http://movies.yahoo.com/summer-movies/Star-Wars-Clone-Wars/1809991325

From what I understand this new movie is actually supposed to be the launch a new tv series.  Quite honestly I'm a little disappointed by the new look of the movie.  George Lucas implemented fantastic 3D effects to revitalize the first triology and produce the second.  This new series looks way too anime.  The hair doesn't look transmapped and the skin/texturing effects look rather simplistic.  Anyone else wishing for something a little more?

Doesn't seem that amazing to be honest. And can we please stop with the fucking clone wars already. There's so many other interesting stories in the star wars universe that they could have done instead of that. The whole series of books set after the fall of the empire, the knights of the old republic stories, the jedi academy books, and so many more.

Or heck called genndy tartakovsky back to do some more kickass action.

Since the movie is a lead-in to the TV series, I'm not surprised. When you're making something that will wind up having to be produced on a television schedule and a television budget, don't expect top notch effects such as strand based hair. It just takes too much time and costs too much.

I'd rather stay in my lane than lay in my stain!

I understand not having strand based hair - but not having transmapped hair?   Plus, the look of the animation is so geared towards the anime crowd - it looks very unoriginal.

Looks like Anime Clones battling a creative block.

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Gosh, what a shame to see a beautiful series of films reduced to a cartoon.

Quote - Gosh, what a shame to see a beautiful series of films reduced to a cartoon.

And a badly rendered cartoon at that. I was absolutely shocked at how bad this looks to the point that I was suspicious that LucasArts had anything to do with it. Man, this is like an older generation game engine. The eyes in particular look horrible.

I don't know. I thought it looked nice. Certainly cartoon-y and aimed at a younger crowd, but enjoyable to look at. Definitely not "like an older generation game". It just had a specific, anti-realistic style. It kind of reminded me of some of the later "Tripping the Rift" episodes, in terms of rendering quality. Just my two-cents.

I dunno, guys. I kinda liked the style of it. Yeah, it's not the movies, but it's not supposed to be: it's a TV series preceded by a TV movie. The animation looks decent. They got the cloth dynamics down nicely. The stylization of the characters is pretty consistent throughout, as much as one can tell from a trailer. I agree that the whole "clone wars" thing is overdone, but what do you expect these days, when war sells so nicely? :-)

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At least it's a step up from texuring in Jane and the Dragon.  I think  'Made for TV' may become a synonym for low quality 3D CG

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As a fan of the animated shorts, and the style, I really like that trailer.

Not all cgi needs to look the same, and the animated style is very popular today.. there are animated star wars maquettes, animated LOTR maquettes, and even animated Pirate of the carrabean maquettes, as well as animated toy versions of the star wars and pirates designs.

I don't want all cgi to look like final fantasy. if you watch any of the clone wars animated shorts, you'll find they have the exact same style as this new cgi counterpart.

Yeah I coulda lives quite well without more clone wars crap, but this doesn't look bad to me at all, and looks far better then say, Barnyard.

Look at other cgi tv shows.. max steel, action man, beast wars/beast machines, reboot, weird ohs, and you'll find this new stars wars series is better then all of them.

(Though I REALLY wish they put WeirdOhs out on dvd!)

And it's gotta be FAR better then all the reaility Tv on of late, riiight? LOL!

Way too many people take way too many things way too seriously.

I agree Gareee, it is simply a different style and looks a lot like the cartoon they did and a number of animated maquettes that I have seen through the years.

To answer the original question and thread title....Nope!

The cartoons were better than the live action ones anyway (referring to prequels) so i don't have any complaints about till i watch the whole movie.

they're not bad, they're just drawn that way...;)

I wish I'd said that.. The Staircase Wit

anahl nathrak uth vas betude doth yel dyenvey..;)

It looks like REALLY badly done cut-scenes from a video game.  I've seen fantastic looking stuff come out of the video game industry, especially lately, but the Clone War CGI just looks awful, IMO. Smooth animation, and strand hair would help. If Pixar can do strand hair, if they can have strand hair on 'Jane and the Dragon" this SW CGI movie SHOULD.

I waded through the prequals and thought they were good movies....not GREAT, but good with stellar special effects.  I thought at first this was one of those fly-by-night fan-made movies. If this is all they have left...I'm not spending any more money on 'em.

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Strand hair wouldn't look at all like the animated style they are shooting for.

Just because you can to do something doesn't mean they should...And if you look in the various star wars forums, people who were fans of the animated clone wars series are all LOVING the trailer, and drooling on themselves in anticipation over it.

