NOW AIRING WORLDWIDE: 'TALES OF THE JEDI'

The deservedly ever-popular The Clone Wars animated series makes a welcome return via a distinctive new way of storytelling - Dave Filoni's innovative Tales of the Jedi series, now airing exclusively on Disney+. And well worth watching it is too, filling in the character/story gaps before, during, and after the Prequels, and most notably for an excellent Count Dooku arc.

All-in-all, it's a fitting end to a great year celebrating both the Prequels and the Twentieth Anniversary of Attack of the Clones.

A lovely batch of recently released episodic promotional images.

                                               

BEFORE 'THE CLONE WARS', THERE WAS 'TALES OF THE JEDI'...

 

Origins of light and dark, journeys of good and evil will be tantalizingly revealed, as the all-new animated series Tales of the Jedi debuts its six-episode shorts from October 26th, 2022, only on Disney+. We've always been curious and wanting to onscreen discover the triggers that made the young Count Dooku eventually choose to abandon the Jedi Order whom so respected him by the time of EPISODE II, and how his intriguing Padawan relationship with a very young Qui-Gon Jinn sustained itself through difficult times. Equally, for the worldwide legions of fans of Ahsoka Tano, her origins from birth to youngling will surely prove equally captivating.

EPISODE III: A TIME OF CRISIS AND BETRAYAL!

The time has come for the Republic to fall and for the Jedi Order to witness the shocking betrayal from Order 66, in this great showcase for the film's apocalyptic middle, with Mace Windu in action, as well as the Sith villains and Wookiee heroes, on one of the effective Dave Dorman art covers for the Dark Horse comics acclaimed Revenge of the Sith comic adaptation.

THE CLONE WARS: A MURDEROUS MYSTERY CLOSED?

In his expansive office on Coruscant, Supreme Chancellor Palpatine puts an end to the matter of the mystery Clone Soldiers turning on their Jedi Masters, in this superb animation image from The Clone Wars Season Six episode four, Orders, whose story perfectly leads into the live-action realms/continuity of Revenge of the Sith, and its still-shocking Order 66 sequence...

CLASSIC IMAGE: THAT HOODED STARE!

Icon coolly continuing to reign supreme as that bad-ass hero Jedi with an edge, Mace Windu, during the critical events leading to and within The Clone Wars, Samuel L. Jackson was truly one of the best things to happen to the STAR WARS Prequels, where his brave but intimidating screen presence and supreme lightsaber-wielding abilities soon wowed audiences and fans of all ages worldwide.

'THE CLONE WARS' - THE FINAL SEASON TRAILER DEBUTS!

Prequel lovers and all fans of superb animation rejoice! A full highlights trailer for the final season of The Clone Wars - coming to Disney+ from February 21st, 2020 - is here!

Official announcement and new poster:

https://www.starwars.com/news/star-wars-the-clone-wars-returns-on-disney-february-21

Trailer:

(12) Star Wars: The Clone Wars | Official Trailer | Disney+ - YouTube

THE 'PHANTOM' AT TWENTY: TO MOURN A JEDI...

A tribute to the fallen...

The victory of liberating Naboo has come at a terrible price, as important mourners from across the galaxy join the Queen and her people in honouring the passing of Jedi Knight Qui-Gon Jinn, his body burnt to ash but his soul transferred to the Force.

Above set showing the mourners at Qui-Gon's funeral.

Sio Bibble (Oliver Ford Davis), a Handmaiden, Ric Olie (Ralph Brown) and R2-D2 (Kenny Baker) are also among the background attendees.

"There's no doubt the mysterious warrior was a Sith..."

Having promised Qui-Gon to train the boy, Obi-Wan takes the upset Anakin Skywalker under his wing. A filmed but deleted line from Obi-Wan to Anakin: "He is one with the Force, Anakin... You must let go." 

Meanwhile, the Jedi Council ponder the continuing mystery of the returned Sith.

"Always two there are. A master and an apprentice..."

A turning point for the galaxy lies ahead...

THE 'PHANTOM' AT TWENTY- ANAKIN IS TESTED

Qui-Gon Jinn strongly believes that young Anakin Skywalker is "The Chosen One" of ancient Jedi prophecy. Now tested by the venerable Master Yoda and his colleagues on the council, will the nervous boy get the chance to fulfill his destiny in that sacred order protecting the galaxy?

Coruscant sunset image art by ILM.

"I was just totally taken by the whole visual (landscape) of that world (the windows of the Jedi Temple out into the Coruscant skies), You just sit there and watch it and you go, 'Wow, this is a cool place. I wish I could see that or could walk around this city."

