SMALL WONDERS! "THE CLONE WARS" SEASON FOUR PREVIEW...

Looks like the classic tale of GULLIVER'S TRAVELS will be getting a whole new STAR WARS spin involving Threepio and Artoo in this fun new image from the upcoming THE CLONE WARS Season Four, back on US TV HD screens in a few weeks time. Check out the gallery of new images from the series here: IGN: Star Wars: The Clone Wars Screenshots, Wallpapers and Pics

CLASSIC IMAGE: CONVERGENCE OF GOOD AND EVIL!

On the steps of an abandoned, rain soaked Massassi temple, on the faraway world of Yavin IV, Jedi Padawan Anakin Skywalker is taunted by the evil Sith wannabe Asajj Ventress in this great image from the second half of the CLONE WARS animated premiere series of 2003.

CARTOON NETWORK UK'S "SECRETS REVEALED" CONTINUE...

UK fans of THE CLONE WARS missing their fix of Season Three on SKY MOVIES PREMIERE can now enjoy that entertaining season in repeats on CARTOON NETWORK UK, weekdays 10am and 5pm, as well as on the VIRGIN MEDIA digital platform where selected season two episodes are now being shown as part of their popular TV CHOICE ON DEMAND service.

The Saga is definitely continuing.....

THE CLONE WARS: SECRETS REVEALED

Our synopsis/review guide to Season Three of THE CLONE WARS has been completed. Head over to the link below and enjoy some of our best opinion and notes on the current series.

THE CLONE WARS YEAR 3 EPISODE GUIDE

CLASSIC ART: TOONAMI JEDI!

Here's a great piece of UK bus stop/terminal promotional art for the superb animated CLONE WARS series from 2005, shown on CARTOON NETWORK, and brought to life by Genndy Tartakovsky and his talented team of writers and animators.

Somebody PLEASE release this fantastic micro-series and its epic EPISODE III related sequel onto Blu-ray!

THE CLONE WARS: INTRODUCING SAVAGE OPRESS!

2011 will no doubt be the year of Savage Opress!

Note: This feature contains possible SPOILERS

Savage Opress. He's not just your "average horny little devil." He wants to spill blood. Blood, in particular, that belongs to the Jedi Knights.

Trouble with a capital T!

When Ray Park's indomitable and terrifying destructive force, Darth Maul, met his final end - sliced in half by Ewan McGregor's Force intuitive Obi-Wan Kenobi in one of THE PHANTOM MENACE's greatest scenes (which we can't wait to see in 3D. Take that, Mister Simon Pegg!) - audiences around the world were thrilled yet disappointed to see that he had been killed off so quickly and would not return for more high octane action. So, Opress, one of Maul's equally highly trained brothers, is George Lucas, his daughter Kaite, and Dave Filoni's attempts, which will be very successful, to try to atone for the fall of the earlier Zabrakian, and we're sure all kinds of hell will be following within his large shadow when he, a chaos causing gift to Count Dooku by the Night Sisters of Dathomir, eventually takes on the Republic forces for numerous acts of Sith propelled slaughter. There are also rumours floating about on cyberpace - and please take them with a pinch of salt - that Ahsoka may eventually (and we're talking at the end of the animated series entire run) fall victim to this new warrior, of which her death will propel Anakin further to his destiny with the Dark Side as he surely gets his revenge! Of these rumours, I can only quote Qui-Gon Jinn: "Be wary!"  


Things are about to get a lot worse for the Jedi. All images: copyright LUCASFILM ANIMATION




http://tv.yahoo.com/star-wars-the-clone-wars/show/38472/videos/22903025#111010
http://www.starwars.com/video/view/001147.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBK7uaX5dOA

Time will tell on all things, but, in the meantime, the fireworks of battle will fly! Especially against Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi!

DUEL OF THE FATES. Part Two!

Coming from 7th January 2011 to CARTOON NETWORK in the US and SKY MOVIES PREMIERE and HD in the UK.

THE CLONE WARS RAGE ON. SEASON THREE - SECRETS REVEALED!

