Hardware Wars: 30th Anniversary Edition

Bay Area-bred filmmaker Ernie Fosselius’ 1977 comedy short Hardware Wars rode the coattails of the then-relevant Star Wars adroitly enough to pull down $3 million in rentals. Not a bad haul considering that the film is totally unfunny, and its significance is virtually inexplicable to anyone weaned on YouTube. Hardware Wars is staged as a 12-minute trailer for a supercheap replay of A New Hope, subbing household appliances for robots, basketballs for planets, and goofy sound effects for satire and humor. Han Solo is Ham Salad, Chewbacca is a puppet, everyone wears cheap wigs, the effects are intentionally bad—it’s almost enough to make Spaceballs look funny, but at least the bevy of extras have some merit. George Lucas says that this is his all-time favorite Star Wars satire, which pretty much says it all.