Samuel L. Jackson - Starburst magazine - 1999

THE 'PHANTOM' AT TWENTY: INTRODUCING MACE WINDU

With a subtly intense stare and a genuine aura sense of refined power about him, Jedi Master Mace Windu is a Jedi of distinction and truly at one with the nature and energies of the Force, and confident in his role within the Jedi Council and the Republic leaders they serve- second only in leadership responsibility to Master Yoda himself. Who better to play one of the coolest Jedi ever seen in the saga than one of the coolest men ever to reside on planet Earth: Samuel L. Jackson!

Jackson's enthusiasm for the saga has been a constant since the original film's New York opening in 1977. For EPISODE I he would be on the Leavesden set filming his Jedi Temple scenes over four days and working from six script pages of dialogue revealed only prior to shooting. By 1999, George Lucas was clear to tell Jackson that Mace was a developing character, of which there would ultimately be lots of things ahead for him with the remaining prequels.

"I was doing a lot of interviews for some other film and reporters ten toy ask you questions like, 'Is there any director that you haven't worked with that you've got to work with?' I remembered that George Lucas was about to do The Phantom Menace, so I said, I'd really like to work with George Lucas on this new Star Wars film. And I said it often enough and I said it on a London talk show (the Chris Evans hosted T.F.I. Friday). Somebody heard it and told him and I got invited to the Lucasfilm Ranch. When I met George, I told him, 'Look, I'm really serious. I'll do anything. I'm not trying to be the star of your movie. I'll be a stormtrooper. You can cover my face. Whatever, I don't care. As long as I know I'm in the movie, I'm happy.' George said, 'We'll see what we can do.'"

Samuel L. Jackson - Starburst magazine - 1999

Rehearsing a scene with the puppet Yoda.

"When I got to London the first time, I had no clue who I was going to play until they gave me some pages and saw I was going to be Mace Windu. Who? And then I realized he was talking to Yoda. So when I got to the studio the next day, I saw this Jedi costume and I was s ecstatic I ran out of breath. At last I had an idea of who I was, how to carry myself, and I had a way of being. And I had a reason for being."

Samuel L. Jackson - Dressing a Galaxy - Deluxe edition - 2005

"The first day I showed up I put on my robes and I was standing there looking in the mirror going, "Yeah, I'm a Jedi." Then the guy comes in with a Haliburton briefcase, opens it up and there all these lightsabers in there. He goes, "Okay, pick one". I tried a few out and I was like, "Okaaay, this looks like me." It was kind of a chrome handle with this long, soft rubber thing down the side, and on the inside, where you turn it on, it had this very unique-looking switch. It was very me, very Mace."

Samuel L. Jackson - Empire magazine - June 2002

CLASSIC IMAGE: A TIME OF CONFLICT!

'The third film is very, very dark. It's not a happy film by any stretch of the imagination. It's a tragedy. People think of the Star Wars movies as happy movies. What they're going to do about a tragedy, I don't know. It will probably be the least successful of all the Star Wars movies - but I know that.'

George Lucas - Empire magazine - September 1999

'I'm proud of the second three moves. People may not like them, but I'm proud of them. I never in a  million years thought I could finish the whole story. In its course, I've done a lot of things I wanted to do, taking themes and stringing them in different tones through different times - recurring elements twisted in different ways. And I've managed to do something that I've always been fascinated with - doing something over twelve hours instead of two. What it really comes down to is, I am a happy man. What else can I tell you?'

George Lucas - Time magazine - May 9th, 2005

EPISODE III - global box office (so far): $848 million.

HAPPY FOURTEENTH ANNIVERSARY TO 'EPISODE III'!

CLASSIC IMAGE: A TIME OF LOVE AND WAR!

'Begun, the Clone War has...'

'The next film (EPISODE II) is a love story, and I don't know how that is going to be taken by fans. They think of Star Wars as one kind of movie. And it's drifting a little more - by the nature of it being a love story, it's less of a kids' movie because they don't like to sit through all that yucky stuff. But it's still aimed at the same age level, so it's going to be a real challenge for me to get through that part.'

George Lucas - Empire magazine - September 1999

'The whole aspect of (EPISODE II) which is 'the mystery' is based upon a 1940's film noir, Maltese Falcon - all the great mystery movies of the '30's and '40's. That's the influence here. I wanted it to have the quality of those great Raymond Chandler mysteries. You have to remember that this whole series of films is based on a '30's genre. the acting style is very much from the '30's. Conceptually, it's using the inspiration of the '30's films as its basis, the most central being the '30's matinee serial.'

