[Toru-chan]

The guy in the hat? TORGO?

It sure aint Harrison Ford.

You saw it, gave your opinion, and it is nothing less than I expected.
I wonder, does this film fall into the category, "So bad, you have to see it?"

Some movies are so bad they're good: "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" and Michael *EXPLOSIONS* Bay's Mountain-Dew® edition of "Transformers" come to mind. Sadly "Clone Wars" is just bad bad. I really just wanted it to be over.

The second weekend Box Office figures are in and there's a sharp falloff. Looks to me like cinema owners would make more money by binning "Clone Wars" and re-running "Journey to the Center of the Earth".
http://www.boxoffice...rsclonewars.htm
http://www.boxoffice...t...d=34&p=.htm

Now we only have the live action series to look forward to, supervised by
RICK McCALLUM - PRODUCER OF "THE PHANTOM MENACE".

This post has been edited by Toru-chan: 26 August 2008 - 10:52 PM

[J m HofMarN]

For those of you not "in the know" Torgo was one of the chief characters of the awful old film Manos: The Hands Of Fate. The film appeared on MST3K (much like the prequels one day will) and then Torgo became a beloved and recurring guest character on the show. This guy really does bare a striking resemblance.



"The m-m-master will be pleased..."

[Toru-chan]

I wikied Torgo when you originally mentioned it.

Torgo, a character in the 1966 horror film Manos: The Hands of Fate, a 1966 American horror film written, directed and produced by Harold P. Warren, a fertilizer salesman from El Paso, Texas. Produced as a result of a bet, Manos was an independent production by a crew that had little or no background or experience in filmmaking and a very limited budget at their disposal. Upon its theatrical debut, the film was poorly received, and remained obscure until its Mystery Science Theater appearance. It has since gained infamy as one of the worst films ever made.

http://en.wikipedia....e_Hands_of_Fate

Well there's a coincidence! I've seen some bad movies in my time. "Clone Wars" bored me shitless. By comparison, "Manos" at least you can laugh at. Compare the plots and tell me which movie you would rather see:

http://en.wikipedia....ars_(film)#Plot
http://en.wikipedia....ds_of_Fate#Plot

This guy really does bare a striking resemblance.

True. Did Lucas hire him because he looks like Torgo? Or was it his amiable, yes-man fanboyism? (Thought George, "This guy won't do a hatchet job like Kershner. Pfffffft") This case will be used in MBA classes for years to come as a classic example of what a bad hire can do to a multi-million dollar empire.

BTW some killjoy took down the Failoni photo I used for "IM IN UR RANCH - DESTROYING UR FRANCHISE". Maybe I wasn't using the photo the way that'd intended? Trouble is firing him now can't save the 40-50 episodes they've already got in the can. If I was Lucas I wouldn't even let him keep a Lucasfilm T-shirt. Then again, Lucas doesn't read reviews.
http://rejjventress....ith_Dave_Filoni

This post has been edited by Toru-chan: 27 August 2008 - 02:24 AM

[Vesuvius]

So the CW is a serious blunder, and the show is already in some friction because of the movie. Lucas doesn't read reviews, but pays attention to profit. I wonder if the profit was just low enough that he'll cancel all of this completely.

As for Rick "F'n" Macollum, check him out on the EP I special features documentary. He curses so much without warrant that the sound actually goes up an down to mute his expletives.

[Toru-chan]

Serious blunder. Yes. After all, who would have ever thought you'd be seeing articles like this?

Death to "Star Wars"?
Written by Jeff Ignatius, River Cities Reader
Wednesday, 27 August 2008

How badly has George Lucas damaged the Star Wars franchise? At BoxOfficeMojo.com, The Clone Wars' revenues are being compared to Final Fantasy and TMNT - and after two weekends, it's losing to both.

The Clone Wars would appear to show that Star Wars is now being greeted with audience apathy and critical disdain; with a Rotten Tomatoes score of 18, it's just a little better than Mirrors, the scribes say.

It could be that the world is simply seeing the movie for what it is: a commercial for the Cartoon Network animated series slated for the fall. I'd prefer to think that critics and audiences alike are trying to compensate for hype-fueled lapses in judgment over the past decade. Revenge of the Sith had a baffling Rotten Tomatoes score of 79, which followed more-reasonable but still far-too-generous scores of 63 and 66 for the other two Star Wars prequels. And the trilogy had a combined domestic gross of $1.1 billion. Shame on all of us. (I'm not above reproach.)

