| The Dark Redemption | |
| Director: | Peter Mether |
| Producer: | Warren Duxbury Peter Mether |
| Starring: | Martin Grelis Leah McLeod David Wheeler |
| Music: | William Bawden Craig Sue |
| Cinematography: | Mark Seton Chapman Tom Gleeson Roger Grant Andrew Oliver Paul Pandoulis |
| Editing: | Roger Grant John Hresc Craig Sue Peter Worland |
| Distributor: | TheForce.Net |
| Runtime: | 25 minutes |
| Country: | Australia |
| Language: | English |
| Budget: | $30,000 |
The Dark Redemption is a 1999 Australian Star Wars fanfilm featuring Mara Jade, a character featured in Star Wars books and comics. Peter Sumner returns to the role of Imperial Officer Lt. Pol Treidum, whom he played in Star Wars.[1]
An attempt was made to submit the film to an official fan film contest in 2003 that was sanctioned by George Lucas; however, the short was not considered to be eligible as it was set prior to the events of Episode IV: A New Hope, which violated the contest's rules by adding new content to the series, which Lucas also considered to be a copyright violation.[2] The film was briefly removed from the Internet at Lucas' request.
Set just before the events of the original Star Wars, the film tells of how Mara Jade (a character from the Star Wars expanded universe) worked with other Rebels to capture the plans for the first Death Star. While on the mission, though, Mara hears the Emperor's call to turn to the dark side of the Force.
Other crucial moments in Star Wars history are explained in this film, such as how Han Solo got in trouble with Jabba the Hutt.
Warren Duxbury and Dwight Boniecki worked on a script for The Dark Redemption for eight months before approaching Mether to help them make the film. It was considered an ambitious fanfilm at the time, with 72 scenes and 20 CGI sequences. A team of 20 3D artists worked on the short. At the time of filming, Mether was a director-producer at Foxtel, and many Foxtel presenters acted in the film.[3]
The film was screened twice at the Noosa Film Festival.