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Chad Vader: Day Shift Manager

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Chad Vader: Day Shift Manager
Chad at work, Episode 1
GenreComedy
Created byAaron Yonda
Matt Sloan
Directed byAaron Yonda
Matt Sloan
StarringAaron Yonda
Matt Sloan
Brad Knight
Christina LaVicka
Paul Guse
Craig Johnson
Rob Matsushita
ComposersAndrew Yonda
John Lee
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons3
No. of episodes28 (list of episodes)
Production
ProducerCourtney Collins
Production locationsMadison, Wisconsin
EditorsMatt Sloan
Aaron Yonda
Camera setupTona Williams
Running time4–6 minutes
Production companyBlame Society Productions
Original release
NetworkChannel 101
YouTube
Ustream
ReleaseJune 25, 2006 (2006-06-25) –
present

Chad Vader: Day Shift Manager is an American comedy web series created by Aaron Yonda and Matt Sloan, who are also credited as actors, directors, editors and writers of the program. The show's central character is Chad Vader, the day-shift manager at the fictional supermarket Empire Market, who clashes with his customers and employees. Initially produced for Channel 101, the project was canceled after only two episodes were released. However, Yonda and Sloan decided to continue the story and the project achieved significant popularity following its airing on YouTube. It incorporates dialogue and concepts from Star Wars, and is largely filmed in Madison, Wisconsin at Willy Street Cooperative.[1]

The show has received several awards, including an Official Star Wars Fan Film Award.

Production

Filming style and locations

The "Empire Market" scenes were filmed on location at Willy Street Co-op, Madison, Wisconsin.[2]

Series overview

See also: List of Chad Vader: Day Shift Manager episodes

The first season follows Chad and his interactions with his co-workers. He admires his boss Randy, acquires Jeremy as an apprentice, hazes Lloyd and dates Clarissa. After troubles with Clint, Chad is moved to the night shift, where he meets Weird Jimmy, before quitting his job at Empire Market. After unsuccessfully working briefly at a number of jobs, he returns to Empire Market to re-ally with his coworkers and battle Clint to reclaim the day shift manager position.

In the second season, Empire Market is bought out by Red Leader Foods, a large corporation. Maggie McCall arrives as the corporate liaison for the new owners. After failure on the new laser checkout system, Randy is demoted to night shift manager, where he becomes mentally unstable, and Maggie becomes the acting general manager. The series also introduces another love interest for Chad, Maggie's assistant Libby and a minor antagonist, Sean Banditson. The season focuses on Chad's misuse of Jeremy and Maggie's attempts to ally with Jeremy. Afterward, Jeremy and Chad duel, leading to the accidental death of Weird Jimmy.

The third season begins with the trial promotion of employees to general manager for a day. After the employees' failures, Maggie trials Clint as manager-for-a-day, where he pressures Randy to ally with him. New employee Damien Nightshayde allies with Chad and Jeremy, while a dead Jimmy, in Jeremy's visions, tells Jeremy a prophecy. Randy claims an unspecified plan is in motion. Later, former store owner Champion J. Pepper returns to the store and is the manager-for-a-day. He appears to do nothing, although a bit more than Tony. Later, Randy is seen crazier than ever. In the ending of the episode, Baby Cookie is seen ticking behind products. Soon, it is finally Chad's turn to be manager-for-a-day although Maggie has already decided that the best manager is Clint. To compensate, Chad goes to challenge Clint for a duel to the death and they initially duel in the back room, before moving towards the front of the store due to product damage to continue their duel. Soon, Chad surrenders and Jeremy and Damien throw a small net at Clint. Clint is irritated. However, soon after, Jeremy found a Baby Cookie bomb behind the shelf, and the timer indicates six minutes until detonation. Clint, Chad, Jeremy, and Damien race to find the other five bombs before the store blows up. When the sixth and final bomb is found, it turns out to be in the surveillance assailant. Damien grabs the bomb and is killed when it blows up in the parking lot. Seeing the explosion, Champion J. Pepper comes in and exercises a clause in the original sales agreement with Red Leader Foods that allows him to reacquire the store. He hires Maggie as the night manager, and promotes Chad to general manager. Jeremy, however, feels guilty about causing the death of Jimmy and Damien, and goes on leave.