The Clone Wars dropped to eighth place in this week's Box Office Power Rankings, with Tropic Thunder and The Dark Knight finishing first and second - just like last week.

http://www.rcreader....c...4&Itemid=48

Yeah, the prequel movies were critically overrated. But even a number of chefelves have admitted it took a while for their crapiness to sink in. "Pass the Prequel Kool-Aid", if you will. But as bad as the prequels were, "Clone Wars" is much, much worse.

On these projections, I'd say "Clone Wars" will run out of puff at under $32M. That's what "Final Fantasy" made, and it wasn't even heading straight to TV:
http://www.boxoffice...ionactionvs.htm

At force.bedwet there are of course fanboys defending it, but I laughed at one guys story:

I took in another screening tonight. Got in there 7-8 minutes after showtime, and nothing was running on the screen. I was the only one in the theater! I bet the projectionist was p*^$ed to see me show up, as it appeared they weren't even going to run the film. Their grand total off Clone Wars tonight was $7! And that's counting a drink and popcorn! (They had a ticket special this week, all seats $3.) I had to chuckle a little to myself, since this was the same theater worker who had trashed the movie to me on opening night.

That's a hilarious story. You should have asked him to pause it halfway through so you could get a drink refill.

Funny, although I'm disturbed it sounds like this guy actually went to see it twice..

It's mildly amusing how various parties just assumed the "Clone Wars" movie would be a smash hit, and set their publicity train rolling. Some idiot at Autodesk PR stuck out this press release a week after the movie opened, but you'd think PR would pay attention to what else is in the press...

"Autodesk Maya Software Serves as Animation Platform for New Star Wars: The Clone Wars"
http://www.reuters.c...008+PRN20080826

Maya, huh? Now what did Roger Ebert say about the animation in "Clone Wars"?

This is the first feature-length animated "Star Wars" movie, but instead of pushing the state of the art, it's retro. You'd think the great animated films of recent years had never been made. The characters have hair that looks molded from Play-Doh, bodies that seem arthritic, and moving lips on half-frozen faces -- all signs that shortcuts were taken in the animation work.

http://rogerebert.su...VIEWS/808140301

Wow, Autodesk Maya must really *SUCK*. Thanks for clearing that up, Autodesk.

As for Rick "F'n" Macollum, check him out on the EP I special features documentary. He curses so much without warrant that the sound actually goes up an down to mute his expletives.

I have no respect for people like McCallum and Filoni. If George Lucas did rape my childhood, these bastards held me down while he did it. >:-(

[Vesuvius]

I am enjoying the failure. A friend of mine made me aware of the CW a while ago and I told him it's going to be really bad. And I got my fill of CW from Tartakovsky (which shouldn't even be considered prequel worthy). Even now though, when I think of it, I've been sipping on the "Prequel Kool-Aid" and really despising what I've been given.

The OT was so much like an expensive dinner at a kick@ss steakhouse, and then the PT is like going straight to school cafeterea food. The CW seems to have made it worse. I find it interesting that people from all over are ripping this one up. And I think the truth is about to sink in, Star Wars has finally died.

Heh, one of the biggest statements to be said and in an almost philosophical way among veteran SW fans will probably be, "Star Wars is dead." This will be the new slogan among movie critics, philosophers, and theologians alike.

The only way to help the situation is to (like you imply Toru-chan) make your own. Be a master, and get away from the "herd" or slave morality that the PT is. Time to be a master and write your own SW comics and make your own indi films.

[Deucaon]

All this is because Lucas is constantly trying to please his 10 year old fans, the ones who enjoy brainless blockbusters and those who have the symptoms of "battered wife syndrome."

[Vesuvius]

All this is because Lucas is constantly trying to please his 10 year old fans, the ones who enjoy brainless blockbusters and those who have the symptoms of "battered wife syndrome."

Exactly! They keep running back to Lucas as if he's the only one supplying quality entertainment, and he's abused his fans before with his "ideas."

Nicely put.

Oh and by the way, Betty Crocker was a battered woman.

[Toru-chan]

R.I.P. "STAR WARS" - 1944-2008

I've been looking for news articles declaring "Clone Wars" had tanked, but for Lucas the news is even worse: It's completely disappeared off the public radar. A wise man once told me: "The opposite of love isn't hate; It's nothing."

It looks like Lucas will end up taking $30M at the Domestic (ie. US) box office. While the apologists may be saying "Hey! That's still a lot of money. He would have covered production costs", consider similar movies and what he should have made.

