"Shadows of the Empire" fanfilm-project on Kickstarter

FekLeyrTarg

Rear Admiral
Hello my friends,
Does anyone remember "Shadows of the Empire"? Back in 1996, it was a multimedia-project by LucasFilm, consisting of a novel, a comic, a videogame for the N64 and the PC, a soundtrack, a source book and even toys. SotE was created to build a bridge between "The Empire Strikes Back" and "Return of the Jedi". (Even "X-Wing Alliance" crosses over with SotE)
And now, a fanproject by Ethan Belden aims to produce a movie adaption of SotE:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/392447955/star-wars-shadows-of-the-empire
 
That was the whole Prince Xisor storyline, wasn't it? Trying to remember the name of the guy who was like Han Solo but wasn't Han Solo...I want to say it was Dash Render, but I'm not sure that's right.

A movie version could be interesting.
 
Yes, that's the one with prince Xizor and yes, the smuggler who helped in finding Han and rescuing Leia is Dash Rendar. He even appears in X-Wing Alliance during the Suprosa mission.
I have played the PC-game and read the comic adaption. I'll read the novel and the comic-sequel "SotE: Revolution" after my exams are over.
 
Okay. And his ship was called the Outrigger, right? A CEC YT-2400?

Apparently I remember this series better than I thought originally...I also remember what happens to Rendar towards the end of the novel...
 
Almost. It is a Corellian Transport, type YT-2400 but the name is Outrider actually.
A secret ending in the game and "SotE: Revolution" show what really happened to Dash:
N64:
PC:
 
Sweetness. I've had a soft spot for this particular time period during the Galactic Civil War. Thanks also for the secret ending for Dash. Shame on me for not seeing it sooner but I didn't know about it when I still had an N64.:rolleyes:
 
Though I am exceedingly fond of SotE, theres a couple of huge gaps to this idea.

1.) Has any called up writer Steve Perry and gotten his blessing? He has a pretty good internet presence and you'd go far in doing that.

2.) You... do realize that Disney owns Star Wars now. And that Disney has more lawyers than the Imperial Army has stormtroopers. And that, non-profit or otherwise, this is not something you want to dip your toes into considering they're starting up the franchise again.

3.) By doing this as a fan-project, you're basically creating a non-canon and thus artistically "worthless" project. I get that these people like the book/game/etc but at the same time, what good is it to create a new interpretation of the material if its not going to be official? It would be entirely different if they were making an original fanfilm - but this is something already established ages ago. Some random person's interpretation of the material isn't especially convincing of the artistic quality necessary to live up to the brand name.

And lets be serious: Shadows Of The Empire as a brand is dead. Its over. This is someone's nostalgia run away with them.
 
1&2 are fine points, but for #3 - the CIC wouldn't still be here if we didn't let our nostalgia run away with us.
 
As long as the creator isn't making any financial gains directly from the film, lawyers for an owned-IP tend to leave it alone as it provides a free method of advertising for the brand. Just to be clear, companies large and small LOVE free advertising. Part of the reason EA has left us and the rest of the mod community alone for the most part.

No profit? No problem!
 
As long as the creator isn't making any financial gains directly from the film, lawyers for an owned-IP tend to leave it alone as it provides a free method of advertising for the brand. Just to be clear, companies large and small LOVE free advertising. Part of the reason EA has left us and the rest of the mod community alone for the most part.

No profit? No problem!

It's much more complex than that. The CIC doesn't just run at no profit - we run with no advertising and virtually zero revenue. We do this very intentionally, because despite this, we and some fan projects have been contacted over the years about potential infringement. It is a very real issue that people need to take seriously.

No profit is just the beginning. Asking for any money at all is very delicate. Collecting people's payments so that we can get a discount on a group buy of a couple dozen custom WC hats is one thing. Asking for thousands of dollars so we can buy equipment to design the hats, contracting with an artist to finalize the logo, etc., would be very questionable.

If these guys want to do a documentary or satire about Star Wars, that's probably fine. But they seem to be recreating the game as a movie, right? If they just wanted to do that, like Queeg did for WC3 & WC4, that probably wouldn't ruffle any feathers, but they want $10,000 to do it. What is this money being used for? Are they buying a camera? If so, they might not be charging tickets for this thing at the end, but they are "profiting" a camera out of the whole endeavor. At a minimum, they need to be much more transparent about what the money is going towards. As is the risk with any Kickstarters, there's absolutely no guarantee that a movie will even be made. What stops them from using the Star Wars name here to make a quick $10,000 and run off with the money? I'm pretty surprised that Kickstarter greenlighted this, and it would not surprise me if this runs into issues.
 
True enough. With 5 days to go and $8500 still requested before the deadline it may get stopped right there. That is assuming Disney doesn't wake up and issue a Cease & Desist prior. Has anyone even asked this Ethan what he intends with the $10,000?
 
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