Y-wing’s make their debut in Friday’s episode of Clone Wars:

I know a lot of you guys aren’t as into Clone Wars as I am, I get it.  But that doesn’t make me less excited for it, or less interested in posting what news I can.

Friday’s episode is the second part of a three-episode arc and I, for one, am anxious to see it.

From Lucasfilms press release:

STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS puts a new shine on a very recognizable part of Star Wars lore as the Y-wing bombers make their debut in Shadow of Malevolence, an all-new episode of the hit animated series premiering at 9 p.m. Friday, Oct. 10, on Cartoon Network.

In the second of a three-episode arc, Shadow of Malevolence finds Anakin Skywalker, his Padawan Ahsoka Tano and Jedi Master Plo Koon utilizing long-range Y-wing bombers to lead a bold strike on General Grievous’ warship, the Malevolence, and its destructive ion cannon.

The Y-wing bombers were first seen among the Rebel Alliance’s primary starfighters in 1977’s Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope. Episode director Brian Kalin O’Connell, writer Steve Melching and supervising director Dave Filoni were inspired by the concept of showing the Y-wings “fresh off the showroom floor.”

“We like to find ways to draw connections between The Clone Wars and the original trilogy,” Melching says. “In the original Star Wars, the X-wings and the Y-wings have truly been through the wars, and they’ve had the crap beaten out of them. We thought it would be fun to imagine that they were originally manufactured during the Clone Wars, so for us, they came off the assembly line and into battle.”

“Guys like (design/concept artists) Russell Chong and Killian Plunkett, along with Dave (Filoni) come from a classic Star Wars background, so they understand that Ralph McQuarrie feel of the 1970s, and they do it right,” O’Connell says. “We don’t want to change the lore, we want to add to it. By introducing the Y-wings, we get to add a new dimension, a little history.” Some people, he realizes, might think that it’s “just a vehicle.” Nevertheless, O’Connell says, “We know it’s a huge deal for the fans. We don’t let it distract from the story, but we still get to add the geek shot and when we do, we try to do it justice.”

STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS airs at 9 p.m. Fridays on Cartoon Network. George Lucas is the series’ creator and serves as executive producer, and Catherine Winder is producer.

It sounds like the directors and writers get it.  And it makes me happy.

See you on Saturday with an episode recap.

Two episodes of Star Wars: The Clone Wars came out today and I have to say, I was pretty surprised.  Although I enjoyed the movie, it certainly was lacking a little bit, and I think a lot of it had to do with the fact that the stories were tailored for a 22-minute TV format and the movie was 3 episodes scotch taped together.

But in this 22-minute format, this show kicks a lot of ass.

The premiere episode, Ambush, centered around Yoda and his work trying to convince the Toydarians to join the Republic in the war against the Separatists.  Unfortunately for Yoda and his entourage of bad-ass clone troopers, Asajj Ventress crashes the party with an entire battalion of battle droids.

The episode does a great job of mixing the serious side of Yoda from the prequels and the more playful side of him that we see in Empire.  In fact, most of the musical cues in this episode were from Empire’s soundtrack.

Best moment in this episode?  When Yoda comes face to face with Ventress and pretty much laughs at her.  She was out of her league and Yoda made her realize it pretty quick.

As entertaining as I thought this episode was, it was the second episode, Rising Malevolence, that was the best the entire 3D Clone Wars series has had to offer to date.  The episode centers around a new weapon that General Grievous and Count Dooku have developed on a flagship that they’re trying to keep secret from the Republic.

It’s an Ion Cannon and using it, they tear Plo Koon and his entire fleet to shreds.

In order to keep the secret, Dooku and Grievous order a hunting party to destroy all of the escape pods that made it out of the capital ships before their destruction.  Most of this episode plays out in an escape pod with Plo Koon and a few of his Clone troopers waiting their eventual death, watching pod after pod around them get breached by the Seperatists.  Though the episode was pretty kid-friendly, it reminded me a lot of really cool episodes of The Outer Limits or some really cool Sci-Fi Channel original movies.

The other half of the episode is about Anakin and Ahsoka, working their hardest to find Master Plo and his men before they die.

This episode isn’t a one off and really kicks off the beginning of a larger story and that’s really what I’m hoping for for this series.  I’ve had enough of TV shows where there doesn’t have to be any specific order you watch them in, I like shows that raise the stakes just a little bit with each successive episode.  (Not that I watch a lot of shows, but you get the idea.) The promo’s for the next episode center around Anakin leading the charge to destroy this new weapon.

We’ll see how that turns out.

