Star Wars: The Clone Wars (TV series)

Star Wars: The Clone Wars is a 2008 3D CGI animated television series set in the Star Wars galaxy. Set to debut in Fall of 2008, it will be an expansion and continuation of the similarly-named 2003 television series Star Wars: Clone Wars. At April 2005's Star Wars Celebration III, George Lucas stated that, "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". Neither Genndy Tartakovsky (director of the original Clone Wars series) or Nelvana Ltd. (producer of all pre-Clone Wars animation) will be involved with the production.

The series, which will have a tone similar to A New Hope, will continue telling the stories which began in the original Star Wars: Clone Wars series, which Lucas refers to as the "pilot series". Like the original series, it is set during the three-year time period in which the Clone Wars occur&mdash;between the events of Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones and Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. The series is said to span the entire Clone Wars time period. . It will deal with the conflicts between the Galactic Republic, led by Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, and the Confederacy of Independent Systems, led by Count Dooku and General Grievous. The series, which is being produced in high-definition, will have a 22-minute runtime like that of the previous animated series Star Wars: Droids and Star Wars: Ewoks.

Episodes
The series was created in an anthology format, with each episode being stand-alone. Each episode also has an opening narration and moral to the story.

Season I
Twenty-six episodes are currently in production, which will comprise the first season. Each episode will last around twenty-two minutes. In February of 2007, Anthony Daniels revealed on his website that the eleventh episode was titled "Destroy Malevolence". However, the information was removed shortly thereafter.

Voice cast

 * Anthony Daniels as C-3PO.
 * Matthew Wood as General Grievous.

Anthony Daniels confirmed that he had been contacted by Lucasfilm in regards to working on the show, and on the August 28 update of his site confirmed he had finished recording his scenes. Samuel L. Jackson has expressed interest in reprising his role as Mace Windu for the series, and has apparently been in talks with Lucasfilm on the subject.

Crew


Directors:
 * Brian O'Connell
 * Dave Bullock (multiple episodes)
 * Rob Coleman (multiple episodes)
 * Dave Filoni (supervising)
 * George Samilski (one episode)

Writers:
 * Kevin Campbell&mdash;writer
 * Paul Dini&mdash;writer
 * Henry Gilroy&mdash;writer/story editor
 * George Krstic&mdash;writer
 * George Lucas&mdash;characters and universe/creator and creative guide, story
 * Scott Murphy&mdash;writer (2007)
 * Kevin Rubio&mdash;writer
 * Randy Stradley&mdash;co-wrote one episode

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

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
 * Mark Gelfuso&mdash;layout artist
 * Kilian Plunkett
 * 300 other digital artists

Editorial department: Other crew:
 * Jules Beesley&mdash;assistant editor
 * Laura Sevier&mdash;rights and clearances

Catherine Winder and Dave Filoni held a presentation on the series at Celebration IV 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 last two years. The first trailer for the series was simultaneously released at this event and 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.

Characters

 * Padmé Amidala
 * C-3PO
 * Commander Cody
 * Dooku
 * Durge
 * Echo
 * Boba Fett
 * Kit Fisto
 * Grievous
 * Hevy
 * Obi-Wan Kenobi
 * Plo Koon
 * Palpatine
 * R2-D2
 * R4-P17
 * Rex
 * Rotta
 * Anakin Skywalker
 * Ahsoka Tano
 * Shaak Ti
 * Asajj Ventress
 * Mace Windu
 * Yoda

Droid models

 * 3PO-series protocol droid
 * B1 battle droid
 * Droid marine
 * B2 super battle droid
 * Droideka
 * DSD1 dwarf spider droid
 * Heavy Missile Platform
 * IG-100 MagnaGuard
 * OG-9 homing spider droid
 * OOM command battle droid
 * R2-series astromech droid
 * R4-series astromech droid

Events

 * Clone Wars

Locations

 * Coruscant
 * Republic Executive Building
 * Chancellor's office
 * Tatooine
 * Jabba's Palace

Organizations and titles

 * Confederacy of Independent Systems
 * Galactic Republic
 * Grand Army of the Republic
 * Advanced Recon Commando
 * Clone trooper
 * Supreme Chancellor
 * Jedi Order
 * Grand Master
 * Jedi Knight
 * Jedi Master
 * Jedi Apprentice
 * Order of the Sith Lords
 * Dark Lord of the Sith

Sentient species

 * Human
 * Hutt
 * Kaleesh
 * Kel Dor
 * Korun
 * Nautolan
 * Rattataki
 * Togruta
 * Unknown tridactyl species

Vehicles and vessels

 * Acclamator I-class assault ship
 * All Terrain Tactical Enforcer
 * Anakin's customized Jedi Starfighter
 * Anakin's transport
 * Delta-7 Aethersprite-class light interceptor
 * Eta-2 Actis-class light interceptor
 * Flitknot speeder
 * Low Altitude Assault Transport/infantry
 * Porax-38 starfighter
 * Single Trooper Aerial Platform
 * TX-130 Saber-class fighter tank
 * V-19 Torrent starfighter
 * Variable Geometry Self-Propelled Battle Droid, Mark I
 * Venator-class Star Destroyer

