Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008 TV series)

Not to be confused with Star Wars: Clone Wars (2003 TV series).

Star Wars: The Clone Wars
Genre	Serial Science fiction Action/Adventure Drama
Format	CGI Animated series
Created by	George Lucas
Voices of	Matt Lanter James Arnold Taylor Ashley Eckstein Tom Kane Corey Burton TC Carson Nika Futterman Dee Bradley Baker Catherine Taber Anthony Daniels Ian Abercrombie Matthew Wood Tom Kenny
Narrated by	Tom Kane
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	4
No. of episodes	88 (85 aired) (List of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	George Lucas Catherine Winder
Running time	22 minutes
Production company(s)	Lucasfilm Animation
Broadcast
Original channel	Cartoon Network
Original run	October 3, 2008 (2008-10-03) – present
Chronology
Preceded by	Star Wars: The Clone Wars
Followed by	Star Wars: Underworld
External links
Website
Production website

Star Wars: The Clone Wars is an American 3D CGI animated television series created by George Lucas and produced by Lucasfilm Animation, Lucasfilm Animation Singapore and CGCG Inc. The series debuted on the US-version of Cartoon Network on October 3, 2008. It was also seen for only about 2 months on TNT, but was quickly taken off the channel due to low viewership. It is set in the fictional Star Wars galaxy, during the same time period as the previous 2003 Star Wars: Clone Wars series (the three-year time period between the films Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones and Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith). Each episode has a running time of 22 minutes, to fill a half-hour time slot. Star Wars creator George Lucas says "there will be at least 100 episodes produced [about five seasons]". Dave Filoni is the supervising director of the series. Genndy Tartakovsky, director of the first Clone Wars series, is not involved with the production, but character designer Kilian Plunkett referred to the character designs from the 2D series when designing the characters for the 3D series. There is also an online comic, 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. The series was launched with an animated feature film, which was released in theaters on August 15, 2008. Season 2 ended on April 30, 2010. Season 3 premiered on September 17, 2010, with the complete second season releasing on Blu-ray Disc and DVD October 26, 2010. Season 4 premiered on September 16, 2011 with the Complete Season 3 on Blu-ray Disc and DVD released October 18, 2011.

Cast and characters

Main cast

• Matt Lanter as Anakin Skywalker
• Ashley Eckstein as Ahsoka Tano
• James Arnold Taylor as Obi-Wan Kenobi
• Ian Abercrombie as Chancellor Palpatine
• Corey Burton as Count Dooku
• R2-D2
• Dee Bradley Baker as All Clone Troopers, Captain Rex, Commander Cody
• Tom Kane as Narrator, Yoda, Admiral Wullf Yularen

Recurring cast

Jedi

• Al Rodrigo as Quinlan Vos
• Angelique Perrin as Adi Gallia
• James Arnold Taylor as Plo Koon
• Blair Bless as Even Piell
• Brian George as Ki-Adi-Mundi
• Chris Edgerly as Eeth Koth
• Flo DiRe as Jocasta Nu
• Jennifer Hale as Aayla Secura
• Meredith Salenger as Barriss Offee
• Olivia d'Abo as Luminara Unduli
• Phil LaMarr as Kit Fisto
• Tasia Valenza as Shaak Ti
• Terrence C. Carson as Mace Windu
• Dee Bradley Baker as Saesee Tiin

Other

• Ahmed Best as Jar Jar Binks
• Anthony Daniels as C-3PO
• Catherine Taber as Padmé Amidala
• Dee Bradley Baker as Onaconda Farr
• Jameelah McMillan as Halle Burtoni
• James C. Mathis III as Gregar Typho
• Jennifer Hale as Riyo Chuchi
• Kath Soucie as Mon Mothma
• Phil LaMarr as Bail Organa
• Stephen Stanton as Mas Amedda, Wilhuff Tarkin
• Artt Butler as Ackbar

Separatists/Sith

• Matthew Wood as General Grievous, All Battle Droids, Poggle the Lesser, Wat Tambor
• Gideon Emery as Lott Dodd
• Tom Kenny as Nute Gunray

Dark Jedi

• Nika Futterman as Asajj Ventress
• Clancy Brown as Savage Opress

Bounty Hunters and neutral characters

• Anna Graves as Satine Kryze, Rumi Paramita, Sugi
• Barbara Goodson as Mother Talzin
• Corey Burton as Cad Bane, Ziro the Hutt
• Daniel Logan as Boba Fett
• Dee Bradley Baker as Bossk
• Simon Pegg as Dengar
• Jaime King as Aurra Sing
• Tom Kenny as Greedo
• Jim Cummings as Hondo Ohnaka
• Julian Holloway as Prime Minister Almec
• Kevin Michael Richardson as Jabba the Hutt, Gorga the Hutt, Marlo the Hutt
• Nika Futterman as TC-70, Gardulla the Hutt, Sy Snootles

