Tartakovsky's Clone Wars

[John-Locke]

Tartakovsky is on his way!

The feature animation world just got a helluva lot cooler! Tartakovsky is on his way!
Ahoy, folks! Quint here and boy do I have some good news for you animation fans. I'm a slobbering fool for Tartakovsky's CLONE WARS 'toons. I think he captured the awe and majesty of the STAR WARS universe better than Lucas did in the prequels and any fan of SAMURAI JACK can tell ya' this guy's a little loopy, in a good way. It seems he has just signed a five-picture deal with Orphanage Animation Studios for animated features in the $50-$70 million range. The plan is to release the first flick by early '08 at the latest. It looks like this animation house is independent of a studio. That could be great news (reduced chances of recycled studio formulas) or bad news (no distribution). No matter what, it's good news that Genndy Tartakovsky is attacking the feature film world finally! What say you?

Anybody in the Zone other than me over the moon with joy after hearing this announcement? I love Samurai Jack & thought the Clone Wars were the best things Star Wars since Jedi.

A guy in the TB's called "Randall Flagg" say's that Tartakovsky's dream project would be an Animated Dark Tower series, I don't know if this is even remotely true but it would Rock my world if it was, I think Tartakovsky doing the Gunlinger would work even better than a HBO series.

[WinslowLeach]

Sounds cool! I liked Samurai Jack too. An animated Dark Tower would be really kickass!

[John-Locke]

Samurai Jack was kinda like a mix of Star Wars, Lone Wolf & Cub & The Dark Tower, he's already done Star Wars so...

We could be in luck.

[Flumm]

I've read a bunch of stuff from King, but I only know the Dark Tower series from Wizard and Glass... I love stories with an epic scope however, where a whole universe with it's own history and rules and such... so this actually being done as a series AND as a serious adult animation as well, sounds reaally really interesting.

[John-Locke]

Flumm the Animation of the DT is pure speculation, the TV Series is wishful thinking on my part, something will happen one day, but it will be one or the other not both TV & Anime.

[ZombieZoneSolutions]

COOL! Tartakovsky's stuff is fantastic! Samuraii Jack was a great show, and i consider CLONE WARS cartoons to be the real epsiode 1 and 2... (i still think TPM and AOTC were practical jokes)...

anyways, this is good goddamn news... we need more cool animations...

btw, love the new avatar, Locke! Shaun rulez...

[Keepcoolbutcare]

anyone care to quickly review Clone Wars 2?

I liked the first bunch, but word is mixed on the second batch.

[John-Locke]

KC the second series was better IMO, it had more of a coherant storyline with time for character development, more Grevious and an insight into the prophecy of the chossen one.

Check it out.

[Coldfire24]

This is great news. I've missed Samurai Jack but loved both Clone Wars. Hey so did/does Samurai Jack have an over all story arch? Cause everytime I watch it he doesn't make much progress.

[TheButcher]

He's working on Astro Boy.
I hope his next movie is Samurai-Jack.

[Keepcoolbutcare]

Impressive...MOST impressive.

What I like most is that they were given the assignment that ALL of us had been dreaming of ever since the Clone Wars were first discussed in A New Hope, and they didn't fuck it up. Sure it was only ONE battle but damn they got it right.

Some spoilers if you haven't had the pleasure...

My favorite moments include 3-PO's "coming out" scene (hysterical! Said more about the character than ALL of the prequels combined), Annakin's promotion to Jedi (interesting how it's opposite of a samurai in that they lose the g@y ponytail), Annakin's "spiritual" test (a nice nod to Empire), Mace showing that (if you include the 'Toons as cannon) HE COULD'VE WHUPPED UP ON SIDIOUS (the way he's portrayed in the Clone Wars was always what I envisioned a Jedi should...fuck the X-Men, Mace (in the 'Toons) would've PWNED all of 'em ('cept Phoenix)), the scene with the Clone Army in space dropping onto the enemies ship (with JETPACKS!) and a Jedi slicing open the enemies vessel, Yoda wrecking EVERYTHING in his path...good stuff.

