The Best Star Wars Parodies
From little acorns, mighty oak trees grow. Or put another way, from a handful of script pages, gargantuan multimedia franchises mushroom to mind-boggling proportions.
When, in the early 1970s, budding filmmaker George Lucas failed to obtain the rights to the old Flash Gordon serial, he began to write his own space opera. Following the success of his directorial debut, 1973’s American Graffiti, he handed a two-page synopsis of The Adventures of the Starkiller as taken from the Journal of the Whills, Saga I: The Star Wars to executives at 20th Century Fox. They liked it enough to invest, allowing Lucas to keep working, expanding the story while trimming down the title to a more manageable two words – two words that now permeate the world of entertainment like nothing before or since.
Star Wars is a pop culture juggernaut that carries everything before it. Nowhere can fans feel its omnipresence more keenly than in the staggering number of Star Wars parodies it has accumulated since A New Hope first unspooled in 1978. And still, big-budget Hollywood movies, top-rated TV shows, and a billion fans with Final Cut Pro continue to cast their satirical eyes toward that galaxy far, far away. Check out the best Star Wars parodies
1. Laugh it Up, Fuzzball: The Family Guy Trilogy (2010)
The gold standard of Star Wars parodies. A triple-pronged tour de force comprising “Blue Harvest,” “Something, Something, Something Dark Side,” and “It’s a Trap!”, Fuzzball follows the narrative of the original trilogy – closely, in fact – with Clan Griffin and the residents of Quahog cast in the lead roles. The result is fanboy Nirvana, at once broad pastiche and obsessively detailed inside joke leaving no sacred cow standing and no glitch, plot hole, lapse in logic, inconsistency, or continuity error safe from scrutiny. Even the repeated FX shot of a TIE fighter attacking the Millennium Falcon (in, if memory serves, A New Hope) gets a ribbing. “It’s really [what] put Star Wars on the map,” quipped Family Guy creator Seth McFarlane. George Lucas might disagree, but he fully endorsed Fuzzball, allowing McFarlane to use music and sound effects from the original trilogy.
Best moment? Impossible to say, though the scene where Peter (as Han) interrupts the Death Star escape to salvage a clapped-out old couch from the trash compactor gets a massive laugh.
2. Robot Chicken – Star Wars I, II, III (2007)
Seth Green and Matthew Senreich’s frenzied stop-motion satire machine returned to the Star Wars well time and time again, so successful the sketches spawned three specials – Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode I, Episode II, and Episode III – and an entire stand-alone series in the shape of Star Wars Detours that, infuriatingly, has yet to see the light of day.
3. The Saga Begins – “Weird Al” Yankovic (1999)
Ah, Mr. Yankovic. We’ve been expecting you. Ingeniously sending up both Star Wars and the Don McLean classic “American Pie,” “Saga” recounts the events of Episode 1: The Phantom Menace from Obi-Wan Kenobi’s perspective:
“Ooh, he was a prepubescent flyin' ace
And the minute Jabba started off that race
Well, I knew who would win first place
Oh yes, it was our boy
We started singin'
My, my, this here Anakin guy
May be Vader someday later, now he's just a small fry.”
Lucasfilm refused Yankovic’s request to see the Phantom script before the release date, forcing him to figure out the famously convoluted plot from internet rumors. That he not only got it spot on but also managed to condense it down to a cheeky, lyrically dazzling five minutes astonishes.
4. George Lucas in Love
More a skit on Shakespeare in Love with a Star Wars theme than outright Star Wars parodies. It's still terrific stuff from director Joe Nussbaum. A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away (the University of Southern California circa 1967, to be precise), chronic writer’s block and a spate of terrible drafts thwarted beardy film school undergrad George L’s attempts to pen his magnum opus, Space Wheat. But the shape of a beautiful girl with pretzel-shaped plaits teaches him that the best stories are those in plain sight.
5. Hardware Wars (1978)
Using everyday household items as props – a flashlight as a lightsaber, steam irons, toasters, and a cassette recorder as spaceships – this 13-minute mock trailer for a Star Wars parody (could it be any more meta?) enjoys mythical status in the Star Wars Universe. First, because it’s funny as heck and remarkably well made. Second, it preceded not only the online fan fiction boom but also the video fan fiction boom. Back in 1978, few households boasted a VCR let alone a 16mm projector. Its unavailability lent it an alluring air of mystery and exclusivity. And it still holds up four decades later as one of the defining Star Wars parodies.
6. Toy Story 2
After locking up the real Buzz Lightyear, Buzz Mark 2 – Utility Belt Buzz – faces off against his nemesis, the evil Emperor Zurg.
Buzz Mk. 2: “I’ll never give in. You killed my father!”
Zurg: “No Buzz. I am your father.”
Perfection.
7. Thumb Wars (1999)
Fabulous thumbcentric lunacy from filmmaker/comedian Steve Oedekerk with a cast of (somewhat) familiar characters: Loke Groundrunner, Princess Bunhead, Oobeedoob Benubi, Hand Duet, Crunchaka, Beeboobeep, Prissypeo, Black Helmet Man, and Gabba the Butt.
