| Star Wars: The Clone Wars | |
|---|---|
| Genre |
Serial |
| Format | CGI Animated series |
| Created by | George Lucas |
| Voices of | Matt Lanter James Arnold Taylor Ashley Eckstein Tom Kane Corey Burton TC Carson Nika Futterman Dee Bradley Baker Catherine Taber Anthony Daniels Ian Abercrombie Matthew Wood Tom Kenny |
| Narrated by | Tom Kane |
| Country of origin | United States |
| No. of seasons | 4 |
| No. of episodes | 88 (78 aired) (List of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | George Lucas Catherine Winder |
| Running time | 22 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Warner Bros. Television Lucasfilm Animation 20th Television/20th Century Fox Television |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | Cartoon Network[1] |
| Original run | October 3, 2008 – present |
| Chronology | |
| Preceded by | Star Wars: The Clone Wars |
| Followed by | Untitled Star Wars series |
| External links | |
| Website | |
| Production website | |
Star Wars: The Clone Wars is an American 3D CGI animated television series created by Lucasfilm Animation, Lucasfilm Animation Singapore and CGCG Inc.[2] The series debuted on the US-version of Cartoon Network on October 3, 2008.[3] It was also seen for only about 2 months on TNT, but was quickly taken off the channel due to low viewership. It is set in the fictional Star Wars galaxy, during the same time period as the previous 2003 Star Wars: Clone Wars series (The three-year time period between the films Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones and Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith). Each episode has a running time of 22 minutes, to fill a half-hour time slot. Star Wars creator George Lucas says "there will be at least 100 episodes produced [about five seasons]".[4] Dave Filoni is the supervising director of the series.[5] Genndy Tartakovsky, director of the first Clone Wars series, is not involved with the production,[6] but character designer Kilian Plunkett referred to the character designs from the 2D series when designing the characters for the 3D series.[7] There is also an online comic,[8] depicting story-snippets between the single episodes.
The first trailer for the series was released on the official Star Wars website on May 8, 2007.[9] The series was launched with an animated feature film, which was released in theaters on August 15, 2008. It is one of only ten series (along with Dragon Ball Z, Adventure Time, The Looney Tunes Show, Stoked, Total Drama, Regular Show, Robotomy, MAD and 6teen) to be broadcast on the main Cartoon Network (i.e., outside of Toonami or Adult Swim) with a TV-PG rating. Season 2 ended on April 30, 2010. Season 3 premiered on September 17, 2010, with the complete second season releasing on Blu-ray Disc and DVD October 26, 2010.[10] Season 4 premiered on September 16, 2011 with the Complete Season 3 on Blu-ray Disc and DVD released October 18, 2011.
Contents |
At April 2005's Star Wars Celebration III, Lucas stated that "we are working on a 3-D continuation of the pilot series that was on the Cartoon Network; we probably won't start that project for another year."[6] In July 2005, pre-production had begun on the series, according to Steve Sansweet, head of Lucasfilm fan relations.[12] Sansweet referred to the series as "the next generation of the Star Wars saga, a cutting edge 30-minute, 3-D computer-animation series based on the Clone Wars that take place between Episode II ... and Episode III." Sansweet described the look of the new series as "a melding of Asian anime with unique 3-D animation styling." Primary production will take place at the Lucasfilm Animation facility in Singapore.[13]
According to another statement by Sansweet, "Lucasfilm Animation will be hiring a total of about 300 digital artists and others in both California and Singapore locations to produce not only the series, but animated feature films in the years ahead." He said about the series, "to get the series underway, Lucasfilm Animation has hired key production and creative talent to lead the development of its first animation project." Sansweet has said that "a large component of the future of Star Wars and Lucasfilm is CGI animation."
Lucasfilm Ltd. and Lucasfilm Animation used Autodesk software to animate both the film and the series. The Maya 3D modeling program was used to create the highly detailed worlds, characters and creatures.[14] Animators also reviewed designs from the original 2003 Clone Wars series when creating the animation style for the film and the new series.[15]
Anthony Daniels, who portrayed C-3PO in all six films as well as the Star Wars Holiday Special, Star Wars: Droids and Star Wars: Clone Wars, confirmed in June 2006 that he had been contracted for the series.[16]
In a video interview with Rob Coleman from Imagina 2007 divulged that there were 15 episodes in production, one episode was complete, he was going to direct 5 of the first 22 episodes, reaction from licensees was very positive, and that final assembly of shows is done at Skywalker Ranch.[17]
At Lucas' March 3, 2007 appearance at the 2007 William S. Paley Television Festival,[18] Lucas revealed the series is episodic, and as such will not focus on Anakin Skywalker's story; with episodes dedicated to clone troopers and other characters. Lucas revealed further information in a fan interview,[4] a new character named Ahsoka Tano, over 100 episodes and a possible appearance by Boba Fett. In an interview in the September 24, 2007 issue of TV Guide, Lucas confirmed that 39 episodes of the series have been completed.[19]
On April 8, 2007, Ain't It Cool News reported that musician Eric Rigler had recorded music for the series.[20] Rigler disclosed that each planet in the Star Wars galaxy would have its own theme music, based on Bulgarian music and played on Uilleann pipes.
