Star Wars fans have probably dug into just about every scenario and discussed every angle of Star Wars imaginable. Some, however, taking things beyond discussion and bring these topics to life. This is exactly what animator Paul Johnson did. He spent the last four years creating an anime-inspired Star Wars battle… from the perspective of Imperial Tie Fighter pilots.
It comes as no surprise that the name of this animated short is Tie Fighter. In it, Johnson imagines what it would be like to be an Imperial pilot going into battle against the Rebel Alliance. The pilots are not the stereotypical Imperial pilots and have their own personalities and characters. In fact, he goes as far as to make them look heroic. Which I guess they are, “from a certain point of view” as Obi Wan Kenobi has been known to say.
Here’s Tie Fighter in its entirety:
Johnson description of the film:
What if there was an Empire-focussed short Star Wars animation, drawn with the crazy detail and shading of classic 80s anime that’s all but vanished from Japan nowadays?
Well, I tried my best. Apologies in advance for not living up to Venus Wars standards.
Drawn and animated by yours truly over 4 years’ worth of weekends, with music by the living guitar solo Zak Rahman and sound design by up and coming audio technician Joseph Leyva. Fans of Lucasarts’ seminal 1994 TIE Fighter game may notice a few familiar sights and sounds. That “incoming missile” noise gives me horrible flashbacks to this day…Official poster art: http://mightyotaking.deviantart.com/a…
“Interdictor,” the music track: https://soundcloud.com/zakrahman/tie-…
Story/character info pdf file: http://www.mediafire.com/view/cpnc1oj…Special thanks to the good folk at Lucasfilm for encouraging people to get creative and make these kind of projects. It’s thanks to their extremely fan-friendly nature that we can enjoy IMPS: The Relentless, TROOPS, etc.
Don’t support me on Patreon, because I don’t have one! And don’t donate to my Kickstarter, because I don’t have one of those either. Instead, if you enjoyed this, give someone at your workplace, uni, school or whatever a random bar of chocolate or can or Coke or something. Seriously, it’ll probably make their day.
That would totally make my day.
What do you think of Tie Fighter?
Here is the poster that accompanies the film:
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