Dark Horse Comics used to print an interesting anthology comic book, Star Wars Tales, which offered up a batch of stories each issue, all set in the universe that George Lucas invented a long time ago (the Seventies) in a galaxy far, far away (California). Although it had its fans, the comic book came to an end with issue 24 and that was that…until now. Fan filmmaker Danny Mosier has spent the last three years creating his own stop-motion animated tribute to the series with the appropriately titled Star Wars Tales.
Mosier describes it thusly:
This stop motion animated opus is a reimagining of the classic Star Wars Tales comic book series from Dark Horse Comics in cinematic form. Here you will find five different stories spanning generations, planets, and allegiances. Featuring Yoda, Emperor Palpatine, Princess Leia, General Grievous, and scores of your favorite unsung Star Wars characters, Star Wars Tales will show you a side of that galaxy far, far away you’ve never seen before.
The flick, which runs 35 minutes, tells a variety of short stories, from Yoda kicking all kinds of butt in a familiar cave, to dealing with a locked Galactic Senate, to—my favorite segment—the story of how Wuhur, the bartender in the Mos Eisley Cantina, wound up working there after hitting on Princess Leia one night (it has almost a Robot Chicken quality to it).
Some of the tales are funny, some are sort of serious, but they all have something going for them and fit comfortably in the Star Wars milieu. On the filmmaking side, it’s worth noting that Mosier used a variety of animation styles, so it’s not all just figures going through the motions (as it were).
I recently did an interview with Mosier, getting his insights on the best ways to animate action figures, and learning how he pulled off the movie with the lowest of low-budget software and resources. It should be up on FCT soon, so keep an eye out for it.
2 Responses to “Star Wars Tales: An Animated Anthology”