Stuart Snyder, who oversees Cartoon Network and other Turner Broadcasting System cable networks, said he became interested in the new Clone Wars series immediately upon starting the job in May 2007. Snyder flew out to San Francisco, California to screen several episodes, and told Lucas the only place he wanted to see the show was on Cartoon Network.[21]
Along with weekly airings of Star Wars: The Clone Wars on the Cartoon Network, rebroadcasts started airing briefly on TNT, February 14, 2009. With this, it was the first time animation aired on that channel in over a decade.[22]
The Clone Wars premiered on October 3, 2008 at 9 p.m. on the Cartoon Network. It has been programmed by Stuart Snyder to create an action/adventure block of shows on Friday night in an attempt to rejuvenate Cartoon Network. Snyder expressed confidence that the shows would help boost ratings: "You catch me at a time where I have a smile on my face because of our internal results". "I can say there's a little bit of bragging on the third quarter for us."[21] The Clone Wars on Cartoon Network is shown in a 16:9 (1.78:1) aspect ratio, cropped from its original aspect ratio (OAR) of 2.35:1 (as seen in the UK Sky Premiere screenings). The show began airing on Adult Swim as of March 14, 2009, making the series the first Cartoon Network series to simultaneously air on both Cartoon Network and Adult Swim. On January 15, 2009, the show was broadcast on TNT, but on March 26, 2009, the show was taken off from the channel due to low viewership.
From Season 1 to Season 2, the viewers in the US were roughly around 2.75 – 3 million. In Season 3, however, they have been around 1.5 - 2 million with the episode "Citadel Rescue" being the least viewed at 1.55 million viewers. For Season 4, it has suffered lower viewership from around 1 million, with the episode "Mercy Mission" viewed from 1.35 million viewers and is currently the lowest viewed episode so far.
Despite the negative response to its movie counterpart, Star Wars: The Clone Wars has received generally favorable reviews from critics according to the aggregate review site Metacritic. On July 11, 2008, television critics were shown a completed episode of the series. The Hollywood Reporter's Live Feed blog called the footage "likely the most photo-realistic animated TV series ever produced."[23] On August 31, 2008, a sneak peek of the new series was shown on Cartoon Network. IGN named it the 89th best animated series.[24] They specifically praised the episodes "Rookies", "Cloak of Darkness", and "Lair of Grievous" saying that their storylines stood out as some of the best in the Star Wars Expanded Universe.[25] The series received a score of 64 out of 100 on Metacritic, a review compiler.
Star Wars: The Clone Wars became most-watched series premiere in Cartoon Network history. The series averaged 3 million total viewers in its debut, according to Nielsen Media Research. Cartoon Network said the Star Wars spin off ranked as the number one channel among all major animated networks in the time slot among total viewers (the largest in the demographic for any premiere telecast of an original Cartoon series).[26]
On July 23, 2010 at the San Diego Comic-Con; Craig Glenday, editor of the Guinness World Records presented Star Wars: The Clone Wars supervising director Dave Filoni, CG supervisor Joel Aron and lead designer Kilian Plunkett a certificate proclaiming the cartoon series "the highest rated sci-fi animation currently on television".[27]
After viewing some of the completed footage of the early episodes on a big screen, the production team decided to weave the first few planned episodes together to form a theatrical release.[28][29] Christopher Lee, Anthony Daniels, and Samuel L. Jackson reprised their roles as Count Dooku, C-3PO, and Mace Windu, respectively, from the live action films.
On December 5, 2011, a full-length feature cut of the Season 3 trilogy episodes, "Nightsisters", "Monster", and "Witches of the Mist" was released for download on iTunes as an uninterrupted movie that was previously shown at selected screenings in 2010. The three episodes were written by Katie Lucas, who had previously wrote the Season 1 episode "Jedi Crash" and the Season 3 episodes "Sphere of Influence" and "Assassin".
Each season consists of 22 episodes. George Lucas has said he would like to make at least 100 episodes, regardless of the ratings. Episode 100 would be in the middle of Season 5, so the series is likely to go up to 110+ episodes, whether the ratings continue to be good or not. A repeat of series one aired in "decoded" episode format. Each installment contained unobtrusive text windows giving supplemental information about the characters and events playing out on screen.[30]
| Season | Episodes | First air date | Last air date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Season 1 | 22 | October 3, 2008 | March 22, 2009 |
| Season 2 | 22 | October 2, 2009 | April 30, 2010 |
| Season 3 | 22 | September 17, 2010 | April 1, 2011[31] |
| Season 4 | 22 | September 16, 2011 | Spring 2012 |
| DVD/Blu-ray name | Region 1 | Region 2 | Region 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
| A Galaxy Divided (DVD only) | March 24, 2009 | March 24, 2009 | July 1, 2009 |
| Clone Commandos (DVD only) | September 15, 2009 | September 15, 2009 | September 23, 2009 |
| Season 1 (DVD & Blu-ray) | November 3, 2009 | November 16, 2009 | November 18, 2009 |
| Season 2 (DVD & Blu-ray) | October 26, 2010 | November 15, 2010 | November 10, 2010 |
| Season 3 (DVD & Blu-ray) | October 18, 2011[32] | October 17, 2011[33] | October 19, 2011 |
| Season 4 (DVD & Blu-ray) | Fall 2012 | Fall 2012 | Fall 2012 |
A Galaxy Divided was an early DVD release of the series which included the first four episodes ("Ambush, "Rising Malevolence", "Shadow of Malevolence", "Destroy Malevolence"), and Clone Commandos is another, which includes episode five "Rookies" as well as episodes 19 through 21 ("Storm over Ryloth", "Innocents of Ryloth" and "Liberty on Ryloth").
Five video games have been released, which are based on the style and character designs of the series.
| Network | Country |
|---|---|
| Cartoon Network only | Latin America |
| Local TV networks only | Latin America
Southeast Asia Europe |
| Cartoon Network and local TV networks | Latin America
Southeast Asia Europe |
| Book: Star Wars
Book: Cartoon Network |
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| Wikipedia books are collections of articles that can be downloaded or ordered in print. | |
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