THE CLONE WARS: A CONSPIRACY OF VILLAINS!

Heavily disguised and infiltrating a ruthless gang of bounty hunters headed by Cad Bane, Obi-Wan hears Count Dooku's plan to assassinate Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, in this great scene from THE CLONE WARS Season Four episode Crisis on Naboo.

THE CLONE WARS: STILL TO COME...

Fan favourite Embo makes his mark.

UPDATE: MARCH 11TH, 2013

LUCASFILM have officially announced the end of THE CLONE WARS with Season Five. The remaining unseen episodes of the series will be released in some kind of "bonus content" format-though let's hope that its one that worldwide fans have access to simultaneously to American viewers.

Press release: A New Direction for Lucasfilm Animation | StarWars.com


Here's some great images from the so-far unseen Rush Clovis set of episodes previously postponed from THE CLONE WARS Season Five (An Old Friend, The Rise of Clovis, and Crisis At The Heart), which we hope will be aired or released in some way, shape or form by DISNEY/LUCASFILM in the not too distant future, now that sites such as JEDINEWS are reporting that the show has been cancelled-though no official word has yet come down the wire from the aforementioned companies.

If the show has indeed been cancelled than STAR WARS AFICIONADO would like to go on record with the opinion that DISNEY are being very short-sighted in this particular business decision. No one that I've ever encountered (so far) in Hollywood that's fortunate to have a hit show/series, a worldwide fan base and the best animation storytelling on TV, ever axes something that hasn't yet reached its expiry date and is still a popular commercial viability (as part of the entire STAR WARS brand itself). THE CLONE WARS only needed one more series to lead in to the film events of EPISODE III and everybody would have been happy with the conclusion, then looking forward even more to the eventual Sequels. A year or two back, THE CLONE WARS animation guru Dave Filoni told the CELEBRATION audience that the series would keep being made by George Lucas as long as audiences wanted to see it.

They still do. 

This recent severing of the chord by DISNEY/LUCASFILM to a lot of STAR WARS projects-either imminent or in the planning- feels pretty disheartening to a lot of people...

Embo destroys an important building on Coruscant?

Count Dooku remains a clear and present danger...

A diplomatic cruiser is destroyed...

...whilst a Clone Trooper faces his last stand

Padme's life is threatened anew.

Anakin isn't happy at seeing Clovis and Padme together again!

A face off in Padme's apartment!

A major air battle above the Banking Clan headquarters, located in the mountain peaks of Scipio. 

Andre Kirk's concept art for the Banking Clan base.

Anakin holds off an attack from Embo...

...who shows formidable snowboarding skills!

Let DISNEY/LUCASFILM know how much you love THE CLONE WARS and want to see it continue, here: Save Star Wars: The Clone Wars Animated Series | causes.com

'THE CLONE WARS' - BEYOND SEASON FIVE...

Grant Gould's excellent interpretation of THE CLONES WARS animated series, for the CELEBRATION VI event.

Today's episode of THE CLONE WARS, The Wrong Jedi, brings the fifth season of the hit Cartoon Network series to a close for US viewers. So far, there's no news as to when the shortened 20 episode run will be making it's TV debut in the UK-presumably still on that territory's Cartoon Network, too?- but hopefully it'll be by Easter, with the DVD/Blu-ray release worldwide circa September/October.

As to the future of this worthy STAR WARS series, it won't be long before there's an official announcement. DISNEY would be clueless if they didn't take up the mantle of showing the already in the works Season Six-hopefully starting off with that removed Rush Clovis plotline that was supposed to be early on within Year Five. From the clips I've seen related to that particular storyline, it would certainly get the new run off to a fine start, with Anakin and Padme back as the series prime stars in the build up to the live-action EPISODE III..

Clone Wars Season 5 Embo Clip - YouTube

THE CLONE WARS SEASON FOUR - AFICIONADO's TOP FIVE EPISODES. NUMBER THREE: 'THE BOX'

Cad Bane, Embo and a group of other distinguished Bounty Hunters have to survive the harsh environs of The Box, from THE CLONES WARS Season Four, out now on UK Blu-ray and DVD.

Our countdown to AFICIONADO's personal top five favourite episodes of THE CLONE WARS Season Four continues- co-inciding with its exclusive release on Blu-ray and DVD this week (full to the brim with special features, too!). Reaching position number three, there were plenty of episodes near the hallowed top spot to consider, including Darth Maul season finale Revenge and Zygerian action fest Escape from Kadavo, but it was the exciting and diverse alien-packed adventure, the third part of the Obi-Wan-in-disguise plot, that won the day: clever, exciting and a fast paced visual triumph, it has to be The Box.

And here's five further reasons why it made the grade...

1. The Box. A triumph of simple design (in fact, very Borg-like from STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION, if not a spaceship) and apparently not easy for the animators to realise, Count Dooku's huge structure/lethal killing jar will truly sort out the men from the boys, or rather the Bounty Hunters from the wannabes: its immense, multi-layered, death efficient vault areas containing the most diabolically lethal traps and weapons, all of which had to be carefully planned/choreographed and staged behind the scenes by Dave Filoni and director Kyle Dunlevy. A true place of nightmares and a real test of courage, ingenuity and luck, of which only the most resourceful and skilled will escape to make Count Dooku's lethal assault force against Supreme Chancellor Palpatine on Naboo.