The classic opening crawl sets the tone: “It is a time of great unrest in the Universe. Using the nail side of the power of the Thumb, the Evil Thumbpire has taken a stronghold in the Sacul region of the Egroeg sector. The Thumbellion Resistance Fighters have retreated to a hidden base. The Thumbpire is constructing a big dangerous weapon thing with enough firepower to blow stuff up…” And it gets sillier from there.
What would Siskel and Ebert have given it?
8. Star Wars: The Emperor's New Clones (2006)
A feature-length fan film inspired by Revenge of the Sith from amateur UK outfit Backyard Productions, the people who brought us Geriatric Park, Batman Returns Forever, Doom Raiders, and The Empire Strikes Backyard.
Studio honchos Darren Scales, Mark Scales, and Edwin Hollingsbee pushed the boat out on this one, putting every penny of its lavish $5000 budget on the screen. Ignore reports claiming they made it in a garage. It actually shot at a Royal Airforce base near Waddington in Lincolnshire. Only post-production happened in a garage. Joking aside, New Clones is a magnificent achievement, a well-acted labor of love, slickly edited and sporting more-than-decent special effects for the measly budget.
9. Fanboys (2009)
A group of Star Wars fanatics (Dan Fogler, Jay Baruchel, Sam Huntington, Chris Marquette, and Kristen Bell) embark on a madcap road trip to break into Skywalker Ranch so a terminally ill friend can see Episode 1 before he croaks. A movie very much by fanboys for fanboys, it has its rewards, not least a host of cameos that include Star Wars royalty Carrie Fisher and Billy Dee Williams, who actually has a fairly meaty role as a Judge named Reinhold (see what they did there?). The dialogue connects too, especially the last line. Settling into their seats at the first screening of Phantom Menace, the hurly-burly done, their mission accomplished, the gang raises a toast to their now departed buddy.
10. Lego Star Wars: Revenge of the Brick (2005)
A sharp and affectionate send-up of Episode III: Revenge of the Sith with a plastic tongue lodged firmly in a plastic cheek. Highlights include a space battle in the skies above Kashyyyk and an end-credits sequence featuring Darth Vader conducting “the Imperial March” with his lightsaber.
11. Saturday Night Live (1978 -)
SNL’s long list of Star Wars parodies kicked off in January 1978 with Bill Murray’s cheeseball lounge singer Nick Winters crooning a lyrical version of the John Williams theme: “Star Wars / Nothing but Star Wars / Gimme those Star Wars / Don’t let them end!”
Later the same year, guest star Carrie Fisher played Leia in a ‘50s teen movie spoof called “Beach Blanket Bimbo from Outer Space.” And more recently, Adam Driver reprised his role as Kylo Ren for the sketch “Undercover Boss: Starkiller Base,” in which Ren poses as a lowly radar technician to get the skinny on his underlings.
12. How the Sith Stole Christmas (2002)
Bijou animated short from writer-director Ted Bracewell, told in the style of the Dr. Seuss classic, complete with rhyming-couplet narration a la Boris Karloff (or Anthony Hopkins, for those partial to the Ron Howard version). A brooding Palpatine, ensconced in the Death Star, plots to ruin Christmas for the Ewoks by dispatching Darth Maul and Vader to steal their presents and kidnap Santa. A pioneering work of fan fiction that spawned a million Star Wars parodies.
13. Spaceballs (1987)
Mel Brookes gives space opera in general, and one in particular, the Blazing Saddles treatment, and comes up short. Character names Dark Helmet, Yoghurt, and Pizza the Hutt tell us that Brookes is in the broadest of broad comedy modes here, and he certainly casts his net wide: Star Trek, Alien, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Planet of the Apes, Transformers, and even The Wizard of Oz also get a look-in. The movie does have plenty of laughs, of course. Joan Rivers kills it as a Threepio-like droid called Dot Matrix, likewise Rick Moranis as douchey pint-sized enforcer Dark Helmet. Overall, though, Spaceballs finds Mel on cruise control when he should’ve been in hyperspace.
14. Hyperspace (1984)
A low-budget, surprisingly effective 3D parody starring Chris Elliot and Paula Poundstone. In hot pursuit of resistance leader Princess Serena, Lord Buckethead makes a navigational error and winds up in smalltown North Carolina. Unperturbed, he continues his search, convinced the princess hides out among the oblivious locals.
Retitled Gremloids in the UK, Hypersapce spawned a satirical political party whose sole representative, the inscrutable Lord Buckethead, attracted a handful of votes against Margaret Thatcher in the 1987 election and a handful more against John Major in 1992. Sporting his trademark headgear, Buckethead surfaced again in 2017, standing against then Prime Minister Teresa May in the general election before appearing at the Glastonbury festival to introduce post-punk electro minimalists Sleaford Mods.
