Video: “Troops”
posted at 5:59 pm on December 19, 2006 by Allahpundit
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Confirm something for me. Am I literally the last man in America to see this? It’s ten years old, I’d heard about it forever, and finally caught it on a viral video site last night. Classic, if a bit too long.
The effects are amazing, though, for a semi-pro production. I wonder how much of this could be replicated for Vent…
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Nope AP. I’ve never seen this or heard about it before. And I’ve been online for ten years. Remember Prodigy?
ScottG on December 19, 2006 at 6:04 PM
Fantastic … if you can manage to get past the annoying Canadian accent.
Gregor on December 19, 2006 at 6:09 PM
Wow,the “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern” of the Star Wars universe.
bbz123 on December 19, 2006 at 6:10 PM
I’;s more of a South Side Milwaukee crossed with Fargo accent IMHO,Gregor.
bbz123 on December 19, 2006 at 6:10 PM
Yes this is very old, 1997, so that is almost 10 years old.
http://www.theforce.net/fanfilms/shortfilms/troops/
http://www.theforce.net/fanfilms/shortfilms/troops/director_index.asp
kaltes on December 19, 2006 at 6:13 PM
yeah. I actually posted that as a video of the day about … three or four months ago?
One Angry Christian on December 19, 2006 at 6:15 PM
Okay, you two are the last people who haven’t seen it or at least heard of it. Gotta love the cameo by Tom Servo.
Darth Cirrocu on December 19, 2006 at 6:18 PM
AP, obviously you’re spending waaaayyy too much time with Ace drinking soy, and not enough time actually using these inter-tubes.
Maybe someone should tell him about the Star Wars Kid.
Iblis on December 19, 2006 at 6:24 PM
Seriously old. At the very least it would have been going around again during the re-release of the original trilogy.
I love the way it ties the episode into the Star Wars plot line.
Semi-OT: does anybody have the link to the Vader blog? It was in-character and rather well written in parallel to the plot lines.
JoeEgo on December 19, 2006 at 6:30 PM
WAAAAY old. But quality, nonetheless.
Straying a bit into Jawa Report territory though, Allah…
Mike the Marine on December 19, 2006 at 6:32 PM
THere’s a sequel to troops, not quite as tongue in cheek but still some subtle comedy in there:
IMPS
Nurgle on December 19, 2006 at 6:36 PM
I remember that one from my freshman year in college.
It was hard to spread video around in those years before YouTube.
frankj on December 19, 2006 at 6:38 PM
I first saw it on a promo DVD that I received with a movie magazine from England.
Rick P on December 19, 2006 at 6:49 PM
this was done by my pal and ex-coworker Kevin Rubio, whose book, “Tag and Bink Were Here” just came out.
Kevin’s generally credited with creating the “fan-fiction” genre. The special effects were done by Shant Jordan and Patrick Perez on the home computers. NY Times article on the short here.
Kevin is sort of the ur-model of a a soldier in ‘The Army of Davids.” He shot the thing for under a thousand dollars, and had a representation agreement and meetings with all the biggies within months of that thing hitting the net back in 1998. Next thing he knew, he was sitting in his idol George Lucas’s office, and doing work for him.
The internet eliminates the gatekeepers and the middlemen, and Kevin is one of the original proofs of it.
wordwarp on December 19, 2006 at 6:51 PM
“Confirm something for me. Am I literally the last man in America to see this?”
If I’ve seen it before you–and I think I first saw it either online in the late 1990s, or in that promo DVD that Rick P mentioned above (which, staggeringly, I still have)–then, um, yeah.
Sorry about that!
Ed Driscoll on December 19, 2006 at 6:55 PM
whoops, that link to the NY Times article in my comment above doens’t work unless you are going straight from google. Click this, then it’s the six link down the page.
wordwarp on December 19, 2006 at 7:05 PM
Yeah, I downloaded this about a year ago. Good stuff. My son thinks its pretty funny.
vcferlita on December 19, 2006 at 7:32 PM
That reminds me — Allah, this type of blog topic is WAY better than those “freak show” blogs that you sometimes subject us to. Even the South Park episodes (with their vulgarity, profanity, and appalling absence of redeeming social value — that is, beyond their 8th grade level humor) are better than the Maury Povich/Jerry Springer type stuff. That said, when are we gonna’ see some Halo type “Red vs. Blue” episodes? Some of those things are hillarious.
CyberCipher on December 19, 2006 at 7:39 PM
I’d never seen this either. Really cool though.
zerodamage on December 19, 2006 at 7:44 PM
I believe you are looking for this:
Darth Side
One of the best pieces of fan fiction that I’ve ever run across.
I, too, had never seen ‘Troops’. Never even heard of it before you posted, Allah. What fun!
nukemhill on December 19, 2006 at 8:40 PM
CyberCipher:
Have you watched South Park in the last like 6 years?
liberrocky on December 19, 2006 at 9:22 PM
Thanks for posting this. I’m a big Star Wars nerd and I didn’t know about this one either. It’s funny on several levels…kinda makes you wonder, how would the Imperial army deal with Moqtada al Sadr?
austinnelly on December 20, 2006 at 12:20 AM
I’ve spent some time in and on some Star Wars fan films and never saw this one…amazingly enough. I gotta tip my proverbial hat to the inclusion of Tom Servo. Loved it..but I will always take the PINK FIVE series over everything else. Dude, like, they’re awesome, you know?
tickleddragon on December 20, 2006 at 1:15 AM
What rock have you all been living under?!?!
I first saw it in 3 eps and I suppose I never considered the “too long” criticism.
TBinSTL on December 20, 2006 at 1:21 AM
Hey, have you seen the last episode of M*A*S*H yet? SPOILER: It’s a tearjerker!
Jim Treacher on December 20, 2006 at 2:23 AM
Yes. Yes you are.
Geez AP. And I thought I was out of touch!
Just so you know, Blacksheep productions has made yet ANOTHER Star Wars fan film, and it’s even more impressive (although not as funny) than that one. You can watch it here, and check out the trailer for it on my youtube channel here.
It looks like they are nearly complete with the second chapter of their series as well. I know I’m looking forward to it.
wearyman on December 20, 2006 at 9:22 AM
New to me too.
and it’s Tom Servo…thanks! His stage name was escaping me. LOL
CBarker on December 20, 2006 at 9:43 AM
Yes, everyone else outside of the rock you’ve been under has seen it. And it’s sequel. /sarc
(yes, there is a sequel)
The producer/writer was the voice of KITT on Knight Rider. I saw the “premier” at the San Diego Comic-Con way back when. The voices were inspired by Fargo. Notice Crow T. Robot?
Mazztek on December 20, 2006 at 11:48 AM
Looks like some of you guys have been hiding under a rock. That’s so old it has dinosaur crap on it!
Confederate on December 20, 2006 at 4:07 PM
Didn’t see Crow in that…only Tom Servo. Where was Crow??
tickleddragon on December 20, 2006 at 4:09 PM
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