Star Wars:The Clone Wars S3......so far

[Xavier_Storma]

Wow... take a look at the latest trailer and compare it to early season 1 and the movie. It looks like two different projects!
It is incredible what the crew has achieved within 3 years. TCW will set a new standard for TV shows... let it be animation or life action (some scenes look like from a major life action movie). Awesome!

The last two episodes have been great. If TCW can hold that level of storytelling, and add even more depth to the characters... it could become the definition of awesome.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Reindeer crap on the roof and everything.

You're certainly the expert on crap.

Wow... take a look at the latest trailer and compare it to early season 1 and the movie. It looks like two different projects!
It is incredible what the crew has achieved within 3 years. TCW will set a new standard for TV shows... let it be animation or life action (some scenes look like from a major life action movie). Awesome!

Yeah I'm just amazed this is the same show I discounted as "for kids" a few years ago. Good thing I read the comments in these threads and realized I better give this show another shot. My only quibble with the animation is that the characters walk stiffly. As for writing, it's getting more sophisticated than I could have hoped.

In other threads around here, we are bemoaning the pathetic state of sf/f on TV (and absence of space opera - good riddance, SG:U!) TCW is carrying forward the whole genre on its own. At least we have one good show in the genre.

However, the question was rewriting the PT. The actual retconners are pointing the finger at Lucas as usual, in an apparent attempt to distract from their own retconning.

Far be it from me to distract anyone from my retconning, since it represents the best direction for Star Wars and therefore everyone should be paying attention to it. But sometimes Lucas and Filoni come up with some good ideas, I'll give them that. The way I can tell they're on the right track is when their ideas coincide with what I want them to do.

The best thing is when they come up with good ideas before I even think of them (which is a relief, I don't want to have to do all the work)! Adding Ahsoka to the mix isn't something I would ever have imagined, but it's worked out terrifically. Good for them.

 

[Mr Light]

Oooh, just think. REVENGE OF THE SITH: SPECIAL EDITION!

Ashoka is digitally inserted into every scene standing next to Anakin! Watch as Ashoka stands in the background while Anakin cuts down younglings! Marvel as Ashoka is off to the side while Anakin fights Obi-Wan!

 

[Set Harth]

Far be it from me to distract anyone from my retconning, since it represents the best direction for Star Wars and therefore everyone should be paying attention to it.

Just don't drag Lucas into it. If it's such a strong collection of ideas I'm sure it can stand on its own. Kind of like Season 3. What was the last episode about, rescuing a birthday cake or something? This is the stuff the PT needed to cover.

The way I can tell they're on the right track is when their ideas coincide with what I want them to do.

It's uncanny. An amazing coincidence...

did Dave Filoni do a walk-on role in S5 of Weeds? Because there was a scene with a guy who sure looked like him (hat and all), in a dispute over "clones" of a somewhat greener sort than we're used to discussing here.

I used essentially the same joke in June or July 2002, but it's good to know that Showtime finally caught up eight years later. ( By the way, I also created the "2 Jedi, 2 Sith = balance" thing in the first place... as a JOKE!!! )

 

[Admiral_Young]

^ Why are you being so protective of Lucas? I just posted a page or so ago that Filoni admitted that he was the "secret weapon" behind the ideas of the series. Ahsoka may not contradict anything in the prequel trilogy (and keep in mind I'm a huge Ahsoka fan so I'm not trying to diss anything here) but it was clear that there was no original intention (and yes intention does come into play when you're attempting to change the course of events in your fiction) to have Anakin have a Padawan. This was done solely so that kids would have someone to have to follow and relate too during the course of the series and an attempt to draw in more kid viewers.

Also there is a clear difference in the tone and characters from the series and the prequel trilogies. I think what Temis and I are arguing (and far be it from me to put words into Temis's mouth) are that the Clone Wars are actually making the prequel trilogies stronger and that I at least the writing on the three movies was actually as strong as it has been on the series.

 

[Set Harth]

^ Why are you being so protective of Lucas?

No one's being "protective" of Lucas. I'm referring to instances of fanmade retcons which have been blamed on Lucas. That's a separate issue from the quality of the PT on its own.

As for writing, it's getting more sophisticated than I could have hoped.

Hope bigger.

Yeah I'm just amazed this is the same show I discounted as "for kids" a few years ago. Good thing I read the comments in these threads and realized I better give this show another shot.

It was definitely amusing to watch the haters attack TCW when it first came out with the kind of vitriol they usually reserve for the PT. But then something happened... the proverbial lightbulb went on, and they realized they could use TCW as ammunition against the PT. Thus did the era of "Stinky the Hutt" pass away, to be replaced by the era of "anything is better than the PT... including this!!!", at 3D Master levels of credibility. And there was much rejoicing in flipflopper land.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

^ Why are you being so protective of Lucas?

I know, it's freaky isn't it? I doubt he's being paid by Lucasfilm as an online flack (if so, he's doing a terrible job of it, since he's never going to be able to convince anyone of anything) so I guess he's just got some fixation on Lucas that requires a doglike devotion to The Flannelled One.

But the Lucas in his imagination seems to be a tad different from the guy who exists in reality, who is collaborating well with Dave Filoni and the rest of the team to create a very good series that sadly seems to contradict his fantasy-construct of George Lucas, which is evidently causing him great distress. I suppose at this point, his mental state is for him to sort out on his own.

