Star Wars: The Great Disturbance

Star Wars: The Great Disturbance is a 2003 action comedy science fiction brickfilm by Leftfield Studios, directed by Jonathan Hellerman and Nathanael Hellerman. It follows Obi-Wan Kenobi as he is sent to locate the cause of a mysterious disturbance in the force. The Sith, in the midst of carrying out a scheme, also send an apprentice to find the cause of the disturbance.

It is the earliest known feature length brickfilm primarily comprised of stop-motion animation, as the earlier Tapporalli 2020 by Johannes Rojola and Grand Theft Auto by Patryk Wawer are primarily live-action. Upon release, The Great Disturbance was also the longest known brickfilm, until it was overtaken by the 4-hour The Wars of Darkness in 2005, which still holds the title.

Plot
The decline of the trade federation has brought the Republic's economy near to collapse due to the increase of the galactic debt, so Supreme Chancellor Palpatine and the Senate decide new taxes must be introduced. Palpatine bribes Senator Amidala into levying a tax on surfboard wax. Meanwhile, Jedi who have been sent to investigate mysterious activity in the Eldura system have not returned. The Jedi council and the Sith can each detect a great disturbance in the force.

The Jedi council send for Obi-Wan Kenobi, and he is sent to investigate the disturbance along with his most powerful apprentice, Jar-Jar Binks, plus C-3PO and R2-D2. Simultaneously, the dark lord Digitalgeekus tasks his apprentice, Darth Apprentice, both with inciting a rebellion on the planet Wiamea and then going to find the disturbance.

Obi-Wan heads to a bar to find his friend Dwayne, but is trailed by Digitalgeekus. Digitalgeekus encounters Jar-Jar alone and duels him, knocking him into a dumpster. Obi-Wan finds Dwayne to ask if he knows where a disturbance is likely to be taking place. Dwayne suggests the planet Wiamea and wishes to accompany Obi-Wan, so they leave in Dwayne's ship, leaving behind the missing Jar-Jar. Obi-Wan becomes concerned about a ship that seems to be following them.

On the surfer planet Wiamea, Darth Apprentice is convincing the inhabitants to rebel against the republic over the wax tax. Apprentice says he can get them a supership and tells them to build a droid army, so widespread protest breaks out and ship construction and a droid assembly line begin. When Obi-Wan is looking around Wiamea, he sees the force ghost of Qui-Gon Jinn, who tells him the disturbance he seeks can be found in the Eldura system.

Apprentice and Digitalgeekus meet on their new ship, the S.O.S. Giganticus. When Obi-Wan and Dwayne take off from Wiamea, their ship is pulled in by Giganticus' tractor beam. Obi-Wan explores the Giganticus to disable the tractor beam, and Apprentice feels his presence and sends his droid, 2D-2R, to find Obi-Wan and his companions. R2-D2 falls through a trapdoor down to Apprentice and is taken as a prisoner, and 2D-2R finds and joins Dwayne, who thinks he is R2-D2. Obi-Wan finds the lever to disable the tractor beam and regroups with his companions to leave, heading for Eldura.

Obi-Wan and Dwayne arrive at the house of a scientist. Here they find his invention, The Force Disturber, which is harnessing the power of the missing and now unconscious Jedi to create disturbances in the force that give Jedi headaches. Digitalgeekus appears at the machine's controls and activates it but puts the speed too high and the machine breaks, freeing the Jedi inside. Obi-Wan and the other four Jedi battle Digitalgeekus until they trap him in the machine.

The planet is attacked by the S.O.S. Giganticus, and everyone attends a briefing on how to defeat the ship. The Jedi are sent on board the ship to open a sunroof to expose an exhaust port. 2D-2R goes to lock the sunroof, but R2-D2 breaks out of his cell and battles 2D-2R. While Obi-Wan becomes engaged in a duel with Darth Apprentice, the other Jedi arrive at the control room. After defeating 2D-2R, R2-D2 arrives at the control room to show the Jedi the button to press. The fleet of military ships take the opportunity to fire into the opening, and the ship explodes as the Jedi make their escape.

Obi-Wan returns to the Jedi council to explain his victory, and he is rewarded with a skiing holiday on the planet Hoth.

Cast

 * Billy Gribbin as Obi-Wan Kenobi, Yoda, Major Paine, Ultra violet Leader, Indigo Leader, Indigo 4, Indigo 6, Cowabunga Dude, Stand up Surfer, Dip Surfer, Security Surfer, Ship thingy Surfer, Surfer 1, Surfer 2, Me 3 Council member, Council member three, Socially redeeming Jedi, Popcorn Jedi, Qui-Gon Jin, Control room Officer 1, Attila the Hut, Sith Salesman, Bartender, Death stick salesman, Wanted man, Dead guy who scolds Qui-Gon
 * Jonathan Hellerman as Dwayne, Indigo 2
 * Nathanael Hellerman as Digitalgeekus, Anakin Skywalker, Indigo 3, I.D Droid, He's no battle droid either Droid, Let's get out of here Droid, Aaahhhh Droid, Did you hear Droid, Council member 1, Council member 2, 50 credit Jedi, Two headed man
 * Joe Gribbin as Darth Apprentice, Indigo 5 (Roger), Surfer Senator
 * Matthew Bowman as Mad scientist, C-3PO, General Nuisance
 * Benjamin Hellerman as What's going on over there Droid, All the rage Droid
 * Samuel Hellerman as Palpatine/Sidious, Ki-Adi-Mundi, Long necked council member, Control room Officer 2
 * Daniel Hellerman as Jar-Jar Binks, Noodle Incident Jedi
 * Anne Hellerman as Amidala, Female Council member

Crew

 * Jonathan Hellerman - Director, Screenplay, Director of photography, Set design and construction, Ship design and construction, Cinematographer,
 * Nathanael Hellerman - Director, Screenplay, Executive producer, Editor, Casting, Set design and construction, Blue screener, Visual effects, C-3PO and Digitalgeekus voice effects
 * Samuel Hellerman - Sound design, Ship design and construction, C-3PO and Battle droid voice effects, Scientific consultant, R2-D2 and 2D-2R sound effect engineering
 * Daniel Hellerman - Set design and construction, Ship design and construction
 * Joe Gribbin - Ship design and construction
 * Billy Gribbin - Ship design and construction
 * Matthew Bowman - Additional assistance
 * Robert Frost - Planet images

Reception
The film was very well received, and many people enjoyed it. It became a staff favorite on Brickfilms.com, and it was also given a glowing review by Jordan Harris on Bricks in Motion.

"At a whopping 74 minutes, this behemoth of a brickfilm is a classic. And even if the technical aspects aren’t exactly perfect, you have to give the film-makers credit for tackling things like a super-ship, a force disturber machine, gigantic tidal waves, surfing battle droids, and an epic battle between Darth Digital Geekus and Jar Jar Binks. To be honest, it doesn’t get much better than this. Bar fights, songs, and aliens were never quite so funny as in  The Great Disturbance.

Of course, this film (episode square root of two) is aimed at Star Wars geeks, but even if you don’t get the references to the series, I think it’s just about impossible not to enjoy this film." - Jordan Harris