Our local Jedi

It was inevitable, I guess: Bend has its local Star Wars superfans who dressed up in costumes and lined up outside the theater for the premier of “Revenge of the Sith” last night. I know this not because I was there, but because Z21‘s Christian Boris (one of the weather guys) did a live broadcast from the theater to cover the event. However, Christian did more than just cover the event…

He was dressed up as Darth Vader.

Thus began the funniest, most surreal Z21 broadcast I’ve seen in a long time, maybe ever. And it was such a short clip! First there was the shock and awe of the Darth Vader costume… on the guy reporting the news… whose helmet looked too small… I honestly couldn’t tell if he was dressed up because he was doing a piece for the news, or if he’s really into Star Wars. Either way, it was gutsy, but just seemed so, so wrong.

And, when you think it really couldn’t get any better—aside from just showing some of the various costumes people put together for the big night—Christian wisely decided not to interview any particular people and opted instead to just let the camera do the talking.

To my utter amazement, these two guys dressed up as Jedi start lightsaber dueling in the parking lot. I mean, full-on theatrics, and the taller guy with the more elaborate costume was really, really into it—leaping in the air, spinning around, the works. It was a bonafide jaw-dropping moment… followed by laughing uncontrollably and utter disbelief.

Back in the studio, both Nina Mehlhaf and Jason Carr were laughing, too… I got the sense that Nina was this close from losing it and descending into maniacal laughter, but she reigned it in in time.

You know what’s even better? When the moment was selected for the Bulletin‘s photo of the day:

Photo courtesy of The Bulletin