UPDATE: STAR WARS: Lucasfilm Animation Layoffs
Wednesday, March 20th, 2013 at 6:22 am Category: Clone Wars, Detours, disney, Star Wars, Toons, TopUPDATE: Concerned over reports that the remaining content from The Clone Wars would not be made available to fans, a Lucasfilm spokesperson contacted me to assure you that the extra content will absolutely be made available to fans.
The bold was their emphasis, not mine.
So, at least we don’t have that to worry about.
Back to the original story:
Many outlets are reporting that Lucasfilm Animation is in the midst of layoffs, eliminating numerous positions held by the crews of Detours and The Clone Wars. Rumours spread that the creative team itself is going in separate directions.
While many assumed and hoped the crews behind these two shows would be reassigned other duties at Disney and in the Star Wars universe, their removal is not wholly unexpected. Downsizing after a major acquisition is an every day fact of life in the despicable world of corporate maneuvering.
TheForce.Net opines that the layoffs are a direct contradiction to the promise made on StarWars.Com that work would resume on episodes close to completion, but that might not be the case. If the plan for Disney is to work on doing the polish work on the last episodes, then, if their plan is to dismantle Lucasfilm Animation, for what reason would they need to retain all of the employees whose work happens before those final layers of polish?
I agree. It’s completely callous of Disney, but this decision makes perfect sense for a giant corporate conglomerate.
The one thing Disney does well is animation. They purchased Pixar for their animation. They didn’t purchase Lucasfilm for its animation department. They purchased it for Star Wars. They might well believe (in a good case of lying to themselves) that their animation departments produce work vastly superior to what Lucasfilm Animation produces. But let’s be honest, no Disney television show has ever or will ever look as good as The Clone Wars did. And it’s a testament to those who worked on it.
More alarming in the reports, however, is the notion that the “bonus content” promised in the release announcing this different direction for Star Wars might not ever actually see the light of day. This is something I’ve heard as well, but can’t seem to confirm it. Sources in the know claim that attempts to mollify fans with the news and pull the rug from them on this “bonus content” are baseless. But why would anyone in the know confirm it if the whole plan is a distraction?
At this point, I have to believe we’ll see the “bonus content,” but I will not–can not–be surprised if it doesn’t happen.
But renewed calls to panic in this case aren’t justified. This seems wholly consistent with the plan we were upset about a week ago. What’s being done to The Clone Wars is unfair, both to the fans and the artists who create the show, and it will never hurt to voice your support, but being upset at a cat for eating a mouse (or in this case a giant mouse eating a television show) is to deny the nature of the thing.
It can never hurt, though, to show your support of the show with a letter to Disney.
Bob Iger
Disney Studios
500 S Buena Vista St
Burbank, CA 91521
If you send a letter, be sure to remain civil and leave it to nothing more than your love of The Clone Wars. Don’t give in to hate. That leads to the Dark Side.
For more addresses to send letters to, visit Save The Clone Wars.
I’ve been asking since January, the first to raise the specter of this possibility, What if The Clone Wars Doesn’t Come Back? I’ve been bracing for this as a worst case scenario for a while now. I was called out for being an alarmist, but I was being a realist and am being a realist now. And I really hate to say, “I told you so.”
I don’t think we’re going to get The Clone Wars back.
Don’t focus on the possibility of getting it back, if it happens, it will be because we remained civil and showed our love and care. Anger isn’t going to help the situation. Enjoy what we’ve had and don’t dwell on the rest. Show your support and embrace all the Star Wars we have yet to come.
Be sure to listen to the Full of Sith podcast for the latest news and analysis.
Responses to “UPDATE: STAR WARS: Lucasfilm Animation Layoffs”
It is indeed hard to believe we can get the show back, but I’m still hoping. I tell myself that other shows were brought back from cancellation in the past, and that most of them probably had to go through the same thing before coming back. And even if we don’t bring back the show, we might get more episodes because of our support. There is right now nothing much Star Wars actually going on, most things are set for later, so I think it is ok to try to concentrate on bringing back the show even though the chances of that happenning are small.
You were indeed right.
