Hillywood's Star Wars Parody Is Their Most Epic Production Yet

The Hillywood Show is never one to tighten its belt when it comes to budgets, and this parody of Star Wars looks like it was pretty expensive to make.  It’s huge fun, too.  Filmed using anamorphic lenses to capture the sweeping 2.39:1 cinematic aspect ratio of the original trilogy, this restoration delivers a spectacular UltraWide presentation in stunning 4K or 8K resolution.  All your favorites are here – Luke, Yoda, Han, Leia, Chewbacca – and what Star Wars parody would be complete without an appearance or two by Darth Vader!

The commenters of YouTube are ecstatic. Viewers are hailing the parody as Hillywood's most ambitious and polished production to date, marvelling at the painstaking recreation of the original trilogy's sets, costumes, lighting and cinematography. Fans singled out everything from the inspired casting - particularly Jim Beaver as Obi-Wan (although I was rather taken with Supernatural’s Matt Cohen as Han Solo) to the pitch-perfect vocal performances, while the now-iconic lightsaber guitars became an instant favourite. Long-time followers described the video as a triumphant return, with many sharing how Hillywood's parodies have brightened their lives for years. Just as enthusiastically, commenters applauded the prominent "No AI" message, celebrating the production as a showcase for the creativity, craftsmanship and passion of a talented cast and crew working entirely by hand.  Altogether, if you are a Star Wars fan, you will find much to enjoy in this parody – and even if you are just a toe-dipper into this particular universe, you will find something to smile about here!

2001: A Tap Odyssey – Swinging Through the Greatest Sci-Fi Soundtracks

Ask anyone and they will tell you that two things that are featured heavily on Kuriositas are science fiction and dance – and never the twain shall meet.  However, it is with unspeakable joy that I can feature a combination of the two.  World-renowned tap dancer Demi Remick in cahoots with Postmodern Jukebox have created this wonderful dance feature where we can watch Remick go through her paces to the tune of ten of our favorite sci-fi themes – all to a jazzy swing beat. Starting with Spielberg’s Close Encounters,  we move quickly on to Doctor Who and next to Battlestar Galactica.  Next to The X-Files (and Demi knows the truth is out there somewhere).

Did I mention that she does this all in a shiny space suit tap dancing outfit? I have now.  We then get to Star Wars, with the (now not so menacing) Imperial March, swifty followed by the theme to 2001: A Space Odyssey.  The dance climaxes with a section dedicated to – what else – Star Trek.  Both the Original Series and The Next Generation are represented here – I a wonderful medley that may well have you tapping your feet to the beat.  All the way through Demi looks like she’s having the time of your life – and I must say this is some performance is fantastic. Sshe doesn’t look even vaguely out of breath at the end and this attempting this would kill a few people, including me.

It’s the sci-fi tap-dance video we didn’t know we wanted until it was put before our eyes.  Go on, dance along!

Star Wars Classical Painting Mashups

Graphic designer Leaf Scott has created a wonderful set of Star Wars mashups.  Taking the works of some of the world’s most renowned painters, Leaf has placed a selection of Star Wars characters in to the world of classical oil paintings.  Above we have Yoda in Alexandre-François Desportes’ Landscape with a Dog.

How the Grand Master of the Jedi Order might react to replacing a dog in this painting is anyone’s guess.  However, you can only imagine that Yoda would be as pragmatic as ever.  He might say something along the lines of ‘always two there are, no more, no less. A master and a, erm, dog.”

Star Wars Day – May the Fourth be with You

It may be a phrase so full of cheesy humor that it elicits an inevitable groan. Yet since the London Evening News published an advert which used the phrase “May the fourth Be with you” – ironically to congratulate Margaret Thatcher’s ascension to Prime Minister in 1979, the phrase took hold. It has stayed with us ever since and is used by countless people on the day after 3 May.

Image Credit Flickr User Stefan

However, it wasn’t until 2011 that the first organized Star Wars Day celebration took place in Toronto, Canada. More of a convention than anything else, the event featured a showing of episodes V to VI, game shows, parodies and of course the inescapable costume competition.

