After Darth: Vader Talk Show Never Aired
Would you have watched a Darth Vader talk show?
The early days of Disney’s interactions with Star Wars were… strange.
I give you, Star Wars “Hyperspace Hoopla“:
Yes, Johnny, that was what used to be the Star Wars fare at Hollywood Studios in 2013.
And, yes, that is Slave Leia, “sexy” Padme, and Ahsoka dancing with Chewbacca (in a hat and sunglasses).
And back in 2011, Cartoon Network had a different look at Star Wars. Robot Chicken (via Adult Swim) had various Star Wars skits, including a talk show – “Mid-Nite With Zuckuss” (PG-13):
So, you see what things were like before the Lucasfilm Story Group and new canon and “Star Wars Land” and, well…. you get it.
Anyway (and I really, really buried the lede here), apparently, there was going to be a Darth Vader talk show.
Yes, Paul Scheer joined Gary Whitta — back at it — on Animal Talking to talk pop culture, including his own would-be talk show.
After Darth
Scheer (who has been in pretty much everything) spoke about “After Darth“:
“It was a Darth Vader talk show that took place on the Death Star. It was sponsored by Disney, no one will ever see it. No one will ever, ever see this… I played Darth Vader. I did not do the full-on voice of Darth Vader, but the Emperor had a band, it was kind of like the Cantina band led by the Emperor. It was co-hosted by my brother, who looked like me but wore a Hawaiian shirt, kind of out of canon. And we did a full-on recreation of the Death Star. It looked like the Emperor’s throne room; we put a wooden desk in there, threw up a fern. We had interviews with people across the Star Wars galaxy.”
I love that: “Kind of out of canon.”
LOL
Hot Coffee and Star Wars Canon
Scheer talked about having note cards, throwing them in the air, and drinking (?) a hot cup of coffee.
“Interviewing people like Lobot — which was Lando Calrissian’s Head of Security — talking to like, Wedge Antilles or one of Padme’s handmaidens,” added Scheer. “The canon of the show was all over the place.
“We would do a lot of these dumb bits.”
My favorite of the unaired bits was an ESPN-style 30-for-30 on Anakin Skywalker and the pod race.
“It was a very straightforward, serious 30-for-30,” said Scheer with a laugh.
However, Scheer was serious about one thing: the buy-in from Disney at the time. The comedian described being able to use sets, costumes, music, and footage.
“We got access to all of it,” said Scheer. “And, like I said, it never aired.”
Whitta (who wrote Rogue One), incredulous, said, “You recorded eight episodes of a Darth Vader talk show and we will never see them?”
To wit, Scheer answered: “Maybe it’s for the best… it was definitely not taking Star Wars seriously, at all.”
Taking Star Wars Seriously?
And goodness knows that we don’t have enough of that!
Watch the episode, now!