"The Empire Strikes Back Uncut" is a remake made up of fan-made films

October 11, 2014 4:06 PM

"The evil lord Cat Vader, obsessed with finding young Skywalker, has dispatched thousands of remote minivan probes into the far reaches of the swimming pool... Ahem... Space."

In 2009, Casey Pugh asked Internet users to remake Star Wars into a fan film, 15 seconds at a time. In a few months time, thousands of fans responded with extraordinary creativity from around the world. Five years later, Star Wars Uncut (previously) was released. It was was such a success that in 2012 he solicited more fan-made films to create the next installment. A panel of 20 judges culled through over 1500 submission and more than 480 were chosen to create the shot-for-shot remake of the newest release, The Empire Strikes Back Uncut.

posted by Room 641-A (13 comments total)

I started watching this last night, I'm at the medical-recovery scene on Hoth and I have to say that I really like this. The curation is excellent, almost every clip has had a novel concept behind it (e.g. film inside an empty refrigerator ) even if the execution wasn't perfect. Audio continuity is excellent, I'll probably digest 5-10 minutes a night in bed for the next week or two.

P.S. I don't know how thy got the OK to use the 20th Century Fox logo at the beginning but this bodes well for the musical intro for Episode 7 (even if it's a Disney logo instead).
posted by furtive at 4:16 PM on October 11, 2014

I simultaneously love this and find it totally exhausting to watch. There's just so much packed in there; it's like leaping between parallel universes with every take. Maybe 5-10 chunks really is the way to watch it: The Internet video catches and subsumes the Hollywood blockbuster, like a mammoth in tar bantha in a sarlacc pit.
posted by bicyclefish at 4:56 PM on October 11, 2014 [2 favorites]

What. I thought this was literally unreleasable because of THE MOUSE. Imagine a Lovecraftian elder god that vaguely resembles a horrible, mind-wrecking parody of a mouse. That's the Disney corporation, which bought Lucasfilm partway through the Empire Uncut project.

I wonder if Disney will allow Jedi Uncut, or if their allowing of the release of Empire Uncut was an attempt at avoiding bad publicity.

Edit: From their Twitter: "TBD if we do Jedi though :)" If Disney lets it happen, it's a sign of the apocalypse. I know I sound like a defeatist but it's just that easy to be jaded about Disney in relation to situations like this.
posted by BiggerJ at 5:31 PM on October 11, 2014 [2 favorites]

HOTH DANCE PARTY
posted by Room 641-A at 6:43 PM on October 11, 2014 [1 favorite]

Spoiler: Ewoks
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 6:45 PM on October 11, 2014

watching the first compilation (SW Uncut) brought me to tears a bunch of times. i'm downloading this right now and can't wait to watch. i watched most of the first in one sitting -- that rush of adrenaline, of not knowing what could possibly come next, just doesn't let up the whole damn time. it's amazing.
posted by waxbanks at 7:08 PM on October 11, 2014 [2 favorites]

I really hoped to make a submission this time around, and picked the taun taun slicing scene, but never got around to finishing it. I hope the one that made it is really, really good so I don't have too many regrets.

I enjoyed the first immensely, and I'm sure I'll feel a tinge of melancholy after I finish this one.

As for Disney, it was announced that Lucasfilm would have more direct supervision over ESB Uncut. It looks like the project was announced just before the Disney buyout was made official, but I'm guessing they were fine with it. What this means for lesser fan films, who knows.
posted by TheSecretDecoderRing at 7:16 PM on October 11, 2014

One of the great things about Lucas Film is that they seem to be relatively relaxed about copyright and allowing fans to remix and play with the work. I saw one of the last performances of the One Man Star Wars show a couple of years back and at the end of the show Charles Ross sat down on the stage and talked about how it had all come about. Apparently, he had been doing the show for quite some time before he realised their might be a copyright problem. Then he got an email from Lucas Film basically saying "we know about you" which put the wind up him for a while. But they were totally cool and I think he even got booked by them to do some shows for their corporate functions.
posted by drnick at 7:43 PM on October 11, 2014

I don't see how they couldn't eventually do a follow-up with "Jedi Uncut," but it'd cause an awful lot of snickering.
posted by TheSecretDecoderRing at 8:03 PM on October 11, 2014

I am enjoying this so far, I jumped head to the Battle of Hoth. I like the beardy guys at 22.15 hamming it up and their wipe joke and the little kids getting to do the "Punch It!" escape from Hoth scene in the falcon.
posted by biffa at 5:16 AM on October 12, 2014

One of the great things about Lucas Film is that they seem to be relatively relaxed about copyright and allowing fans to remix and play with the work

Wha...what Universe am I in right now?
posted by nzero at 9:56 AM on October 12, 2014

I directed this scene like two years ago now! Sadly not picked even though we clearly have the best Yoda. Luke is played by a very dignified philosophy professor wearing my mom's old khaki jacket.
posted by daisystomper at 1:02 PM on October 12, 2014

I was expecting something else.

I find the lack of circumcision jokes disturbing.
posted by Winnemac at 9:12 PM on October 12, 2014 [1 favorite]