The Jedi are coming to television -- and, judging by the thunderous ovation on Sunday that greeted a sneak peak of the animated CGI show, the Force remains strong with them.
Even though the show's scheduled debut remains two years away, fans at a global celebration of "Star Wars" in Los Angeles cheered, hooted, clapped and even shouted "I love you!" after a trailer for "The Clone Wars," which is the maiden effort of Lucasfilm Animation, the newest addition to the storytelling galaxy of George Lucas.
The two minutes of footage showed intense battle scenes and considerable action by Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, C3-PO, Mace Windu and the other familiar players in the "Star Wars" saga. The art struck a middle ground between the dramatically stylized, hand-drawn look of the Cartoon Network series with a similar name that aired from 2003 to 2005 and the photo-realistic CGI world that Lucas used with great efficiency in the most recent "Star Wars" live-action films.
The trailer was posted Sunday at starwars.com.
The use of vivid color and lighting stood in stark contrast to the Cartoon Network series while the facial features of the characters made it apparent that this was not a live-action film. Scenes of armored troopers and ships in battle seemed fairly close to live action, but Kenobi has a face that looks not unlike a wooden sculpture of one of the Knights of the Round Table.
The mix was a purposeful one, said supervising director Dave Filoni, who had worked previously on the animated Nickelodeon series "Avatar: The Last Airbender." Filoni showed the crowd pre-production character sculptures that were geared toward creating iconic visages and not overreaching for photorealism that can make many CGI features seem oddly disconcerting. He said the hope was to avoid "the vacant" look that has undermined many past CGI features.
"It's a dilemma in CGI how to deal with human beings," he said. "We wanted you to look into their eyes and believe in these characters." The premiere came during Celebration IV, marking the 30th anniversary of the first "Star Wars" film. The five-day Lucas-sanctioned event, which ended Monday, brought thousands of fans from around the world and filled the Los Angeles Convention Center with merchants, stars of the franchise and legions of costumed fans.
