TIE Fighter (2015) Online

Combining incredible animation and a score that will get your blood pumping, this 7-minute video will make you want to sign up for the Imperial Navy.

Heavily inspired by the TIE Fighter video game (probably still the best space flight-sim to this day), no shortcuts are taken on the animation when to comes to rapidly changing camera angles and sleek design. In ways it reminds of the "Call of the Primitives" episode of the original Transformers, but it also has a strong hint of anime (more Akira than Ghost in the Shell).

The reaction videos are also great. Finally, I suppose there's this: if you played the original TIE Fighter game, or or a fan of the X-Wing miniatures game, you'll love this short film.

I just can't get enough of these 7 minutes! "TIE Fighter" is in my humble opinion the single most epic fan film ever created, and I have seen many. It is so incredibly well done that if I were an executive at Disney / Lucasfilm, I would immediately contact the creator and offer him a job! This is the living proof that Star Wars, anime and electric guitars mix really REALLY well and I would simply love to get a feature film done in the style of "TIE Fighter" or at least some more shorts or TV series. The camera angles, the movement, the sharp perspective, all trade marks of the anime action directing are present and it looks incredible. The level of detail is quite high, the atmosphere is incredible, the whole thing is just electrifying! It brings back so much of the best days of Japanese animation, back in the days when sci-fi, mecha and cyberpunk storytelling in anime was at its peak. Also some nods to "StarCom: The U.S. Space Force" that I appreciate so much. This is one legendary Star Wars music video that I find far superior to many officially licensed Star Wars visuals that are out there. The Force is more than strong with this one!

"TIE Fighter" is an American 7.5-minute short film from 2015 that managed to get millions and millions of views on Youtube after its release roughly 2 years ago. Writer and director is Paul Johnson and apparently this is his only work so far. The film's popularity is of course mostly due to its (relative loose) connection to the biggest film franchise of all time: Star Wars. You don't get it too often that animated films are made about characters and films that are originally in live action, which of course does not include all the superheroes from comic. But here we have one example of such an attempt. And visually, the film is certainly a success. it looks pretty decent and the effects are truly spectacular. Sadly, this cannot make up for the weaknesses in story-telling and character writing as it feels this one has none of it really. It is basically one spectacular scene following the next and it seems Johnson forgot about the core of it all: namely creating a story that justifies the visual side. Nonetheless, for a first film, it is not a bad achievement overall and certainly something to build a career on if he manages to improve in the coming years. Until then, I give "TIE Fighter" (despite the decent soundtrack) a thumbs-down. Worth seeing only for the biggest fans of science fiction animation.

If you like watching 2 dimensional illustrations that appear to be overlaid on further away 2 dimensional illustrations also overlaid on even further away 2 dimensional illustrations all trying to look like 3D animation then this might be entertaining.

Except: It has no plot, no dialogue, no characters (let alone character development) and, seemingly, no point.

It is simply a collage of badly done war scenes taken without context.

Even die hard Star Wars fans will be hard pressed to find anything interesting, let alone redeeming, in this time waster.

I suggest you avoid watching this and just watch the clock ticking as it will be equally entertaining.

The first thing I note of interest is that this is copyright Lucasfilms. That was a bit unexpected. However, that fact made the presentation that much more disappointing.

This is interesting in that it is presented from the standpoint of the tie fighter pilots viewing the rebels as the enemy force that must be destroyed for the good of the Empire. Few people stop to think about the flipside of the coin-- and realize that Rebels and Jedi kill people too... and those people have families and mothers and fathers and siblings just like everyone else. "Are the Jedi really the good guys?" is a question all to often not asked. This is especially so when we see how Obi Wan deals with his enemies (he seems to have rather a habit of cutting off limbs and leaving the mangled owner behind).

That considered, the twist in story is interesting. Unfortunately that's all the story provided as this proves to be nothing more than a continual dog fight throughout. It is done in the style of anime but several of the scenes seem to "jerk" or "slide"... lacking the finesse and art of good anime. The animation in this is decent enough, but isn't flawless.

It is both glitchy animation and lack of any story line whatsoever that drops this to a "barely okay" 4 stars for me. The short has no emotion, no climax, no resolution. It's like watching a child with toy spaceships going PEW! PEW! PEW! There's zero substance, so all that's left to rate is the anime. The anime pulls four stars of its own, but cannot hold up a short with no plot or story. As I always say: start with a good script first, then make the film. A commercial can do it in 30 seconds. Surely someone with 7 minutes can manage to accomplish more than exploding spaceships.