Animated Film Set To Kick Off Star Wars TV Show

Sasseen writes "George Lucas has announced that the animated Star Wars television show, which we've discussed previously, will be kicking off with a feature-length theatre release. Lucas felt that, 'there were a lot more 'Star Wars' stories left to tell. I was eager to start telling some of them through animation and, at the same time, push the animation forward.' A fully animated film will be released in theaters on August 15 with a TV series of more than 30 episodes planned to follow on Cartoon Network and TNT. Also of note from the article, 'A new character named Ahsoka, Anakin's padawan, will be the first female Jedi to be a character of focus'."

Comments

Timeline

[cthulu_mt]

Not to nitpick; but where in the prequel trilogy did Anakin have the spare time to take a Padawan?

Re:Timeline

[patrixmyth]

And so we can assume that at the end of the series, he slaughters her along with the rest of the padawans? What a lovely cartoon moment that will make. Kids, hurry in, Star Wars is on!

Re:Timeline

[2names]

That is a good question. I was under the impression that there were always 2 and only 2 Sith at any given time. The Sith student kills the Master, becomes the Master, and takes on a student. Am I way off base here?

Re:Timeline

[nomadic]

I always took that to mean that Sith traveled in pairs, not that there were only two in the world, but I don't know.

I thought that at first, but I remember reading something on the starwars website to say there were only two. If that's true it's kind of idiotic, the Sith survived by limiting their numbers to TWO? In a galaxy of a few trillion? A group's pretty much not surviving anymore when there only two of them. That's like saying "we figured out how to keep our army from vanishing--we're going to whittle the number of soldiers down to two and have those two guys spend their lives in hiding."

Re:Timeline

[somersault]

All together now...

NNNNNNNNNNNNNNuoooooooo000000000000000OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

Re:Timeline

[Orleron]

I've got a bad feeling about this.

Re:Timeline

[Joe the Lesser]

I always read that as:

There may exist more than two, but only two work together, because master Siths don't trust each other, or are killed by their padawans. Siths don't have more than 1 padawan because the padawans would probably off each other in the competition anyway. (remember how palpatine wanted luke as his apprentice...probably to replace vader who was getting old and independent...so he wanted luke to kill his father, lose himself to darkness, and then become the next padawan)

Re:Timeline

[peragrin]

dude his padawan is a tw'liek slave girl, and he is a horny teenager.

this can only end with him showing her his lightsaber.

Re:Timeline

[jollyreaper]

I always read that as:

There may exist more than two, but only two work together, because master Siths don't trust each other, or are killed by their padawans. Siths don't have more than 1 padawan because the padawans would probably off each other in the competition anyway. (remember how palpatine wanted luke as his apprentice...probably to replace vader who was getting old and independent...so he wanted luke to kill his father, lose himself to darkness, and then become the next padawan) So why in the name of FUCK would a Sith ever take on an apprentice?! Why would they even care about carrying on the Sith traditions? Honestly, that's probably the dumbest thing Lucas put in the nuTrilogy and I'm including midichlorians, the Anakin/Padme romance, and Jar-Jar Binks.

No, with the Sith, it would have to be the traditions that keep them alive. If you consider the Jews, they've persisted as a unique cultural identity for so long because of the strength of their religion and traditions. They set themselves apart from their host society, there's lots of social approbation for keeping it within the religion, not inter-marrying, etc. You compare them with their biblical contemporaries, all of those people have been subsumed by new cultural groups. The Philistines, Romans, their descendants probably aren't even aware of their own lineage.

What the Sith would have to be is a highly arrogant in-group, selected by a pure meritocracy, with an understanding that they hang together or will surely hang separately. There would be great pride taken in being amongst this august order, the very name of which causes planetary populations to cower. But they tend not to congregate in great numbers because that many egos bouncing around in the same room would lead to violence. If you consider sharks, some can school and some are solitary. They may attack each other in the open sea and in a feeding frenzy certainly and yet they're able to suppress the feeding instinct from time to time and can get close enough to mate. If they could not, they would go extinct. The Sith would pride themselves in being better than everyone else and would have their own code of honor they use in dealing with other Sith. They'd have to or else they'd tear themselves apart. The way Lucas portrays the Sith, they would go extinct! Now of course there are going to be Sith who are rather antisocial, even by Sith standards. The kind that would use guile and deceit and violence against other Sith, he would end up seeing himself shunned. None of the other Sith would put themselves at risk. So he can go off and be his chaotic evil badass self, conquer planets, get himself defeated, but he certainly wouldn't represent the whole order of the sith and defeating him doesn't mean you've seen the end of them.

