Star Wars: The Clone Wars (TV series)

Star Wars: The Clone Wars is an animated television series set in the Star Wars galaxy. It debuted on Cartoon Network on October 3, 2008. Set between the events of Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones and Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, it covers the same time period as the third season of the 2003 television series Star Wars: Clone Wars, as well as the many other stories that have been told in the Clone Wars multimedia project. The second season began airing on October 2, 2009, and the third season began airing on September 17, 2010. The fourth season began airing on September 16, 2011.

The series deals with the various conflicts between the Galactic Republic and the Confederacy of Independent Systems, both being secretly manipulated by Supreme Chancellor Palpatine aka Darth Sidious, who was planning to turn Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker into his next Sith apprentice. The series is produced in high-definition, and has a 22-minute runtime like that of the previous animated series Star Wars: Droids and Star Wars: Ewoks.

Episodes
Although the series was created in a serial/anthology format, each episode is also designed to be stand-alone, with an opening narration and moral to each story. Henry Gilroy gained inspiration for the episode titles from the pulpy adventure sci-fi serials of the 1930s. As of October 2011, 76 episodes (including four that were converted into the feature film) have been produced. Each season consists of 22 episodes, and TNT has signed a multi-seasonal agreement. The episodes are produced in widescreen. The first, second, and third seasons have been completed, and the latter began airing on September 17, 2010. Lucas expects the series to run for four or five years, but will still produce 100 episodes regardless of ratings.

The series debuted with a feature film of the same name in theaters on August 15, 2008. The self-contained story focused primarily on Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker, and Ahsoka Tano. However, the TV series examines the war from a larger point of view, and a focus upon other characters and events. The first season, which picks up where the film leaves off, consists of 22 episodes.

To accompany the episodes, StarWars.com is hosting a weekly web comic, as well as a HoloNet News podcast. Each episode has been available on iTunes the day after it airs, and on StarWars.com and CartoonNetwork.com a week after it airs.

The Clone Wars: Decoded is a re-screening of Season One of the The Clone Wars, with the addition of pop-up boxes containing special trivia and behind-the-scenes information relating to each episode. Some of these are presented as in-universe annotations by characters in the episode, as though accessed from a historical archive of events during the Clone Wars, although, many of the annotations feature real-world references, or references to information the actual character would have no knowledge of. Therefore, it is doubtful that all the annotations should be considered canonically-recorded. The Clone Wars: Decoded began on May 1, 2009, and continued to run every Friday at 9 p.m. ET/PT, the regular time slot for the series. Decoded continued until the 2nd October 2009, premiere of Season Two. In total, seventeen Decoded episodes were aired&mdash;the first fourteen episodes of the first season, plus episodes sixteen, eighteen, and twenty-two.

Cast
Samuel L. Jackson expressed interest in reprising his role as Mace Windu for the series, and ended up voicing the character for the feature film. Hayden Christensen also expressed interest in reprising his role as Anakin Skywalker, but was not asked to return.

Production
"It's very much Star Wars. It's not a, you know, South Park comedy. It's not a baby girls show like Hannah Montana. It's sort of the first dramatic animated show that is, um, PG-13, so it doesn't really go on late night, it doesn't go on Saturday afternoon, it actually doesn't go anywhere. I don't know what we're gonna do with it, but we're having a hell of a lot of... a great time making it."

- George Lucas on the May 1, 2007 episode of Late Night with Conan O'Brien



George Lucas first wanted to make a Clone Wars animated series in 2002, and Star Wars: Clone Wars was released in 2003 to 2005. He announced his idea for Star Wars: The Clone Wars at April 2005's Star Wars Celebration III: "You know we are working on a 3-D continuation of the pilot series that was on the Cartoon Network, we probably won't start that project for another year". He credited the success of the original Clone Wars series, Star Wars: Clone Wars for the project's genesis. At Comic-Con 2005, Steve Sansweet confirmed that preproduction had begun on the series. He described the look of the new series as "a melding of Asian anime with unique 3-D animation styling." Lucasfilm Animation Vice President and General Manager Gail Currey had a positive reaction to the early episodic treatments for the series. Many digital artists and other production and creative talent were hired from California and Singapore to work on the series. It is realized as a 3-D computer animation project created by the new Lucasfilm Animation division in their Singapore and California locations. Neither Genndy Tartakovsky (director of the original Clone Wars series) or Nelvana Ltd. (producer of all pre-Clone Wars animation) are involved with the production, but character designer Kilian Plunkett referred to the character designs from the original Clone Wars series when designing the characters for the new series. The animation style was also inspired by 1960s-era puppets-in-space serials such as Gerry Anderson's Thunderbirds.

