animated 'Star Wars' TV comedy in development from Lucasfilm

[Captaindemotion]

Okay, here's my suggestions for SW-set sitcoms:

- A Cheers-like one sit in the cantina in Mos Eisley. Watch out for a cry of 'Jabba!' as the big fat funny guy slithers into the bar, issues a Huttian wisecrack and heads to his usual seat;

- Curb Your Dark Powers, centred around socially inept Sith Lord Darth Larry. Cringe as he gets into arguments with his friends, family, Sith Master and the general public. Usually resolved with Larry decapitating his frenemies with his lightsaber or throttling them to death;

- Yes Emperor. The machinations of Coruscant political intrigue, as dim Emperor Palpatine is constantly outwitted by long-time civil servant Sir Humphrey;

One Foot in The Sith. Comedy featuring socially inept pensioner Sith Lord Darth Meldrew as he ... (You've already done this one - Ed) ...;

Tarkin Towers. Hotel-set sitcom, with Grand Moff Tarkin and his wife running the galaxy's worst hotel. Watch out for clumsy waiter Man Uel, who will make the catchphrase 'He's from Tattoiine' a household expression;

Dad's Galactic Army. Comedy set in the Republican home guard during the Clone Wars. With a Gamorrean Captain Mainwaring (catchphrase: 'stupid piglet!'), smooth Corporal Wilson (played by Anthony Daniels), Yoda as Private Jones ('up them, the fuzzy-wuzzies do not like it') and Dennis Lawson returning to the SW galaxy as the grumpy Scotsman who says 'We're doomed ... I mean, I've got a bad feeling about this!' a lot;

The Naked Lightsaber - From the Files of Jedi Squad. Leslie Nielsen plays incompetent Jedi Fran K'Dre'Bin. OJ Simpson said to be angry to be sacked from supporting role;

S*M*A*S*H. Hilarious medical-based comedy set among those wise-cracking medi-droids who patched up Luke in ESB or Vader in ROTS. Set during the Clone Wars, but in reality, it satirises the Civil War of the OT;

That A Long Time Ago Show. Watch teenager Eric Forman and his friends grow up in the Star Wars universe (That 70s show already did that. You're fired - Ed) ...

I should probably copyright some of these in case Lucas is reading ...

 

[Robotpo]

^^ I like the Cheers one, personally. That said...LUCAS IS OUT OF CONTROL! SOMEBODY STOP HIM! SOMEBODY-- (breaks down sobbing hysterically)

 

[TheBrew]

This show is already funny because it has prompted so many hilarious over-reactions.

 

[The Mirrorball Man]

I have to be honest, I would watch a show consisting of nothing but Battledroids getting killed while commenting extensively on their sad robotic life. I know.

 

[The Wormhole]

You don't find the two Robot Chicken Star Wars specials to be even mildly amusing?

The first one was hilarious, but the second one was disappointing. the only scene I liked there was the joke about Lando wearing Han's clothes at the end of Empire.

 

[thumbtack]

Probaby a Super Hero Squad type show

Yes, it will be based on the "Galactic Heroes" action figure line. Not so much a comedy as terminally cute. Will be aimed at kids 2-6 yrs.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

This is a belated april fools, right?

That was my first thought.

My second thought is how much I hate it when Variety uses the term "skein".

 

[Kegg]

Family Guy's specials were frankly pretty 'eh,' especially Empire Strikes Back. That more or less epitomized what's wrong with FG's humour approach - it was all reference-reference-reference, with little rhyme, reason or punchline in the mix (there were one or two - 'it seems the dark side has a better gym', but not enough.)

Ha, ha! Let's teach kids that war is really funny!

It's Star Wars, where war is an opportunity for adolescent power fantasies and impressive SFX, clean and desensitized. In principle I don't see this as much different.

 

[Smiley]

The official site has a better article on the series than Variety. It sounds like it's showing the view from the regular folks' point of view and the events that we never quite got to see in the films. I'll definitely give it a shot.

 

[23skidoo]

As one-offs, the Robot Chicken and Family Guy spoofs were a lot of fun. Even with the R.C. guys in charge, I can't see this working as a weekly show.

I'm sure I'm not the first to remark that it's typical that we'll be lucky to see the live-action Star Wars series before broadcast television ceases to be a going concern, yet kiddie animation (sorry, not a fan of Clone Wars) and sitcoms get made with no problem at all...

Alex

 

[Harvey]

You don't find the two Robot Chicken Star Wars specials to be even mildly amusing?

