LOL - I agree actually, I heard Cartman.

Saw this yesterday - had a generally very positive reaction. I thought the action was great, plot was pretty cogent, the new characters were good. It was just a pretty good animated movie - it wasn't mind blowing or anything, but it did what it was meant to. Dialogue was occassionally cheesy - to be expected. Not sure why it got such bad reviews, I thought it was effective.

I'll add more review later.

I thought that this movie was alright, not as good as the trilogies, but definitely better than Droids or Ewoks. It was clearly geared for a young audience with the humor and other comical situations thrown in. But the one thing that really ticked me off was that they were so blatantly copying Film Noir and SciFi Serials, it was painful. Now if they had incorporated them with a Star Wars flair to them, that would of been better, but that whole Zero the Hutt is what just plain awful.

I don't think the Original Trilogy has much over The Clone Wars. Sure, it's somewhat more mature in tone and the characters are more maverick and loose (badazz), but it's got nothing like the pacing, variety of characters and flat-out fucking pure McQuarrie-style beauty of this series or the prequels.

Aren't the characteristics of a genre intended to be ripped off and copied in as many ways as possible?

Anyway, there were a lot of interesting, and sometimes subtle things that really caught my ears and eyes during the film, which I thoroughly enjoyed even though I'd prefer half-hour increments:

-the distant, echoed voices heard over the radio during the Lucasfilm logo - quite bone-chilling contrasted with the nostalgic sentimentality of "As Time Goes By" which precedes it
-"Don't you dare! Don't you dare!" after Ashoka kills that mysterious bounty hunter
-Anakin vs. Obi-Wan's differing responses in positions of surrender
-everything about Ziro the Hutt (particularly the way he laughs at his loyal bounty hunter's failure , and the way his Bith Band strikes up new music to distract the patrons)
-the WWII-style/"March of Time" propaganda opening (its confident, transparent jingoism is kind of refreshing and more honest compared to what passes for today's wartime news announcements)
-another instance of Anakin wanting to assist the clone army but being unable to

Sure, but not to the point where it's painfully obvious.

I wouldn't say it was WWII style, rather it's a SciFi Serial recap - see 1930's era serials.

The voiceover reminded me more of the WWII deal. Actually, it reminded me or Starship Troopers mostly. But also the WWII thing.

I finally caught this yesterday and really enjoyed it. The critical onslaught is a huge puzzlement to me considering all the smart, creative, and funs things I noticed. I’m really not sure why it continues to be treated as the cinematic equivalent of 9/11 by some of the more sensible reviewers. (Et tu, Roger?)

In regard to Ziro, he sounds more like Meatwad than Cartman.

The animation is so ugly, but it's kind of amusing. Count Dooku's elongated head just made me want to hear some hapless battle droid ask him "Why the long face, Count?" Palpatine's ears are as long as that Jedi chick's head in the first scene.

I thought Ziro sounded somewhat like Truman Capote. I found this in interesting considering the original Jabba in ROTJ was compared to Sidney Greenstreet back in '83.

As for Ziro, he sounds like Paul de Leeuw he even slightly looks like him. Ziro was just a joke, Lucas's way of saying, I can do whatever I like.

Paul de Leeuw is a dutch gay tv host (no offence meant in any kind of way), who used to host different kinds of entertainig comedy shows. Ziro reminds me of "De schreeuw van de Leeuw" (the roar of theLion), in which Paul makes fun of people in an almost rude way but very funny, a fictional character he plays is "Bob de Rooy" in a way exactly like Ziro.

When I first saw Ziro I had to laugh very hard and no matter how much time I take of... The Clonewars was great, not a theatrical blockbuster of course, I expected a pilot for the series, which I got in a very nice way.

Everything that is Star Wars was blatantly copied from matinee serials from Lucas youth. The opening crawls from the movies were taken from Flash Gordon serials.



