Star Wars space battles the way they should have been, 1980s style

March 24, 2015 10:59 AM

This really amazing 7-minute Star Wars animated short, in the style of 1980s anime like Macross, shows a space battle where the Empire are the good guys taking on a squadron of dasterdly rebels. Enjoy missile trails, awesome sudden close-ups, totally radical explosions, split screens of attractive TIE fighter pilots, and a vaguely annoying anime-inspired soundtrack. This PDF shows how it was all made and introduces you to the characters, along with some neat concept sketches.
posted by blahblahblah (64 comments total)

> "... the Empire are the good guys taking on a squadron of dasterdly rebels."

Really not seeing where you're getting that from, unless they say so in the PDF (which appears to be down right now.) It's certainly not at all evident from the video ...
posted by kyrademon at 11:08 AM on March 24, 2015

I don't get why people dress up as stormtroopers and think the empire is cool. Why are people so fond of space nazis?
posted by smasuch at 11:16 AM on March 24, 2015 [14 favorites]

I don't get why people dress up as stormtroopers and think the empire is cool. Why are people so fond of space nazis?

If you really, really want the answer to that, you could read the comments on the YouTube video (but really you shouldn't).
posted by ricochet biscuit at 11:20 AM on March 24, 2015

The description on YouTube says:

What if there was an Empire-focussed short Star Wars animation, drawn with the crazy detail and shading of classic 80s anime that's all but vanished from Japan nowadays?
Well, I tried my best. Apologies in advance for not living up to Venus Wars standards.

which is pretty close.

This is a real labour of love. Bravo :)
posted by pharm at 11:20 AM on March 24, 2015 [1 favorite]

I don't get why people dress up as stormtroopers and think the empire is cool. Why are people so fond of space nazis?


Uh, have you paid attention to Star Wars? The Rebel Alliance are a bunch of terrorists, resorting to asymmetrical warfare strategies against a vastly superior force they can't hope to face head on. They sneak into places and blow them up to kill large numbers of Imperial troops and support personnel and then melt away into hyperspace again.

Do you honestly think we are the Rebels in that scenario? We ARE the Empire. Our forces ARE the stormtroopers.

Back on point, this is awesome. Really makes me miss the old Legend of the Galactic Heroes.
posted by Naberius at 11:20 AM on March 24, 2015 [17 favorites]

Why are people so fond of space nazis?

Fascists always have better uniforms.
posted by GuyZero at 11:22 AM on March 24, 2015 [32 favorites]

The only good part of the prequels is that they explicitly state that the Jedi are a bunch of assholes who really, actually, 100% for realsies tried to overthrow the also-for-reals democratically elected government and install themselves in power.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 11:24 AM on March 24, 2015 [7 favorites]

This reminds me a lot of Star Blazers. And that's a good thing!
posted by chavenet at 11:30 AM on March 24, 2015

Uh, have you paid attention to Star Wars? The Rebel Alliance are a bunch of terrorists, resorting to asymmetrical warfare strategies against a vastly superior force they can't hope to face head on. They sneak into places and blow them up to kill large numbers of Imperial troops and support personnel and then melt away into hyperspace again.

Do you honestly think we are the Rebels in that scenario? We ARE the Empire. Our forces ARE the stormtroopers.

For real. The Endor chunk of Return of the Jedi couldn't be much more clearly an allegory for Vietnam, and I've always thought that George Lucas doesn't get enough subversive credit for sneakily getting all of America to root wildly for the Viet Cong just by making them teddy bears.
posted by the phlegmatic king at 11:31 AM on March 24, 2015 [46 favorites]

I am a little disappointed that it isn't Pretty Officer Neel, which could almost be an anime title all on its own.
posted by GenjiandProust at 11:36 AM on March 24, 2015

> I don't get why people dress up as stormtroopers and think the empire is cool. Why are people so fond of space nazis?
> Fascists always have better uniforms.

When I was a kid playing with the action figures, I usually wanted to be the Empire because their stuff just looked cooler (although the x-wing and Millennium Falcon were admittedly pretty rad). I also thought Darth Vader was the fucking shit after seeing Empire.
posted by The Card Cheat at 11:37 AM on March 24, 2015

Damn. That's jaw-dropping. Mostly the work of one guy, too. Hell of a labor of love.

