October 10 2006

source: MTV.com


EXCERPTS

With his prequels behind him, Lucas has shifted his attention to two daring projects that could bring tie-fighters, tauntauns and Tatooine to a new generation of imaginers.

First among them is a largely 3-D animated show very different from the recent, slick Genndy Tartakovsky "Clone Wars" cartoons but set throughout the same epic battles.



THE STAR WARS LIVE ACTION SERIES

In 2007 Lucas will begin work on a live-action "Star Wars" show set during the 18-year gap between Episodes III and IV.


LUCAS:

"We haven't started yet; I start that next year," the filmmaker said, adding that he's determined to write an entire first season before shooting begins on the show that will star "background" characters from that time period.

"None of the Skywalker story, none of that stuff is in there," he explained, shooting down any depiction of a young Han Solo acquiring the Millennium Falcon or running with Lando Calrissian. "It's completely different. The animated series has got all the characters in it. The one that comes after, the live-action one, is with people who were in 'Star Wars,' but they're not the main characters."

Lucas said the plot will be steered by characters such as Tie-Fighter or Rebel pilots, most only briefly glimpsed in the six "Star Wars" films.




THE CLONE WARS CGI

LUCAS:

"We've got a number of episodes finished now," he promised. "It looks really good. It's a lot of fun.

"It's that same time period," Lucas added of the show, which is being shopped to various channels. "But it's quite a bit more sophisticated, and it's not like anything you've ever seen on television before. ... [Tartakovsky] used his distinctive 2-D style to do [Clone Wars], but it was two minutes at a time, so it was a test-subject kind of idea. It worked and everything, but then we knew we were eventually going to do a 3-D animated series."

I hope he's not going to write this thing all by himself.

If it's mostly just battles and stuff, there's not much plot to worry about.

If a live action Star Wars TV show is anywhere near as well put together as the new Battlestar Galactica series is, I'll be extremely pleased.

I love the idea of watching the galaxy going down the toilet as seen through the eyes of other characters.

I second that notion.

One thing I dislike about the films is that we never really get to see much of the Empire's effect on the Average Joes (even the genocide of Alderaanians in ANH essentially happens off-screen). Will be nice to see some of the impact on regular citizens, so I third.

Yeah, it will be interesting to view the Star Wars galaxy from an average citizen's perspective. There simply isn't time to include shit like that into the feature films, so this 100 hrs of TV should be perfect for that.

What I find strange, is just how tight security is for the CG animated CW series. I mean, we haven't seen as much as a screen-cap or even a concept painting - nothing! I'm salivating here...

I agree, but I also think it would be interesting to get veteran or intermediate Jedi's opinions on the changes in the galaxy knowing, as they have, eras of peace followed by -- seemingly out of nowhere -- galactic wide civil war. The changes they see in the Jedi Order and among the younger members could make for a good story or two.

I agree. As powerful as the Jedi extermination scene was in RotS, I had always assumed that it took the Empire years to "hunt down and destroy the Jedi Knights," as Ben says in ANH. I agree that, if this were the case, it would be cool to see the last few Jedi stragglers fighting for survival. Besides, it would also make for some heart-wrenching drama knowing that they're all going to die eventually at the hands of the Empire and/or Vader.

As a few of you have said, the other benefit of seeing the slow destruction of the galaxy through the eyes of incidental characters is that we can finally appreciate just how big of an impact the Empire had on the average galactic citizen. As a kid, I was always curious about Ben's reference to the present age as "the dark times," as things didn't seem all that bad with no frame of reference. Although we get a glimpse of how much the galaxy changed in the films (e.g., the pristine condition of Naboo in contrast to the weathered, rag-tag Rebel environments), I think a series would do a lot to emphasize this point.

Lastly, a TV series would give us an opportunity to see the formation of the Rebellion. As it is, all we have to go on are the deleted scenes from RotS, and even then there's quite a jump from Episode III to IV. Having a series which (at least, in part) deals with the creation of the Rebellion would do much to smooth the transition between trilogies.... plus, I've always wanted to see the Rebellion's "first victory against the evil galactic Empire" as stated in the opening crawl of ANH. Perhaps this could be the series' finale?

Well, the general look of Naboo hasn't changed a bit, as seen in the 2004 version of ROTJ. Coruscant seemed also pretty close to, how it looked like 23 years earlier. I think, the only big change, that can be seen onscreen, is the difference in clothes of the more upper class characters (Padme, Leia, Bail Organa, Mon Mothma). Also the Jedi (both of them) had quite a refreshing change of lifestyle, becoming something like hermits in harsh, dirty (with the sand an mud getting everywhere and no shower around) enviroments.

