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!

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