GALAXY NOT SO FAR AWAY UBERFANS, THESE ARE, AT 'STAR WARS' L.A. EXPO.

Byline: BRENT HOPKINS

Staff Writer

Jedi Master Bob Vitas had spent a long Thursday engaging fellow knights in conversation and found himself peckish.

He made his way through the packed room, looping around galactic senators and Imperial troops. Lightsaber at his side in case of trouble, he stepped up to the bar and spoke.

There was no need for Jedi mind tricks.

"Can I get a large drip and one of those macadamia nut cookies?" he asked.

The barista, not missing a beat, handed him his coffee and change. Master Vitas folded the money and slipped it beneath his custom-made Jedi tunic, into the pocket of some khakis bought at Target. Energized with some Starbucks brew, the Force was with him.

Nearly 30 years to the day after "Star Wars" first appeared on theater screens, the universe of George Lucas loomed as large as ever throughout the Los Angeles Convention Center. Vitas and thousands of other fans of the fantastical franchise, some diehards from the start like him, others newly minted, turned out Thursday for a preview of Star Wars Celebration IV.

The four-day exposition, officially open to the public today, serves as a clearinghouse for all things Star Wars. Vendors hawk still-in-the-package Lando Calrissian figures and Darth Maul T-shirts, and fans pose for pictures and get autographs from luminaries such as Kenny "R2-D2" Baker and Temuera "Jango Fett" Morrison.

Everyone likes to kick it with Jango.

It made for a scene of unimaginable strangeness, where French Jedis lunched not far from a group of Imperial stormtroopers speaking Portuguese. A chef in a Darth Vader get-up, black helmet protruding from beneath a white toque, toted the head of Jar-Jar Binks on a silver platter. The crowd ate that one up.

Provocative princess

In a cluster of several Princess Leias, Marie Prestin stood out as the Princess Leia. While most opted for the tried-and-true white robe and double cinnamon-bun hairstyle combination, Prestin, a 26-year-old Orange County homemaker, chose the provocatively popular slave-to-Jabba- the-Hutt outfit from "Return of the Jedi." She smiled her way through countless pictures as her more primly attired counterparts chatted in anonymity.

Don Bedwell, an Orlando Web designer dressed in the robes of an evil Jedi, captured the scene on his digital camera.

"OK," he said as Prestin posed. "On 'three.' And ... three!"

He snapped the picture early as his associate, Charles Silver, wearing a Jedi master outfit, sneered.

"What happened to one and two?" sniffed Silver, described as "an international man of leisure" and also from Orlando. "Oh, I forgot. You're Sith. You can't count."

Bedwell, like so many servants of the Dark Side, did not deal well with criticism.

"Sure, I can," he responded. "One, two, then I cut your head off."

Ultimately, he did not feel the need to resort to such violence. Friendly insults sufficed. The two bickering Jedi, with their carefully constructed outfits and weapons, had definitely delved deep into the "Star Wars" spirit, but they had nothing on Bill Deacon, 57, of Fontana.

Not just any Chevy

The dairy warehouseman sat through the 17-hour showing of all six films the day before, then slept in before donning his Han Solo pilot's uniform. Then he and his wife drove to the show in his 1974 Chevrolet Chevelle Malibu Classic -- a '74 Chevrolet Chevelle Malibu Classic redesigned to resemble the Millennium Falcon.

With the license plate reading "HANCHWY," he roared down Interstate10 and pulled into his spot on the show floor. Then he affixed the radar dish, made from a vegetable steamer, to the hood and the cannon, constructed out of a cup-holder and part of a kitty litter can, to the roof.

"My wife was looking out the window at it and said, 'What a piece of junk!'" said Deacon, who has seen the original film 50 times. "So we called her the Millennium Falcon. I've heard of other Millennium Falcon cars, but this is the only one like this."

And that was pure gold to fans such as John Wilson, a 38-year-old printer from Orange. Wearing a Hawaiian-print shirt, shorts and a Darth Vader helmet, he represented himself as a vacationing Sith Lord.

Wilson was hooked when he saw the original movie in 1977. When he took his kid to see "The Phantom Menace," he wept. He shares a personal affinity for Yoda, who's small, yet tough. The show exceeded his lofty expectations.

"It's pure awesomeness," he said. "I've been waiting for this for a long time. There's just so much stuff with 'Star Wars': samurai crap, Shakespeare, tragedy. And look at all these nutbars, man."

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If you go

What: Star Wars Celebration IV.

Where: Los Angeles Convention Center.

Address: 1201 S. Figueroa St.

When: Friday through Monday, times vary.

Cost: One day: $25 for children ages 6 to 12; $45 for adults. Four days: $55 for children; $125 for adults. Kids under 6 are free.

CAPTION(S):

5 photos, box

Photo:

(1 -- color) Brandon Byrd and father Eric Byrd of San Antonio, both dressed as Darth Maul, wait in line at the first day of Star Wars Celebration IV at the Los Angeles Convention Center on Thursday.

(2) Marie Prestin, 26, is Princess Leia in the popular slave-to-Jabba-the-Hutt outfit from "Return of the Jedi."

(3) John Wilson, a 38-year-old printer from Orange, wears a Hawaiian-print shirt, shorts and a Darth Vader helmet, representing himself as a vacationing Sith Lord on Thursday in L.A.

(4) Tony Piccolo, dressed as a stormtrooper biker scout, takes a break during the first day of Star Wars Celebration IV at the LosAngeles Convention Center on Thursday.

(5) Actor Kenny Baker, who played R2-D2 in the "Star Wars" movies, signs a toy of his character during the first day of Star Wars Celebration IV at the Los Angeles Convention Center on Thursday.

Hans Gutknecht/Staff Photographer

Box:

If you go (see text)