Lucasfilm Ltd. and Lucasfilm Animation used Autodesk software to animate both the film and the series. The Maya 3D modeling program was used to create highly detailed worlds, characters and creatures. By February 15, 2006, Lucas Animation was working on animation tests and initial scripts, with Lucas playing a large part in the entire process. Catherine Winder later revealed at Celebration IV that Lucas is mostly focused on the story, and that Lucas and Winder both work on the scripts with the writers. In terms of story and cinematography, the series is not being directed as an animated series, but more along the lines of a live action series. At Comic-Con 2006, Sansweet promised that footage would be shown at Celebration IV, and revealed that the series is set late during the Clone Wars after Anakin Skywalker has achieved the rank of Jedi Knight. The first group of scripts had been completed, and initial episodes were being worked on.

Dave Filoni was hired as supervising director, and was familiar with previous Star Wars animation projects.

While at Imagina 2007, Rob Coleman revealed that George Lucas was heavily involved in every step of the production, from script to final completion. In terms of effects, there was no rotoscoping involved in any of the images from the series. However, ILM did use motion capture. Script, character design and art direction was being done at ILM, with the animation and rendering is done in Singapore. The final assembly of each episode is done at Skywalker Ranch. As of August 31, Lucas' involvement had resulted in rewrites of most of the scripts, as Lucas insisted on more character development and that the show should not be based in one location, but as many as possible so as to make the story as interesting as possible to the viewer. At George Lucas' March 3 appearance at the 2007 William S. Paley Television Festival, he discussed the series' episodic structure, and that the series would not focus on the Skywalker story. Specifics mentioned were that there are "episodes with nothing but Clone Troopers" and an "episode just about Kit Fisto". At the time, there was no television network set for the series. In a September 2007 interview, Lucas said that "we're on [episode number] 40 right now. We'll probably end up with 50 to 60 episodes before we start to put it on the air. We'd like to put it on next fall, in about a year from now, but we'll see what happens." The series utilizes unused ideas from Lucas' previous Star Wars projects.

Directors:
 * Dave Bullock&mdash;guest
 * Rob Coleman
 * Robert Dalva&mdash;guest
 * Kyle Dunlevy
 * Dave Filoni&mdash;supervising
 * Steward Lee
 * Brian Kalin O'Connell
 * Jesse Yeh
 * Justin Ridge
 * George Samilski&mdash;guest
 * Atsushi Takeuchi&mdash;visual effects, animation
 * Giancarlo Volpe

Writers:
 * Tim Burns
 * Kevin Campbell
 * Bill Canterbury
 * Paul Dini
 * Ben Edlund
 * Carl Ellsworth
 * Henry Gilroy&mdash;supervising writer (Season 1)/story editor
 * Drew Z. Greenberg&mdash;supervising writer (Season 2)
 * Melinda Hsu
 * Andrew Kreisberg
 * George Krstic
 * Brian Larsen
 * Cameron Litvack
 * George Lucas&mdash;characters and universe/creator and creative guide, story
 * Katie Lucas
 * Eoghan Mahony
 * Steve Melching
 * Wendy Meracle
 * Scott Murphy
 * Doug Petrie
 * Kevin Rubio
 * Julie Siege
 * Randy Stradley&mdash;co-wrote one episode
 * Craig Titley

Producers:
 * George Lucas&mdash;executive producer
 * Sarah Wall&mdash;associate producer
 * Catherine Winder&mdash;executive producer

Film editor:
 * Jason Tucker

Production management:
 * Trisha Brunner&mdash;post-production supervisor (2008)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
 * Justin Ridge&mdash;assistant director

