Star Wars

[muthagoose]

Star Wars: The Clone Wars Trailer!

The new StarWars.com has revealed a first look at the trailer for the upcoming CG animated series, "Star Wars: The Clone Wars."

Click here to check it out!

starwars.com/video/view/000478.html

[The Duke]

That is awesome! Only thing that would make it better would be a Clone Wars-era Lando Calrissian!

[muthagoose]

Some really great pics from the Star Wars Celebration IV....

www.flickr.com/photos/bonniegrrl/

"The Darth Vader Project" (where artists us the classic helmet as their canvas) is really worth a look.

[muthagoose]

Disney Keen On "Clone Wars" Series

Walt Disney Studios is heavily campaigning to get broadcast rights for George Lucas’ much anticipated CG-animated series "Clone Wars" reports Animation Magazine.

The studio is competing with Fox and HBO who are also rumored to be interested in picking up broadcast rights. Each episode will be 22-minutes long and will follow the general tone of the original 1977 "Star Wars" with an action focus and lighter tone.

Lucas has previously said that he wants to produce at least 100 episodes of the show which is expected to be ready for broadcast by the fall of 2008. The live-action series in the works won't begin airing until Fall 2009 at the earliest

[muthagoose]

Lucas Talks "Star Wars" Series


Lucas recently spoke with TV Guide about the two "Star Wars" television series spin-offs he's developing:

Clone Wars
Well it's basically like Star Wars [in that it] takes place between, obviously, [the films] Episode II [Attack of the Clones] and Episode III [Revenge of the Sith], but it's the same kind of action. Unfortunately, it doesn't fall into the realm of what animation [typically] is, which is either adult, kind of off-color humor or kiddie stuff. This is, like Star Wars, sort of in between those two things. It's a lot of battle stuff, and it's obviously the Clone Wars, so it's a war picture.

So it's kind of a PG-13 animated TV series, which is something that has never been done before and obviously doesn't fit in any of the conventional slots that these things fall into. In that, it's very different, and I think it's very exciting. It's got a very, very sophisticated look to it. It's very much like the features. We're still trying to figure out how to put it on the air.

We're going to do a hundred episodes. I think we're on [No.] 40 right now. We'll probably end up with 50 to 60 episodes before we start to put it on the air. We'd like to put it on next fall, in about a year from now, but we'll see what happens.

Live-Action Series
Well, Clone Wars has got all the characters in it Yoda and Anakin and Obi Wan and the Emperor and all that so it's basically the movie. The live-action [series] is not the movie. It's the Star Wars universe, but it's characters from the saga who were [previously] minor, and it follows their stories. It's set between [movie episodes] III and IV, when the Empire has taken over. It's like Episode IV in that the Emperor and Darth Vader are heard about people talk about them but you never see them because it doesn't take place where they actually are.

[muthagoose]

"Star Wars: Clone Wars" In September

The upcoming CG animated "Star Wars" spin-off series "Clone Wars" will make its debut in the UK this September as three 90-minute episodes that will be released theatrically reports Action Figures.

Several Star Wars licensees other than Hasbro confirmed the news at this weekend's UK ToyFair where Hasbro ruled the new action figure line from the Lucasfilm property off limits to press.

The rest of the episodes will then come out on a yet undecided TV channel.

[muthagoose]

"Clone Wars" Set For August 15th

Lucasfilm, Warner Bros. Pictures and Turner Broadcasting have set an August 15th theatrical release date for "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" reports The ABC.

The CG-animated feature will serve as the pilot for the spinoff series which premieres on Cartoon Network starting in the Fall. The series consists of thirty minute smallscreen installments, of which at least thirty have already been produced.

The 100 minute-long feature picks up between episode II and III when Anakin Skywalker is not yet Darth Vader. International release dates for the feature and TV series are still being set.

[The Duke]

I have heard about this before, and am intrigued as to how the events between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith play out. I will definitely be in line to see this one.

[muthagoose]

Fans await return of Star Wars

Fans never seem to get their fill of "Star Wars," and George Lucas is happy to oblige.

Lucas offered a glimpse into the latest creation in his sci-fi universe at the theater-owners convention ShoWest on Thursday, showing a sequence from "Star Wars: The Clone Wars," a computer-animated movie due in theaters August 15. It will be followed by a TV series of the same name, to air on the Cartoon Network and TNT this fall.

The movie came about as an afterthought while Lucas was developing an animated TV show of the same name. That show debuts this fall, but Lucas figured it was ripe for big-screen treatment, too.

"You've got the whole assembly line built, and then you say, 'Hey, we can make up something,"' Lucas said in an interview. "It was like old-time movie making. What I love about television, it's like Monogram Pictures or the old studio system, where a couple guys come to work and they sit and have some coffee and go, 'Why don't we make a movie about such and such? OK, fine.' And at the end of the day, it's pretty much on its way."

Set in the years between episodes II and III -- "Attack of the Clones" and "Revenge of the Sith" -- of the big-screen "Star Wars" chronicle, the movie and series present fresh adventures of Jedi warrior Anakin Skywalker, his mentor, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and other colleagues.

The movie introduces a female Jedi, Ahsoki, who is Anakin's young apprentice.

"It's like 'Band of Brothers' in space, with Jedi," Lucas, 63, said. "You can tell lots of stories. They come up all the time."

Lucas said he plans to produce at least 100 hours worth of TV episodes of "Clone Wars."

He also is moving forward with a live-action "Star Wars" TV show focusing largely on new characters removed from the Skywalker family. That show will be set in the decades between "Revenge of the Sith" and the period when the original film, 1977's "Star Wars," takes place.

So can fans ever get enough of "Star Wars"?

"I don't know," Lucas said. "I'm thankful every year that it keeps going."

