Tag: dave filoni

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Filoni: I’m going to make Maul’s return “worthwhile for the fans”

USA Today features the return of Darth Maul and his Friday debut on The Clone Wars. Dave Filoni talks about the character and how he survived and the tone of the story:

He says it’s pretty dark and dramatic, and in regard to facing off with Obi-Wan again, “there’s going to be a lot of want for revenge in his mind, what he’s been thinking about through what must have been a terrible trial.”

Filoni promises fans will find out the secret behind his new lower half and, instead of wielding his double-bladed lightsaber from Phantom Menace, Maul will have only a fragment of it left since it, too, was damaged in battle.

The four-episode arc featuring Maul will close out the season.

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The Clone Wars distinguishes ‘Friends and Enemies’ tonight

Obi-Wan Kenobi’s undercover mission continues on this week’s new episode of Star Wars: The Clone Wars – ‘Friends and Enemies’. While Obi-Wan (in his guise as his own killer), Cad Bane and Moralo Eval (there’s another transparent name in this galaxy) are on the run after their escape from prison, they decide to solve their relationship issues and go shopping. Meanwhile, Anakin and Ahsoka, still not in on Kenobi’s secret mission, have their own objectives: track down the jailbreaking trio.

Back on earth, director Dave Filoni announced that he is auctioning off a rare Celebration V poster of his art, depicting Boba Fett and Cad Bane, and signed by himself, George Lucas, Daniel Logan and Corey Burton. Proceeds to benefit the AIDS and Breast Cancer Emergency Fund of San Francisco.

Combining earth and the galaxy far, far away… there seems to be a rather familiar chapeau in Pablo Hidalgo’s millinery emporium in this second clip from ‘Friends and Enemies’:

Continue reading “The Clone Wars distinguishes ‘Friends and Enemies’ tonight”

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The Clone Wars kicks off a big Obi-Wan arc tonight with ‘Deception’

Tonight on Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Obi-Wan Kenobi infiltrates a Republic prison to learn what the Separatist bounty hunters are up to – but is he in over his head? ‘Deception’ is the first part of a four-part story arc with Obi-Wan posing as a bounty hunter in order to get close to other galactic scum and villainy, including Cad Bane and Bossk.

How far does this deception go? Well, if you watch the clip above, it sounds like not even some of his closest friends are in on the secret. TV Guide interviews Dave Filoni about Obi-Wan going undercover in prison – is it bad as Oz, they ask? Get a taste of life in the clink with the clip below.

Continue reading “The Clone Wars kicks off a big Obi-Wan arc tonight with ‘Deception’”

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The Clone Wars review round-up: going deep or all wet?

Hail to the King!

With the first story arc done, it’s time to see what the reviewers are saying about the start of Star Wars: The Clone Wars season four. Did people think that this story arc jumped the shark? Indeed not – It looks like most reviewers were swimmingly pleased with the Mon Cala war storyline.

Meanwhile, The HD Room checks in with Dave Filoni about what to expect this season.

And if you missed it, here’s our reviews of the individual episodes: ‘Water War’ – ‘Gungan Attack’ – ‘Prisoners’.

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The Clone Wars goes Shark Week: ‘Water War’ and ‘Gungan Attack’

I eat bronies for breakfast.

Did you catch last Friday’s season four premiere of Star Wars: The Clone Wars? If you didn’t, catch each half of the two-parter on the revamped StarWars.com: ‘Water War’ and ‘Gungan Attack’. Also, get a preview of this week’s continuation of the story, ‘Prisoners’. With the shark-faced Riff Tamson on the loose, will
the Mon Calamari be served up with cocktail sauce?

At the premiere, Wired got Dave Filoni to talk about animating underwater and reflect on Ackbar’s popularity, and hints that we might see more classic trilogy characters in this season.

Meanwhile, Katie Lucas tweeted how many episodes she wrote this season: “I have four episodes this season that will be airing later in the season! I’m so excited for you guys to see them!”

And NerdApproved.com tells us why you should be watching The Clone Wars, even though Dunc wants you to watch My Little Pony.

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Comic-Con: Her Universe panel examines what women want in their sci-fi

Her Universe hosted its second annual panel at Comic-Con last Thursday, with Ashley Eckstein moderating a panel entitled “What Women Want in their Female Sci-Fi Heroes.” The six announced panelists were Dave Filoni of The Clone Wars, Betsy Mitchell (Editor in Chief of Del Rey), Gail Simone (comics writer, including Birds of Prey, Secret Six, and the upcoming Batgirl), Chris Sanagustin (Senior VP Development & Current Programming for Universal Cable Productions), Bryan Q. Miller (Exec. Story Editor for Smallville, comic writer Batgirl), and Melinda Hsu Taylor (writer/producer- Lost & Medium and Supervising Producer on Touch) . They were joined by unannounced panelist Alison Scagliotti (Claudia on Warehouse 13).

