Space Wars (film)

""Space, a new frontier. These are the rebels of the spaceship Enterprise. Its daring mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before.""

- Victor Caroli, opening narration.

Space Wars (retroactively titled Space Wars: Chapter V – A New Frontier) is a 2027 American adult animated space opera comedy film written and directed by Brandon Greene and produced by Frederator Studios. It stars Jack Quaid, Zachary Quinto, Jerry O'Connell, Liliana Mumy, Coty Galloway, Ron Perlman, Kevin Michael Richardson, Jason Isaacs, Greg Baldwin, Rick Moranis, Jeremy Shada, Alyson Stoner, David Tennant and Dee Bradley Baker. It is the first installment of the original Space Wars Quadrilogy, the first of the franchise to be produced, and the fifth chapter of the "Starrider saga".

The film's setting and characters is primarily a parody of the original Star Wars trilogy, as well as other sci-fi franchises, tv shows, and popular films including Star Trek, Spaceballs, Treasure Planet, Final Space, and Bravest Warriors.

Space Wars focuses on the journey of Gary Starrider (Quaid), an everyman who becomes caught in the galactic conflict between the Empire and the Spacefleet Rebellion after coming into possession of two droids, R.O.V.E.R. (Baker) and H.U.E. (Tennant), who are carrying the schematics of the Empire's ultimate weapon, the Death Ball. While attempting to deliver the droids to the Rebellion, Gary is joined by wizened Astro-Knight Master Orion Kosmik (Baldwin), who teaches him about the metaphysical power known as "the Source", Grey alien first officer and science officer Spark (Quinto), cynical smuggling NASA astronaut Rex Korso (Connell), his Sehlat companion Karal (Baker), Lupian bounty hunter Apollo (Galloway), and Rebellion leader Princess Gwen (Mumy). Meanwhile, Imperial officers Dark Slader (Richardson), a Smith Lord, Necro (Perlman), an imperial bounty hunter, and Admiral Shanker (Isaacs), the commander of the Death Ball, seek to retrieve the stolen schematics and locate the Galaxy One Enterprise.

After a turbulent production, Space Wars began streaming on Amazon Prime Video on May 23, 2027, and became opened to critical acclaim, most notably for its groundbreaking visual effects.

The film has been reissued multiple times with Greene's support—most significantly with its 20th-anniversary "reuploaded version"—incorporating many changes including modified added animation, re-edited shots, remixed soundtracks and added scenes. The film's success led to three sequels, Space Trek (2030), The Wrath of the Empire (2033) and Return of the Astro-Knight (2034), and later to a prequel film series, a sequel film series, a live-action film, and two anthology shorts.

Plot
In the year 2577, Amid the galactic Space Wars, five Astro-Knights and the Rebellion Enterprise spies have stolen plans to the Galactic Empire's Death Ball, a massive space station capable of destroying entire planets. Imperial Senator Princess Gwen Organism of Alara, secretly one of the Rebellion's leaders, has obtained its schematics, but the enterprise is intercepted by an Imperial Space Destroyer under the command of the ruthless Dark Slader and killed the four last remaining Astro-Knights while one (Naik'ax) of them survived and escaped. Before she is captured, Gwen hides the plans in the memory system of astromech robot R.O.V.E.R., who flees in an escape pod to the nearby planet Earth alongside his companion, protocol robot H.U.E. and a teenage Ikvean, Joey. First officer and science officer Spark decides to follow them in his escape pod. Naik'ax flies an escape pod, but not before Imperial bounty hunter Necro shoots him with a plasma shotgun.

The robots and Joey are captured by Jaka-Bots, who sell them to moisture farmers Kelly and Bella Starrider and their nephew Gary Starrider. Gary invites Joey in to stay there for a bit. While Gary is cleaning R.O.V.E.R., he discovers a holographic recording of Gwen requesting help from an Oberon Kanewbie. He saw a space pod crash land. Naik'ax appears to tell Gary about the Death Ball and it's plans for it and to find Oberon Kanewbie for help before dying. After he buries his body near the woods, Joey sneaks off and arrives at the 7-Eleven that where he is spotted by two geeky alien-loving employees, Hank and Harold who are Gary's friends. Although both feared Joey, the two realize that he isn't hostile and offers him a Slurpee, giving him a brain freeze. Afterwards, Necro and his partner, Roider break into the store, tranquilize Hank and Harold, and try to capture Joey and R.O.V.E.R., but are saved by Spark and escapes.