Art (Storyboard/Previsualization) department:
 * Vincent Toscano&mdash;previsualization supervisor
 * Steward Lee&mdash;storyboard artist
 * Justin Ridge&mdash;storyboard artist
 * Le Tang&mdash;storyboard/previs artist
 * Jackie Huang&mdash;storyboard/previs artist
 * Jahkeeli Garnett&mdash;storyboard/previs artist
 * Ben Price&mdash;storyboard/previs artist
 * Sergio Paez&mdash;storyboard/previs artist
 * Bosco Ng&mdash;storyboard/previs artist
 * Daniel Zizmor&mdash;storyboard/previs artist
 * Justin Mettam&mdash;storyboard/previs artist
 * Danny Keller&mdash;storyboard/previs artist
 * Roland Yepez&mdash;storyboard/previs artist
 * Sylvain Doreau&mdash;storyboard/previs artist
 * Regina Cachuela&mdash;technical assistant
 * Ira Owens&mdash;storyboard/previs artist
 * Kelsey Mann&mdash;storyboard/previs artist

Sound department:
 * David Acord&mdash;sound designer (2008)
 * Sean England&mdash;foley recordist (2008)

Visual effects:
 * Jon Childress Farmer&mdash;modeler (2008)
 * Ryan Heuett&mdash;lead layout artist
 * Shawn Lovette&mdash;layout artist
 * Greg Maguire&mdash;research & development supervisor (2007)
 * Gregory Rizzi&mdash;pre-visualization artist
 * Daniel Zizmor&mdash;pre-visualization/effects artist

Animation department:
 * Christian Kubsch&mdash;Head of Lucasfilm Animation's Singapore location
 * Rob Coleman&mdash;Animation director/character animation supervisor
 * Matt Gidney&mdash;CG supervisor - studio setup and production
 * Mark Gelfuso&mdash;layout artist
 * Kilian Plunkett
 * 300 other digital artists

Editorial department:
 * Jules Beesley&mdash;assistant editor

Other crew:
 * Laura Sevier&mdash;rights and clearances

Release
Although the series was first announced in April of 2005, Lucasfilm revealed little information about it until Toy Fair 2007, during which fans were given their first look at the series' 3D animated Yoda. In a regular update to StarWars.com a few weeks before 2007's Celebration IV, fans were informed that executive producer Catherine Winder and supervising director Dave Filoni would be giving a presentation on the series at Celebration IV. It was held on Sunday May 27, 2007 in the Celebration Theater (Room 408AB). Winder and Filoni explained the origins of the series and the production process during the previous two years. The two also screened the series' first trailer to the attendees, which was later posted on StarWars.com. Prior to the release of the trailer, the site had posted a banner promising a "surprise" to be posted on the site on May 27th. Copies of the first official poster for the show were given away to all who attended the presentations. The two also held similar presentations at Celebration Europe in July 2007. StarWars.com created a new division of the site dedicated to The Clone Wars, which is regularly updated with relevant content, including news articles, behind the scenes videos, and blog entries by Pete Vilmur. Winder and Filoni again held a presentation at WonderCon 2008.

Television
Following the completion of the first twenty-two episodes, Lucas shopped the series to various networks. However, he had difficulty securing a network due to the fact that it has a unique tone from most animated series. Fox Broadcasting passed on it, and Cartoon Network was initially unsure. Several networks eventually got into a bidding war over the show. Cartoon Network and TNT eventually won the broadcast rights, with Warner Brothers distributing the feature film debut. Warner had tracked the series' development, and decided on a theatrical launch after viewing some footage. Stuart Snyder, who oversees Cartoon Network and other Turner Broadcasting System cable networks, said he became interested in the new Clone Wars series immediately upon starting the job in May 2007. Snyder flew out to San Francisco, California to screen several episodes, and told George Lucas the only place he wanted to see the show was on Cartoon Network. It was announced on February 12, 2008 that the feature film was to be released in theaters on August 15, 2008, with the TV debut in the fall. This announcement was accompanied by an update of the Hyperspace online fan club kit, and an offering of Captain Rex and Ahsoka Tano T-shirts to Hyperspace members. Cartoon Network airs episodes on Friday nights, due to school days. The Clone Wars premiered on October 3, 2008 at 9 p.m. on the Cartoon Network. Stuart Snyder also scheduled The Secret Saturdays and Ben 10: Alien Force to create an action-adventure block of shows on Friday night in an attempt to rejuvenate Cartoon Network and compete with such channels as Nickelodeon and the Disney Channel. Snyder expressed confidence that the shows would help boost ratings: “You catch me at a time where I have a smile on my face because of our internal results,” Snyder said. “I can say there’s a little bit of bragging on the third quarter for us.” In Canada, the first season aired on CTV and SPACE, while the second aired on Teletoon, which airs repeats of the first season as part of its Weekday Action Force block. In Australia, it airs on Channel Ten.But on April 13 2011 ABC3 will show the first season. The series was first aired in the UK on Sky Movies Premiere and Premiere HD every Saturday at 5.30PM with the first episode aired on October 25, 2008. As with all programs on Sky Movies, it ran for the first 22-minutes of its 30-minute slot with advertisements shown at the end so as not to interrupt the episodes.