[muthagoose]

George Lucas Talks "Star Wars" Live-Action Series

We know "Clone Wars" kicks off with the movie/pilot in August, but how's the live-action "Star Wars" television show progressing? George Lucas has spoken with Entertainment Weekly about just that this weekend.

Lucas confirms that he's just starting to work on the scripts for the project as "Clone Wars" has been, and still is, heavily occupying him - "We finished the first year of Clone Wars, [and] we're in the middle of working on the second year. I'm finishing the scripts for the third year. And now I'm working on the scripts for the first year of the live-action show."

Because he's financing it, he has the luxury of running the show how he wants - this includes penning and finishing up the scripts for a whole season worth of shows before they get to filming them. This allows him a lot of forward planning - "I've got it pegged out for 100 episodes, and I know exactly what I'm going to do and how I'm going to do it and what the risks are."

Whilst it doesn't focus on any of the characters from the films - "Some of the characters from the features find their way in there, so it's not completely divorced. It's as if we just went down the street and told a different story." Certainly places from the movies will be seen, whilst the Emperor himself is mentioned.

What about an airdate? "The series probably won't go on until around 2010. It'll take this year just to get through all the scripts and then another year to get them all shot." He is committed to at least 100 one-hour episodes - "I'm going to 100 episodes no matter what" - and casting has not yet begun.

Finally he did confirm there'll be some freedom for the directors and actors - "I'm an executive producer now -- I don't do the day-to-day work. I check in once a week, maybe, and it'll be the same thing on the live-action show." Its been reported that the show is currently being shopped around to the networks with either HBO or Showtime currently being the hot favourites.

[muthagoose]

Mystery illness strikes Star Wars
R2-D2 star Kenny Baker

Kenny Baker ... the actor who played R2-D2 in Star Wars was in hospital last night
THE actor who played R2-D2 in Star Wars was in hospital last night after being struck down by a mystery illness.

The short-statured star was taken to hospital once the plane touched down at Manchester Airport, with friends fearing him to be seriously ill.

But last night a family member said he was recovering and expected to be back at his home near Preston, Lancashire, in a few days.

The relative said: "Kenny's conscious and talking, hopefully hell be absolutely fine."

Kenny was inside droid R2-D2's costume in all six of George Lucas's sci-fi Star Wars flicks, starting with A New Hope in 1977.

Visit Kenny's Official Site:
www.kennybaker.co.uk

[muthagoose]

`Clone Wars' orbits Hollywood for Aug. 10 premiere

George Lucas is revisiting familiar space in the heart of Hollywood to unveil his new "Star Wars" adventure.

The animated tale "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" will have its world premiere at the Egyptian Theatre along Hollywood Boulevard on Aug. 10, five days before it opens in theaters. Lucasfilm announced the premiere Wednesday.

Proceeds from the premiere will benefit the American Cinematheque, a film organization based at the Egyptian, which opened in 1922. The Egyptian was one of two Los Angeles theaters where the first "Star Wars" sequel, "The Empire Strikes Back," played during its extended run in 1980.

Tickets for the 4 p.m. premiere will be on sale exclusively to American Cinematheque until July 23 and will then be available to the general public.

"Few cinemas have had the opportunity to host a premiere of a `Star Wars' movie, and we are tremendously excited that the historic Egyptian will soon be one of them," said Barbara Smith, director of the American Cinematheque.

"The Clone Wars" will be followed by an animated TV series of the same name debuting this fall on the Cartoon Network and TNT.

The movie and TV show are set between the action of the second and third chapters of Lucas' prequel trilogy, "Attack of the Clones" and "Revenge of the Sith."

The film centers on a galactic civil war, with Jedi knight Anakin Skywalker — the future villain Darth Vader — embarking on a mission that pits him and his apprentice against crime boss Jabba the Hutt.

The voice cast includes some veteran "Star Wars" performers, including Samuel L. Jackson as Mace Windu, Christopher Lee as Count Dooku and Anthony Daniels as C-3PO.

Among other key voice cast members are Matt Lander as Anakin, Ashley Eckstein as his apprentice Ahsoka Tano and James Arnold Taylor as Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Lucas served as executive producer on "The Clone Wars" movie, which was directed by Dave Filoni.

[muthagoose]

Lucas Says 3D "Star Wars" While Off

George Lucas tells Newsweek that 3D versions of the "Star Wars" films are a while off it seems.

Lucas says "We worked on some, with a company that was developing the technology a few years ago to convert films into 3-D, we worked with them. But the system works great. It's just not very practical."

Despite the setbacks, he seems set to continue with it - "What we've been working on since then is to develop a sort of practical way to do it. And we will get there. It's just a technological challenge."

[muthagoose]

"Force Unleashed" On Big Screen?

The modestly received video game "Star Wars: The Force Unleashed" might one day get the big screen treatment reports The Los Angeles Times.

The game's project leader Haden Blackman says "It's not impossible. Never say never. George [Lucas] has looked to tell new 'Star Wars' stories through the games and with the entire Star Wars Expanded Universe, and then he has also shown a willingness to let the characters come into the films. Look at Aayla Secura, a creation in the [Dark Horse] comic books who became part of the theatrical films."

Utilizing a story that's admittedly more interesting than the prequels or recent highly-panned "Clone Wars" pilot episode movie, the game has you playing Darth Vader's secret apprentice Starkiller, a young man whom Vader rescued years beforehand. Highlights include visits to familiar SW planets, an under construction Death Star, using your powers to bring down a Star Destroyer, and duels against both The Emperor and Vader.

Dark Horse has also released a graphic novel version of the game which goes into much more detail and would likely serve as the basis for any script. Hunky and brooding "Battlestar Galactica" and "Smallville" actor Sam Witwer played the role in the game - would he come back for a film?