# When Star Wars Fans Attack: "Fanboys" Fans vs. Darth Weinstein **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 27, 2008, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-star-wars-fans-attack-fanboys-fans-vs-darth-weinstein/439342 "2008-02-27T06:11:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2008, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-star-wars-fans-attack-fanboys-fans-vs-darth-weinstein/439342/1 "2008-02-27T06:11:15Z")
I sense a great disturbance in the Force: I haven’t seen an outcry from _Star Wars_ fans this huge since Greedo shot first. Coming from The Weinstein Company is a quirky-but-entertaining sounding little film called [Fanboys](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fanboys_(2008_film)), which is about a group of _Star Wars_ fans who, in 1998, sneak into the Skywalker Ranch in order to steal a copy of _The Phantom Menace_ before its release to fulfill the dying wish of their cancer-stricken friend. Apparently, someone at the studio (possibly Harvey Weinstein himself) thought the cancer subplot was too much of a downer, and the film was reedited by Steve Brill, the director of _Little Nicky_ and _Without A Paddle_. Now, the nerds (who include Veronica Mars herself, Kristen Bell, who wore a very cute outfit including a Chewbacca t-shirt and Chuck Taylors while talking about the film at the Star Wars Celebration last year) are just stealing the film because they’re _Star Wars_ nerds! Those wacky nerds’ll do anything! One source [claims](http://www.cinematical.com/2008/02/21/the-dirty-truth-about-fanboys/) that the new version tested two points better than the old version, and then a new new version was made featuring more swears, boobs, and all that wacky R-rated comedy stuff, which tested two points higher than the old new version- although some of the audience members may have been plants. The only [trailer](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBkA3R2Habo) officially released makes it seem like the studio is going for the wackyness- although there is an amusing cameo. Anyway, a number of people who saw the original cut in preview test screenings are outraged. They thought that the original version of the film had a touching feel to it, showing that _Star Wars_ fans actually care for each other as much as they do their beloved franchise. They feel that this new version of the film just stereotypes them as “wacky nerds who will do anything to get info on the thing they’re overly obsessed about.” They’ve set up a whole [campaign](http://www.aintitcool.com/node/35673) to get “Darth Weinstein” and “Grand Moff Brillohead” to release the original version or else boycott all of the studio’s films. I’m not really sure what my opinion on this is- the overt _Star Wars_ analogy they use on the site (they’re the rebellion, Weinstein is Darth Vader, etc.) seems to me to reinforce the negative stereotypes they think the new version of the film will. But this does seem to me an example of the usual art-vs.-commerce war of Hollywood. Here’s [another article](http://www.nypost.com/seven/02242008/business/weinsteins_star_wars_99004.htm?page=0), [another another article](http://www.vanityfair.com/ontheweb/blogs/daily/2008/02/revenge-of-the.html), [a cartoon](http://www.flyingmonkeycomics.co.uk/index.php?cid=118), and this [semi-related video](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBM854BTGL0) which actually doesn’t relate, but I can’t publicize enough. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2008, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-star-wars-fans-attack-fanboys-fans-vs-darth-weinstein/439342/2 "2008-02-27T06:25:23Z")
That trailer looks funny. Funny sells movie tickets - cancer, not so much. This wouldn’t be the first movie changed, and possibly for the worse, after test screenings, and it won’t be the last. So what if a handful of people boycott Weinsteins movies, the majority of the movie going public isn’t going to be swayed by a bunch of well, for lack of a better term, Fanboys. ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2008, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-star-wars-fans-attack-fanboys-fans-vs-darth-weinstein/439342/3 "2008-02-27T06:43:55Z")
Offhand, I can’t think of anything more depressing than a cancer-stricken fan’s dying wish for a new Star Wars film being fulfilled by **The Phantom Menace**. “New scenes were hastily shot to provide a more upbeat ending, where the fan died moments before they were able to view the prequel.” The aspect of the trailer that most jumped out at me was the blatantly trademark-skirting faux- **Star Trek** gear. I’m a bit worried about what that signifies about me as a person. I guess Paramount chose not to go along with the joke? On the one hand that’s a bit of a shame. On the other hand, the Trek franchise in 1998 was represented by **Voyager** and **Star Trek: Insurrection** , so maybe I can see their side of the issue. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2008, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-star-wars-fans-attack-fanboys-fans-vs-darth-weinstein/439342/4 "2008-02-27T16:01:14Z")
[QUOTE=Terrifel] Offhand, I can’t think of anything more depressing than a cancer-stricken fan’s dying wish for a new Star Wars film being fulfilled by **The Phantom Menace**. [/QUOTE] Makes you wonder–which is a bigger downer: his impending death, or the overwhelming sense of disappointment? Now that is a depressing ending. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2008, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-star-wars-fans-attack-fanboys-fans-vs-darth-weinstein/439342/5 "2008-02-27T16:07:34Z")
Unless the new footage made The Phantom Menace a better movie for the dying kid to watch, it will be a downer. Was cancer boy’s last words “That sucked!”. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2008, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-star-wars-fans-attack-fanboys-fans-vs-darth-weinstein/439342/6 "2008-02-27T17:07:50Z")
“Either that movie goes, or I do.” ---
**Author:** ![susan\_foster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@susan\_foster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan_foster)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2008, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-star-wars-fans-attack-fanboys-fans-vs-darth-weinstein/439342/7 "2008-02-27T17:35:06Z")
The guy who directed it is a friend of my brother’s (my brother was actually invited to his recent wedding). Another friend is in the film. I’ll have to see if my brother heard anything from the director directly about this. Susan (and I like the phrase director directly)