Star Wars Fan Films & Parodies Tribute

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[00:01:00] Welcome to the rescue! Okay, oh hi Mark. If you've heard of this one, I know Tom has.

[00:01:31] So I guess like the Family Guy trilogy doesn't fall into that category, does it? I am maybe, that would be a parody. So that didn't ring a bell for anyone. That's the Star Wars gangster rap. We're making fun of Master P, and that was like a big thing on the internet in like 01, 02. You know, there's the Weird Al Yankovic one. I've got that one. I love the history behind that where he went to like a private church screening just to confirm that his lyrics were on point.

[00:01:59] He did two, if I remember correctly. Yeah, he did. He did Yoda, then he did The Saga Begins. Right, right. And for The Saga Begins, he had only the internet on his side. He didn't know if all the speculation was true. Unfortunately, he's like, okay, good. Let's print it. I didn't go into the screening. They were on point. Yeah, I got The Saga Begins. I didn't know. Well, I mean, I probably know about Yoda if I hear it, but I...

[00:02:28] I can't think of it uphand. Well, and it is funny. I never knew that... What's its name? Hardware Wars was played on HBO until James told me that. I was like, that's wild. Oh, yes. I'd forgotten it was 15 minutes or so. Yeah, it was on VHS and everything.

[00:02:50] But there was a very epic Darth Maul thing around, I want to say 2017, that looked epic. And some people have done legit stuff. And some of them... In 2002, there was a first Star Wars Fan Film Awards back in like 2002, that Sci-Fi Channel broadcast. And they showed a lot of the clips, including... What's its name? The Troops parody, where they're making fun of TV's cops.

[00:03:20] Mm-hmm. And they're... Stormtroopers going around shooting at Jawas and confiscating a Tom Serval bot they're selling. Mm-hmm. And so, I mean, there's been all kinds of fun. I think it helped that Ben Burt, the sound effects guy, uploaded a folder to the Force.net and so people could make a fan film with all the legit, you know, Force push and lightsaber activation and Troid sound effect. Yeah.

[00:03:48] Well, I did check out... I did see two fan films. I didn't really get that into them, but I could tell it was all... it was done with AI. But they had some convincing sound effects and such. Well, and don't get me wrong, I've seen my share of duds over the years where I was like, you guys spent so much time on the facts, but these people are like amateur theater actors, you know? And I think it's a... I know. But it ignited kind of the fan film thing is like, hey, give it your best shot.

[00:04:18] Have fun with something you love. I'll take... I'll go a step further back. I remember at the very beginning and Star Wars was just getting huge. George Lucas was very protective of the intellectual license. He was. He absolutely was. And in that timeframe, you had these people with the imagination. They had stories that they wanted to tell. And then they just... but they weren't allowed to do it because of Lucas.

[00:04:47] And then once he kind of opened his eyes or once he got the paycheck from Disney, that's when people were probably going to say, yes, now I can do this. Now I can put this... put my idea into reality. And like you say, it could be hit or miss. Same thing with the Batman fan films. I'm a big fan of those because Batman is one of my favorite comic book characters. There's some good Terminator and Friday the 13th and Star Trek ones.

[00:05:17] But like you say, it's not an easy gamble. And similarly to Star Trek, pretty much Disney is like, you cannot do it. Fox has said a similar thing prior to that where they're like, we don't want to see anyone doing their alien or predator film. And it's like, well, good luck. There's a lot of people doing alien and predator shorts that there was one where the predator is stalking someone in the Middle Ages. And the knights are having to fin them off. It was a fun concept and very well filmed. Yeah.

[00:05:46] And that's half the fun of the fan films. The scene, what ideas... Yeah. The scene, what ideas they can come up with. One of my favorite... Not necessarily my favorite, but one of the ones that got me until the very end. Was there was one with Batman. He was fighting the Joker. Then I think he was fighting off a predator. Oh yeah, dead end. Dead end. Yeah, dead end. And, but I don't know who was dead end or if it was a different one, but then there was one where...

[00:06:13] I think there is another one I couldn't find, but I keep seeing people posted in forums. Yeah. And it was Batman going up against Darth Vader. Batman had a lightsaber. Oh, absolutely. Isn't like there, I did see someone sharing a gift file of Batman with a lightsaber. I was like, what's that from? Is that fan art? They're like, no, it's from a film. And that's when things get a little silly. Yeah. Well, I know like the Batman stuff.

[00:06:41] They've got something called Bat in the Sun productions or something where they have a lot of superhero battles. You know, they film a lot of superhero battle type stuff. There have been definitely some good ones. I've had some friends get in ones and it was like, man, that was very realistic take on Black Panther or Captain America. And there's others where, I mean, I really dug a lot of Hellraiser fan films when we did a special on that. And the acting was just absolute butt in some of them.