Eckstein started the panel by giving each panelist a question regarding developing female roles in their particular media, especially with the female audience in mind. Watch portions of the panel:

  • Introduction of Panelists by Ashley Eckstein
  • Chris Sanagustin on making characters accessible to the audience, including a bit about Battlestar Galactica: Blood and Chrome
  • Bryan Q. Miller on character vulnerabilities and breaking down the notion that a butt-kicking heroine has to be either a robot or a sexbot
  • Betsy Mitchell comparing now to 30 years ago for women sci-fi readers and women writers and editors, and the rise of female-oriented urban paranormal fiction.
  • Gail Simone on progress in the portrayal of women in comics, moving past the Women in Refrigerators trope, and the industry’s gradual awareness of growing female readership, and developing female characters.
  • Ashley Eckstein commenting on the progress in recognizing that there is a female fan base in science fiction.
  • Finishing up with Gail Simone and then Melinda Hsu Taylor on being inspired by sci-fi growing up in Maine, and some of her favorite female characters from science fiction and fantasy.
  • Dave Filoni on the process of developing a female Jedi character like Ahsoka Tano and also reading Éowyn as a child.
  • Allison Scagliotti on playing her character Claudia Donovan, the women characters of Warehouse 13 and the issues of being a female actor – and being a role model of the cool smart girl.

In the Q&A, Simone, Filoni, and Scagliotti fielded most of the questions, with Filoni and Simone clarifying how their approaches to writing female characters were similar. Even though the panel went over time, the audience remained and the panelists stayed on stage to answer questions about incorporating female biology into developing and portraying female characters, the differences in creating female villains from male villains, predicting the future of the importance (or nonimportance) of being critical of gender for characters (and for creators), and finally ended with a young fan thanking the panelists for making it cool to be a young female fan.

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Comic-Con: The Clone Wars Season 4 and more

Thursday’s lineup at Comic-Con in San Diego included panels for The Clone Wars Season 4, The Old Republic MMO.

The Clone Wars panel started off with a general trailer for season four, which will be subtitled ‘Battle Lines’ – the preview showed off many cool things, primarily focusing on an underwater battle between Republic forces and Mon Calamari fighting against Separatist forces, Quarren, and more. Also shown were clone soldiers getting their type two armor & helmets (moving closer to the Revenge of the Sith look). Moderator Pablo Hidalgo tossed questions to director Dave Filoni and producer Cary Silver and showed several more video clips and art slide shows, which hinted at:

  • “Battle Lines” will focus a lot on “Things going boom!” – more action and battles.
  • Initial story arc focusing on the underwater battles between the Mon Calamari (and a young Captain Ackbar) and the Quarren, with Kit Fisto and scuba clones assisting the Mon Calamari, while the Quarren have separatist droids and a new shark-man villain who can slash through a pack of Calamari, like…well, a shark through calamari.
  • Another arc will take us to the always-dark world of Umbara for a clone-centric story as the Republic forces take on the native Umbarans (a first instead of simply attacking battle droids), who have a very different look to their technology. Look for massive ground and space battles (and the introduction of Z-95 Headhunters!
  • A new Jedi general, with a different look on things, of the species of the four-armed Dexter Jettster.
  • Comic episodes with C-3PO and R2-D2 experiencing the war in their own way (and hijacking a Y-Wing) as Grievous duels Adi Gallia. Threepio also ends up with some clonetroopers on a planet mission and hilarity ensues.
  • The Mortis arc from season three is just the beginning into an exploration of the mysticism of the Force, and those Force-wielders.
  • Asajj Ventress and the Nightsisters fighting against a droid army. Dave previewed this rough uncolored clip after he brought up a group of Nightsister costumers from Team Unicorn on stage.
  • As released on Wednesday online, Death Watch is back, and Katee Sackoff voices Pre Vizsla’s lieutenant, who rounds up Lux Bonteri and Ahsoka Tano on a snowy world with her squad of Death Watch Mandalorians.
  • The return of characters such as Bossk, Boba Fett, Cad Bane, Pre Vizsla and Savage Oppress – and the introduction of Dengar!

