• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, August 31, 2007

Lucasfilm was widely applauded in May when it offered up 250 Star Wars clips for enthusiasts to create their own mashups. But the franchise's famously devoted fans so far have greeted the gift basket of iconic scenes with less than galactic rapture.

The most popular mashups posted by users on Starwars.com had drawn less than 5,000 views during the first two months. Compare that to the nearly 5 million YouTube views generated by just the first episode of "Chad Vader-Day Shift Manager," last year's viral smash following the travails of Darth Vader's younger brother as a grocery store clerk

Lucasfilm executive Jeffrey Ulin told The Wall Street Journal back in May that he expected the new content would significantly boost traffic to the site. But from May to June, unique visitors to Starwars.com increased only 3 percent to 627,000.

A Lucasfilm spokesman would only say that the company is pleased with the recent relaunch of Starwars.com. Its mashup platform allows users to combine their own videos with Star Wars clips through Eyespot Corp's easy-to-edit system.

"Chad Vader" co-creator Matt Sloan, for one, isn't captivated by the chance to remix Star Wars clips. "It's a neat idea, but it's not something I want to spend a lot of time doing," says Sloan, whose video won a fan movie award from Lucasfilm this spring. He's currently preparing for the second season of "Chad Vader," which he hopes to premiere this fall on YouTube.