animated series Tagged Articles at Cinematical

USA Today has scored a first look at an animated Anakin Skywalker as featured in the upcoming CGI version of Star Wars: The Clone Wars. According to USA Today, the TV series will kick off with a feature-length film which will arrive in theaters on August 15, followed by a half-hour animated series in the fall to be aired on TNT and Cartoon Network. Standing beside Anakin is a new character (whose image was recently released) called Ahsoka. She will act as Anakin's padawan (Jedi Apprentice). The film shall take place "immediately before the events in 2005's Revenge of the Sith," says the paper.

Interestingly enough, Anakin doesn't look a whole lot like Hayden Christensen did in the films (or at least he doesn't to me). His face seems more chiseled; he looks more like a man. The introduction of a padawan for Anakin should be interesting, considering there's no mention of one in Sith. I wonder how they'll get around that one considering Lucas loves to tie things together. Knowing him, he'll go back and re-edit Sith, throw someone like -- I dunno -- Miley Cyrus into the role of Ahsoka and insert her into scenes in the background. That'd be grand. But in all honesty, I'm excited for a new series (especially since I loved the old Clone Wars cartoon), and I'm definitely interested to see how it plays out. Awesome about that feature film too -- I'm sure we'll all be fighting to review it.

Lucasfilm has revealed a new character (click on the image above for a larger version), who will be part of their planned CGI-animated Star Wars: The Clone Wars series. In addition to folks like Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan and Yoda, we'll get newbies like Ahsoka Tano, who comes with the following description: "This young Togruta is eager to prove herself as a worthy Padawan to her bold Master, Anakin Skywalker. Able to wield a lightsaber and pilot a spacecraft with great talent, Ahsoka promises to become a worthy Jedi." She kind of looks a little like Natalie Portman ... if Portman had weird hair and wielded a lightsaber. The new series is supposedly due out later this year, and look for more characters to be revealed in the coming weeks.

[via Coming Soon]

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.

So, apparently there's a tradition in some old, New England Inns that involves guests leaving notes behind for those who come after them. Most of the notes seem to involve information about ghosts, though it's unclear why writing became the preferred means of communication rather than, say, lots of screaming and running away. Anyway, the tradition is called the "secret drawer society," and Sharon Scott thinks it's the prefect topic (and name) for her first screenplay. According to early reports, the script "follows two sisters and their friends seeking to unravel the mysteries surrounding a hidden treasure." Presumably secret notes are involved somehow, otherwise the title would be seriously misguided.

What's interesting about this film - which has producers but no cast yet - is the long view that is being taken with regard to promoting it. Despite the fact that it's months away from even thinking about shooting, discussions have already begun about a series of comic books and an animated series (an early look at the characters is here), all stemming from the script and aimed at creating an interesting in the story and characters among kids before the film comes out. There are tons of movies that come out of TV shows and comics (and the other way around, as well), but I can't thinks of any films that actually spawned those things before they were even released; this is a pretty original idea. In addition to a possible lack of interested in the promotional shows and books, there are also major financial risks here - what studio is going to spend that kind of money on a unproven writer? It'll be fascinating to see how (and if) this pans out.