[00:07:08] But you dug just the concepts and dread, fearful music they were putting in some of them. So that's all I can just say for someone is like, just give it your best shot. And if your friends are flaking out, I think the hardest part to any fan film now, Star Wars kind of popularized it. But now it seems like just if you want to do anything, probably do a fan audio drama, do a do fan art, do even a strip comic if you want to.

[00:07:38] But and just keep following the rules. Keep acknowledging, hey, you know, I did not make any money off of someone else's idea. I'm just giving my two cents because I'm a big ass fan. I'm not. I know foul. I'm not. If you want me to take this down, I will. But don't threaten to sue me. Good grief. And yeah, if people flake out and just don't get it, just do it yourself. Just there's plenty of that.

[00:08:03] I would sometimes try out some stuff in college and people just thought, so I'm doing a spoof. I'm like, well, sort of think of it like an impression, like a cosplay. Yeah, like sort of, but not quite. But like, I know with A.I., a lot of people are probably going to be trying to attempt it more often now than before. Mm hmm. I mean, you could definitely do some great spoofs now to take existing footage and make it look like someone else is doing it. Oh, man.

[00:08:33] Correct me if I'm wrong. Is Hardware Wars? Well, no, I mean, I have it. I have it on Amazon Prime. I'm looking at the cast. I thought I saw something about Paul Freese being a voice, you know, doing a narrative. Yeah. Yes, it did. So that's why I kind of wondered if it truly was a fan film in that case. But yeah, you can have a kind of like this. Think of it like the Star Trek fan films where they would have George Takai or Tim Ross come back as their iconic character and doing their own canon.

[00:09:00] And again, the studio is going to do the whole, you know, it's not canon with us, but, you know, we're the fans. So we we have the final say, you know, if you look at it a certain way, like the Family Guy trilogy is a fan film because apparently, you know, Seth MacFarlane is a fan. Yeah, he did. He did an awesome. You look at his Star Trek fan film from when back in, I want to say, like the late 70s, early 80s or something is like, that's a good try.

[00:09:28] It was copying the facts and doing the intense camera work and making it. Now we do it. And now he's done Orville. Right. That's basically a big budget fan film. And yeah, exactly. And occasionally he will sneak in some Twilight Zone Star Wars moments and you're like, yep, he just loves movies. So he's just regurgitating it. And the people he hires also just have a good sense about it. They're like, yeah, it's just a fun show. Let's so let's have fun.

[00:09:58] Well, I just I remember watching the the trilogy that he did for Star Wars. And, you know, the one who plays Chris, Seth Green does robot chicken. And so, like at the end of like those trilogy, each episode, he's he's given robot chicken a hard time or Peter's given robot chicken a hard time. And then Chris is trying to defend it.

[00:10:25] Yes, I think at one point, Seth Green, who's playing the Luke equivalent, you know, his Brian character, he's as like for one for one random reason. I think it's like the emperor just starts talking shit about Seth Green. Does anybody know any movie that actually stars? Yeah, it's like it's very meta. Like, oh, my God, this is going to be a fistfight here. And then Chris is getting all mad at him. Yeah, this is like making him want to fight harder with his lightsaber.

[00:10:56] Oh, man. And. I think I just missed the idea of a fan film because it just seems like I don't know, it's like people don't really want to have fun with something like that or. You know, they have to realize that when you go into this, you're you're not going to make any money from it. You you're just doing it to show what you can do. That's really all it is. It might lead to a future investment saying, hey, you did your best adaptation of this thing.

[00:11:25] So, I mean, just for anything, let's say you did your best take on Sherlock Holmes or. I mean, I've thought of myself of doing my own mock versus movie that I could use public domain characters like if you told me let's do a versus parody movie like Mowgli versus Tarzan. And oh, man, I'm there. Why not?

[00:11:47] Well, I mean, it's a way it's a way to showcase your talent in a way, too, so that maybe maybe somebody, you know, in the business might get there, you know, set their eyes on it. So, hey, you got to give this guy a look. Totally. Plus, you know, plus there's the other element of it. That is that it's a it's a it's a passion project. You have to when you're doing anything fan fan film related, you have to have a love for the source material.

[00:12:13] It's not like you could drop a big budget, like a director from a big budget movie into one of these things like that. You're not going to get Michael Bay to do a you're not going to get Michael Bay to do a ring to gate version of your idea that the Transformers are actually. Don't explode all the time. Yes. So, yeah.

[00:12:35] So when you're doing that, you have to have that that passion in in there and it's going to come out in your product, even if it even if the script sets, even if you hire actors who put an actor ways out of paper, couldn't act their way out of a as a rip paper bag. You you're going to find. You're that love is going to be there. It's going to come out in one way or another. Bingo.

[00:12:59] So and I was just I was just flashing on, you know, those kids that did the did their take on the Raiders of the Lost Ark. Yeah, that was an interesting documentary. I wasn't crazy about them reenacting the whole movie, but the passion was there. I was like, I would rather them do their own adventure. But still, they they made friends. It's still a worthwhile documentary because it kind of just shows you what it was like to be a geek in the 80s. Well, and what they did with what they had, too. Absolutely.