Marketing


According to series co-director Rob Coleman, some licensees had a very positive reaction upon first seeing footage from the series. Sue Rostoni first stated in June 2007 that a publishing program based on the series was possible, but had not yet been discussed. In summer 2008 it was announced that a five-book novel series would parallel the television series. The first book in the series, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, written by Karen Traviss is a novelization of the theatrically released movie that kicked off the television series. The subsequent four books retell stories from the series itself. The second book in the series, The Clone Wars: Wild Space, is authored by Karen Miller. Karen Traviss has written the third installment which is titled The Clone Wars: No Prisoners, the fourth, titled Clone Wars Gambit: Stealth and the fifth, Clone Wars Gambit: Siege.

A comic series is being published by Dark Horse Comics with artwork based upon the visual style of the series. The Clone Wars comics has twelve chapters released. A series of graphic novels are also being published by Dark Horse. There is also a volume that was made for Free Comic Book Day.

LucasArts has released three video games. Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Jedi Alliance, made for the Nintendo DS, includes a plot involving the Nightsisters of Dathomir. Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Lightsaber Duels is made for the Nintendo Wii and utilizes the Wii remote to simulate fighting with a lightsaber through the events of the movie and parts of the TV series. The third video game, Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Republic Heroes, which is based on the series, was released on October 6, 2009, which takes place between Season One and Season Two.

Hasbro released a toy line based on the series, continued from the movie, which continues throughout the run of the series. A leaked Hasbro redemption certificate bearing the series' logo may imply the release of a preview action figure from the series (possibly Kit Fisto).

Beginning July 4, 2008, Lucasfilm sponsored a Star Wars: The Clone Wars exhibit at Space Center Houston.

Home video
Warner Brothers has the Home Video rights and on March 24, 2009, released the first four episodes, Ambush, Rising Malevolence, Shadow of Malevolence and Destroy Malevolence on DVD under the umbrella title The Clone Wars: A Galaxy Divided. A second compilation, titled The Clone Wars: Clone Commandos, containing the episodes Rookies, Storm Over Ryloth, Innocents of Ryloth and Liberty on Ryloth was released on September 15, 2009. Additionally, a boxset, Star Wars: The Clone Wars: The Complete Season One, of the entire first season was released in the UK on November 2, 2009 and in the US on November 3. This release, however, does not contain the "Decoded" version of the episodes from the first season. A second box set, Star Wars: The Clone Wars: The Complete Season Two containing all the episodes from Season Two was released in the US on October 26 2010 and October 25 2010 in the UK.

Reception
Cartoon Network screened an episode for critics as part of the 2008 TCA tour. The episode received generally positive reactions. The series' debuted on October 3, 2008 with the episode "Ambush", which brought in 3.96 million viewers, and was the channel's most watched series premiere. Season two premiered on October 2, 2009 with the episodes "Holocron Heist" and "Cargo of Doom", which averaged 2.58 million viewers.

The first season episode "Lair of Grievous" won a Golden Reel Award for best sound editing in television animation. The series was nominated for the 2009 Saturn Award for "Best Cable/Syndicated TV Series". In 2008 IGN listed The Clone Wars as the 89th (out of 100) greatest animated series of all time. In comparison, the original Clone Wars series was ranked 21st (out of 100).

Continuity
According to the series creators, continuity with the other Expanded Universe works is being taken very seriously by the series' creators, with Dave Filoni being well-versed in the Expanded Universe. However, Lucas had the right to make slight adjustments for the sake of the story. Additionally, he was consulted directly when dealing with the major characters. According to a November 2006 Internet post by Randy Stradley, editor and author of Dark Horse Comics, he has met with Lucas Animation to discuss integrating the show with the Clone Wars comics. However, the feature film and TV series introduced a number of continuity inconsistencies, many of which directly contradict previously published sources and require retcons and major shifts in the previously established Clone Wars timeline, which are yet to be determined by the Keeper of the Holocron. Leland Chee has indicated that they will wait until the series is largely completed before issuing "a revamped timeline."

