Hardware Wars: Special Edition

A long, long time ago...in a 16mm film collection far, far away, the Ernie Fosselius' 1977 parody of Star Wars did blockbuster check-out in the AV department. With the monstrous success of the re-release of the Star Wars trilogy, it seemed only natural that Ernie should toss in a few digital effects and release the "special edition." Fluke Starbucker, Ham Salad, Princess Anne-Droid and an army of the original flying toasters traverse the galaxy in this short film disguised as a trailer, which spoofs some of the riper targets in George Lucas's classic. The digital additions can't quite hide the fact that this was basically a short film for techie and AV nerds (like some of us), and most audiences will find this a bit on the dull side. But like Hardware Wars reminded us: "You'll laugh. You'll cry. You'll kiss three bucks goodbye." The smart money here says buy it--for the sake of nostalgia...and guaranteed patron interest. Aud: P. (R. Pitman)