Re:Timeline

[Anonymous Coward]

Um, I guess I don't know much about the follow-on fiction, but I'm wondering, following Episode 6, who THE FUCK would name their kid Anakin?

"Hello Mrs. Smith, this is my son Adolf Stalin Falwell Hitler."

Re:Timeline

[bckrispi]

I thought that at first, but I remember reading something on the starwars website to say there were only two. If that's true it's kind of idiotic, the Sith survived by limiting their numbers to TWO? In a galaxy of a few trillion? A group's pretty much not surviving anymore when there only two of them. That's like saying "we figured out how to keep our army from vanishing--we're going to whittle the number of soldiers down to two and have those two guys spend their lives in hiding."

That's actually the whole point. The ultimate goal of a Sith is to be the single biggest badass in the galaxy. It's not about sharing power and Dark Side knowledge with a legion of potential assassins. There are always two. No more, no less. A master and an apprentice. Eventually, the apprentice will feel he is ready to take down his master. (Darth Sidious killed his master, Darth Plagious.) But this is no easy task. An apprentice will often try to recruit a potential acolyte to help him accomplish this (Tyrannus tried pulling in Obi-wan. Vader tempted Luke). In turn, the Sith Master may have someone take down an overly ambitious (read: dangerous) apprentice (Sidious had Anakin kill Tyranus and tried to make Luke kill Vader).

This "rule of two" is what allowed Sidious to take over the Galaxy. The Sith were able to slip into the highest levels of the Republic, right under the Jedis' noses. They didn't need an army of Sith to do this, but an army of blindly loyal droids and clones.

Hey, George, Here's a stick

[geminidomino]

See that greasy, horse-shaped mark on the concrete? Have at it, mate.

Translation

[Jaysyn]

"I really, really wanted to squeeze some more cash out of this franchise. I have my eye on a small island, you know."

New Stories? How about going beyond ROTJ?

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm tired of every "new" story Lucas does taking place before Episode 4. Yeah, we get it, Annakin turns into Darth Vader. He's probably going to corrupt this new girl Jedi. Who cares? What happens to the Empire after the destruction of the second Death Star? The Rebel Alliance? The new Jedi(s)? Anything? Hello? Enough with the prequels already.......

Also Starring

[VaDi110]

Maybe Lucas can invite the Care Bears in the role of the Ewooks xD. IMO, a cartoon it is not a good end for the Star Wars series.

Re:Retcon much, George?

[Jaysyn]

Maybe it will be filmed like "24".

Re:Unfair

[geminidomino]

Sure he is in business, but he truly loves the rich detail and intricate delivery of his stories. Except when he has to retcon said "rich details" to squeeze in a new character.

Seriously... if he wants to keep the SW universe going, good for him. All he has to do is *leave the goddamn Skywalkers/Solos out of it*. This would make it a lot easier to stop stepping on his own characters' backstories.

Who cares?

[realmolo]

The "Clone Wars" are boring, and we know how they end.

Jedi are boring.

Anakin is boring even for a Jedi.

Lucas has a major hard-on for Jedi, but they are just incredibly limited as characters in a story. What we need is a "Star Wars" show based on a young Han Solo.

Re:Who cares?

[somersault]

Jedi aren't really that boring (for example they're awesome fun to play as in computer games).. it's Lucas that's boring. He would make young Han Solo boring if nobody else intervened in the script writing.. meh.

Re:Who cares?

[revco_38]

Let me share a comment from a post here on slashdot a year or two ago regarding a younger Han Solo. They did make this series, it's called Firefly. At the time, I had not seen Firefly but that single comment made me go out and seek the series. I was not disappointed. To this day, that is still how I view Firefly's Captain Reynolds.

Re:Who cares?

[StaticEngine]

We had that, kinda. It was called Firefly.

Re:Who cares?

[Lumpy]

Ohh OHHH! I got the title for you!

Star Wars BABIES! baby anakin, Baby yoda, baby JarJar......

I'll go shoot myself now for even suggesting it.

Re:Who cares?

[gardyloo]

Are there Ponies!!!! involved?

