The Triangle

Issue date: 2/6/09 Section: Arts & Entertainment

Media Credit: The Weinstein Co.

The off-screen drama being detailed on sci-fi and movie blogs during the last year over "Fanboys" is a testament to the film itself. Set in 1998, the story centers around a group of friends eager to see "Star Wars: Episode I" before the May 1999 premiere. Their terminally ill friend, Linus, stricken with cancer, faces a time constraint. The friends develop a purpose: leave Ohio for sunny California to break into Skywalker Ranch for a courageous sneak peak.

This cancer subplot was marked for removal after focus group research by The Weinstein Company determined there is a five to ten minute period where most of the audience is not laughing - after the word "cancer" is mentioned. Another cut of the film was produced, void of the cancer subplot and replaced with more raunchy scenes of gross-out humor. When rumor became confirmed as fact, a grassroots Internet backlash came together, formed by "Star Wars" devotees. "Stop Darth Weinstein from ruining Fanboys" the web site read. The final cut screened at Comic-Con last July kept the cancer subplot preserved.

All industry folklore aside, this instance instills a clear indication of how ferociously committed the fans are to the fantasy of "Star Wars" and related media. This episode even provides guidelines that make it easier to understand the characters of "Fanboys." Inclined towards adulthood and stability, Eric gives up on his talent as a comic illustrator to work for his dad at a car dealership. The overbearing dad pressuring his son to join the family business is plucked straight out of "Star Wars." Eric's twenty-something friends are maladroits, who give up regular social and sexual interactions in favor of useless trivia and red-faced arguments about whether Boba-Fett is a badass.

"Fanboys" is a character driven, road trip romp comedy. Along the way are a series of trials that test the resolve of the road-tripping participants as well as a plot that is spread thinly over ninety minutes. Their trip is taken, fittingly, inside a van with a mounted R2D2 unit on the roof. Intermittent stops on their way to California include Vegas, mistaken escorts, guacamole laced with peyote, and a gay biker bar where our heroes have to perform a raucous strip show to pay their tab. Surprising cameo appearances keep each episode interesting. Most satisfying is a stop in Iowa where the five-some terrorize a group of defenseless Trekkies. According to our characters, Trekkies are dead last on the sci-fi/fantasy totem pole.

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