Star Wars: Revelations

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Star Wars: Revelations
Directed by	Shane Felux
Produced by	Dawn Cowings Shane Felux
Written by	Dawn Cowings Sarah Yaworsky
Starring	Gina Hernandez Karen Hammang Holland Gedney Frank Hernandez Shane Felux
Music by	Chris Bouchard
Distributed by	Panic Struck Productions
Release date(s)	April 17, 2005
Running time	47 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$15,000 - $20,000+?
IMDb profile

Star Wars: Revelations is a fan film released on April 17, 2005, created by fans of George Lucas's Star Wars saga. As Lucasfilm has generally turned a blind eye to the creation of many not-for-profit derivative works, Revelations is one of many fan-produced Star Wars creations. (See The Official Star Wars Fan Film Awards for further examples.)

Revelations is noteworthy for being both significantly longer (with a running time of 47 minutes, 13 seconds) and substantially more expensive than the average fan film, with a final budget ranging somewhere between $15,000 and $20,000. It takes place between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope. The film intended to give a reason for why the Jedi Order was extinct in the original trilogy.

Contents 1 Plot 1.1 Summary 1.2 Canonicity 1.3 Inconsistencies with canon 2 Production 3 Cast 4 Characters 5 Reception 5.1 Praise and criticism 5.2 Awards 6 Soundtrack 7 DVD Release 8 Trivia 9 See also 10 External links

[edit] Plot

[edit] Summary

The destruction of the Jedi Temple was devastating. Accusing the now-defunct Confederacy of Independent Systems of the attack, Emperor Palpatine declares martial law on Coruscant. As the Imperial presence spreads to most systems, Palpatine calls the scattered Jedi order ineffective. Their protests are denounced as treason, all Jedi are declared traitors, and are now fugitives of the Empire.

The film centers on Zhanna—one of the Emperor's Hands—and Taryn Anwar, a Seer who had helped Zhanna hunt down the Jedi without knowing she had turned to the dark side. Taryn seeks to redeem herself; her visions lead her to a dangerous ancient Jedi artifact said to give the bearer great power.

[edit] Canonicity

Revelations was written and produced before the premiere of Revenge of the Sith, and inevitably there were discrepancies between what the filmmakers hypothesized would transpire in Revenge of the Sith, and what was eventually depicted in Lucas's finished film. Fan films by definition are not considered canonical; moreover, the mixed reception of fans to some of the story and plot elements of Revelations seems to forestall its being embraced as fanon so far.

[edit] Inconsistencies with canon

• Palpatine disbands the Galactic Senate during the film, yet this would mean that the film takes place during A New Hope. However, that is not possible since:
  • The Rebel Alliance has just been formed.
  • Darth Vader is focused on finding the holocron featured in the film. In A New Hope, he is focused on finding the Rebel Base.
  • There are Jedi in the film, yet most of them were exterminated by Darth Vader and Clone troopers acting out Order 66 during Revenge of the Sith.
• There are ships (X-wing, Nebulon-B frigates, and TIE fighters) present in the Imperial Era even before the Rebel Alliance is formed. These ships were not produced until after the end of the Clone Wars and the rise of the Galactic Empire. ARC-170s would still be in service at the time.
• Corellia has a gas giant planet.
• The Rebel Alliance was formed in Revenge of the Sith by Senators Mon Mothma and Bail Organa.

[edit] Production

Production on the film began in 2003, with a cast and crew of nearly 200 people. While the production relied much on special effects and most scenes--especially urban and space scenes--are composited, several scenes were shot on location, including the lengthy climactic sequence, filmed in Shenandoah Caverns over three nights. The special effects were done by a scattered group of artists around the world, working on different platforms and pieced together in post-production. The film was released on April 17, 2005—just over a month before Revenge of the Sith.

Revelations has earned critical acclaim for the quality of its computer graphics and high production value for a fan film. It was produced by Panic Struck Productions and is available for download on TheForce.net, iFilm, and Panic Struck's website.