CGI movies should have thier own unique style, and pick and choose what tech to use or not use.

Way too many people take way too many things way too seriously.

I am in complete agreement with Garee

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Akira looks different visually from Beauty and the Beast.  Both are (mostly) hand-drawn animation, but the fact they're stylistically different just means they're stylistically different.  And both look different from the animated DC Universe shows (Batman, Batman Beyond, Superman, Justice League).  The latter are more "primitive" in terms of the artwork, but the shows themselves are still very good.

Expecting all CGI to go for the photorealistic look is as silly as expecting all traditional animation to look the same, or all comic artists to draw the same.

Didn't LucasArt's open a studio in Singapore for the production of this project ?

I never read anything like that. They did a toy set based off the clone wars acrtoons, and the prices on those skyrocketed on the secondrary market. it's popularity prompted them to do a second clone wars cartoon set, and it's popularity has spawned another toy line, and this series.

I think I prefer the clone wars cartoons to the prequel movies in some cases.

Way too many people take way too many things way too seriously.

Quote - http://movies.yahoo.com/summer-movies/Star-Wars-Clone-Wars/1809991325

From what I understand this new movie is actually supposed to be the launch a new tv series.  Quite honestly I'm a little disappointed by the new look of the movie.  George Lucas implemented fantastic 3D effects to revitalize the first triology and produce the second.  This new series looks way too anime.  The hair doesn't look transmapped and the skin/texturing effects look rather simplistic.  Anyone else wishing for something a little more?

Ok.. quick caveat, not the biggest star wars fan to begin with.  I enjoyed the originals, don't get me wrong, but the second trilogy set had me rather annoyed.  Special effects were A+ of course, but the plot line.. sheesh.

Ok, we need to make Amadalah a Queen because Leah is a princess.. well, except that she apparently gets democratically elected to Queen and only holds the position for 4 years?  Oh, and of course nobody would know Leah is actually a princess since she was secretly adopted by the Organa's anyway.... ick.. Some serious plot holes and obvious gaffe's in the story cropped up almost immediately.  Honestly by the end of the 2nd movie in the 2nd triology I was just begging for Anakin to finally turn tot he dark side, the sooner the better.  Anything to stop his incessant whining.

So when it comes to Star Wars I must admit it's hit or miss with me, but this TV series looks like a total miss.  The animation is beyond low budget, it's horrible.  I've seen stuff with much higher production values done by Star Wars geeks with home video cameras and hobbiest software like Poser.  And if the animation is that bad, one can only imagine how little attention was paid to storyline.  Nope, looks like this will be a pass for me.

-Never fear, RenderDog is near!  Oh wait, is that a chew toy?  Yup. ok, nevermind.. go back to fearing...

Quote - Expecting all CGI to go for the photorealistic look is as silly as expecting all traditional animation to look the same, or all comic artists to draw the same.

Photorealistic is not synonymous with 'good quality', creativity or innovation.

Where I think it falls short for my taste is in character texturing. Some are nice and sort of creative. Like what I can see with storm troopers and spaceships and couple of environments in the trailer.
Others, whom seem to be important characters in the story are bah humbug too simplistic, like they spray-painted a clay model instead of texturing a character, or like the character developer had a creative block.

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 Is this different from The Clone Wars anime shown on Cartoon Network?  (that was shown years ago, and it was pretty cool, imho. In some ways more interesting than the movies. The animator was the guy who did Samurai Jack, -- which is also cool).

OR this is a 3d spin off of the anime Clone Wars?

confuzzled

Here's a semi-related article -- the movie reviewer in this case is actually talking about the absolutely abysmal Speed Racer (another great, stupendous, high-concept-ART CGI megahit -- with no hackneyed V4's in temples to be seen anywhere!!!!!), but the reviewer also kindly and helpfully throws in a few barbed comments about how Lucas himself has come to be regarded in the business:

*Are the Wachowski brothers the new George Lucas?

It wasn't so long ago that the question would have been an implied compliment. But Lucas's cinematic reputation has taken a (deserved) beating in recent years, and it's in this latter sense that I suggest the comparison. Like Lucas, the Wachowskis quickly graduated from small, character-driven cinema (Bound is still my favorite of their movies) to special-effects-laden blockbusters (the Matrix trilogy). And, like Lucas, as they have focused more and more on the digitized environments in which their stories play out, they are less and less interested in the human beings trapped within them.*

[snip]

Worse still are the moments when Speed Racer slows down. The cast is solid, but the performances feel half-hearted and rote. As with Lucas's latter Star Wars pictures, it often seems as though background and foreground have traded places, with the former the subject of the filmmakers' passion and the latter treated as a tiresome necessity.

http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=4fcdb9b7-5f50-4bf7-93de-3b803d48752a

Something To Do At 3:00AM 

Quote -  Is this different from The Clone Wars anime shown on Cartoon Network?  (that was shown years ago, and it was pretty cool, imho. In some ways more interesting than the movies. The animator was the guy who did Samurai Jack, -- which is also cool).

