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July 11, 2008
First look: 'Star Wars: The Clone Wars' TV series
By James Hibberd & Kimberly Nordyke
Taking a cue from Comic-Con, Cartoon Network took the unusual step of screening a full episode of its upcoming CG-animated series "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" for critics during its TCA session. The event was billed as the debut screening of the show.
For what seemed like the first time all week, the majority of critics were focused on a network's presentation instead of their computers.
The episode was firmly impressive. "Clone Wars" is likely the most photo-realistic animated TV series ever produced. The surround-sound detail was striking. The series is shot in high definition and it shows – images have that rich Renaissance painting quality familiar to HD fans.
"I wanted it to look like a painting," said supervising director Dave Filoni. "I got involved in textures and hand-painted styles on every character. I wanted this hands-on quality with a texture artist literally painting every character right down to the eyeball. I wanted a human touch on everything.”
The result is a show that doesn’t look entirely unlike the "Star Wars" prequels. The oft-derided cartoon CG glaze of the recent films took the franchise a few steps into the animated universe. While the “Clone Wars” series takes television animation a few steps closer to theatrical quality. So the distance in realism between the movies and the animated series is less than you’d expect.
"Clone Wars" opens with a brief, percussion-tinged variation on John Williams' "Stars Wars" theme. The episode featured Yoda leading a group of Clone Troopers on a mission, and falling into a trap. The episode leaned too heavily on the silly, threat-free battle droids that didn’t really work in the prequels. Yet the episode was effective. During one scene, Yoda uses the Force to control an enemy super battle droid to take out a group of attackers. "That’s a lot of smoke for a surrender," notes a distant observer.
The season includes 22 half-hour episodes that will premiere this fall, and will feature brief story arcs taking place across the Star Wars universe. Filoni said that despite viewers already knowing the past and future story of the Clone Wars, there’s still plenty of material to work with.
"Because you’re going to the right and left of the plot and characters, some that you’ve never seen before, you can keep stretching it and see things George Lucas and I would like to see," he said. "Anytime we go anywhere near Anakin or Obi Wan we’re paying close attention to make sure everything links up."
The Clone Troopers (eventual Storm Troopers) will be shown to have more individual personalities than in the films, he added.
“It’s a nice dose of Star Wars every week,” he said. “No more waiting three years between each episode.”
http://latimes.com
TCA: ‘Star Wars: The Clone Wars’ series first look
12:08 PM PT, Jul 11 2008
This post comes to you at great risk.
The formidable Gen. Grievous issued a warning to reporters assembled Friday morning for a screening of an episode of “Star Wars: The Clone Wars,” beheading and blasting away several battle droids before the show. Leaks or spoilers would not be tolerated.
Here’s what we can say. It just might be better than all the live-action prequels put together. (I consulted with the critics around me -- it’s not an overstatement.) The CG-animated series also bests the traditionally animated mini-episodes (of the same title) that preceded it in terms of visuals alone.
'Star Wars: The Clone Wars'
The episode looked great -- not Pixar-amazing, but certainly in line with movies like “Kung Fu Panda” -- but it’s the writing that puts it heads above the franchise’s more recent additions. Sure, the series is ultimately aimed at kids, but this audience was laughing. And the comedy here is expected -- in a good way. It doesn’t come from Anakin saying things like, “I don’t like sand. It’s coarse and rough and irritating and it gets everywhere. Not like here. Here everything is soft and smooth” -- as amusing as that was in “Attack of the Clones.”
Reporters did get a load of gothic villain Ventress (above) in action. She's an apprentice of Count Dooku, whom the series’ supervising director David Filoni describes as “a bit sensuous” and “serpent-like.” She’s genuinely frightening.
Elsewhere, Yoda’s as feisty as ever and we can report that some of the star-trooper clones seem to be Australian. [Update: Commenter Brian Hibbs notes that actor Tom Morrison is from New Zealand.] Nothing, however, to report on Anakin, Obi-Wan or main baddie Darth Sidious, none of whom were part of the episode.
Asked whether this series could stand alone, perhaps for children not yet exposed to the feature movies. “Every time I go to Toys R Us, I see kids picking up light sabers and imagining they’re in a galaxy far, far away,” Filoni said. “I hope those fans will watch and enjoy this. And maybe listen to Yoda.”
“Clone Wars,” both the series and the upcoming theatrical movie, take place between “Attack of the Clones” and “Revenge of the Sith” at a point when storm troopers are still aligned with the Jedi and Anakin Skywalker has not yet morphed into the villainous Darth Vader.
The movie will premiere Aug. 10, and be in general release Aug. 15, with the tv series to follow sometime in the fall. No specific premiere date was announced for the 22-episode series.
http://www.premiumhollywood.com
We interrupt our chronological coverage of the TCA Press Tour…
Posted on 07.11.08 by Will Harris @ 1:18 pm
…to tell you that, quite unexpectedly, Cartoon Network’s panel on their new original series, “Star Wars: The Clone Wars,” began with the premiere screening of a full episode of the show!
Three words: it… was… AWESOME.
You never know how to approach these animated spin-offs of live-action films, but here’s the thing: the “Star Wars” universe is so damned FX-heavy anyway that it’s surprisingly easy to find yourself forgetting that you’re watching an animated series.
I don’t know how much in the way of spoilers they want us to dole out, but I will tell you that the episode reveals the secret of how the Toydarians…that’s Watto’s race, if you remember him from “The Phantom Menace”…came to join the Republic, which involves Count Dooku assuring the leader of the Toydarians that he will challenge Master Yoda to a fair fight and show which side is the more powerful.
Dooku assures him that Yoda’s powers have been greatly exaggerated…but, of course, you and I know better, right? Right…? Well, in response, I offer you the line that made me laugh out loud: “That’s a lot of smoke for a surrender.”
There are some fantastically bad-ass action sequences, a heartfelt scene between Yoda and the three clone warriors who fight by his side, and for a half-hour episode, it’s remarkable just how epic the whole thing feels.
Again I say to you, it was awesome…and although I admit that I wasn’t the biggest fan in the world of the prequels, if this series stays at the quality we just witnessed, I’ll be there week after week after week.
