On the planet Muunilist, an army of Clone Troopers attacks swarms of warrior Droids; Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi tells his student Anakin Skywalker that his abilities as a pilot are not in question but his maturity is; Master Yoda concurs. It's the cosmos of "Star Wars," but the animated characters have the elegant minimalism of "Samurai Jack."
"Star Wars: Clone Wars," a 20-chapter "epic micro series" debuting in three-minute episodes tonight at 8 on Cartoon Network, represents a fusion of the worlds of George Lucas and Genndy Tartakovsky, the creator of the network's "Dexter's Laboratory" and "Samurai Jack."
When the idea for the program was initially presented to him, Tartakovsky, who served as producer-director, didn't believe it would ever be made. Never mind that executives at Lucasfilm liked Cartoon Network's proposal to create a series that would air while "Episode III" was being filmed.
"I talked to Paul Rudish, who's one of the art directors [on the coming feature], and said, 'This might happen, but I sincerely doubt it. There's no way we're going to do an animated "Star Wars," ' " Tartakovsky recalls. "Cartoon Network initially got approval to make it with one-minute episodes. I told them I couldn't do anything in that short a time; they'd have to be at least three to five minutes. They went back to Lucasfilm and told them they had the team behind 'Samurai Jack,' and they decided we were worthy."
The first hurdle Tartakovsky and his crew had to overcome was their trepidation at tackling a property many viewers regard as just short of Holy Writ. "We tried not to think about the fact that it was 'Star Wars,' we'd loved it as kids, it would be seen by millions of fans -- that pressure would keep you from doing anything," Tartakovsky says. "We all grew up watching the movies, and we felt like we knew them -- not as well as George, of course -- but well enough to add our own interpretations."
Turns out they were right: Lucas likes "Clone Wars." "I'm a big fan of 'Samurai Jack,' so I was really excited when I heard that Genndy was doing this project," he says via e-mail. "I watched 'Clone Wars' with my son Jett right after I got back from shooting 'Episode III,' and we just loved it. 'Clone Wars' is definitely 'Star Wars,' but it clearly has Genndy's style. Visually, it's like nothing else out there."
