THE PLANET WITH NO NAME
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review written 1/7/2004

There were rocks and trees and birds and things… yes, I loved the title of this film. It felt like something out of an old serial.

I liked the unique take on the crawl in a nice classy Copperplate Gothic (inspired by Dead End, by chance?) A beautiful title card as well. Further font fun occures with a subtitled scene with a nifty graphic in the corner and nice interplay between white and black in text set in an attractive Benguiat (yes?) A powerful chant plays.

I'm not a fan of the idea of a Jedi wearing glasses. The set they're hanging out in has very nifty windows, but looks a bit too much like a modern office in terms of set design and costume for the guy sitting at the desk. Though I do love his businesslike "May the Force be with you."

We get a beautiful shot of a ship passing through trees, followed by a nifty-looking if nonsensical effect of a Jedi landing. (What's that power called? Force jump-out-of-ship-and-turn-into-energy?

I like the music choice. Like the chorale before, it's not at all Star Warsy, but it works for the scene. Though I think the filmmakers should have edited out references to Superman and superheroes. Krypton is not in the GFFA.

Neat costume for the Sith, though. And damned if the Jedi's weapon isn't one of the coolest and most original things I've seen in a fan film in a very long time.

At 5:43, well, that's an interesting place to stick a lightsaber. I can't say I enjoy the choice of the strange effect applied to the Sith next, but at least it was well-executed and interesting.

The second Jedi is having adventures of his own, also introduced with neat graphics, but some amusingly low-tech effects are in his path as well. I really love the laser cannon, both creative and well-executed. The set looks too much like an Earth-based university pavilion (or some such) for my taste, though, and geez, here's another mystical character wearing glasses.

The third segment is city-based, and unfortunately really looks Earthlike. There's even English words on the wall. I start worrying if the Jedi's gonna get mugged. While the spaceship shot is nice, it doesn't make me forget that this is Earth that's being shot here. I also don't like the strange graphic insets. Here the music choice doesn't quite jive with me either. In short, it's a problematic segment.

In other news, I think this is the first CGI bodily-fluid spew I've seen in a fan film.

By 13:38 the music has just plain gotten strange. The wipes and split-screens, while interesting, get very, very irritating. I'm reminded of the Hulk movie. And that's not a good thing.

I'm not sure whether I like the inclusion of "Jedi Rocks". It's amusing but jarring. I definitely don't like being able to tell that the Sith who shrieks as he dies is wearing sneakers.

It occurs to me now, at about 17:30, that we've gone a very long time without any dialogue being exchanged in the film at all. That is an impressive feat, to tell a story visually like that. When someone finally does speak, it reminds me of Star Trek. Oops.

The credits are attractive and original-looking, with further haunting singing occuring.

Impressive. Most impressive.

There's not much of a story to this piece, which prevents it from achieving true greatness. And some things just plain don't work. But this fan film is mind-bogglingly original on a regular basis, which makes up for many a flaw. No simple forest duel, this. I would recommend this to any jaded fan film aficionado. There's always a new creative spirit out there.