The sci - fi phenomenon that set about more than 30 years ago with a flick about a galaxy long ago and far , far aside has expanded exponentially ever since with sequels , prequels , books , games and animated spinoffs . Although the animated " Star Wars : The Clone Wars " movie , release this summer , has to day of the month grossed a less than astral $ 34 million , it was an outgrowth of creator George Lucas ' mission to create a TV series , and it serve its purpose as a promotional tool for the weekly " Clone Wars " episode that premiere on Cartoon internet Oct. 3 , 2008 .
Focused on the difference briefly referred to in the original " Star Wars , " the astronomic civil war take away place in the period between " Star Wars Episode II : Attack of the Clones " and " Episode III : retaliation of the Sith . " The Clone Wars pit the Grand Army of the Republic go by the Jedi Knights against the separationist and their Droid Army , lead by Count Dooku , a Jedi turned Sith Lord line up with the malevolent Darth Sidious . Many of the eccentric from the " Star Wars " universe are involved , including Yoda , Obi - Wan Kenobi and young Anakin Skywalker , before he was tempted to the Dark Side and becameDarth Vader .
" I was bewail the fact that in ' Episode II , ' I set off the Clone Wars , and in ' Episode III , ' I ended the Clone Wars , and I never actually got to do anything on the Clone Wars , " says Lucas . " It ’s like skipping over World War II . "
To remedy that skip , he tapped Dave Filoni , an vitaliser ( Nickelodeon ’s " Avatar : the Last Airbender " serial ) and passionate " Star Wars " fan , to convey " The Clone Wars " to TV .
settle at Big Rock Ranch , near Lucas ' Skywalker Ranch headquarters in Marin County , Cali . , Filoni and his team of artists andcomputer animatorsare wee-wee 22 episodes in season one and have virtually two more season spell .
" We ’re way ahead . We ’ve been doing this ever since I finished ' retaliation of the Sith , ' " allege Lucas , who hopes to do at least 100 installments .
He and Filoni cooperate on everything from story to plan to murder in translating the " Star Wars " macrocosm for boob tube . It ’s a daunting creative , technical and logistical labor , as we ’ll excuse in the following sections .
Building the Universe
How do you surmount down anIMAX - sizespectacle fortelevisionand still have it make an shock , especially on a pocket-size screen budget ? That ’s just one of the problem Dave Filoni has to work .
" ' Star Wars ' is very illustrious for the scale of it , and how convincing it calculate . So when you ’re doing a hebdomadal television serial , you have to figure out how to do things on that level , " he notes . " Sometimes it force you to be creative and come up with solution that are honorable than if you’re able to shoot everything you want , " he continues , prefer to consider budgetary constraint a creative incentive rather than a limitation . " The team here is challenged to come up up with these giant battle . We have n’t shy away from anything . "
While he did some of the initial type design , subsequently , Filoni has pass most of his metre supervising other artists and animators , who count around 70 in - house and another 80 or so at facilities in Singapore and Taipei .
" Everything is save here , and the story and designing and redaction are all done here . The animation and light are done overseas , and sometimes some modeling as well , " he outlines .
"I see with George to talk about the episode and he hands out a plenty of the storylines and master ideas for the stories . I ’ll draw while he ’s talking and show him the sketch , " Filoni continues . " That path we communicate decent off the bat about what something might look like . "
At any given time , the conductor mention , sequence are in various stage of closing , " from designing to working on a concluding gash , or adding phone and coloring material - rectification . I have four occasional directors to help oneself me , who each have an sequence they ’re pull off . "
Rather than usecomputer animationto repeat the resilient - action at law films ' characters or continue in the very conventionalised vein of the 2004 - 2005 " Clone Wars " micro - series , " We kind of shooter for the center , " says Filoni , who endeavored to blend a 2 - 500 esthetic with3 - Dtechnology .