Here's a random thought I had while watching...was Obi-Wan a "bad" teacher? I know there's "no bad student, only bad teacher" but did he do anything wrong in his teachings? The only thing I could think of was that he was a bit too lax in his teachings, letting Annakin think that he was slightly incompetent (when really he was just letting Annakin LEARN ON HIS OWN).

The only thing I could come up with was that maybe he was too lax. Since he was training "the chosen one" he took a hands off, laissez-faire teaching style when Annakin really could've used a ball buster.

[Lord Voldemoo]

Did it play on Cartoon network tonight?

My fucking TiVo better have recorded it.

I think Anakin was doomed from the start. To me the turning point was the death of his mother, and if he'd been able to save her it would probably have just substituted increased egotism for his pain and fear, which was, ultimately his dowfall.

Anakin was fundamentally flawed. One way or another, Sidious would have found a way to exploit it.

[magicmonkey]

The dude kills Windu. No amount of teaching could have stopped him doing that. Windu should have handled the Emperor situation better.

[Keepcoolbutcare]

Did it play on Cartoon network tonight?

My fucking TiVo better have recorded it.

I think Anakin was doomed from the start. To me the turning point was the death of his mother, and if he'd been able to save her it would probably have just substituted increased egotism for his pain and fear, which was, ultimately his dowfall.

Anakin was fundamentally flawed. One way or another, Sidious would have found a way to exploit it.

I just rented it, so um, I dunno if it played tonight (hope so for your sake).

Good points Moo.

I just recall that Obi Wan was kicking himself in the OT for his failures, when surely the blame lies with Sidious (and the fact that Annakin's a pussy). Obi Wan had like 15-20 years to sort that one out, why the self loathing?

Little quibble with the 'toon...when Annakin wastes the oppressors, why then do the oppressed BREAK their guns? He just killed somebody, they seem to be in fear of him, and then they destroy their weaponry? WTF? Please 'splain...

[Keepcoolbutcare]

The dude kills Windu. No amount of teaching could have stopped him doing that. Windu should have handled the Emperor situation better.

I'm talkin' Pei Mei type of Master, R. Lee Ermy in Full Metal Jacket.

Bitch ass Annakin would NEVER have gotten out of line with those two as his "masters".

[magicmonkey]

Yeah, but what was he going to do when faced with the death of Padme or the death of Windu? After he kills WIndu there is no way back. O.K maybe if he was better trained he might have whooped on the Emperor after Padme had died. but, all the Jedi were dead, what did he have to go back to?

[Lord Voldemoo]

His first and only student destroyed everything Obi-Wan had dedicated his life to. An order that had been around for thousands of years was annihilated. Bound to create self-loathing even if he really knows it wasn't truly his fault.

[Lord Voldemoo]

Yeah, but what was he going to do when faced with the death of Padme or the death of Windu? After he kills WIndu there is no way back. O.K maybe if he was better trained he might have whooped on the Emperor after Padme had died. but, all the Jedi were dead, what did he have to go back to?

If he'd been better trained (or less flawed) he never would have been married to Padme in the first place.

[Brocktune]

Impressive...MOST impressive.

What I like most is that they were given the assignment that ALL of us had been dreaming of ever since the Clone Wars were first discussed in A New Hope, and they didn't fuck it up. Sure it was only ONE battle but damn they got it right.

dude, amen!
me, my bro, and my friend (who also happens to be a ninja just got done watching it, and shouting praise to allah, that somebody finally got it right. in fact, the release of this dvd really makes my oh so recent disowning of the PT that much easier.

that sequence where anakin eats that peyote, and has that prophetic vision on the side of the cave wall... awesome. master windu delivering the crushing force blow to greivous's chest, mortally wounding him... superb. mufftak and momaw nadon's grisly demise, at the hands of grievous... breathtaking.

ok, so im being a little mellodramatic. but youll have to excuse me, as for the first time, the anakin and padme characters are actually well performed. if you are a gushing, apologetic, obsequious star wars fanboy like i am, you will love this shit.

