Personal photos & videos, from a certain point of view.
Having trouble getting your collection under control? Boxes everywhere? Overwhelm setting in? You’re not alone and it’s completely natural. It happens to everyone. And I mean EVERYONE. Here are some photos circa 2006, just after I arrived to help Steve get organized. -Anne
Behind the Scenes: Don’t touch the rocket!
Actor, writer, producer Seth Green is, of course, a huge Star Wars fan. He has visited Rancho Obi-Wan more than once along with others (including producing partner Matt Senreich) from his Stoopid Buddy Stoodios production company (formerly Stoopid Monkey) in Southern California. It’s hard to forget the Star Wars bits on Adult Swim’s Robot Chicken along with the three special episodes that were parodies of the original trilogy movies. Remember the “commercial” for Admiral Ackbar cereal?
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Behind the Scenes: Anne’s one year update circa 2007
Once upon a time I was a contributor to Rebelscum.com. I’m still buddies with those folks and they might get a kick out of this Behind the Scenes peek. I found an email I wrote to them in February, 2007, one year after I arrived to catalog the collection. It provides a fascinating look at the day to day life here THREE years before Steve and I even thought of a nonprofit. Here is the email word for word along with the photos.
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Behind the Scenes: Visit with Ralph McQuarrie
Rancho Obi-Wan has had many special visitors over the years, but few can compare to Ralph McQuarrie, the renowned concept artist responsible for so much of the look of the original Star Wars Trilogy.
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Behind the Scenes: Steve’s Office
Steve’s office is a living, breathing area of the museum. It fills, it empties, repeat. New items coming into the collection gather here. Sometimes old items have been retrieved for some new purpose. Letters, packages, convention bags, magazines, favorites and more can be found here.
Behind the Scenes: Turkey Trouble
Rancho Obi-Wan is just that, a “Rancho.” It’s not big enough to be considered a “Ranch,” but it’s a charming little space just outside of Petaluma, Calif. We do, however, back up to larger fields and as such we have all kinds of wild animal visitors like deer, skunks, foxes, coyotes, weasels, badgers, and… turkeys.
Behind-the-Scenes: Just One Room Circa 2006
In February 2006 I arrived at Rancho Obi-Wan with my computer, a trunk full of clothes and my cat Claire. It was my intention to stay for 6 months, do a complete catalog, and return home to Texas. That was now 14 years ago. The catalog is no anywhere done, but looking back, I can see the museum is now a lot cleaner.
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Behind-the-Scenes: The Beginning in Petaluma
In the beginning—July 1998 when I bought the property—Rancho Obi-Wan was 2 1/4 acres with an updated farmhouse, three large former hen houses and overgrown fields with a junked car, part of a truck and half-buried containers of who-knew what. The first order of business after moving in was to clear the fields, find temporary housing for the collection and figure out next steps.
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A Great Year to Celebrate a Decade at ROW
Last year I wrote a blog celebrating my ninth year here at Rancho Obi-Wan. All of a sudden another year has swept past and now I’ve been here a full decade! And what a year it was! With the anticipation and build-up to Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Rancho Obi-Wan had more than a few irons in the fire.
Throughout the year we hosted more than 100 tours of the museum that included friendly folks from Lucasfilm, Disney, retailers and licensees, Forbes, ABC News, Agence France-Presse, CBS Evening News, KNTV, MTime China, B Magazine Korea, Santa Cruz Skateboards, Space Channel Canada, NHK Japan and five local schools. We contributed tours as prizes for local charities to auction off. And Steve gave scores of interviews to both U.S. and worldwide media.
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Rancho Obi-Wan with a side of Mac & Cheese
Rancho Obi-Wan was thrilled to participate in the KRAFT Star Wars Macaroni and Cheese commercial! Watch the :30 commercial “Can’t Play”
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