[Kornbread]

For as bad as the two movies have been, the Clone Wars series that Dark Horse Comics is producing has been right on. Lot of action, explains alot of things and shows Anakin in a light most of us would have thought initially. He is a leader and not the whining brat / creepy stalker that Ep2 made him out to be. Surprisingly, Lucas has had very little involvement with this which explains the good and compelling story arcs.

This series also will show how decimated the Jedi are after these wars and probably why Palpatine and the Empire, with a soon to be Vadar, will be able to take over in Ep3. Very upsetting that comic writers have a better idea of teh Star Wars pulse than Lucas does.

[njamilla]

In a mild segue, I agree that it's good the Jedi and clone troopers are made to be something to be feared in the comics. I think the same will happen in the Clone Wars cartoon.

From what I've seen in the trailers, the Jedi actually look like swordsmen not extras-cum-Jedi. Yeah, they're cartoons, but I think Tartakovsky's background with Samurai Jack was perfect preparation for the new cartoon.

[Chefelf]

It's a sad day when spin-off cartoons and video games are now looked to for higher quality products than the movies they are representing.

In my youth we had Droids! and the Ewok Cartoon and they sucked. We had the early NES Star Wars games and the Atari Star Wars games and THEY sucked.

Now games like Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and cartoons like these new ones coming to Cartoon Network are where we're getting our "serious" Star Wars fix.

What is this? The introduction to the opposites?

[Supes]

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is soooooo good. It is an absolutley fantastic game and as you say it's a crying shame that these products are rated so much higher than the movies (well excluding the first three films).

[civilian_number_two]

"In my youth we had Droids! and the Ewok Cartoon and they sucked. We had the early NES Star Wars games and the Atari Star Wars games and THEY sucked."

Hey,

To be honest, I thought the Ewok cartoon was pretty good. Sure, it had nothing to do with STAR WARS, but then neither did ROTJ, and we all went along with *that.* One thing to rememeber is that it was a kids' cartoon, and it came out at a time when every other kids' cartoon was about teaching the values of love and sharing, so I say give it some points for that alone. Being nearly an adult at the time, I could watch the odd episode and not barf, which is something I could never do with the Care Bears or Robot Man.

Something else we had were those STAR WARS tv movies, all about the Ewoks and the family of humans who lived with them. My favorite scene in those movies had the little human girl picked up by some reptilian bird from THE GOLDEN VOYAGE OF SINBAD. So her Ewok buddy gets into a hang-glider and chases the big creature. Flying above it, he drops a rock on its head, causing it to drop the girl. This of course, was the Ewok's plan, since he then swoops down (on his hang-glider) and catches her.

I really loved those movies, and yet I can't remember anything else about them. Like the tv series derived from the PLANET OF THE APES films, I guess those monstrosities were too terrible to recall. One other thing I remember getting a kick out of was the way the ewoks all spoke broken English. I guess Lucas or whoever made those things wanted me to accept the fiction that when a small human family crashes onto a planet, the alien race living there will struggle to learn the human language, rather than it working the other way around.

Mike M.

[Chefelf]

Oooh, that's tonight? I'll have to tune in.

As for the Ewok TV movies, they were pretty depressing. The girl had a little device that's only purpose was to alert her to when her family members died. You just saw their little digital representations vanish from the screen. You don't give a kid a device like that!!

[Despondent]

I'd like to give Lucas a device that shows him whenever a fan of his *dies*

(read: is resurrected to new life)

[njamilla]

Droids was meant for kids, but one episode in which an ewok was to match his mind with his heart with his hand -- i.e. intellect with feelings and actions -- made so much of a lasting impression on me that I based my first book (still unpublished) into those three parts. And I'm sure if you parsed Shimmering Sword for that theme, you'd find it there as an underlying concept.

[Chefelf]

Wow, that is pretty powerful!

The first episode of the Clone Wars Cartoon series was on tonight. It was kinda mediocre.

The opening scene of Yoda riding some sort of ostrich into battle was laughable.

[njamilla]

Didn't the ostrich sound like a tauntaun?

Afterwatching Samurai Jack, nothing surprises me with Tartakovsky.

Thought it was too short. And on Hyperspace, I haven't figured out how to download the clip. Can you?

[Chefelf]

It was way short. It's amazing how short five minutes can be. I think they lied and it was actually like three minutes long. So far I'm less than impressed with the cartoon. I know it wasn't much time but it just wasn't that interesting.

[Despondent]

I haven't repeat viewed yet, but there were some moments I liked. imagery of the ships rising, and the music. (nothing notably new)

but the cartoon strenthened the lame fact that the clones are fighting for the good side, which, as noted so well in THE REASONS is just wrong.

And why didn't they consider cloning Anakin? with his high midi count they would be an unbeatable army for the good. (until turned to the dark side of course, but then there'd be no episodes 4-6, so I suppose that was considered.)

Is Boba F a clone in the same vein as the clone army? why would he be a better bounty hunter than regular stormtroopers? do clones live forever? do they reproduce? Have feelings or get to take their helmets off?

I'll take these questions as a healthy sign of interest in Episode 3.

(and I'll consider using roman numerals when the prequels live up to the Rocky series)

[Chefelf]

I think Boba Fett is supposed to be an "exact" clone of Jango "Reinhardt" Fett whereas the others were modified to be more obedient and to grow faster and such.

I know it's lame, but that's the explanation Lucas gave in Clones.

[srmoore]

Clone wars every weeknight on Cartoon Network at 8pm EST for this week and next. AND they are available online the day after they air.