Later, after Gary finds R.O.V.E.R. and Joey missing, he went out searching for them and meets Mr. Spark disguised as a human and reveals his true form. They were attacked by scavenging Sand creatures, but are rescued by elderly hermit "Old Buzz" Kanewbie, an acquaintance of Gary's, who reveals that "Oberon" is his true name. Oberon tells Gary of his days as one of the Astro-Knights, the former peacekeepers of the Galactic Republic under Spacefleet who drew mystical abilities from a metaphysical energy field known as "the Source", but were ultimately hunted to near-extinction by the Empire. Gary learns that his father was captain of the original Spaceship Enterprise who fought alongside Oberon as an Astro-Knight during the Galactic Civil Wars until Slader, Oberon's former pupil, turned to the dark side of the Source and murdered him. Oberon gives Gary his father's old lightsaber, the signature weapon of Astro-Knights.

R.O.V.E.R. plays Gwen's full message, in which she begs Oberon to recruit the Ikveans from their home planet of Xemoitera and take the Death Ball plans to the her home planet of Alara and give them to her father, a fellow veteran, for analysis. Although Gary initially declines Oberon's offer to accompany him to Alara and learn the ways of the Source, he is left with no choice after discovering that Imperial darktroopers have killed his aunt and uncle and destroyed their house in their search for the robots. Traveling to NASA to search for transport, Gary asks his TV idol, Captain Quazar to join them on their mission, but Quazar rejected him due to his reckless past and inexperience. Gary, Spark and Oberon hire Rex Korso, an astronaut smuggler with a price on his head due to his debt to local mobster Yabba the Butt. As they leave, unbeknownst to them, an imperial spy overheard their conversation and went to give Slader the information. As soon as he heard this, he became infuriated and wished to see who would dare to oppose him and saw that it was Oberon. Slader knew this day would come and sends an army of Cybugs to attack them. Pursued by Necro, Roider and darktroopers battling bounty hunters rebelling against the Empire, Oberon, Spark, Gary, Joey, H.U.E. and R.O.V.E.R. flee Earth with Rex and his Sehlat co-pilot Karal on their rocket ship with the help from Hank and Harold. Necro and Roider steals a rocket and follows the crew.

When they crash landed on Xemoitera, they meet Joey's best friend, Mary, and her father, the Professor. They are the last remaining Ikveans on this planet. The Professor is trying to convince Issac and his wife, to stay in the village. They leave due to depression of losing their daughter, Cindy. She had been kidnapped by the empire. It is revealed that Gary's father and the professor were best friends and his wife was killed by Slader in an imperial raid. Spark shows the professor Gwen's message and ask for him to come with them to Alara. But the professor declines and leaves to find Issac and his wife Mary ecstatically tells her father that she believes that she has found a someone who can save their planet and restore the Astro-Knight order. The professor seems skeptical of Gary's potential (since his old friend is Gary's father) and warns Mary not to place too much stock in a human she has only just met. Mary brushes the request aside, replying, as she strikes up a meditative pose, that she believes Gary is "filled with much wisdom." As the professor left, Oberon opens Galaxy Temple where they discovered that Issacs's daughter was hiding behind The Temple thinking that there was a game of hide-and-seek going on and Gary finds a holographic shield. Spark and Gary run into one of the bounty hunters from Earth and confronted him. The Lupian bounty hunter introduces himself as Apollo, and that he is Rex's best friend. He warns them about Slader and was once a part of the Empire but was banished for speaking out of Slader's plan and formed an alliance with the Spacefleet Rebellion against the Empire. Oberon senses that the professor was kidnapped by Necro and Roider and decide to rescue them while Mary and Joey stay to repair their ship.

During the search, Gary, Joey, and R.O.V.E.R. fell down a hole and meets Dr. Ham, a chimpanzee who came to Xemoitera forty years ago and he agrees to come with them to Alara as long as he can come back to Earth with them. Not long after, Necro, Roider, the darktroopers, and the cybugs cornered them and a battle ensues with both the team and the. Gary fights Necro and is disarmed. Gary uses a ray gun to shoot at a boulder which causes the canyon to collapse and the crew evacuates taking the frozen Professor with them. When they unfreeze him, The Professor regrets refusing Oberon's offer and return to the village with them. Necro and Roider survives the explosion and follows the crew.