Weapons and technology

 * Blaster
 * Electrostaff
 * Hologram
 * Lightsaber
 * Phase I clone trooper armor
 * Phase II clone trooper armor
 * Shield

Miscellanea

 * Force Choke
 * Force Jump
 * Force Pull

Development and production


George Lucas first announced his idea for Star Wars: The Clone Wars in April of 2005 at Celebration III. He credited the success of the original Clone Wars series, Star Wars: Clone Wars (which he refers to as the "pilot" series), 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 will be realized as a 3-D computer animation project created by the new Lucasfilm Animation division in their Singapore and California locations. Each episode will be 30-minutes long and follow an arcing, serial storyline to cover the period between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith.

On February 15th, 2006, Steve Sansweet again confirmed that preproduction was well underway. At the time, 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 again confirmed that the show was in production, and that footage would be shown at Celebration IV. He revealed that the series will be set late during the Clone Wars after Anakin Skywalker has achieved the rank of Jedi Knight. "We've been spending the last couple of years building from scratch two new state-of-the-art digital animation companies, one at Skywalker Ranch and one in Singapore," explained Sansweet. "The scripts for the first batch of shows have been completed, and Animation is hard at work on the first episodes." George Lucas is serving as creator and creative guide and Rob Coleman is supervising the character animation. Many familiar faces are slated to return, including Anakin, Obi-Wan, Yoda, Count Dooku, Palpatine, General Grievous and Asajj Ventress.

On January 31, 2007, Rob Coleman was a guest at Imagina 2007. He revealed that George Lucas is heavily involved in every step of the production, from script to final completion. 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 done at ILM, 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 has resulted in rewrites of most of the scripts, as Lucas insisted on more character development. Lucas is also known to push the boundaries, insisting that the show should not be based in one location (like Star Trek, Babylon 5 or Battlestar Galactica, all of which are typically ship-based), 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, Lucas revealed that the series is episodic, so it won't focus on the Skywalker story. Specifics mentioned were that there are "episodes with nothing but Clone Troopers" and an "episode just about Kit Fisto". He also revealed that there is still no television network set for the series. On the red carpet at the same event, Lucas revealed further information in a fan interview ; There will be a new Togruta Padawan character named Ahsoka Tano. According to Lucas "There’s a new character called Ahsoka, who’s a young girl, padawan learner. It’s her first assignment, she’s very young…She’s a little Shaak Ti." He also stated that there will be over 100 episodes, and an appearance by Boba Fett is possible.

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."

Music
According to musician Eric Rigler, he has been brought in to record Bulgarian-like music for the series. This includes a musical theme for each planet. However, no official statement has been made on Rigler's involvement with the music. So far, the only official word on the music for the series comes from Steve Sansweet: "Of course we used John Williams music in The Clone Wars, the cartoons on Cartoon Network. I don't know if any specific decision on that has been made.

Continuity
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 has the right to make slight adjustments for the sake of the story. Additionally, he is 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.



At his Celebration IV presentations, Filoni showed a series of slides showing several character sculpture designs for the series&mdash;stating that they will share some of the stylization of the original Clone Wars series, but will also have some of the realistic look of the films. However, some elements of the series will differ slightly from what has been previously established in continuity. Several changes have been 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 will be 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.

Marketing and 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 of a presentation by executive producer Catherine Winder and supervising director Dave Filoni at Celebration IV. At the May 27, 2007 event, Winder and Filoni screened the first trailer for the series to the attendees. StarWars.com posted the video not long after. 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.

According to series co-director Rob Coleman, some licensees have viewed footage from the series and had a very positive reaction. According to Sue Rostoni, a publishing program based on the series is possible, but as of June 2007, has not yet been discussed. Additionally, LucasArts announced they are working on a handheld video game based on the series. The system(s) it will appear on is unknown at this point. Hasbro will release a toy line based on the series, which will continue 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. Star Wars: The Clone Wars merchandise will begin being released on July 26, 2008.

At Hasbro's fall 2007 analyst event, it was announced that Star Wars: The Clone Wars would have a "theatrical launch" on August 8, 2008 with it beginning to be shown on TV during that fall. Although Lucasfilm has announced that it will produce an animated feature film this year, when asked for confirmation, a LFL representative replied that "It's one of the many things being discussed but we have no decisions yet. For us it's all about finding a creative way to launch a creative TV series." At ToyFare 2008, a LEGO official announced that an animated feature film will be released in the UK in September 2008, and will be made up of the first three episodes of the series, with regular episodes airing later on television on an as-of-yet undecided channel. Another report states that the film may be made up of four episodes of the series.