Stormtroopers crash the 2007 Pasadena Rose Parade

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Stormtroopers crash the 2007 Pasadena Rose Parade: "Xeni Jardin:

BB pal Bonnie Burton of Lucasfilm says,


Here's my behind-the-scenes look at the
Star Wars Spectacular at the 2007 Rose Parade: 200 stormtroopers,
Grambling State Marching Band, floats and Grand Marshal George Lucas. Lots
of great pics of troopers practicing on the field and having fun meeting
each other from 22 different countries!

Here are the images: Link.

I'm also blogging all about it here: Link.



Those float activities commemorate the 30th anniversary of Star Wars. About a million people are expected at the parade today. A really loud, low-flying aircraft passed over my house in LA this morning -- shook the walls, scared the heck out of both me and my dog, and seemed to be flying from the direction of the parade. Maybe it was a Rebel Alliance ship heading out to kick some Empire butt.

Here's a related photoset of float prep, with closeups that show how they build these flower floats, from Lorelei: Link (via Wayne's List).

Update: About the low-flying, insanely loud aircraft that gave me instant 9/11 flashbacks and sent my golden retriever running for cover, Wil Wheaton says:

That was the stealth bomber and two stealth fighters. They fly over the
rose parade route every year, and scare the everlivingfuck out of a lot
of people who don't know what the hell is going on. They go right over my house, about 1200 feet above my bedroom.


Update: Wil's brother Jeremy captured the stealth crafts in flight as they flew away from the parade -- snapshot below. They look so small and distant in this photo, but trust me: they sure sounded like close-range whupass.

Brian Roller says,

In your section about the flyby before the Rose Bowl game, it was mentioned that 2 stealth fighters and a stealth bomber flew by, along with wikipedia links about them, one of which was wrong. The two aircraft following the B2 are F22s, which are stealth but are not the F117 you linked to. The B2 is actually VERY quiet... however I live near a base that operates F22s and can attest that they are not, which was likely the concern.



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(Via Boing Boing.)