[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Fanboys__8849.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:[[{{Tagline}} The Saga's Biggest Fans On the Galaxy's Greatest Mission!]]]]

[[center:[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder: Episode [=VII=] \\
RETURN OF THE SAGA \\
The year is 1998 and it is a \\
period of galactic civil war. \\
Scratch that. There is no civil \\
war. That would be crazy! \\
However, the past fifteen \\
years have been a dark time \\
for Star Wars fans.\\
\\
But there is hope. A new \\
Star Wars film is on the \\
horizon. In 199 days, 3 hours, \\
33 minutes and 32 seconds \\
the most anticipated movie \\
of all time will be released.\\
\\
In the remote state of Ohio, \\
two best friends and lifelong \\
Star Wars fans have drifted \\
apart. Little do they know \\
that on Halloween night, their \\
paths will cross again...\\
\\
Ever wondered where these \\
words are flying? Maybe \\
aliens in another galaxy \\
will one day read this and \\
think WTF?\\
\\
sent from my i Phone ]]
]]

A 2009 film, set in late [[TheNineties 1998]], about a bunch of highly devoted ''Franchise/StarWars'' fans who break into Creator/GeorgeLucas's Skywalker Ranch to steal a print of ''Film/ThePhantomMenace''. It is essentially a RoadTripPlot, factoring in how they plan on infiltrating the filmmaking fortress and other, more benign or traditional, mishaps.

As an aside, the screenplay was written by Creator/ErnestCline, who would later be better known for writing ''Literature/ReadyPlayerOne'', another nostalgia-heavy fandom-centric work, and Adam F. Goldberg, creator of ''Series/TheGoldbergs''.

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!!Tropes:
* TheNineties: The film is set in 1998 (1999 at the end) and features a lot of references to 90s culture.
* AnachronismStew:
** The comic shop has some out of place comics for a movie set in 1998-1999, most noticeably a Giant-Sized Ms. Marvel comic book that was released 7-8 years after the movie was set.
** The shop even has multiple copies of Tag & Bink Were Here, which satirizes the Prequel Trilogy that they're all wanting to see.
* AllBikersAreHellsAngels
* AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther: [[spoiler: Chaz defending Eric and staying for the movie in the last scene.]]
* BasementDweller: Hutch is a man in his mid-20s who resides in his mom's garage ([[InsistentTerminology or "carriage house", as he likes to call it]]).
-->'''Eric''': Your mom said, "Clean up this shithole, [[DeniedFoodAsPunishment or no grilled cheese for a week]]."\\
'''Hutch''': That's emotional blackmail, and you know it!\\
'''Hutch's mom''': Screw you!\\
'''Hutch''': I will sue you! Renter's rights! \\
'''Hutch's mom''': You don't pay rent!
* BerserkButton: "Nobody calls Han Solo a bitch." Unless they want to start a fight. A [[WimpFight majorly unimpressive one]], but still a fight.
* BittersweetEnding: Opinions about ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'' itself aside, [[spoiler:George Lucas allows Linus -- and only Linus -- to see the movie early. TimeSkip to the release of the film and Linus has died from cancer, but Eric now writes and draws his own comic series, Hutch has started his own car detailing business, and Zoe and Windows are together.]]
* BlandNameProduct: ''Star Trek'' is given many mentions but the actual Starfleet logo is substituted with a different one.
* BrickJoke: Midway through his interrogation of the main characters, Lucas's chief of security stops mid-sentence and asks if [[spoiler:William Shatner]] had given them the plans for the Ranch.
* TheCameo:
** Featuring appearances by ''Star Wars'' actors, Creator/CarrieFisher as a doctor, Creator/BillyDeeWilliams as [[{{Pun}} Judge Reinhold]], and Creator/RayPark as a security guard.
** Creator/WilliamShatner as himself. Need I say more?
** Creator/KevinSmith as well, alongside Creator/JasonMewes.
* CarpetOfVirility: Hutch has one; Zoe describes it as looking like he fell on {{Series/Alf}}.
* CelebrityParadox: This is probably the biggest gleeful celebration of this trope -- by including above-mentioned Star Wars actors as different characters in their cameos, it rips a hole in the space-time continuum and is all the more fun for it.
* ConversationalTroping: When Eric reaches his DespairEventHorizon, a large part of why he's talked into continuing with the trip is Hutch mentioning the "Death Star Moment".
* CoolCar: Hutch's customised van, ''Slave 2''. It even has an R2 unit on the roof.
* CrapolaTech: The NitroBoost in Hutch's van doesn't work when it's supposed to. Instead, it kicks in a few moments later when Hutch doesn't really expect it anymore.
