The title to this post is a quote from Captain Nemo in 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea; he’s referring to the Rura Pente slave labor camp, but I’m using it (rather innocently) to express my joy for recently receiving several memorable endorsements for the Name It Jad campaign!
First up we have a wonderful response from one of the matte artists on Empire Strikes Back, Harrison Ellenshaw. Harrison sent a detailed letter explaining how he became a Rebel soldier for one brief shot. It also turns out (I did not know this!) that his father Peter Ellenshaw worked on the 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea film set! See, now the title to this post makes a little more sense. Young Harrison even got to explore the backlot water tanks as a child. Peter and Harrison have produced a number of fantastic high-end pieces of Disney artwork, including two of the Nautilus that you can see here and here.

Moving right along, we have a response from Ted Gagliano, who was one of the Stormtroopers on the hunt for R2 and 3PO at the beginning of A New Hope. This is the first time I’ve received a response on 20th Century Fox letterhead, and from a Stormtrooper to boot! I always love getting responses from Stormtroopers. Who didn’t want to be a Stormtrooper when they were a kid? Or adult?

And finally, let me show you the card I got back from Howie Hammerman, who provided Jabba the Hutt’s memorable belch in Return of the Jedi.

As you might imagine, Howie works for Skywalker Sound, which means this: it is very likely that George Lucas himself has seen my letter about the Name It Jad campaign! It suddenly occured to me - I haven’t written to George yet!

Yesterday I had the distinct pleasure of talking via phone with the British actor Barrie Holland. The phone call was one part of the multi-giftacular prize package from Rebelscum.com. Barrie and I spoke about his decades working in the movie industry. In Return of the Jedi, Barrie was the Imperial officer who held Han Solo at bay in the bunker on Endor. Surely you also remember the final scene of Raiders of the Lost Ark, where the Ark is boxed up and crated away? Yep, that’s Barrie as the archivist. In the film Bloodline, he shared the screen with the legendary James Mason, who of course played Captain Nemo in 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea (my all-time favorite movie).

Some of the things Barrie mentioned to me, I can’t discuss publicly (he he he…). But I will share with you just a few morsels from our two-hour plus chat:

- In making one scene of the film Reds, Barrie shook hands with Warren Beatty 79 times.

- Return of the Jedi director Richard Marquand personally requested Barrie for the role of Lt. Renz. When we hear him say, “You rebel scum,” that is Barrie’s voice, though it was altered in the editing process.

- Barrie has been to many Star Wars conventions in many countries, and remarked that he’s never once seen an act of prejudice or discrimination among the fans. He noted that people forget their nationality or political bent; all that gets left at the door for the sake of camaraderie and mutual friendship.

- Barrie has a cat named Sugar (side note, Mary and I have a cat named Willow. Nothing special here, we just like cats.)

Speaking with Barrie was an absolute delight and hopefully someday I’ll have the chance to chat with him in person. He has a deep love of film and shares his unending enthusiasm with fans young and old. Honestly, after speaking with him, I feel I’ve got a new friend on the other side of the pond.

He also sent me a prize package of numerous autographed Star Wars photos; as an autograph collector, I couldn’t have dreamed of a better prize! He even sent me a signed action figure, though I’ve left that at work, so I’ll have to post a picture later.

** And here’s that long-promised pic of Barrie’s signed action figure **