" The 3 - D model makers and oil rigger who work out on the prequels dealt with the height of realism to create convincing digital characters . I knew that we were n’t going to be able-bodied to do that for the series . And we wanted it to be different than a springy - action lineament , to get forth from photo - realism . It was a selection to simplify something in the reference example , the same way we would do things in a 2 - D show . "
So how did Filoni stay true to the " Star Wars " legacy in this new instalment ? Read on to find out .
Clone Style
Taking some inspiration from the other cartoon series , Filoni approach the characters as a 2 - 500 vitalizer would , " but stylise the aspect a little more . If you look at Anakin , he has certain edges and lines in his face . I would pass an edge or a line that might be by artificial means square or curved , and that would bring into the lighting of it . I seek to sculpt in 3 - D the way I would draw or sculpt an ikon in 2 - five hundred , with shadow and Inner Light . I want it to look like a painting – you see a textured , hand - paint way on every character . I have texture artists who literally paint every single character right down to theireyeball , because I need that human touch on everything . "
Advances in reckoner animation have earmark Filoni to accomplish much more than he would have been capable to in traditional 2 - D. " For eight years I worked just with a pencil . I never touched a computing gadget . But working with George , we seek to search at computers as an incredibly advanced pencil . The technological side help the creative , artistic side , " he tell .
battle filled with huge numbers of soldiers can be rendered faster than ever before , but they still have to be created , along with every other prop and grapheme in an enormous universe . " ' Star Wars ' is so complex in that you ’re build a whole Galax urceolata . We go to many unlike planet , " Filoni reminds . " So every rock ‘n’ roll , tree , blade of grass , aboriginal vehicle – every asset – needs designing . We had to make a whole lot of plus for each episode , and the budget goes up for each element you have . Once you build it , you have it , but we ca n’t go to a different planet and have the same chair there , " he laughs . " On a agenda where we need those things right away , it ’s hard to get it all build . "
Since " The Clone Wars " is chronologically sandwich between " Clone Wars " and " Revenge of the Sith , " it has been a mandate for the creators to stay consistent with the mythology . " That ’s probably one of the slick thing , " admits Filoni . " We always have to keep in mind what the persona are retrieve and feeling at the beginning of this and at the end . You have a lot of elbow room to roleplay with when you ’re in the middle , but you have to call back what mass say in the third movie . With eccentric like Obi - Wan or Anakin or Padme , I have to pay very deliberate attention that it will nobble up . And then there ’s the expanded universe of " Star Wars " novel and telecasting games . I seek to be aware of it all and work it in , because fans really appreciate it . "
Filoni hopes to attract survive fans and make new ones , especially among the young coevals , but admit doing the latter may be wanton . " One thing we have that ’s unlike from any flick that came before is we ’re an alive serial publication . But there ’s an instant reaction to the tidings animation that it ’s for kids . How you get around that is with the story you enjoin . We ’ll have our nose candy battles and we ’ll also have our lighter ' Return of the Jedi ' moments . Some episode lean older , some younger . But in the goal it has a broad appeal , " he believe .
The recent " Clone Wars " moving picture ( out on DVD Nov. 11 ) served as a stand up - alone prequel to introduce the fibre at this head in time . In contrast , " The serial publication has its little arcs and shows you the war from across a all-inclusive spectrum of installment . It ’s not just Anakin Skywalker ’s write up , " Filoni underlines . " We can go left or proper of that plot and deal with graphic symbol we have never seen . There ’s a lot of fabric . It ’s a three - yr period in the history of the ' Star Wars ' Universe , and there are so many stories to differentiate . The longer it cash in one’s chips , the more chance we get to tell fascinating taradiddle in that galaxy . "
Character Study
" The Clone Wars " designate a different side of some of the picture dealership ’s most iconic characters . " In a serial , you could do a whole installment about a character and learn more about what they were like , which makes what encounter to them a lot more poignant , " explicate Filoni . " We sleep with Yoda is powerful , but how does that power educate ? How does he use it ? We get to go into more contingent that you just could n’t do in the live action films , because they ’re mainly focused onAnakin . "
While few of the actors from the live action moving-picture show agreed to reprise their use in voice over for " The Clone Wars , " Anthony Daniels , the original C-3PO , is the exception . " One of the special moment for me was hear Anthony on the telephone , discussing C-3PO with me and his experience . That really helps us round off out the character , " say the theatre director , who enjoyed interchangeable input from Rob Coleman , the vivification executive program who worked on Yoda on the prequels .
