Stephen Stanton may best be known for his roles as Admiral Tarkin and more recently Colonel Meebur Gascon on Clone Wars, but he has been leaving his mark on the industry for years in everything from GI JOE and Robot Chicken to various video games including The Cave and more than can possibly be named. His latest project comes in the form of the popular Star Wars fan film the Pink Five saga that is coming to All-Con with a special screening. I had the chance to sit down with Stephen and get a little more insight to what they are putting together for this special convention appearance.
Bobby: I heard you guys are coming down to the All-Con convention here in Dallas and bringing a film and some of those involved in it with you. Can you tell us a bit about it?
Stephen: Yeah, we’re bringing the Pink Five Saga which was created by Trey Stokes. If you’ve got a good memory, Pink Five was the Lucasfilm fan film winner back in 2003, I believe it was and went on to become one of the most popular fan films of all time. It got over a million hits online and was featured on CNN, TIME magazine voted it in the top ten fan films ever made. It’s won all kinds of awards and now it’s finally finished. The last part of the final chapter is finished and we’re bringing it for a special sneak preview at Dallas’s All-Con.
Bobby: How did you get involved in this and what part do you play?
Stephen: Well, Trey Stokes is a visual effects director and director and I’ve known him for many, many years. He originally asked me to just do a voice over as Obi-Wan Kenobi (in Obi-Wan’s voice) and I agreed to that. As he started fleshing out the script he asked if I wouldn’t mind appearing on camera as Obi-Wan Kenobi, and I thought that’s even better. So that was the beginning in the second Pink Five, which is based on the Empire Strikes Back.
Bobby: After being done so long ago, how did it come about to finally get completed?
Stephen: Well last year Trey and our crew over here made contact to ask him what the status of the film was and he said that it just so happened that he was trying to figure out how to finish it somehow and so we all came up with an idea of doing a Kickstarter program for Pink five to finish it. So Trey launched the Kickstarter program and raised over 28,000 dollars to finish the final chapter. A lot of the money went to visual effects, restoring some hard drives that had died that had a lot of original footage on them, so that’s how it all came about.
Bobby: With the sneak preview coming up here in All-Con, what is the ultimate goal of the film?
Stephen: Well, this first sneak preview at All-Con is more of a thank you to all the fan organizations that were involved in making this film. They lent not only their armor and costumes, but also themselves, especially the 501st. So this first preview is primarily for all those people that helped out to make Pink Five a reality. Then after this showing, the idea is to take it around the country and let all the fans see it everywhere at all the different cons.
Bobby: Is there any plans to try and release the film once the tour has finished for those that may not get a chance to make it to a con or just want to see it again?
Stephen: It will be released online, but beyond that it will be something Trey will probably have to talk to Lucasfilm about.
Bobby: You’re well known for your wide array of voices, so did you take on any other voice roles in Pink Five or just stick to the Obi-Wan role?
Stephen: Yeah, as a matter of fact I did. I also played the very evil Emperor Palpatine (delivers evil laugh) so I got to do both the dark side and the light side of the force. Scott Conner who worked at Stan Winston studios at the time did the make-up for me and did a wonderful job and I looked absolutely creepy. It was a lot of fun to play that character.
Bobby: While the film clearly was seen with so much exposure, can you give a little bit of a synopsis to tell us what Pink five is all about?
Stephen: Everyone’s heard of Red Five, which of course is Luke Skywalker, but what this film is about is from another point of view. It’s about Pink Five, who is sort of this valley girl who happens to be recruited on the day they are going out to blow up the Death Star because, in her words “Today they just need everybody”. We get to see from another point of view how the Death Star really blew up and the films that followed also give the skewed point of view to let you see that main character Pink Five, Stacey was more involved in the Star Wars saga than you realize.
Bobby: I know there have been a few films in the Pink Five series, so with the screening at All-Con is it showing all of them or just the completed final chapter?
Stephen: The entire saga is going to be shown from the very beginning. From the very first film all the way through to the completed final chapter. It’s going to be the first time the entire saga has been seen anywhere, so I think it’s going to be great.
Bobby: With this tour, there is word that you guys are bringing numerous people along with you.
Stephen: Yeah there is a lot of great people involved like myself and managers Dutch and Kathy will be there, the creator of Pink Five Trey Stokes, Vanessa Marquez will be with us who made a cameo in Pink Five, Rick Fitts from Star Trek and Mike Gregory from Total Recall are all coming. Then from the fan organizations we have Scott Allen who also has a cameo in Pink Five. He’s the southern California CO of the 501st and the National charity officer. Nick Bishop from Tasmania who is the XO from Terras Australia and National Public Relations officer, he’s going to be with us, Kevin Ward who is head of the Mandelorian Mercs in Texas who I happen to be a member of are going to be there with his group and Cody Glen from Starfleet and Ashley Glen from Almost Nerdy. So we’ve got a pretty big crowd coming with us.
Bobby: Sounds like you may need to bring your own troop transports for the event.
Stephen: That’s right we will have the imperial cruisers standing by.
Bobby: Is it true that you and Trey will be doing a Q&A after the screening of Pink Five?
Stephen: Trey and I will be doing a Q & A after the screening and there is going to be another panel that includes me, Trey, Michael Gregory, Rick Fitts, and possibly Vanessa. So there is going to be two panels, one with Pink Five and the other with just a lot of us.
Bobby: With you guys being at All-Con all weekend is there any chance you will also be setting up for some autograph signings with the fans?
Stephen: Yeah we will have tables set up so we can do signings for the fans and be accessible pretty much the whole time we are there. At least when we’re not sleeping or eating.
Bobby: There is no sleeping at All-Con.
Stephen: That’s what I hear.
Bobby: Well we can’t wait for you guys to come to All-Con and get a chance to see Pink Five in its entirety.
Stephen: It’s going to be a fun time, can’t wait.
You don’t want to miss out on one of the most entertaining and unique conventions in Dallas, especially with all these great guests and this first chance to check out the Pink Five saga in its entirety. If you’ve never been to an All-Con then you are truly missing out and this year is the perfect year to fix that mistake.
For more information on All-Con or to get tickets head over to http://www.all-con.org/
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