During the Q&A, Filoni mentioned that he has put a lot of though into Ahsoka’s eventual fate in the show – and that he keeps changing it (at least 8 times) & discussing it with George Lucas as the show and her character continue to develop. Also from the Q&A:

  • No Han! Dave Filoni isn’t interested in introducing a young Han Solo, despite Chewbacca’s appearance at the end of the third season.
  • During the planning of the Holocron Heist story arc, they thought about bringing Durge in as the main villain before George Lucas came up with Cad Bane.
  • Clone commandos may yet return, though it won’t be Delta Squad.
  • Clone commander Wolffe has changing armor designs because Dave Filoni accidentally realized that white on gray for his wolf logo was more visible than the other way around, and apologized to costumers who then had to change paint jobs — then only to change the shape of Wolffe’s helmet entirely. Filoni does now expect clone scuba troopers costumes, possibly functional, at Celebration VI.

Seth Green was invited up in the Q&A, and he helped field a few audience questions, but nothing specific to his upcoming comedy animated Star Wars series.

Overall, I am very excited about season four – it looks like they are going to where the show is the strongest: good Star Wars stories: lots of action and battles, and bringing in new heroes and villains, and some more fun with the droids. And no, Captain Ackbar won’t learn from Anakin Skywalker about the possibility of getting snared by enemy forces, so that he can later recognize his situation at Endor.

As for The Old Republic MMO: Pre-orders have officially begun, with a release date of “Holidays 2011” but with major beta test weekends in September. All panel attendees were given tickets to redeem for guaranteed pre-order reservations. I’m not an MMO player, but given what I saw and heard about TOR, and Bioware’s track record with KOTOR and other single-player role-playing games (Mass Effect, Dragon Age), I’m a bit excited for The Old Republic.

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Heads up: Star Wars events at SDCC, Dragon*Con

If you’re attending both or either of the big summer genre cons – San Diego Comic Con later this month, or Atlanta’s Dragon*Con in September – than you’re in luck today. SDCC has released their Thursday (July 21) schedule, and Dragon*Con’s Star Wars track has their own tentative listings up.

With no big Hall H Star Wars presentation planned, there are several events planned for Thursday: A Kinect Star Wars Panel for the gamers, Dark Horses’ fall publishing highlights, The Old Republic MMO, and a Clone Wars S4 preview with Dave Filoni and Pablo Hidalgo.

(I suspect we’ll see at least one dedicated Expanded Universe panel at some point – We do know that both Timothy Zahn and Del Rey’s Shelly Shapiro will be in attendance. However, the Clone Wars panel being on Thursday leads me to suspect there won’t an official Star Wars day this year. )

Among several panels focusing on female fandom is one sponsored by Her Universe, titled ‘What Women Want in Their Female Sci-Fi Heroes.’ Panelists include Ashley Eckstein, Dave Filoni, Betsy Mitchell and comic writer Gail Simone.

Bowing out the day are the ever-present Star Wars Fan Movie Awards. Mark Hamill will also be present, although for Thursday he’s sitting on a panel for Batman: Arkham City.

Meanwhile, the more fandom-oriented Star Wars track at Dragon*Con has a tentative schedule up. They’re not lacking in stars – Carrie Fisher, Gary Kurtz, Ashley Eckstein, and Temuera Morrison will be in attendance, as well as several authors.

Of special interest: A panel on Star Wars myth and philosophy with Timothy Zahn and Gary Kurtz, one dedicated to Heir to the Empire, and the ever-popular (and over-18 only) Adult Themes panel!

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Clone Wars S3 Blu-rays, DVDs coming October 25th?

The Blu-ray Blog reports a Amazon.ca pre-order page has appeared for The Clone Wars season three Blu-rays, giving a release date of October 25th for the box set. (There’s a page for DVDS as well.)

Nothing’s been formally announced yet, but the timing is similar to the S2 and S1 releases. (Thanks to Justin for the tip!)

Meanwhile, at Star Wars Weekends, the audience got a new peek at S4 and managed to wrangle a few tidbits out of Dave Filoni.

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Filoni: Katee Sackhoff to voice in The Clone Wars

IMAGE: Katee SackhoffDave Filoni has revealed to Entertainment Weekly that Katee Sackhoff, best know for her role as Starbuck in Battlestar Galactica will be coming to Star Wars: The Clone Wars in season four.

He also talks about having multi-episode arcs, bringing Walter Murch to direct an episode, and the complete lack of Ben Quadinaros. Focusing on the season three finale, Filoni discusses pairing Ahsoka and Chewbacca, a cute The Big Lebowski reference, and having ramped up the action as well as character deaths.