The first one was hilarious, but the second one was disappointing. the only scene I liked there was the joke about Lando wearing Han's clothes at the end of Empire.

Reading the description of that scene, I wonder if I've even seen the second special. The first one was hilarious, though.

 

[Gaith]

Ha, ha! Let's teach kids that war is really funny!

It's Star Wars, where war is an opportunity for adolescent power fantasies and impressive SFX, clean and desensitized. In principle I don't see this as much different.

Yeah, but we really didn't see all that much war in the OT - apart from Hoth, parts of Endor and the Death Star sequences, the action was much more adventure-like (rescues, kidnappings, family/interpersonal intrigue) than war-like. The PT became more and more war-heavy, however, and now the Clone Wars cartoons are sort of like Band of Brothers for kids. War used to be Star Wars' backdrop to tell fun stories with; now it seems more like the franchise's raison d'etre.

 

[Skywalker]

You don't find the two Robot Chicken Star Wars specials to be even mildly amusing?

The first one was hilarious, but the second one was disappointing. the only scene I liked there was the joke about Lando wearing Han's clothes at the end of Empire.

Did they do a joke about that in the second Robot Chicken special? I know they did in the second Family Guy one, but I don't remember seeing it in the RC episode.

Oh, darn, guess I'll have to watch it again...

 

[The Wormhole]

Robot Chicken did do a joke about Lando wearing Han's clothes in the second special. It starts off as a re-enactment of that scene in the movie with the action figures. When Chewbacca growls, subtitles come up saying "What the hell is this? A couple hours ago you betrayed Han and now you're wearing his clothes? Doesn't anyone else think this is weird?" I'm paraphrasing from memory, but you get the idea.

 

[Skywalker]

Ah, thanks. No idea why I couldn't remember it.

 

[milo bloom]

I'm game. I've wanted to see more of the Star Wars universe for years now, and I'm sure there's room for a series like this, next to the somewhat serious at times animated Clone Wars, and the in-the-works live actions series we might see sometime down the road.

 

[Kegg]

Ha, ha! Let's teach kids that war is really funny!

It's Star Wars, where war is an opportunity for adolescent power fantasies and impressive SFX, clean and desensitized. In principle I don't see this as much different.

Yeah, but we really didn't see all that much war in the OT - apart from Hoth, parts of Endor and the Death Star sequences

The 'apart' is sort of important there. Those are three major setpieces, one per each movie, and two of them are the climaxes. But anyway, Star Wars has in film and television been pretty consistent with its light touch regarding warfare.

 

[The Wormhole]

The Star Wars movies never really were profound statements on the horrors of warfare. Just adventures where war is the setting for the action.

Which is fine. The Star Wars movies were meant for family entertainment. So if that means exciting battles between space fighters, laser sword fights, and an English robot butler and his robotic trash can sidekick providing comic relief, than guess what, that's what the Star Wars franchise essentially is.

I think people who are used to reading the novels which take a substantially more grim and serious point of view than the movies ever did have forgotten this. In fact, I think it's because of this contrast that the Star Wars novels never worked for me. They never felt like the same universe depicted in the movies.

 

[Gaith]

^^ Quite. The Death Star sequences took place in the midst of battles, but were mainly lighthearted affairs with swooping ships and clean, pretty explosions. Even in Hoth, the biggest kills were the AT-ATs, apart from Luke's co-pilot, we barely saw any bodies. The Clone Wars cartoon, however, shows people getting shot down at close range left and right. The wars have stuck around, but the sense of adventure is increasingly lost amongst the grimness.

 

[jefferiestubes8]

Re: animated 'Star Wars' & violence

The Clone Wars cartoon, however, shows people getting shot down at close range left and right. The wars have stuck around, but the sense of adventure is increasingly lost amongst the grimness.

Well it is TVPG but I came across this blog post:
Is Clone Wars Too Violent For The Younglings?
November 2009

Some guy at this website

wants Cartoon Network to bump up the show’s rating to TV-14 or have the show’s writers, etc. do more to display Dis Iz Bad to the chilluns.

12/28/09

But slapping Clone Wars with a TV-14 is going way overboard. TV-14 puts CW on the same playing field as the gory CSI franchise

Well it is cable TV.

The guy at the trueslant link [above] also mentions though:

I think it’s good that ‘Clone Wars’ doesn’t pull punches on death so often – I remember the old days of the GI Joe cartoons where every Cobra bad guy would parachute out of his plane just before the good guys shot it down and incinerated him.