''Pink Five'' is a ''

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop-culture Cultural impact of S ...

fan film A fan film is a film or video inspired by a film, television program, comic book, book, or video game created by fans rather than by the source's copyright holders or creators. Fan filmmakers have traditionally been amateurs, but some of the mo ...

that made its debut on the Internet in 2002 and was written and directed by

Trey Stokes Trey Stokes (born 1960 in Nashville, Tennessee) is an American filmmaker and puppeteer, best known for his '' Star Wars'' parody series '' Pink Five'', and his puppeteering work on various movie, TV, and motion-ride projects. Early career Stoke ...

and stars Amy Earhart as Stacey (a.k.a. Pink Five), a fast-talking

Valley Girl A valley girl is a socioeconomic, linguistic, and youth subcultural stereotype and stock character originating during the 1980s: any materialistic upper-middle-class young woman, associated with unique vocal and California dialect features, ...

-type dropped into an

X-wing The X-wing starfighter is a name applied to a family of fictional spacecraft manufactured by the Incom Corporation from the ''Star Wars'' franchise. Named for the distinctive shape made when its s-foils (wings) are in attack position, the X-win ...

cockpit during the

Battle of Yavin Yavin (also known as "Yavin Prime", to distinguish it from its moons) is a fictional planet in the '' Star Wars'' galaxy. It first appeared in the 1977 film '' Star Wars'' and is depicted as a large red gas giant with an extensive satellite sys ...

, and presents familiar events and story points from Episode IV from a very different point of view.

Reception

The film has proven popular with ''

'' fans, winning rave reviews and the George Lucas Selects Award in the

AtomFilms Atom.com (formerly AtomFilms) was a broadband entertainment network offering original short subject movies, animations, and series by independent creators. The company was founded in 1998 in Seattle by Mika Salmi. Sequoia Capital, led by Michael ...

- and

Lucasfilm Lucasfilm Ltd. LLC is an American film and television production company and a subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, which is a business segment of The Walt Disney Company. The studio is best known for creating and producing the ''Star Wars'' and ' ...

-sponsored 2003 Official Star Wars Fan Film Awards, and even played at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival. In August 2010, ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

'' magazine listed it as one of the Top 10 ''Star Wars'' fanfilms.

Sequels and other appearances

The success of the first short film inspired sequels: '' Pink Five Strikes Back'' (2004), '' Return of Pink Five, Vol. 1'' (2006) and ''Return of Pink Five, Vol. 2'' (2007). With each successive installment, the chapters grew in length and in sophisticated visuals. Unfortunately, the increased expense meant that funding to complete the final chapter (and resolve the cliffhanger at the end of ''Vol.2'') was unavailable for nearly a decade. Finally, after a successful Kickstarter campaign in 2012, ''Return of Pink Five, Vol. 3'' was finished, and the complete 59-minute ''Pink Five Saga'' was screened at conventions around the country in 2013. Later, the saga was released online in 2016. Originally available on

Vimeo Vimeo, Inc. () is an American video hosting, sharing, and services platform provider headquartered in New York City. Vimeo focuses on the delivery of high-definition video across a range of devices. Vimeo's business model is through software as ...

, the saga has been available on

Amazon Video Amazon Prime Video, also known simply as Prime Video, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming and rental service of Amazon offered as a standalone service or as part of Amazon's Prime subscription. The service pri ...

since July 2016. Stacey appears in

Timothy Zahn Timothy Zahn (born September 1, 1951) is an American writer of science fiction and fantasy. He is known best for his prolific collection of ''Star Wars'' List of Star Wars books, books, chiefly the Thrawn trilogy, ''Thrawn'' series, and has publis ...

's 2007 ''Star Wars'' novel ''

Allegiance An allegiance is a duty of fidelity said to be owed, or freely committed, by the people, subjects or citizens to their state or sovereign. Etymology From Middle English ''ligeaunce'' (see medieval Latin ''ligeantia'', "a liegance"). The ''al ...

'', making her one of the few fan-created ''Star Wars'' characters ever to become part of the ''Star Wars'' expanded universe. Stacey also has a brief cameo in the fan film '' Sith Apprentice'', directed by John E. Hudgens. Additionally, Stacey has now been immortalized on a

Topps The Topps Company, Inc. is an American company that manufactures chewing gum, candy, and collectibles. Formerly based in New York City, Topps is best known as a leading producer of American Football Card, American football, Baseball card, baseb ...

30th Anniversary Trading Card. Card #117 ("Fan Films") details the exploits of the Valley Girl X-wing Pilot and her faithful droid, R5-DD. An original Pink 5 poster also appears in ''The Star Wars Vault'' by Steve Sansweet.

References

External links

* * 2000s science fiction comedy films 2002 independent films 2002 films 2000s parody films American science fiction comedy films American space adventure films American independent films American parody films Fan films based on Star Wars Films directed by Trey Stokes 2002 comedy films 2000s English-language films 2000s American films {{StarWars-stub