[magicmonkey]

Come on! Luke would have shacked up with Leia, if Han hadn't beaten him too it. Plus, she was an attachment for him, just not in a sex partner way. He would do most anything to save her too, i'd guess.

[Lord Voldemoo]

I haven't bought the DVDs yet. Does anyone know if they are planning to replay it on Cartoon Network at any point in the future, I think I've got a season pass for it.

[Lord Voldemoo]

Come on! Luke would have shacked up with Leia, if Han hadn't beaten him too it. Plus, she was an attachment for him, just not in a sex partner way. He would do most anything to save her too, i'd guess.

Agreed, but Luke didn't have the structure of the Jedi Order. For all we know he was never told that Jedi weren't supposed to marry or have romantic relationships.

[Keepcoolbutcare]

dude, amen!
me, my bro, and my friend (who also happens to be a ninja just got done watching it, and shouting praise to allah, that somebody finally got it right.

that sequence where anakin eats that peyote, and has that prophetic vision on the side of the cave wall... awesome. master windu delivering the crushing force blow to greivous's chest, mortally wounding him... superb. mufftak and momaw nadon's grisly demise, at the hands of grievous... breathtaking.

if you are a gushing, apologetic, obsequious star wars fanboy like i am, you will love this shit.

FUCKING A!!!

It took me a while, but I got into the look of it as well, the 80's cartoon vibe struck me as akward at first, but the look sorta matches the fact that this is, "technically", the past in the Star Wars Universe.

Glad I'm not the only one who admired this...Fuck, I'm watchin' it again (3rd time in two days and I'm STILL not bored yet).

[magicmonkey]

Come on! Luke would have shacked up with Leia, if Han hadn't beaten him too it. Plus, she was an attachment for him, just not in a sex partner way. He would do most anything to save her too, i'd guess.

Agreed, but Luke didn't have the structure of the Jedi Order. For all we know he was never told that Jedi weren't supposed to marry or have romantic relationships.

Yeah, and he helped Vader restore balance to the force. Vader is the chosen one after all, whatever he does or happens is merely the will of the force.

[Brocktune]

It took me a while, but I got into the look of it as well, the 80's cartoon vibe struck me as akward at first, but the look sorta matches the fact that this is, "technically", the past in the Star Wars Universe.

the style is also reminiscent of the look of the 20 minute animated short form the middle of the star wars holiday special.if you havent seen it, the cartoon in the middle makes the rest of the piece of shit worth it. i dont know if it was intentional or not, but clone wars has a little bit of that one in it. i love it. i just wish there would be more.

[magicmonkey]

I loved it too. It was fun to see the Peyote sequence done like that, all Mayan and trippy, like the scene in Empire where Luke goes in the Tree.

I also liked the episode with the clone troopers in an urban combat situation. No dialogue, just images and gestures. That was an awesome segment and ultimately what made me warm to these 'toons.

[Brocktune]

word
very nicely done.

[Keepcoolbutcare]

mojo-jojo lookin' and soundin' FREAK:"I wonder how many Jedi they'll send. We got so much firepower in here, these walls are ray shielded, they can't take this fort.

It'll 'prolly be 50 Jedi, they'll need at least that many...maybe a 100. They'll never take this base with less, they'll need an army of Jedi (evil laugh)".

Droid: "I have a visual"

Freak(alarmed): Jedi?
Droid: I think so.
Freak(worried): How many, a thousand?
Droid: No.
Freak: 80?
Droid: No sir.
Freak: What, 50?
Droid: Less.
Freak: 40? C'mon, how many?
Droid: 2.
Freak WHAT!!! Gimme those. (eye twitches, Look of shock)

Best bit of dialogue in ALL the prequels, and you know that Lucas didn't write it.

[magicmonkey]

Droid: "I have a visual"

Freak(alarmed): Jedi?
Droid: I think so.
Freak(worried): How many, a thousand?
Droid: No.
Freak: 80?
Droid: No sir.
Freak: What, 50?
Droid: Less.
Freak: 40? C'mon, how many?
Droid: 2.
Freak WHAT!!! Gimme those. (eye twitches, Look of shock)

Best bit of dialogue in ALL the prequels, and you know that Lucas didn't write it.

