Star Wars: Clone Wars animated series

[Roger]

again i like the movie, but it definitely works better as a small screen opening to the series, like it should have been.

I can't see how watching something on a smaller screen with commercial interruptions would make it better. ;p

[taksraven]

"The next big thing or the next big cash in?"

Very funny line. Since when was Star Wars about anything other than making loads and loads of money. And Mr Lucas would sacrifice anything to keep making money (characterisation, plot, etc....)

I know that you could argue the same thing about just about every other form of popular entertainment but as far as I'm concerned there has been an increasingly cynical attitude by Lucasfilm towards the franchise ever since the first prequel.

Edit comment: I forgot about the Special Editions of the originals, which really started the cynical atttitude of Lucasfilm. "Look, Han is not even a cold-blooded murderer anymore" sort of stuff.

Taksraven

Edited October 6, 2008 by taksraven

[sharky]

I can't see how watching something on a smaller screen with commercial interruptions would make it better. ;p

It's all about expectations and standards. Generally speaking, the standard for a theatrical feature is much higher with respect to plot, cinematography, costume designs, script, etc. Granted this is all animated, so in this case the animation quality should have been much higher for the theater IMHO. I would have preferred less stylized character designs for a feature length movie. I would expect a Lucasfilm release to be on a much higher level as say some Pixar features. The plot and script could have been better IMHO as well.

For a weekly TV series I would expect the story to unfold at a slower pace over the entire season for the show. Having the time to go into little side stories here and there is all good stuff. Spending time on character development and history are the things I want in a TV series that you can't get in a movie.

For an action movie I want to be wowed and have a compelling story that leaves me satisfied at the end. The second a movie ends we all immediately have the feeling that a movie was just so-so or completely awesome. I did not get that completely awesome feeling that the end of the Clone Wars movie. Whereas for a TV show I can live with an episode not being so great. There's always another one next week.

[Hoptimus]

So far the series is better than that Pilot movie. I like the play off on Dooku and Grevious.

[miriya]

I watched it last night too. It was interesting. It was not as horrible as I thought it would be. I like the humor, epecilally the funny driods. It is smart of them to make a kids show.

[Morpheus]

I just saw it, quite interesting. But I like the slug fest between the Venators and the separatist ships.

The Twilight seem to be like a poor replacement for Millenium Falcon.

[Uxi]

Still haven't managed to catch an ep of this yet.

[sharky]

Next week they will be showing a "The Malevolence" mini-series. It's the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th episodes which follows the story of the Separatist ship the Malevolence which is a huge and deadly ship with the first ion canon. We get to see the early version of the Y-wing in this series.

FYI, you can watch all the episodes at www.starwars.com.

[Graham]

Finally saw the movie on DVD with my son over the weekend. We both enjoyed it.

Not too keen on the stylized chracter designs, but overall I thought it captured the spirit and feel of Star Wars far more than the 3 prequel movies.

Looking forward to seeing the TV series when and if it's shown here in HK (if not, I'll just buy the DVD set when released).

Hope for lots of episodes just featuring Clone Troopers.

Graham

[protostar8]

I really like the show. The movie isn't bad either if you look at like a mini-series instead of a film. The droids are hilarious in the show too.

[aerocombatpilot]

Looking forward to seeing the TV series when and if it's shown here in HK (if not, I'll just buy the DVD set when released).

Hope for lots of episodes just featuring Clone Troopers.

Graham

The TV series is awesome, and there is one episode that all about the clone troopers on a mission.

[sharky]

The movie had to grow on me. It wasn't until after watching the series that I started to like it. Then when I got the DVD I felt the movie is OK. I still think the series is better than the movie. Somehow I get the old school Star Wars vibe from watching the series, I'm not exactly sure why.

[Morpheus]

The series is good, however there are several inconsistency such as Anakin calling Kenobi as "Obi-Wan" while in SW:RoTS Anakin still call him Master. However I like it how they always make sure that Anakin never encounter Grevious.

Also thanks to the TV series, I managed to convert my 2.5 year old son into a SW, and now he hum his own SW theme

[Wes]

I'm just tired of seeing "all my beloved old characters every week" when I like none of them. I don't like how they went with a more cartoony-cg instead of realistic-cg. And for the love of umm the force can they stop having bad feelings about what they're doing?!

[Morpheus]

And for the love of umm the force can they stop having bad feelings about what they're doing?!

You know what, I always have a bad feeling that would happen everytime I watched an episode.....

[Prime]

The droids are hilarious in the show too.

That's one of my biggest complaints. I find the droid humor too over the top. I mean a droid that can't to three? Ugh.

[taksraven]

And for the love of umm the force can they stop having bad feelings about what they're doing?!

That crap line they use is the glue that holds together the franchise.

Taksraven

JAR JAR FOREVER!!!!

[Morpheus]

That crap line they use is the glue that holds together the franchise.

