Star Wars: The Clone Wars

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Shouldnā€™t that be The Clone Wars? Get it right! (I really do want to watch the second half of that one some day soon.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars:Clone_Wars%282003_TV_series%29

Also,

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You are correct. Will fix both.

I really liked that Tartakovsky series.

But Iā€™m pretty much done with Star Wars now. The new sequels interest me about as much as the Ghostbusters reboot.

Good to hear that this is good, itā€™s always a bit iffy when youā€™re going into a Cartoon Network series. Like, 75% of them are really excellent, and then 25% of them are really just packaged Kidz Krap, and you donā€™t always know what youā€™re going to get if you donā€™t know the names involved.

That accords with the sense I had of the little I saw of it, when my kids were watching it. It goes to show that kids can actually be quite good at recognizing quality storytelling.

The show gets surprisingly deep, and more than a little dark by Season 5. It really delves into the terminal political crisis of the last days of the Republic, and the relationships between the government, big business and the military that are driving the situation towards Empire.

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);

/* I feel better now. */

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I wanted to see the 30th anniversary release in the theater, a few weeks back, but I was afraid Jabba would keep walking through and that Slimer would not slime first.

I have watched most of it with my son. I have never been a huge Star Wars fan, but I would go so far as to say that I enjoyed this series more than any of the movies. It had the length and layers to tell inter-related stories of many interesting characters. And do so with a distinctive style. Characters which annoyed in the prequel movies had more depth and motivation.

Although I disagree about the interest in discovering ā€œthe bad guysā€, breaking down stories to heroes versus villains always struck me as simplistic and boring.

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It is being saved for a time of darkness, when it shall truly be needed:

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Has she had a chance to see Avatar: The Last Air Bender? You may both also enjoy that. Quite a bit of depth to that series as well.

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I have the fancy boxed set of 1-5, complete with art book. Guess I will need season 6 when it comes out.

My 8 year old though isnā€™t into it. She is too sensitive for that much action. And it does get a bit violent in some of the episodes, with torture and what not. Trying to get her to watch the first episode of Rebels that came out.

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Is she really? I saw the first movie at that age, and it felt absolutely perfect. I had intended to wait for my kids to be seven before I showed them the movies, but there were already kids running around my sonā€™s preschool waving lightsabers and hollering ā€œLuke, I am your father,ā€ and there was no way I wanted that reveal to be spoiled. So I showed them the movies last year, when they were six and four-and-a-half.

I wasnā€™t worried so much about the violence or scariness, but I did want them to be sophisticated enough to grasp the politics, so theyā€™d know what an evil Empire was and why there would be a Rebellion. Turned out they grokked it just fine, and the father reveal in ESB got priceless reactions.

Wish Iā€™d heard of Machete Order then. I didnā€™t hear of it until weeks later, and it would have been my preferred order too. Phantom Menace could have been viewed as half-assed ā€œbonus contentā€ later on, if at all. But we ended up watching the movies in the same order I did: good ones first, prequels later.

I find Iā€™m slightly more interested in the Ghostbusters reboot. The all-female cast appeals to me. I think it could have a genuinely fresh perspective and be something we havenā€™t seen a zillion times already.

As for the new Star Wars movies, Iā€™m cautiously, mildly optimistic. They really canā€™t possibly be worse than the prequels, in my mind, and though Iā€™m paying no attention at all to leaks and developments and all the wild speculation (I want no spoilers and fourteen months is a long time to put up with hype and fan hypotheses), I think that Abrams and Disney know what we want. God knows the whole world is aware of What Went Wrong Last Time, and Disney knows by now how to appeal to the grownups as well as the six-year-olds to maximize the return on their four billion dollar investment. Pixar taught them well.

All it needs is a good script and a cast with chemistry and a director who can utilize both to greatest advantage, and the rest will fall into place. Iā€™m no fan of Abramsā€™ Star Trek work (and I am sick unto death of his goddamned lens flares), but to be fair, Abrams was brought up a Star Wars fanboy, and not a Trekkie.

Iā€™ll give him the benefit of the doubt this time.

Itā€™s a better idea than what Iā€™d heard Ackroyd had come up with.

The all-female cast? Seems a bit gimmicky, but I donā€™t have a problem with it, as long as Melissa McCarthy is nowhere near it. But she will be, and sheā€™ll be awful, as per usual.

Iā€™d cast Miranda July and Lena Dunham in it. Maybe with Parker Posey and Greta Gerwig.

Itā€™s still a better idea than Shia LeBoeuf as son of Indy, and at least it wonā€™t be a Seth Rogen/James Franco vehicle.

I just donā€™t see the point, to be honest (beyond the ā€˜make lots of moneyā€™ one).

Episodes 1 and 2 are still too painful to watch.

Did I miss something? What are they? Never heard of them, in my life.

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I also saw the first movie at age 5 but we grew up in a different time. I already thought Guns of Navarrone was an incredible movie. The Magnificent Seven? I may have been able to recite the script. The Clone Wars may be my daughters first TV show with lots of death, and violent at that. She had seen dolphins die and dragons fight, but not a lot of mass death. Star Wars will be that, I think she is pretty ready for it. I am not sure she is ready to see Anakin become the big bad evil force in the Universe. She has an inkling of what is to come and is really confused.

Yeah, Bill Murray loves the idea of her in it. And honestly, sheā€™ll bring the slapstick. Iā€™m having trouble picturing Lena Dunham as a Ghostbuster (not that that is in any way a disqualification; my imagination often needs stretching out), since her comedy is so talky and reflective rather than physical.

Put Parker Posey in it and take my money now. Sheā€™d be a scream, and I havenā€™t seen her in waaaay too long.

But if it never gets made, I wonā€™t cry. Itā€™s not like that particular story ever felt anything like unfinished.

Whoā€™s the big-shot Hollywood producer around here, anyway?

FWIW I donā€™t really like overly broad physical comedy too much. I donā€™t think Ghostbusters would have worked with John Belushi in it (or at least, it would have been a very different film).

I hope they donā€™t feel they need direct analogues for Venkman, Stantz et al and then try to shoehorn actresses in.