Thumb Wars

About Thumb Wars

Thumb Wars: The Phantom Cuticle is a 1999 short film directed by Steve Oedekerk. Using dressed up and coifed thumbs as puppets — Oedekerk created a spoof of the space drama Star Wars with characters such as Loke Groundrunner (parody of Luke Skywalker), Princess Bunhead (parody of Princess Leia), Oobedoob Scoobydooby Benubi (parody of Obi-wan Kenobi), Hand Duet (parody of Han Solo), Crunchy (parody of Chewbacca), Beboobeep (parody of R2-D2), Prissypeo (parody of C-3PO) and Black Helmet Man (parody of archvillain Darth Vader). Thumb Wars debuted on American television May 18, 1999, on UPN. It had it's cable premiere on Cartoon Network on October 2, 2008 to promote the Clone Wars series that premiered the next day. The TV version provided a trimmed down version of the film.

The 29-minute film opens with a parody of Star Wars' "A long time ago..." phrase: "If there were thumbs in space and they were mad at each other there would be... THUMB WARS."

The film then cuts to rolling text flying into the distance, as in Star Wars: "It is a time of great unrest in the Universe. Using the nail side of the power of the Thumb, the Evil Thumbpire has taken a stronghold in the Sacul region of the Egroeg sector." (Sacul and Egroeg are backwards references to Star Wars series creator George Lucas.) "The Thumbellion Resistance Fighters have retreated to a hidden base. The Thumbpire is constructing a big dangerous weapon thing with enough fire power to blow stuff up. If the Thumbellion can destroy the big dangerous weapon thing, they will live and the good side of the thumb will reign. If they don't there can be no sequels. No sequels means no merchandising, no fan clubs, no freaky guys at conventions that have way too much free time and no clear desire to date girls. Victory is imperative!"