Star Wars: The Clone Wars (animated)

[Dasquian Belargic]

http://www.starwars.com/video/

Just incase anyone hasn't seen it yet, there's a "sneak peek" video of the Clone Wars movie on the official site

[Sylvia Argentum]

Very cool.

[Zem-El Vymes]

I gotta say, I'm impressed with the finished look of the animation in this. I didn't think much about the beginning stills, but this has a really neat look to it. It's sort of a bridge between Tartakovsky and the real thing.

[Karl Valten]

Oh hell yes

[Morgan Evanar]

Ehhhh I'm not convinced at all.

[Droo]

I'm with Morg on this. To me, it's just more of the same. Who knows?

[Droo]

New High-Def Trailer

"I have a bad feeling about this."

Action action action. Great - we got bucketloads of that from the previous three films and I'm fairly sure history will regard that trilogy of prequels with a resounding "Meh". This is really not impressive at all. Lucasarts can orchestrate complex CG/animated battle sequences? Revelation! There's hardly any evidence of story other than "Kidnapped son Jabba's has what" and the quality of voice acting appears to be on par with the quality of writing. That is to say it's worse than the films. I'm really beginning to hate Star Wars.

[Jedi Master Carr]

Originally Posted by Droog of the Dead

New High-Def Trailer

"I have a bad feeling about this."

Action action action. Great - we got bucketloads of that from the previous three films and I'm fairly sure history will regard that trilogy of prequels with a resounding "Meh". This is really not impressive at all. Lucasarts can orchestrate complex CG/animated battle sequences? Revelation! There's hardly any evidence of story other than "Kidnapped son Jabba's has what" and the quality of voice acting appears to be on par with the quality of writing. That is to say it's worse than the films. I'm really beginning to hate Star Wars.

It looks fine to me for a trailer. It is hard to say what the story will be like from it. Also it does seem aimed more at kids so that is something to consider.

[Droo]

The point is a trailer is supposed to convey a sense of what the movie is offering to its audience, hence selling itself. I got a sense of the film from that trailer and I'm just not sold and I'm not going to fall into the same trap I did with each of the prequels and believe it to be so much better than what it is just because it has the old fanfare and lightsaber play. The point about pitching it to kids is moot; children's films need not be brainless or lacking in plot and I feel this looks like it will be guilty of both. I know I'm assuming a lot based on a trailer but it's not just that, I'm also quite angry for being duped into thinking modern Star Wars productions, outside of certain computer games, are any good. When we see the words "Star Wars" we ought to expect, and quite rightly, quality story-telling and I'm afraid for me, that standard has slipped dramatically over the past years and this new film looks like it will do little to convince me otherwise.

All that said, I'd love to be wrong about this, it's just that I'm fairly sure I'm not.

[Dasquian Belargic]

I think it looks like it's gonna be fun

[JMK]

Originally Posted by Droog of the Dead

The point is a trailer is supposed to convey a sense of what the movie is offering to its audience, hence selling itself.

This is hardly an earth-shattering revelation, but Star Wars doesn't have to sell itself to anyone. The trailer could have been 3 minutes of Palpatine sitting on the loo, drawn by a 4 year old with crayons and people would still be stoked. Everyone knows what they're getting with Star Wars: action, clunky dialogue and more action, with the effects being somewhere between outstanding, cutting-edge and jawdropping.

Originally Posted by Dasquian Belargic

I think it looks like it's gonna be fun

It's going to be a blast, I just hope it has some noteworthy items to add to the SW mythos.

[Droo]

Originally Posted by JMK

This is hardly an earth-shattering revelation, but Star Wars doesn't have to sell itself to anyone.

I hope the day comes when George Lucas proves you wrong on that statement if the current state of Star Wars is a sign of what is to come. And this is exactly my problem:

Cue "A Long Time Ago In A Galaxy Far Far Away..." Cue fanfare. And audiences turn into gibbering lunatics just because an awesome few films were made decades ago. I think as Star Wars fans we have a right to demand better film-making from these guys, we just have to realise we also deserve it rather than settling for just action and special effects.

The thing that is curious is that in rounding up what Star Wars is all about to the audience you forgot one important thing; admist the "action, clunky dialogue and more action" with jaw-dropping effects, you failed to mention the story. And this is not surprising because it seems George Lucas has also forgot about the story which made his original trilogy so popular. The story of Star Wars is drowned in a frothing crucible of CGI and bad writing.

Clunky dialogue is not endearing to me. It is unnacceptable and I find it frustrating that the fans of Star Wars have become accustomed to lowering our standards just so that we convince ourselves we're getting the best we can get. We're not and it's become exactly the same scenario as the Batman and James Bond franchises. After seeing Casino Royale, I remember writing something on here like "finally, instead of saying 'That was a great Bond film,' I can now say 'What an excellent film!'"

This is the point I'm trying to make here: why should our standards or expectations be lowered just so we can go on loving something that used to be so much better than what it is now? Where's the Casino Royal or Batman Begins of Star Wars? I think we need one and would love to see it done, except with new characters and story, of course.

Maybe it will be fun. Maybe it will be a blast. But I remember when Star Wars was much more than that.

[Jedi Master Carr]

I think you are better off waiting for the Live action series if you want anything serious. This being a cartoon, I really don't expect anything serious.

[Morgan Evanar]

Why should we lower our standards because it's animated?

[Rutabaga]

All I know is, I saw the trailer today, and it made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. I guess I'm not all that critical in a lot of ways, but all I was thinking was that the idea of going to a theater to see a new Star Wars movie is kind of neat. So I'll be going to see it.

And all the kids in the theater seemed to be excited, so that may be a good sign.

[Dasquian Belargic]

http://www.starwars.com/video/view/000636.html

^ Here's some additional footage, focusing mainly on the battles in the film.

[Kvettch]

I'm quite looking forward to this.

The only problem I foresee is how they managed to retcon Anakin's age, the fact that he suddenly has an apprentice, and about most of the the other continuity from the comics and books. Sure, it's a given that GL doesn't really care about whether his movies contradict EU continuity, but now this is a movie contradicting the other movies... crazy!

[Dasquian Belargic]

I guess they will probably kill the apprentice off, or send her somewhere into the Unknown Regions, before the movie ends.

[Tri'ahna Zylary]

According to an interview with Karen Traviss (who wrote the movie novelisation) Lucasarts wouldn't allow her and her co-writer for the series to have any backstory on the apprentice. Her entire background and history up to the point where she becomes Anakin's apprentice is left in the dark and cannot be developed.... whatever that might suggest for the series etc.

Well she either gets killed off during Order 66 or she turns dark.

[Ilias Nytrau]

I care not about the fact that it's animated and all that other drivel. I'm going to see it either in or out of theaters ANYWAY.