people had to step out during the parade due to physical reasons or costume malfunctions. 5.5 miles is a long way to march in costume, that's for sure. But it was an experience I'll treasure and never forget.

The 200 marchers all got together, signed a special commemorative stormtrooper helmet, and presented it to George Lucas as a small token of our appreciation for his kindness in including us in this momentous occasion. I'll gather up more pictures over the next week and if anyone is interested just PM me and I'll be glad to set you up with a link to them. :)

[Figrin D'an]

I've done that parade myself, when I was in college. It's a long haul down Colorado Blvd., and with such large crowds watching the parade, all those people in a small area tends to make things even more hot for those marching in uniform or costume.

Sounds like it was a great experience though Dara. Glad you had fun. :)

[Jedi Master Carr]

That is very cool, sounded like you had a blast.

[jediSamson]

Dara, you are my new hero!!!