If I know this place, as well as I think I do judging on the past 4+ years I've been visiting - we'll be sure to see these sorts of things sooner than later

Ascovel, don't forget the shift over time from an individual craftsman-type approach to weapons, vehicles, etc to more of an assembly-line, industrial look to things as well. In that sense, the war had a very clear effect on certain industries in the galaxy.

Actually one of MF's insiders maybe on the case here. The wait is getting hard now knowing that there are completed episodes out there. The good news out of this is that both of the television series are going to happen sooner rather than later.

The time period at LucasFilm is early-Imperial, early-Rebellion era with the new Video Game and the upcoming Live-Action Series. Lucas said the Live-Action series will feature X-Wing Pilots and Tie-Fighter Pilots which is pretty awesome.

The first person coming through with spoiler infos or leaked pics from CW 3D will be my man of this year... oh dear, one has to hope to get anything like that this year at all and not in 2007

Anyway, it's good to hear there might be some cool spoiler soon in the not too distant future

DP, can you already say anything more, maybe something like a timeframe in which we get the first goodies from this insider? The wait is getting real hard, you know?

When I read the Dark Lord book I had a feeling that it may be a tie-in to the TV series. I would like to see some of those Jedi characters on the TV show.

Oh yeah !!!
It would be so cool to have any material about the Clone Wars animated series
Please give us something to enjoy here !!!

I'm hoping we see the final evolution of the Clonetrooper to Stormtrooper in this series. Which raises another question: if we do see the OT Stormtroopers, will they be costumed actors, or CG Troopers?

We have no inside info yet but the source only mentioned any potential info will be from the upcoming Clone Wars 3D Series and said nothing about the Live-Action Series.

When the source mentioned about potentially getting info it was before this MTV interview where Lucas said there are already several finished episodes. The only reason why I posted about it is to show there is light at the end of the tunnel. Next year, 2007 we will have this new Clone Wars 3D series and the DVD Box Set to look forward to.

Given that the main characters for Clone Wars 3D were the main characters for Revenge of the Sith and Lucas and Sansweet both promoting it so hard I'm amped up for the new Clone Wars 3D Show as much as I am for the Live-Action Show.

I'm thinking we won't see anything official on the Clone Wars until they sign a deal with a broadcaster.

Not sure if this is news worthy or not, but this weekend I was watching "Dailies Weekend" on DirecTV's channel 225 (Reelz) and there was a short sitdown interview with Rick McFatty. From what I can remember off the top of my head, he said these little nuggets about some of the upcoming projects:

1) In the live action T.V. show, one story-line would focus on a group of bounty hunters (probably mostly new characters) during the time frame between the two trilogies. He also said the standard "no main characters from the movies" line. Said the show would be darker than the movies, more for the hard-core fans, and that they hoped to have the best quality t.v. show out there and a really long run with the series.

Indy 4 News....

2) Lucas, Spielberg & Frank Marshall (producer - not Rick) were in L.A. last weekend hammering out a final script for Indy 4 with hopes of starting to shoot it by 2008 (probably for a summer 2009 release would be my guess).

If this is all old news or in the wrong place, feel free to delete or move. You won't hurt my feelings.

Rick McCallum should not be trusted under any circumstances.

That said, the info was simple enough for even he to not fuck up.

Eh, "You will find out why Boba Fett hates the Skywalker family" comes to mind. I don't trust Rick on even the simple things. Plus, we've been hearing the "it's going to be darker" line since AOTC. Nothing new.

AOTC and ROTS weren't exactly Sesame St, dude.

I'm not saying that AOTC and ROTS weren't dark(er), I'm just saying that's what Rick always says.

The fact that he mentions X-Wing AND Tie Fighter pilots indicates that we'll be seeing the story from both sides of the fight. We'll get to see the impact that the Empire has on the common folk as well as the perspective of the common folk IN the Empire. That should be pretty cool. Makes me wonder if It'll inspire more sympathy for all the independent contractors and cleaning crews that got incinerated in both Death Star Explosions.

Also, if the series is going follow several bounty hunters as well, then it appears that the series will be quite mutifaceted. I wonder if it will be a "one week it's these characters" and "next week it's those characters" and "eventually they all intersect" sort of thing.

I reckon that would be awsome as, pray this series will live up to what fans are hoping for.

Anybody ever seen "Centennial", it would be nice to have the same structure in episodes.

It would indeed be nice to have a "Battle star Galactica style" Space battle style kind of episodes aswell, using stopmotion instead of cgi, to get that same feel as in "A new Hope".

Bringing back Nostalgia

Telling stories about Imperial Aces which don't make "A New Hope".

Or Rebel Heroes who die at the command of Tarkin, Tarkin should be the main Villain in the series , to make Vader "seem" like second choice to Palpatine, Vader should be Legend to the common people in the series and should be Palpatine's secret weapon in a way.

That's why I hope , that the New main Characters are totally new to Star Wars.