Heh. I could hear the dialogue as I read that, the rhythm and everything about its delivery was perfect. Ha.

[Cpt Kirks 2pay]

One of the best things about these cartoons was that Grievous is shown to be the terrifying as hell, indestructable Jedi Killer that he actually was. I was horrified when he appeared in the 2nd series and took down more than 4 Jedis at once. Couldn't bear the cliffhanger I was left with as he jumped at Ki-Audi-Mondeo or whatever the Tefal headed Jedi dude was. Not to mention his Force of Terror when he raided Coruscant.

When you see him in the film he seems faaaaaaar less powerful. There's little intimidation in him. Where most people thought he was a wuss in this film, I knew otherwise just from having seen the cartoons.

But that's ont good enough. The film should have shown this. There's hardly any mention even of his reputation as the one who could bring doom to the Jedis.

Another thing with these cartoons, is that it finally showed us THE FUCKING CLONE WARS!!!!!!!!!! Where the fuck were they in the films? Granted, EP 3 finally reached that feeling of this epic galaxy destroying war, but there was still not enough of it in the foregground story. Not enough battles etc.

I keep getting the feeling that EP 3's characterisation took a leaf out of the book, of that in the cartoons. 'Cos in the cartoons the characters were cool, badass, funnier, much more likeable and fluent than in AOTC. In the cartoons, these characters were just as appealing as in the OT. In short, the characters were classic.

Also you know what? The lightsabre duel between Anakin and Ajaa Sinsiss or whatever her name was, was far better than ANY lightsabre duel in the movies. Granted with animation you can let rip and do anything you want, but I've still seen action sequences in films that have this adrenalin rush that this fight got. SW seem to set the standard for this type of feeling. I ain't bashing the duels of the PT, they are pretty staggering no doubt, but sheesh, that animated fight had you on the edge of your seat in agonizing excitement.

Love the raid on Coruscant, with Grievous kicking the shit out of everyone, and the Seperatist Ships coming in and laying waste. Best was Yoda using his Force powers to crash them into each other. He did so much ass kicking without even pulling out his lightsabre.

When I dreamt up what I thought should have happened in EP 3, (before it started filming,) I basically came up with the same idea as what happened here. A Ground to Air Battle on Coruscant with the Seperatists trying to take the Jedi Temple down etc.

I'll end by saying something that is testimont to how good these cartoons were and how slightly off target and underwhelming the films were in general (when they so easily could have gotten it right).

The - cartoons - had - what - the - movies - should - have - had.
They - were - as - good - as - the - movies - should - have - been.

George Mucus. Indeed, you are quite stupid. Not entirely. But still, quite.


PS. Good to be back. Thanks John!!

[ZombieZoneSolutions]

oh yes, the Force is strong with this one.

i absolutely LOVE the Clone Wars cartoon... it is easily better than both TPM and AOTC, and serves as a great lead-in to the amazingly awesome ROTS. (hey, I LOVED ROTS... i love it as much as ESB)...

the way i indulge my considerable Star Wars love is to start with the Clone Wars cartoon, then ROTS and then the originals...

there really is no reason to watch the painfully bad TPM ever again. i actually tried to watch it recently and it's just... god, it's just terrible. the last 30-40 minutes is pretty cool, but the rest of it is painfully bad. AOTC is better, but not by much.

that being said, i think the Clone Wars cartoon and ROTS are goddamn masterpieces...

[Cpt Kirks 2pay]

Of all the plusses and minuses of ROTS I overall think it is a top film. I think it does a successful job. Given time and a bit more letting go of the original films, this film will still be thought of favourably or even more so.

The shot of Obi Wan standing against the red backdrop of Mustapha as he confronts Anakin (just before his signs off his immortal line "Only a Sith deals in absolutes") is classic.

A tiny example of how cool this film is.

Still wish Grievous was as cool as he is in the cartoons though.

