Vader Episode I: Shards of the Past

Vader Episode I: Shards of the Past
Directed by	Danny Ramirez
Produced by	Ian McClellan Brandon Hall Star Wars Theory (executive producer)
Written by	Danny Ramirez Star Wars Theory Nikolaj Wejp-Olsen
Based on	Characters by George Lucas
Starring	Dupree Jones Steven Bartlett Catherine LaSalle Marik Knight Star Wars Theory Andrew Branch Jesse Gomez Bradley Klein
Music by	Jacob A. Cadmus J Scott Rakozy (additional music)
Cinematography	Matthew Halla (director of photography)
Edited by	Danny Ramirez
Release date	December 20, 2018 (2018-12-20) (Los Angeles Premiere) December 21, 2018 (2018-12-21)
Running time	16 Minutes
Language	English
Budget	$30,000 (initial) $164,000

Search Vader Episode I: Shards of the Past on Amazon.

Vader Episode I: Shards of the Past is the first episode of a series of short Star Wars fan films first screened on December 20, 2018, at the Landmark's Regent Theatre in Los Angeles, CA, and was released to YouTube on Decemeber 21, 2018. It was created by YouTuber Star Wars Theory. The film takes place eight months after Revenge of the Sith, and focuses around one of the main villains of the Star Wars franchise, Darth Vader. As of March 2019, it has amassed over 9 million views.

Synopsis

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away....

Anakin Skywalker is DEAD.

For eight months, the mysterious DARTH VADER has enforced the Emperor's commands.

For some, the EMPIRE brings fear.
For others, it brings hope.

But for Vader, it brings nothing but SUFFERING....

Fighting between the loss of Padme, and the new cursed life he now leads, Vader must do what must be done when a surviving Jedi Master from Order 66 has lured him to the home planet of his late Wife's tomb..

Cast

• Dupree Jones as Darth Vader
  • Jesse Gomez as the voice of Darth Vader
  • Star Wars Theory as unmasked Darth Vader
  • Marik Knight as Young Anakin Skywalker
• Steven Bartlett as Emperor Palpatine
  • Bradley Klein as the voice of Emperor Palpatine
• Catherine LaSalle as Padmé Amidala
• Andrew Branch as Commander Fox

Warner Chappell Music/Disney Copyright Claim Scandal

Pre-Scandal

On June 21, 2018, (six months prior to the short film's release) Star Wars Theory uploaded a video explaining how he exchanged emails with Lucasfilm asking if he could crowdfund the short film or make any revenue from it. Lucasfilm said he could make the film, but they couldn’t allow Star Wars Theory to crowdfund or earn revenue from the project.

Controversy

On January 14, 2019, (over three weeks after the short film's release) Star Wars Theory uploaded a video explaining that Warner/Chappell Music and Disney gave the film a copyright strike over its soundtrack. What Star Wars Theory did was hire a composer to make an original soundtrack, which was inspired by John Williams' famous score of the Star Wars films, thus making the claim over the soundtrack and film false. This also meant that instead of the video being unmonitized, like Lucasfilm requested, it would generate ad revenue for Warner/Chappell and Disney. Star Wars Theory explained, “It’s not about the money, it’s the principle. When they [Lucasfilm] come to me with these rules… but then someone goes in there and manually claims it… to me, that’s very vindictive and very rude. Disney makes billions of dollars. This is pennies to them. It seems that they really don’t respect anything at all for the fandom.”

Aftermath

Over the internet, Star Wars Theory received massive support from news outlets, including but not limited to Newsweek and Syfy Wire. He also received support from fans and other YouTubers, and on January 16, 2019, Star Wars Theory announced that Lucasfilm forced the copyright strike to come down, thus restoring the video to its original state.

Reception

Vader Episode I: Shards of the Past has received positive reviews from critics and overwhelmingly positive responses from fans. After the film ended at the screening in Los Angeles, the audience gave the film a standing ovation. Luke Y. Thompson of Nerdist gave it a positive review, and called it, "impressive," as he said Vader would have put it. Ryan Chichester of Comic Book Resources stated, "The film boasts a high level of production, voice impersonations of multiple Star Wars characters, and an intriguing story..." Julie Muncy of Gizmodo said, "...the star here is the visual design, which captures a live-action Star Wars look perfectly. It’s particularly thrilling to see Clone Wars-style clone armor in live action. It’s well worth a watch for that alone." David Pountain of We Got This Covered says, "...with this unofficial new Darth Vader movie, we see a testament to the dedication of the [Star Wars] franchise’s followers." Corey Chichizola of Cinema Blend claims, "It helps make his [Darth Vader's] actions in Return of The Jedi make more sense, and expands the franchise's signature character in a fascinating way." Kristian Harloff of Collider said that the film encapsulated the spirit of Star Wars extremely well and expressed interest in wanting a second part. He also addresed complaints about the writing and dialogue being a bit weak. Ken Napzok, who was with Harloff at the time of recording, noted the amount of passion Star Wars Theory put into the film, and said that the film reminded him of other Star Wars fan-films in particular, Troops and Hardware Wars. James Richards of the Dork Side of the Force stated, "Overall, I thought that this was an excellent fan film and one that every true Star Wars fan should check out." Joey Paur of GeekTyrant says, "I think Star Wars fans are going to really like what they see. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised." Ben Wolf of That Hashtag Show gave it a "-A," giving positive comments about the story, how they presented the main characters, the fight choreography, and the imagery. Although, he noted criticism on the makeup they used for the Emperor. Wolf then explained, "It fits so perfectly, it really should be a canon piece."

Future

On December 27, 2018, Star Wars Theory said that it would take about $215,000 US dollars to make Vader Episode II, because he explained how he'd like for it to include duels, more VFX, more action, more actors, and new costumes. He also went on to say that in Episode II, Vader will get thrown into a brick wall by a Wookiee, and that he'll fight against different Jedi who survived Order 66. This will include Mace Windu, who turns out to have survived after Revenge of the Sith in Star Wars Theory's "Vader Fan-Film" universe.

Episode II Teaser

On February 24, 2019, Star Wars Theory uploaded a short teaser clip for Vader Episode II, featuring the voice of Mace Windu shouting, "I'm still alive, motherf***er!" That line not only references Windu being supposedly killed in Revenge of the Sith, but also Samuel L. Jackson's (who originally portrayed Windu in the Star Wars Prequel Trilogy) use of the word "motherf***er" in various films he's in. After this tease, Star Wars Theory stated that there will be no swearing whatsoever in Vader Episode II. The full teaser trailer is set to come out somewhere in June 2019.

External Links

• Vader Episode I: Shards of the Past on YouTube
• Vader Episode I: Shards of the Past on IMDb Search this movie on
• Star Wars Theory's offical website

References

This article "Vader Episode I: Shards of the Past" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Vader Episode I: Shards of the Past. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.

This page exists already on Wikipedia.

---