THE CLONE WARS - EPISODE NIL: Is Star Wars Really Dead?

[Cruel_Sandwich]

Posted: 8/14/08 at 2:52pm

Reading this piece (http://www.reelviews.net/php_reelthoughts_template.php?identifier=495) on George Lucas' huge reputation drop is pretty interesting. It is rather fascinating to think how much STAR WARS has changed over the years. From a relentlessly imaginative film to a relentlessly imaginative film trilogy to an icon to a less impressive-but-unintentionally hilarious trilogy to...THE CLONE WARS.

Checketh it out. What do you guys think?

Posted: 8/14/08 at 2:55pm

I saw that movie with Jar Jar Binks on cable the other night. Completely unwatchable. I can't believe Star Wars isn't dead already.

[Roscoe]

Posted: 8/14/08 at 2:57pm

It died when Jar Jar Binks appeared on screen. Any remaining life in the corpse was destroyed by Hayden Christensen's inept performance as Annakin Skywalker.

Which of course means that George Lucas destroyed his own work by creating Jar Jar and allowing little Hayden to deliver a performance that even Keanu wouldn't have settled for.

Posted: 8/14/08 at 2:58pm

It's not just Hayden. There were so many wooden performances it played like Pinocchio 2.

[Roscoe]

Posted: 8/14/08 at 2:59pm

True, but Hayden was the worst. Shirley Temple has more of a dark side than he does.

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 8/14/08 at 3:02pm

Yeah, Lucas' fall is almost as depressing as Michael Jackson's.

[Roscoe]

Posted: 8/14/08 at 3:03pm

Well, the series only died as something worth paying attention to. I'm sure that Lucas will continue to milk it forever and ever and ever, as long as there are home video formats and video games and people willing to spend money on this stuff.

Good luck to him. I'll only ever bother with STAR WARS and EMPIRE STRIKES BACK any more. The others aren't worth the time.

Updated On: 8/14/08 at 03:03 PM

[Cruel_Sandwich]

Posted: 8/14/08 at 3:04pm

I didn't even hate the prequels that much.

[Roscoe]

Posted: 8/14/08 at 3:05pm

I'm sure you didn't.

[tazber]

Posted: 8/14/08 at 3:07pm

Hayden was like Brando compared to the kid who played Anakin in the first prequel. I cringed every time he read a line.

I hear that this new cartoon has Jabba's gay uncle in it.

I am dead serious.

[Roscoe]

Posted: 8/14/08 at 3:12pm

True, taz, but little Jake Lloyd was just a kid. A staggeringly untalented kid, who hasn't had much of a career since, of course. I remember cringing when he whipped off his helmet after winning the pod race and yelled "Yippeee!"

And little Jake was only in the one film. Lucas gave us two movies worth of Christensen's flabby line readings and sad attempts at conveying menace.

[Weez]

Posted: 8/14/08 at 3:14pm

The new trilogy can bite me, but I don't mind the look of 'The Clone Wars'. Frankly, he can't make it any worse, and I do like the art-style.

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 8/14/08 at 3:15pm

Apparently, Lucas had the cast doing umpteen zillion takes. Hours on end of speaking that utterly inane dialogue would send any actor into zombie-land. I don't hold it against any of them, even that wretched little kid.

Lord, remember the rumpus the opening of Phantom Menace caused? Oh, all those dashed little geek dreams.

Updated On: 8/14/08 at 03:15 PM

[tazber]

Posted: 8/14/08 at 3:16pm

I was one of those with dashed geek dreams borstal.

[Roscoe]

Posted: 8/14/08 at 3:26pm

I went to a 5:00 a.m. screening on the opening day of PHANTOM MENACE. I was young(er), I was gullible, I didn't know what horror was in store.

Posted: 8/14/08 at 3:42pm

You didn't like it? I sat with a flow chart, outlining the trade relations between various entities and the roles of each diplomat in the trade embargoes and tariffs. I was moved to tears.

[Roscoe]

Posted: 8/14/08 at 3:45pm

Well, it was FUN, wasn't it? And that's all that matters!!

[skb2010]

Posted: 8/14/08 at 4:14pm

I just liked Ewan McGregor.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 8/14/08 at 4:19pm

So when does this film take place? I'm not a big Star Wars fan and kinda confused.

[tazber]

Posted: 8/14/08 at 4:26pm

between the second and third prequels.

[Wildcard]

Posted: 8/14/08 at 6:49pm

The Star Wars brand is still earning millions for Mr. Lucas so I'd have to say it's far from dead. Perhaps the thrill of the original movies is gone with the new trilogy but in hindsight, they were just as ridiculous as the new movies with lines just as bad. However, there weren't as many visual blockbusters in the past as there are today. I'm sure many kids today have a fondness for the prequel trilogy as much as we did for the original one.

[Cruel_Sandwich]

Posted: 8/14/08 at 7:49pm

I like how this movie is a sequel to a prequel as well as a prequel to a prequel.

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 8/14/08 at 11:37pm

I blame Lucas for the bad performances. Hayden has been quite good in other films. And other talented actors were left squirming in those prequels.

I'm gonna see this new film. But I am dreading how bad it sounds like it is.

And I'm excited about the new video game which is essential Episode 3.5--the film people wanted Episode 3 to be: Vader going around and killing all the Jedi.

[skb2010]

Posted: 8/15/08 at 3:38am

[tazber]

Posted: 8/15/08 at 7:30am

I love this snippet from Joblo's review:

"But wait...There's more. Turns out Jabba's got an evil, cross dressing, English speaking cousin who sounds suspiciously like Truman Capote. Once this character hit the screen, I honestly could not believe what I was seeing. For a second, I thought someone might have spiked my coffee with LSD, but alas, I was not high."


The whole 0/10 review