THE CLONE WARS @ Starwars.com

July 27 2007



starwars.com /theclonewars/

Starwars.com has a new dedicated area for The Clone Wars with loads of new graphics from the upcoming 3D animated series, video interviews, and transcripts from the anniversary Celebration panels.



COMIC CON 2007 • LucasFilm Presentation

July 27 2007

source: starwars.com blog



EXCERPT:

July 27 2007 5:51pm PST:

Sansweet changes to the subject of Star Wars on television. “First out of the gate, likely in the Fall of 2008, will be an amazing new series from Lucasfilm Animation, Star Wars: The Clone Wars.” There are 25 different episodes are in varying stages of production.

“I’ve had the chance to see four episodes and have been truly blown away by their cinematic sweep, the storytelling, their visual effects and everything!” says Sansweet. He then screens The Clone Wars trailer.

Excellent stuff! Thanks for the nudge.

I have to say that Skywalker and his Clone chums look pretty good. I'm still concerned about Kenobi though, his beard looks like it's made out of wood - let's hope that the digital acting isn't the same.

I was unsure if the Comic Con 2007 report and the coincidal launch of /theclonewars/ at Starwars.com even warranted a new thread. As there wasn't much news from LucasFilm's Presentation this year that is.

Although noteworthy is Sansweet's viewing of 4 episodes, which at 22 minutes long each, amounts to a new movie. Also noteworthy is 25 episodes of the new Clone Wars are somewhat finished, which is 12 1/2 hours of new Star Wars.

Getting back to the new Starwars.com /theclonewars/ area here are new pictures from the Celebration IV panel transcript area.

news20070727b.html

Not quite sure what to make of Count Dooku lol. Palpatine looks good. Obi-Wan and Anakin look all right, nothing extordinary though.

Dooku's reminding me of New Hampshire's collapsed Old Man Of The Mountain structure. Wow.

Told ya Kenobi's beard was made of wood. Also Skywalker looks a touch lanky and appears to be wearing a rather attractive skirt for the season. :armshead:

Still if Sansweet's right and they serve up something similar to the movies, I'll be happy as Larry...Hagman.

PS I'd prefer it if Dooku was a little more accurate, something like this: Count D

I don't neccesarily like the 'stylized' look, but in motion and 3D-ish CG, with more photo-accurate props and settings, it might be a non-factor. Dooku and Obi-Wan do look a bit odd, but I'm hoping the action and story make me not give a shit once it gets going.

I'm also starting to think this style for the characters makes it easier to express different emotions and animate different verbalizations without all the trouble of trying to get a phot-realistic humanoid to do it. It's got to be a lot of expensive work to animate a 3D character, let alone trying to make it look more accurate and human at the same time. I'm starting to think it's an acceptable corner to cut.

The Emperor looks perfect in this style.

Why aren't they showing that other jedi that was in the poster? The twi'lek that was in the center.....hrm....

The series is going to be PG-13 and HI-DEF, encompassing the full spectrum of the Clone Wars era and I can't wait.

The look of the characters, which is a combination of the Cartoon Network Micro-Series and the movies, is deliberate so as not to draw attention away from the upcoming Live-Action Series.


Below are some interesting excerpts from the Celebration Nerdcon IV panel:




http://www.starwars.com/theclonewars/blogs/news20070727b.html

Supervising Director Dave Filoni

Clone Troopers:
What we came up with was a middle ground [between the film characters and the Cartoon Network animated characters] -- we couldn't do something that's really photo-realistic but at the same time we couldn't do the flat cartoon.

Our clones are a little leaner, a little more elegant in some ways, and that's intentional at this point because we'll transfer later on in the series to the Episode III-style clone.


Style:
This goes back to some old comments George made about the show being kind of anime-inspired, which has kind of gone away as we've gone forward -- it's really just Star Wars-inspired now.


[middle: Clone Wars 2008 Trooper]

hmm they look a little skinny

I have to say that I actually quite like the Clone Troopers. The “Here they comeeee!” bit in the trailer gets my adrenaline pumping and they all looked perfectly acceptable in that sequence. If Lucas and his animator boys are going for a thin, elegant style to the animation, then we’ve got to accept it I guess. I will accept the style more IF we get decent story telling and spectacular destruction of the various clone era vehicles. Still wish they’d put out 4/5 before Christmas, autumn 08 seems light-years away.

Skywalker’s 'taking a dump' (TAD) fighting style has got to go though.

"Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. Be gone you Sith!"