CloneWars Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Um ... Mom, Dad, I totally think I know what I want for Chanukah this year.

As a guest last night on Slashfilm's weekly podcast, we spoke briefly about George Lucas' big mouth ... and why every time someone goes to get a quote from him on whatever, the wrong answer almost always comes out. I seriously half expect the dude to say something like -- "Star Wars? Honestly, I always hated the f**king thing" -- a day or two before Clone Wars hits theaters. Because that's his style; he's awkward and he doesn't know when to just keep things to himself.

His latest interview with the Times Online is full of all sorts of odd quotes, like how he points out the fact that he's not directing Red Tails; that they got "a black director." Dude does have a name, George. There's also stuff on a potential Indiana Jones 5, where Lucas says they'll make one if he comes up with an idea. Nevertheless, above you can see a model of Mr. Lucas frozen in carbonite, which, honestly, might be the perfect place to stick the guy for a little while so he doesn't muck up anything else. These photos (click image above to enlarge) come by way of Bonniegrrl, who snapped them during Celebration Japan. Pretty cool. Me want.

Question: Is Lucas past his prime, or does he have a few more great films left somewhere?

[via Slashfilm]

If you're a Star Wars fan and you haven't seen Genndy Tartakovsky's collection of Clone Wars animated shorts, you're missing out on some pretty slick stuff. (All 25 episodes are available on two DVDs.) Ever since Revenge of the Sith hit the screens, we've been hearing from George Lucas that The Clone Wars will soon make the leap into full-length TV adventures. (And by full-length I mean longer than five minutes apiece.) Unfortunately it looks like Mr. Tartakovsky is not involved with the newest Clone Wars series, but here's some good news: You can check out a promotional trailer for the program right here.

It's a pretty slick little promo piece, jammed as it is with flashy spaceships, colorful characters, frequent mayhem and a few familiar faces. The IMDb confirms a few familiar voices, too: Frank Oz (Yoda), Anthony Daniels (C-3P0) and Matthew Wood (General Grievous) will be reprising their roles -- although you can expect a whole bunch of new characters to take center stage. Still no word on which network will get the profitable right to air The Clone Wars this Fall, but I'm guessing it'll probably be Cartoon Network. Maybe. More likely Fox.

It's kind of amazing how well the team behind Fourth Installment of the Indiana Jones Adventure has kept information about the film from the press. "Steven (Spielberg) thinks we can keep the whole thing a secret," George Lucas said in a brief interview Monday night. "I explained to him that it's impossible nowadays. We can't live like that." Lucas had no problem opening up about some other upcoming projects, both having to do with Star Wars. He is currently preparing another series of Clone Wars -- the popular Star Wars animated series. In addition, Lucas will make two more live-action films set in everyone's favorite galaxy far, far away. These films will likely be an hour each, and will air on television, though he doesn't know on what channel (The Sci-Fi network?). Says Lucas of the films, "they won't have members of the Skywalker family as characters. They will be other people of that milieu." Very interesting...

Lucas got a little catty in the interview as well, when asked about the 2007 Summer movie season. He's seen nearly everything, because his company -- Industrial Light and Magic -- did special effects on nearly all of the big flicks except Spider-Man 3. Lucas joins what seems to be most of the commenters on this site in not being much of a fan of Spidey's third outing. Says Lucas, "It's silly. It's a silly movie. There just isn't much there. Once you take it all apart, there's not much story, is there?" Oh, George! "People thought Star Wars was silly, too," says Lucas. "But it wasn't." So there's nothing silly about any of the Star Wars films, Beardy? Nothing? The new Clone Wars is scheduled to air in 2008, and the live action Star Wars adventures -- said to take place between Episodes III and IV --are set for 2009.

With the exception of Indiana Jones 4, set to start shooting this June, it would appear that George Lucas has decided to put his energies towards the small screen from now on. The Force.net recently received a tip from a Director's Guild of America (DGA) event where Lucas made a speech in which he made the somewhat dramatic announcement that "the future is in television."

There has already been plenty of news about the animated 3D Clone Wars TV series. The series has yet to find a network, but Lucas didn't miss an opportunity to promote the project at the DGA presentation. Lucas was quoted as saying, "there won't be anything on TV like it -- it'll be smart ass comedy with contemporary humor." He also said that the series would not involve what he calls "the Skywalker story." Lucas mentioned a live-action series too, although it could be a few years off, and also confirmed that he was working on bringing The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles to DVD. Lucas promised the DVD set would have added documentaries and a digital re-touching.

Since most of Lucas' TV projects are still up in the air, I'm not sure his future in TV is assured. One thing is for certain -- after that statement, he shouldn't be seated beside Lauren Bacall or it could get ugly.

Most Star Wars fans are probably still divided on whether the prequels were really a dignified end to the series, but rather than open up that can of worms again, we're probably better off focusing on something that most fans can agree on. Namely, that the 2003 animated series Clone Wars was required viewing for any Star Wars devotee. The last time we had news on Lucas's CG follow-up to the series was back in October, but now ILM animator Rob Coleman has managed to amp up the buzz factor even more.

Rebelscum.com got word of a video interview with Coleman at Imagina 2007; some of the highlights include confirmation that fifteen episodes are currently in various stages of production, and Coleman is on board to direct five of the first twenty-six episodes. So far, Lucasfilm has just about completed the first two episodes and Skywalker Ranch is handling all of the finishing touches. Coleman was enthusiastic about early screenings of the episodes saying, "They're looking fabulous, they're looking great..." and "Our stuff is incredible compared to what's out there...". There is no word on a network deal yet, but if Coleman is telling the truth, it doesn't look like it's going to be long before they find one.