Let's hope we see a lot more of Yoda in Season Three

Its not long now- mere weeks- until UK viewers get to see the brand new third series of THE CLONE WARS exclusively on SKY MOVIES PREMIERE and HD. In the meantime, SKY has very kindly sent AFICIONADO some great new LUCASFILM ANIMATION images from the new series as a little taster.

Cad Bane makes an appearance at Jabba's Court. Does this signal the start of the Hutt Clan war?

A Republic gunship heads towards Tipocca City with urgent news.

Keep checking the AFICIONADO blog for more THE CLONE WARS updates.

JAR JAR BINKS: HESA BACK!!

Love him or hate him, that gangly Gungan is back for more comedy shenanigans in tonight's US episode of THE CLONE WARS, showing on CARTOON NETWORK, working with Bail Organa in an adventure titled SUPPLY LINES. I'm personally rather fond of Jar Jar- he reminds me of my late dog, with his big ears and eyes- and I'm intrigued to see what Filoni and co. will do next with the character. I thought in the Prequel films that Lucas bottled out from using Jar Jar more actively in EPISODEs II and III, after such a large involvement for the creature in EPISODE I, presumably due to his first appearance having caused great dismay and controversy from older fans who hated the Buster Keaton always getting into trouble inspired visual comedy character. In EPISODE II, Lucas did, to his credit, cleverly use Jar Jar to help instigate Palpatine's lifetime Supreme Chancellor-ship, which was very nicely done, and I was hoping he'd have a similarly and equally important sequence like that for EPISODE III-perhaps one act of supreme bravery on his part to help Padme and Obi-Wan, perhaps even sacrificing himself to save his friends, a move that might have been very interesting and added to the darkness of the final film of the Prequel Trilogy. Alas, it was not to be-and we still don't know what happened to him in that twenty year gap between sagas (despite the celebration visit to Naboo showing Gungans en masse in the revised version of RETURN OF THE JEDI on DVD in 2004).

Still, despite his on screen movie controversy, Jar Jar works very well in the animated series-BOMBAD JEDI in THE CLONE WARS first season (one of the earliest to be made in the run) was a fine example of slapstick comedy, and its nice to have Ahmed Best back behind the microphone to provide the characters unique voice. Somebody get Ahmed to be a convention guest at a future Celebration. The Jar Jar furore must have eased down by now, and I'm sure he has lots of great behind the scenes stories on the Prequels to tell that will delight fans of all ages!

THE BOUNTY HUNTERS RISE AGAIN!

The UK's SKY MOVIES platform are having a daily triple/quadruple bill of repeats, showing for one week from this Monday 13th, of Season Two of STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS in the run up to their exclusive showing of Season Three next month.

Re-live your favourite episodes from this enjoyable and ambitious year (my personal hits were CARGO OF DOOM, LANDING AT POINT RAIN, GRIEVOUS INTRIGUE, THE ZILLO BEAST STRIKES BACK and R2 COME HOME!).

Here's the link to the info:

http://movies.sky.com/star-wars-the-clone-wars-season-two-catch-up

CELEBRATION V: "THE CLONE WARS" SEASON THREE NEWS...

With THE CLONE WARS then still under wraps, aside from some early art and a wow factor trailer, for the most part of the previous Celebration IV, the gloves were now off and the secrecy shackles removed from Dave Filoni for this years Celebration V, as he presented two spectacular digital screening panels to packed and eager audiences for the upcoming third season of THE CLONE WARS. Here's some of the great information I was able to glean from the event, on what looks set to be an absolutely fantastic new season of epic battles, grand heroics and truly evil deeds.


Please note, there are lots of spoilers below.

The opening episodes see a stunning attack on the clone facilities at Kamino by the Separatists, led by Asajj Ventress, in underwater attack ships (similar to the one that captured Rotta the Hutt's Tatooine Sail Barge from the Clone Wars movie) that literally latch themselves onto the Kaminoan cities and smash their way into the superstructures, unleashing destruction on a grand scale (including an incredible scene where the Clone vats are destroyed) and a new series of Super Battle Droids.


Several new Jedi faces will be added to the ranks, though one will be killed by a mysterious assassin or creature during the series run. Shaak Ti is also a new face to the series- the decision was taken to introduce her later in the run so that kids would not get her confused with the similar looking Ahsoka.


