Holy hell, you guys! Lets give these filmmakers a shot at one of the next Star Wars installments!

One of the criticisms of the Star Wars prequels was that that we never got to really see how bad-ass Darth Maul really was. The short amount of time we saw him in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace was in a few holograms, seconds on Tatooine, and the final fight that was so full of CGI it’s hard to remember what was going on. And if you ask us, we really needed some more sweet sweet footage of him riding his space-rascal mobility scooter. 

With two sunsets, it’s hard to gauge when Tatooine’s early bird specials start.

YouTube’s T7 Production seems to agree with the lack of Maul-y goodness and decided to make an incredible short film – DARTH MAUL: Apprentice –  that blows most live-action lightsaber battles out of the water. Set before the events of Star Wars Episode I, ol head-horns is posted up on a planet for training. Spending his time monitoring communications and training with blaster droids (we suppose thats the right term?) firing at him relentlessly.

The short picks up when Maul gets an alert of Jedi landing on the planet and seeks them out to protect his seclusion. Remember that before the The Phantom Menace, the Jedi assumed the Sith were long gone. Maul engages half a dozen Jedi in an amazingly choreographed battle sequence that puts some of the real movie ones to shame. This short is shot beautifully and tells a story that we probably wouldn’t have thought about from the Maul we were given in the movies. Before the last surviving Jedi is dispatched, there’s a glimmer of humanity (err…
Dathomirity?) as he hesitates before the last kill knowing Palpatine is watching. It turns out that this was his final test on the dark road to officially becoming the Emperor’s apprentice.

What do you think of the short? Do you think T7 Production deserves a chance on the big screen? Let’s discuss in the comments below!

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HT: Comicbook.com
Image: T7Pro & Lucasfilm Ltd.