It’s no Tatooine: C-3PO’s impressions of the Valley

The last part of my interview with “Star Wars in Concert” narrator and C-3PO performer Anthony Daniels:

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

PHOTO: JAYSON PETERS, EAST VALLEY TRIBUNE

When Anthony Daniels visited the Valley Sept. 14 to promote his Oct. 4 appearance for “Star Wars in Concert” at Glendale’s Jobing.com Arena and get a feel for the venue, he found a warm welcome — but not warm enough.

He found the “ice palace,” as he called it, chilly in contrast to the triple-digit temperatures that greeted him on his first visit to Phoenix, and was graciously worried that the four local journalists meeting with him would be unconfortable!

We assured him it was a welcome respite from the heat, and settled in for a nice, long chat with the actor.

“I had no idea Phoenix was so huge until I flew over it this morning,” said Daniels, 63, who portrays C-3PO in the Star Wars movies and the Clone Wars animated series.

Although it was Daniels’ first visit to the Valley, it was his second time in Arizona: The pristine sand dunes of Yuma stood in for Luke Skywalker’s barren homeworld Tatooine in 1983’s Star Wars: Episode VI — Return of the Jedi.

“You’ve noticed I’m not doing this in Yuma,” Daniels said with a disdain one would expect from his gold-plated alter-ego. “On my one day off, I was so frustrated by Yuma that I said ‘Let’s go to Gila Bend.’ That’s just how desperate I was. I’m not going back there, either.”

The actor recounted a visit to a restaurant called The Pump House that he and other crew members dubbed “The Stomach Pump House.” Still, he said, it was preferable to the other options in the area at the time: McDonald’s or Kentucky Friend Chicken.

“But its kind of fun to be back here … because it wasn’t, all those years ago!”

See also: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4