OR this is a 3d spin off of the anime Clone Wars?

confuzzled

3d spin off of the anime Clone Wars.

Way too many people take way too many things way too seriously.

I think I know what REALLY bothers me about the style of it...It looks like a COMMERCIAL populated by action-figures!  Something bothered about the clip since I saw it, and I couldn't really put my finger on it until I saw it twice.

Style works well in hand-drawn cartoons.  Hand-drawn images always have that because of the people doing them. When everything in a CGI looks real, except for the people, it's a lot more jarring. Pixar worked VERY hard to make the people in the Incredibles 'feel' believable by putting in quirks of expression, dynamic hair, and believable shaders for the skin. I thought strand hair was what was missing.   I was wrong.

In the close-up of Ben Kenobi, he looked plastic.  Literally like a close-up of an action figure. A decade or so ago when Reboot was all the rage and people were raving about the effects in 'The Last Starfighter', this movie would have been ground-breaking. It just seems like like this is just a slap-dash thrown together effort from the look of it.  I think this is a total two hour commercial for action figures.

Few people might not remember the feelings of betrayals the Return of the Jedi engendered in some people when it turned into an advertisment for "Ewok Teddy Bears" and all the gawd awful Ewok crap that followed the first three movies.  Apparently Lucas is just up to it again. :lol: LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL At least this stuff is not as revolting as Ewoks!  :lol: LOLOLOLOL

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IMHO, most (but not quite all) of what Lucas has done since the original Star Wars trilogy belongs on the Saturday morning television cartoon lineup.  And you're right: he was already displaying unfortunate inclinations in that direction even back in the day -- the Ewoks were a nice, saccharin overdose of cute.

I suppose that it was a similar impulse which inspired NASA scientists to give names like "Scooby Doo" to the first dusty rocks which were found by the Mars rover.

But then again: if the original Star Wars trilogy hadn't been infused with "cute", then the series might not have been nearly as popular as it was, either.  "Serious" scifi usually tends to appeal to a niche audience.

Something To Do At 3:00AM 

FWIW - IMO Carrie Fisher is one of the absolute worst actresses to ever appear on the big screen.  Her awful, wooden acting in the original series put me in mind of a 6th-grade school play performance by a semi-talented middle school student.

I've seen her do a lot worse than even that in other......uh......."movies" that she's been in.  One of them being a likely career-ending performance in some Australian-made indie film about aliens abducting people in the jungle -- or something like that.

Something To Do At 3:00AM 

The thing is that this is what the style is based off of. A very popular animated series and a popular series of statues and maquettes.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0361243/

http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/bbts/menu.aspx?menu=523&company=39 (Things labeled animated) and http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/bbts/product.aspx?product=GG10078&mode=retail&picture=out

Which also ties into http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/bbts/product.aspx?product=GG10119&mode=retail&picture=out and http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/bbts/product.aspx?product=GG10124&mode=retail&picture=out and similar things ...

gad..I haven't seen Carrie Fischer since Jay and Silent Bob strike back...;)

I wish I'd said that.. The Staircase Wit

anahl nathrak uth vas betude doth yel dyenvey..;)

Quote - gad..I haven't seen Carrie Fischer since Jay and Silent Bob strike back...;)

Yeah that was talent! She should stick to comedy.

We just saw the trailer for it in the theater before speed racer, and my better have is really juiced looking foreward to it.. she didn't know it was the base for the new tv series, and she is REALLY looking foreward to it. (She also bought all the clone wars animated styled figures as well.)

Way too many people take way too many things way too seriously.

Quote - > Quote - Expecting all CGI to go for the photorealistic look is as silly as expecting all traditional animation to look the same, or all comic artists to draw the same.

Photorealistic is not synonymous with 'good quality', creativity or innovation.

Where I think it falls short for my taste is in character texturing. Some are nice and sort of creative. Like what I can see with storm troopers and spaceships and couple of environments in the trailer.
Others, whom seem to be important characters in the story are bah humbug too simplistic, like they spray-painted a clay model instead of texturing a character, or like the character developer had a creative block.

