A Hand-Drawn 'Star Wars' Cartoon Takes Darth Vader's Side

The Rebels have the moral high ground in Star Wars, but as everyone who collected Star Wars toys remembers, the Galactic Empire has the coolest ships. That’s just one reason why this new fan film above, which shows a space battle from the Empire’s point of view, is so satisfying to watch.

According to the video’s YouTube description, animator Paul Johnson spent  “four years’ worth of weekends” hand-rendering The TIE Fighter Wars in the style of ‘80s anime. His seven-minute Star Wars epic takes viewers inside the cockpit of the Empire’s TIE fighters, which Johnson created by combining elements from the original trilogy, the 1994 TIE Fighter video game, and his own designs. Johnson also invented a fleet of Imperial soldiers, each with his or her own back story (read them here), and included a cameo from a familiar-looking droid. He even commissioned an original score. The result is a riveting, hyper-detailed battle sequence that will make even die-hard Jedis root (temporarily) for the bad guys.