Friday, June 01, 2007

IN CASE U MISSED IT: Star Wars turned 30 a week ago...

I was on the road for the big Memorial Day camp outing (where I obtained a copious dosage of poison oak I'm just now starting to recover from) when the big Star Wars 30th anniversary came about. Not that I needed to do anything to celebrate it, there'll be plenty more anniversaries...

I did catch the History Channel's Legacy Revealed special on Memorial Day though (which was advertised in comics btw), and that was pretty cool. It really examines the story and it's elements and where the themes and ideas came from, which was interesting to see the saga broken down like that.

And although there are no more movies to come from Lucas (insert joke/zinger here), there are TV shows in production, the first of which is the CG animated CLONE WARS, which looks to be a more serious take on the incredibly awesome Genndy Tartakovsky animated shorts (the best Star Wars since the original trilogy IMHO). You can check out the just released preview at the Star Wars website HERE

I'm down with the animated style here, but I know it'll turn off others, too bad for them. I really liked the one scene with the Jedi (Anakin?) hopping from one flying bot to the next... need to see it in full screen though.

I'm all for the TV shows and other media extensions of the property. I remember back in the early 80's when they created a Star Wars radio show, and I got all worked up about it, but it ran during the middle of the day. Well my parents were kind enough to let me out of school the first day (because I was in such a fever over it), and I camped out by the AM radio waiting for the show, only to be woefully disappointed. It was either incredibly short, or didn't have any real content that day (or both). Oh well. I'm sure the TV shows will be much better :)

5 comments:

Jason Berek-Lewis said...

The new animated trailer looks absolutely amazing. I still haven't seen any of the Clone Wars cartoons; the animation just isn't my style.

But THIS trailer rocks. I'm always happy to see more Star Wars. I can't wait for the 100 episode live action show - I hope it is still in the works.

Jason Martin said...

Oh yeah, there's a live action show that's further out...

But man, wow, you haven't seen the Clone Wars cartoons?!?!
Madness!
You must, style or not, they're amazing, especially volume 1.
(But let me just say, it's too bad you don't dig the style, I love it)

joeldanford said...

Actually I thought the writing was rather derivative and anemic. The goal of the episodes is very similar to what I try to with Bluewing, focus more on action than a character driven story or plot devices.. and yet the majority of the time most of the dialogue consists of rehashed lines from the original trilogy, woven in very weakly.

Plus I gotta agree with Jason on the art style. Overrated. Of course I didn't care much for Samurai Jack for similar reasons. I do love the Power Puff Girls, but the writing on the show was really good.

Jason Martin said...

Alright guys, pile on ;)

The style is what it is, and no, it's not for everyone, but it is a great style none-the-less :)

Joel, yeah, to your point, let me clarify, when I say "best Star Wars since the originals" I mean that it captures the imaginative settings and action sequences more-so, in my eyes, than the prequels, and the pacing is farrrrrr superior, much more in keeping with the original trilogy. Plus, it's got more imaginative characters, and some epic scenes (like Anakin's showdown with the sith chick at the end of volume 1). However, the animated series, and the prequels both pale in comparison to the character/acting/dialogue of the originals. At least the lacking animated dialogue isn't further hampered by terrible direction/acting as in the prequels (which is all on George, cuz that cast is solid).

Crazy kids.

joeldanford said...

Btw.. saw an ad a few days ago about full seasons of the Powerpuff Girls coming out on DVD!!

It's about damn time!!