Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008 TV series)

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Star Wars: The Clone Wars

Series logo
Format Serial
Created by George Lucas
Starring James Arnold Taylor
Matt Lanter
Anthony Daniels
Seth Green
Corey Burton
Tom Kenny
Country of origin United States
No. of episodes 22 planned (List of episodes)
Production
Executive
producer(s)		 George Lucas
Catherine Winder
Running time 22 min. (per episode)
Broadcast
Original channel Cartoon Network[1]
Original airing October 3, 2008 [2]
External links
Official website
IMDb profile
TV.com summary
Common rating
United States TV-PG-V

Star Wars: The Clone Wars is an American 3D CGI animated television series created by Lucasfilm Animation, Lucasfilm Animation Singapore and CGCG Inc.[3] The series debuted on Cartoon Network on October 3, 2008.[2] It is set in the fictional Star Wars galaxy, during the same time period as the 2003 Star Wars: Clone Wars series. Each episode will have a running time of 22 minutes, to fill a half-hour timeslot. Star Wars creator George Lucas says "there will be at least 100 episodes produced."[4] Dave Filoni, who has worked on Avatar: The Last Airbender, is the supervising director of the series.[5] Genndy Tartakovsky, director of the first Clone Wars series, is not involved with the production,[6] but character designer Kilian Plunkett referred to the character designs from the 2D series when designing the characters for the 3D series.[7] There also exists an Online-Comic[8], depicting story-snippets between the single episodes.

The first trailer for the series was released on the official Star Wars website on May 8, 2007. [9] The series was launched with a feature film, which was released in theaters on August 15, 2008. It is the second series (after Total Drama Island) to be originally broadcast on the main Cartoon Network (i.e., outside of Toonami or Adult Swim) with a TV-PG rating.

Contents

[edit] Production

 This article or section may require cleanup because it is in a list format that may be better presented using prose.
You can help by converting this section to prose, if appropriate. Editing help is available. (October 2008)

At April 2005's Star Wars Celebration III, Lucas stated that "we are working on a 3-D continuation of the pilot series that was on the Cartoon Network; we probably won't start that project for another year."[6]

At Comic-Con 2005, several announcements were made on the work on the series. As of July 12, 2005, pre-production had begun on the series, according to Steve Sansweet, head of Lucasfilm fan relations.[10] Sansweet referred to the series as "the next generation of the Star Wars saga, a cutting edge 30-minute, 3-D computer-animation series based on the Clone Wars that take place between Episode II ... and Episode III." Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Yoda, Count Dooku, Mace Windu, Palpatine and General Grievous are expected to appear. Sansweet described the look of the new series as "a melding of Asian anime with unique 3-D animation styling." Primary production will take place at the Lucasfilm Animation facility in Singapore.[11]

According to another statement by Sansweet, "Lucasfilm Animation will be hiring a total of about 300 digital artists and others in both California and Singapore locations to produce not only the series, but animated feature films in the years ahead." He said about the series, "to get the series underway, Lucasfilm Animation has hired key production and creative talent to lead the development of its first animation project." Sansweet has said that "a large component of the future of Star Wars and Lucasfilm is CGI animation." Gail Currey, the Vice President and General Manager of Lucasfilm Animation, has stated that she felt the early treatments for the series were amazing, and that she could not wait to share it with Star Wars fans.

Lucasfilm Ltd. and Lucasfilm Animation used Autodesk software to animate both the film and the series. The Maya 3D modeling program was used to create the highly detailed worlds, characters and creatures.[12] Animators also reviewed designs from the original 2003 Clone Wars series when creating the animation style for the film and the new series.[13]

Anthony Daniels, who portrayed C-3PO in all six films as well as the Star Wars Holiday Special, Star Wars: Droids and Star Wars: Clone Wars, confirmed in June 2006 that he had been contacted for the series.[14]

In a video interview with Rob Coleman from Imagina 2007 divulged this information:[15]

  • Currently 15 episodes in various stages of production
  • One episode fully completed; another almost completed
  • Coleman to direct five of the first 22 episodes
  • Some licensees have viewed footage and the reaction was very positive
  • Final assembly of shows is done at Skywalker Ranch

In February 2007, Daniels revealed on his website[16] that the eleventh episode will be titled "Destroy Malevolence." However, the information was removed shortly thereafter.

At Lucas' March 3, 2007 appearance at the 2007 William S. Paley Television Festival,[17] Lucas revealed the following information:

  • The series is episodic, so it will not focus on Anakin Skywalker's story. Specifics mentioned were:

Episodes of Star Wars: The Clone Wars will debut on the Cartoon Network, with rebroadcasts on TNT.[18] Stuart Snyder, who oversees Cartoon Network and other Turner Broadcasting System cable networks, said he became interested in the new Clone Wars series immediately upon starting the job in May 2007. Snyder flew out to San Francisco, California to screen several episodes, and told George Lucas the only place he wanted to see the show was on Cartoon Network.[19]

On the red carpet at the same event, Lucas revealed further information in a fan interview:[4]

On April 8, 2007, Ain't It Cool News reported that musician Eric Rigler had recorded some music for the series.[20] Rigler disclosed the following:

  • Each of the planets in the series has its own theme music
  • The planet's music that Rigler developed was based on Bulgarian music and played on Irish pipes

Lucas was interviewed in the September 24, 2007 issue of TV Guide[21][22] and revealed the following:

  • 39 episodes of the series have been completed

On July 11, television critics were shown a completed episode of the series. The Hollywood Reporter's Live Feed blog called the footage "likely the most photo-realistic animated TV series ever produced."[23] On August 31, 2008, a sneak peek of the new series was shown during the season finale of Ben 10: Alien Force on Cartoon Network.