Just look at Final Fantasy:The Spirits Within and you'll get the point. It was the first animated feature to attempt photorealism and from that standpoint it was a technical milestone. But the movie bombed in the box office because its story was a letdown.

I think I will wait till DVD before spending money on this movie.

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Fans Dont care about "strand hair" Many LOVE this highly  stylized look and it will make it ALOT easier/cheaper to produce this as a TV series

Looking forward to this latest foray into the
Star wars universe!!!

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Wolf.. didja take yer nick from the Outer Limits episode title?

I JUST watched that a few days ago!

Way too many people take way too many things way too seriously.

Quote - Wolf.. didja take yer nick from the Outer Limits episode title?

I JUST watched that a few days ago!

Actually its from  the location of the place where the entir  "Federation"  fleet was routed by a single borg Cube
the battle of "Wolf359"

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I can't BELIEVE Gareee didn't know that! I'm rescinding his Sci-Fi membership!

There's actually a Outer Limits episode titled Wolf 359.. could be that star trek also used it as an omage to it as well, since outer limits seemed to feature almost all the original trek stars.

http://www.tv.com/the-outer-limits-1963/wolf-359/episode/21569/summary.html?tag=ep_list;ep_title;7

Way too many people take way too many things way too seriously.

Quote - There's actually a Outer Limits episode titled Wolf 359.. could be that star trek also used it as an omage to it as well, since outer limits seemed to feature almost all the original trek stars.

http://www.tv.com/the-outer-limits-1963/wolf-359/episode/21569/summary.html?tag=ep_list;ep_title;7

Ok I have to turn in my Sci-Fi badge then! I didn't know that one and it predates Star Trek:TNG. My only excuse is I was only 1 year old in 1964 when it aired and I musta missed it in reruns.

LOL.. I only came across it because it's on my rewatch list the last month or so

Just watched half of it yesterday

Way too many people take way too many things way too seriously.

i think wolf359 is a star system, there is probably 358 other wolf systems,
as for the trailer, i liked it, but i dont think that is hair that everyone is complaining about, its clearly wood stuck to there faces....

Getting old and still making "art" without soiling myself, now that's success.

Star system? close...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolf_359

But even better....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stars_and_planetary_systems_in_fiction#Wolf_359

Way too many people take way too many things way too seriously.

Back on topic - I recognize that this is a stylized look - it's not just something original...

Super-marionation done in CGI style? Look!  It's Ben Kenobi in the Supercar!  AH, it's alright....Annakin's called on the Thunderbirds to rescue him? LOLOLOLOLOL

I cannot save the world. Only my little piece of it. If we all act together, we can save the world.--Nelson Mandela
An  inconsistent hobgoblin is the fool of little minds
Taking "Just do it" to a whole new level!   

I rented the "Appleseed Exmachina" DVD today. Now THAT is what I consider to be a decent attempt to do "3D Anime"...if you get by the fact that it's a poor plot and bad characters. The cartoon rendering system they use does a nice job of making sort of a "2 1/2 D" look. The characters have just that "right" feel about them to be anime...unlike this new 3D Star Wars cartoon.

You know, looking at the sample Star Wars images, they remind me less of anime and more of the "Lego's" Star Wars video game.

I'd rather stay in my lane than lay in my stain!

They aren't meant to be anime :) Animated doesn't mean anime ... It is jsut a different style and you don't always need to be original to be good. They are also being consistent with the animated look that people have come to like and consistency is a good thing.

My biggest problem with it is that it's set in the flippin' CLONE WARS again.

I thought the new series was supposed to be set in the 30-odd years between the "new" trilogy and the "old" one. 

We already know what's to become of Anakin and Count Duckula.  I liked the cartoons that came out before Episode 3, but c'mon, there's plenty of room for new stories between the two trilogies.

Quote - Few people might not remember the feelings of betrayals the Return of the Jedi engendered in some people when it turned into an advertisment for "Ewok Teddy Bears" and all the gawd awful Ewok crap that followed the first three movies.  Apparently Lucas is just up to it again. :lol: LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL At least this stuff is not as revolting as Ewoks!  :lol: LOLOLOLOL

Hey now - none of that.  I happen to love Ewoks.  Especially with BBQ sauce.  Mmmm - good eating.

:)

-Never fear, RenderDog is near!  Oh wait, is that a chew toy?  Yup. ok, nevermind.. go back to fearing...