I feel like if one was to seriously try to do a show painting the Empire as the good guys, they'd have to find some way to humanize and individualize the individual pilots. The cross-fade to the faces inside the suits was a nice effort but I don't think it really worked; my first thought is "focus on a bunch of ace pilots who have racked up enough kills to have some leeway to decorate their helmets/ships" so that you can instantly say WOO CHECK IT OUT HERE COMES ZARREL KORR* THROUGH THE ASTEROID FIELD TO SAVE THE DAY! Maybe design some open-face helmets for them, at least make the visors clear enough to see eyes or something.

Also not making the commander of the Star Destroyer they're attached to be a stereotypical Hitler Youth would be nice too. A grizzled beardy dude from Anime Space Captain Central Casting or something. Basically assume that Star Wars is Rebel propaganda, and tweak the way the world looks to compensate for that. It'd be a fine line to walk to still keep them quite identifiably "The Empire" but put just enough signifiers of them being the Good Guys. Or I guess you could just keep them the same and show the Rebels committing various atrocities? I dunno, this is about as much thought as I think I want to put into "what would I do if I worked in development at Disney and got told to make a show pitch inspired by this short".**

* or whatever, I just pulled a name out of a Star Wars name generator because the background PDF is unavailable.
** I would not be surprised if this is a situation someone finds themselves in soon. Possibly the dude who drew this.
posted by egypturnash at 11:42 AM on March 24, 2015 [5 favorites]

Is the disappearing helmet thing an anime convention? I've seen it recently in another fanfilm, so I'm guessing it has a common origin.

Nicely done, and yeah. The baddies always seem to have cooler stuff.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 11:56 AM on March 24, 2015

Mod note: One comment deleted. Please don't turn this into a debate over whether the US is a good guy or bad guy in real-world geopolitics. Thanks.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 12:04 PM on March 24, 2015 [5 favorites]

This conversation was over at comment 2 with the first mention of Nazis. It's not just a good idea, it's the law.
posted by chisel at 12:05 PM on March 24, 2015 [1 favorite]

I don't get why people dress up as stormtroopers and think the empire is cool.

Some folks seem hard-wired for authoritarianism, whether the Empire's brutal autocracy or the Jedi Order's midichlorian-based oligarchy.

Lucas very clearly used Nazi Germany as the aesthetic and thematic basis for the fascistic empire.

Except for blatantly ripping off Leni Riefenstahl's Triumph des Willens for the closing scene of Star Wars, of course.

Then again, this fan video also fits perfectly with anime's rather queasy relationship with militarism.
posted by Doktor Zed at 12:15 PM on March 24, 2015 [2 favorites]

Where's the mysterious masked imperial pilot who flies a TIE fighter painted completely red?
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 12:17 PM on March 24, 2015 [15 favorites]

0:57 Imperial Droid sets up an RSS Feed
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 12:23 PM on March 24, 2015 [2 favorites]

Music is awful, but the animation is just wonderful for a one-guy operation. I love fans sometimes - really impressive.
posted by Palindromedary at 12:35 PM on March 24, 2015 [1 favorite]

Hmm. Apparently, it was a trap.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 12:40 PM on March 24, 2015 [6 favorites]

Why are people so fond of space nazis?

Crocodile Dundee Voice: Those aren't space nazis. THESE are space nazis!
posted by Parasite Unseen at 12:46 PM on March 24, 2015 [3 favorites]

Why are people so fond of space nazis?

Fascists always have better uniforms.

they've got superior jeans
posted by nathancaswell at 12:53 PM on March 24, 2015 [18 favorites]

I don't get why people dress up as stormtroopers and think the empire is cool. Why are people so fond of space nazis?

Eh, Star Wars is such a pastiche. Style influences aside, the Empire appears to be as much an interstellar Roman Empire.


I notice in this animated short that the Imperial pilots are not clones of each other. One of the many things I dislike about modern Star Wars is the stormtroopers being clones. I know that was supposedly an idea going back to early drafts of the original movie’s script, but I don’t believe that was still true by the time the movie was completed. Despite the reference to the “Clone Wars” in the first film (I think it was mentioned), it seems like the Imperial soldiers are a mix of volunteers and possibly conscripts, much like the Roman legions or the armies of modern nations. If I recall correctly, the idea that farm kids from Tatooine could join the military is implied.

