Rebel Scum is a Canadian Star Wars Fan Film directed by Timothy Van Nguyen. It was uploaded in 2016 on YouTube by the channel Blood Brother Cinema Co. and can be watched here
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A Rebellion pilot is hounded by death from the merciless Empire and a frozen grave, after being left behind during the retreat of the Rebel Alliance from Hoth.
This fan film provides examples of:
- Better to Die than Be Killed: The Rebel pilot briefly contemplates killing himself with his blaster before having a much better idea.
- Despair Event Horizon: Echo 12 can't even bring himself to finish off the wounded Snowtrooper due to the events of the Battle of Hoth. He seemingly breaks out of it when he realizes there's a way to escape his impending death.
- Dressing as the Enemy: How the Rebel pilot eventually escapes, by switching uniforms with the snowtrooper.
- Equal-Opportunity Evil: The Empire uses women as snowtroopers.
- Faking the Dead: The Rebel pilot fakes death to deceive an Imperial probe droid long enough to grab his blaster and destroy it.
- Hologram: The Rebel pilot has a hologram of his family as Tragic Keepsake.
- Inspiration Nod: The short's climax uses music from Gustav Holst's The Planets, specifically "Mars, the Bringer of War". That orchestral suite had a huge influence on John Williams when he composed the soundtracks for the Star Wars films. And, of course, it is a Public Domain Soundtrack, unlike the Williams soundtracks — most fan film makers avoid using soundtracks from the films lest they want to be sued.
- Late to the Tragedy: The Rebel pilot wakes up in the wreckage of his snowspeeder, having been knocked unconscious instead of dying, only to find that the Rebel presence on Hoth is completely gone and the Empire is hunting down any potential stragglers.
- No Name Given: None of the living characters in the short are given names. The closest thing to a name the Pilot is given is his callsign "Echo 12". The only named character is Echo 12's dead gunner, Lars.
- Oh, Crap!: The Snowtrooper freezes dead still when she hears a probe droid's warble and realizes that in stealing her uniform, the rebel pilot put her in his. She dies too quickly for her to act on this reaction.
- Sound-Only Death: The Snowtrooper's death only heard as blaster shots in the distance.
- Spiteful Spit: The wounded Imperial snowtrooper spits on the Rebel pilot as soon as he takes her helmet off.
- Stop Motion: Imperial probe droids and AT-ATs are rendered through stop motion. It was intended as a homage to the original Star Wars trilogy's practical effects.
- Tragic Keepsake: The Rebel pilot looks at the hologram of his wife and daughter with visible sadness, meaning that either he lost them to the Empire or that his missing the evacuation of Hoth means he knows he'll likely never see them again.
- You Rebel Scum!: The snowtrooper mutters "Scum..." to herself while dragging herself through the snow over Echo 12 stealing her uniform and putting her in his.
