Edward Scissorhands resembled a statue as he prepared for his walk across the stage. Optimus Prime climbed into his multi-piece 9-foot costume. Pan danced around in merriment.

The audience was riveted as Daffy proclaimed “I am Duck Dodgers in the Twenty-Fourth-and-a-Half-Century!” But the Masquerade was not fully launched until a brigade of imperial storm troopers and a battalion of rebels marched through the ballroom. C3PO threw off his Jedi cloak in a tantalizing strip tease, and voila, …

Steven Sansweet, fan relations guru for Lucasfilm Ltd., presented Star Wars Connections, a preview of Star Wars II: Attack of the Clones.  Sansweet said that Star Wars II will start connecting Episode I to the original trilogy.  He promised that many fans’ unresolved questions will be answered in Episodes II.

“This movie is going to be … wow.”
—Samuel Jackson
Star Wars II will be about relationships.  Sansweet broke down some of the relationships, and showed how those associations move between the movies.  …

J.R.R. Tolkien’s epic fantasy, The Lord of the Rings has been loved by millions of people around the world for many years.  Peter Jackson is directing the film adaptations in production now.  The Fellowship of the Ring will be coming to theaters near you on December 19, 2001.  The Two Towers will follow in December 2002, and The Return of the King will premiere in December 2003.  The three films are a joint production of New Line cinema and ThreeFootSix …

The esteemed author Anne McCaffrey made a rare U.S. appearance here at Dragon*Con this year. The prolific writer is the author of the extremely popular Pern books, as well as many other series, including The Ship Who Sang, The Rowan series, the Crystal Singer series, and several other stand alone books for adults and children.

We asked Ms. McCaffrey:

What authors influenced you as a child?

Rudyard Kipling, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Will James. Austin Tappan Wright’s Islandia was very influential when …

Lucasfilm creature designer Terryl Whitlach spoke Thursday on characters created for the new Star Wars film, The Phantom Menace. Ms. Whitlach has worked extensively in the film industry, video games, and has illustrated several book jackets. Whitlach is responsible for the birth of virtually all the new characters you see in Episode One, including Jar Jar Binks and the Gungan, Watto, Sebulba and all the other podracers, and the undersea creatures….