Quote - FWIW - IMO Carrie Fisher is one of the absolute worst actresses to ever appear on the big screen.  Her awful, wooden acting in the original series put me in mind of a 6th-grade school play performance by a semi-talented middle school student.

I've seen her do a lot worse than even that in other......uh......."movies" that she's been in.  One of them being a likely career-ending performance in some Australian-made indie film about aliens abducting people in the jungle -- or something like that.

Carrie Fisher?  Oh, she's bad alright - no debate there.  But not even close to the worst.  Julie Roberts.  My goodness.  She doesn't act, she just plays herself in every movie.  And that face - egads.  Sea Biscuit had less of a horse face than she does.  Yikes.

But even Julie Roberts can't come close to the top of the list.  Nope, that honor in my book has to go, hands down mind you, to Madonna.  Wow.  Words cannot even express how absolutely terrible she was in every movie she was ever in.  Even the fact that the movies were such stinkers could disguise her absolute and total lack of talent.  When you can get blown away in the acting category by the likes of Gary Coleman and Brittany Spears, you just have no business being on film.  Or even in public for that matter.

-Never fear, RenderDog is near!  Oh wait, is that a chew toy?  Yup. ok, nevermind.. go back to fearing...

Quote -
Just look at Final Fantasy:The Spirits Within and you'll get the point. It was the first animated feature to attempt photorealism and from that standpoint it was a technical milestone. But the movie bombed in the box office because its story was a letdown.

Somebody probably should have mentioned to the writers before hand that most sci fi fans aren't really much on preachy environmentalist new age rhetoric crap in there story lines.  Go figure.  Lol

-Never fear, RenderDog is near!  Oh wait, is that a chew toy?  Yup. ok, nevermind.. go back to fearing...

Well, at least its not animated in the "dexter's laboratory" style cartoon unlike before. So they simply merged the dexter style and 3d together and they have a new product.

And, its easier to animate a model this way for using real models will demand too much perfection.

To add CONSPIRACY to the subject, the cabal reanimated the ooooold movie to brainwash the  kids and unsuspecting populace to turn from good to bad after a tragic experience in preparation to enslave us all by idolizing and symphatizing with Annakin. :O

Passion is anger and love combined. So if it looks angry, give it some love!

Hey! I LOVE Dexter's Lab, and even Puffy Ami Uni!

Way too many people take way too many things way too seriously.

Quote - To add CONSPIRACY to the subject, the cabal reanimated the ooooold movie to brainwash the  kids and unsuspecting populace to turn from good to bad after a tragic experience in preparation to enslave us all by idolizing and symphatizing with Annakin. :O

Well, kids aren't nearly as unsuspecting as we'd like to think.  In fact I have a feeling they are actually the ones running the cabal - it would explain a lot.  Lol

-Never fear, RenderDog is near!  Oh wait, is that a chew toy?  Yup. ok, nevermind.. go back to fearing...

I think Final Fantasy is just being scapegoated as a reason to not do photorealism.  Look at The Polar Express and Beowulf - which had decent stories and were photorealistic.  So it is possible to have a successful photorealistic 3d movie.  I think it's more of an issue of marketing - if movie makers make films more cartoony (which Pixar admittedly does), then they able to attract a younger audience.

On a side note, in terms of bad actresses, Katie Holmes hasn't done anything since The Ice Storm that has been worth watching.

Quote - I think Final Fantasy is just being scapegoated as a reason to not do photorealism.  Look at The Polar Express and Beowulf - which had decent stories and were photorealistic.  So it is possible to have a successful photorealistic 3d movie.  I think it's more of an issue of marketing - if movie makers make films more cartoony (which Pixar admittedly does), then they able to attract a younger audience.

On a side note, in terms of bad actresses, Katie Holmes hasn't done anything since The Ice Storm that has been worth watching.

True, but she did push Tom Cruise of the deep end, which was worth watching, and it moves her stock up just slightly on the list as a result.   Lol

-Never fear, RenderDog is near!  Oh wait, is that a chew toy?  Yup. ok, nevermind.. go back to fearing...

The other thing I don't like, and this was noticeable in the second trilogy, too, is the way Yoda talks.  Yes, he always talked strangely, but he didn't do it every sentence.

When Luke told Yoda that he wasn't afraid in ESB, Yoda did not famously say "Be, you will."  Be, you will."

GoM hit it.

Do you honestly think this is the best Lucas, who's movies have featured photo realistic 3d characters, could do?

The style and quality are specifically intended to be exactly as they are since they chose to exactly emulate the style of the 2d cartoon.