2. The Bounty Hunters. We had six of 'em on the bridge of the Star Destroyer Executor in EMPIRE, and we had the likable posse that joined forces with Anakin, Obi-Wan and Ahsoka to fight against Hondo Ohnaka's mercenary hordes in THE CLONE WARS episode Bounty Hunters, but The Box had to have the most of their kind yet assembled in any STAR WARS adventure, 13 no less, all weird and wonderfully realised, from the classic Cad Bane and the equally cool hatted fan favourite Embo (who also got a bit more to say this time around), to the finally made it to the screen Ron Cobb creation of the octopus-like Parwan, plus some Classic Trilogy Hammerheads and a Snaggletooth. Along with the episode's clever production designs, the creatures talents and abilities were well thought out and they came across as a fine team working together against the dangerous scenarios playing out around them. It's a shame that so many of them have to be killed off by episode's end.

3. Cad Bane. That hatted killer for hire from Duros has some great scenes in this episode. Newly escaped from prison life on Coruscant with the aide of snidey Moralo Eval and a disguised Obi-Wan Kenobi, his place in the pantheon of great STAR WARS villains is well and truly assured, not just in this episode but the ones that bookend this particular four-part storyline, proving cruel, cunning and full of surprises. I loved the moment in The Box where he killed one of the Hammerhead bounty hunters in order to finally get his beloved old hat back!

4. Obi-Wan undercover. Filoni and the gang, alongside vocal star James Arnold Taylor, get to flex their dramatic muscles considerably and provide some new surprises to viewers with this four-part adventure, as, to stop the imminent attack on Palpatine, Kenobi effectively gets himself "killed" in order to become a new man, bounty hunter Rako Hardeen, so as to infiltrate Count Doou's plan. As the escaped prisoner, alongside other jailbirds Moralo Eval and Cad Bane, he looks totally different thanks to his new bald head, voice synthesizer and huge tattoo markings, but Kenobi's inherent good heart as a Jedi and his incredible powers in the Force show through and come in very handy as he makes his way into Count Dooku's final squad. Though on the bad side, such skills and abilities conjure up subtle warnings to the Sith Lord as his plans near completion.

5. The Ralph McQuarrie influence. Obi-Wan gets to wear some cool bounty hunter gear, most notably a helmet that's a fine tribute to the legacy of the late, great artist and his early designs for a STAR WARS II super soldier Stormtrooper/ Boba Fett. Such choice creative revisitation decisions from the show's modern behind the scenes team ramp-up THE CLONE WARS respectability with fans/critics even more.

Get hold of THE CLONE WARS Season Four on Blu-ray and DVD here:

Star Wars Clone Wars - Season 4 Blu-ray Region Free: Amazon.co.uk: Film & TV
Star Wars Clone Wars - Season 4 [DVD]: Amazon.co.uk: Film & TV

THE CLONE WARS: FRIENDS AND ENEMIES

Our Jedi duo of Anakin and Ahsoka team up with an unlikely band of hired guns brought in by the farmers of Felucia to protect their crop from attack, in George Lucas's fun and action-packed animated tribute to Kurowawa's The Seven Samurai: THE CLONE WARS Season Two's Bounty Hunters.

'THE CLONE WARS': INTO THE FUTURE WITH 'A WAR ON TWO FRONTS'

Eyes for chaos! Darth Maul wants vengeance on everybody in THE CLONE WARS Season Five. Images: LUCASFILM ANIMATION.

Here's a few great images from the recent STARWARS.COM trailer release for September's US CARTOON NETWORK screening of the eagerly anticipated Season Five, with what looks like Savage and Maul galore, lots of Death Watch (and a take-over of Mandalore?), a major conflict on the EU world of Onderon and it's dragon riders, and some cool stuff with emerging classic bounty hunter Embo!

Space battles galore, and more Y-wings!

Our first glimpse of the Onderon people.

Those pesky bucket heads, the Death Watch, are back, with Bo-Katan (Katee Sackhoff) in the front seat.

Our heroes Obi-Wan and Anakin on the hologram.

A new alien race resists the Separatist forces.

Our first glimpse of the dragons of Onderon.

Bounty hunter Embo returns, in an exciting ice chase against Anakin and Padme.

Two 'sabers Kenobi!

Fire-starter! Pre Vizsla strikes back.

Our first look at the criminal Black Sun cartel, and it's Falleen overlords?

Here's the link to the trailer: StarWars.com | Star Wars: The Clone Wars Season 5 Trailer

Look out for more on THE CLONE WARS Season Five soon...

THE CLONE WARS: 'A WAR ON TWO FRONTS'

Back in the space lanes of the STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS universe, Anakin Skywalker and his trusty Artoo Detoo stand ready for the next wave of gripping adventures in the coming soon Season Five, with its recently revealed and intriguing umbrella title of A WAR ON TWO FRONTS- we assume building up to the pre-EPISODE III Outer Rim Sieges and a lot more episodes of brewing discontent on Coruscant and other major Republic worlds, linked to Padme and the forming of the eventual Delegation of 2000.

Trouble brews once more with Senator Rush Clovis in Season Five.

Other episode titles in the eagerly anticipated new year include Front Runners, The Soft War, Tipping Points, An Old Friend, The Rise of Clovis, which surely means the return of Padme's old flame from Season Two, Senator Rush Clovis (still heavily in league with the Separatists, we assume), and Crisis at the Heart.

UPDATE 10/6/2012: Check out this exciting new clip from one of the Clovis episodes, also featuring Bounty Hunter Embo, recently shown at a Florida STAR WARS WEEKEND: Clone Wars Season 5 Embo Clip - YouTube

More news on the series as and when...