Upon their return, Cindy hears that her parents were kidnapped by the Empire and decides to go in the escape pod to rescue them. With the ship repaired they blast off into space to Alara. While in space the ship was teleported by the Spaceship Enterprise. The Spacefleet crew see that Spark has returned with Oberon and the others and recruit them to head to Alara to deliver the death ball plans.

Before the enterprise can reach Alara, Death Ball commander Admiral Shanker destroys the planet in a show of force after interrogating Gwen for the location of the Rebellion Spaceship Enterprise. Upon arrival, the Enterprise is captured by the Death Ball's tractor beam, but the group manages to evade capture by hiding in the ship's smuggling compartments. As Oberon leaves to disable the tractor beam, Apollo persuades Rex and Karal to help Spark and Gary rescue Gwen after discovering that she is scheduled to be executed and that all the Ikveans were all captured in ice. During their escape, Necro confronts them and tries to kill them. But gets into a fight with Gary. Necro falls off, but Gary saves him. After disabling the tractor beam, Oberon sacrifices himself in a lightsaber duel against Slader, allowing the rest of the group to escape the Death Ball with Gwen and the Ikveans. Using a tracking device, The Empire tracks the Enterprise to Xemoitera.

After The Professor told them about how the Space Wars came to be and how Slader started it, every The schematics reveal a hidden weakness in the Death Ball's thermal exhaust port, which could allow the Rebels to trigger a chain reaction in its main reactor with a precise proton torpedo strike. While Rex abandons the Rebels after collecting his reward for rescuing Gwen, Gary joins their X-wing starfighter squadron while Spark guides him in a desperate attack against the approaching Death Ball. In the ensuing battle, the Rebels suffer heavy losses as Slader leads a squadron of TIE fighters against them. Rex and Karal unexpectedly return and with Necro switching to the side of good aids them, and knock Slader's ship off course before he can shoot down Gary. Guided by the disembodied voice of Oberon's spirit, Gary uses the Source to aim his torpedoes into the exhaust port, destroying the Death Ball moments before it fires on the Enterprise. In a triumphant ceremony at the base, Gwen awards Gary, Spark, Rex, Apollo, and Necro medals for their heroism.

Mary and Joey talked about joining Spacefleet, but the professor walks up behind them, catching them off-guard and sternly asks them what they plan on doing. When they have no answer, the professor holds out two sleeping bags to them, saying in a much more placid voice that they would need those. She tells them that they have a long journey ahead of them and thanks Mary for restoring his hope, adding that Joey and Gary needs to take good care of her. The professor states that since Mary and Joey were the ones who met Gary and Oberon, their destinies are now tied to theirs, which draws looks of uncertainty from them.

Gary is promoted to captain and given command of Enterprise, while Rex and Karal are promoted as co-pilots. Spark encounters Oberon's spirit, who persuades his him to continue serving in Spacefleet, encouraging him to do, for once, what feels right instead of what is logical. Spark remains in Spacefleet, becoming first officer under Gary's command. Enterprise goes to warp as Gary gives a log message.

In a post-credits scene, Slader imparts the knowledge of Necro's treasonous behavior and failure to his niece, Azura, and entrusts her with a special task as she looks up at him with a smile on her face.