15. TROOPS (1997)
A last, the truth about what happened to Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru! A brilliant snippet of early online fan fiction shot in the deadpan verité style of COPS. Created by filmmaker Kevin Rubio, it hits both targets dead center.
16. The Muppet Show (1980)
“Excuse me Master Luke, but what is this strange world we've come to?”
“Beats me, Threepio. Seems like we've landed on some sort of comedy-variety-show planet.”
Star Wars gets the ultimate accolade: an invitation from Kermit and Co. After crashing the Muppet Theater, Luke (Mark Hamill), Artoo (Kenny Baker), and Threepio (Anthony Daniels) team up with the Pigs in Space crew and set off in pursuit of Darth Nadir and a kidnapped Chewbacca. With Chewy (Peter Mayhew) safely back in the fold, the show ends with an old-fashioned song-and-dance number, the ensemble cast belting out a version of “When You Wish Upon a Star.”
“I was a Muppet fanatic ever since I saw them on The Ed Sullivan Show,” said Hamill in a 2019 interview. “And still to this day, one of my career highlights was being on the Star Wars episode of The Muppets.”
17. Mad magazine (1978 – )
The comedy institution has churned out Star Wars parodies on a regular basis for over four decades. In 2007, 30 years of razzing was marked with “Mad About Star Wars”, a special edition collection containing such gems as “One Day on the Snowy Plains of Hoth;” “If the Star Wars Galaxy had Classified Ads;” “Startling Similarities Between Star Wars and the War on Terrorism;” and “Star Bores: The Empire Strikes Out,” the latter accompanied by a thank-you note from one George Lucas who also, sportingly, wrote the Foreword.
18. After Darth (2012)
A brilliant concept that sadly fell afoul of producer Disney’s vision for the Star Wars franchise. The show would have starred comedian Paul Scheer (The League, Veep) as Darth Vader reimagined as a chat show host interviewing Star Wars characters in the throne room of the Death Star. The house band was a Figrin D'an and Emperor Palpatine led the Modal Nodes tribute in a Hawaiian shirt. Jedi Master Yale Yaddle would have appeared as an intamcacy therapist. According to Scheer, one scripted sequence was a “deleted” scene from Episode IV in which the gang hide out in the cargo hold of the Millennium Falcon. When someone farts, the blame everyone blames a confused Chewy. Of the eight episodes written, none were ever filmed. Thanks, Disney!
19. Return of the Ewok (1982)
Conceived during the production of Return of the Jedi by the film’s first AD David Tomblin, this unreleased mockumentary fictionalizes the story of how Warwick Davis became an actor and landed the role of Ewok Wicket W. Warrick in Jedi.
In reality, Kenny Baker (R2-D2) was initially cast as Wicket, but a bout of food poisoning put the 11-year-old Davis in the frame.
20. The Kevin Smith Universe (1994 -)
Arch Star Wars references infuse the View Askew-verse like salt in a big old bag of movie theater popcorn. Top pick: Mallrats. After spending the entire movie trying to find his inner Jedi, Silent Bob finally taps into The Force, using it to insert a scandalous tape into a VCR and save the day.
21. Zack & Miri Make a Porno (2008)
Tangentially related to the above, since Kevin Smith wrote and directed, but fully deserving its own entry because it just kinda does, and because it follows in the fine film-within-a-film tradition of Fellini’s 8½, Singin’ in the Rain, and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York.
Platonic roommates Seth Rogan and Elizabeth Banks hit on a novel way to solve their financial woes: do it on camera. The resulting skin flick is, naturally, given Smith’s involvement, a Star Wars parody called Star Whores.
22. The Force Awakens from its Nap (2021)
A charming spin-off short from The Simpsons, a program rife with Star Wars parodies. Refusing to enter the Ayn Rand School for Tots, Maggie gets enrolled at Jabba’s Hut Jedi Preschool where she witnesses General Grievous change a diaper using R2-D2 as a trash can, and Ahsoko Tano put a baby in carbonite for misbehaving. Later, she gets involved in a death struggle with an infant Darth Maul, using her pacifier as a lightsaber.
23. Rogue Not Quite One (2023)
The equally charming follow-up to “Nap” with Maggie commandeering Din Grogu’s hover-stroller to take on a fleet of Imperial TIE fighters. While Homer attempts to track down the errant tot, he reads out the instructions “Turn left at Trantor,” and “Pay ten quatloons,” tributes to Isaac Asimov’s Foundation trilogy and Star Trek, respectively.
24. Doraemon: Nobita's Little Star Wars (1985)
An unbearably cute entry in the Doraemon Cannon starring characters created in the late 1960s by Fujiko Fujio (joint pen name of writers Hiroshi Fujimoto and Motoo Abiko). True to the spirit of Episode IV, if not the plot, the main attraction here is less the Star Wars element and more the captivating animation. It was remade in 2021 under the highly imaginative title Doraemon: Nobita's Little Star Wars 2021.
25. Angry Birds Star Wars
A series of shorts much in the vein of the Lego movies, but with angry birds instead of plastic bricks.