I believe that the revival by Lucas of the concept of cloned soldiers was retconned onto the early films as much as Greedo shooting first. (Also, I don’t believe when the first film was made that Darth Vader was supposed to be Luke’s father.)
posted by D.C. at 12:55 PM on March 24, 2015 [2 favorites]

D.C., I haven't really kept up with anything in the Expanded Universe, beyond Zahn's original trilogy and knowing it exists, but my understanding is that it's generally agreed that by the time of the original trilogy, the Imperial forces are mostly not clones any more--the use of the clone armies was a short term ploy to go from not-much-of-a-military to big military overnight. Those conflicts were called the Clone Wars because that's what was unusual about them--if every soldier from then on was a clone, then the name doesn't make too much sense.

When the trailer for the upcoming film came out, apparently showing a stormtrooper who was rather darker than the clones, there were some people who instantly complained about it...but there were others who came back just as quickly with what I'm saying above (as well as others who pointed out that Luke and Han are in stormtrooper gear at one point).
posted by Four Ds at 1:05 PM on March 24, 2015 [4 favorites]

Four Ds: "I haven't really kept up with anything in the Expanded Universe"

Then I have some good news for you.
posted by Rock Steady at 1:10 PM on March 24, 2015 [1 favorite]

Also, back to the short for a second - it's amazing, it's incredible that it's the work of one guy and the music may be cheeseball but it was equally great. Kudos to the music person as well as the animator.
posted by GuyZero at 1:14 PM on March 24, 2015 [1 favorite]

Crocodile Dundee Voice: Those aren't space nazis. THESE are space nazis!

I think anyone who endured the third season of Enterprise can identify a space Nazi, thank you very much.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 1:14 PM on March 24, 2015 [3 favorites]

I don't get why people dress up as stormtroopers and think the empire is cool. Why are people so fond of space nazis?

Look, it's not my fault TIE Fighter is the best videogame in history, it just is the best videogame in history. That's just how it ended up. And it's about the bad guys. So here we are.
Also if you're going to dress up with a bunch of other people, what looks cooler, 50 Lukes or 50 Stormtroopers?
posted by EndsOfInvention at 1:18 PM on March 24, 2015 [12 favorites]

(as well as others who pointed out that Luke and Han are in stormtrooper gear at one point).

And Luke is explicitly called out on it in the first movie.

Which, OK, it was retconned. Then it was re-retconned. And some of that took place in novels that are now not canon. But were at the time. Don't be smug when people are confused.

George shot last
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 1:19 PM on March 24, 2015

Also, all the Rebel helmets. Why is every Rebel extra kitted out to do a bicycling time trial?
posted by GuyZero at 1:20 PM on March 24, 2015 [5 favorites]

Also, all the Rebel helmets. Why is every Rebel extra kitted out to do a bicycling time trial?

When you're holed up inside an ancient temple on Yavin, or wherever you're hiding out these days, there are very few things to do for fun but lots of open space to build bike tracks that swing around the starships.
posted by Tomorrowful at 1:24 PM on March 24, 2015 [3 favorites]

Nice effort, but every piece of Imperial equipment is designed to make them look faceless, monolithic, and malevolent. It'll take more than a few cutaway helmets to fix that.
posted by ckape at 1:30 PM on March 24, 2015

Also, all the Rebel helmets. Why is every Rebel extra kitted out to do a bicycling time trial?


They may be marginally successful against the Empire, but they consistently crush the Galactic hour record.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 1:40 PM on March 24, 2015

Needs more closeups of quivering eyes. But an all-round excellent effort!
posted by Kabanos at 1:41 PM on March 24, 2015

When the trailer for the upcoming film came out, apparently showing a stormtrooper who was rather darker than the clones, there were some people who instantly complained about it...

And you can find some of them in the YouTube comments I warned people about.

but there were others who came back just as quickly with what I'm saying above (as well as others who pointed out that Luke and Han are in stormtrooper gear at one point).

Yeah, one of my favourite things is that Mark "Aren't You A Little Short for A Stormtrooper" Hamill is actually taller than Temuera "Template" Morrison. Given how Hamill does indeed look like a thirteen-year-old in his dad's suit while in the gear (and Harrison Ford, half a foot taller than Morrison, looks unremarkable), this should tell us that stormtroopers and clone troopers are not the same people.