As pointed out on the previous page, Lucas dictated that Ziro sound like Trum Capote.

moviesblog.mtv.com /is ziro the hutt the first gay alien in star wars history/

[hr]
“Ziro, Jabba’s uncle, originally spoke in Hutt-ese, like Jabba and then he had a different sluggish voice just like Jabba, and then George one day was watching it and said ‘I want him to sound like Truman Capote.’ He actually said that and we were like ‘Wow!’ ” Filioni revealed.

“It’s a hybrid of it but the inspiration is definitely there on Capote. It’s one of those things that takes him from being an interesting character and I think really does put him over the top and does something. He’s a favorite among the crew here.”

[hr]

I saw this in a packed theatre about a week after release and I can tell you I enjoyed it a lot. Can't really understand the kamikaze negativity that was evident in most reviews - it was clearly aimed at young kids, and should never be considered the 7th ep ffs.

Roll on with the DVD the imagery and sound was striking..

cheers DP great work as usual.

But he should stop aiming at kids, Sith. Young kids are not fans of prequels despite claims. They prefer Potter and Spider-Man.

I still say we are the core fanbase, the core customers. Two Star Wars tv shows should be aimed at adults even if one is a cartoon.

Deeper. Darker.

He's done enough kiddie shit starting with ROTJ and 98% of everything after that.

I can't even take the Ani/Obi duel because he has to throw in stupid shit like droids flying in for a look at the fight and Mustafar workers still searching the lava for ore. It takes me right out of the scene. There is no isolation. There’s no desperation. It plays poorly.

"What the fuck are these monkeys fightin' 'bout now? I'm workin' 'ere!!"

Star Wars wouldn't be Star Wars without the campiness and irreverent humor. It'd be like the new Battlestar Galactica or The Dark Knight - to satisfy all the fascist martinets out there.

3p0 at the end of ESB. That's all I have to say about that.

I'm in the minority who saw nothing wrong with the Obi-Wan and Anakin fight, though I do wish it were a bit longer.

You'll have to say more if you want it to make any sense.

I'm kind of bored at the moment so I'll try to make sense of it.

I gather what you're saying is that the light-hearted moments of Artoo putting Threepio back together during a tense scene in which the heroes are trying to escape Vader is equivalent to the Obi-Wan Anakin duel and its cringe worthy moments.

It isn't.

Artoo repairs the Falcon so that they can escape. He is a pivotal player in the scene.

The stupid droid flying in for a close-up view along with the Mustafar workers still doing their thing in the middle of the lava river is just another Lucas excuse to throw in more unnecessary, more nonsensical CG into the most important scene in the saga when it clearly doesn't need it.

Then again, this is the guy who changed Han shooting first for no reason instead of fixing something like Vader's pink lightsaber in A New Hope. I've come to expect nothing less.

Err, Threepio was funny in the old movies... Jar Jar and all the other forced gags in the PT just were not. As for the duel in Episode III, I didn't have a problem with the background Mustafarians and droids passing by. They have a brief presence in maybe two or three shots. This clearly wasn't a bid deal. What did irk me was the lack of dialogue and Anakin's horrible line about the Jedi being evil. It also gets a bit too over the top from Spielberg's influence when the big arm collapses. Suddenly everything looks fake and Anakin turns superhuman to a degree that's a bit disproportionate to the rest of the movies. But I digress.

The droids and workers add a sense of objectivity and documentary-like realism to this "Battle of the Heroes." It shows that although their fight is intense and dramatic, to those not involved, it's a strange little squabble, disrupting their day-to-day routine. It's small touches like this, throughout the saga (and the engaging new Clone Wars series), that keep these sort of fight sequences from becoming overly melodramatic and mundane.

There are plenty of very telling fan films and fan edits that exclude all the "forced gags" and the sort of humor, successful or not, that has been brought up and the result is a seriously bland lifelessness. Everyone's either a soldier or a wise-cracking asshole. It represents a serious limitation of range, because these things, although sometimes dreadfully cringe-worthy, often add relief through irony and also help these films provoke a more full range of emotion*. From lowest to the noblest.

