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Star Wars Prequels Media Movies

'Star Wars: Clone Wars' Premieres Tonight 238

Posted by CmdrTaco from the stuff-to-tivo dept.
securitas writes "The Cartoon Network is about to premiere a new series of animated shorts based on the Star Wars prequels. The series comes from Genndy Tartakovsky (Samurai Jack, Dexter's Lab) and debuts Friday Nov. 7 at 8PM Eastern Time. One correction: The USA Today article is incorrect in saying that 'Clone Wars marks the first animated series to involve any of the saga's leading characters.' That distinction goes to Nelvana's Droids, which followed the adventures of R2D2 and C3PO."
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'Star Wars: Clone Wars' Premieres Tonight More

'Star Wars: Clone Wars' Premieres Tonight

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  • Canada? (Score:3, Informative)

    by temporalillusion ( 688393 ) on Friday November 07, 2003 @11:16AM (#7416454)
    Does anyone know if YTV or any Canadian network is picking this up and showing it?

  • In other news... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Stiletto ( 12066 ) on Friday November 07, 2003 @11:18AM (#7416465)
    George Lucas was spotted earlier this morning in the middle of Times Square clutching what appear to once have been Star Wars action figures, squeezing with all his might. When asked what he was doing, he replied, "I KNOW there's more money in here somewhere!!!"

  • YAWN (Score:2, Insightful)

    by AcmeShells.com ( 722366 )
    OK enough starwars.. Isn't this getting old? Actually the older starwars was MUCH better, now they are just trying to make money off the name.
    • Isn't this getting old? Actually the older starwars was MUCH better, now they are just trying to make money off the name.

      Actually, it's so old, that complaints like yours are really old. ;-)

      And call me cynical, but I'm guessing Lucas was trying to make money when he released the very first Star Wars.

  • children (Score:2, Insightful)

    by SuchiRu ( 675808 )
    Now, we can only hope that this will eventually make it into the Adult Swim lineup so that we won't have to worry about being edited. *God bless Adult swim, semper fi and all that garb*

  • Another movie article?

    Could we have a SCO post please?

  • not FP: real content! : (Score:3, Interesting)

    by ed.han ( 444783 ) on Friday November 07, 2003 @11:19AM (#7416479) Journal
    OK, i've been seeing posters for this on NJ transit trains for the past month. i'll be watching, esp since food network no longer runs iron chef on fridays.

    20 3-minute episodes works out to 1 hour of content. and just think: too short for commercial breaks!

    i'm curious to see just how long it takes cartoon network to air all 20 episodes. if they space 'em out from tonight all the way through until ep3 debuts, i'm gonna be cranky.

    ed

  • Christmas Special (Score:5, Informative)

    by t1nman33 ( 248342 ) on Friday November 07, 2003 @11:22AM (#7416506) Homepage
    Technically, the Star Wars Christmas Special would be the first time any of the major characters were animated (Boba Fett), although it was just a one-time thing, not a series. Don't forget that Ewok Adventures also ran at the same time as Droids.
    • Oh yea gods!

      The horror. Don't remind me about that!

      Actually, the Bobba Fett story line was the best bit.

      You win the geekiest award.
    • Thank you for bringing up such painful memories, the Ewok Adventures!

      While we're at it, let's all go rent these tonight: The Ewok Adventure [imdb.com] and Ewoks: The Battle for Endor [imdb.com].

      --
      hecubas
    • Man, that hurts to think about. How about those scenes of the loving wookie family.. in their tree, making gurgling noises and pointing at stuff... That was about as demoralizing as watching an entire season of the Tele-tubbies while sober.

      I've got a broadcast->VCR->DiVX copy of it. It's also got all of the original commercial breaks. Found it on Kazaa a while back. I guess it's legit since it has all the ads, right?
      • Man, that hurts to think about. How about those scenes of the loving wookie family.. in their tree, making gurgling noises and pointing at stuff... That was about as demoralizing as watching an entire season of the Tele-tubbies while sober.

        Do you mean "loving Ewok family"? I didn't think the Wookies lived in trees.
        • I actually had to hit google to refresh my memory.

          Here [badmovieplanet.com] is a breakdown of what transpires. Keep in mind, Lucas was just trying to generate some holiday revenue. Expect little consistency with what happens in this thing and what goes on in the rest of the SW Universe.

          And yes, wookies live in trees. I know, I know, intelligent, civilized bipeds with fully developed thumbs still living in trees. I, personally, would have liked to see wookies asorbing all the bad qualities of their human counter-parts. Enslav

        • Re:Christmas Special (Score:4, Funny)

          by Spunk ( 83964 ) <sq75b5402@sneakemail.com> on Friday November 07, 2003 @12:43PM (#7417200) Homepage
          Why would a Wookiee live on Endor? Ladies and gentlemen of this supposed jury, it makes no sense!
      • all you had to do was watch that one. IIRC, Carrie Fisher was on Bennies. Not sure what the other actors were on. The scriptwriters were probably just drunk.

