Well, have we all seen the first new THE CLONE WARS TV series CARTOON
NETWORK promo? Terrific stuff, eh? It looks even better than the movie! It’s
hard for me to personally believe that the first animated STAR WARS film, taking
the saga into what I feel is a bold and colourful new era, from LUCASFILM, has
received on the whole such critical disdain and so few people seeing it (how
much of such unfriendly, LUCASFILM is really in it for the money
critical reaction has prevented people from going to see it? Well, we won’t
really know about the total fallout from it for a while yet)-is it possible
that the general public just doesn’t want an animated STAR WARS
film? How does this bode for the new series (and the future live action
one as well!!), and what audience figures will it get on the US CARTOON NETWORK
(which is not a major league audience channel in the same way that someone like
SKY or FOX is) in that Friday night at 9pm slot (if I recall, didn’t
the sixties Original STAR TREK TV series third season air in a slot
similar to that and nobody saw it!!-the primary young audience either being out
for the weekend or asleep!!).
Adding further fuel to the fire, said critics have complained
that the animation looks dull and lifeless and not like the current trend in
animation (oh critics, duh!!!, CLONE WARS has been made in a deliberate
style opposite to the new wave of CGI animation!!), to the statement
that it’s just all too much action, action, action. What do I think? Well, check
out my review on the site, but I do get the impression the critics are really
out to get George Lucas now. Yes, I know he’s a big boy, with a big
corporation, and they can ignore the criticism, but that doesn’t mean I have to
like it!! And there have been some deliberately snipey criticisms which make me
think there is more going on with certain magazines/critics with their subtext
than meets the eye as this commercial magazine readership age continues to wage
its own fierce war bigger than the Republic versus the Separatists!! No one has
done this more so, and most surprisingly, than ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY in its
current Summer blockbuster issue (the one with the currently delayed HARRY
POTTER film on the cover-nice one, WARNERS!! Another major franchise fan area
pissed off!!) -they gave the film an F rating- an F for goodness sake!! It’s
very rare that they give films such bad ratings and THE CLONE WARS gets it!!!
That is normally reserved for the worst films ever made. Sorry EW, but THE
CLONE WARS ain’t in that category and it doesn’t deserve that rating
WHATSOEVER!! I couldn’t believe it when Ian Trussler told me at the weekend
last that this was what the film had gotten from them. Reading the review, I
sense a critic who either just doesn’t like STAR WARS and it’s bigger than most
things commercialism, or has some kind of connected bitterness about it in
general (whether they are hurt as a STAR WARS fan I don’t know?). Reading
further between the lines, however, I wouldn’t be surprised if EW were taking a
negative stand possibly because they didn’t have the kind of access to the
movie and TV series behind the scenes that that they would have liked to have
had in order to sell their own magazines. This rationale is a
distinct possibility-I’ve always noticed that the magazines and newspapers
who don’t get exclusive rights to material to boost their circulations often go
on the warpath to try and muscle in on the competitors before they can do their
features, or destroy their rivals critically (Weirdly, though, aren’t the EW
magazine group actually owned by TIME WARNER!! Aren’t they biting their own
hand a little bit?).
For all of you haven’t read the review, here’s the link:
Let’s not storm the EW building in New York just yet,
though-they may now have seen the new TV series trailer, or opening
episodes, and become excited. We can but hope that THE CLONE WARS TV
series is a terrific populist and critical success, not only on CARTOON NETWORK
but also in worldwide DVD sales as well. If it gets good reactions in those
areas then we may yet be able to restore some of the sagas damaged pride away
from such earlier negative critical notices.
We can but hope...
With thanks to Ian Trussler for the above image.
UPDATE: 21/9/2008 Well, well, well.. it seems ENTERTAINMENT
WEEKLY have partially gone back on their negative review of THE CLONE WARS
movie. They still stick to their F rating-they can't back down on that
editorially for fear of losing face, but they have kinda said, reading between
the lines, that as a smaller STAR WARS viewing experience, it's not that bad.
Check out the comments made by Jeff Jensen at: www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20225033,00.html
Sounds to me like EW's parent company, TIME WARNER, who
distribute THE CLONE WARS theatrically and own CARTOON NETWORK, gave EW a
whoopin' for potentially damaging their new, continuing relationship with
LUCASFILM (worth millions of dollars to both parties long term) and EW have had
to respond with some thing a little more positive!!
Heh, heh, heh...
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