My god, I am laying out arguments online about Star Wars. Is it 1994 already?
posted by ricochet biscuit at 1:41 PM on March 24, 2015 [4 favorites]

I dunno if I believe new anime has no detail or shading. I see a lot of crazy detail and shading in new stuff. Heck, in new/old stuff, like the redo of Yamato 2199 (and apparently Voyager plans to bring it here as Star Blazers 2199), you get modern CGI with classic cues in both art and music (MUSIC!).

(yeah, I missed the SB thread earlier this month, otherwise I'd be chiming in then)
posted by linux at 2:20 PM on March 24, 2015

So this is the Mighty OtaKing, who did an anime version of Dr Who a few years ago.

He seems to have been working on this one for a while, here's a 2-minute work in progress from 2012 with sound FX added by someone else.
posted by effbot at 2:54 PM on March 24, 2015 [2 favorites]

I mean, those wedges of moldy cheese they call "Star Destroyers" are, at best, basic.

I thought they were pretty cool. What do you mean by "basic"? These and these look more basic than a Star Destroyer. No one says they're basic moldy cheese wedges.
posted by Hoopo at 3:39 PM on March 24, 2015 [1 favorite]

The cross-fade to the faces inside the suits was a nice effort but I don't think it really worked

I thought the disappearing helmets was inspired. It reminds me of the "face-cam" shots of Tony Stark in the Marvel movies (where he's obviously wearing a helmet that's too tight to allow the shot) and to a lesser extent the cockpits in Gundam, which are (in-universe) spherical display screens that show the surrounding space, allowing us to see the characters apparently floating (AND SHOUTING) in open space.
posted by The Tensor at 3:46 PM on March 24, 2015 [4 favorites]

That was great, and I love that it was clearly made by someone who's played a helluva lot of old school XWing and TIE Fighter. I want more! Interdictors, ion cannons, space dogfights -- and no goddamned overplayed Jedi/Force bollocks! And count me in the group that thought the helmet cutaways worked quite nicely.
posted by barnacles at 5:10 PM on March 24, 2015 [1 favorite]

smasmuch: Why are people so fond of space nazis?

I will try an answer, as someone who has long obsessed over warships and militaria. There is a balance of aggression, simplicity, and elegance within the fascist aesthetic. Consider the Schwere Gustav.... it was a horribly inefficient was of resources, but it was the most colossal gun ever conceived. It failed at the reality of war, but it's a shining monument to the fantasy of war. The fascists dealt in psychological warfare, were pioneers of it. Design aesthetics and principals critically slowed their prototypes- the delay of the Me 262, the flaws of the HE 177.... just in order to ensure war machines that matched 'the blitzkrieg style'. The Nazi air superiority on the Eastern front could have been absolutely lethal if the luftwaffe had fielded greater numbers of the Hs 129 (the A-10 of the 1940s), but the Hs 129 was slow and ugly and over-specialized...

My point was that fascists were never logical, but in many ways worked on the basis of things that were coherent to our instinctual senses of what was exciting combat.

Science fiction fascists, be they the Empire or the Imperium of Man, continue these principles, albeit in a fantastic setting. There is a geometric beauty to the crispness of their formations. The appeal of such dark legions almost never lays in the practices of the every day, but instead in the circumstances of the fantastic. It's not about appeal or ideology or philosophy, it's about the raw aesthetics.

What are the space nazis doing? Conquering, engaging in heated combat. You never see Palpatine's equivalent of the Volksturm; it's always more elite units, and then more elite units, and even more elite units. Hasbro doesn't release Reservists of Cobra action figures. There will be no blister packs for Space Marine concentration camp guards, even though genocide and xenocide are a regular part of their duties.

So what is left is adrenalin, order, and clarity. The Orks of Sauron do not have a similar appeal, nor even the scruffy Klingons, why? Because the space nazis are platonic. We wish that our tribe could be that coherent, that crisp, that conflicts were simple. In a world of guerrila war, assymetrical war, muddled destabliziation, there is a deep appeal to the idea of a giht with clearly drawn lines of order and sharp contrasts.

In a sense, the appeal of space nazis is a modern repackaging of the same impulse and urge that made the cult of Elan in France, or the general enthusiasm for war that swept Europe in 1914. (almost) everybody then imagined epic battles with armies of valiant youths in crisp uniforms (Le Pantalon Rouge! Die Pickelhaube!), decided by valor and maneuver.

