I was on a longer buisness trip when I received a
call from Stern TV. That´s a show in German television that´s
comparable in status to maybe the Jay Leno show in the U.S., and Günther
Jauch, the host is about as famous. And since Stern TV wanted to help us
in any possible way to come to their studios, we agreed. Problem was, my
R2 was five hundred kilometers away and disassembled for a repaint ! So,
first, my wife had to collect all those R2 parts, don´t forget
any one of them, put them into her car and bring all that to me (I was
working very close to the studios on Cologne). Then I had to assemble R2,
paint him and test him in a few days. At the day of the show, my wife came
in by train and was received at the station by a limo that brought her to
the studios ! In the meantime I hauled R2 in my station waggon to Cologne.
The interesting thing about this life show was the number of people
working there. I was wired for the interview with a radio microphone.
Later I had to visit the bathroom, and had to laugh at the thought of the
sound people possibly listening in on this channel. The fine point about
the show was that it was planned that R2 appeared from a stage door out of
a wall of fog with lights behind him, then rolled across the studio to the
sofa where the interview was planned. Then, the Episode 1 trailer would be
shown, followed by the interview. So I had to be at R2 to switch him onat
one end of the stage, then run around the whole stage and enter at the
other end to get to my seat on the sofa. There while Günther Jauch
made his announcement for R2 I prayed that I didn´t forget to switch
anything on. I couldn´t see R2 because the door was still closed. He
could have gone haywire and have run off....And that would have been a
major embarrassment. But all worked as planned. The door opened, R2 came
out of the fog in a spectacular view, rolled over to us, and then the
interview began. Amazing experience, and thanks again to all the folks at
the studio that helped us so much. Catering rating: ****; very tasty
buffet; very good choice of drinks, even wine.