Voice cast

 * Jack Quaid as Gary Starrider, A young adult raised by his aunt and uncle on Earth, who dreams of something more than his current life and learns about the Source and the Astro-Knight. He is a parody of Luke Skywalker and James T. Kirk.
 * Pamela Adlon as Young Gary
 * Zachary Quinto as Spark, A Grey alien and first officer and science officer of the Galaxy One Enterprise. He is a parody of Spock.
 * Jerry O'Connell as Rex Korso, A cynical NASA astronaut from Minnesota hired by Oberon, Spark, and Gary to take them to Alara in his rocket ship, co-piloted with Karal. He is a parody of Han Solo.
 * Liliana Mumy as Princess Gwen Organism, The princess of the planet Alara who is a member of the Imperial Senate and, secretly, one of the leaders of the Rebel Alliance of the Galaxy One Enterprise. She is a parody of Princess Leia.
 * Coty Galloway as Apollo, A Lupian bounty hunter of the Galaxy One Enterprise, a former Lupian general, former spy of the Galactic Empire and an old friend of Rex's.
 * Ron Perlman as Necro, A bounty hunter of the Galactic Empire who would stop at nothing to hunt down the Rebels and take back the Death Ball plans and deliver them to Dark Slader, until he switched sides to the Rebellion. He is a parody of Boba Fett.
 * Kevin Michael Richardson as Dark Slader, The main antagonist of the film and Oberon's former Astro-Knight apprentice, who fell to the dark side of the Source and became a Smith lord serving the Galactic Empire. He is a parody of Darth Vader.
 * Jason Isaacs as Admiral Shanker, The secondary antagonist of the film, Dark Slader's second-in-command, and commander of the Death Ball. He is a parody of Grand Moff Tarkin.
 * Greg Baldwin as Oberon Kanewbie, An aging Astro-Knight Master and veteran of the Civil Wars who introduces Gary to the Source. He is a parody of Obi-Wan Kenobi.
 * Rick Moranis as Cordin Librax, The Empire's top lieutenant and commander of Slader's personal flagship who provides lots of technology.
 * David Tennant as H.U.E., A protocol robot affiliated with the Enterprise who is "fluent in over six million forms of communication". He is a parody of C-3PO.
 * Dee Bradley Baker as:
 * R.O.V.E.R., An astromech robot and H.U.E.'s companion, who is carrying the Death Ball plans and a secret message for Oberon from Princess Gwen. He is a parody of R2-D2.
 * Karal, A 200-year-old Sehlat, Rex Korso's sidekick, and first mate of the USS Rocket. He is a parody of Chewbacca.
 * Darktroopers, The elite shock troops/space marines of the Galactic Empire, under the leadership of Dark Slader. They are a parody of the Stormtroopers.
 * Jeremy Shada as Joey, A carefree and adventurous Ikvean on the planet Xemoitera and Mary's best friend and love interest.
 * Kerry Williams as Mary, A determined and strong willed Ikvean, the daughter of The Professor and Mya, and Joey's best friend and love interest.
 * Tom Kenny as Dr. Ham, An intelligent American talking chimpanzee who crash landed on Xemoitera forty years ago. He is a parody of Leonard "Bones" McCoy and Scotty.
 * Kenny also voices H.A.R.V.,The artificial intelligence of the Galaxy One Enterprise.
 * Phil Parsons as Roider, A mid-class bounty hunter of the Galactic Infinite Empire, and Necro's former partner in combat.
 * Bill Farmer as The Professor, An old Ikvean and inventor who is the father of Mary and the widow of Mya.
 * Steve Blum as Quazky, a Terran Reptoid and a Spacefleet Rebellion officer of the Galaxy One Enterprise.
 * Jeff Bennett as Naik'ax, One of the last surviving Astro-Knights until he was shot and killed by Necro.
 * Keith Silverstein as Kelly Starrider, Gary's uncle. He is a parody of Owen Lars.
 * April Stewart as Bella Lares Starrider, Gary aunt. She is a parody of Beru Whiteson Lars.
 * Gedde Watanabe as Lake, One of the last surviving Astro-Knights until he was killed by Dark Slader and the Empire.
 * Harvey Fierstein as Yoel, One of the last surviving Astro-Knights until he was killed by Dark Slader and the Empire.
 * Jerry Tondo as Charion, One of the last surviving Astro-Knights until he was killed by Dark Slader and the Empire.
 * Steve Zahn as Hank, Harold's friend, and owner of 7-Eleve.
 * Chris Parnell as Harold, Hank's friend, and assistant.
 * Jim Ward as Captain Quazar, Gary's childhood hero from his favorite sci-fi TV show.
 * Ward also voices Dif, an alien blob, Chuck's friend, and crew of the Galaxy One Enterprise.
 * Richard Steven Horvitz as Chuck, an alien chick, Dif's friend, and crew of the Galaxy One Enterprise.
 * MacinTalk as H.A.L., The artificial intelligence of the Galactic Empire.
 * Eric Bauza as Issac, a Ikvean citizen of planet Xemoitera who ran the local shop, but left his planet to find her daughter.
 * Maria Bamford as Issac's wife, The wife of Issac and the daughter of Cindy.
 * John DiMaggio as the bounty hunters who are rebelling against the Empire, but were killed in battle leaving Apollo to be the only survivor.
 * Ava Acres as Cindy, The daughter of Issac and his wife.
 * Charlie Adler as Guido, an human bounty hunter hired by Yabba the Butt to capture Rex Korso but was killed. He is a parody of Greedo.
 * Brandon Greene as:
 * Imperial Military leader
 * Chief robot seller
 * Rebel pilot
 * Mini-bots
 * Narrated by Victor Caroli