Re:Who cares?

[Joe Tie.]

OMG!!! PONIES!!! Speaking of that, I noted that google docs actually looks a bit like the OMG PONIES theme from slashdot of years past.

Correct me if I'm wrong...

[damn_registrars]

... but wasn't the star wars holiday special also (at least partially) animated?

Not interested at all

[Kindgott]

I saw the "trailer" or whatever they're passing off that "we're talking this up and showing as little actual footage as possible" video as.

As soon as I saw the "quality" of the CG and character design, I lost what little interest I had in watching these clone wars.

And here I thought it couldn't get much worse than the animated shorts they had on Cartoon Network a few years back.

Ahsoka?

[140Mandak262Jamuna]

Ahsoka? Will this character be like that Asok in Dilbert comics? The nerd from my alma mater, IIT?

BTW, Emperor Ashoka, won a bloody war, had a change of heart and renounced violence. His empire disintegrated shortly thereafter.

Re:Ahsoka?

[Col. Klink (retired)]

I think he had to introduce a new character so that he can later re-re-edit the original trilogy showing this character to be central to the story.

Re:ahsoka?

[Acebob]

I was actually reminded of the Indian Emperor Ashoka before any Japanese reference.

Re:ahsoka?

[Erpo]

General Grievous isn't such a bad name. I always liked to imagine that he had a whole chain of command underneath him. You know, Private Painful reports to Sergeant Shocking, who receives orders from Lieutenant Lamentable (or Colonel Catastrophic), both of which fear and obey Brigadier General Baleful. Maybe Admiral Atrocious comes to visit sometimes.

For me, this is one of the major delights of the Star Wars franchise.

Re:Retcon much, George?

[Spudtrooper]

Strictly speaking, Anakin was promoted to Jedi Knight during the original Clone Wars animated mini-series, which means this series would take place sometime during the timespan glossed over by the mini-series (the long, drawn-out portion of the war).

Obligitory...

[downix]

Re:Obligitory...

[goldspider]

DO NOT WANT!!!

Oblig Quotes

[andphi]

"You don't want to sell me a new series. You want to go home and rethink your profession."

"That's no franchise. That's a merchandising opportunity!"

"Don't try to frighten us with your director's ways, Lord Lucas. Your hidebound dedication to that re-imagined franchise hasn't given you the clairvoyance to see what the fans want or the insight to leave things well enough alone."

"I find your lack of plot disturbing."

and finally

"It's a Trap!"

Not a Master

[thomas.galvin]

I'm being kind of pedantic, but wasn't one of the reasons Anakin turned all red-eyed and broody because the Jedi refused to make him a Master? So how does he have a Padawan?

And, is she hot?

Re:Not a Master

[demaria]

According to Wikipedia, Jedi Knights can take on padawans. Jedi Master status is granted after successfully training at least one padawan.

Re:Not a Master

[geminidomino]

Usually, a Jedi isn't considered a master until AFTER he has taken a padawan and trained him to completion.

Of all the things wrong with this entire concept, it's not the training timeline.

Anakin got a Padawan?

[SpeedRacer]

I'd like to know who signed off on Anakin taking a padawan. After the council giving Qui-Gon and Obi Wan the business about taking Anakin as a padawan, did some low-level functionary who could be Force-manipulated get put in charge of assigning padawans? Geez. Even Societe Generale had better fraud controls than that...

ahsoka?

[Speare]

Ugh, please don't tell me that this padawan resembles a Japanese chick. With all the other punly names in Star Wars (Grievous? Porkins?), the cliche phrase, "ah, sou ka?" (Japanese for "oh, really?") is all that comes to mind.

Star Trek

[airship]

I sure hope the animation quality is up to the standard set by the excellent 'Star Trek' animated series!

Seriously, though the animation sucked, the animated Star Trek often had much better stories than the original Trek. Let's hope this series does as well. Only with better animation. MUCH better animation.

Re:Unfair

[shewfig]

That same love of detail you mention combines with his personal wealth to ensure that, whatever stories he's trying to tell, Lucas is telling poorly.

Lucas makes a great producer, perhaps even a decent writer, but a lousy director. I can't bear to watch him squander the talent he had in the prequilogy. He spent so much time creating a "rich texture" visually that his actors came across completely flat.