Taksraven

JAR JAR FOREVER!!!!

Err, there's one episode "Bombad Jedi" that tells the epic-failure saga of Jar-Jar while trying to rescue Padme.

[sharky]

There were fleeting hopes that Jar Jar dies, but then I keep remembering that he can't die since he makes an appearance in ROTS.

[taksraven]

There were fleeting hopes that Jar Jar dies, but then I keep remembering that he can't die since he makes an appearance in ROTS.

I am disappointed in the way that Lucas TOTALLY wimped out on Jar Jar. Sure most people hated the character (me included) and I think that it was pretty clear that Lucas wanted him to play a big role in both the second and third prequel films.

But no.

Lucas panics at negative fan reaction to the character and winds back Jar Jar's input to virtual cameo's in both films. Now if I was Lucas (and many would be happy that I am not), my response would have been to give Jar Jar an even BIGGER role in the second and third films, I would have had every second and third words out of all the characters mouths being JAR JAR and when his character was not onscreen everybody would be wondering where he was.

I would have had Jar Jar turning to the darkside in Revenge of the Sith, killing Anakin Skywalker AND Obi Wan, then tripping over Artoo and falling into the lava. He then could have been rescued by the Emperor who would have been unable to tell what this lump of flesh was and the climax of the film would have been Jar Jar becoming Darth Vader.

To hell with continuity and screw the diehard fans.

My point is, I think that Lucas compromised himself badly with what he did to this character. I think that once any writer, producer or filmmaker listens to what fans want too much they will always start to produce crap.

I think I will go and lie down now.

Taksraven

Edited December 3, 2008 by taksraven

[sharky]

In some circumstances you are right. It is not always wise to simply follow what the fans want. Elements of the story have to fit in with the overall theme and tone of what the original writer wants to communicate. If the story was written by a committee of fans we would probably have a Boba Fett love fest for a story with lots of scenes with Leia and Padme wearing skimpy outfits. But, in the case of Jar Jar it was a cruel mistake from the beginning. Not the fact that Jar Jar existed, but simply the way he was portrayed in the movie. A little comic relief is usually a good thing, but in the case of Jar Jar his voice, language, and constant bumbling around was downright irritating and took away from the movie rather than enhancing it IMHO. There was no chemistry between Jar Jar, Qui-gon and/or Obi-wan. Even the characters within the movie seemed to be annoyed by Jar Jar's antics.

I think that if they had a Jar Jar character that was toned down, and had a different language and voice it would have worked nicely. He might have even been a beloved character instead of a cruel mistake.

C'mon, anyone who is actually that stupid and accident prone would have been dead a long time ago.

[taksraven]

C'mon, anyone who is actually that stupid and accident prone would have been dead a long time ago.

--------------------------

Taksraven

[Steve68]

If I'm not mistaken Palpatine uses JarJar to get the nomination for "emergency powers" or what ever it was in the second film so he can create the Republic Army. I think that makes JarJar a pretty pivotal character in spite of his lack of screen time. Seriously JarJar was a sell out by Lucas who has completely lost touch with his fans and reality. The guy lives in something like a 30,000 sq-ft home on Skywalker ranch. I'd say he's almost gone Howard Hughes. Name one cute cudley creature from ANH or ESB. There aren't any. Then the dreaded ewoks show up in ROTJ. ugh ANH and ESB were written for a more adult fan base, and then we get this ROTJ cr@p obviously targeting a very young audience. WTF? Seriously it was marketing genius on his part as he made tons of money off toy royalties. Unfortunately for the adult fans it meant the movies turned into an episode of Sesame Street with better special effects. Yawn.

Edited December 5, 2008 by Steve68

[taksraven]

--------------------------

Taksraven

Reason for edit: Politics.

Thats not editing, thats censorship.

Don't worry mods, I have no more to say on this matter.

Taksraven

[Wes]

I am disappointed in the way that Lucas TOTALLY wimped out on Jar Jar. Sure most people hated the character (me included) and I think that it was pretty clear that Lucas wanted him to play a big role in both the second and third prequel films.

But no.

Lucas panics at negative fan reaction to the character and winds back Jar Jar's input to virtual cameo's in both films. Now if I was Lucas (and many would be happy that I am not), my response would have been to give Jar Jar an even BIGGER role in the second and third films, I would have had every second and third words out of all the characters mouths being JAR JAR and when his character was not onscreen everybody would be wondering where he was.

I would have had Jar Jar turning to the darkside in Revenge of the Sith, killing Anakin Skywalker AND Obi Wan, then tripping over Artoo and falling into the lava. He then could have been rescued by the Emperor who would have been unable to tell what this lump of flesh was and the climax of the film would have been Jar Jar becoming Darth Vader.

To hell with continuity and screw the diehard fans.