Space nazis cater to that dream, albeit in a way that is utterly detached from nationalism or temporal politics. In some ways, I'd argue that it's actually a positive outlet. Would you prefer people doing Civil War re-enactments instead? To my knowledge, Imperial enthusiasts and Games Workshoppers haven't exactly formed policlubs.

Does that help?
posted by LeRoienJaune at 6:37 PM on March 24, 2015 [13 favorites]

So this is the Mighty OtaKing, who did an anime version of Dr Who yt a few years ago.

My favorite thing of his is The Rise And Fall Of Anime Fansubs, where he explains some of the biggest problems with anime fandom in the West today. Really worth watching, even if there's a few slipups in his arguments.
posted by NoxAeternum at 7:39 PM on March 24, 2015 [1 favorite]

Notice please, that no Millennium Falcon was harmed in this production. Because that, my friends, would not stand. And Paul Johnson knows this.
posted by valkane at 8:02 PM on March 24, 2015

Nice effort, but every piece of Imperial equipment is designed to make them look faceless, monolithic, and malevolent. It'll take more than a few cutaway helmets to fix that.

The stormtroopers are also helmeted so that Lucas et al can kill them off in scores and the audience won't be emotionally affected. This is also one of the reasons the droid armies are used in the prequels.
posted by Nevin at 8:24 PM on March 24, 2015 [1 favorite]

They blew up a Nebulon-B. That's a medical vessel.
posted by Apocryphon at 8:49 PM on March 24, 2015 [3 favorites]

They blew up a Nebulon-B. That's a medical vessel.

Yeah sure, on a diplomatic mission no doubt.
posted by aubilenon at 9:23 PM on March 24, 2015 [10 favorites]

Um, actually...

The Nebulon-B was mostly used as a military vessel.

I had a long period in my life where I did not think about Star Wars. Now, with my children as an excuse and Wookipedia as my fix, I know far more than I ever did when I was a kid... Also, check out the video in the um, actually link.
posted by blahblahblah at 9:48 PM on March 24, 2015 [3 favorites]

3 star destroyers vs a measley frigate and some corellian corvettes? Talk about overkill!
posted by Joe Chip at 10:16 PM on March 24, 2015

I do hope any Bothans in the area managed to get to safety.
posted by blueberry at 10:25 PM on March 24, 2015 [2 favorites]

I think the rebels were lured into this slaughter. It was...
posted by GuyZero at 10:42 PM on March 24, 2015

He seems to have been working on this one for a while, here's a 2-minute work in progress from 2012 with sound FX added by someone else.

I KNEW i had seen this before. This made the rounds over and over online when it came out. I feel like it has to be even older than 2012, though. He deleted his original upload of the WIP version, but i swear it was from.... 2009-2011? I remember watching it in my first apartment in college, for sure.

I seriously didn't realize this wasn't just that same short video when i was posted, i just thought it had finally made it here. It's actually really cool this got finished.

I'm kinda sad that the fan dub had more satisfying music though. The choice here reminds me a bit of force commander(which is yet another game which had all the required elements on paper to be great, and just completely fell on its face)
posted by emptythought at 1:13 AM on March 25, 2015

This is insanely good. And the PDF has all sorts of awesome and weirdly quirky details (Commander Gaunt loves to give fruit to people; Flight Lieutenant Ada has a scar that she tells people she got in a skirmish fighting 12 Rebel X-Wings, but which she actually got opening a closet). I love Paul Johnson's work, and it's wonderful seeing his working TIE fighter footage finally get finished.
posted by suburbanbeatnik at 2:08 AM on March 25, 2015 [2 favorites]

As a huge nerd and fan of both Star Wars and Heavy Metal - I approve of this whole heartedly!
posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 6:29 AM on March 25, 2015 [1 favorite]

Holy cats. this film was terrific. Bravo!
posted by Gelatin at 9:04 AM on March 25, 2015

Crocodile Dundee Voice: Those aren't space nazis. THESE are space nazis!

Crocodile Dundee Voice: Those aren't space nazis. THESE are space nazis!
posted by Ben Trismegistus at 9:21 AM on March 25, 2015 [1 favorite]

I think they could have made the doomed Rebels a bit more distinct by depicting non-male, non-human pilots and other personnel.
posted by Apocryphon at 10:36 AM on March 25, 2015

This conversation was over at comment 2 with the first mention of Nazis. It's not just a good idea, it's the law.

