There sure are a lot of aliens in Star Wars, all created by a multitude of talented puppeteers, designers, actors, and costume creators. Sometimes it’s a little difficult to keep track of all of them, though, so a certified Star Wars races expert, Neil Cicierega (of Potter Puppet Pals and Brodyquest fame) is here to help you get them all straight in this humorous video that’s the perfect way to start your weekend. See if you can keep a straight face the whole way through! Then, if you’re ready for more, check out his earlier thorough and detailed video about the various races in Star Trek! Read more…
Okay, considering how much actual animation there is, “animated” might be a bit strong. But this fan video from Dave Rapoza takes the SNES classic Super Metroid and puts it into a lightly-animated vignette. There’s some interesting grit to the drawings — actual grit, not the modern “dark = gritty” use of the word — that reminds me of Magical Game Time, while the direction suggests an alternate timeline where Samurai Jack‘s Genndy Tartakovsky helmed a Super Metroid cartoon in the mid-90s with his signature style. Rapoza says the drawings were all done in Photoshop and assembled in an editor, which explains the minimal animation. But take a look, and appreciate the great sense of atmosphere! Read more…
Arrested Development is about a dysfunctional family and the way they bounce off of each other’s mistakes and schemes. So it’s natural to extend that same metaphor to a messed up family of gods — in this case, Marvel’s Asgardians. In this fan video, Thor, Loki, and Odin are mixed with scenes and lines from Arrested Development to create a funny look at this strange royal family. Take a look! Read more…
Last night’s Breaking Bad Season 5.5 premiere — the second half of the final season — was a tantalizing look into where the rest of the season could go. But we’re not here to talk about that, we’re here to talk about a comedic scene that helped break the tension in the middle of the episode. There are no storyline spoilers here, so those with spoiler-conscious constitutions can safely watch, though I suppose hearing this scene out of context could spoil the surprise if you wanted to go in completely cold. Regardless, if I hadn’t seen the episode last night, I’d have been okay with watching this animated version of the scene. Read more…
Pokemon Snap is one of those underrated games. It may be a short game for kids, but there are very few other games out there like it, and none as enjoyable or memorable. The fact that Nintendo failed to make a sequel for Wii is a shame, one that I hope is rectified with the Wii U. In the meantime, fans are picking up the slack. Read more…
This is one of the more impressive and better mashups I’ve seen in recent times: The Game Station and Country Club’s Fistful of Rupees fan film. Combining westerns with The Legend of Zelda series, they do a great job of making something entertaining and fun, yet not embarrassing, like so many other fan films. Particularly the costume design – that poncho that Link is wearing is incredibly cool, and needs to be a real thing, pronto. I wouldn’t even wear it, but I want it. The whole film is split into 3 parts and spans a little over 20 minutes. Parts 2 and 3 are after the break! Read more…
Recently Brad Murphy, a self-proclaimed Star Wars fanboy, penned and directed this awesome Star Wars fan-film, featuring C-3PO and R2D2. The duo find themselves trapped when a group of Jawas decide to hijack an experimental Mon Calimari starship. It’s not quite on par with Star Wars: The Clone Wars, but that’s because it was pieced together in just three months by the recent graduating class of DAVES (Digital Arts and Visual Effect School). An impressive effort, all things considered — especially for a student film! I hope they all move on to successful careers in the industry.
It’s been awhile since we checked in on Star Trek Phase II, the fan-produced fourth season of Star Trek‘s original series. Formerly known as Star Trek: New Voyages, the premise was simple, pick up where the show left off, finish the crew’s five year mission to seek out new life and new civilizations while remaining faithful to the look and feel of the original production. Sets were built to resemble the originals with as much accuracy as they could muster, along with everything from outfits and props to make-up and hair. It remains one of the best fan series I’ve ever seen, despite only having completed seven episodes over the past few years. This evening marks the release of their latest episode, “The Child.” Check out the trailer after the jump, and be sure to visit the Star Trek Phase II official site for more info. The full episode is available here.
YouTube voice-over extraordinaire Brock Baker recently uploaded his abridged dub for Star Wars: Episode IV. It’s mostly silly, but hilarious at times and definitely not safe for work. While I chuckled here and there throughout, nothing really beats his Chewbacca. I’m not sure why it’s so good, and I’m not even sure you’ll love it too, but I can promise it’s not what you’d expect. Still, he must be doing something right because after 8,200 people “liked” the video, he only managed to rack up 150 “dislikes.” Most impressive, considering the material. If you dig it, check out his YouTube Channel for more.