"Toy Story" (Domestic: $191,796,233 + Foreign: $170,162,503 = Worldwide: $361,958,736)
"The Incredibles" (Domestic: $261,441,092 + Foreign: $370,001,000 = Worldwide: $631,442,092)
"Shark Tale" (Domestic: $160,861,908 + Foreign: $206,413,111 = Worldwide: $367,275,019)

Yes, even Dreamworks' limp "Shark Tale" has whipped the crap out of Lucas. Now, in "Clone Wars" defense none of these movies were heading straight to TV, *BUT* they were all heading soon to video *AND* none of them had the LucasFilm "Star Wars" logo. And if you're looking at those numbers and thinking, "Hey! He can make it up on Foreign sales" then think again. Those other movies made as much or more at the Foreign box office, but Clone Wars has made a woeful international showing:

"Clone Wars" (Domestic: $26,493,966 + Foreign: $7,600,000 = Worldwide: $34,093,966)

Finally if you think "It's only been two weeks; maybe he'll make it up over time", wrong again. The closest model I can see to this is the "Final Fantasy" movie. Unless the movie takes off, it'll head quickly out the door. Won't be too many cinemas willing to keep it open for the chance to sell a single seat (to quote theforce.net's own example ).

LucasFilm have been silent. Not so much as a self-congratulatory press release. No one, Failoni, Lucas or McCallum have uttered a word or given interviews since the trainwreck. This is the kindest thing Warner Brothers could say:

Dan Fellman, head of distribution for Warner Bros. Pictures, said the box office performance met expectations because two-thirds of the audience were families and the budget for the film was respectively cheap $8.5 million considering it was a CGI film, and because the movie was meant to introduce the animated series. Fellman said, "It was targeted to a specific audience for specific reasons. We accomplished that mission, and it will continue in another medium."

http://ap.google.com...y79OGgD92K6GF01

I'll bet in private he said something very different! What Cartoon Network, who actually bought this pile of rubbish, would have said to Warner Brothers in private would be more interesting still. And Hasbro. Dear, Sweet Hasbro. Has anyone ever tried to cancel a half-a-billion dollar check before?

All this is because Lucas is constantly trying to please his 10 year old fans, the ones who enjoy brainless blockbusters and those who have the symptoms of "battered wife syndrome."

I won't bother doing a "What Lucas has to do to turn this around" testimonial, because ( a ) he says he doesn't listen to buzz or reviews anyway, ( b ) He's too arrogant to admit a mistake ( c ) He was never the creative genius we imagined him to be. He couldn't make a good Star Wars film if he wanted to; without his old OT team, he's just another Hollywood producer without any ideas. ( d ) His organization is riddled with fanboys and yesmen. We have as much chance of seeing a good "Star Wars" film as we do of seeing another good Jaws movie. ie. Firing everyone and Lucas selling the rights to someone with a clue. But we know he refused to even let Spielberg direct one, so what's the chance of that? Who does he have producing the live action series? Rick "Prequel" "Hey, that's a great idea, Boss!" McCallum.

http://www.boxoffice...rsclonewars.htm
http://www.boxoffice...rsclonewars.htm

Even now though, when I think of it, I've been sipping on the "Prequel Kool-Aid" and really despising what I've been given.

Me too. And enough is enough. I think the world has lost its fascination with watching for what comes down George Lucas' Poop Chute.

The only way to help the situation is to (like you imply Toru-chan) make your own. Be a master, and get away from the "herd" or slave morality that the PT is. Time to be a master and write your own SW comics and make your own indi films.

I hope so. We've got everything we need to make our own movies. We no longer need to rely on George Lucas, the man who invented "nuke the fridge", or lowest-common-denominator television shows on the big networks. I've started penning my own fictional universe. No rush, but if one day I come up with something good, I'll take six months off to do a film about it. After all, I couldn't do any worse than this!

For stragglers here a link to the "Make your own Damned Movie" post:
http://www.chefelf.c...mp;#entry189893

This post has been edited by Toru-chan: 28 August 2008 - 08:54 PM

[Vesuvius]

What I'm still wondering is, why did Warner Bros. take this film and not good ol' 20th Century Fox? Lucas always had the Fox intro to all of his other films. What happened here, and why would Warner want a crap film to their name? (Not like they don't have plenty already, but what gives?)

Usually when a film is bad (save LotR) it's given to New Line, so that it can be torn apart after the second watching. Ex: Mortal Kombat 1&2, Blade (All of them), Austin Powers... and so on.

