AllMovie

A compilation of brief film parodies, Hardware Wars and Other Film Farces includes such works as the infamous animated short Bambi Meets Godzilla and the Apocalypse Now parody Porklips Now. The centerpiece, however, is Hardware Wars, a Star Wars parody originally released in 1977. The short turns its shoestring budget into a comic asset, with the title coming from the fact that household appliances are used to represent all the film's spaceships. The story is a condensed take on the Star Wars tale, with Fluke Starbucker, Princess Anne-Droid, and Ham Salad banding together to fight the evil Darph Nader. The humor is snappy, if rather broad, and the film shows a true affection for the target of its parody -- George Lucas himself has called the film "cute." While having nowhere near the fan base of Star Wars, the short was highly profitable and has garnered enough of a loyal following for the film's producer to recently issue a Hardware Wars: Special Edition. In the style of the recent Star Wars rereleases, this new edition features new special effects sequences utilizing up-to-date computer graphics technology; however, these scenes were not created by the short's original director, Ernie Fosselius.