Soundtrack
No. Title.......................................................................Music


 * 1) "Hooked on a Feeling"....................................Blue Swede
 * 2) "Instruments of Destruction"....................................N.R.G.
 * 3) "I Heard It Through The Grapevine"....................................Marvin Gaye
 * 4) "Spirit In The Sky"....................................Norman Greenbaum
 * 5) "California Dreamin'"....................................The Mamas & The Papas
 * 6) "Danger Zone"....................................Kenny Loggins
 * 7) "Wichita Lineman"....................................Glen Campbell
 * 8) "Dare"....................................Stan Bush
 * 9) "Cherry Bomb"....................................The Runaways
 * 10) "Joy To The World"....................................Three Dog Night
 * 11) "I Want You Back"....................................The Jackson 5
 * 12) "Higher"....................................Creed

Score
No. Title.......................................................................Music


 * 1) "Space Wars (Main Title)"....................................Alexander Courage, Gerald Fried, Bob Karlan
 * 2) "Moon Base 2 - Shuttle Launch"....................................Vince DiCola
 * 3) "Planet Xemoitera"....................................James Newton Howard
 * 4) "March of Slader"....................................Harry Gregson-Williams, John Powell
 * 5) "Spacefleet"....................................Alexander Courage
 * 6) "Gary's Enterprise"....................................Michael Giacchino
 * 7) "Space Wars: A New Frontier (Main Theme)"....................................Michael Giacchino
 * 8) "Space Wars (End Title)"....................................Alexander Courage, Gerald Fried, Bob Karlan

Development
Greene had the idea for a Star Wars parody film in 2016. Originally, Greene wanted to adapt the parody into a spinoff of The Fairly Oddparents starring Dark Laser. But it was scrapped when Butch Hartman left Nickelodeon to become a Youtuber. Greene made Space Wars a combination of Star Wars and Star Trek. It was originally going to be either a streaming movie or TV movie, but it was jumped into YouTube then to streaming on Amazon Prime Video.

Writing
Since commencing his writing process in January 2017, Greene had done "various rewrites in the evenings after the day's work." He would write four different screenplays for Space Wars, "searching for just the right ingredients, characters and storyline and borrowed elements from the McDonalds commercial "Spaceman Stu". It's always been what you might call a good idea in search of a story." By May 2017, he had expanded the treatment for "Spaceman Stu: The Space War" into a rough draft screenplay, adding elements such as the Smith, the Death Ball, and a general by the name of Stu Skyrider. He changed Skyrider to an adolescent boy, and he shifted the general into a supporting role as a member of a family of dwarfs. Greene envisioned the Corellian smuggler, Rex Korso, as a minor NASA astronaut. He based Karal on the Sehlat from Star Trek.

Greene brought elements and moments from not just Star Wars and Star Trek, but Avatar: The Last Airbender, Dragon Ball Z, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Final Space.

Ben Skyrider's name was changed to Gary Starrider (named after Gary Goodspeed from Final Space). The name, Starrider is named after the song of the same name by Foreigner. His middle name is Quill which is a reference to Star-Lord's name, Peter Quill from Guardians of the Galaxy. Rex was given more of a bigger role. Spark was originally going to stay true to his original counterpart (Spock), but Greene find his look too similar. So he redesigned him as a grey alien.

