A while back, I came across StarWarsUncut.com, a site that divided Star Wars (A New Hope) into 15-second segments and encouraged Star Wars fans to take one of the clips, shoot it however they deemed fit, and upload the sequence back to the site. The end result includes some pretty well-crafted shots and, well, some equally… interesting ones. Ultimately, the goal was to encourage people of all ages and cinematic aptitude to exercise their creative skills, recreate their favorite scene in the Star Wars, and show it off to the world.
Now the site has released “Star Wars Uncut: Director’s Cut,” an assembly of the wildly varying versions of each movie segment into a two-hour-long, full-length version of the original film. While this masterpiece of crowd-sourcing isn’t exactly screen-worthy, it’s a great display of the sheer volume and variety of creativity Internet crowd-sourcing taps. From live-action tinfoil renditions of C-3PO to action figures on the beach and even simple cardboard cutouts taped to straws these clips show just how much people love Star Wars. (My favorite so far is the purring cat-Jawa, by the way.)
I think it’s clear how much fun people had creating these clips, and it just goes to show how sites that encourage user-generated content are worth protecting. And hey, if you have time check out the full-length cut above.
Though the BluRays don’t release until September 16th, Twentieth Century Fox released an iPad app which they claim offers “a varied sampling of bonus materials featured in the collection including never-before-seen content sourced from the Lucasfilm archives.” Admittedly, it seems that all the cool stuff in the app will be available on the BluRays when they hit shelves. So if you’re planning to buy them maybe it makes sense to just wait. But if you’re not planning to spring for the new collection, this might give you a bit of fun — for a hell of a lot less cash. In fact, it’s free.
In 1977, George Lucas modeled his space opera after the matinee adventures he watched as a child. Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon, and Zorro were all garnished with damsels in distress. Beautiful women placed in peril allowing the male hero to rescue them and save the day. The hero fought off armies of foes while the damsel sat by idle, an inanimate object with no power over her own destiny.
The 8 1/2 Foot Tall 2010 Shooter Family Geek Christmas Tree
I’m sure just about everyone reading this article has some sort of a holiday tradition. Our family has several and usually includes the boys in the family going to see whatever SciFi blockbuster is out. This year our plans are to see Tron Legacy together. One of our other long lasting traditions involve each member of the family receiving a Hallmark Christmas Tree Ornament in our stockings. My mother, Mom Shooter, has been responsible for assembling this gift each year for the past 20 or 30 years. Everyone has one or two series that they follow from year to year. My father, Dad Shooter, has received the Classic American Car series every year since 1991. The girls usually end up with a Disney series ornament. I have received the All American Trucks series off and on since 2000, but each and every year Mom Shooter makes sure I receive some sort of a SciFi Hallmark Christmas Tree ornament. In fact, our family have received so many Hallmark ornaments that we’ve had to add a second full-sized tree in our home to handle all of our favorite ornaments. For those of you that follow me on Twitter, you’ve already seen our “geek” tree, but for those of you who didn’t get the chance, here’s a little tour of the vehicle and ship ornaments on our tree.
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The sci-fi film/television production community is surprisingly close knit. Everyone seems to know everyone else, and it would be difficult to come up with two movies or shows that couldn’t be connected “six degrees of separation”-style. With that in mind, it should come as no surprise that a lot of sci-fi contains nods to other works in the genre. One of my favorite things to do when rewatching sci-fi is to keep my eyes peeled for robots/ships/props/etc. from other TV shows or movies to make cameo appearances. And believe it or not, it’s actually pretty common. Allow me to be your guide as we take a look at sci-fi past and present to explore some of the coolest — and some of the most well hidden – of these appearances.
Steampunk meets, erm, future punk. Check out this steampunk Boba Fett on Dragon Con Walk of Fame!
Zachary Quinto stopped by the Video West arcade in Glendale, CA, last week to get his game on and help promote Stride Gum’s mission to help Save the Arcades. To help choose which local arcade will get a $25,000 boost from Stride, old-school gaming fans can play the online Flash game Zapataur — then choose which arcade gets their earned in-game points. The arcade with the most points in the end gets the cash.
As most gamers know, the arcades of the 70s and early 80s met their demise (mostly) with the increased popularity and affordability of home consoles. The Wikipedia entry on arcade history explains how arcades began to develop a reputation for being “seedy, unsafe places” while home gaming technology like the Nintendo NES, Sega Genesis, and eventually the PlayStation advanced to become equal to and eventually better and cheaper than arcade gaming — not to mention longer playing times.
Just a small morsel to temp your taste buds on the exhibit hall floor! The next Food Network Star? You saw it here first! (Or maybe at your local con. Either way!) Friday was such a great day. We’re all beat. More details later as my mind is still on hyper-drive.
Sadly, replicators aren’t standard in Earth kitchens. And we don’t live in the Star Wars universe where the only food we see onscreen is a pear flying through the air. Thankfully we’re not forced to choke down algae mash with our algae coffee every morning. But if you’ve ever had a hankering for the food you see in your favorite sci-fi or fantasy series, chances are someone’s come up with a recipe – many of which aren’t much harder to prepare than saying “Tea. Earl Grey. Hot.”
Please join the the GWC community in the Book Club select for August, Heir to the Empire by Timothy Zahn here
Wrapping up our Star Wars podcast arc, we squeeze in one last podcast solely to address listener calls. Highlights: we check in with GWCers who attended ComiCon, listen to DawnAZ’s “high maintenance” Leia howler, talk Star Wars toys one last time, wonder about SW droid religions, marvel at the uncool that is Corvette Summer, offer to pay for Audra’s Salacious Crumb tattoo, and announce our next arc: The Matrix.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
With this week’s feature, Return of the Jedi, we near the end of our GWC Star Wars podcast arc. Highlights: we marvel at Leia’s distinct memory of her mother’s beauty during the two minutes they both lived, questioned the Jedi “from some point of view” approach to truth, skeeved out at Palpatine the perv, discussed Jedi the musical, heard Audra’s Jedi-era hair analysis, and wend our way through tales involving generic baggers and Salma Hayek. We didn’t get to calls again this week, but don’t despair: next week’s podcast will be a call-only show wrapping up the Star Wars arc!
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
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