On The Today Show this morning, New York City’s Rockefeller Plaza outside of NBC Studios was transformed into a Star Wars spectacular for the show’s annual “Halloween on the Plaza” holiday broadcast.

The cast of the morning show donned costumes from the Star Wars saga with Kathie Lee Gifford as C-3PO, Natalie Morales as Queen Padme Amidala, Hoda Kotb as Yoda, Ann Curry as Darth Vader, Meredith Vieira as Princess Leia, Matt Lauer as Luke Skywalker, and Al Roker as Han Solo. Star Wars creator George Lucas and his people at Lucasfilm provided real props from the films, including an X-Wing fighter and the Emperor’s chair.

We also found out that Friend of Doom Lou Platania, a member of the 501st Legion, was one of the Stormtroopers on the elaborate Today Show set and that he was the trooper next to the X-Wing in the first video embedded here below. (Go Lou!)

Check out more video from the show here below, including a behind-the-scenes look at the planning and prepping for this special Star Wars-themed episode.

It probably would have been a much better special had the cast known anything about Star Wars; most of them stumbled through their Star Wars information and the game of Jedi Jeopardy was quite embarrassing. And the fan that said that Matt Lauer looked more like Bruno than Luke Skywalker was dead on. Even though, the costumes were really amazing and it was great to see all those props, and the theme in general of course is wonderful.

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[Source: Today Show]