Chad Vader: Day Shift Manager
From Wookieepedia, the Star Wars wiki.
| Chad Vader | |
|---|---|
| Director(s) |
Aaron Yonda |
| Producer(s) |
Courtney Collins |
| Writer(s) |
Aaron Yonda |
| Starring |
Aaron Yonda |
| Music by |
Andrew Yonda |
| Distributor |
Blame Society Productions |
| Runtime |
4 to 6 minutes (each episode) |
| Language |
English |
Chad Vader is a fan film series by Blame Society Productions that has gained popularity on the Internet, particularly through viewings on YouTube. The first episode has been viewed over two million times. A portion of the episode IV video was aired on Good Morning America on October 12, 2006. As of May 11, 2007, there are eight episodes, each between five and six minutes long, written and directed by Matt Sloan and Aaron Yonda.
Chad Vader has been translated into at least 5 languages, including Portuguese, Spanish, French, Hebrew and Lingua Franca Nova. The series also has a DVD, which contains all 8 of the first season episodes, it has also spawned a line of other merchandise.
Each episode was filmed on location at Willy Street Co-Op, a grocery store in Madison, Wisconsin. They received the George Lucas Selects Award at the 2007 Official Star Wars Fan Film Awards as well as George Lucas personally selected the short movie as the best fan movie of the year. Annual competition is hosted by AtomFilms.
Contents |
[edit] Concept
The storyline centers around Chad Vader, the less-famous brother of Darth Vader, who works (at first) as a day-shift manager at a supermarket named Empire Market. According to a spinoff Rifftrax video, he mentions to himself that his mother and brother abandoned him when they left for Tatooine. Once he had a bike (bicycle) accident and fell off in a volcano which injured him severely, and in order to live properly his brother sent him his suit.
The series presents Chad's clashes with customers and other employees, especially Clint, the night-shift manager. Chad's infatuation with Clarissa, one of the grocery store's check-out girls, is a plot point as well. Chad makes frequent references to dialogue and concepts from the Star Wars films in the context of a modern-day grocery store (for example, his 'plans for a more powerful laser checkout system').
[edit] Episode plot
When on a date with Clarissa, he mentions an accident on a bicycle into a volcano, with his more famous brother sending him the suit to survive.
Eventually, after upsetting his boss, Chad is removed from the Day Shift Manager position and is placed in the Night Shift Manager position. Exasperated with his first night on the night shift, Chad demands to have his day shift position back. When his boss refuses to give Chad back the position in Episode IV, Chad quits.
Soon afterward, Chad takes up drinking in a local bar when he sees both Clarissa and Clint on a date. After Clarissa tells him to get a life, Chad attempts to jump off a bridge. Suddenly, the ghost of somebody who had died in a drunk-driving accident appeared to tell him not to jump and get a new job.
Chad, convinced by the ghost, then goes to work. Then on Monday, Chad is fired from his new job as a telemarketer. On Tuesday he gets fired again. Each day he gets fired (Mayor Dave Cieslewicz also has a cameo in that episode). Meanwhile, back at Empire Market, Clarissa and Jeremy start to miss Chad. Then on Friday, the Ghost visits Chad to tell him to go back to his old job.
Chad then asks Randy for his job back but Randy refuses to give Chad his job back, so Chad starts pretending to be Clint to get people to complain about him. Meanwhile Jeremy was trying to find the power box of the supermarket to cut the power to the store. Clint later finds Chad just as Jeremy succeeds in cutting the power and the two decide to "end this."
Chad and Clint then begin to fight in the dark, but the power comes back on because of the emergency power which Chad forgot about. Chad and Clint fight, and Clint first knocks Chad to the ground, but Chad is able to get back on his feet after half the occupants in the store tells him "I believe in you," except for one customer who instead remarks "I found the goat milk." Chad wins by using the Force to toss lemons at Clint, and send him flying into a lettuce stand. Chad then lies to Randy about the fight and tells him that the damage to the store was caused by Clint. He also says that Clint has mental problems, getting Chad the job as Day Shift Manager back.
The season ends, to be followed by Season Two of Chad Vader: The Day Shift Manager.
[edit] Main Characters
- Chad Vader (Aaron Yonda) - The main character and former day shift manager of Empire Market. He was moved to the night shift after a dispute with Clint. Chad ultimately quit Empire Markets because he felt he was lame. Chad tries to find a new job, but with no success, and eventually defeats Clint to earn back the Day Manager position. It is implied in episode 2 and in an interview with Aaron Yonda that Chad Vader is Darth Vader's brother.
- Clint (Matt Sloan) - Chad's rival, the former night shift manager. He became Day Manager after a dispute with Chad. He eventually took Chad's girlfriend Clarissa on a date. After losing in a battle against Chad, Clint quits his job.
- Randy (Brad Knight) - Chad and Clint's boss as the general manager of Empire Market. Dislikes it when Chad treats him like an emperor.
- Clarissa (Christina LaVicka) - A cashier at Empire Market who went on a date with Chad, but later left him for Clint. She ultimately asked Chad if he wanted to go on another date after Clint had quit his job. Chad said he had to check his schedule.
- Jeremy (Paul Guse) - An Empire Market employee who idolizes Chad and wears the top piece of a darth vader helmet; Vader usually refers to him as Commander Wickstrom. Jeremy eventually transfers to the Night Shift with Chad, until Chad went back to being a Day Manager. In the last episode he is shown to have the power of The Force when he pulls a broom to his hand.
- Weird Jimmy (Craig Johnson) - An insane night shift employee. He used to be the day shift manager, but has become unstable since moving to the night shift and losing his position as manager. This was revealed during a conversation with Chad outside the store. He consults his friend "Mop" before he does anything and quote, "believes in elves".
[edit] External links
- Chad Vader: Day Shift Manager Official Page
- Fanfilms.net listing
Chad Vader on Wikipedia
- He's Not the Heavy; He's His Brother – Associated Press article about Chad Vader
