The oldest fan films you can think of

Hello there!

I am Adrien Débart, some may remember me from a post I made in October 2020. I was working on Star Wars fan films made in the 1990s and 2000s. Well, I am now a Ph.D. student who works on the evolution of Star Wars fan films over the decades. Thus, I am building a database for my doctoral dissertation, and I currently lack ancient fan films. The only ones I have found are Hardware Wars (1977), Star Wars Remake (1980), The Imperials Strike Back (1978-1980), and Return of the Ewok (1982). I wondered if you heard or even saw other old (from the 1970s and the 1980s) fan movies? I know that homemade cinema evolved during the 1990s, but I am 100% sure that there are more than four Star Wars fan films made before Troops. It could really help me in my research!

Moreover, if you, by chance, are their creator, I might want to interview you! Do not hesitate to send me an email: adrien.debart@gmail.com

Thank you, and may the Force be with you!

Adrien

 

There were some kids from Mississippi that did a shot-for-shot remake of Raiders of the Lost Ark over the span of almost a decade.

 

Hi, thank you for your reply! I love this movie so much haha! Though, I was thinking especially about old Star Wars fan films. Maybe you know some?

 

Uh wow, I wonder if this is still active.
The oldest fan film that is Star Wars related that I know of is Star Wars Contract of Evil. I dug up a behind the scenes vid that will hopefully help you out. The creator of the fan film is Lou Klein and according to some the film was released around October of 04.

 

It is still active indeed, thank you so much for your reply! I already knew Contract of Evil, this one has been in my fan film index for 3 years now. The BTS will surely come in handy, though, thanks!

I’m especially looking for older Star Wars fan movies at the moment, from before 1997. If some of you know one, please contact me here or by email: adrien.debart@gmail.com.

I wish you guys a happy new year!

 

To the best of my ability that would be this one from 1978. "Imperials"



Also, I don't remember the exact details since I haven't seen the dvd in a long time, but I believe the 2011 release of Star Wars had bonus features about the impact of Empire Strikes Back and it showed short segments of fan films, one of which was a Claymation. My memory is fuzzy on this, so I can't be to sure.

I did also find a video about a fan film know as Sidewalk Wars that began work in 1977, but wasn't finished till 33 years later. Here is some behind the scenes, the creators have an entire playlist on its history on their channel Happy Orb Films.

 

Thank you so much for all the information, your reply is precious for my research.

I already entered Imperials in my fan film index, I love this one!

I definitely need to watch the bonus features of ESB, especially if it contains fan films. I suppose the Blu-ray version from 2011 will have it (it’s the only version I actually have from 2011).

I didn’t know Sidewalk Wars, that’s great! I couldn’t find the full movie online though, I’m not sure it’s still available...

 

When looking back at films pre 2000, probably the most famous is Hardware Wars as mentioned in another post (after all it did appear in the Making of Star Wars back in the 70s), but there other live action films which you may not have even heard of. Somewhat ironically, most of these came from Australia.

- Probably the oldest 'serious' film was Quest of the Jedi made in around 1992-ish in Canada. This was feature length and made on such a basic production level with amateur acting it was actually quite difficult to watch. Perhaps one of its biggest claims to fame was featuring armoured Stormtrooper costumes which were made in Australia. Unfortunately the film's producer got into strife from Lucasfilm when he tried to sell them (to recoup costs) after the film finished production.

- Bounty Trail was released in 1999 from Australia. Made by a group professional video producers, some of the space ship sequences and shots look eerily familiar to those seen in the Jango Fett/Obi-Wan asteroid field chase in Attack of the Clones released three years later. Although Troops (1997) is considered the first high quality Star Wars fan film ever made, in fact the Bounty Trail trailer pre dates Troops by over a year - but unfortunately this trailer is pretty much considered lost, even though it was screened to large crowds of people in Australia in both 1995 and 1996.

- The Dark Redemption was relleased in 1999 also from Australia. This film was so ambitious that Lucasfilm heard about it and were even concerned it was stealing their publicity - sending out 'cease and desist' letters. To highlight how big this production was, it was actually shot at the Fox Studios in Sydney (yes where AOTC and ROTS were filmed), had purposely built sets and was the first fan film to ever feature an actual actor from Star Wars itself (Peter Sumner as Pol Treidum still asking about TK 421). Furthermore, the film featured THE BEST interpretation of Mara Jade you'll ever see.

- Finally there was Desert Duel released in 1999 also from Australia. This lighthearted film has the distinction of featuring no human characters. no dialogue, and definitely no lightsabres. The story focuses on what happens when a probe droid lands on Tatooine searching for the Rebel base (start of ESB), and it encounters a bunch of Jawas who want to steal it for parts. The film's quality is highlighted in the fact the guy who made it eventually became a professional prop builder in the TV/movie industry.

If you want to learn more about fan films from the 1990s, I recommended you check out the documentary The Phandom Menace (on YouTube). This film covers the Australian Star Wars fan scene in the late 1990s in great detail including the world's first Star Wars fan film festival held in Australia at the time.

 

Re the 'what a drag' line, it's not beyond the realms of impossibility, especially as members of the TDR crew ended up working on AOTC and ROTS.

As it is, the guy who wrote and directed Bounty Trail also worked on AOTC and ROTS in the Artoo/Threepio department (his pic pops up a lot in BTS shots featuring the droids), moreover, he actually makes a full face appearance in the Outlander Bar in AOTC when Anakin/Obi-Wan first walk in.

Clearly being a film making Star Wars fan in Australia in the early 2000s had its benefits