    • Dumb Journalists (Score:2, Insightful)

      by OzPhIsH ( 560038 )
      Does it bug anyone else that this moron Journalist says that It's the first time any leading characters have been animated? I meana quick google search reveals Droids, Ewoks, and even mentions the Christmas Special. I mean, how much research did this guy do? Did he just ASSUME that it would be the first? I mean most of us geeks knew about the older animation, but this guy is writing an article for a nationally published newpaper read by millions of people. At least take the time to get the facts straight. I
      • > Droids, Ewoks, and even mentions the Christmas Special.

        While I don't recall the xmas one, I don't consider the droids or the Ewoks to be leading characters.

        Were Tank & wussizname (his bro) leading characters in The Matrix? No, they happened to be part of the lead group, but not lead characters. I know that's a stretch of an argument, but it's a similar idea. I'm not trying to justify the writer's false statement, just trying to point out that, in a sense, he was right.
    • I would say that Boba Fett was NOT a major character in the trilogy when the christmas special aired:

      A) He had yet to appear in ANY star wars film when the animated sequence for the Christmas Special was shown (it occurred between Star Wars and Empire.

      B) HE originally was intended to be a minor character (in the original release of Empire he was known only as "The Bounty Hunter"). HE wasn't referred to as Boba Fett until Jedi.

      Of course now that Lucas has inserted Boba Fett into every damn movie in the s
      • I would say that Boba Fett was NOT a major character in the trilogy when the christmas special aired:

        Yes, the poster mistated that. But he omitted that the animation featured every major character (Luke, Han, robots, Vader... everyone cept maybe that dead old guy). So it counts as having major characters.

        in the original release of Empire he was known only as "The Bounty Hunter"

        He can't have been "The Bounty Hunter", because he in first scene there were 3 other bounty hunters milling around.
        • Vader calls him "Bounty Hunter" as does Lando, nobody ever calls him "Boba Fett". The other bounty hunters, including Bosk, never talk, hence no need for credits.

          -Shieldwolf

  • A few things (Score:5, Insightful)

    by t0ny ( 590331 ) on Friday November 07, 2003 @11:22AM (#7416511)
    with all due respect to the talents they have creating the shorts, I find it really sad that one of the cornerstones events in the Star Wars world is going to be portrayed, not in the films, but in short, five minute cartoons.

    Can anyone really say that when they heard about the Clone Wars in "A New Hope" they didnt have visions of some epic battle? Since most of the dogfights, etc were modelled after WWII film footage, I had always thought we would be in for something as grand and epic as WWII itself.

    Instead, we get some whiney brat (who cant act), a love story which both doesnt seem likely and isnt interesting, and a completely cliched movie which only appeals to five-year-olds.

    Anyway, [/rant] and [/preaching to chior].

    • Quit complaining until you watch the shorts. The crew has gone on record as saying that they are conciously looking to create a Band of Brothers feel to the series. And, frankly, once they're all compiled we'll be getting well over an hour of material...
      • Im not saying they wont be interesting, but how much of a real story can be told in five minutes? These are going to be more 'bite sized' action sequences than story driven, I think we can be sure.

        Even having over an hour of material doesnt change the fact that each separate bite doesnt probably cant (or wont) make an overall story.

        I guess we will have to wait and see, but my rant was more that I wish this kind of thing had been included in the movie, rather than needed to be a supplimental 'advertisment'

        • I agree with ObiWanKenblowme - the OT isn't great art, neither are the new movies. But I try to look at them the same way I did the originals - as a kid. And, you know what? That works.

          As for the cartoon: they aren't little stories for each episode, it's three or so big stories broken up into episodes. I want to say that the three stories break into one for Anakin, one for Obi-wan and one for Kit Fisto (or, at least, that's how the website seems to set it up). So you are getting different characters

    • I had always thought we would be in for something as grand and epic as WWII itself.

      Yea, the 50-60 million people (yes people, not soldiers) killed or wounded in WWII was absolutely "grand and epic." :\
      • Well, in climber slang, 'epic' generally means something long, arduous, and scary.
        I think WW II definitely qualifies as that.

        Grand???
      • This uber-political correctness is highly annoying. The Trojan War, which inspired The Illiad, an EPIC by the poet Homer, was no doubt an event in which people were killed and/or wounded.

        In all of human history, the key events where those involving the loss of human life (and generally the more killed the higher the importance). So if you have a problem with my statements, you should take it up with historians, and not with me.

    • I find it really sad that one of the cornerstones events in the Star Wars world is going to be portrayed, not in the films, but in short, five minute cartoons.

