I've been wondering... Since live action SW TV series isn't going to happen any time soon... How would you feel about the prospect of another animated, post ROTS TV show instead? A show similar to Clone Wars in style, but with hour-long episodes instead of 30 minutes, perhaps? Would that be too expensive for TV as well? I'd like to hear your thoughts on this.
That goes without saying, as far as I'm concerned. But even if live action show's future wasn't in question, I'm not sure if that would have been the right way to continue the Star Wars franchise. After all, live action TV has many limitations compared to CG animation, if you know what I mean.
Yes, post-ROTS or post-ROTJ. Or between ANH and ESB, or between ESB and ROTJ. Why not all of those? The biggest attraction of the animated format is the chance to resurrect Luke, Leia and Han without the necessity of re-casting (which I wouldn't necessarily scream about, but it's a big risk). Okay I'll be honest. I saw the first episode of The Clone Wars and it was hate at first sight. I didn't like the animation style, there was too much fighting (it was nothing BUT fighting), I didn't give a frak about clones, and Yoda couldn't carry the thing on his own. Since then, I've gone back and caught up on DVD, and my opinion has changed entirely. I still don't give a frak about clones, but there's a whole lot more going on. TCW is a well written series, with a nice way of adding character and story complexity incrementally over time, so that the action never (or rarely) slams to a dead halt, but it isn't all just a shallow kiddie show. Animation allows even more stunning visuals to be created compared with photorealistic SFX, or at least it seems that way to me. Maybe there's less concern whether the design of a planet can be made to look "realistic" if the things being shown are simply too outlandish, but it seems like TCW's worlds are more fantastical and exotic than the PT's. The animation of the characters is the only sticking point. They can animate faces realistically enough that the characters' expressions are capable of evoking emotional reaction as well as any live-action actor - that's crucial (and I didn't expect animation to have advanced that far, at least not for humanoid characters as opposed to anthropomorphic animals and toys). But there are still weak points: the characters walk and move stiffly; they often hold their arms in a weird, doll-like way; there's something too-phony about the way they move in lightsaber battles (even taking into consideration that the movements are Force-augmented and are going to look "unnatural" on that basis); and even little things like hair and fabric, which could be animated to be more flowing and realistic. So it's really not about the budgetary concerns. It's all about whether the writers, animators and voice actors can produce a worthwhile story, and with TCW, they definitely have proven that they can. I suspect that the kid target market requires the format to remain half-hour/week, which is a bit frustrating but if I ever got too antsy I guess I could exercise some restraint and save up episodes to watch two or three at a time. The stories are often structured so that one story is broken up into two, three or four parts anyway. But when I get interested in a show, I can't wait!
That is intentional, I believe. I vaguely remember Lucas talking about those doll-like qualities even before the first still images came out.
It never bothered me, really. I do wish lighsaber battles had some more fluidity to them, though. They could always do motion capture, if they wanted to. I don't see why that would be a problem. He doesn't. He just sits there and says "action" and "cut" without really paying any attention to what the actors are doing.
But Lucas doesn't do the actual animation, so I've been hopeful that the animation team can compensate for his deficiencies the way the writers have been doing. Does he actually look over the animators' shoulders telling them to "No no, make Anakin look more wooden! We have canon to consider!!!"
LOL! Now that you mentioned it, Mat Lucas (voice of Anakin in Tartakovsky's 2003 Clone Wars shorts) went to great lengths imitating Hayden Christensen's lifeless delivery.
Fortunately the guy voice-acting Anakin in TCW is just forging ahead with an entirely different approach. Make the guy, yknow, likable, interesting, fun! What a novel concept for a lead character.
I believe they were intentionally trying to re-create the marionettes of Thunderbirds, which is why the CGI models have "finger prints" or paintbrush marks embedded in the "clay/wood".
True. Here's what Lucas said (from AICN): Personally, I love the look of Clone Wars. This is digital art at its finest.
That's odd. I heard someone say that Lucas had already started filming the Live Action show in Sydney, but was gonna wait until he had a good run of em before selling them onto networks, akin to the Clone Wars model.
Nope. That was his plan, but it didn't happen. They wrote the scripts for the first season and then determined it couldn't be made on budget.
A while back there was some fanart of a post-ROTJ animated series that was well-received and fans were upset when it turned out to be fake. Plus there have been a few statues here and there of the OT characters in Clone Wars style. The only stumbling block is that it could mess up the post-ROTJ continuity (The Thrawn books, New Jedi Order and all that stuff). Then again, the Clone Wars cartoon has messed up the continuity of most of the comics/novels/etc. previously published set in that time period..... The only real major era that still remains mostly untouched in Star Wars continuity are the years between ROTS and ANH. Sure, there's some stuff there (The Dark Lord novel, The Force Unleashed), but even stuff like The Force Unleashed takes place closer to the OT.
Could you dig some of that stuff up? I'd love seeing it. For me personally the Star Wars saga ends with Darth Vader's redemption, so I don't really care about post-ROTJ stuff, but to each his own, I guess. I read TFU comic, and it felt like reading a graphic video game walk-trough. If the TV show disregarded it entirely, it wouldn't bother me one bit. What I wanna see is a show dealing with the rise of the Rebellion, featuring characters like Mon Mothma, Bail Organa and WEDGE frakking ANTILLES! In fact, make that guy a lead character!
^Wedge has been lead in a few SW things-The Rogue Squadron books (Alongside Corran Horn) and the Rogue video games. However, apparentally Denis Lawson had some falling out with Lucas when Lucas asked him to play Captain Antilles in ROTS.
I like that idea, post Return Of The Jedi animated series. If Lucas wanted to do a live action series, then it should have been set post-ROTJ. The live-action series that is currently being made that is post Revenge Of The Sith/pre-A New Hope without major characters sounds like it might not be interesting enough(think: Phantom Menace ).