George Lucas - EPISODE II DVD commentary - 2002

EPISODE II - global box office (so far): $649.4 million

HAPPY SEVENTEENTH BIRTHDAY TO 'EPISODE II'!

THE CLONE WARS: TESTING TIMES!

Another exciting and dangerous The Clone Wars comic adventure awaits our troubled and persevering Jedi heroes, as The Starcrusher Trap is unleashed by the Separatists, and the respected and formidable Mace Windu gets an action showcase with that purple lightsaber of his!

Cover art for Dark Horse Comics by The Fillbach Brothers.

CLASSIC IMAGE: MACE WINDU - 'BMF'!

With a specially inscribed 'BMF' ('Bad Motherf++ker') on his unique one-of-a-kind lightsaber hilt, and a blade emitted to the colour purple (his favourite colour, and designed so that the actor could single himself out in an action sequence), Samuel L. Jackson IS Mace Windu- his turn in the Star Wars action spotlight finally 'good to G-O' for EPISODE II.

https://www.businessinsider.com/samuel-l-jackson-mace-windu-return-star-wars-2017-4?r=US&IR=T

Pride and joy. Image: Samuel L. Jackson/ Twitter.

'THE CLONE WARS': MAGAZINE ICONS!

Prior showcased by an entertaining feature-length movie in cinemas, George Lucas's The Clone Wars animated series made its debut during October 2008 amidst a wealth of strong publicity, including these four great character covers of the Prequel favourites on the long-time friend to the saga in American TV GUIDE, which also came with a collectible CD.

THE CLONE WARS: TO RESCUE A PLANET!

Now in an uneasy alliance with the rebel forces of Ryloth led by the enigmatic fighter Cham Syndulla, Jedi Master Mace Windu plans the last phase of the Republic's bold attack to win back the wrecked planet from the slavery of Count Dooku's allies, in The Clone Wars Season One highlight Liberty on Ryloth.

CLASSIC ART: A FORCE-FUL SHOWCASE!

Our legendary heroes of the Old Republic's Jedi Order converge on the mighty landmarks belonging to the Rising Sun, as STAR WARS celebrated a thirtieth anniversary year for the Japanese territory, and a one-off 2008 special Celebration convention of which Mark Hamill was a guest of honour. Art by Randy Martinez.

The saga also celebrates its Fortieth Anniversary in Japan this week, so a big shout-out and celebratory nod to the fans of that country, especially those who originally saw the breakout film back in 1978.

CLASSIC IMAGE: THE WRONG PROPHECY?

En route to the military debarkation area in the sky lanes of Coruscant, Obi-Wan Kenobi continues to show good faith in his once Padawan Anakin Skywalker, despite the justified concerns of Masters Windu and Yoda, in this intriguing scene from EPISODE III that sets up some interesting questions of the Force Balance Prophecy prior established with EPISODE I, and whether it truly is linked to the impetuous and dangerous boy whom they have trained all these years.

With the success of ROGUE ONE as a bridge between Prequels and Classics, who now doesn't want to see an of-that-time-setting Obi-Wan starring adventure (or two) as part of the standalone movie series...?

https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2017/08/star-wars-obi-wan-kenobi-stand-alone

http://www.wired.co.uk/article/star-wars-obi-wan-movie

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/star-wars-ewan-mcgregor-obi-wan-kenobi-movie-disney-anthology-a7690386.html

THE CLONE WARS: THE COSMIC MESSAGE!

Far off in the Outer Rim sieges, Jedi heroes Obi-Wan and Anakin receive an urgent communique from Mace Windu of the sneak attack of the Separatists against Coruscant and the Supreme Chancellor, as Genndy Tartakovsky's always thrilling CLONE WARS 2-D animated series comes to a close, literally, and officially crafted, to lead-in to the packed events of EPISODE III.

BEHIND THE SCENES: ATTACK AND COUNTER-ATTACK!

Watched by George Lucas, some unforeseen and very last minute lightsaber moves are hurriedly choreographed by Nick Gillard for Ian McDiarmid and Samuel L. Jackson, now fighting within the Supreme Chancellor's office set at FOX Studios, Australia, for EPISODE III.

CLASSIC IMAGE: TO END A SITH!

The long hunt for Darth Sidious has ended with the shocking truth concerning the Supreme Chancellor- a man, an enemy, too dangerous and influential for Mace Windu to let survive. A moment that will have consequences and lead to further slaughter, in EPISODE III.

STAR WARS AFICIONADO sends out its Birthday regards to Samuel L. Jackson!