Hardware Wars

Digital effects spoil the fun
My review is specifically about the "Special Edition" of "Hardware Wars." I was thrilled to see a video release of HW, as I have been a fan of the short since its original release (HBO used to show it a lot way back when. I made a tape of it years ago, but lost it). But I was apprehensive when I saw that this version was a digitally enhanced "Special Edition." Sure enough, when the video arrived, it carried a sticker on the case, reading: "Warning: This edition has been created without the approval or consent of Eddie Fossellius." I'm just guessing, but I figured that Fossellius, the director of the original HW, didn't care to have his short film "enhanced," regardless of the satirical intent. The folks who put together this "Special Edition" make a valiant effort to use HW as a way to satirize Luca's digitally enhanced Star Wars Special Edition Trilogy. Unfortunately, the satire doesn't work, and, in some cases,...

"You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll kiss three bucks goodbye!"
Not long after George Lucas' original "Star Wars" film took theaters throughout the world by storm in 1977, a very silly 13-minute long parody entitled "Hardware Wars" was filmed in 1978 by writer/director Ernie Fosselius. The parody, designed as a long film trailer, replaces the authentic special effects and models used in "Star Wars" with low-budget replacements, mostly in the form of household appliances. For example, the Lucas' Millenium Falcon in "Hardware Wars" is an electric iron, the Death Star is a waffle iron, an imperial cruiser is an electric mixer, and the squat droid R2-D2 becomes a canister vacuum cleaner called "Artee-Deco". As with Artee-Deco, the other characters from Lucas' "Star Wars" are transformed in "Hardware Wars" as follows: C3PO becomes 4-Q-2 (like the tin-man from the 1939 "The Wizard of Oz"), Han Solo becomes Ham Salad (Bob Knickerbocker), Chewbacca becomes the Muppet-like Chucilla (similar to the "Sesame Street" cookie monster), Princess Leia becomes...

Classic parody of Star Wars and great extra features
It's great to finally see a classic like Hardware Wars out on DVD in its original form. I remember watching this film many times as a kid when they'd show Hardware Wars between movies on HBO as I was waiting for Smokey and Bandit 3 to come on. I was as engrossed with the Hardware Wars DVD as when I first saw Hardware Wars over 20 years ago -- the timeless special effects and the antics of Artie Deco and 4-Q-2 never get old. In fact, as I kid I was such a big fan of 4-Q-2 that my parents wanted me to stop saying his name in the house. I've been a big fan of the Star Wars films for 25 years and Hardware Wars will always be
the original and ultimate parody even a quarter century later.

The best reason to get this DVD are all the exciting Extras thrown in. The "Foreign" version of Hardware Wars is even funnier than the original, and proves once and for all that Darph Nader is impossible to understand in any language. Star Wars collectors will love the interview with...

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