Dharth Bob as he appeared in the earlier version of the duel.
Spoof Wars: The Search for Dharth Bob was a planned experiment to attempt to create a short sequel to The Dubious Maneuver using a combination of older, unused/deleted footage from that film. It would have told the story of the Jebi heroes, accompanied by Duet, Typhon and Mobacca, searching for and eventually confronting Dharth Bob. The idea came about after the release of Typhon, when looking through the old Mini-DV tapes from the original Spoof Wars. The project was scrapped as the crew decided to make a direct sequel to Shadows of the Democracy. A simple script of notes and new footage lines was completed. The idea was revived in 2013 as two new projects: Spoof Wars Origins: First Crash and Spoof Wars Origins: Duet, with the former being more directly based on this premise.
Synopsis[]
Guy-Gone Weird and Only-One Cannotbe have enlisted the aid of Shawn Duet, Captain Typhon, and Mobacca in their search for Dharth Bob, who escaped capture on Taboo. Aboard Shawn Duet's new ship, Duet begins by suggesting a Hotel/Cantina on a planet where fugitives are known to gather. The ship goes to the planet, where Duet swerves in and out of traffic to get to the Cantina. Inside the Cantina, Duet, Guy-Gone and Only-One sit for a drink at a table. Waiters bring them their drinks, while Captain Typhon and Mobacca go for a drink. Typhon glances at a black-robed person walking away. A contact meets them at the table and tells them that he has seen someone that looked like Dharth Bob around the area in the past few days. Guy-Gone and Only-One go to their rented room, where they recieve an unknown box. Guy-Gone mistakes it for a "box of foam peanuts" and throws it out the door. Outside of the building. A gigantic explosion blows out a small section of the building near their room, just missing it. One guy falls to his doom.
Typhon and Mobacca have a tiny misadventure. They once again glimpse Dharth Bob. Shawn Duet, half asleep in his ship, is contacted by Mobacca, who tells him that they spotted Dharth Bob near the indoor stadium complex. He then tells Guy-Gone via hologram. It is night at the stadium complex. The dark figure runs into the building, and the two Jebi run in after him. The dark figure is revealed to in fact be Dharth Bob. The three have a rematch in the stadium complex. Meanwhile, outside Typhon and Mobacca accidentally get themselves into more trouble. They try to contact Duet for help, but he is asleep in the cockpit of his ship. Ultimately, the duel is a stand-off until Typhon and Mobacca's misadventure crosses paths with the duel. In the end they all fly off together, with Dharth Bob either apprehended, dead, or got away.
Characters[]
Guy-Gone Weird[]
Guy-Gone would have acted much like he did in The Dubious Maneuver, as all of his footage (save for some hooded stand-in shots) would have come from unused footage. He would still be Only-One's master and still be a terrible fighter. One noticable difference is that in the unused footage, Matt's hair is a bit longer.
Only-One Cannotbe[]
Only-One would have been just like Guy-Gone, but visually, he would look very different. In the early unused footage, Only-One wore different costume parts - a thinner, almost brown-purple robe (later given to Dharth Bolshevik), a black glove on his right hand, and a padawan braid (which would have been traded between him and his master when they switched roles throughout the movie, until the braid clip broke). Sean also had shorter hair.
Shawn Duet[]
Duet would have remained generally more of a cameo in this film, as there was little footage that could be used from what was available, and at the time Jonathan looked much different. He comedically would have slept through most of the movie, despite Typhon and Mobacca's calls for help. Unlike the later short films, Duet would not have been stranded on Taboo and would have already gotten a new ship.
Captain Typhon[]
Typhon's part would have been entirely all-new, and acted as a subplot and filler for the gaps in the "re-used" footage. Because the earlier duel had no end filmed, it was decided his misadventure would cause the end of the duel in some way.
Mobacca[]
Mobacca would have simply accompanied Typhon and also acted as new material to fill the gaps. This could just as easily been Sprint Render if available.
Dharth Bob[]
Finding Dharth Bob would have acted as the mcguffin of the film, as the biggest cut scene was the alternate duel with him. He would have once again spoken little, if at all. New footage would have him robed and shadowy. In the short films, he actually has a similar role, turning out to be the villain behind Rhast.
Behind the Scenes[]
This project was jokingly referred to as the "leftover" movie, as it would have probably been comprised of around 50% unused footage (not including blue screened backgrounds). The project ultimately died when it was decided to continue the storyline set up in Shadows of the Democracy.
Trivia[]
- In many ways, elements of this story were re-used in Return of the Smuggler and Dark Equilibrium, namely:
- The characters going to a cantina/bar to hunt down their enemy.
- The characters talking to an informant, in the case of the films, the Barkeep.
- A rematch with Dharth Bob.
- Dharth Bob potentially captured.
- The film would have used quite a bit of deleted/unused footage from an earlier draft of Spoof Wars that was partially filmed.
- The film would have also used stand-ins and subplots with new footage, like the Typhon/Mobacca subplot, to complete the story.
- The film would have probably been visually stylistic, possibly with almost muted colors, higher contrast and film grain, partly for effect and partly to disguise any noticable mistakes and the fact that the actors are actually a little younger in a film that is supposed to be a sequel.
- The film would have had a voice over by one of the characters to help transition over story gaps. It was going to have a sort of "film noir voiceover" feel to match the visual look.
- The film was planned to be included in the eventual Tales of the Jebi short film collection DVD, and would chronologically be first, before Typhon and Shadows of the Democracy.
- This is the second attempt to include the characters meeting at a bar/cantina prior to its inclusion in Return of the Smuggler. The other attempt was an early draft of Shadows of the Democracy called Nights of the New Democracy.
- The film re-uses earlier or deleted footage:
- The characters are aboard a ship and discuss where to search. -- This would have reused footage from a scene on a second Democracy Transport and the space battle. In the early Spoof Wars draft, the Eon Vulture made it to Croissant. Soon after landing the Eon Vulture exploded (like it does on Taboo). The Jebi met with the council, where Count Dubious told them to go to Taboo. While Duet raided a doorstop factory and Only-One is confronted by Dharth Tyrannical-Fascist (moved to Daftooine, earlier in the film). They leave in a second Democracy Transport, and Typhon (not dead) sneaks aboard.
- Duet swerves in and out of traffic to get to the Cantina. -- This was a scene in which Duet claimed that "traffic is backed up for light-years. Hold on - I'm going to do something VERY illegal!", as he swerved into oncoming traffic to get around the backup. This scene was adapted into Return of the Smuggler, where Sprint now says this and does the same.
- Inside the cantina, the characters talk and Typhon spots a robed figure. -- This would have used shots from an earlier bluescreened version of the Eon Vulture "living area" and kitchen scenes (combined as just the kitchen scene later). The Typhon elements would be all-new.
- Guy-Gone finds a box of foam peanuts in the rented room with Only-One. -- This was a scene in the earlier draft that took place just after the Jebi Council scene on Croissant. Guy-Gone hopes it's their new Jebi Probe droid, but the box appears to be just foam peanuts. It is in actuality a bomb left by Dharth Bolshevik/Count Dubious (in this project, now Bob). Guy-Gone throws the box into the hallway, where it explodes and they do not notice.
- Duet asleep in his ship. -- This would use more shots from the kitchen scene.
- Duel Rematch. -- Simply an earlier version of the "apocalyptic battle" filmed at Central Christian Church. Dharth Bob has a slightly different face paint design. While shorter, about half of it was filmed, up until the random guy asks what they are doing. It was partly scrapped due to color problems with the camera, especially on the chairs behind them. This was another reason the project would have had minimal color.