[edit] Broadcast history

The Clone Wars premiered on October 3, 2008 at 9 p.m. on the Cartoon Network. It has been programmed by Stuart Snyder alongside The Secret Saturdays, Ben 10: Alien Force and Batman: The Brave and the Bold (debuting on November 14, 2008) to create an action-adventure block of shows on Friday night in an attempt to rejuvenate Cartoon Network and compete with such channels as Nickelodeon and the Disney Channel. Snyder expressed confidence that the shows would help boost ratings: “You catch me at a time where I have a smile on my face because of our internal results,” Snyder said. “I can say there’s a little bit of bragging on the third quarter for us.”[19]

The show debuted in Canada on October 5, 2008 on CTV at 7 PM ET and on Space on October 10 also at 7 PM ET (check local listings).[24] In the United Kingdom it will debut on Sky Movies Premiere (and Premiere HD) on October 25 and will start at 7 PM.

[edit] Reception

"Star Wars: The Clone Wars" became the Cartoon Network most-watched series premiere ever. The computer-animated series, from Lucasfilm Animation, averaged 4 million total viewers in its debut, according to Nielsen Media Research. Cartoon Network said the Star Wars spin off ranked as the number one channel among all major kids networks in the time slot among total viewers as well as in the key youth demographics of kids 2-11 (1.8 million), kids 6-11 (1.4 million) and tweens 9-14 (1.2 million, the largest in the demographic for any premiere telecast of an original Cartoon series).[25]

[edit] Episodes

Main article: List of Star Wars: The Clone Wars episodes
Season Episodes First airdate Last airdate
Season 1 22 planned October 3, 2008 TBA, 2009

[edit] Cast

Voice Actor Character
James Arnold Taylor Obi-Wan Kenobi
Plo Koon
Matt Lanter Anakin Skywalker
Anthony Daniels C-3PO
Matthew Wood General Grievous
Tom Kane Yoda
Terrence "T.C." Carson Mace Windu
Seth Green Kit Fisto
Corey Burton Count Dooku
Ashley Eckstein Ahsoka Tano
Ian Abercrombie Chancellor Palpatine
Catherine Taber Padmé Amidala
Nika Futterman Asajj Ventress
Tom Kenny Nute Gunray

[edit] Feature film

Main article: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (film)

After viewing some of the completed footage of the early episodes on a big screen, George Lucas decided to weave the first few planned episodes together to form a theatrical release.[26][27] Christopher Lee and Samuel L. Jackson reprised their roles as Count Dooku and Mace Windu from the live action films in the feature film, but do not appear in the series.

[edit] Characters

[edit] Crew

[edit] References

  1. ^ IGN: Star Wars: The Clone Wars to Cartoon Network and Theaters
  2. ^ a b Cartoon Network's official page
  3. ^ index
  4. ^ a b "IESB Video Portal". IESB.net. Retrieved on 2007-05-31.
  5. ^ "www.starwars.com/community/event/celebration/news20070511.html". Retrieved on 2007-05-31.
  6. ^ a b "iesb.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1778&Itemid=99". Retrieved on 2007-05-31.
  7. ^ Vilmur, Pete (2007-10-05). "Clone Wars Character Designer Kilian Plunkett". StarWars.com. Retrieved on 2007-10-06.
  8. ^ "Clone Wars Comic on www.starwars.com". Retrieved on 2008-10-10.
  9. ^ Star Wars: Video
  10. ^ "www.starwars.com/community/event/con/f20050712/indexp5.html". Retrieved on 2007-05-31.
  11. ^ "www.comingsoon.net/news/topnews.php?id=10626". Retrieved on 2007-05-31.
  12. ^ "Autodesk Maya software serves as animation platform for new Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated feature film and TV series." TradingMarkets.com, August 26, 2008. Retrieved on 2008-09-03.
  13. ^ Martinez, Kiko. "Hispanic animator helps create new Star Wars universe." Extra, August 27, 2008. Retrieved on 2008-09-03.
  14. ^ "www.theforce.net/latestnews/story/Anthony_Daniels_Radio_Interview_98870.asp". Retrieved on 2007-05-31.
  15. ^ "www.mintinbox.net/reportages/Imagina_2007-Interview_Rob_Coleman". Retrieved on 2007-05-31.
  16. ^ "www.anthonydaniels.com". Retrieved on 2007-05-31.
  17. ^ "tv.ign.com/articles/770/770160p1.html". Retrieved on 2007-05-31.
  18. ^ "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" Hits Theaters, TV - Animated Saga Will Air on Cartoon Network, TNT, Zap2It.com, February 12, 2008
  19. ^ a b Swartz, Kristi E. "Cartoon Network is eager to use the force." The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, September 2, 2008. Retrieved on 2008-09-03.
  20. ^ "www.aintitcool.com/node/32215#comment-1458177". Retrieved on 2007-05-31.
  21. ^ George Lucas on his two Star Wars TV series, Heroes and HBO's Rome - Celebrity and Entertainment News | TVGuide.com
  22. ^ http://images.wikia.com/starwars/images/3/30/TVguidescan.jpg
  23. ^ First look: 'Star Wars: The Clone Wars' TV series | thrfeed.com<!
  24. ^ "'Clone Wars' premieres Oct. 5on CTV". Retrieved on 2008-09-22.
  25. ^ ""Clone Wars" a new star for Cartoon Network". Retrieved on 2008-10-07.
  26. ^ "George Lucas Talks 'Star Wars: The Clone Wars'".
  27. ^ "Force-Cast Clone Wars Roundtable, interview with Dave Filoni and Henry Gilroy". Retrieved on 2008-10-03.

[edit] External links

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