Pac-Rat

http://tv.zap2it.com/news/tvnewsdaily.html?25754


LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) - Long before he became a successful independent filmmaker, Kevin Smith ("Clerks," "Chasing Amy," "Dogma" ) was a kid in love with "Star Wars" (as the frequent "SW" references in his films make abundantly clear).

Over the years, his admiration for the original trilogy has not waned, but the release of "Star Wars: Episode I -- The Phantom Menace" saw him swearing off "being a gushy, avid fanboy. [The first three] are movies I really dug when I was growing up and kind of held over until adulthood."

"But the new trilogy -- which I've seen the first one, and am game to see the second one, very anticipatory -- that's not my generation. It's the next generation. That's for kids, primarily, just as the original 'Star Wars' trilogy was for kids when I was a kid."

"So, swear off 'Star Wars'? No. But I can't really say that I'm lying awake in bed at night. There's a line already in front of Grauman's [Chinese Theater, in Hollywood] -- I honestly don't know if there's much I would wait on line for, unless it's the cure for death. 'Wait on line, and we will cure you of that pesky death.'"

"But I'm always happy to see another 'Star Wars' flick. This one certainly seems much cooler than the last one."

In anticipation of May 16 release of "Star Wars: Episode II -- Attack of the Clones," Smith is host of "The Official Star Wars Fan Film Awards," airing Sunday, May 12 at 8 p.m. ET on Sci Fi Channel.

"It's essentially a special made up of fan-made short films," Smith says. "There was a contest sponsored by Lucasfilm and Atom Films.com, in which a bunch of fans sent in their spoofs, parodies or homages of 'Star Wars.'"

"I guess Lucasfilm and Atom Films pawed through the entries and came up with some winners. So I'm the guy that introduces the nominees and the winners."

Categories include "The Young Jedi Awards" (best film by an under-18 director); "The Audience Award" (as voted on by on-line viewers at www.starwars.atomfilms.com); "Best Animation" and "Best Documentary or Mockumentary." There's also a segment on "Pioneering Fan Films," a montage of clips from such films as "George Lucas in Love," "Hardware Wars" and "Geek Wars."

The creator of "Star Wars," George Lucas -- who directed and co-wrote "Attack of the Clones" -- makes an appearance to announce the film worthy of the highest honor, the "George Lucas Selects" award. As might be expected, clips from "Clones" are also included.

As a fan, Smith is happy to see Lucas and company embracing the creative efforts of other fans. "It's always befuddling to me when I see George Lucas in the press going, 'I don't get it. I don't get all these people who love the movies.' It's like, 'How can you not get it, man?' If he got down there with the great unwashed, he'd see why it means so much to them and makes such a difference in their lives."

"I get why people like what I do. They identify with it; they see themselves in it. I'm sure you can plead the same case for a 35-year-old guy who lives by the code of the Jedi, but that's a whole different thing. There may not be that identification factor between the fan base and 'Star Wars,' but it means something to them. It's their mythology."

The more the years pass the less I like Star Wars, but this looks interesting. I just hope they don't geek out and make it to "fan-boy" orientated.

Tuan Jim

Hope "Troops" makes it in -- talk about high production values. Those guys put a heckuvalot of work into it.

Tuan Jim

tor_greg

One of the line members here at the Chinese Theater knows Kevin and is trying to get him to come visit us. We're pretty confident it'll happen.

mikehunt

I wish they had gone to theforce.net and gotten the good fan films to use for this special. so far they're showing clips from the crappier ones
still better than anything I'd probably make if I tried, but theforce.net has much better ones

mikehunt

ok, they're showing Troops
there's still hope

Tuan Jim

Jawas gone Wild was hilarious, but WTF -- they cut off the second half of troops!!! That was the funniest half too. Those bastards.

Tuan Jim

Get Me Coffee

Anyone watching this? They just played Troops! Very funny!

Pac-Rat

I was happy I got to see Troops. The only way I was able to see it before was on a 56k connection.
Overall I thought it was okay, maybe I would have liked it more if I was still a die hard Star Wars fan, then again maybe I would have liked it less. I thought the Lucas award was cute and looked really good, but nothing great. The best parts to me were the "commercials", DV Psychic Network, and the Empire recruiting one. The rap was funny too, although I'm not sure it was supposed to be.

Static Cling

Merged threads.

Get Me Coffee

duels was one of my favorite fan films. Did even see it mentioned!

mikehunt

except for troops, which was edited, I thought they made bad choices. still better than anything I could put together, but not a good selection
some of the fan films at theforce.net are much better

Anthony Soprano

It seemed like George did'nt know what to call the award that he announced. Anyone else notice that?

Static Cling

Merged threads again. Didn't notice this one.

Tuan Jim

that "Christmas Tauntauns" one was a piece of crap, even compared to ones they showed earlier.

"Jar Jar Gets His Walking Papers" was pretty funny though.

"ctrl-sah, alt-sah, delete-sah......wish I had one of those for "Howard the Duck"."

Tuan Jim