Fans use the Force in sci-fi remake

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This article was published 18/10/2014 (4187 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Hey, Star Wars fans. Stop obsessing about that upcoming Episode VII. Instead, watch the crowdsourced, shot-for-shot remake of The Empire Strikes Back, which hit the Internet on Oct. 10. There’s your new hope.

Empire Uncut is deeply nostalgic, unabashedly affectionate and adorably kooky. And if it doesn’t make you feel good, you’ve clearly gone over to the dark side.

For this happy, peppy project, hundreds of Star Wars superfans contributed 15-second intervals of footage, which were then pulled together by filmmaker Casey Pugh. The epic mashup — two hours and eight minutes of valiant goofiness — is now available on YouTube.

Pugh’s handmade movie sticks pretty tight to replicating each sequence of the 1980 original, but it also brings in it own ineffably weird vibe, as 480 amateur auteurs re-imagine the Star Wars universe using a combo of live-action re-enactments and animation.

The animated scenes offer a dizzying display of techniques, including cut-out animation, rotoscoping, retro 8-bit, CGI, Claymation, Lego stop-motion and (one of my favourites) Supermarionation. At one point, the battle of Hoth is elegantly re-enacted by computer-generated balloon animals.

There are also hand puppets, stick puppets, shadow puppets and meat puppets. I mean literally meat puppets: Luncheon meat on a skewer becomes “Ham Solo.” Foodstuffs are a recurring motif, with an emotional scene dramatized by decorated sugar cookies, a space-chase acted out with slices of pepperoni pizza, and a showdown that features an evil “Darth Tater” and various small potatoes.

The live-action sequences are a no-budget DIY nerd-fest. Ardent fans give their all, often backed by nothing more than construction paper, aluminum foil, popsicle sticks and a whole lot of can-do attitude. Space-age technology is rigged up with crayons and minivans are retrofitted for intergalactic travel in an irresistible celebration of ingenuity.

There is something touching about the fact that “a galaxy far, far away” has clearly been constructed within the familiar banality of suburban rec-rooms, after-hours office buildings and university hallways. Many light-sabre duels are fought against backdrops of cluttered bedrooms or messy garages.

Empire Uncut is also a people-positive ode to co-operative creativity. While pop-culture obsessives are often stereotyped as solitary, socially stunted basement boys, this is, by necessity, a really sociable project. Many scenes rely on large casts of friends and family members. There are several button-cute preschool Darth Vaders, as well as a few doughy, balding, middle-aged Lukes.

Chewbacca is played not only by men, women and children but by several confused-looking dogs and one seriously miffed cat. R2-D2 is brought to life by a succession of garbage cans and the occasional small appliance, while C-3PO is most memorably portrayed by a fearless fellow wearing spray-painted gold underpants and not much else.

There is a lot of playing around. While being true to the Star Wars spirit, many filmmakers simultaneously reference westerns, film noir, silent movies, Pixar cartoons, old video games, ’80s video dance parties, ’70s underground comics and — yikes! — Star Trek. There are glimpses of A Clockwork Orange, The Dark Knight Rises and the twee world of Wes Anderson (that would be the rebel soldier in a kid’s scout uniform reporting in with a tin-can phone).

And it’s not just genre that gets shaken up. Hollywood studios could really learn something from this grassroots movement, since the fan version of Empire displays a lot more gender parity and racial diversity than the original.

There is a lot of creative cross-dressing going on, and a certain amount of subversive sexual fluidity. That Han-Leia romantic tension, for instance, gets channelled through some standard man-woman scenes, but it also gets switched up into some man-man and woman-woman pairings. (And, in one unforgettable farewell scene, man-dachshund.) One of the most convincing Princess Leias sports a full beard.

Superfans often get a bad rap for taking things too seriously, but hardly anyone plays this straight. Tense moments are usually undercut with comedy, and there are, of course, countless inside jokes for Star Wars aficionados, including the now obligatory “Han shot first” gag and some spontaneous editorializing about the Luke-Leia liplock.

Ultimately, the Empire Uncut project is a happy triumph of participatory pop culture. In the old days, the studios often came off like the Empire — monolithic, rigid and repressive — while fans were the ragtag rebels. (Remember when Warner Bros. threatened schoolchildren running Harry Potter fan sites over copyright infringement?)

Times have changed. Empire Uncut is fan-made but Lucasfilm approved. It opens with a full endorsement from the company’s Fan Relations Lead, a clear indication that everyone realizes that commercial culture and fan-created culture are symbiotic.

Empire Uncut would be hard to follow for anyone who hasn’t seen the official version, preferably many, many times. Its wonky power is dependent on an audience that is just waiting to jump on lines like “This bucket of bolts is never going to get us past that blockade.” But if Empire Uncut draws on the original, it also amplifies it, evoking memories of the original trilogy with a sudden poignant pull.

Made by hundreds of always passionate, occasionally nutty Star Wars buffs, Empire Uncut is all over the place. But somehow it comes together, united by affection, optimism, enthusiasm… and lots and lots of duct tape. The Force is strong with these ones.

alison.gillmor@freepress.mb.ca