      The Second Renaissance was a cornerstone of the story of The Matrix, yet was released as two 10-minute shorts. It also happened to be better than the sequel proper for the movie.

      Honestly, with the quality of the last two Star Wars films, I'd rather have to digest them in 5 minute chunks than all in one sitting. That way the cliches and jarringly

  • How long will it take before they are posted... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Ruger ( 237212 ) on Friday November 07, 2003 @11:23AM (#7416515) Homepage
    ...on a site?

    Since we're taking about 20, 3-minute episodes, I'm guessing the first one will be available for download on fan sites and Usenet only minutes after it airs. I think I'll just wait for that.

    Ruger
    • probably just minutes.

      funny thing is that from some series there sometimes appear even pre-air releases...

      anyways, i find it very boring to wait for months if a series is aired here(so i don't wait, how can they make money from such viewers? product placement is only thing i can think of, and making products that make $$ from the fans of course)
      .

  • Milking the franchise (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Baron_Yam ( 643147 ) on Friday November 07, 2003 @11:24AM (#7416527)

    Well, mod this flamebait if you will...

    I loved the original trilogy when I was a kid. I can still watch it, but it seems so 'thin' to me now.

    I went to see SW:TPM with high hopes. 1)An extended pod race to advertise a video game. 2)Jar-jar - need I say more?

    I went to see SW:AotC because my wife made me. Follow the bouncing Yoda!

    I will NOT be seeing the next bit of crap to be extracted from a toilet and thrown up on the big screen, and I'm not going to make any effort to see these cartoons.

    • I'm right there with you. It baffles me as to why Lucas is such a big deal these days. After Episode 1, I refused to go see Episode 2. Finally, last weekend, it arrived in the mail as it was last in line on my Netflix queue.

      I popped it into my home theater and found myself bored silly for the next 2 hours. I have a hard time believing that DVD was even THX certified, as there were a boat-load of artifacts in some scenes. They really should have made it a 2 DVD set and not try to stick the movie and all the
      • They really should have made it a 2 DVD set and not try to stick the movie and all the extras on one middle-of-the-road quality disc.

        That's odd. My copy of Star Wars episode 2 is on two DVDs. I do have the full-screen version though rather than widescreen (I didn't buy it, it was a xmas gift). I didn't notice too much in the way of artifacts on either disc.

    • Meh. (Score:2)

      by JMZero ( 449047 )
      TPM was indeed horrible. AotC, on the other hand, was only a disappointment - not an abomination. The trend is positive. I'll go see the 3rd one.

      On the other hand, look at the trend going into the 3rd Matrix. Not good.
      • --For me, TPM was worth seeing more than once - for DMaul, the Podrace, and DMaul. Did I mention DMaul? I have *NO* desire to EVAR see AOTC again. EVAR. Not even Natalie Portman's Petrified Nipples could save that film. George Lucas should have his Director's License revoked!!

        --OTOH, I liked all 3 Matrix movies - 3rd is the best IMHO.

        (shrug) Takes all kinds, I guess.

        • Huh. (Score:2)

          by JMZero ( 449047 )
          Darth Maul, eh? I thought he was a potentially great character - but they didn't give him much to do. If he would have had some more screen time to establish himself, I think it would really have helped the movie.

          Maybe his top half will return for Episode III.

  • Star Wars Holiday Special (Score:4, Interesting)

    by nucal ( 561664 ) on Friday November 07, 2003 @11:25AM (#7416533)
    It's not a series, but I consider the animated Boba Fett [pussycatmagazine.com] to be a major Star Wars Character ...

    • Boba Farce (Score:2, Interesting)

      by HomerJayS ( 721692 )
      Boba Fett a major character?!?!?! Puhleaze.

      A major cog in the Star Wars revenue generation machine over the years, but Boba has the lowest screen time to action figure sales ratio in the history of merchandising.

      Boba could be editted out of the original trilogy w/o imacting the story line any more than the Solo/Greedo cantina shootout re-write.

  • Expectations over here... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Rahga ( 13479 ) on Friday November 07, 2003 @11:25AM (#7416534) Journal
    Let's admit one thing first.... While you wouldn't call any of Tartakovsky's works beautiful when compared to Disney, they do have a style that stays wonderfully consistent and someone eye-pleasing. Very easy to watch. Make no mistake about it, though... I expect to see cels and clones of cels re-used over and over throughout the entire series. While it probably won't be nearly as bad as your average Space Ghost or DragonBall Z, I'm sure it will wear us down.

    Let's just hope the storytelling delivers... To be honest, I've not been too disappointed in the past.
    • You fought in the clone wars?

      Yeah, right along side with a jedi named Jack who kept ranting about some guy named Haku.