If you’re interested in checking this out and have no idea how to watch it any other way, the episodes will be available on iTunes the day after airing at $1.99 a pop.  If you can wait a week, you can stream them for free on www.starwars.com and www.cartoonnetwork.com, but only two episodes will ever be available at a time.

www.StarWars.com is also offering comics that lead into each weeks episode written by Pablo Hidalgo and a rotating slate of artists.  I checked out the first one and it was fairly interesting, we’ll see where it goes from here.

Lucasfilm has given us another look at the second episode that will premiere on Friday night.  I don’t know about you guys, but this is probably the single coolest image I’ve seen from this series so far.  One thing I felt Revenge of the Sith was missing was more General Grievous and Friday it looks like I’ll be able to have my cake and it eat it too.

From the official press release:

The Jedi face a devastating new Separatist weapon that’s in  the hands of General Grievous in the second of two episodes that mark the season premiere of STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS, an all-new animated series debuting Friday, Oct. 3  on Cartoon Network.

In Rising Malevolence, which premieres at 9:30 p.m., an attack by an unimaginably destructive weapon aboard a mysterious warship leaves Jedi Master Plo Koon and his clone troopers struggling to survive until Anakin Skywalker and Ahsoka Tano can find them. They discover that the ship is piloted by Grievous himself.

Rising Malevolence follows the 9:00 p.m. debut of the episode Ambush. STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS will introduce new episodes at 9:00  p.m. Fridays on Cartoon Network.

Series supervising director Dave Filoni helms the episode Rising Malevolence from a script by Steve Melching. George Lucas is the series’ creator and serves as executive producer, and Catherine Winder is producer.

Rising Malevolence features several prominent series debuts, most notably those of Jedi Master Plo Koon, General Grievous and his menacing warship, the Malevolence. Also appearing for their first time in the series are Anakin Skywalker and his padawan, Ahsoka.

Plo Koon’s presence was established in Star Wars: Episodes I, II and III, but his character was seen fleetingly in those films. Nevertheless, just as the seldom-seen Boba Fett became a fan favorite after The Empire Strikes Back, Filoni grew fascinated by Plo Koon. He chose the relatively unknown Jedi Master as his first project of character development.

“I liked the design of the Plo Koon character, and I also liked that he was a Jedi Master,” Filoni says of his initial attraction. “Like so many Star Wars fans, I had always wondered what other Jedi were like and The Clone Wars presented an opportunity to explore those characters”

Melching said he, Filoni and script supervisor Henry Gilroy worked hard to reveal Plo Koon’s character by example and, at the same time, offer greater perspective on the ways of the Jedi. Moreover, they reveal in Rising Malevolence an important connection between Plo Koon and Ahsoka Tano, Anakin’s Padawan learner.

“We were able to examine both Plo Koon’s personality and Ahsoka’s background by showing their bond and the extreme loyalty of Anakin and Ahsoka to their Jedi comrades,” Melching says. “They know he’s stranded and might not be alive, but if there’s even a chance, they’re going to find him. They have to deviate from their mission to try to rescue him, but they can’t endanger their larger mandate.”

The episode offers numerous scenes of Plo Koon and a small group of clones stranded in a disabled escape pod, which Melching says offered opportunities to expand on the thoughts, sensibilities and unique attributes of each clone trooper.

“The clones are really an army of one; they’re all the same guy. But their experiences in the war are all different, and that affects their relationships with other clones and their Jedi leaders,” Melching says. “They may all seem be the same guy, but they’re developing different personalities, and we work hard to show how they think, where they come from. That helps to define each episode. After all, the clones are ultimately the key to this war.”

I don’t know about you guys, but I like Plo Koon alot and am really excited to see these two new installments into the Star Wars saga.

Lucasfilm has given us another look at Clone Wars.

Those responsible for the episode had some things to say about their approach to Yoda in the series premiere:

In Ambush, the premiere of Lucasfilm Animation’s STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS, episode director David Bullock (Justice League: The New Frontier) and writer Steve Melching (The Batman) recall the Yoda of The Empire Strikes Back. This first episode of the brand-new, CG-animated series airs at 9 p.m. ET/PT Friday, Oct. 3 on Cartoon Network.

In the episode, Jedi Master Yoda and three clone troopers must face off against Count Dooku’s dreaded assassin Asajj Ventress and her massive droid army to prove the Jedi are strong enough to protect a strategic planet and forge a treaty for the Republic.

“I wanted to bring back some of the impish fun of Yoda from Episode V (The Empire Strikes Back) and instill it into the Clone Wars era as he is leading these three clones in a desperate situation,” Melching says. “Yoda became a very serious character in Episodes I, II and III, and I thought this was a great opportunity to show his clever, fun side as well as his inspirational and warrior side.”

