Chad
Vader: Day Shift Manager Webseries Review
Madison,
Wisconsin, does not sound like the kind of town that could potentially
rival Hollywood. Although the Wisconsin capital is the birth-place of
the alternative rock band Garbage as well as the satirical news journal
The Onion, and even served as the temporary home of musicians
Steve Miller and Boz Scaggs while they attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison,
it hardly measures up as a major creative mecca. But then along came
the World Wide Web and YouTube, and suddenly tiny Madison found itself
being mentioned in the arts sections of The New York Times,
Washington Post, and Chicago Sun-Times. The reason?
The online webseries Chad
Vader: Day Shift Manager.
Created
by aspiring filmmakers Matt Sloan and Aaron Yonda, this comic masterpiece
became one of YouTube’s biggest hits, and was even nominated for
Best Original Web Comedy Series in TV Guide’s 2007 Online
Video Awards. The two auteurs were shooting low-budget comedy films
for their local cable-access station when a friend suggested they make
a Star Wars parody. After kicking the idea around for awhile,
they came up with having Darth Vader’s younger brother work as
a day-shift manager at fictitious grocery store Empire Market. Despite
the premise, this is no simple Star Wars spoof as Chad Vader
experiences endless personal and professional traumas throughout the
eight-episode first season.
The parody
aspects, however, are still very much evident. Chad (Yonda) refers to
the store general manager, Randy (Brad Knight), as both “master”
and “emperor,” and kneels before him as well. He likewise
labels the employees under his management as “commanders,”
and when grouped together, “squadrons.” One of them, Jeremy
(Paul Guse), goes so far as to don a black Imperial helmet and even
mimics Sir Alec Guinness’ movements through the Death Star in
a similar attempt to cut the power to Empire Market, ending up trapped
in a garbage can (just as Luke, Han and Leia were trapped in a garbage
disposal in the original Star Wars). And when asked why he
wears a breathing mask, Chad explains that he was in a bicycle accident:
“I lost control on a road and I went over an embankment, down
a hill, into a volcano.”
Sloan and
Yonda also sprinkle the eight Chad Vader scripts with direct
quotes from the Star Wars saga. “You have failed me for
the last time.” “We meet again at last. The circle is complete.”
“You will join me or die.” “I am altering the deal.
Pray I do not alter it any further.” The catch, of course, is
that they are spoken by Chad out of context and ultimately ring hallow
as events unfold around him. Other classic lines are paraphrased, such
as “I sense a disturbance in the store” and “I like
this job; it is my destiny.” The webseries even makes use of such
Jedi/Sith techniques as utilizing the Force to choke someone and moving
objects via telekinesis, while also equipping Chad with a light saber
(which is used at one point to light another employee’s cigarette).
While such
homages and spoofs are indeed entertaining, Chad Vader would
eventually grow tiresome, even in the webseries format, if it contained
little else. Sloan and Yonda realized this as well, and populated Empire
Market with an assortment of oddball-yet-recognizable characters, including
deranged night cleaners, sleepwalking customers and catatonic cash register
operators. The two also utilize visual humor along with standard one-liners,
and at times even venture into slapstick. Chad trips on a banana peal
in one scene, for instance, foils a shoplifter by telekinetically bombarding
them with rolls of paper towels in another, and chases a dog Keystone
Cops-style through Empire Market in yet another.
More importantly,
Sloan and Yonda created Chad Vader as a fish-out-of-water narrative
about a character with tremendous power who has an inability to fit
in with every day life. The eight episodes that comprise season one
portray these average challenges through the mini-saga of Chad’s
rivalry with night-shift manager Clint (Sloan, who also voices the title
character in a remarkable James Earl Jones impersonation). This annoying,
obnoxious and vulgar “archenemy” eventually steals the day-shift
away from Chad, and even attempts to woo his love interest, Clarissa
(Christina LaVicka). Chad is later forced to find new employment in
what can only be described as a series of classic comedy scenes involving
the younger Vader making failed attempts at telemarketing, operating
a photocopier and driving a taxi. In the end, however, Chad learns something
about himself and rises above the turmoil in order to achieve ultimate
redemption.
Chad
Vader is “must-see-TV” of the webseries variety for
any fans of both Star Wars and Kevin Smith-style comedies.
Although Sloan and Yonda have promised a second season of the show,
a recent post on their Blame
Society Productions website suggests
that a series of training videos involving Chad and Empire Market will
be their follow-up project instead. And as for the future, let’s
just say that it will be interesting to see what Madison, Wisconsin,
can come up with next.
April 21,
2008