Lucasfilm confirmed with TV Guide that The Clone Wars will not supersede the original Clone Wars series in continuity, but will instead expand upon what the original series established. However, Dave Filoni has defended any differences in continuity: "But there’s never an implicit connection between the micro-series that Cartoon Network did previously and the series that we’re doing now. I personally as a fan never think of it as discrediting any of the other material, it’s just that other material is from a different point of view, a different look at the war and take on the war. It’s an ever-Expanding Universe in a lot of ways." Despite this, however, nearly all preceding Clone Wars-era content is being retconned to match with the new show, whether just by the timeline shift or by other factors. One example of a direct contradiction between The Clone Wars and Clone Wars is the use of Eta-2 Actis-class light interceptors at the same point in the timeline Anakin is knighted, whereas in The Clone Wars Delta-7B Aethersprite-class light interceptors are used, which were ostensibly used before the later Eta-2s. In addition, some G-canon elements from works like the novelization of Episode III: Revenge of the Sith are being retconned. For example, in the novelization, Anakin remarks that he has only read about Grievous' Magnaguards in an intel report, despite having fought them in the show. Another very noticeable continuity error is the fact that Anakin has his scar which he received shortly after the Battle of Rendili from Asajj Ventress. He then injured Ventress so severely she was forced to recuperate until the Battle of Boz Pity, after which she deserts the CIS and the war for good. However, as he was originally shown to receive his scar in 19 BBY, yet the series takes place in 21 BBY, this is a glaring continuity error.

At his Celebration IV presentations, Filoni showed a series of slides showing several character sculpture designs for the series&mdash;stating that they would share some of the stylization of the original Clone Wars series, but will also have some of the realistic look of the films. He stated, however, that elements of the series will differ slightly from what has been previously established in continuity. Several changes were made from the original Clone Wars series; Obi-Wan doesn't wear as much of his clone general armor, General Grievous will have a cough apparently prior to the Battle of Coruscant, and the Jedi fighting styles are more like the films, and not like some of the exaggerated Jedi abilities portrayed in the original series. Additionally, a duel involving Anakin Skywalker and Count Dooku may retcon the meaning of the two characters' verbal interactions in Revenge of the Sith.

On August 8, 2009, Republic Commando author Karen Traviss stated that she was leaving the Star Wars franchise due to alleged continuity issues raised with the publication of The Art of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, which included information regarding the Mandalorians that clashed with the continuity set up by her novels, most likely in reference to the trilogy of episodes involving Mandalore in the second season (i.e., "The Mandalore Plot", "Voyage of Temptation", and "Duchess of Mandalore") in which the main Mandalorian faction is portrayed as a pacifistic society living in arcologies on Mandalore, which is portrayed as a radioactive desert, contradicting all previous appearances. Leland Chee and Sue Rostoni maintain that the complications will eventually be worked out. A reconciliation of the two portrayals was established with retcons issued by The Essential Atlas reference book, and the later Star Wars: The Clone Wars: New Battlefronts: The Visual Guide guide book, which state that the expansive white-sand desert seen in the episodes, is only one aspect of the larger overall landscape of Mandalore's surface.

In 2003, the reference book Inside the Worlds of Star Wars: Attack of the Clones established that Jedi Master Eeth Koth died during the Battle of Geonosis when his gunship was brought down by enemy fire. However, the character was "resurrected" by the project; he was first mentioned as fighting in the Clone Wars in the 2008 novel The Clone Wars: Wild Space and was later featured prominently in the second season episode "Grievous Intrigue."

The third season saw an evolution in the appearance of the main series characters. Ahsoka Tano's new attire represented a more mature and grown-up look. Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi's attire was adjusted to be closer to how they appeared in Revenge of the Sith.

The season three episode, "Citadel Rescue," featured the death of Jedi Master Even Piell, even though the character previously died in the 2008 novel, Coruscant Nights I: Jedi Twilight, written by Michael Reaves. Even Piell lived through the Clone Wars and died during the Great Jedi Purge in 19 BBY on Coruscant in the novel, while in the episode, he died during a mission around the second year of the war.

StarWars.com has confirmed that Darth Maul lives and will make an appearance in Season Four of the series.