Of the newfangled characters not see in the live action series , there ’s the enticing but poisonous Asajj Ventress , a adherent of Count Dooku . " She is , of course of instruction , a villain , and fits into the social organization of the Sith , " Filoni elaborates . " Darth Sidious – Senator Palpatine – is the chief bad guy cable , and his apprentice is Count Dooku . Dooku is training Ventress in the Dark Side . She ’s receive more herculean . I want to make her sound , shoddy and also kind of sexual . She ’s kind of a interdict fruit – Jedi are not supposed to get ask with the more lustful aspects of life . She adds another moral force to the serial . "
On the other side of the good / evil coin is newcomer Ahsoka Tano , Anakin ’s teenagepadawan , or apprentice . " She ’s Anakin ’s bookman and helps us see him as more of a hero , " say Filoni . " Once he induce over his initial reaction , he take superbia in her . He ’s unpredictable and the Jedi know that , but he has compassionateness and that is used against him and it later brings him to the Dark Side . "
Ahsoka was created , says Lucas , " Because I demand to mature Anakiin . The adept way to get somebody to become responsible and ripe is to have them become a parent or a instructor . You have to recall about what you ’re doing and set an example . You look at your doings and the way you do thing much differently . The idea was to practice her to make Anakin become more matured . We ’ve made her a more extreme variation of what Anakin was- - a little out there , independent , vital and full of life , but even more so . He get a small dose of his own medicine . "
" She ’s been a really fun character to develop , " adds Filoni , who likes Ahsoka but admits that his character reference gustation incline to prevail a turn more unknown – his favorite is Plo Koon , " a outre Jedi Master . It ’s been fun to develop him and show his personality beyond the fact that he ’s bizarre looking and carries alight saber . "
Fan Fare
Just three twelvemonth ago , Filoni dressed up as Plo Koon to see an initiative night showing of " Revenge of the Sith , " so it ’s not surprising that the 34 - year - old fan is still pinching himself that he has this business . " It ’s a very originative atmosphere , " he say of Big Rock Ranch , where the lakeshore context is " mean to revolutionise us artistically and definitely does . A mint of the people I work with grew up with ' Star Wars , ' so we have a neat time . It ’s hard , intense work , but George is very engaged in what we ’re doing . What more could you ask for ? I have the guy who created the ' Star Wars ' universe excited and interested in what we ’re doing . We could n’t be glad about that . "
Asked why he remember " Star Wars " remains a fan preferent today , three decades subsequently , Lucas says diversification is the headstone . " We were always able to divvy up with dissimilar aspects of the write up in various form and I think that proceed it alive . It is a lot of merriment and it ’s a universe of discourse that has been create to barrack young people to work out their imagination and breathe in them to be originative , and I think that always work . "
" The original ' Star Wars ' had broad solicitation to everybody , and it holds up so well , " adds Filoni . " I conceive there ’s a eternity to it , even though Luke seem like a nestling from the ' LXX with that haircut . Luke is a farmer son and Han is a cowboy . Jedi Knights are like thesamuraiof Japan or the knights of Europe . Those archetypes work the globe over . It ’s a world phenomenon that talk to everyone . There will always be a character you may touch on to . "
Lucas is stargaze up more of them all the sentence . In gain to producing a World War II action flick about African - American fighter aircraft pilots called " Red Tails , " he ’s develop a live legal action " Star Wars " TV series " that has nothing to do with the Skywalkers , but does take place in that universe . " Right now it ’s in the other stages of pre - output . Stay tune up .
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