Cast and characters

Main article: List of Chad Vader: Day Shift Manager characters
Yonda in character as Chad Vader at YouTube Live in 2008

Chad Vader (Aaron Yonda/voiced by Matt Sloan) is the show's central character. He is the day shift manager of Empire Market. Sometimes using lines lifted from the Star Wars films, Chad's main goal is to crush Empire Market's competition and help make the store dominate the food retailing industry. While he has inappropriate and rocky relationships with most of his co-workers, most notably Clintfield Chadton, he has better ones with others, such as Jeremy, whom he adopts as his apprentice. Chad implies in the second episode that his older brother is Darth Vader, and that Darth gave Chad a life support suit and helmet similar to his own after Chad accidentally rode his bicycle into a volcano. This fact is mentioned explicitly on the Blame Society website (www.blamesociety.net). Though he uses a red Sith lightsaber as a weapon to threaten opponents and shoplifters (mostly old ladies), he may not be a Sith; he is never referred to as "Darth", the title given to all members of the Sith order. He is, however, referred to as "Lord Vader" by some characters. Chad had lost touch with his family when they moved to Tatooine without him. LucasArts was impressed by Sloan, and eventually this led to him becoming the new voice actor for Darth Vader. His voice appears in the games Empire at War: Forces of Corruption[3][4], Soulcalibur IV, and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed[5]. It is also noted that in Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, if the player kills 12 storm troopers, they will receive an achievement entitled "Worst Day Shift Manager Ever".

Reception

Awards and honors

  • Matt Sloan and Aaron Yonda were awarded the George Lucas Selects award for The Official Star Wars Fan Film Awards 2007, presented at Star Wars Celebration IV, for their work on Chad Vader. George Lucas personally selected the short movie as the best fan movie of the year. The annual competition is hosted by AtomFilms.[6]
  • Chad Vader appeared on the cover of Isthmus Magazine, January 25, 2007.[7]
  • Clips from episodes 1 and 4 appeared on the October 11, 2006 episode of ABC's Good Morning America.[8]
  • Matt Sloan was selected to be the voice of Darth Vader in the video games Soul Calibur IV and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed and its sequel.

Distribution

The first episode of Season 2 was released on the internet on February 1, 2009 and subsequent episodes have been periodically released. Season 3 started being released on the internet from early 2010.

The series also has a DVD, which contains all 8 of the first season episodes, and one for season 2's ten episodes. Released on DVD in Fall 2008, Season 1.5 features the collection of "Chad Vader Training Videos" and other material created after the release of the Season 1 DVD. Chad Vader: Day Shift Manager has been translated into at least 6 languages, including Portuguese, Spanish, French, Chinese, Hebrew and Lingua Franca Nova.

Other media

The titular character of Chad Vader: Day Shift Manager has appeared outside of the web series.

A spin-off web series, Empire Market Training Videos was produced in 2008. In the webisodes, Chad covers issues of customer satisfaction, custodial duties, the importance of the dress code, the perils of shoplifting and patrolling in a series of in-universe training videos teaching the potential employee of Empire Market. It retained many characters from the main series.

References

  1. ^ Foley, Ryan J. (February 25, 2007). "Chad Vader's popularity out of this world on Web". The Seattle Times.
  2. ^ Chad Vader | Willy Street Co-op
  3. ^ Blame Society Productions Bios - Aaron Yonda and Matt Sloan - Creators of Chad Vader
  4. ^ Chad Vader: Day Shift Manager at IMDb
  5. ^ "The Game Has Changed". Vanity Fair. 2008-02-05. Retrieved 2008-02-06.
  6. ^ Atom: Star Wars Fan Movie Challenge
  7. ^ http://www.blamesociety.net/press/Isthmus-2007-01-25.pdf
  8. ^ http://www.blamesociety.net/press/WisconsinStateJournal-2006-10-11.pdf
  9. ^ RiffTrax RoundTable - Index[dead link]
  10. ^ RiffTrax RoundTable - Index[dead link]
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