My point is, I think that Lucas compromised himself badly with what he did to this character. I think that once any writer, producer or filmmaker listens to what fans want too much they will always start to produce crap.

I think I will go and lie down now.

Taksraven

Aren't you trying to hard to parody a bad episode of Mad TV?

[1/1 LowViz Lurker]

pssst the truth is......the storm troopers in OT are really genetically modified humans with jar jar's genes which explains why the ewoks were so good at beating them.

[Macross007]

pssst the truth is......the storm troopers in OT are really genetically modified humans with jar jar's genes which explains why the ewoks were so good at beating them.

This guy is hopeless.

[Hikuro]

But wait........Jar Jar kicked butt "kind of" in the first movie through sheer luck and clumsyness......Stormtroopers couldn't even do that when they went against fury lil midgets that could be long distant relatives of the Wookies.

[lord_breetai]

There was no chemistry between Jar Jar, Qui-gon and/or Obi-wan. Even the characters within the movie seemed to be annoyed by Jar Jar's antics.

I thought their annoyance was what was supposed to make it funny.

Name one cute cudley creature from ANH or ESB. There aren't any. Then the dreaded ewoks show up in ROTJ. ugh ANH and ESB were written for a more adult fan base, and then we get this ROTJ cr@p obviously targeting a very young audience. WTF?

I don't see ROTJ as being so much more immature then the first two films, so it had a race of primitives who use knowledge of the the terrain to inflict major damage on a technologially superior force, that's been done before and it's plausible. If they actually were Wookies instead of short cute things, you probably wouldn't have a problem with that. And the rest of the story, the redemption arc, the military story... that wasn't all that kidified, I didn't think.

Also I don't know how dreaded the Ewoks were they seem to have worked at capturing the kids of the day, getting their own cartoon and two movies...

That's just me, Ewoks are much better then Gungans... at least we don't have to listen to what they're saying.

[taksraven]

Aren't you trying to hard to parody a bad episode of Mad TV?

Never watch Mad TV (I have a life) so I guess that I am not parodying that.

Taksraven

[Warmaker]

Not fond of this series.

HOWEVER, if there is ever an episode where Jar Jar faces a "mishap" where a prototype AT-AT accidentally steps on him, then I will declare the series as Godly.

[Graham]

Watched up to episode 6 at the weekend with my 4 ½ year old son at the weekend. We are both really enjoying watching it together, especially the episodes that feature Clone Troopers.

While it’s obviously aimed at kids, it’s nice to see they don’t shy away from portraying deaths. Explaining Clone Trooper Heavy's sacrifice in the episode 'Rookies' to my son was a bit difficult.

I’m glad the Jedi are not uber-powerful here as they were in the Tartakovsky cartoon (Mace Windu & Yoda, I’m talking about you). Although we are seeing some extremely creative uses of the Force in combat, which is good. I especially liked seeing the Destroyer droids being used as bowling balls to knock down other droids.

I’m just wondering where Lucas is going with the show, as he doesn’t seem to be portraying Anakin as angsty, whining, angry or frustrated at all. In fact, Anakin comes off as quite content and very respectful of the Jedi Council so far, even if he doesn’t always obey their orders to the letter. I wonder will Anakin be showing getting angrier as the show progresses, or will Lucas perhaps do a retcon (or make it an alternate universe), where Anakin doesn’t become Vader?

Definitely prefer it to the 3 prequel movies overall and my favorite episiode so far is Rookies.

Graham

[sharky]

I'm curious to see what happens to Ashoka one day. She's Anakin's padawan, but she is not in Episode III. The will have to deal with that issue perhaps on the last episode. Just like how they don't ever have Anakin confront Grevious, I think they will stay canon to the movies to some degree.

I thought the last episode was really great. It really made up for the Bombad Jedi episode featuring Jar Jar. I'm starting to like the Ashoka character more and more. Since I have a little girl I like that they have a young female character that is brave and strong, and that she sometimes saves the day. It balances out all the helpless Disney princess movies that she likes. I really hate all the Disney princess stories with a passion. But, that's a whole other topic I don't want to get started on.

[Uxi]

pssst the truth is......the storm troopers in OT are really genetically modified humans with jar jar's genes which explains why the ewoks were so good at beating them.

What about the stormtrooper we see tossing the ewok. I laugh my ass off every time i see that.

[Uxi]

I’m just wondering where Lucas is going with the show, as he doesn’t seem to be portraying Anakin as angsty, whining, angry or frustrated at all. In fact, Anakin comes off as quite content and very respectful of the Jedi Council so far, even if he doesn’t always obey their orders to the letter.

Definitely the way he should have been portrayed in AOTC (at least up until the point of his mother's death) and ROTS up to the point of decision. Character was victimized by waaaaay too much foreshadowing.

Wonder how much the original cut of ROTS would have played (where the switch is supposedly quite sudden and Lucas said he felt far too abrupt).