StarWoids
This is a documentary about the fans who waited in line for Episode I, with tons of extras. (The Special Edition coming in the fall will be a double-disc set with the entire Star Wars musical and mini docs on the Episode II and III lines.) There is a cool Easter Egg on this DVD that takes you to a screen with step-by-step instructions of how to turn your automobile into an X-wing style hotrod.
StarWoids Easter Egg:
The hidden easter egg consists of a photo-essay which provides plans to turn an average automobile into an X-Wing car. Here's how to find the hidden plans:
- From the MAIN MENU, go to the EXTRAS page
- From the EXTRAS page, go to BIOGRAPHIES
- On the BIOGRAPHIES page, highlight the name KATIE HORN (she's known as the ROGUE SQUADRON LEADER)
- On KATIE HORN'S BIOGRAPHY page, press UP and then PLAY
- You found the Easter egg! You will be treated to a photo-essay detailing precisely how Katie took her lame old auto and turned it into a mean X-Wing Car. It's really cool!
Jar Jar Binks: The F! True Hollywood Story
In the style of an E! True Hollywood Story, this mockumentary spoofs the fans’ hatred for Jar Jar after Episode I. It shows Jar Jar growing up, then getting his big showbiz break, then his descent into the dark side of drugs and hard living. It has tons of extras, including a fake George Lucas commentary. (“Special effects are just a tool to tell a story.”) There’s an Easter egg on every page; just click over and highlight Jar Jar on each menu for hidden footage.
Hardware Wars
The original Star Wars spoof has been updated with new digital effects in kind of a parody of Lucas’ updating of the original trilogy. It’s good dumb fun.
Star Wars Holiday Special
So terrible, you must see it. There’s this loose story about Chewbacca having to return to his home planet for “Life Day,” and it has the original cast from Star Wars: Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher. The Star Wars cartoon is by far the best part about the special. The story is top-notch and introduces the character of Boba Fett in an adventure-filled 12 minutes. If you find it online, be sure to get the version that has the commercials still on it as there are original commercials for Kenner Star Wars toys. George is embarrassed by this and has said it will never be released, so get it any way you can.
War of the Planets
(Os Trapalhoes na Guerra dos Planetas)
This Brazilian rip off of Star Wars came out in 1978. It’s like a crappy Sid & Marty Krofft show from the ‘70s on Mexican television. It has a guy in a bad Darth Vader mask chasing these goofy characters in dune buggies.
The Man Who Saved the World (AKA "Turkish Star Wars")
(Dunyayi Kurtaran Adam)
The film was actually inducted into the B-Movie Hall of Fame. Turkish films are a little-known cult cinema and I’m not even sure if people in Turkey know they have a fan base in the United States. What the filmmakers there do is take big-budget American movies like Star Wars, Star Trek, Superman, E.T., The Exorcist, Wizard of Oz and they use all the big set pieces, special effects and action sequences and then recast the characters with Turkish actors. They're so bad, it’s hysterical. What they are doing is totally illegal by international copyright laws, but you know, Turkey is the Middle East and it’s dangerous. I can’t see the MPAA stopping them.
Star Wars Definitive Collection laser disc
I actually own a Laser Active player that plays Sega CD discs and very rare, Laser Active video games that worked using these giant discs. Anyway, this is the ONLY way to see the original trilogy as close to how it was ORIGINALLY released to theaters before the BUTCHERING of the Special Editions. Personally, I prefer restoration, not alteration. So, I’m not a fan of the Special Editions. (However, George could remake Return of the Jedi as any changes might make that better.) I think George can change the original trilogy all he wants—just make two versions available like Francis Ford Coppola has with Apocalypse Now. If you look hard on the web, some fans are converting these laser discs to DVD, so poke around, you can get it.
Read more of Chris Gore's reviews and views at www.filmthreat.com and www.chrisgore.com.