Casting
Originally Will Friedle and Eric Bauza were both considered to be the voice of Gary. But Jack Quaid was chosen after Greene saw Star Trek: Lower Dock. Rex Korso was originally going to be voiced by Dwayne Johnson. But Jerry O'Connell was given the role. Leonard Nimoy's son, Adam was going to voice Spark. But he never lent his voice to animation, so he got Zachary Quinto to do the voice instead. Will Arnett, Mark Hamill, and even James Earl Jones were all considered for the role of Dark Slader however, Kevin Michael Richardson was given the role. Hamill will instead voice The Emperor in the last two follow-ups.

Release
While initially being streamed on Amazon Prime Video, Space Wars was an unprecedented success for Greene, soon becoming a hit. It would eventually see many re-releases.

Critical response
The film was met with critical acclaim upon its release for it's visual effects, action scenes, and humor. In his 2027 review, Cameron Perez called the film "an out-of-body parody experience," compared its special effects to those of Star Wars and Star Trek, and opined that the true strength of the film was its "pure narrative."

Re-releases
Space Wars was re-released on Amazon Prime Video in 2028,and 2029, with the subtitles Chapter V and A New Frontier being added in 2031.

Sequels, prequels, and adaptations
Main articles: Space Wars franchise, Space Trek, The Wrath of the Empire, Return of the Astro-Knight, Space Wars prequel film series, A New Frontier, and Space Wars sequel film series

Original film series
Space Wars was followed by Space Trek in 2030, The Wrath of the Empire in 2033, and Return of the Astro-Knight in 2034, which concludes the original film series. Space Trek, The Wrath of the Empire, and Return of Astro-Knight continue the backstory of the original film series. Like the previous film, Space Trek, The Wrath of the Empire, and Return of the Astro-Knight were fared well with critics, as the original film series is considered one of the best film parodies in history.

Prequel film series
5 years after the release of Space Wars, Greene wrote and directed the prequel film series, consisting of the films Chapter I – The Martian Menace (2039), Chapter II – Attack of the Troops (2042), Chapter III – The Civil Wars (2045), and Chapter IV – Revenge of the Smith (2048). The films chronicle the history between Oberon Kanewbie and Adrian Starrider, and Starrider's fall to the darkside and transformation into Dark Slader. Though successful in ratings, the films polarized critics and fans on their release for the storylines and some new characters. Retrospectives have highlighted that those for whom the prequels were their first Space Wars experience were more positive about the films than those who grew up on the original film series.

Live-action adaptation
The first chapter of the original film series was the basis of the 2050 live-action film A New Frontier, which was directed by Michael Bay. It was intended as the first of a four series of films, each of which would be based upon one of the four of the original film series. The film was a box-office bomb and was universally panned for its writing, acting, whitewashed cast, CGI affects on the alien characters, and Bay's direction; it earned a 5% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes as well as five Razzies at the 31st Golden Raspberry Awards, including Worst Picture, and some critics described it as one of the worst films ever made. The film made fans warm up to the prequel film series and were starting to prefer that over the live-action film. Although the film originally shared the title of the film, the title A New Frontier was used because producers feared it would be confused with Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope. A New Frontier stars Shia LaBeouf as Gary Starrider, Eddie Redmayne as Spark, Chris Evans as Rex Korso, Megan Fox as Princess Gwen, Forest Whitaker as Apollo, Ben Affleck as Necro, Jason Momoa as Dark Slader, Joel Edgerton as the voice of Dark Slader, and Shaun Toub as Oberon Kanwebie.

Sequel film series
2 years later following the live-action film, Paramount and Amazon Studios developed a sequel film series, consisting of The Source Awakens (2052), Evolution War (2054), The Last Astro-Knight (2056), and The Rise of Starrider (2057). The sequel film series was generally well received by critics and fans, although reactions to The Rise of Starrider, as the conclusion to the Starrider narrative, were typically mixed and derisive. Most of the cast of original film series return to reprise their roles as the characters from the original films with the exception of Quaid, Connell, and Mumy who are replaced by William Shatner, Christopher Walken, and Sigourney Weaver as Gary, Rex, and Gwen respectivly, alongside new characters voiced by James McAvoy, Janet Varney, Donald Glover, Ryan Kwanten, David Faustino, P. J. Byrne, and Seychelle Gabriel. Standalone short films were released, including Episode of Apollo (2053) and Episode of Celfhea (2055).