Darth Vader's Christmas Wish List

Image Credit Flickr User Pedro Vezini

Luke I’m Your Father

If you happen to be two things today then this will amuse you.  First, you would probably have to be something of a Star Wars fan and secondly you should really be in a slightly silly mood as well.  This song was created by writer, filmmaker and video editor Rohan Francis for his students in an after school program he used to work for.  Well, that’s his excuse, at least but I think you will agree that this doesn’t really need one!

Star Wars Snowflakes

Skywalker vs Starkiller: A Star Wars Mashup

What might have happened if Luke Skywalker and R2D2 had been whisked through a wormhole, arriving 30 years in to the future.  Before them lies the Starkiller – already under attack from the resistance – and a huge battle lies ahead.  You may well ask what on Tatoine is going on but fear not.  This is another of Fabrice Mathieu’s amazing Star Wars mashups.  Let’s just hope the studio executives don’t see this and start getting ideas..!

Han Solo: A Smuggler’s Tale

What do you call a Star Wars movie set before A New Hope?  That question has recently been answered (Episode 3 ½) but here’s another.  Who would you get to play a young Han Solo?

My vote, after watching this short but very well made fan film is Jamie Costa.

Not only does he look a little like Harrison Ford he has obviously spent a long time studying the nuances of the character: from the facial expressions to the delivery of lines, Costa is spot on.  Han Solo:

A Smuggler’s Tale was written and directed by Keith Allen.

R2D2 Lego Timelapse

If you are a Star Wars fan, you will love this.  If you are a Lego fan, you will love this.  If you are a timelapse fan, you will (also) love this... 

However, if you are a Lego making, Star Wars watching, Timelapse enthusiast then prepare for just over two minutes of heaven.

This very cool video shows the step by step construction of the Lego R2D2 model.  It’s the kind of kit that only the patient will build (though others with delusions of endurance might buy it and then quickly give up!). Personally I wouldn't have the perseverance to build the model, let alone make a stop-motion of me doing it!

It was created by creative developer Gwen Vanhee with post-production by Alexander Casteels.  So, if you do not have the time or the patience to do something like this then sit back and enjoy.

After all, there is nothing quite so entertaining as watching others work, even if you can’t see them most of the time!

Now We Know Why the Daleks Always Fail (and Other Stories)

Doctor Who fans regularly scratch their heads and wonder why a force such as the daleks always seems to be beaten.  Well, now we know.  It seems that the genetic structure of the original beasts of Skaro has been somewhat usurped by that of another life form – the minions.  It seems only right, considering their attempts to do nasty things with our DNA to enhance their own. It doesn’t stop there, however. Their casings have now become multiple rather than single residences.  I guess it’s more fun that way.

This amusing picture and those below were created by Rooners Toy Photography on Flickr.  Pop over and take a look at the whole stream – lots of Doctor Who stuff but representatives, too, from other science fiction shows.

The Best Star Wars Street Art We Could Find

Star Wars has embedded itself in to public consciousness throughout the world – these pictures serve as ample proof of that.   It has also served as inspiration for artists who have grown up with the movies and ultimately develop their own artistic take, not always it has to be said in a strictly legal manner.  Graffiti is loved by some and loathed by many but it would have to be a hard hearted Star Wars fan who didn't crack a smile when confronted with these. Here is a brief whistle stop tour of the coolest Star Wars graffiti we could find.

Brick Lane, London

Image Credit

The Sounds of Star Wars

Sounds can evoke memories in a way only rivalled by our sense of sight and smell.  If you enjoyed the Star Wars films as a child then this feast of sounds from the original three movies will transport you back in time as effectively as a Tardis!  This video is a celebration of those iconic sounds that have been rattling around the head of Rishi Kaneria since childhood which are, indeed, ingrained in our collective pop culture psyche.

