Han Solo in Carbonite

You know what comes to mind when I see Han Solo in Car­bonite? I think to myself (which is my favorite way), “That’s a cool way to travel.” Think about it. No worry about legroom. You aren’t aware of the pas­sage of time, so you don’t get bored on the flight. In fact, you can travel for much less as cargo instead of a pas­sen­ger. Not only that, but there’s prac­ti­cally no chance for a pick­pocket to steal your wal­let. You don’t even have to deal with the TSA. It’s genius!

Today is my last day at Pho­to­shop World. Know­ing that I have to spend hours in a metal tube hurtling through the sky, you can bet that I’d much rather travel in the rel­a­tive com­fort of being frozen like Han Solo in car­bonite than jock­ey­ing for a seat in the South­west cat­tle call.

It was inter­est­ing to watch this dis­play of Han Solo in car­bonite being assem­bled. To be hon­est, I didn’t have high expec­ta­tions when I essen­tially saw a ply­wood box up there. How­ever, it worked out almost per­fectly. The folks who cre­ated this scene at Star Wars Cel­e­bra­tion VI did a won­der­ful job of light­ing it and set­ting the mood. The ply­wood assem­bly gives way to the illu­sion of being in Jabba the Hutt’s palace as Han Solo starts to thaw after being frozen in car­bonite. They were pressed for space in the small room hold­ing this dis­play and many oth­ers. I had my back up against a row of Impe­r­ial man­nequins, but I got what I needed out of the shot.

Watch­ing peo­ple pose for pho­tos with these sets is always inter­est­ing. One guy decided to lie down on the metal grate under Han Solo in car­bonite. One of the folks who built it was nearby and said he wasn’t sure it would hold up. For­tu­nately, the guy didn’t break it. That was good for me, as I didn’t have my shot yet. Imag­ine the frus­tra­tion of wait­ing your turn, only to find the guy before you broke the set. That just wouldn’t do.