I was never the biggest fan of Star Wars growing up. I didn’t have anything against it in particular, it just never captured my imagination like it did for others. At the end of the day when I went home to build spaceship models I was working on the Enterprise not the Millennium Falcon. That being said, I have nothing against Star Wars. I may like to point out logical flaws, or plot holes (ala my Chewbacca Article) but that’s just me being weird and entertaining myself. Star Wars is Joseph Campbell’s monomyth or heroic journey boiled down to it’s simplest archetypes and set in outer space. I appreciate Star Wars’ popularity, and respect the fact that it has inspired so many young nerds. My friend Erin sent me a link which I thought was fantastic. It is probably the the single greatest example of how Star Was Has been an inspiration of others. Check out www.starwarsuncut.com/
Star Wars Uncut describes itself as a experiment to explore the dynamics of community creation on the web. Basically the project involves cutting Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope down into 15 second clips. Artist, designers, animators, and and shlub with a camera can claim one chunk an re film it however they’d like. Started As the brain child of Casey Pugh StarWarsUncut.com won a 2010 Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Creative Achievement In Interactive Media – Fiction. Every one of the directors’ reenactments are amazingly fun, and downright hilarious. Highlights of the film include:
- Stop motion Lego reenactments
- Hand drawn animation
- Actors over green screen
- Paper bag puppets
- 5-year olds playing Luke and Han
- Chiwawa Chewbacca
- Bow-Tie Fighters and many many more gems
Chances are fans will complain about this version of Star Wars much less than any sequil/prequil/reboot/animated series that Lucas could come up with. Check it out you won’t be disappointed.