Warner Bros. has been footing Harry Potter since their release, so why the sudden jump to SW now? Or did 20th Cent. review CW and straight up denied Lucas sponsorship? Lucas' ego gets in the way for a release and makes a deal with WB?

[Toru-chan]

What I'm still wondering is, why did Warner Bros. take this film and not good ol' 20th Century Fox?

Turns out that Cartoon Network in the US is owned by Ted Turner's TBS (Turner Broadcasting System, Inc) who are in turn owned by Time Warner. I guess that was the deal Lucas they cut with Lucas: Cartoon Network would buy it if Warner Bros. was allowed to be the distributor. http://en.wikipedia....(United_States)

So those angry calls between Warner Bros. and Cartoon Network won't exist: They're the same company. Warner Brothers will make say US$10M on their share of the movie takings, but they'll have write off the say $22M they paid for the series. A LOSS! FROM STAR WARS! WOW!!!! 20th Century Fox probably can't believe their luck... I've heard different stories about whose idea it was for the movies. Some fanboys said he didn't want to do it, but Warner Bros. forced him. Oh pullleaze. Google is great for finding stuff, but it's much harder to tell if it's true or not. This passage feels like its been spin doctored:

George Lucas had the idea for a film after viewing some of the already completed footage on the big screen. Warner Bros. had tracked the series' development from the beginning, and Lucas decided on a theatrical launch after viewing some footage, and deciding, "This is so beautiful, why don't we just go and use the crew and make a feature?" Lucas described the film was "almost an afterthought."

http://en.wikipedia....one_Wars_(film)

Ok. Now here is where it got really good. Remember how I said earlier Lucas may have managed to sell the 22 episodes to Cartoon Network for $1M each; high-end for a cartoon. And remember too that the figure is being bandied around the net that they cost $1M to make (though maybe someone had confused the mooted live-action budget with the CGI budget). Now remember I said I counted 34 or so faces in their Singapore studio, and said, to set up that $1M an episode seems too cheap, even for cheap and nasty. Well, read on...

Mr. Lucas began pursuing his “Clone Wars” projects about three years ago when he summoned the technological might of his company’s research and development division to start building Lucasfilm Animation, now a pair of studios at Big Rock Ranch — part of Skywalker — and in Singapore. (Lucasfilm declined to discuss budgets, but Mr. Lucas said that building a similar operation in the 1980s — the era when he sold a start-up computer-animation business called Pixar to Steven P. Jobs — would have cost him $60 million to $100 million.)

http://www.mymovies....a.asp?id=342557

In which case LUCAS HAS MADE A MASSIVE LOSS! Now he didn't fiscally date that estimate, but lets be conservative and assume those are "now" dollars. Assume he sold the series for $22M ($1M an episode) plus 75% of the movies world box office of $40M, and he will have made $52M. Now deduct the cost of setting up that animation studio: Lucas would have lost between $8M and $48M. Now that's not pocket change for him. That's stuff he has to go to the bank for. Ladies, Gentlemen and Fanboys: We now have George Lucas' attention!

A picture seems in order...

Cool! I'm passively plotting the downfall of George Lucas they're doing all the work for me!

Now the next part of my evil plan (I'm amazed how well the first part was accomplished) is for the Cartoon Network series to bomb. There's a good chance. The animation is ugly. The characters are not engaging. The best Lucasfilm will do out of it is kids saying 'Clone Warts sucks! Let's play Battlefront instead'. Worse is 'Change the channel!'

Usually when a film is bad (save LotR) it's given to New Line, so that it can be torn apart after the second watching. Ex: Mortal Kombat 1&2, Blade (All of them), Austin Powers... and so on.

LOL. I'm sure LotR was *supposed* to be a bad movie. Imagine LotR getting the normal Hollywood treatment, complete with Tom Cruise as Gandalf. Bet they were surprised when Peter Jackson turned around and delivered something awesome. I know a few people who don't like it, but overall the emotional resonance of that movie is amazing. In a parallel universe Lucas got someone with talent to write the prequels and they moved you like that.

These guys haven't analyzed "Clone Wars" yet, but I LOLed all the same:

"Don't Worry, Mutt. This movie was limp and I still made $95M."