While Melching crafted the words, Bullock and supervising director Dave Filoni focused on elevating Yoda’s action and ensuring that his diminutive scale alongside the other characters didn’t interfere with his intense battle scenes. Bullock offered kudos to fellow director Rob Coleman, who offered tips on keeping Yoda consistent with his legacy. Coleman served as an animation director on Star Wars Episodes I, II and III, and was responsible for Yoda’s famous lightsaber duel with Count Dooku.

“When I was storyboarding Yoda’s big fight scene in Ambush, Rob (Coleman) told me that George (Lucas) liked to flip a switch so that Yoda would go from very reserved to “springy,”" Bullock says. “Overall, the episode is a good mix of the impish Yoda of The Empire Strikes Back, some serious, reflective moments, and Rob’s “ninja Yoda” for the action bits. And Yoda kicks some serious butt in this episode.”

The assignment to direct Ambush was taken with great reverence by Bullock.

“I’m really proud of the fact that this episode went to me to direct as I knew it was “the Yoda episode,”" Bullock says. “It wasn’t even titled Ambush until it was in layout; for months it was just called “The Yoda Episode.” Any chance to work with the main Star Wars characters is a thrill because we knew we were adding to their history, but it was also a bit unnerving because we knew that it had to be handled properly or the fans would not buy it.”

Color me excited.

Since I’m such a huge Star Wars nerd, Lucasfilm decided to give me a sneak peek at the first image to come out of the season premiere of Clone Wars:

Jedi Master Yoda wreaks havoc on an army of battle droids in”Ambush,” the series premiere of STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS, which debuts at 9 p.m. Friday, Oct. 3, on Cartoon Network.

If I’m not in front of TV for this, I must be dead or something….

Yeah! That’s right! You can now watch the Emmy-Award winning series on Marvel.com!

“[X-Men: Evolution] depicts the battle between the teenage students of the Xavier institute and the followers of the villainous Magneto! Making matters worse, the X-Men and the Brotherhood attend the same high school! Cyclops, Wolverine, Storm, Jean Grey and more must battle Magneto’s evil forces—but can they survive the x-perience?

Every Monday for the first five weeks two additional episodes will premiere on Marvel.com, and subsequently one new episode will premiere every week! Afterwards, each episode will be archived on the site and viewable at any time in the future! Enjoy them as many times as you’d like, and catch new details with each viewing!” - Marvel

You can catch the first two episodes here!

I caught a few episodes of this when it was on air and it was actually pretty good. Certainly a vastly different take on the X-Men universe, but it works for the tweenie/teen demographic they seemed to be aiming for by putting it in a heavy high school setting. Its worth checking out!

The Clone Wars has an official kick-off date.  Since the announced line-up had Batman: Brave and the Bold on it, I’m assuming it’s premiering as well.

In any case, mark October 3rd on your calendars.

This is going to be exceedingly excellent.

Here’s an episode rundown for the premiere:

    9:00 p.m.   Star Wars: The Clone Wars (p) "AMBUSH" Jedi Master Yoda is on
     a secret mission to forge a treaty with the King of the strategic system
     of Toydaria when his ship is ambushed by Count Dooku. Yoda and three
     clone troopers must face off against Count Dooku's dreaded assassin
     Ventress and her massive droid army to prove the Jedi are strong enough
     to protect the king and his people from the forces of the war.

    9:30 p.m.   Star Wars: The Clone Wars (p) "RISING MALEVOLENCE" Creating
     panic throughout the galaxy, a devastating Separatist mystery weapon
     terrorizes the clone Starfleet.  Anakin and Ahsoka race to save Jedi
     Master Plo Koon and his clone troopers in time.

As much as I loved the Clone Wars movie, I think this stuff will be much easier for the average viewer to handle in shorter serial format that TV offers. And the stories listed above sound great.

Color me excited.

It looks really good, actually.  I mean, for a Wonder Woman cartoon movie.

Click here to check it out.

The voice cast lined up (Keri Russell, Nathan Fillion, Rosario Dawson, Alfred Molina and Virginia Madsen) is pretty good, too.  And it looks as though they’re going the whole Greek Mythology sort of route which was always cool and interesting stuff to me on other iterations of the Justice League characters.

It’s set to hit shelves February of next year. Which is cool.

Yahoo has an almost four minute clip of The Clone Wars online in Quicktime HD and the more I see of this picture the more excited I get for it.

Click here to watch it.

Seriously, if I don’t get to see this movie soon, I think my neural transmitters leading to and from my pressurized geek-core are going to explode from strain.  Seeing The Dark Knight a couple of weeks ago certainly relieved some of the pressure, but seriously, this is too much.

We did this fantastic interview with Ben Jones about the new Batman: Brave and the Bold series and he was kind enough to send us a whole pile of artwork.

For his interview, we ran just the Brave and the Bold stuff, but he also provided us a bunch of cool Teen Titans storyboards.

Click to see them bigger.