Short answers, pulled from the story.
Hardware Wars is a 13-minute 1978 short film written and directed by San Francisco native Ernie Fosselius and produced by Michael Wiese. It is a parody of Star Wars structured as a mock movie trailer, using household objects such as steam irons and toasters as props.
Hardware Wars was made for eight thousand dollars and grossed one million dollars, giving it a profit ratio that exceeded Star Wars itself. It is considered the most profitable short film of all time.
George Lucas named Hardware Wars his favorite Star Wars parody in a 1999 interview on the UK television show The Big Breakfast. Lucasfilm later honored the film with the Pioneer Award at the Official Star Wars Fan Film Awards in 2003.
The only song in Hardware Wars is Richard Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries", performed by the Württemberg Philharmonic Orchestra and conducted by Jonel Perlea. The piece comes from Wagner's opera Der Ring des Nibelungen.
Hardware Wars won more than fifteen first-place film festival awards, including Most Popular Short Film at the Chicago Film Festival. It was also added to the American Library Association's Notable Children's Videos list in 1978.
Hardware Wars was released on Blu-ray for the first time on the 7th of May 2024 by MVD Rewind Collection. The disc contains a 2024 remastered 2K transfer from a 16mm reversal print created by Vinegar Syndrome, as well as a 2K HD transfer made in 2012 from the original camera negative supervised by Ernie Fosselius.