The first inklings of Apache Tribe came when Eamonn Wisneski, a dynamic and well-known student at Middletown High School, decided that he could use some extra credit in Physics class. His family owned a hand-held Camcorder, and so, with the help of a tripod, Eamonn filmed himself demonstrating physics problems, dealing with Newton's laws, friction, and thermodynamic fusion reactions. Filmed in and about his house during a snowy winter weekend and at a local running event, this proto-Apache video featured such Apache trademarks as witty humor, educational value, and completely unrelated and useless sidebars to the main content.
Later that year, Eamonn realized that he needed still more extra credit. With his friends John deBoer, Minh Le, Tim Dutcher, and the mysterious Antti K. in tow, Eamonn created another Physics video, this time with markedly less physics and more fun. These two physics videos, now lost, were the prototypes for the Apache Tribe movies to come. All were filmed without the benefits of a script, editing, or money.
Then, on April 13, 1996, John gathered together his friends, including Eamonn, Tim, Minh, Antti K., and Jason Zieger, to watch a low-budget sci-fi schlocker called "4-D Man". They picked Tim's house to watch it in, and on this day, now known as 4-D-Day, Eamonn realized that more extra credit is always welcome and brought along his video camera. Jason Zieger describes this forming moment for Apache Tribe: "We were just six guys with nothin' to do, and then Tim said hey let's not make a Physics video, we can just ride around and make one for fun." Thus it was that history was made and Apache Tribe was born.