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Josh: I’m not going to let you get away with washing Steve Spielberg and Harrison Ford of responsibility for this… thing. They could have stopped Lucas if they wanted to. They knew this movie would suck, that’s why they resisted letting him make it for as long as they did. But they let the flannelled one wear them down and now that Crystal Skull made money hand over fist it’ll be all the easier for him to wear them down again the next time he wants to ruin something good by sticking it in a fridge and surrounding it with radioactive gophers. Should Indiana Jones 5 happen I fully expect Harrison Ford to be painted pink and dressed up like a gay cabaret dancer. Indiana Jones has made fuck you money, and you’d better believe that with Star Wars waning George Lucas is going to use it.

http://www.cinemable...itics-9979.html

This post has been edited by Toru-chan: 30 August 2008 - 12:43 AM

[Vesuvius]

Turns out that Cartoon Network in the US is owned by Ted Turner's TBS (Turner Broadcasting System, Inc) who are in turn owned by Time Warner. I guess that was the deal Lucas they cut with Lucas: Cartoon Network would buy it if Warner Bros. was allowed to be the distributor.

Ahh, okay, thanks for the info. So it was all for glorious distribution of a future failure. What better way to make a failure complete, smear it in the face of everyone that chose not to see it in theaters, then allow them the option to not watch it for free. Well, let's all hope that Lucas' "F-U" money from Indy 4 can hold his appetite until all the fail is extracted from the dying Star Wars.

Cool! I'm passively plotting the downfall of George Lucas they're doing all the work for me!

Now the next part of my evil plan (I'm amazed how well the first part was accomplished) is for the Cartoon Network series to bomb. There's a good chance. The animation is ugly. The characters are not engaging. The best Lucasfilm will do out of it is kids saying 'Clone Warts sucks! Let's play Battlefront instead'. Worse is 'Change the channel!'

Heh, and soon when all the kids change the channel or resort to gaming, will you then put your fingers together, lean back in your fav. chair, and cackle, while saying something like, "Everything is going as I have forseen."

In a parallel universe Lucas got someone with talent to write the prequels and they moved you like that.

Oh, like ESB... that's some decent filming. Just watched it today after not seeing it for a while. The original (original) theatrical version that is. No Star Wars movie will ever come out that is that good. I won't even be an optimistic apologetic here either, Lucas won't let it happen. He'll make movies that he wants to see, and sadly, the movies he likes to see are for morons.

[Toru-chan]

It gets better! I hadn't seen that article before, but it says that he showed it to Fox first and THEY DECLINED. He said even Cartoon Network was lukewarm (which I translate as "also declined"). What turned it around was Warner Bros being able co-release it as a Movie. If a CGI movie as limp as "Sharks Tale" can pull $360M, then anything "Star Wars" should be able to pull more, right? At least, that was their thinking. So Warner Bros. *FORCED* Cartoon Network to pick it up, thinking they themselves would get rich off the movie.

Mr. Lucas took the unusual step of waiting until the first 22-episode season of “The Clone Wars” was nearly finished before pitching it to television networks in late 2007. There were no immediate takers. Fox Broadcasting, the sister company of 20th Century Fox, which released the live-action “Star Wars” movies, passed. And the Cartoon Network, which had broadcast a series of traditional 2-D animated shorts called “Star Wars: Clone Wars” from 2003 to 2005, was lukewarm about the project.

That tepidness may have stemmed from some viewers’ dissatisfaction with the “Star Wars” prequels, with their stilted dialogue and baffling politics. Or it may have indicated that “Clone Wars” wasn’t compatible with a prime-time network schedule. “It didn’t fit any of the molds that everybody had,” Mr. Lucas said. “It’s not ‘SpongeBob SquarePants,’ but at the same time it’s also not ‘Family Guy.’ ”

Mr. Lucas said that Warner Brothers became interested only after he decided to produce a theatrical “Clone Wars” film (having been encouraged by the animation results he saw), and the film studio convinced its corporate siblings at the Cartoon Network to give the television series another look. (Executives at Warner Brothers and the Cartoon Network, both divisions of Time Warner, gave slightly different chronologies but did not dispute this element of Mr. Lucas’s account.)
For Time Warner the “Clone Wars” collaboration is more than a one-time opportunity to share in the money-minting “Star Wars” franchise. “It’s the relationship with Lucasfilm that we’re very excited about,” said Dan Fellman, president for domestic distribution of Warner Brothers Pictures. “Not just on the Cartoon Network but possibly for live-action television down the road.”
Sure enough, Mr. Lucas is already developing a live-action “Star Wars” television series, and Time Warner would love to demonstrate that one of its cable channels (like TBS, TNT or HBO) could give it a good home.

http://www.mymovies....a.asp?id=342557

Note that even after the Prequel trainwreck, Lucas was still so arrogant to produce 22 cartoons before he went looking for a buyer. Bet he got a shock when they didn't jump at it, but in typical Lucas stance he didn't think "Crap! Maybe this sucks?" Instead he rationalised it that they were too short-sighted to see beyond Spongebob Squarepants. Textbook case: http://en.wikipedia....tive_dissonance

Now Cartoon Network have a carton of 22 lemons, and the movie has earned a piddling $30M. Far short of the $360M odd they would have been hoping for. There are probably some nasty e-mails flying back and forth between the two divisions.