Except that isn't what the law says at all. Read it again.

Really not seeing where you're getting that from

It's called TIE FIGHTER, not EQUALLY VALID BUT OPPOSING SPACE FORCES for one. The TIE pilots are the ones doing all the cool shit. The opening sequence is entirely focused on their preparations, per the good guy prep sequences seen in everything from Thunderbirds to Buck Rogers to Battlestar to Robotech to Voltron. The X-Wing pilots die and die and die, because they are minions. The Y-Wing pilot is a murderous backstabber with no honour. The crew of the larger Rebel ships are invisible, except when exploding. Their command is nowhere to be seen, except silhouetted against flames.

my understanding is that it's generally agreed that by the time of the original trilogy, the Imperial forces are mostly not clones any more

It's there in Episode IV: both Biggs and Luke want to go to the Academy.
posted by obiwanwasabi at 2:56 PM on March 25, 2015 [1 favorite]

I think they could have made the doomed Rebels a bit more distinct by depicting non-male, non-human pilots and other personnel.

I thought they were supposed to be clones.
posted by Nevin at 4:09 PM on March 25, 2015

It's there in Episode IV: both Biggs and Luke want to go to the Academy.

I think you're right that Imperial forces aren't all clones by the time of the OT. This is partly supported by the deleted "Biggs on Tatooine" scene, but not because Biggs has attended (and Luke wants to attend) "the Academy". It's pretty clear from context that the Academy is some kind of merchant spacer school, not a military school:

1. Biggs isn't wearing a uniform and doesn't mention a military rank.
2. He says he's "signed aboard" the Rand Ecliptic (which sounds like a civilian taking a job rather than like a military assignment), where he'll be the "first mate" (a civilian rank in real life).
3. He tells Luke he's planning to jump ship and join the Rebellion, "not going to wait for the Empire to draft me into service".
4. Luke later says, "I'll be at the Academy next season...after that who knows. I won't be drafted into the Imperial Starfleet that's for sure."

So it's pretty clear that graduating from the Academy does not necessarily result in Imperial military service—you have to be drafted, too. However, the fact that both Biggs and Luke worry about being drafted implies that non-clones are eligible, at least for the Starfleet.

There's no direct evidence about who is eligible to be a stormtrooper in the OT, but we can draw the conclusion that they're not identical from the fact that Han and Luke (who are played by actors with four inches difference in height) can both wear stormtrooper uniforms—why would they be adjustable at all if all troopers were clones?—and are not instantly identified as imposters by anyone who sees them and hears their voices.
posted by The Tensor at 4:09 PM on March 25, 2015 [3 favorites]

Basically assume that Star Wars is Rebel propaganda, and tweak the way the world looks to compensate for that. It'd be a fine line to walk to still keep them quite identifiably "The Empire" but put just enough signifiers of them being the Good Guys. Or I guess you could just keep them the same and show the Rebels committing various atrocities?

Good news! The series you are envisioning has already been made. It's called Legend of the Galactic Heroes, and it's what the Star Wars Universe will eventually converge towards a couple hundred years after Return of the Jedi.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 4:55 PM on March 25, 2015

It's pretty clear from context that the Academy is some kind of merchant spacer school, not a military school

But is 'the Academy' from ANH the same as 'the Imperial Academy' in (official canon) SW:Rebels?

I always took 'I'm not going to get drafted' to mean that if conscription is a risk, you might as well get some training and hope to (a) get posted someplace nicer with a higher pay grade and maybe some armour and (b) have the training ('only Imperial stormtroopers are so precise') to survive your term. Conscripts are blaster fodder (or maybe desk jockeys / blanket folders), and so conscription is best avoided.
posted by obiwanwasabi at 3:49 AM on March 26, 2015

But Biggs is worried about being drafted even though he has already graduated from the Academy and joined the crew of a ship.
posted by The Tensor at 10:31 AM on March 26, 2015 [1 favorite]

Yes, you're right. With a commission, no less. Hrm.
posted by obiwanwasabi at 6:45 PM on March 26, 2015

It's called TIE FIGHTER, not EQUALLY VALID BUT OPPOSING SPACE FORCES for one.

Ironically, out of X-Wing, TIE Fighter, and X-Wing vs TIE Fighter, the latter was definitely the weakest game.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 4:25 AM on March 27, 2015