* DeliberateValuesDissonance: The fanboys cite their belief that Captain Picard is gay as a reason why ''Star Trek'' is worse than ''Star Wars''. In the 90s, that was considered a sound argument.
* DeniedFoodAsPunishment: [[{{Manchild}} Hutch]] gets into an argument with his mom when she threatened to take away his grilled cheese privileges if he doesn't clean up the garage.
* DisproportionateRetribution: The fanboys destroy the Trekkies' statue all because [[SeriousBusiness they called Han Solo a bitch]].
* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: Windows. It is unknown what his real name is, or if Windows actually ''is'' his real name.
* EveryoneHasStandards: As much as the fanboys freely engage in debauchery, even they are horrified when they find out Rogue Leader, Windows' online girlfriend, [[spoiler:is actually 10 years old]].
* FanConvention: After arriving in Las Vegas, the protagonists discover that the hotel where they're supposed to meet their contact person hosts a ''Franchise/StarTrek'' convention. Worse yet, it turns out that the very Trekkies they've trolled in Riverside are there, too.
* FandomRivalry: [[invoked]] ''Franchise/StarWars'' vs ''Franchise/StarTrek''. At one point the protagonists engage a bunch of Trekkies in a fight.
* FanDisservice: Hutch shirtless at the gay club. [[spoiler:[[FromBadToWorse Especially when he accidentally shows off his]] [[UnusualEuphemism "lightsaber"]].]]
* {{Fanservice}}: Creator/KristenBell wearing the legendary Slave Leia bikini. And, for some people, when she moons the cops chasing them. [[spoiler: A body double according to the DVD commentary.]]
* FemaleMisogynist: Zoe has a few moments of this trope, referring to the guys as "pussies," "ladies," and "girls," as insults.
* {{GIRL}}: Implied with Windows' online girlfriend, Rogue Leader. [[spoiler:She's actually a girl, but only 10 years old.]]
* GoshDangItToHeck: In one of the trailers, during the Trekkies scene, Creator/SethRogen's character says, "Han Solo's a dirtbag." instead of "Han Solo's a bitch.". They also changed Hutch's line to "Nobody calls Han Solo a dirtbag."
* HilariousInHindsight: A subversion, as it's deliberately [[InvokedTrope invoked]] with characters talking about how awesome Jar Jar's going to be. On top of that, the thug they're talking to already got himself ''a permanent Jar Jar Binks tattoo!''
* HumbleGoal: To see ''The Phantom Menace'' before it opens, because Linus is going to die before then.
* {{Hypocrite}}: The lead Trekkie, who criticises Darth Vader for having an asthma problem, something he claims no Star Trek character has as it's a sign of weakness, is of course asthmatic.
* HypocriticalHumor:
** Eric tells Linus that he lives in the real world, where he can't waste his life arguing about whether or not [[{{Twincest}} "Luke has a thing for Leia"]]... At which point, they get into that very argument.
** The feud between the Trekkies and the main characters has each side mocking the favored franchise of the other... and demonstrating a considerable amount of awareness and knowledge of the rival franchise in the process.
* InsistentTerminology:
** It's a ''carriage house''. Not a garage.
** The lead Trekkie briefly tries to get Linus to stop using "Trekkie" as a derogatory term, by saying the term is "Trekker".
** Played with for the escort girls.
--->'''Windows:''' They're hookers!\\
'''Girl:''' We're escorts.\\
'''Windows:''' What's the difference?\\
'''Girl:''' I don't know.
* JediMindTrick: Hutch tries using it to get Zoe to take her top off; he later tries it on the girl he picked up in Vegas, and is thrilled when it seems to work. Of course, it turns out she's an escort, HilarityEnsues.
* TheLadette: The character of Zoe plays with this trope -- she understands the terminology and is friends with the guys and even moons a pursuer, but as a socially-well-adjusted, normal (and pretty) girl, she's not "one of the guys" in the strictest sense of the term.
* LastNameBasis: Hutch.
* LastSecondJokeProblem: After spending the movie traveling to Skywalker Ranch so Linus could see ''Phantom Menace'' before his death, his friends finally get to see the film in its official release a year later. [[spoiler: As they sit in the theater, waiting in anticipation after camping out on the line, Eric suddenly poses the question: "Hey guys... what if the movie sucks?" Cut to black.]]
* LikeYouWouldReallyDoIt: InUniverse; see PutDownYourGunAndStepAway.
* MadnessMantra: [[spoiler:"I'm a pedophile!"]], by Windows.
* MexicanStandoff: See PutDownYourGunAndStepAway
* SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome:[[invoked]] Breaking into the Skywalker Ranch, and evading security long enough to find Lucas's memorabilia room and the rough cut of ''Film/ThePhantomMenace''. Lucas's chief of security outright expresses how impressive it was, and it is discussed as such in the above mentioned ConversationalTroping scene.
