“Star Wars” is a series that has captured the imagination of the entire world and inspired filmmakers to pick up a camera and put their own spin on George Lucas’ universe (Hi, Mr. Abrams). In honor of its legacy, here are some of the best “Star Wars” fan films you can catch on YouTube.
Premiering at the 1997 San Diego ComicCon, “TROOPS” was one of the first major “Star Wars” fan films made. The film parodies the TV series “COPS” as a team of Stormtroopers patrols Tatooine and encounters two people very close to Luke Skywalker.
Darth Maul was one of the best ideas the prequels had, and German director Shawn Bu wanted to do him justice. This short film shows Darth Maul’s final test as a Sith Apprentice and features the best lightsaber fight you’ll see in any fan film.
Back in 2013, Russian animation studio 1A4 found a way to boil down the entire plot of “A New Hope” into a 60-second short as part of their “Movie Speedrun” series
Three years later, 1A4 resurrected “Movie Speedruns” for a new series, starting with a 60-second run through “The Force Awakens.”
Directors Sy Cody White and Andrew Kim were picked by Kathleen Kennedy for top honors at last year’s Star Wars Fan Film Awards for “Lesser Evil,” which shows two Jedi making an uneasy truce with a bounty hunter to take down a Sith Lord.
Animator Jared Hundley also won a Fan Film Award for his take on what newly recruited Stormtroopers might have had to go through when arriving on the Death Star. If Kylo Ren was anything like this, it’s little wonder that Finn ditched this job.
Made way back in 1999, “George Lucas In Love” remains one of the best Star Wars fan films ever. Inspired by “Shakespeare in Love,” the film shows the Great Beard taking a cosmic romantic journey filled with the characters he would create as he writes his final script for his USC writing class.
YouTube comedian JonTron created “StarCade,” a nine-episode series exploring the detritus of tie-in video games “Star Wars” has left behind over the years. Some are good, others are bad; but as JonTron discovers, they are almost all unbelievably silly.
In what is hopefully the first of many episodes to come, Noel Braham’s “Exile” shows a Jedi and Padawan on the run as Darth Vader moves to purge the Jedi from the galaxy.
Filmed in the Canadian Rockies and with minimal CGI, The Blood Brothers’ “Rebel Scum” shows an encounter between a Stormtrooper and a Rebel Snowspeeder after the Battle of Hoth from “Empire Strikes Back.”
“The Unconscious Sith” shows a little boy’s dreams of entering his “Star Wars” comics as a Sith lord. Made by father-son team Adam and Christian White, the film received a Fan Film award from George Lucas himself.
