'Star Wars: The Force Awakens': We Rank the 5 Best Fan-Made Trailers

Yahoo Movies
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As Star Wars lovers eagerly await Friday’s debut of the first official trailer for The Force Awakens, some have taken matters into their own hands. Fan-made trailers have been part of the Star Wars fan film culture since at least 2000, when website TheForce.Net debuted a speculative trailer for Episode 2 featuring then-rumored cast members Gabriel Byrne and Christopher Walken. Today, there are hundreds of fake Episode VII trailers to be found online, some of which are convincing enough to be mistaken for the real thing. Most are made by editing together clips from the existing Star Wars films, animated series, and video games, interspersed with whatever other footage is needed to create a Lucas-worthy presentation. Here, our five favorite fan-made trailers for the forthcoming film. For info about the actual teaser trailer, which will appear in select theaters this weekend, click here.

1) YouTube user Austen Saltz brings Han Solo back to life using footage from Harrison Ford’s most recent space foray, Ender’s Game. The opening voiceover is cribbed from Emperor Palpatine’s dialogue in Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, and the footage of an older Luke Skywalker appears to be a composite shot of Mark Hamill’s face and Anakin Skywalker’s hood. (h/t Slashfilm)

2) Attention to detail makes this trailer, created by PGF Entertainment, an extra-convincing fake.  Note the use of the trademark Star Wars font and the brief, cryptic appearance of new cast member John Boyega. Like the trailer above, this one features a mocked-up shot of bearded Luke and uses recent Ford footage – specifically, a voiceover from his Anchorman 2 cameo. (h/t Kotaku)

3) Uploaded a year ago, this trailer (from YouTube account Mr88668866) makes smart use of rumored cast member Benedict Cumberbatch’s voice from Star Trek Into Darkness. Additional space-age footage is culled from films like The Chronicles of Riddick, Serenity, and Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen. 

4) Episode VII wasn’t even a gleam in J.J. Abrams’ eye when YouTube user Solaariz created this speculative trailer in 2012. Very Dark Knight in its tone, the trailer makes ample use of After Effects to create scenes like Luke discovering C-3PO’s head buried in the desert, and a masked Darth Vader wearing a Jedi hood. According to the video description, the trailer employs clips from all six Star Wars films and eighteen other movies, including An American Tale, Where the Wild Things Are, and National Treasure. 

5) More ships flying past the camera! More cool transitions! More lens flare! This trailer from Forever Media may be cheeky, but at least it’s honest.  (h/t Star Wars Fanipedia)