Its been hinted at by Filoni that the previously thought to be destroyed Slave One vessel of Boba Fett is in the hands of pirate Hondo Ohnaka, and is getting a refurbishment that will make the ship look a little closer in appearance to the way it will be in THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK.


There will be a link/character from the Classic Trilogy appearing in Season Three (our money is on a teenage Han Solo, whose planned appearance was cut from EPISODE III).


The series may go beyond its planned five year run (Lucas and co. are currently working on Year Five as you read this), and looks set to run for as long as its popular with fans and audiences.


In a question I asked Filoni at one of the talks he confirmed that, with the advances in series CGI realisation (including rain and sea waves for Kamino, fire and costume material for the characters), we will one day see Wookiees and Kashyyyk in the series.

The action sequences have been amped up with better lighting and angles and a greater sense of realism now that the CGI has been improved and refined even further. Expect to see a lot more believability of movement and more shadows and reflections.


Count Dooku, in very stylish pyjamas no less!, will have a stunning lightsaber duel with a group of mostly invisible assassins-an idea that was conceived by Lucas (though it's initial concept did put a smile on Filoni's face at the thought of invisible people!) and looked superb in the footage shown at the event. Overall, there will be more of Dooku in this season and we'll also find out what the title crawl to EPISODE III meant when it said "There are heroes on both sides. Evil is everywhere."

Based on designs originally conceived by Ian McCaig for EPISODE ONE, the scarily drawn Sith Witches become reality, now known as the Witches of Dathomir, the home race of Asajj Ventress, revealed in Season Three. In the episode/s, Ventress is seemingly on the run from Dooku/Sidious and seeks refuge with her "family" on Dathomir, on a planet where the male and female races have evolved separately from one another. Its been hinted at that this season will be the last for Ventress's character-which is a bit of a shame.


From the new mega trailer (first shown exclusively at the CV event, and edited by one of Filoni's best friends, who now also works for LUCASFILM), the Duchess of Satine and the Mandalorians will return, as do the Toydarians, Aurra Sing, Clone Commander Wolf, Jabba and Ziro the Hutt (the latter, possibly along with Boba Fett (?), busted from prison on Coruscant and heralding the start of a Hutt clan war later in the season), Jar Jar Binks (once more voiced by Ahmed Best), plus General Grievous and Cad Bane (who gives Obi-Wan Kenobi an "electrifying" time in one lightsaber duel).


The big highlight for many though was the reveal of Darth Maul's brother, Savage Opres, who will become a regular enemy for the Jedi to fight this season- a gift from the Witches of Dathomir to Count Dooku.


The Clone Commandos also make a brief cameo in one episode, in a sequence shown at the convention that brought the house down with applause after years of waiting for a visual appearance somewhere in live action or animated Prequel-dom.

Katie Lucas has written quite a few episodes for this season, including the Ventress/Dathomir episodes and one coming up which will star the entire Lucas family as the blue skinned Papanoidia family, with George's Baron heavily involved in an action sequence in a cantina, though son Jett was unhappy that his animated character's gun wasn't as big as his dad's!

The Year Three mega trailer for THE CLONE WARS can be seen on the official STAR WARS site's main CELEBRATION V home page, and is coming to the US CARTOON NETWORK from September 17th 2010, and on SKY in the UK by at least the end of October this year. 

"ARC TROOPERS..DEPLOY!" THE ORIGINAL "CLONE WARS" ANIMATION

I love the new CLONE WARS animated series and eagerly await season three, but lets not forget the superb work done by SAMURAI JACK's Genndy Tartakovsky and his excellent team of writers and animators back in 2003 and 2005, when they pioneered the STAR WARS animation media and set the whole ball of Lucas's imagination rolling with their superb 2-D animation series. The first season of short episodes were by far my favourite, and it's a shame that the Tartakovsky vision of the saga couldn't have done a few more seasons before the arrival of Dave Filoni and his equally fine team.

Lets hope that these original and exciting shows get a worthy Blu-ray release at some point in the not too distant future, with a lot more extras and behind the scenes things than were on the original, quite basic DVD releases of the time.