On July 18th, 1997, Kevin Rubio brought a short film that he had shot earlier that year in El Mirage, California to San Diego Comic Con, before putting it onto the web. Since then, Troops has become one of the best-known Star Wars fan films, and has been recruiting for the Empire ever since.


The satirical story, shot in the same documentary-style as that of COPS, follows the true story of what happened on Tatooine during A New Hope, following a the Black Sheep Squadron as they go about their work with routine traffic stops and domestic disputes near Mos Eisley.

If you’ve never seen it, it’s worth checking out: in the years since, there’s been a lot of imitators, but nothing’s ever quite come close to it. Troops has remained one of the first great fan-made Star Wars, and it’s held up well in the almost two decades that it’s been on the web.


[501st Legion]