[00:13:25] It's like I got my parents' backyard and a carnival and some costumes from the military store. Action. I think I remember them actually like hanging off the back of a truck in one scene. I remember because it's been a long time since I've seen it while the truck was moving. So, of course, if the truck was standing still, it would be a lot easier. It wouldn't be as cool an effect. But still.

[00:13:55] Well, I mean, these kids were doing their own stunts, of course, risking themselves. But, you know, whatever. Mm hmm. I couldn't concur more. I just think. I mean, if anything. Meet people at conventions who are doing it's not doing cosplay, just doing just fun kind of just 3D printing and other stuff. Just have fun. You know, I just. I mean.

[00:14:26] I used to hear that about someone who had a Klingon fight club. I kid you not. And I was like, where is this club that you speak? I kind of miss those days. Does anyone really even do any meet up after school places now? Well, I'm about 30 years removed from it. So or more than 30 years at this point. So it's hard to tell. Maybe they're just trying to make films with their phones now.

[00:14:56] Mm hmm. Some of the cameras on the phones these days are better than the films that you would get when you were making the little fan films. Isn't that sad? It is in a way, but it also. I'm not complaining. I mean, I was using it even before Soderbergh popularized it. And I would always encounter a snob just doing the whole. Oh, it's not going to look professional. I'm like, then I'm not going to hire you if you're going to be a dick and shit on creativity.

[00:15:24] I mean, honestly, hire a sound guy. Hire some gaffers if you need it. And if you want to film it all on like three different phones that are the same processor, same thing and charge them in between shots, go for it. You know, you know, or do like Hardware Wars and just dub over the movie with the sound. Dub over the movie. Perfect. Just like a it's really no different than a spaghetti Western.

[00:15:49] We're just going to have the tags and just remind everyone, hey, you're going to have to dub this over after the fact. You know, I get it. People can be turds sometime and be difficult. But if you just get them all on the same page, there won't be any misunderstandings. You know, trying to look at the fan films they got. There's like 44 pages of it. So it's kind of like hard to nail it down. Yeah, I really dug the pink five one just because it was X-Wing Squadron gal who crashes.

[00:16:18] And basically they took dialogue from Empire Strikes Back that makes it makes it sound like someone is arguing with them. Now, the part where Luke says R2, it just sounds like she's saying I am not R2. Well, you know, I saw that on Amazon Prime and it was like you could buy it for five bucks. And I think collectively there's about all the episodes add up to maybe about 50 minutes or so. Pink five? Isn't that what you said? Pink five?

[00:16:49] Yeah, that's it's just a just a short. It's on Amazon Prime. I almost bought it tonight, but I know that they're all on YouTube. Oh, I just kind of am glad that there was this moment in the sun where it was cool to do before everyone started being all. Oh, you're ripping me off. It's like, OK. Yeah. We thank for the late 90s Internet for that.

[00:17:13] When people were doing fan films, a lot of ways they got distribution with that by putting it on DVD. They were they were putting it online and they were and they were going to torrent sites and say, hey, I've got something a fan film. And that's where a lot of people got the fan films. And that's where they got a lot of exposure. That's where they've got a lot of variety. And and like Gil said, sometimes it all it takes is one person to say, hey, this is this is pretty good.

[00:17:44] And before things kind of took off, that's what kind of that's pretty much what happened to Trey Parker and Matt Stone. Yeah. Oh, my God. And they had definitely some of the best spoofs of fandom. I mean, they're still doing it with that Panderverse special they did. Yes. What's this about a Panderverse special? Like, you know, like, don't pander to this demographic or something. And it was just making fun of not only a lot of people didn't get it. And it's just like it attacked again.

[00:18:13] South Park doesn't take a side. It makes fun of everybody made fun of whiny, toxic Internet trolls as much as it did the studio execs who just have a character who's progressive, but does him a disservice by writing a shitty character for him. It's like. Don't make him gay for no reason. That makes that still offends gay people and offends other people because they're like, I don't know what to say other than that character was poorly written.

[00:18:39] You know, it's just it's it's the way they roll out these all inclusive mandates. And then it sucks because people are like, you Nazi. I'm like, no, I am the nicest soul you will ever encounter. I'm telling you, give a script to one more rewrite. You know, it it will save you trouble because it does not matter. You can put Denzel Washington or Tom Hanks in this project. It won't work if the script does not work. It doesn't matter.

[00:19:10] It's it's more processable. You might enjoy part of it, but it doesn't work if it's if the system is still broken. You don't start up your computer. You know, a processor that can circuit out at any time, do you? No. So don't don't make a movie on all these overexposed film that isn't properly remastered with a script that is bananas bad. It's just see Gladiator 2. Oh. Oh. We'll return after these messages.

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