Paramount Studios CHLA Event

Today R2 ventured to Paramount Studios in Hollywood to participate in the Celebrate Life with Hope event for Childrens Hospital Los Angeles. The event took place on the backlot, with a bunch of building facades made up to look like various streets from different locales and eras.




Well, I gotta tell it like it is. I arrived nice and early, test-drove R2, and found that his left drivetrain was malfunctioning!

It turns out a piece of keystock had worked its way loose and actually fell out sometime between yesterday and today. I had to transplant another piece of keystock to the gear that is chained directly to the motor. Fortunately, the operation was a complete success and R2 was back and running quickly. To clarify, this was not a failure of the new drivetrain, it was a failure of mine to not secure the keystock with anything other than friction. I think I'll be using JB Weld on it soon.



With the repair out of the way, it was time for all the Star Wars characters to get out there and entertain the crowd of 2,500.








Various celebrities were on hand to perform and sign autographs.

Jessica Simpson came out and sang a few songs.



I had a chance to go backstage for a bit with R2, and met up with former Dodgers Ken Landreaux and Darrell Thomas. I was telling Darrell that I was at Dodger Stadium when he made a tremendous leaping catch years ago in right field, and he broke into a big smile and said, "You remember that one, huh?!" Fun stuff.



We did a group picture of all the characters.



More fun pics and video







Remember, the buildings you see in the background are completely fake.



A tiring event, but a very fun one to do!



So if you think that was way too many pictures, the full photoset is here. Enjoy!