November | 2002 | Chicago Force

In November 2002, “Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones” was released nationwide in IMAX theaters. IMAX film is a high-definition format, where the film is literally twice as big as the film used in normal theaters (70mm instead of 35mm). The result is a picture that is bigger, sharper, and more colorful than is found in regular theaters.

As “Attack of the Clones” was the first movie to be filmed, processed, and distributed entirely on a digital format, it presented the IMAX theaters with a unique opportunity to create a 70mm film print that was far superior to anything they had done before. Although they had to remove 23 minutes of film to fit the picture on the projectors, the two hours of movie they were able to convert was truly amazing. Most people who viewed the movie on the 6-story Navy Pier screen knew they were in for a treat as soon as they saw the 20th Century logo.

Navy Pier IMAX was very generous in donating 150 tickets to Chicago Force for an 8 AM showing on the morning of release. Chicago Force in turn donated 80 of our tickets to the Metropolitan Boys Academy, to let some children see the movie that may otherwise not been able to.

It’s not easy getting people out to a movie at 8 o’clock on a Friday morning, but by the time Obi-Wan and Anakin were assigned to protect Senator Amidala, the theater was mostly full.

Here are picture from the first midnight show, and the 8 AM show the next morning:

: Youth from the Metropolitan Boys Academy

: Chicago Force is Your Kind of Scum

: Dave Gray, organizer extraordinaire

: You can’t have too many pictures of Yoda

: Ray won’t let anyone in until it’s time

: What a great lookin’ group of people

: More group pictures – Boys Academy

: The gang’s all here

: The general confusion before the movie starts

: Chi-Force invades “Dick’s Last Resort” after the midnight show

: Yeah for all of us!

: I’m beginning my attack run!

: Stay on target…

: Almost there…

: It didn’t go in, it just impacted on the surface!

: Get clear, you can’t do anymore good back there!

: Being with Chicago Force just makes people happy

: See? Everyone is smiling.

On November 9, 2002, Chicago Force put on a room party at the 2002 WindyCon Convention, held in the Schaumberg Hyatt in, well, Schaumberg. The theme for this party was “Death Star Trash Compactor“, and the room was decorated appropriately. Guests entering the room were met by the dianoga, several large pieces (to brace the walls with, perhaps?), and of course, trash.

To say that the party was a success would be an understatement. We kicked it off at about 9:30 PM, and went until the wee hours of the morning, some how managing to esacpe the wrath of the elderly couple staying next door. The room was beautifully decorated due to the diligent work put in by the Chicago Force crew. Matt, Dave, Hazmatt, Thom, Phil, Ray, Heather, Shauna and even Devon from Milwaukee were all on hand to transform a tasteful hotel room into a pit of refuse. It was surprisingly a lot of work.

All that hard work paid of, though, when people came to visit. Practically everyone that ventured into our domain complimented us on our decor and attitude and although there was no official competition for Best Party, our exit polls indicated we would have won by a landslide.

But don’t take my word for it. See for yourself…