George Lucas & The Clone Wars

George Lucas showed up in Vegas to promote Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and managed to be fairly cagey when it came to revealing anything to Empire. He showed a five minute clip (share, share!) and described the retro futuristic look as "a stylised cartoon, it's not photo real ... it's in a Gerry Anderson style, Thunderbirds. The characters have painted surfaces - they look like they've been painted."

He also assured fans that it will feature all the major characters, as it takes place between Episodes II and III of the Star Wars saga. "It's got everyone. Yoda, The Emperor ... everybody that's in the features is in the animated series. It's just as if we took the feature and just continued it in an animation style." Alas, but not unexpected, none of the original cast members will be voicing their characters.



When asked about the much discussed live action series, Lucas didn't give much away, as they are still in the process of writing it. "The live action show doesn't have any of the characters from the movies. It takes place at the same time, between episodes three and four, but it doesn't have anything to do with the Skywalkers. You kind of hear about the Emperor, and it takes place in that world, but it's like you have the TV show 24 and the TV show The Wire; they're in the same place but they're two completely different things."

I'm torn about the Clone Wars -- I'd love to actually see that legendary friendship between Anakin and Obi-Wan, instead of just hearing about it. I always wanted to know what General Obi-Wan had done to earn undying admiration from Alderaan. On the other hand, I've never managed to grasp the fact that the Clone Wars weren't wars in which clones rose against their masters. Blame Timothy Zahn, I guess, but I have always felt so disappointed that it didn't live up to creepy expectation. A live action series perks my interest, as it would be a new look into the Star Wars universe. I refuse to start a prequel flame war here, but I think we can all agree that getting away from the Skywalker mythology would be a good thing, a fresh start for the mythology. And television can always use a good dose of sci-fi.