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Windows is absolutely horrified upon learning Rogue Leader [[spoiler:is only a child]].
-->'''Windows:''' [[spoiler:[[MadnessMantra I'm a pedophile! I'm a pedophile! I'm a pedophile!]]]]
* NerdsAreNaive: The head of security at Skywalker Ranch tests the main characters on whether they are actually the ''Franchise/StarWars'' fans they appear to be with a quiz. While half the questions are about ''Star Wars'' lore, the other half are about their knowledge of sex and the woman's body. The fact that only Zoe was able to answer the sexual questions correctly proves their geek-cred.
%% * NerdsAreSexy: Every one of the main characters except Hutch really.
* NerdsAreVirgins:
** Subverted, as Windows claims to have had one sex partner.
** Windows also gets with Zoe by the end.
** Also discussed in the below NerdsSpeakKlingon incident.
* NerdsSpeakKlingon: The main characters run across a group of {{Trekkie}}s and then try to start a fight with them.
-->'''Hutch:''' What's the Klingon for "[[NerdsAreVirgins I'm going to die a virgin]]"?\\
'''Admiral Seasholtz:''' ''(replies in fluent Klingon before he catches himself and yells an expletive)''
* NitroBoost: Hutch has installed this in his van. [[ParodiedTrope Parodied]] when [[CrapolaTech it doesn't work the first time]], then they keep pressing the button until they literally go into lightspeed... then crash.
* NotDistractedByTheSexy:
** Zoe flashes Windows with no reaction in order to demonstrate how nothing can distract him when he's in his Nerd Zone.
--->'''Zoe''': See that? Man's immune to sweater yams.
** An non-sexual example -- When the Trekkies find Eric and Linus in Vegas, they're so fixated on revenge that they completely miss that [[spoiler:William Shatner himself]] is standing ''right there'' in conversation with them.
* NotSoAboveItAll: Eric is the StraightMan, yet he is prone to having his immature moments just like the rest of the guys.
* OhCrap:
** Eric, Linus and Hutch have this reaction when they realize that Rogue Leader [[spoiler:is a 10 year old girl]]. Windows follows suit when he puts his glasses back-on.
** The moment everyone else realizes that Linus fell out of the side of the van as they tried to leave the hotel in Vegas.
** [[spoiler:"What if the movie sucks?"]]
* OpeningCrawl: Twice, once during the beginning, the other during a [[MushroomSamba peyote trip]] that read: "You are very, very, very, very high."
* PapaWolf: [[spoiler:Harry Knowles beats up Windows for (albeit unknowingly) sexting his 10-year-old niece, explicitly telling him not to say a word to her ever again.]]
-->[[spoiler:'''Harry Knowles''']]: Now you listen to me, perv. If you ''ever'' e-mail my niece again, I will hunt you like a [[Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay T-1000]]!
* PercussiveMaintenance: As a ShoutOut to how Han Solo fixes the ''Millennium Falcon''.
* PeriodPiece
* PresentDayPast: There are some snippets of [[TechnologyMarchesOn '90s Tech]] thrown in, but there isn't too much else to really distinguish the modern day from only 8 years ago. In particular, the Franchise/StarWars fans are seen wielding the [=ForceFX=] Lightsabers, which didn't come out until 2002. The telescoping plastic, lightbulb-illuminated one, which is also used, was the only one available at the time. A large Tauntaun action figure in blue packaging from the Saga line is visible; it was only released in 2002. Also, Hutch's lightsaber is Anakin Skywalker's, which didn't come out until 2005. Somewhat puzzling is the opening crawl, which narrates from an unspecified date. The crawl concludes with "sent from my iPhone." Since the iPhone was released in 2007 and ''The Phantom Menace'' in 1999, it would only make sense that the narrative is from a 2007-onwards perspective. And, as mentioned in the Anachronism Stew entry above, several late-90s comic books are shown on the comic store's shelves.
* PunctuatedForEmphasis:
-->'''[[Creator/SethRogen Pimp]]:''' [[BerserkButton No one. Calls. Han. Solo. A bitch!]]
* PutDownYourGunAndStepAway: At one point Linus tries a this on the Lucas Ranch guards with a valuable prop from the movies. The guard, in turn, grabs a different prop and threatens to destroy that in turn. The main characters being fanboys, they back down.
* RefugeInAudacity:
** [[spoiler:George Lucas, over the phone, is so impressed that they got past security he pardons them and allows Linus a personal screening of the movie.]]
** The film's portrayal of Skywalker Ranch -- to elaborate, the film portrays it as having doors reminiscent of those on the Death Star, security staff dressed like the robot police officers in ''Film/THX1138'', and a room that serves as a dumpster and is designed to replicate the trash compactor from ''A New Hope''.