Blast it Biggs! Where are you?! - A Star Wars Day Doc

Biggs Darklighter was set to be a more prominent character in Star Wars than what we see when we watch the movie.  In fact, many casual Star Wars fans (isn’t that an oxymoron?) might struggle to locate the character at all.

However, actor Garrick Hagon spent weeks filming scenes in Tunisia for Tosche Station on Tatooine (left with Mark Hamill) and again at Elstree studios where he participated in the attack on the Death Star.  Documentary maker Jamie Benning interviewed Garrick Hagon and the result is a fascinating glimpse in to what might have been.  So, for Star Wars Day, here is the documentary – with the deleted scenes included. May the Fourth Be With You!

Star Wars Episode VII: First Day on Set as a Jedi

It’s an actor’s first day on the set of Star Wars Episode VII. Will it be everything he hopes and dreams of or the dark return of the prequels menace?

You might be able to guess but this short by Owyn & Co, a British comedy collective based in London has a surprise up its sleeve for those who day to mess with the Star Wars legacy.

Harrison Ford: Always Cool

Ender's Game - someone in that movie looks very familiar. He is doing the rounds - selling a film - and doing it with as much grace as he can muster. Yet in 1977 a little known actor by the name of Harrison Ford got his big break when Star Wars was unleashed on the world.

Here a remarkably fresh faced Ford is interviewed by Bobbie Wygant, the legendary NBC 5 reporter who is still going strong today.  Wygant questions Ford about the film and his role within it - neither particularly hiding the fact that they don't really get it - that much - at all.  He does, however, wax lyrical (or as lyrical as he gets) about the opening shot.  And who wouldn't? You won't hear him saying anything like this about Ender's Game - that's for sure.

Ford is famous not only for his acting but his dislike of the publicity machine which surrounds movies and in particular the interview treadmill.  What makes this particularly special is that the interview was conducted just after the premier when Harrison Ford could still walk the streets without being recongnized by one and all.

What comes across here (apart from his general disinterest in science fiction as a genre) is how laid back Ford is with the whole issue of fame.  He is certainly thankful for Star Wars in terms of opening doors for him as an actor - in his own inimitable and unforced way.  A very cool blast from the past.

Stormtrooper Dance NYC

Take one toy Star Wars stormtrooper, some skill in stop-motion animation and New York City as a backdrop, mix them up together and you have the ingredients for a gloriously silly piece of film.  Typically, as I watched I kept asking myself how long it all took to make and how the creators of this majestic little movie ensured that the throngs of New York City didn’t get in the way! Stormtrooper Dance NYC was created by Nomeros/Primos.

Star Wars Prequel Apologist

There comes a time in most relationships when confessions have to become the order of the day.  You have met, fallen for each other but there is that little something that you have previously failed to mention.  If you don’t bring it in to the open now you will always be afraid that the relationship might falter should it come out in the future. For one half of a pair of happy science fiction fans that moment has come.  The secret must be revealed – that he likes those movies, that he is a Star Wars Prequel Apologist.

Will this tale have a happy ending? Watch and see, though perhaps the moral of this particular tale could be quit while you're ahead!

Written, directed and edited by Robert Ronan I have to say that this gave me a chuckle – mostly because I have seen scenes similar to this played out in a number of relationships.  This particular couple is played by Cat Tran and Patrick B (perhaps that’s his name or perhaps he doesn’t want to risk being found guilty by association!).

Darth Vader as The Little Prince

While flicking through Flickr today I came across this take on Darth Vader by Nukamari.  In it, Darth is imagined as the Little Prince, from the novella by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.  The novel which most read and most translated book in the French language tells the story of the boy who fell to Earth, effectively – and if you haven’t read it then please, add to the overall richness of your life by doing so soon! 

One of the characters in the novella is a fox which the Prince had encountered on his travels and he comes out with a line that I think, given our Darth Vader photographic retelling of the story is somewhat appropriate.  If only someone had told young Anakin Skywalker this. “You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed.”

Disney Buys Lucasfilm: Plans for Star Wars Episode VII Released

Need we say any more?