You know what?! You have given up hope on TCW since you are totally sucked into that lame Episode VII hype and you are just waiting for the movie.
Obviously, Young, you are giving the traitors at Disney a pass only cause they are going to bring you Episode VII.
I’ve not given up hope, Dan. I’m facing reality. There’s literally nothing more I can do. So I can spend my time angry about this or excited about the next thing.
I’m mourning Clone Wars. Yes. But I’m excited about VII.
Dan grievous totally agreed! TCW was my favourite show, I have been watching it from the very first episode, I have been waiting for every weekend, it made me so excited and happy! A lot of great stories, great animations… and now the f-ing Disney killed teh most awesome show in history. I don’t really care about Episode VII, it is going to be lame, the era after the Rebellion is not that exciting at all.. They killed my favourite show, god punish them.. :’(
I see… I understand where you are coming from!
Obviously you are following that famous Disney motto – keep moving forward!
I will truly miss seeing how the Clone Wars finally ties into Episode III, but perhaps the biggest question that I have that isn’t resolved is what about Ahsoka? Personally, I would love to see what happened to her in Episode 7.
Personally, I was more interested in seeing Detours out of morbid curiosity. Why Disney is downplaying Lucasfilm Animation but not Marvel Animation I’ll never understand.
Dan: the problem is that there is a limit to what every individual can do. Once you sent e-mails, letters, signed the petition and spread the word, all things Swank-mo-tron did, there is not much more to do except spreading the word to tell others to send letters and e-mails… which is exactly what he is doing.
The ones who have already done all they could to save the show can only spread the word, and hope others will listen and do what they did, hope that the movement will be big enough to change Disney’s mind.
You can hope the show will survive, do what you can to save it, and and be realistic about its chances of survival.
This is really sad, and will be remembered as one of the worst SW decision. Good luck to them
Nope, I’m not ready to throw TCW into the ground and bury it.
I don’t care if it takes 10 years and it may very well take that amount of time or longer before they ever give Clone Wars the chance it should have been given to wrap up its own story.
CBS abruptly pulled the plug on “Gilligan’s Island” for no other reason than the suits hated it. The castaways never got off the island. The show went into syndication and became even more popular than ever. CBS finally came around in 1979 to do a t.v. movie about the rescue of the castaways, more than a decade after the show was cancelled.
New movies or not, we don’t forget about Clone Wars. I can play the waiting game.
I’m not at all excited about Ep 7 so I’ll I’ve got is anger over TCW being cancelled, it’s cast and crew screwed over and never getting to find out what was going to happen to my favourite characters.
If you people want to really blame someone. Then let me give you the cold hard truth. Blame President Obama and the Senate Democrats. It’s no little secret that their tax increase of obscene amounts forced GL’s hand to sell early. Google GL sells to avoid higher taxes and enjoy the article. That is why we no longer have TCW or EU or any of a number of other properties to look forward to. You can’t tell me with all that was announced CVI was announced with GL knowing he was going to sell the company.
Clearly, you’re an idiot. He literally gave ALL the money to charity. And donated boatloads to Dems.
Not surprised.Saw this coming a mile away. I’m still upset. I loved catching up on the show through the blu-ray box sets. It became a ritual. I would buy the sets the day they came out and then watch an episode a night before bed. The same routine I had growing up with the originals and eventually the prequels.
Disney pulled production on their Star Wars 1313 and their Battlefront style online shooter. I wonder how long until they start making moves to kill the server support on Old Republic.
George Lucas never raped my childhood, but Disney is definitely circling my playground in a white van.
“George Lucas never raped my childhood, but Disney is definitely circling my playground in a white van.”
LOL…I think I’ll have that printed on a t-shirt and wear it to SW Weekends.
And oh yeah, there is already a rumbling that LucasArts is next on the chopping block.
I have an idea. In order to keep The Clone Wars, Lucasarts, and Lucasfilm Animation. What if every SW fan boycotts/refuses to see the sequel trilogy? That way Disney will know not to mess around with everything the SW community loves and we mean business! There’s a reason why the Twilight Saga won Movie of the Year, because of the large fan base. It’s a stretch, but what if?
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