Though it was generally considered an excellent fan film, it could not be entered into The Official Star Wars Fan Film Awards, due to the fact it was much longer than the contest's upper time limit, and that Lucasfilm only accepts parodies or documentaries as part of the competition. Due to legal reasons, they cannot allow serious fan fiction works into the contest. Despite this, director Shane Felux did attend the fan film awards when they were given.

[edit] Cast

[edit] Characters

• Zhanna is one of the Emperor's Hands.
• Taryn Anwar is a Seer who had helped Zhanna hunt down the Jedi without knowing she had turned to the dark side.

[edit] Reception

[edit] Praise and criticism

Shortly after the film's premiere in April 2005, the director, Shane Felux, appeared on many news and talk shows promoting the film, notably CNN's Anderson Cooper 360° and MSNBC's Connected: Coast to Coast with Ron Reagan and Monica Crowley. The film was made available free for downloading online starting April 19, 2005, and in fact the volume was so heavy that Star Wars fan site TheForce.Net was forced to temporarily discontinue offering it after two days because it overloaded their bandwidth. Independent online film site iFilm also made Revelations available for download starting April 23, 2005. Within two weeks of the film being made available online, it was downloaded nearly one million times. [1]

For the most part, the media praised the film, especially for its special effects and story. Others noted that the film was quite ambitious for a production of its kind. Some even compared the production and ambition of the film to that of the original Star Wars film, A New Hope.

George Lucas, though he admits he has yet to see Revelations, has said how much he appreciates the work and ideas of his fans on fan films in general, and enjoys watching them. He encourages productions such as these, which is something relatively rare for an owner and creator of such a series to do.

Generally, fans seem to praise the production values and CGI of Revelations while giving decidedly mixed reviews for the story and acting. The various non-canonical elements such as the Jedi Seers, or the portrayal of a new Emperor's Hand as basically an open rival of Darth Vader rather than an anonymous and unknown assassin such as Mara Jade, were not wholly embraced by fans in general. Some enjoyed a different interpretation of the setting, while others felt it took too many liberties with established canon, particularly in the Expanded Universe of the novels. The acting, likewise, received notices that ran the gamut from good, to serviceable, to amateurish and awful.

Fan Films Quarterly was honored to use Revelations as the cover for their second issue for the Winter 2005 issue. The cover, which was chosen based on reader votes, was selected over Grayson and First Round, two other fan films.

[edit] Awards

• 2005 Balticon Film Festival: Best Film
• 2005 Star Walking Film Festival (Australia): Best Live Action, Production Design, Editing, Visual Effects, Best Actress (Gina Hernandez)
• 2005 MassBay Film Festival: Best Fan Film

[edit] Soundtrack

Chris Bouchard composed an original soundtrack for Revelations, which utilizes certain Star Wars themes. The soundtrack, along with CD case art, is available for download in mp3 format from the official Revelations site and also from the composer's site: www.chrisbouchard.co.uk

[edit] DVD Release

A downloadable DVD image of Revelations was released not long after its debut on the internet. Originally, the film was released via QuickTime, Windows Media Player, and several other file formats. For the DVD release, the DVD image was distributed from the official site, free of charge, just as the film was. Users can download the entire movie, plus a second disc of bonus features. The download is offered through the BitTorrent file sharing program, due to the large size of the files. Along with the disc files, users can download case art for their DVD case. A DIVX 6 version is also available to provide the same features as the DVD, such as chapter selections, subtitles, director's commentary and such, without the large file size.

[edit] Trivia

• Seers, the Jedi with visions, are an original contribution to the Star Wars galaxy.
• A week before the opening of Episode III in Mexico VCD copies of "Revelations" were sold as bootleg copies of "Revenge of the Sith" by local video pirates.
• A building from the film Blade Runner was incorporated into the design of the Corellian shipyards.
• The movie's crew worked with a CG Team from all around the world to create the effects.

[edit] See also

• The Official Star Wars Fan Film Awards

[edit] External links

• Official site – film downloads, DVD kit, music, trailers, making of....
• Star Wars: Revelations at the Internet Movie Database
• Fanzine
• A shoot, reported by an extra
• More information
• Download mirrors
• TarsTarkas.NET Review
• Interview with Shane Felux on Slice of SciFi
• 'Star Wars' fan has 'Revelations' at USA Today

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