| It's a scene that the ranks of Star Wars | | | | its own creeping way - to transform the way |
| faithful have committed to memory: Luke | | | | people seek out their entertainment. If |
| Skywalker, cornered by a menacing Darth | | | | Google's recent one-billion-dollar purchase |
| Vader, clings to a thin railing, hanging on | | | | of Youtube wasn't proof enough, then the |
| for dear life - and the future of the | | | | internet itself offers plenty of evidence of |
| Rebellion - above a bottomless descent into | | | | the growing phenomenon. A growing number of |
| the Cloud City. Vader delivers the familiar | | | | blogs with names like "FunnyFunnyVideos.net" |
| line, "No - I am your father," and Luke | | | | and "Best on Google Video" sift through the |
| offers his devastated response: "That's not | | | | tens of millions of videos posted on the |
| true! That's impossible!" The exchange is a | | | | video-hosting sites to find the gems - brief |
| signature moment in movie history. | | | | clips like the segments from "Robot Chicken" |
| | | | - and are attracting a growing audience |
| But in this version, the Sith Lord has more | | | | online. |
| beans to spill. "And the Empire will be | | | | |
| defeated by ewoks," Vader tells his | | | | The brief length, the accessibility, the |
| flabbergasted offspring. "And the force?" he | | | | sheer abundance of comic video clips on the |
| continues: "Well, that's just a microscopic | | | | internet all give the phenomenon a |
| bacteria in your bloodstream." By now, the | | | | resemblance to an earlier entertainment |
| once-feuding pair is relaxing over a cup of | | | | revolution: the nickelodeon. Just as working |
| coffee. This is all too much for Luke, this | | | | people around the country flocked to see the |
| fraternizing with the enemy. "If you're not | | | | latest slapstick comedies on hand-cranked, |
| going to take this seriously, I'm getting out | | | | personal film-viewing devices at the dawn of |
| of here," he says to Vader, and stalks off in | | | | cinema, so do millions of people scour the |
| frustration. | | | | internet today for the edgiest, most |
| | | | outrageous humor. What they're finding at |
| So goes the famous scene in the world of | | | | sites like FunnyFunnyVideos.net and Best on |
| "Robot Chicken," a stop-motion animated TV | | | | Google Video represents just the tip of the |
| series that airs on Comedy Central. Many of | | | | internet's vast iceberg of comedic videos - |
| the series' fans, though, know it through | | | | and that iceberg grows every day. |
| another source: the internet. Video-hosting | | | | |
| Web sites like Google Video and Youtube have | | | | D.K. Schrute is a freelance writer dedicated |
| seen their popularity soar over the past | | | | to monitoring trends in the internet world. |
| year, and this popularity has started - in | | | | |