![]() “I haven’t had anyone say ‘this is belittling Star Wars‘ … well, except for the Jar Jar thing. “People are used to seeing Star Wars parodies,” he explained. Although he’s been asked to do the Maltese Falcon and Casablanca, he’s concerned about the reaction a Bogart double feature might cause. If Jansen ever does finish, he doesn’t plan to tackle other similar projects. “I didn’t care for the character much,” he said, “I mean, he would have been OK if he would have been in the film for a few minutes.” Jansen took time out from his opus to create the parody in hopes of getting a reaction from the public - and because he just didn’t like Jar Jar. That is, as grisly as you can get when you represent disembowelment with o’s and *’s. ![]() Jansen certainly didn’t endear himself to the company with his asciimation side project, The Death of Jar Jar, in which the floppy-eared underdog meets a grisly fate while working on Anakin Skywalker’s pod racer. Not among his fans, however, is Lucasfilm, whose representatives decline to comment on the animation. It’d be much more accessible, and he’d get his life back.” “But he could have edited the thing down to three minutes. “He’s done a fantastic job,” said Ashford, who has worked for Universal Pictures and for Roger Rabbit creator Richard Williams. Computer game designer Simon Ashford of Australia sees Jansen’s work as an inspiring, somewhat silly labor of love, with the emphasis on labor. ![]() Messages periodically appear on the ASCII animation newsgroup news: from well-wishers searching in vain for “that Simon Jansen guy.”Īsciimation also attracts the attention of the odd professional animator. Because he prefers not to post his email to the public, the creator of what could be considered the definitive ASCII animation masterwork has a reputation more shrouded in mystery than Darth Maul. His animation has earned a mild cult following among ASCII enthusiasts, nevertheless. “You have to be in a kind of strange frame of mind where there’s nothing else you’d rather be doing.” “To tell the truth, it’s quite boring to do,” he said. Everyone by now has probably seen the original and best fight us installment of the Star Wars franchise, and likely the ASCII-art animation version of it that improves. While he claims to have “a bit of a passion for Star Wars,” the Kiwi auteur insists he really isn’t that fond of creating ASCII art (or animation, for that matter). Why is he doing it? That’s a mystery even to Jansen himself. “I can come back and look at it in a whole new light - whereas if you were to sit down and do a film over days and days, you’d go a bit strange.” ![]() Like any Jedi worth his saber, Jansen quickly discovered the key to creating good asciimation: patience. ![]()
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