May The Fourth Be With You – The Star Wars Prequel Reviews by Harry S. Plinkett May 4, 2015

While they have their loyalists, many could argue that the Star Wars Prequels are a broken mess of incoherent plot holes and uninteresting, bland characters.  Several years ago, the guys at RedLetterMedia decided to show the entire internet why, and they published a nearly feature length review of the first Star Wars prequel film, The Phantom Menace.  It took the internet by storm, and is still considered to be one of the best videos to ever be put on YouTube.

The videos were narrated by a character named Harry S. Plinkett, a nearly senile old man living on his pension, trying to make it big in an Atlantic City casino while offering anyone who commented on his videos pizza rolls.  He also may have been a psychopath but that’s another story.

Apparently Mr. Plinkett’s review drew the attention of not only Star Wars fans, but Hollywood filmmakers, producers, writers and directors because there was a heavy demand for RedLetterMedia to release reviews for the other two Star Wars films.  Their review of Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, was in my opinion even better than the first film’s review, and had moments that I will gleefully rewatch whenever I’m feeling upset or bored.

After the review of Episdode II, the stakes could not have been higher for a review of Episode III, but by this point RedLetterMedia started to branch out, producing new video review series for more recent films, called Half in the Bag, and a series for more obscure B-movies, called Best of the Worst.  Eventually, they did release Plinkett’s review of Episode III, and it felt like the turning point for their entire website.  Ladies and Gentelmen, I present you with his complete uncut review of Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of The Sith.

You can watch all of the Plinkett Reviews on RedletterMedia.com.

May The Fourth Be With You All – Star Wars Fanfilms May 4, 2015

Okay, we’re going to step a little bit outside of the Star Wars video game franchise for this one, but I felt like this needed to be discussed.  Star Wars has inspired so much creativity in its fans for the past forty years and until Disney obtained the rights to the franchise, George Lucas had mostly allowed his fans to produce all the Star Wars inspired fanfilms they wanted.  In fact there was even an epic fanfilm contest on Atomfilms where filmmakers could get their short films featured online.

There were just two rules that George Lucas had for anyone who wanted to make a Star Wars fanfilm, and the fanfilms I’ve posted here follow them.  The first is that serious films could not include any of the existing Star Wars characters, filmmakers would need to create their own new characters if they wanted to make something serious.  However, if the filmmakers wanted to make a Star Wars parody film, they could use any of the existing Star Wars characters they wanted.  Today, I’m going to show some of my favorite parodies.

First up I want to show an animation that many people wish was based on a true story, Jar Jar’s Walking Papers.  This short was actually a winner on Atomfilms for the best Star Wars fanfilm (animation).  Jar Jar hate trumps all.

Next up didn’t win any awards, but it was a runner-up on the Atomfilms Star Wars fanfilm contest for best Documentary, Wan-Abi: The Making of A Fanfilm.  It details the story of some filmmakers in Salt Lake City who want to make the ultimate fanfilm, and features the first appearance I have ever seen of a triple-bladed lightsaber.

This next film details The Battle of Hoth from The Empire Strikes Back in a way that only Ken Burns would deliver.

Next up, an important PSA on how to properly use your lightsaber.

Next up, Four More Years of Vader, where Darth Vader makes an appearance on the No Spin Zone just before The Battle of Endor.  The short was directed by Hank Braxton, who you might remember produced the epic Ghostbusters fanfilms Freddy Vs Ghostbusters and Return of the Ghostbusters.

Not enough for you?  Okay, here’s Trooper Clerks, an animated parody of the cult classic film Clerks using Star Wars characters.

Hope you enjoyed these short films!  I know this is only the tip of the iceburg when it comes to Star Wars fanfilms but sadly after the fall of Atomfilms I’m afraid a lot of my other favorites have been lost to time.  If you have your own favorite Star Wars fanfilms that haven’t been posted here, mention them in the comments section.

May The Fourth Be With You All – Announcing Star Wars Day On The Site May 4, 2015

Today is May the Fourth, otherwise known online as Star Wars Day, a celebration of all Star Wars fandom.  Let’s face it, Star Wars fans have had a rough ten years.  We had to deal with three horrible prequel films, several awful video games, and tons of studios releasing film trilogies attempting to rival the magic of the Star Wars original movies.

But with a new Star Wars film coming this December, and a whole new Battlefront video game in development, Star Wars fans finally have a lot to be excited about!  So, for the rest of today, in honor of Star Wars Day, I’m going to be writing about Star Wars.  You might see some Star Wars content I’ve produced come back, you might see some great Star Wars content featured here from across the web, or you might see some new content that you’ve never seen before!

So let’s start with what you all want to see.  If you haven’t seen it yet, here is the trailer for the next Star Wars film, Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

Happy Star Wars Day to everyone!  Let’s get started, shall we?

Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate Demo Giveaway Announcement January 21, 2015

Big news today for all Nintendo 3DS owning Monster Hunter fans.  Maniac is giving away early access to the Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate Demo to just one lucky site reader.

Watch the video below for all the details.

ConnectiCon 2014 Photos September 4, 2014

After a month of waiting, Princess Angel has finished her work on the pictures we took at this year’s ConnectiCon!

In it, we have photos of guests like Rob Paulson, Richard Steven Horvitz, Maurice Lamarche, and of course all the fantastic cosplayers.

You can check out all the photos right now on Tumblr!