First Look: Star Wars Animated Show

TonyDP

Starwars.com has a trailer of the all CGI Star Wars animated series that is now in development. This premiered at this weekend's Star Wars celebrations (there is also a fan produced fake teaser making the rounds). The show takes place during the Clone Wars and includes characters from the movies and the previous animated shorts shown on the Cartoon Network. Click on thru for a look.


http://www.starwars.com/video/view/000478.html

Klaus Hergescheimer

I really fell out of favor with Star Wars with the latest trilogy. I just couldn't really get into any of the films. Lucas basically reduced them to typical sci-fi/action/special effect orgy consumer products.

The thing that made the original trilogy so great, in my opinion at least, was the strong intellectual foundation underlying them. This is especially true of the first two, and even more especially true of The Empire Strikes Back, which is, IMO, the best of the films by a very wide margin and one of the greatest films ever made. This was completely sacrificed for the prequels, and I just couldn't connect with them like I did ESB.

Sadly, this is the way that it has gone for most of the recent updates/sequels/prequels of old franchises, especially of the sci-fi and action genres. Much of this degrade in quality, IMO, has been due to the advent of amazing new technology in special effects development. In the old days, when filmmakers had to use more archaic techniques to depict credible special FX visuals, they had to work their absolute hardest in order to put together great films, and their efforts did just that and produced films with which we could connect. But while new technologies have obviously allowed for the creation of stunning visuals, they have given filmmakers a crutch to lean on that will distract the audience from the subtleties of their otherwise poor filmmaking, which has produced dull and unfulfilling pictures. I fear that this new animated series will just be the next in line of Lucas' royal neutering of the franchise.

RogueAgent

It looks good so far but if Lucas is planning on powder-milking the Star Wars franchise anymore than he already has, couldn't he at least introduce new interesting characters that might rejuvenate some of us that are a little fatigued on the same old, same old?

Just a thought really...

Pendragon

*head/desk* oi...couldn't he just give it a rest?

~Pen -{

TonyDP

The trailer looked good to me and I'm looking forward to seeing this when it debuts. However, I do wish that Lucas & Co. would focus on some other area other than the Clone Wars. IMHO, the prequels have been sufficiently mined and this kind of a series will be hampered somewhat because at the end of the day we already know how it will end and what will happen to the major characters. I would have preferred an animated show that took place after Episode VI or even went back in time to the heydey of the Old Republic.

Still, my expectations from Hollywood are low these days and as long as this is reasonably well handled and presented I'm sure I'll enjoy it all the same. I approached the prequels with that mindset and was able to enjoy them for what they were.

Klaus Hergescheimer

TonyDP wrote:

The trailer looked good to me and I'm looking forward to seeing this when it debuts. However, I do wish that Lucas & Co. would focus on some other area other than the Clone Wars. IMHO, the prequels have been sufficiently mined and this kind of a series will be hampered somewhat because at the end of the day we already know how it will end and what will happen to the major characters. I would have preferred an animated show that took place after Episode VI or even went back in time to the heydey of the Old Republic.

Still, my expectations from Hollywood are low these days and as long as this is reasonably well handled and presented I'm sure I'll enjoy it all the same. I approached the prequels with that mindset and was able to enjoy them for what they were.

Honestly, I wish they would leave Star Wars well alone. The original trilogy was classic and terrfiic, and all of the films were highly memorable. The prequel trilogy has been thoroughly unmemorable and unenjoyable, much due to the very poor directoral skills of George Lucas. It is my opinion that he has really become a victim of his own creation, in that his idea (which was put to screen in such memorable format with the vision of others in the original trilogy) was so great and new years ago, there is nothing that he could do that would equal that standard.

There shouldn't be another Star Wars film or tv series released for another 20 years. Let some hotshot kid take a stab at remakes years down the road, if need be.