Special guest voices

• Adrienne Wilkinson as Daughter
• Cara Pifko as Sionver Boll
• David Kaufman as Jaybo Hood
• Fred Tatasciore as The Zillo Beast, Tarpals
• Gary Anthony Williams as Riff Tamson
• George Takei as Lok Durd
• Greg Ellis as Turk Falso
• Greg Proops as Tal Merrick
• James Marsters as Faro Argyus
• Jon Favreau as Pre Vizsla
• Liam Neeson as Qui-Gon Jinn
• Michael York as Dr. Nuvo Vindi
• Pernilla August as Shmi Skywalker
• Ron Perlman as Gha Nachkt
• Samuel Witwer as Son and Darth Maul
• Seth Green as Todo 360, Ion Papanoida
• Dave Fennoy as General Pong Krell

Production

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." In July 2005, pre-production had begun on the series, according to Steve Sansweet, head of Lucasfilm fan relations. 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." 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.

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."^{[citation needed]}

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. Animators also reviewed designs from the original 2003 Clone Wars series when creating the animation style for the film and the new series.

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 contracted for the series.

In a video interview with Rob Coleman from Imagina 2007 divulged that there were 15 episodes in production, one episode was complete, he was going to direct 5 of the first 22 episodes, reaction from licensees was very positive, and that final assembly of shows is done at Skywalker Ranch.

At Lucas' March 3, 2007 appearance at the 2007 William S. Paley Television Festival, Lucas revealed the series is episodic, and as such will not focus on Anakin Skywalker's story; with episodes dedicated to clone troopers and other characters. Lucas revealed further information in a fan interview, a new character named Ahsoka Tano, over 100 episodes and a possible appearance by Boba Fett. In an interview in the September 24, 2007 issue of TV Guide, Lucas confirmed that 39 episodes of the series have been completed.

On April 8, 2007, Ain't It Cool News reported that musician Eric Rigler had recorded music for the series. Rigler disclosed that each planet in the Star Wars galaxy would have its own theme music. The episode Mr. Rigler performed on was based on Bulgarian music and played on Uilleann pipes. Kevin Kiner composes the original score for each episode.

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 Lucas the only place he wanted to see the show was on Cartoon Network.

Along with weekly airings of Star Wars: The Clone Wars on the Cartoon Network, rebroadcasts started airing briefly on TNT, February 14, 2009. With this, it was the first time animation aired on that channel in over a decade.

Broadcast

The Clone Wars premiered on October 3, 2008 at 9 p.m. on the Cartoon Network. It has been programmed by Stuart Snyder to create an action/adventure block of shows on Friday night in an attempt to rejuvenate Cartoon Network. 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". "I can say there's a little bit of bragging on the third quarter for us." The Clone Wars on Cartoon Network is shown in a 16:9 (1.78:1) aspect ratio, cropped from its original aspect ratio (OAR) of 2.35:1 (as seen in the UK Sky Premiere screenings). The show began airing on Adult Swim as of March 14, 2009, making the series the first Cartoon Network series to simultaneously air on both Cartoon Network and Adult Swim. On January 15, 2009, the show was broadcast on TNT, but on March 26, 2009, the show was taken off from the channel due to low viewership.

From Season 1 to Season 2, the viewers in the US were roughly around 2.75 – 3 million. In Season 3, however, they have been around 1.5 - 2 million with the episode "Citadel Rescue" being the least viewed at 1.55 million viewers. For Season 4, it has suffered lower viewership from around 1 million, until mid-season it has picked up from 1.3 to 2 million views. Currently the episode "Mercy Mission" with 1.35 million viewers is the least viewed so far.

Reception

Despite the negative response to its movie counterpart, Star Wars: The Clone Wars has received generally favorable reviews from critics according to the aggregate review site Metacritic. On July 11, 2008, 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." On August 31, 2008, a sneak peek of the new series was shown on Cartoon Network. IGN named it the 89th best animated series. They specifically praised the episodes "Rookies", "Cloak of Darkness", and "Lair of Grievous" saying that their storylines stood out as some of the best in the Star Wars Expanded Universe. The series received a score of 64 out of 100 on Metacritic, a review compiler.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars became most-watched series premiere in Cartoon Network history. The series averaged 3 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 animated networks in the time slot among total viewers (the largest in the demographic for any premiere telecast of an original Cartoon series).

On July 23, 2010 at the San Diego Comic-Con; Craig Glenday, editor of the Guinness World Records presented Star Wars: The Clone Wars supervising director Dave Filoni, CG supervisor Joel Aron and lead designer Kilian Plunkett a certificate proclaiming the cartoon series "the highest rated sci-fi animation currently on television".