Do I think it was necessarily a great idea to go for this look? No. But at the same time I don't think they could have really produced a photo real series for TV and kept the quality up from what they can do for a movie.

I'm not a fan of the look, but I understand why it looks as it looks and that it looks that way on purpose. It seems intended for kids, Star Wars has always appealed to kids. Lucas is smart and knows how to make a buck, this is not a move that was arrived at over night.

And honestly, if they make this series look like living action figures how do you think that's gonna effect the action figure sales when they come out? Through the roof right?

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I like the new look.  Anime meets playdoe.

I like the Galactic Heroes toyes too (see link).

IMHO, Fisher was perfect in the first (fourth?) movie. Sure, she was wooden, but so was everyone else because that was the whole idea: it was supposed to be this cheezy homage to those 30s-era Saturday morning serials. Then Lucas decided he wanted to create something serious, and the whole thing went to hell from there. Sorry, but the last three (first three?) are almost unwatchable, and the "added CG effects" put into the first three (last three?) took all the fun out of all of them, especially the first (fourth?).

If Lucas had stuck to the concept, it would have been a very different series, no question about it... but it wouldnt have been the angst-laden mess we have now.

Final Fantasy? They needed to spend more than a weekend writing the script. The storyline is almost incomprehensible. Gorgeoous to look at, sure, but it took me three times watching to figure out what was going on and what happened in the last fifteen minutes.

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Quote - IMHO, Fisher was perfect in the first (fourth?) movie. Sure, she was wooden, but so was everyone else because that was the whole idea: it was supposed to be this cheezy homage to those 30s-era Saturday morning serials. Then Lucas decided he wanted to create something serious, and the whole thing went to hell from there. Sorry, but the last three (first three?) are almost unwatchable, and the "added CG effects" put into the first three (last three?) took all the fun out of all of them, especially the first (fourth?).

If Lucas had stuck to the concept, it would have been a very different series, no question about it... but it wouldnt have been the angst-laden mess we have now.

Hrmm...I never really looked at it that way but if that ruin's it for you I guess it's bad. Frankly I never paid that muchattention to the concept of it being an Homage to anything. I just watched and enjoyed it for being Skiffy!

>> Frankly I never paid that muchattention to the concept of it being an Homage to anything

Go look at some of those old serials, like Flash Gordon or Buck Rogers, and you'll see where he got a lot of his original ideas.

docandraider.com -- the collected cartoons of Doc and Raider

Yeah I'm a big fan of the hasbro galactic heroes, also the superhero showdown figures (marvel comic characters), and also the new indiana jones figures done in the same style. I like em cause the artwork on the packages is killer, and the figures all have a cute 'twist" to them.

The Millenium falcon, and x wing done in the same style are just great. I not really fond of star wars licensing at all anymore, but these did catch my fancy.. and spud vader, and the spud trooper... ;)

Way too many people take way too many things way too seriously.

Quote - >> Frankly I never paid that muchattention to the concept of it being an Homage to anything

Go look at some of those old serials, like Flash Gordon or Buck Rogers, and you'll see where he got a lot of his original ideas.

Oh I recognise that now, I'm just sayin'! When they came out I was in Jr. High and my art teacher took me to see the first one with his (VERY Cute) son. I might have been a bit distracted.

I think the only reason of doing 3d animation photorealistically is to demonstrate that it could be done. IMHO the closer an animated movie looks "real" the more it loses its appeal as an animated film. IBeowulf and Gollum from LOTR looked very real but there were tells that still made them look and act CGI. I think that we will come to that point that it will be hard to distinguish a 3d animation from live action. And when that time comes, what will be the point of doing a 3d animation that looks live action rather than a live action with CGI elements when you can't distinguish both from each other. I guess my point is keeping a 3d animation cartoony is not a bad thing.

>> And when that time comes, what will be the point of doing a 3d animation that looks live action

In a perverse way, economics.

Your stars will never age; they will always be young and beautiful and handsome and capable of doing their own stunts and easy to costume because they'll never gain or lose weight.

The Japanese figured this out years ago when they introduced the first totally CG newscaster. She was a huge hit, not only because she was easy on the eyes but she was easy to license for other uses, like posters and cel phone wallpapers and ads for fast food and perfume. Her union never complained that she was being overworked, because she had no union. She was always on time, knew her lines, never required more than a single take for a commercial. She never got into any scandals. She was, bottom line, the perfect employee.

That is why Hollywood is so fascinated with photorealistic CG characters.

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