The result is a distance between the audience and the movie, a decrease in satisfaction, and an increasing level of frustration. In our current cynical society, it's easy to discard Lucas as "greedy" for delivering lackluster material. Granted, it's equally easy for me to say he's "disconnected from his fanbase", or "full of himself." That doesn't mean that any of those statements are true, just easy to believe.

The real questions, IMHO, are:
1) Does he know that there are people who don't like what he's made?
2) Does he care?

This leads to a 2x2 grid where the corners are:
11: Lucas keeps trying to make something better, to make it up to us.
10: Lucas is just making more Star Wars stuff to make money.
01: Lucas truly believes that we love Star Wars and can't get enough.
00: Lucas just makes Star Wars for himself.

Any of which I'm willing to believe.

Action Figures first then the idea...

[MosesJones]

Does anyone get the sensation that George has spotted that the demographic for Star Wars is massively male and is now looking at flogging more toys to the other 50% of the population? You can imagine it now...

Toy Industry Rep (TIR): We've just got the figures in and its great, we are selling loads of toys to boys

George: What about girls?

TIR: Well Star Wars is a boy thing so its not really targeted at them

George: What about if I created a new animated series that had a female lead?

TIR: Its still really a guy thing...

George: What about if she wears lots of pink and is a ballerina princess with a cute white dog?

TIR: Wouldn't that completely undermine the whole vision of Star Wars?

George: Jar Jar Binks.....?

TIR: Good point. Well George I'll get the focus groups working on it and we'll get back with the female character that most girls would buy the action figure for.

George: Excellent, I'll go out and kill a horse while I'm waiting.

Potential

[DarthVain]

Personally I thought the Clone War Animated Series was better than the real thing. I am not sure if Lucus had anything to do with that one though, so who knows what this new one will look like.

Re:Unfair

[baxissimo]

Most of his rebuttal over the Jar Jar fiasco was basically "These movies are for kids -- they've always been for kids. You just grew up."

I think it's a load of hooey, but I can believe that he believes that.

So I think he doesn't mind if the average slashdot reader doesn't like what he's made as long as "the kids" find it entertaining.

But nice Karnaugh map of the Lucas psyche, anyway. :-)

Perhaps they'll cover the "Chewbacca Defense"

[b0101101001010000]

"...this is Chewbacca. Chewbacca is a Wookiee from the planet Kashyyyk. But Chewbacca lives on the planet Endor. Now think about it; that does not make sense!"

"Why would a Wookiee, an eight-foot tall Wookiee, want to live on Endor, with a bunch of two-foot tall Ewoks? That does not make sense!"

"If Chewbacca lives on Endor, you must acquit! The defense rests."

From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chewbacca_defense

Also Ties to Force Unleashed

[PaulMorel]

Also, in the upcoming Force Unleashed game, you play as a female sith. Supposedly the unknown apprentice of Darth Vader. The character in this TV series may NOT be killed when Anakin kills the other padawans, rather, she may fall to the dark side with him, and be the apprentice in that game.

This is just speculation though.

Re:Also Ties to Force Unleashed

[Beyond_GoodandEvil]

Also, in the upcoming Force Unleashed game, you play as a female sith.
Umm, no according to The Wookieepedia the main char is a Human Male done by the guy who played LT in the first season of Battlestar Galactica. Anyways, during the previous cartoon network Clone Wars, there was Sidious, Tyranus, and the chick who tries to kill Anakin, so they apparently don't hold fast to the two and only two rule.

Re:Unfair

[rolfwind]

Except Lucas has to recognize that the generation of kids who watched the prequels aren't even 1/100 as attached to it as the ones who saw the original movies growing up.

Not that it's all his fault -- internet, Matrix, Harry Potter -- lots of strong competion.

Re:It's already gone on for parsecs too long

[stonefry]

Can we please get a +1 Nerd Alert mod?

Re:Unfair

[Rogerborg]

[Lucas] loves the rich detail and intricate delivery of his stories.

Meesa gonna mock you now.

The Sith ARE extinct!

[PRMan]

Not to nitpick, but in the movies the Sith ARE almost extinct. There's like, what, 20 in the whole galaxy? There's been peace (i.e. no Sith), for what, 1000 years?

Sith are not a lineage, like Jews or Romans. They can be corrupted anytime from the Jedi around them.

There will always be that person that thinks it will turn out differently for them...