And I thought Joss Whedon's fans were weird. This place continues to be an education.

 

[Set Harth]

I doubt he's being paid by Lucasfilm as an online flack (if so, he's doing a terrible job of it, since he's never going to be able to convince anyone of anything)

Damn it! So much for the next injection of LUCA$$$$$ CASH!!!!

 

[Admiral_Young]

Again I do not think I am retconning or using "The Clone Wars" to say that they're better than the prequel series was, I am saying that there are elements in the series that have been better handled and portrayed than the prequel trilogy did them. I have been a staunch supporter of the prequel trilogies and "The Clone Wars" as complimentary to each other but there is no denying that there are surface differences.

 

[Set Harth]

I'm waiting for CGI to advance to the point where the TCW Anakin can be digitally inserted into all of his scenes in AOTC, ROTS and ROTJ.

Not going to happen. Can you guess why? It's about a difference of opinion between you and the person that would be doing the inserting.

But keep your fingers crossed and PRAY TO THE FAT MAN.

I suppose at this point, his mental state is for him to sort out on his own.

Anyone who would dare to disagree with you must be crazy. Yeah, that really sounds like someone with an argument, as opposed to an insecure douchebag.

 

[Greylock Crescent]

It seems pretty obvious that The Clone Wars greatly benefits from a collaborative approach -- one that begins with Lucas but is run by Filoni and executed by the writers, VFX team, and voice actors (and music, too, which is also a strength). And it does leave one wondering just what would have happened had Lucas employed the same Prime Mover approach to the PT? My guess is that the overall finished product would have been objectively better than what we got from the films -- and I'm an unabashed fan of what we got from the films.

 

[Christopher]

And it does leave one wondering just what would have happened had Lucas employed the same Prime Mover approach to the PT? My guess is that the overall finished product would have been objectively better than what we got from the films -- and I'm an unabashed fan of what we got from the films.

I've felt all along that he should've remembered the lessons of TESB and ROTJ -- it's better if he just plots the story and leaves the script and directing in other hands. There was potential in the prequels, but it was poorly executed. This is the cost of too much power. Nobody is willing or able to say no to George Lucas anymore -- even Spielberg couldn't talk him out of the bad choices that ruined Indiana Jones IV -- so he has no quality control. The more he stays out of the way and lets other, less pampered creators work, the better the finished product.

 

[Set Harth]

It seems pretty obvious that The Clone Wars greatly benefits from a collaborative approach -- one that begins with Lucas but is run by Filoni and executed by the writers, VFX team, and voice actors (and music, too, which is also a strength).

There are hits and misses, while the series often takes its inspiration directly from the films or even the Tartakovsky cartoon. Hasn't TCW unnecessarily screwed up the political situation from the films, for example? Using a different director and/or writer doesn't always work out better; it's just that it could work out better.

 

[ProtoAvatar]

ROTJ's quality suffered greately from being used to sell toys to children - which was Lucas's contribution.
Financially, this contribution was inspired. Artistically, it was a disaster.

 

[Greylock Crescent]

It seems pretty obvious that The Clone Wars greatly benefits from a collaborative approach -- one that begins with Lucas but is run by Filoni and executed by the writers, VFX team, and voice actors (and music, too, which is also a strength).

There are hits and misses, while the series often takes its inspiration directly from the films or even the Tartakovsky cartoon. Hasn't TCW unnecessarily screwed up the political situation from the films, for example?

As with any television show there are hits and misses. That doesn't disprove the notion that TCW has been a competent, compelling production when compared to the PT. TCW's biggest critics tend to be the EW junkies who become apoplectic whenever the TCW ever deviates from some "pseudo-canon" that was always fair game anyway. Such deviations aren't examples of bad writing or production. They're creative license, taken with Lucas' full blessing, and usually executed with a great deal of craft.

Using a different director and/or writer doesn't always work out better; it's just that it could work out better.

Clearly. But considering the issues with the PT stem primarily from execution, it's not unreasonable to suggest that a collaborative approach would have produced better results.

 

[Set Harth]

That doesn't disprove the notion that TCW has been a competent, compelling production when compared to the PT.

Sometimes. That was the point. Mere assertion doesn't prove it in all cases either.

TCW's biggest critics tend to be the EW junkies who become apoplectic whenever the TCW ever deviates from some "pseudo-canon" that was always fair game anyway.

But the films aren't fair game in the same sense as the EU. I'm not concerned with the show contradicting the EU; that ship, as they say, has already sailed. The films contradicted the EU as well, though some canon-completists may refuse to admit it.

Such deviations aren't examples of bad writing

Except when they are.

 

[Greylock Crescent]

What the hell is your point, by the way?

 

[Admiral_Young]

I believe that Set Harth is trying to say that "The Clone Wars" in no way contradicts the prequel trilogy and that fans shouldn't go about trying to interpret the series as anything other than established canon.

 

[Set Harth]

Santa is Christ, Palpatine is a nudist, Jar Jar intentionally smells farts, the reindeer have taken over the workshop.

 

[lennier1]

Sounds like the new Robot Chicken SW special.