Heh, and soon when all the kids change the channel or resort to gaming, will you then put your fingers together, lean back in your fav. chair, and cackle, while saying something like, "Everything is going as I have forseen."

Yes. Being an evil genius is much less work than I thought. :-)

Oh, like ESB... that's some decent filming. Just watched it today after not seeing it for a while. The original (original) theatrical version that is. No Star Wars movie will ever come out that is that good. I won't even be an optimistic apologetic here either, Lucas won't let it happen. He'll make movies that he wants to see, and sadly, the movies he likes to see are for morons.

For morons, but made by morons too. I wonder what Rick McCallum's words were when he was told about Jar Jar Binks. I'm betting something like, "Wow! That's a Great Idea, George!"

Yeah, I've given up too. If it was a business, they would have sacked him and put a new team onto it. But since (he thinks) it's his own baby, and he still has enough in the bank, he can keep on tanking. Wonder what the original Star Wars team think of what he did to their collective creation?

The movie is running out of steam at the US Box Office. It won't get much past $30M.
http://www.boxoffice...rsclonewars.htm

*But* International Sales have kicked in with $22M. So despite a Rotten Tomatoes score of 18, he may still turn a profit for this and in his mind be vindicated...
http://www.boxoffice...rsclonewars.htm

This post has been edited by Toru-chan: 31 August 2008 - 08:10 PM

[Vesuvius]

It gets better! I hadn't seen that article before, but it says that he showed it to Fox first and THEY DECLINED. He said even Cartoon Network was lukewarm (which I translate as "also declined"). So Warner Bros. *FORCED* Cartoon Network to pick it up, thinking they themselves would get rich off the movie.

I had a strong feeling that this happend! I had no doubt in my mind that FOX refused it. Awesome.

Now Cartoon Network have a carton of 22 lemons, and the movie has earned a piddling $30M.

That many lemons and not a cup of sugar to make lemonade. Them lemons is only good for throwin' and semi-trucks!

For morons, but made by morons too. I wonder what Rick McCallum's words were when he was told about Jar Jar Binks. I'm betting something like, "Wow! That's a Great Idea, George!"

Exactly. Just look at how excited and wrong he is about any of the imformation that he talks about in the hour long documentaries on the PT disks. That crap is worth some laughs.

Wonder what the original Star Wars team think of what he did to their collective creation?

I'm sure cement blocks, chains, and a lake in the middle of nowhere are the fastest things that come to mind. Nothing so uncivilized as a gun.

*But* International Sales have kicked in with $22M. So despite a Rotten Tomatoes score of 18, he may still turn a profit for this and in his mind be vindicated...

Hmmm, I'm thinking Lucas would turn a profit if the "Holiday Special" was put on DVD legally because people want to see how bad it really is.

[Toru-chan]

I had a strong feeling that this happend! I had no doubt in my mind that FOX refused it. Awesome.

That article I think was originally carried in the New York Times. It's a good article, and instead of eager hype the whole tone of the article is pretty downbeat. It predicted the fail, but people seemed to have missed it. Lots of reviewers said it seemed weird not seeing the Fox fanfare. Now we know why. It's also strange no one asked exactly why Tartakovsky wasn't asked back, and if Lucas even asked him:

Some “Star Wars” aficionados — even those who have worked with Mr. Lucas on “Star Wars” projects — are ambivalent about his continued plundering of a science-fiction property that has already spawned numerous comic books, video games and novels, not to mention six movies.

“I think it’s the easiest thing to do, because he doesn’t need to come up with a whole new thing; everything’s established,” said Genndy Tartakovsky, the animator who directed Mr. Lucas’s previous “Clone Wars” shorts for the Cartoon Network. Speaking as a fan, Mr. Tartakovsky said, “I appreciate that, but there’s so much more that he could explore.”

http://www.mymovies....a.asp?id=342557

That's not the usual, eager fanboy drivel we're used to. Tartakovsky doesn't even call him "George". He refers to "he" instead. Wow. You'd never catch a fanboy doing that.