Star Wars: 5 of the best fan films you need to watch
Photo credit: Lucasfilm
Star Wars SC 38 Reimagined (Watch here)
While this isn’t technically a fan film, and would more accurately be described as a re-imagining of a scene from the original trilogy, I feel that given the time and hard work that went into creating Star Wars SC 38 Re-Imagined, and the final product that was released, this is well worth including on the list.
For those unaware what Scene 38 refers to, it is the 38th scene of Episode IV: A New Hope, which includes the first lightsaber duel in Star Wars history, pitting Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi against his former apprentice Darth Vader.
As this movie was released back in 1977, this scene was very limited due to the technology of the time, and the age of actor Alec Guinness, who was in his 60s at the time of filming and was not capable of performing many stunts.
This led to the duel between Kenobi and Vader to be very lackluster, and as time has progressed and the action in the new films has continued to improve, this scene has not aged well at all.
This fan film re-imagining was in development for well over a year before being released in May 2019, and utilized a combination of reference footage from the original scene, along with CGI and stunt actors to develop a new version of the duel, and cuts in old footage from A New Hope to help make it feel like a piece of the original film
The effects may not be perfect, but the action is not over the top and would not feel out-of-place in this scene was inserted into the original movie. Vader and Obi-Wan have a battle much more akin to the one they did in Revenge of the Sith, as it is much more intense with John William’s Duel of the Fates playing over the top.
It really feels like all of the hatred that the two had for each other from decades prior had finally boiled over, and each clash of their lightsabers looked like they were legitimately trying to kill each other.
While many fans are traditionalists and don’t like seeing any changes to the original trilogy, especially after George Lucas’s changes to it in the 2000s, this re-imagining of the duel does not feel out-of-place from the original film, and I feel that it would be worthwhile for every fan to go and see.