*After all, Lucas has stated on numerous occasions that he approaches Star Wars like music.

You can find here the interviews of Dave Filoni, Henry Gilroy and Kevin Kiner I conducted for StarWars-Universe.com. They are talking about The Clone Wars movie and TV series.

As the website is French, the interviews are translated in French, but you can find the original version in English too

Merci beaucoup for the interviews, Tagne!

yeah but what happens when we move on? Lucas wants to leave a legacy that much is certain. The theatre I saw it in was packed well after release with the majority of peeps being young kids - they love this shit. They are the future of SW.

From all accounts the live action TV series will be a lot darker and adult-orientated. I'll make sure of it.

Odd request, but but does anyone have an HD Cap of Rotta?

The Digital Bits just posted info on the BD/DVD release of "The Clone Wars."



link

starwars.com





[hr]
The Clone Wars Movie: On DVD & Blu-Ray November 11

The animated adventures of Star Wars: The Clone Wars will be coming to television every week starting next week, and you'll soon be able to also enjoy the theatrical Clone Wars movie in your own home! Star Wars: The Clone Wars is coming to home video on November 11, as a single-disc DVD, two-disc Special Edition DVD, and -- the first for any Star Wars release -- a Hi-Def Blu-Ray release. The single and double-disc standard-definition versions both include the widescreen movie with Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround EX sound, and with feature-length audio commentary.

Bonus material on the Special Edition DVD and Blu-Ray include:

• The Clone Wars: The Untold Stories: Preview stories, vehicles, planets, and battles from Season One of The Clone Wars television series. (This feature is in Hi-Def on Blu-Ray).

• The Voices of The Clone Wars: Meet the voiceover actors and see them perform their craft. (This feature is in Hi-Def on Blu-Ray).

• Gallery of Concept and Production Art (This feature is in Hi-Def on Blu-Ray).

• Webdocs: Six making-of featurettes, as seen on StarWars.com (This feature is in Hi-Def on Blu-Ray).

• Deleted Scenes: Cargo Bay, Platform Droid Fight, Rancor Pit and Through the Tanks

• The New Score: Kevin Kiner leads a 90-piece orchestra to create the unique sounds of The Clone Wars movie and series. (This feature is in Hi-Def on Blu-Ray)

• Theatrical and videogame trailers (This feature is in HI-Def on Blu-Ray)

• A digital copy of the movie to watch on the go.

• Take the Hologram Memory Challenge: Test your skill and memory and unlock three hi-def TV series sneak peeks


Exclusive to the Blu-Ray release is a feature-length creative conversation video commentary, featuring Director Dave Filoni, Producer Catherine Winder, Writer Henry Gilroy and Editor Jason W.A. Tucker, who discuss the development of the feature, illustrated with behind-the-scenes footage, deleted material, concept art and more.

Be on the lookout for retailer exclusives. There are more details to come, but take a look at the exclusive packaging found at Best Buy -- where the Special Edition 2-disc DVD set will be available in a "steel book" tin -- and the Target exclusives, featuring the red-emblazoned Senate guard.

[hr]

Blu-Ray = insta-buy

Hopefully this means the 6 movies are coming to Blu-Ray sooner than later.

Nice to see the special features are in HD as well.



That's probably true. It seems Star Wars is just another thing to young kids these days whereas when the films were first released it was the thing (granted I was born a year after "Jedi" was released so I don't have first hand experience). But I hesitate to say that the next stories should be darker. Deeper, yes. I mean just look at "The Force Unleashed." (For those that haven't played it, just watch the cut scenes on You Tube) Is it dark? Yes, but it relies too heavily on narrative and structural precedent set in the films. It takes Lucas' concept of mirrored events and cinematic rhyme scheme and turns into borderline plagiarism. The twist ending (one of two) was a surprise and dark to be sure but would have been more substantial had it been at the conclusion of an original tale set outside the world of the films.