It’s been nearly two years since I first wrote about Star Wars Uncut, the full-length feature consisting entirely of 15 second homemade clips in an attempt to recreate Episode IV: A New Hope as it was meant to be told, complete with campy acting and low-budget special effects. Personally I found the film to be equally hilarious, and painful to watch, but the very concept remains brilliant. Recently, director Casey Pugh made a special directors cut available to stream online in its entirety. Funny, you’d think a film touting itself as being “uncut,” would, by definition, be the directors cut — I wonder how that works. You can watch it here, but for more information on the project, check out their official site here. Read more…
It might not be the same quality you’d expect from a major studio like Pixar, but this is worth checking out. Using a mix of CG and footage from the original film, YouTube user Mylex67 recently tried his hand at recreating some of the battle sequences from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. While it’s my instinct to complain about the lack of accuracy, he notes that the clip is not meant to be a shot for shot recreation, but rather just an alternate take on the battle in the Mutara nebula from the film. Needless to say, I’m a bit impressed, and I hope there’s more to come.
This falls into that category of “too cool not to post.” Ever want to see a bunch of Jedi ninjas battle to the death? Well, thanks to directors James Mark, Justin Lovell, you’ll get to. Featuring the martial arts performance squad Team 2X, this awesome short aims to recreate some of the stylized lightsaber combat featured in Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. It’s very reminiscent of those over-the-top lightsaber battles from the latest trilogy, but you have to admit those lightsaber duels were probably the best part of the films. Be sure to watch the clip all the way through, as there’s a pretty funny reveal around two minutes and twenty seconds in.
Posted by Chris Sobieniak on Dec 9, 2011 in Animation, Fandom
Most people haven’t heard of the show, but for kids in the early 80s the Japanese-French animated series Ulysses 31 (宇宙伝説ユリシーズ31) left an impression that would mark a generation. Read more…
Sony likes to joke that their PS3 can do everything. Clearly, they’ve never seen a Sonic Screwdriver. I always thought the Doctor seemed a little too quick to pull one out, but after sitting through this hilarious short, maybe I should give him more credit. After all, if he were to just “sonic” everything in sight, Doctor Who would become the least climatic show on television. You may as well just watch paint dry. Still, the video makes a good point, even if they never really intended to — Sonic Screwdrivers are awesome, and science needs to make them happen, ASAP. Read more…
I’m impressed. Earlier this month, director Alex Albrecht threw together this live-action short entitled VOLTRON: The End, starring Psych‘s Timothy Omundson. I have no idea if this was meant as some sort of series or film pitch, or if it was just something he decided to do for fun, but it’s pretty awesome. The idea of a Voltron live-action film never really crossed my mind, but having seen this, I certainly wouldn’t object. I also want to know how he landed Omundson for the role of Lance. He’s not exactly a huge star, but he is a series regular on a popular show that’s currently airing. If I had to venture a guess, I’d say his involvement was either a favor, or Omundson is just a fan of the animated series. You’d almost have to be to want to film this, wouldn’t you? Either way, it’s pretty cool that he’d take the time to contribute to the short. Let’s hope something good materializes from it.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Sep 12, 2011 in Videogames
We have an exclusive! The fans who put together the first known Angry Birds Motion Comic have followed up with a second video in the series: Read more…
Posted by Tim Sheehy on Jun 30, 2011 in Cinema, Fandom
Well, it’s certainly not the worst fan-film I’ve ever seen —Dark Betrayalcomes to mind — but I suppose we can’t really expect much after the hot mess that was John Carpenter’s Escape from L.A. I have a soft-spot in my heart for that film, but even I have to admit that it was terrible. Rather than attempting to follow Carpenter’s ridiculous sequel, director Chris Notarile decided to pen one of his own with his fan-film Escape from New Jersey. I imagine that trying to recreate the feel of Carpenter’s original film would be difficult on a shoe-string budget. Though it’s slow-paced, and lacks polish, the script itself isn’t half bad. While I can’t overlook every issue, I feel the film is a decent attempt worth mentioning. It’s enough to make me wonder if Snake Plisskin will ever make his return. Until then, this might have to do.
Here’s a fan-made trailer for a non-existent film set in the Tron universe, entitled Tron: Destiny. Not much is known about the clip, but the production quality is pretty spectacular to say the least. The acting is even decent. These fan-produced shorts keep getting prettier and prettier. Not to spoil it, but I’d have to say he did magnificent job of rendering a light-bike, and definitely leaves us wanting more. It’s a shame that nobody has come forward to claim the video yet. But when they do, I expect we’ll find out more about what he may planned. Maybe an actual web series? It worked for Mortal Kombat.