** [[spoiler:William Shatner can score anything.]]
* RevengeBeforeReason: Upon finding Eric and Linus in Vegas, the Trekkies from Riverside are so concerned with getting revenge for their earlier fight that they ignore that William Shatner is in conversation with the duo at the time.
* RoadTripPlot
* SchmuckBait: This piece of dialogue.
-->'''Hutch:''' What's the Klingon for "I'm going to die a virgin"?
-->'''Admiral Seasholtz:''' ''(replies in fluent Klingon before he catches himself and yells an expletive)''
* SeinfeldianConversation: Again, the lengthy dispute between Linus and Eric about [[{{Twincest}} Luke and Leia]].
* SelfServingMemory: When the guys are laughing about the fight with the Trekkies, Windows tried to paint himself as more heroic than he was... And when it's pointed out that he was just getting his ass kicked, he claims he was "channeling Emperor Palpatine". The other guys quickly mock him about this, saying that Palpatine never called for a time out.
-->'''Hutch:''' ''(imitating Palpatine)'' I can feel your anger growing and... oh, wait a minute. Time out, time out!
* SeriousBusiness:
** ''The Phantom Menace'', let alone ''Star Wars'' in general, is this for the central characters.
** Calling Han Solo a bitch is enough to not only start a ([[WimpFight highly pathetic]]) fight but [[DisproportionateRetribution have the Trekkies' statue destroyed]].
* {{Shipping}}: {{Invoked}}, Eric ships Luke/Leia. Linus is squicked by this.
* ShoutOut: To ''Franchise/StarWars'', obviously.
** There's a deleted scene in which Eric tells the guards at the Skywalker Ranch entrance that his name is [[Film/ThePrincessBride Iñigo Montoya]].
** The uniforms the security guards at Skywalker Ranch wear are the exact same ones the robot police officers wear in ''Film/THX1138'', George Lucas' first film.
** In a fight, Linus [[Film/TheBigLebowski bites someone's ear off]]. It's a fake Vulcan ear, but still...
** The above fight is a homage to/parody of fight scenes from the original ''Star Trek'', from the ''lirpa'' weapons to the double-fisted hammerblow.
** Hutch does an IndyHatRoll variant when they escape from the memorabilia room, diving between the enclosing Death Star-style door's sections and then reaching back through to ''flip off the Ranch's security guards''.
* StormingTheCastle: The climax features the fanboys [[spoiler:and fangirl]] infiltrating George Lucas' Skywalker Ranch compound and repeatedly evading capture... [[spoiler:well, for a while anyway]].
* StraightMan: Eric.
* SuspiciouslySimilarSong: For once, this is ''invoked'', given the nature of this movie. The film's theme is one of the main ''Franchise/StarWars'' [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic theme]]. Averted, when it comes to the instances where one of the films is being played within the movie.
* TakeThat: To Trekkies. Not ''Franchise/StarTrek'' fans in general, but rather the obsessive ones who learn Klingon and set up shrines to James T. Kirk in Riverside, Iowa due to its status as his future birthplace. They're generally portrayed as unlikable, with the joke that even Viacom wants nothing to do with them and has actually forbade them from using any ''Franchise/StarTrek'' costume, prop or character likenesses under threat of lawsuit.
* TemptingFate: When the protagonists are having a discussion about Creator/HarrisonFord and how they believe him to be the greatest actor of all time, we see them drive past a billboard for ''Film/SixDaysSevenNights'' just after it's declared that he's never been in a bad film.
* ThisIsGoingToBeHuge: The pimp has an enormous tattoo of Jar Jar Binks on his back.
-->'''Pimp:''' That guy's gonna be the ''shit''!
* ThisLoserIsYou: The fanboys are depicted as a bunch of childish losers who have nothing to work for and put their love of ''Star Wars'' above ''everything''.
* TicketLineCampout: In the final scene, Bottler, Windows, and Zoe emerge from a tent outside a cinema where ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'' is premiering.
* {{Trekkie}}: As mentioned above, the gang run into fanatical and borderline psychotic ''Star Trek'' fans.
* TruthInTelevision: A case of WritingAroundTrademarks, this is exactly why the statues of Kirk and Khan look nothing like William Shatner or Ricardo Montalban and there are no "official" pieces of Star Trek memorabilia present in this scene. There's also the matter of the logo. Apparently, Viacom agreed to the placements in the convention scene but explicitly forbade their IP being used in this scene.
* UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist: The titular fanboys are selfish, hedonistic {{manchild}}ren with a tendency to wreak havoc and harass rival fan groups.
* WimpFight: The "battle" between the fanboys and the Trekkies is just as pathetic as it sounds.
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