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CG Television Clone Wars Trailer Released

Ant writes "The official Star Wars site has up the one minute and 50 second trailer for the upcoming computer rendered Clone Wars." I'm still not sold on the CG, but the models seem to be somewhat based on Genndy Tartakovsky's designs from the original Clone Wars series. Wikipedia offers a bevy of details on the series.

9 of 201 comments (clear)

  1. Too little, too late... by bigtomrodney · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I can't say I'm sold on this. I enjoyed the Clone Wars cartoon series but even as a die hard Star Wars fan I feel this is flogging a dead horse. Lucas should have his special effects taken away from him and be sent to his room until he remembers how to make a good film (or in this case series).

    The saddest thing is that despite my protest I'm sure I'll watch it, secretly hoarde some action figures from the series and own every reissue of the new Clone Wars boxset for the next twenty years.

    --
    I never get used to these constant resurrections
    1. Re:Too little, too late... by irm · · Score: 5, Funny

      I can't say I'm sold on this.

      Really? Even from the trailer, the acting strikes me as less wooden...

  2. Luke, I am your programmer by Timesprout · · Score: 5, Funny

    Noooo!

    --
    Do not try to read the dupe, thats impossible. Instead, only try to realize the truth
    What truth?
    There is no dupe
  3. Genndy Tartakovsky is a genius ... by Gopal.V · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Dexter's laboratory, Samurai Jack and Powerpuff Girls are enough to establish his genius. But he managed to turn around my opinion about Star Wars (as someone born in the eighties and having got a TV in the nineties) - while reinforcing my low opinion of George Lucas's later work. Samurai Jack is really another example of a long epic saga, minimalistically drawn, yet full of life, twists and curve balls.

    Hopefully, they borrow the good parts from his work and not go all CG centric over the story telling part.

  4. CG WTF? by Thumper_SVX · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Why is everyone making a big deal that the CG looks crap? BFD! It's about the stories, not the CG. I couldn't care less if it's done with bits of paper on a glass sheet background so long as the stories are written and voiced reasonably well.

    No, the CG doesn't look real... you really want it to? I'd prefer something with a little style, a little "not real". Have you watched Polar Express? The characters looked real, and moved realistically alright... but they also looked like propped up corpses because despite all the work of the artists they STILL couldn't quite get it real enough.

    There's only so far you can go along the path of making CG realistic. At a certain point you have to start thinking about the look and the flow of the thing instead of whether or not you're rendering 1000 different pores on a human nose. I personally liked the trailer, I think it looked pretty good. The CG doesn't look realistic, and I for one am glad of it. It gives the CG animated series a certain flair.

    Did anyone here watch TMNT at the theatres recently? I did with my 6-year-old son and loved it. The story was strong, the characters were well rendered... but realistic it wasn't. It was stylized, but in a way that to me and my son made the characters MORE believable. It's hard to accept an unreal world when there are real people up on the screen. Similarly, it's hard to accept the real world with unreal characters... we use what's called willing suspension of disbelief in order to take some aspects on faith.

    Now, whether or not they can actually get some good stories in this is open to be seen. I won't make any quick judgments; sure Lucas has created some tripe like Episode 1... but mostly because it was more about him experimenting with what he could do with CG than writing a good story. Episodes 2 and 3 both improved on this formula but still didn't quite match Empire Strikes Back (though I still think Episode 3 was better (or at least equal) in almost every respect than Return of the Jedi). Since this is going to be all CG, there are no limits and nothing to prove. The only thing he CAN prove with a CG Star Wars is that he can still write. If he can't, the show will fail since there are million and one "also-rans" in this race.

    I'll wait and see. The trailer gives is little to go on as far as whether or not the writing is better here than in the prequels. Lucas has written good stuff in his life; look at THX-1138. If he can do it again, this'll be good. If not, then maybe it'll get an audience with the current pre-teen crowd who enjoyed the prequels. However, without strong stories you'll lose them and there'll be no "rewatching" ability.

    1. Re:CG WTF? by bmo · · Score: 5, Funny

      "Lucas has written good stuff in his life; look at THX-1138."

      Yes, but that was before the Star Wars _franchise_. It's no longer about the story. It's about the money, and how many people will grit their teeth while paying for movie tickets because all of us 40 year olds want our childhood back. But that's because we're all suckers and figure "well he can't rape our childhoods THAT much, can he?"

      Yes. Yes he can. Meesa givesa upsa after Episode Onesa...

      As to how far he can sink, do you remember the Christmas Special? Did you gouge your eyes out?

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asnVcbWQ2cg

      Bea...Arthur... BEA FREAKIN ARTHUR!

      NOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

      --
      BMO

    2. Re:CG WTF? by dswensen · · Score: 5, Funny

      Good lord, your post is like an explosion at the Lucas-bashing cliche factory.

  5. Am I the only one who thinks this looks great? by BTWR · · Score: 5, Insightful
    I'm really looking forward to this. I loved the original Clone Wars and I'm looking forward to this release as well. At least it's a significant change, as opposed to those re-releases in the 1990s of the original trilogy (original, thx, ones with previews of episode 1, etc). You know, you can love something AND like it's remake as well. Remakes can be awesome too (sometimes even superior). Some examples of great remakes:

    Music:
    Hard to Handle (Otis Redding/Black Crowes)
    Come Together (Beatles/Aerosmith)
    Hurt (Nine Inch Nails/Johnny Cash)
    Twist And Shout (Top Notes/Beatles)
    Time is on my Side (Irma Thomas/Rolling Stones)
    The Man Who Sold the World (David Bowie/Nirvana)
    Mr. Tambourine Man (Bob Dylan/William Shatner) - just kidding :)

    Movies:
    Cape Fear
    Dawn of the Dead

    Oceans 11
    The Thing (I'll argue it is a remake)
    Scarface

    So everyone just relax and reserve judgment until you actually see it. I know how hard that is, especially on the Internets, to not review a movie 8 months before it comes out based on 5 screenshots or something, but let's at least, um... try? If you didn't like the original, then you probably won't like this one. But if you did like Genndy's version and you're already reserving judgment, then right now you're just being close-minded (even if you do wind up disliking it later). Liking both isn't a mortal sin.

  6. I don't get it by mgabrys_sf · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Why wouldn't the series act as a bridge between III and IV instead of padding between II and III?

    Is Darth Vader boring?