[Chairman Kaga]

Wow I love Genndy's work. I have only read up trhough Wizard and the Glass but based on the first half of the series I would love a Dark Tower series or maxiseries by Genndy. Since King is starting to move into other mediums with the Dark Tower comics up coming from Marvel perhaps he would be open to the idea of an animated version of his story.

[Ribbons]

An animated Dark Tower? Hmmm....

I like the cut of your gib, glib.

[DrBoogerBear]

Does anyone else think that Samurai Jack borrowed heavily from Frank Miller's Ronin?

[TheButcher]

Star Wars: Clone Wars, General Grievous :

[TheButcher]

Tartakovsky Talks About The State Of His SW: Clone Wars Micro-Series

"Speaking of your version of "Clone Wars," does it bother you that there's another one and that the one you did seems to no longer be canon?
Yeah. I mean, you know, of course it bothers me. But, you know, it's George's characters. It's his world and he has to do what he has to do. And the new ones are totally inspired by what we did: A lot of the same character designs and stuff.

Does that part bother you, too?
No, again, it's not my characters, so he can do whatever he wants. And the story was also that I was going to do it. I was going to go to Lucas and be their John Lasseter-type of person and do a feature and supervise the "Star Wars" television show. And things kind of fell apart, blah blah blah. But, yeah, I'm super proud of what we did. And I felt like we did a justice to "Star Wars" and as a fan.

I mean, people haven't forgotten them, even though we are supposed to.
That's the one thing that is kind of weird that he just wants to wipe it off. Because we used to be in the encyclopedias, some of the characters that we created. And now they're gone. And you can't get the DVD and all of this other stuff. And it's like, whatever. What are you going to do, right? It existed.

But it feels like its been thrown on the scrapheap with the Holiday Special.
I think George is brilliant. And I think he just wants to ... I don't know the reasoning, exactly. But from any sense that I can make out of it, he just wants it to be clean. But there's so much fiction that's out with "Star Wars," I don't think it would matter."

[TheButcher]

There's no debate necessary — here's the person who should make the next Star Wars cartoon

The Clone Wars are over… or they almost are. Disney has announced they’re ending the Clone Wars cartoon, and are beginning work on a new Star Wars cartoon set in a new timeframe. Whatever the end up picking, there’s only one man for the job of directing this thing: Genndy Tartakovsky.

[TheButcher]

The Debut of Harry's STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS Special Edition Review... Yes, I still hate it, just a tad more clearly...

I’ve never hated a STAR WARS film before. I have weathered Jar Jar and any number of Ewoks. I even liked and loved them. I survived Hayden and a wooden Portman. I even accepted Jake Lloyd. I handled all that because it felt like STAR WARS. I can accept all of Lucas’ flaws, so long as at its heart it felt like Star Wars. I can deal with politics in Star Wars. I can deal with trade skirmishes in Star Wars. I can deal with musical numbers, breathing in the vacuum of space. Basically – so long as it feels like STAR WARS – I can watch any of it. Was I looking forward to STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS (2008)? FUCKING A! I was dying. After Genndy’s CLONE WARS – I felt that perhaps Lucas “got it” – and that this new animated series was taking a lead from Tartakovsky’s brilliant assembly of pieces. Genndy’s CLONE WARS got STAR WARS better than anyone has got it since Lawrence Kasdan and Irvin Kershner. Genndy took designs and characters that folks were dissatisfied with and made them cool. He did this by using and adapting the themes created by John Williams, the wholly perfect entity involved with Star Wars along with… the sound effects of Ben Burtt. He understood speed and motion – not just with action, but in editing. He understood classic film composition and iconography. And he knows what BADASS is. The folks behind this STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS movie… you could tell, they looked at what Genndy did – but they didn’t understand any of it. There’s a shitload of battles and shit going boom. There’s noise everywhere – fury everywhere… but none of it is directed.

[TheButcher]

Star Wars:Clone Wars Connecting the Dots

[TheButcher]

Star Wars - Clone Wars - Bridging the Saga

Star Wars:Clone Wars Connecting the Dots