Star Wars Fan Film in 3D & Teenage Son of Predator!



It's a news headline so nice that I just have to say it twice: IT'S STAR WARS IN FREAKIN' 3D!!! Mind you, it's not official Lucasfilm-produced Star Wars; it's a fan-made CGI animated short called The Solo Adventures by Daniel L. Smith and Jeff Scheetz, a short that won Best Animated Feature at this year’s Star Wars Fan Movie Awards at Celebration V in Orlando, Florida. It's a great short by itself (the actor who does the voice of Han Solo sounds almost exactly like Harrison Ford) but the anaglyph 3D really makes this short something truly special to behold. For the first time, you get to see iconic Star Wars vehicles such as the Millennium Falcon, a Star Destroyer and TIE Fighters flying around in 3D. (Of course, you can also watch this same short in 2D, but where's the fun in that?)

I've known for quite some time now that George Lucas has considered converting all six of the Star Wars live action movies into 3D. However, I'm surprised that he hasn't released anything in 3D for his Star Wars: Clone Wars CGI animated TV series, since that would be much easier to convert. I've argued before that CGI animation is the ideal format for 3D presentation, and the Solo Adventures short provides a tantalizing glimpse of how awesome a 3D CGI Star Wars series would be.

The Official Star Wars Blog recently posted an interview with Jeff Scheetz. Also, if you're going to watch this wonderful short in 3D, do it right and pick up a pair of high-quality plastic anaglyph 3D glasses--not the dinky cardboard anaglyph 3D glasses.

Speaking of animation, check out the animated short "Predator's Teenage Son" at the College Humor site. It's a funny parody of the Predator universe (complete with subtitles), and the sudden cameo appearance at the end is a hoot!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Art of Tron: Uprising (Part 1 of 4): Characters

Image
This month marks the one year anniversary of the cancellation of Tron: Uprising , which aired on Disney XD for 19 episodes. Set between the events of Tron and Tron: Legacy , Uprising chronicled the events shortly after Clu’s rise to power within the stand-alone Grid created by Kevin Flynn. Personally, I think that Tron: Uprising got a raw deal from Disney. It’s a fantastic addition to the Tron saga that went on to win both Emmy and Annie Awards , yet Disney clearly had other priorities and was willing to toss Uprising aside without so much as an official cancellation notice. Even to this day, Uprising has yet to be released on DVD or Blu-ray and I’m wondering if it ever will. In honor of this amazing animated series that was cut down in its prime, I have decided to do something that Disney won’t. Since there will never be an official Tron: Uprising art book, I have searched across the Internet to find a selection of art from Uprising that I can share here on my blog with
Read more

The Art of Tron: Uprising (Part 2 of 4): Vehicles and Equipment

Image
In this second of four posts devoted to the art of Tron: Uprising , we'll be taking a look at the vehicles and equipment used by the characters in Uprising . The original Tron movie revealed a selection of vehicles and equipment that became closely associated with the franchise. The Light Cycles, Recognizers, Light Tanks, and Identity Discs of Tron were also featured prominently in the movie's tie-in arcade games and would reappear later with updated designs in Tron 2.0 and Tron: Legacy . Uprising featured these same items as well, along with new vehicles and equipment that are analogous to things in the real world: boats, helicopters, rail transportation, and hand-held tools. Of particular significance is the Recoder tool used by Beck, which gave fans a look at how programs assemble, disassemble and repair the virtual machinery within the Grid. Click below to see the portfolio of vehicles and equipment from Tron: Uprising .
Read more

The Thing 2: A Sequel Frozen in the Lost Video Game Wasteland

Image
Since I added The Thing prequel to my Blu-ray collection (read my review here ), I've been on a bit of a Thing kick lately. I watched John Carpenter's 1982 movie again, and I've been looking through various Thing fan sites to see if I can learn anything new about this sporadically active franchise. While the poor box office performance of 2011's The Thing precludes another Thing movie any time soon, I was surprised to discover that there was yet another Thing project in the works even before anyone considered a prequel on the silver screen. The project was called The Thing 2 , and it was designed by Computer Artworks as a sequel to their 2002 The Thing video game. From what I've been able to piece together, development of The Thing 2 was discontinued after Computer Artworks shut down in 2004. I've found some conceptual artwork for this game online, which you can see in the picture gallery I've assembled below. Read on....
Read more