Star Wars – The Emperor’s New Clones (aka TENCLO)

Release Date	9 September 2006
Budget	£3500
Production Time	20 months (16 days principal photography plus 2 days pickup filming)
Locations	RAF Waddington and RAF Cranwell, Lincoln (UK)
Rating	MRSA – More Realistic Sabre Action

Set several years after The Empire Strikes Backyard, the Jedi learn of the Emperor’s plan to release his new Clone Army on an unsuspecting Republic, and set out to stop him – as well as rescue an old friend along the way. Back on Naboo, we follow Luke Skywalker’s progress as he trains to be a Jedi, and witness Anakin as he is tempted by the Dark Side of the Force. As the fate of the galaxy lies in the hands of the guardians of peace, can good ultimately triumph over evil?

Background

The Emperor’s New Clones was made in 2005 & cost £3500 to make. It is our parody of Episode III. No money was made from its production. The crew comprised of family and friends and was produced purely out of love of the Star Wars Universe.

The Emperor’s New Clones (TENCLO) was discussed as a project way back in 2002 after the Premiere of Doom Raiders. There were many reasons for making a sequel to The Empire Strikes Backyard (TESBY). After watching the Luke Skywalker versus Darth Vader duel in Return of the Jedi for the hundredth time, one of the things that Darren really wanted to have in TENCLO was a lightsaber duel on different platforms. Mark and Ed were keen to produce better visual effects than those seen in TESBY. Another option was to re-edit TESBY into a special edition incorporating better visual effects and slicker editing. Whilst Darren, Mark and Ed conducted an extensive review (and even got Air Vice-Marshal Rimmer to film another introduction) TESBY Special Edition was abandoned.

As publicity regarding the release of Episode III grew combined with their recent 5-minutes of fame, BYP could see that The Dragon’s Curse was losing momentum compared with the growing enthusiasm of resurrecting TENCLO. Darren spoke at length with Mark to discuss how realistic it would be to produce a second Star Wars Fanfilm. After going through all the old notes made back in 2002, Darren finally made the formal proposal to produce TENCLO on 25 February 2005.

The plot was to be more substantial than TESBY (where the premise was that Obi-Wan senses a disturbance in the Force and he and Anakin go to find out what it is) where this time Obi Wan is captured by the Emperor and used as bait to lure Anakin to the Dark side, while at the same time, he releases his new Clone Army to take over the Galaxy.

There was much discussion regarding the tone of the film and how Anakin would turn to the Dark side of the Force. Darren was very clear that the emphasis should not be Anakin turning to the Dark side, but instead how and why he puts on the Darth Vader costume. The team agreed that to deal with the issue of turning to the Dark Side would not suit a light-hearted parody. The only issue was then to determine exactly how Anakin’s transformation was going to occur.

BYP’s funds were plentiful and a budget of £2500 was agreed. In March 2005, Darren and Mark were invited to appear on Channel 4’s Richard and Judy daytime TV show. Initially due to appear for a 5 minute feature, Darren and Mark managed to drag it out to over 8 minutes with Richard and Judy laughing all the way though (with them or at them? It was not quite clear!).

Darren was then deployed to the US in support of a Royal Air Force air defence exercise in Alamogordo in the USA. During any time off he had, Darren began writing the TENCLO script. Thanks to the internet (and the plush hotel he was staying in!) Darren emailed draft scenes back to the BYP members ready for consultation upon his return.

After a gruelling 3 weeks in Darren’s converted garage with a team of 9, TENCLO was finally ready for premiere on 9 September 2006.