Lucasfilm & Cartoon Network Announce: Star Wars: Clone Wars (1 Viewer)

[Adam Lenhardt]

http://www.starwars.com/eu/news/2003/02/news20030220_1.htmlCartoon Network and Lucasfilm Ltd. announced today a partnership to create Star Wars: Clone Wars, a series of 20 animated shorts that will air on Cartoon Network in 2003-2004 between other programming.

Star Wars: Clone Wars continues the saga where the live action feature film Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones left off - at the beginning of the Clone Wars, an epic civil war that pits the old Republic against a vast separatist movement led by the forces of evil.

Each episodic short will be two- to three-minutes in length and will air exclusively on Cartoon Network at regularly scheduled times during the network's regular programming beginning later this fall. "Clone Wars" will be produced at Cartoon Network Studios by a team led by Genndy Tartakovsky, the creator of Samurai Jack and Dexter's Laboratory.

As "Clone Wars" unfolds the valiant Jedi Knights lead the Republic's Clone Army against many new and ruthless adversaries across the galaxy. These new characters, epicbattles and intricate stories will add an exciting new dimension to the Star Wars saga.

"We are incredibly excited to be working with Lucasfilm in creating an animated story that extends one of the world's most beloved entertainment properties," said Sam Register, senior vice president of development for Cartoon Network. "Cartoon Network's creative team will work hand-in-hand with Lucasfilm to make sure that our common vision for Clone Wars thrills Star Wars fans around the world."

"Genndy Tartakovsky and the team at Cartoon Network are tops in their field," said Howard Roffman, president of Lucas Licensing. "Their work on Samurai Jack shows that they can tell an epic story in a unique way, lavishing equal attention on dramatic battle scenes as well as the dramatic development of the characters."

An interview with Genndy Tartakovsky, the creative force behind the Clone Wars shorts, can be found here

 

[Morgan Jolley]

Feels a bit like The Animatrix thing, but oh well. Hopefully it will be done right.

 

[Thomas H G]

2-3 minutes? I'm kinda disapointed. I thought they would be liek a 20-30 minute show type of deal.

 

[Chris Bardon]

Interesting. Hopefully they'll make it on as an extra for an eventual DVD release of either the trilogy or Ep III.

 

[Phil Florian]

Man, good use of talent, though. Genndy Tartakovsky is one of the unsung heroes of modern animation, in my opinion. His stuff continues to be fresh and innovative, equal parts new and homage. Very hip. Hopefully they will let us know when to find them and not hope to happen upon them from time to time...though the latter is probably the hope, in an effort to boost random ratings.

Phil

 

[Jeff_Standley]

Should be pretty cool Genndy Tartakovsky is a genius. I love the samurai jack cartoon. Cant wait to see what they do with it.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Phil: This should probably be taken with a grain of salt, given the nature of publicity, but the press release says "will air exclusively on Cartoon Network at regularly scheduled times" which lends hope towards them announcing a schedule for the showtimes.

 

[Phil Florian]

I would hope they would post a schedule. Too bad they aren't going to do full-blown episodes. Maybe George is frightened that someone else might do something wonderful with the series for a change! (/fanboy rant)


Phil