Project: Ask Palpatine The Year: 2007-2008 Type: Series

Ask Palpatine, the second show to come out of Hoggworks Studios, is simple in both concept and execution, but it is yielding tremendous results. The show features a puppet version of Emperor Palpatine, the Dark Lord of the Sith and over-villain of the Star Wars films. This version of the character isn't as aggressive as his filmic counterpart, however: he's actually a nice guy, often misunderstood, and he's doing his weekly show to let people get to know him better, so that they won't be afraid of him. Ask Palpatine is a question-and-answer show, featuring Palpatine answering at questions submitted by viewers. Each episode of the show has the same format: First is the prologue, where Palpatine typically talks about something unrelated to the question at hand. This portion is often used to further develop the Palpatine character, and to enrich the corner of the Star Wars universe that he's claiming for himself Next is the question. Here Palpatine reads the chosen question, then answers it in a humorous, and most often rambly, way. The intent is to answer the questions - both Star Wars related and otherwise - in a surprising, unexpected way. Though it was never our intention to do so, many of these questions are serving to fix continuity errors within the Star Wars films. For example, when asked why he never told Vader that the Skywalker twins were alive, Palpatine revealed that he only withheld that information because it was so obvious, it didn't occur to him that Vader wouldn't have known; Last, after the end credits, is the song. Every episode (with the exception of the interview episodes), Palpatine sings a few chords of a song. Aside from being good fun and a blast to do, this is specifically added after the show to keep people watching the end credits - which feature a Hoggworks Studios stinger - and to have people leave the show with a very "up" moment; many of the songs he sings are opposite to what you'd think Palpatine would sing, such as "Man eater," "I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts", and "Don't Worry, be Happy." Ask Palpatine is generating a growing audience, and it's one that is committed to the show. Every episode features questions supplied by viewers, of course, but recently Palpatine has begun requesting that people suggest songs for him to sing at the end of episode, and the response has been overwhelming. In only a few months, Ask Palpatine has, without advertising of any kind, and on an almost non-existent budget, generated substantial buzz, accruing an average of 10,000 views per episode, and has gained a dedicated, loyal audience, most of whom are males in their teens and twenties. What We Did We built the puppet, and we film and edit it ourselves. The Puppets Where You Can See It http://www.askpalpatine.com/