      I'm a little disappointed that bulk of the Clone Wars isn't going to be in the films, but if they had to pick an animator, Tartakovsky is the man. He brings a lot of soul to the art of animation, and I have a feeling his Star Wars series will be just as memorable as the original trilogy.

      --
      hecubas

    • Re:Expectations over here... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by dabadab ( 126782 ) on Friday November 07, 2003 @11:58AM (#7416795)
      "While you wouldn't call any of Tartakovsky's works beautiful when compared to Disney"

      I would call many of the scenes/episodes of Samurai Jack beautiful any day, no need to compare it to generic Disney stuff.
      Tartakosky may be minimalistic, but this minimalism can be very beatiful.
    • While you wouldn't call any of Tartakovsky's works beautiful when compared to Disney, they do have a style that stays wonderfully consistent and someone eye-pleasing.

      Actually, I would. But then again, I've been underimpressed with Disney since Ashman died. I wouldn't compare Tartakovsky to Disney but to Chuck Jones and Tex Avery.
    • I expect to see cels and clones of cels ...

      or is that cels of clones?

  • All the star wars movies are about R2-D2 (Score:5, Funny)

    by Rupert ( 28001 ) on Friday November 07, 2003 @11:26AM (#7416542) Homepage Journal
    This really became apparent to me after AotC. Now I'm waiting for Episode 3 to show how and why R2 lost his flying rockets, and when his holographic projector was downgraded.
  • One correction: The USA Today article is incorrect in saying that 'Clone Wars marks the first animated series to involve any of the saga's leading characters.' That distinction goes to Nelvana's Droids, which followed the adventures of R2D2 and C3PO.

    Uh... not point out your droid fetish but, uh... aren't those guys 'robots' and while I'll admit humorous and alternatively heroic and comic, not exactly "leading characters".

    Oh man, I'm gonna get toasted over this one...
  • The Star Wars Christmas Special had the first appearance of Boba Fett in an animated short with him hunting Han Solo.

  • Don't you mean.... (Score:3, Funny)

    by BurKaZoiD ( 611246 ) on Friday November 07, 2003 @11:49AM (#7416731)
    ...the Cartoon Network...

    Don't you mean the Genndy Tartakovsky Network? It seems like he makes every single show on CN. Well, except for the good ones.
    • Are you implying Dragonball Zed is GOOD?!

      What is wrong with you, man!
    • Actually, his cartoons are the good ones.

      Dexter, the powerpuff girls, samurai jack...

      Is there anything better?
  • "We're the e/
    E/
    E/
    E/
    E-woks/
    From the forest grove/
    (E-e-e-e-e-woks!)"

    Yeah... I'm glad that's chewing up storage in my brain when I have trouble remembering my new cell number :(
    • I haven't seen the damn show in 15 years, yet the first thought I had was "you missed an E".

      It went

      "We are the E E E E E E Ewoks!"

      I think I'll go shoot myself now.
  • Will rock for 2 seasons then go down hill until there is NO story or point just useless sylistic anime.. much like Jack is now. Dexter is crap these days as well sadly. I really hope this is good and plan on watching but it won't last.
  • It can't possibly suck as badly as the last 3 movies. Might be worth a watch just to see if there's *any* integrity left in the storyline and writers. I saw "Star Wars" in theaters when it came out in 77 (several times ;) and the last one was the first one in the series I didn't even watch to the end. What a piece of garbage.
  • It's showing on Toonami, starting on Monday the 10th.

    It's on at 16:00, 17:00, 18:00 and 19:00

    The next episode is on Tuesday at

    07:00, 08:00, 16:00, 17:00, 18:00 and 19:00

    and it seems to continue like that every weekday after that.
  • Of course, to be a complete spaz about details, Droids wasn't the first either. Droids was the first half-hour-length cartoon to feature Star Wars characters as recurring characters, but various characters made cameos and parody cameos previous to droids, and they had all been in animated commercials.
  • Well, I don't know if webcomics count, but what about Boa Yvette [sluggy.com]?!
  • Several people have pointed out the prior existence of the Star Wars Holiday Special. I've you haven't seen it, please read the FAQ [lucasfan.com].

    Take heed:

    • 2. Where can I see the Star Wars Holiday Special?
      • a. How can I forget that I saw the Star Wars Holiday Special?

    That pretty much says it all. Maybe someone should post some good link about Post-Traumatic Strees Syndrome for those of use who have seen it.

  • 401 comments on LOTR and 164 on Star Wars, we ... (Score:3, Informative)

    by ajm ( 9538 ) on Friday November 07, 2003 @02:31PM (#7418312)
    have a new winner and can officially declare Star Wars no longer worthy of its own logo. Let's shoot that horse already and put it out of its misery, its got two broken legs and aint' going to get any better.
  • It was the most lame thing I believe I've ever seen for a toon. It looked like a really bad anime artist decided to get piss drunk and take another try at drawing.

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