Awards

36th Annie Awards

• Music in an Animated Television Production or Short Form: Kevin Kiner for "Rising Malevolence" (nominated)

37th Annie Awards

• Music in a Television Production: Kevin Kiner for "Weapons Factory" (nominated)

38th Annie Awards

• Best Animated Television Production (nominated)
• Voice Acting in a Television Production: Nika Futterman as Asajj Ventress (nominated)
• Writing in a Television Production: Daniel Arkin (nominated)

2010 Teen Choice Awards

• Choice TV Animated Show (nominated)

39th Annie Awards

• Best General Audience Animated TV Production (nominated)
• Animated Effects in an Animated Production: Joel Aron (nominated)
• Voice Acting in a Television Production: Nika Futterman as Asajj Ventress (nominated)
• Voice Acting in a Television Production: Dee Bradley Baker as Clone Troopers (nominated)
• Editing in Television Production: Jason W.A. Tucker (nominated)

Episodes

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, the production team decided to weave the first few planned episodes together to form a theatrical release. Christopher Lee, Anthony Daniels, and Samuel L. Jackson reprised their roles as Count Dooku, C-3PO, and Mace Windu, respectively, from the live action films.

On December 5, 2011, a full-length feature cut of the Season 3 trilogy episodes, "Nightsisters", "Monster", and "Witches of the Mist" was released for download on iTunes as an uninterrupted movie that was previously shown at selected screenings in 2010. The three episodes were written by Katie Lucas, who had previously wrote the Season 1 episode "Jedi Crash" and the Season 3 episodes "Sphere of Influence" and "Assassin".

TV series

Each season consists of 22 episodes. George Lucas has said he would like to make at least 100 episodes, regardless of the ratings. Episode 100 would be in the middle of Season 5, so the series is likely to go up to 110+ episodes, whether the ratings continue to be good or not. A repeat of series one aired in "decoded" episode format. Each installment contained unobtrusive text windows giving supplemental information about the characters and events playing out on screen.

Main article: List of Star Wars: The Clone Wars episodes

Season	Episodes	First air date	Last air date
Season 1	22	October 3, 2008	March 22, 2009
Season 2	22	October 2, 2009	April 30, 2010
Season 3	22	September 17, 2010	April 1, 2011
Season 4	22	September 16, 2011	Spring 2012

Home media releases

DVD/Blu-ray name	Region 1	Region 2	Region 4
A Galaxy Divided (DVD only)	March 24, 2009	March 24, 2009	July 1, 2009
Clone Commandos (DVD only)	September 15, 2009	September 15, 2009	September 23, 2009
Season 1 (DVD & Blu-ray)	November 3, 2009	November 16, 2009	November 18, 2009
Season 2 (DVD & Blu-ray)	October 26, 2010	November 15, 2010	November 10, 2010
Season 3 (DVD & Blu-ray)	October 18, 2011	October 17, 2011	October 19, 2011
Season 4 (DVD & Blu-ray)	Fall 2012	Fall 2012	Fall 2012

A Galaxy Divided was an early DVD release of the series which included the first four episodes ("Ambush, "Rising Malevolence", "Shadow of Malevolence", "Destroy Malevolence"), and Clone Commandos is another, which includes episode five "Rookies" as well as episodes 19 through 21 ("Storm over Ryloth", "Innocents of Ryloth" and "Liberty on Ryloth").

Video games

Five video games have been released, which are based on the style and character designs of the series.

• Star Wars: The Clone Wars – Lightsaber Duels released on November 11, 2008 for Nintendo Wii.
• Star Wars: The Clone Wars – Jedi Alliance released on November 11, 2008 for Nintendo DS.
• Star Wars: The Clone Wars – Republic Heroes DS released on October 9, 2009 for Nintendo DS.
• Star Wars: The Clone Wars – Republic Heroes released on October 9, 2009 for Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, PSP, and PlayStation 2.
• Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars released in March 2011 by TT Games for PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, Xbox 360, Wii, Nintendo DS, PC and Nintendo 3DS, and further stylizes the characters as part of the Lego Star Wars theme.
• Clone Wars Adventures launched in October 2010 online.

International release

Network	Country
Cartoon Network only	Latin America Southeast Asia Pakistan and other countries Europe
Local TV networks only	Latin America Southeast Asia Europe
Cartoon Network and local TV networks	Latin America Southeast Asia Europe

External links

• Official website
• Star Wars: The Clone Wars Video Game Confirmed
• Preview Special
• Official announcement
• CGCG Inc. co collaboration with Lucasfilm
• Star Wars: The Clone Wars at the Big Cartoon DataBase
• Star Wars: The Clone Wars at the Internet Movie Database
• Star Wars: The Clone Wars at TV.com
• Official teaser trailer
• Official Star Wars Celebration IV blog with information on the series
• Star Wars: The Clone Wars TV Series (2008) Metacritic Review
• Star Wars: The Clone Wars TV Series (2008) IGN Review