* helena smee said the lamp Mira picks up was suprisingly heavy, but she does feel that it gave the motion more reality and groundedness, because Mira (Helena) reacts to the weight naturally

* kat smee and helena smee are sisters!

* kat smee said she was performing a musician podling during the skeksis dining scenes (in which helena was playing the collector), and it was an incredible sight because since all puppeteers were under the table, in real time no puppeteer could be seen, so she was looking down at the balcony at a bunch of skeksis feasting!  she said it was quite a sight

* helena smee talked about having fun puppeteering SkekLach The Collector because she is a more socially uninhibited skeksis and can make more fun movements

* kat smee said everyone was always excited for days they would puppeteer podlings, as these smaller puppets were easier on the body to puppeteer.  Dzenpo!!!

* brian meehl (dying mystic master 1982 OG) said he had to re-record the audio for the dying UrSu speech many times over many months because of the constant script re-writes.

* Steven Garlick (Jen) and Lisa Maxwell (Kira) spoke of three overall read-throughs that occurred while recording their voiceovers - 1, in their natural english accents, a 2nd, in affected American accents (they were both very young and at the start of their careers, so apparently the american accents weren’t the best), and 3rd, a take that was somewhere in-between - this last one was the take that was kept.  

* i mentioned to Tim Rose how much I like when SkekShod turns to tell SkekZok, “you should be emperor”, he turns, not the short way, which would have been away from the camera towards the SkekZok, but the long way, which is towards the camera towards the ritual master.  Tim Rose laughed and said “that would be because I couldn’t see where he was!!!”

these screenshots don’t do it justice - it’s a very funny dramatic turn.   possibly 270 degrees XD

* In a panel, when asked what additional stories he would like to tell in the Dark Crystal Universe, J M Lee said he would like to have a series about Tavra and Onica.   (here, here!)

* the costuming department worked in an odd space that had a disco ball.  eventually they figured out how to turn it on! (intel from the costuming panel)

THE FORCE AWAKENS 2015