CLASSIC IMAGE: HELP FROM AN OLD FRIEND...

The trail for the elusive assassins threatening Padme Amidala's existence has seemingly gone cold for Obi-Wan Kenobi. Thankfully, an old friend experienced in life and work throughout the cosmos - Coruscant based Diner owner Dexter Jettster, is at hand to help his investigation further along, and sending Obi-Wan into new, mysterious realms...

A fun sequence from EPISODE II.

Out from the kitchen!

It was nice to see Dexter make a return to the saga in the recent Brotherhood novel, once more offering key advice and help to Obi-Wan beyond the knowledge and 'wisdom' of the Jedi Order's capabilities.

Filming the diner scene with actor Ranald Falk in 2000, at Fox Studios, Australia.

Clones at 20 | Rob Coleman on Bringing Yoda, Dexter Jettster, and More to Digital Life | StarWars.com

The maquette of the chosen Dexter Jettster head (based loosely on American star Ernest Borgnine) is brought to the FOX Studios, Australia for actors reference in the scene. 

Ranald Falk and Susie Porter (Hermione Bagwa) enjoy the monster face as shown by George Lucas.

And inspected by an ever-curious Ewan McGregor.

'ATTACK' AT 20: CREATING THE DIGITAL YODA!

With the success of Jar Jar Binks as a digital creation, the time was right for the saga's beloved Master Yoda to gain an old/new lease of life in CGI for Attack of the Clones, especially with the film's finale, crowd-pleasing finale lightsaber duel between him and his once apprentice, Count Dooku.

“In EPISODE II I wanted Yoda to fight, to be an actual warrior, not just this sage. I obviously couldn’t even think about doing that on the other films. It wasn’t technically doable. Now I can.” 

George Lucas - TV GUIDE magazine - May 11th - 17th issue - 2002

Physical sculpt reference model, a cast presumably taken from the surviving Yoda head in the Lucasfilm Archives.

Rob Coleman and an ILM team mate observe the details on the Yoda sculpt for future CGI reference use.

Developing Yoda tests, copying a scene from The Empire Strikes Back.

Getting closer to the final version.

Rob Coleman looks at completed footage of the Yoda/Dooku confrontation.

“There were a lot of challenges and if we hadn't met those challenges I wouldn't have had a movie, especially on this one, because I had to replicate Yoda. If I couldn't replicate Yoda digitally I was in serious trouble. I couldn't have made this movie. We tried to make him digitally on the first movie and we couldn't do it, but if we hadn't accomplished it here I would have had a pretty silly end of the movie.” 

George Lucas - BBC Online interview - 2002

An image used for marketing and merchandise.

BEHIND THE SCENES: BRING OUT THE WOOKIEES!

On one of the spacious blue screen surrounding stages of Fox Studios, Australia, enthused animation director Rob Coleman goes through the paces with his assemblage of local actors and sportsmen playing the incredibly tall Wookiee warriors needed for EPISODE III's all-too-briefly-seen-on-screen Battle of Kashyyyk.

'THE CLONE WARS' SEASON ONE. AFICIONADO's TOP FIVE EPISODES. NUMBER FOUR - 'DUEL OF THE DROIDS'

The countdown of our top five Season One episodes continues. So many great tales in this premiere year- Rookies, Cloak of Deception and Storm Over Ryloth were hot candidates for our prized number four position, but episode seven of the run, the exciting, gung-ho adventure story in the best STAR WARS tradition: Duel of the Droids, won the day. And here's five reasons why...

1. Artoo the hero. In the previous episode, Downfall of a Droid, our lovable blue lined Astro Droid was having going through hard times: lost in space after fierce battle, taken by a smelly, farting Trandoshan, and now delivered to General Grievous and quickly assembled for the vital information he carries about the Republic's war strategies, but his devoted friend and master Anakin Skywalker never gives up in his search for him, and finally traces his distress signal to his location on the sky world of one of the moons of Ruusan. Liberated by Anakin in a very cool sequence - with dark hints of Darth Vader emerging from him as he declares "Let him go" to the MagnaGuards keeping his pal prisoner- Artoo is soon back to his heroic best and returns the heroic favour in kind, cornering the gold traitor droid R3-S6 in a climactic duel to the death outside the now destructing Separatist base. We've always considered Artoo to have very human qualities, which is why he's so enduring to fans young and old, but his survival instincts prove equally intriguing, shining through in the last few moments during this fats and furious, spectacularly animated section, directed by Rob Bowman, as he has no choice but to cut loose the enemy droid and let him die. There's a hint here that Artoo had a bit of a grudge/dark side moment here, but just a little bit.

Watch out for the quirky synthesiser theme that music composer Kevin Kiner gives Artoo in this two-parter. The droid has never really had a theme before, so it stands out. It's an experiment that's neve  heard again in the series.

2. Arthree the baddie. We're used to the STAR WARS sagas colourful squat Astro Droids being a positive and commonplace force in the galaxy, either piloting alongside our Jedi heroes into dutiful battle, assisting dignitaries and Clone Troopers and generally just generally being there. So when you get  a traitor droid from their ilk-the first we've ever seen in the series- its a great idea and visual opportunity for the writers and production team to grab a hold of. Masking his scheming and loyalty to General Grievous by making it look like he's new to the job- an incompetent and slow creation, Arthree is anything but, more cunning and calculating than a Battle Droid and, like Artoo Detoo, a real box of tricks with his devices. Eventually, finally revealed as a traitor to a gob-smacked Ahsoka, who had earlier pushed so hard for it and its abilities to Anakin as a replacement for Artoo, Goldie's turncoating  on our heroes is finally crowd-pleasingly paid for as Artoo heroically dispatches him into the seemingly endless skies of the Ruusan moon.

Special note to Dave Accord and Matthew Wood on their clever sound design for Arthree, subtly making it stand out as a villains, with a colder personality than a normal Astro Droid.

3. Ahsoka versus Grievous. As our heroes, using the mission cover of destroying the Ruusan moon's enemy base in order to rescue Artoo, are quickly betrayed by "Goldie", headstrong and spirited Padawan Ahsoka Tano takes on lethal Jedi killer General Grievous in an epic lightsaber duel. She's foolish enough to think that she can find a way of dispatching him/it, even though so many other more accomplished and battle seasoned colleagues have already failed. Despite a game effort, she's soon outmatched and has no choice to but to hide in and out of a storage locker area to avoid his grasp, the General almost coming close to choking the life out of her when he finally corners her, and only her lithe, flexible frame and some unorthodox moves save her to live and fight Grievous another day-which she does by the mid-point of Season Five, though now more accomplished, finally getting to tie against the evil lightsaber wielding brute. It may be an early episode in the production run, but Ahsoka is definitely becoming a welcome addition to the STAR WARS saga and shows lot of potential for character growth-a true heroine for female fans young and old, and children in general, whilst Grievous, not previously quite as well used as he could have been in the live-action EPISODE III becomes an even more effective and scary player for chaos causing villainy within the animated medium.

Watch "Duel of the Droids " - The Clone Wars Episode Featurette #1.07 | StarWars.com

4. Captain Rex. Fans love Clones, and they especially love THE CLONE WARS' top-dog, Captain Rex. He's like the Clint Eastwood of the show, often with some of the best lines and some very cool action moments over the years alongside Anakin and Ahsoka. So it's fun when he has a few belittling moments, too, like the way he has to carry "Goldie" on his chest for the heroes secret skydive sequence, much to the merriment of his fellow troopers! Later on, for fans of adrenaline charged battle, he and his men partake in a mission to capture Grievous alongside Ahsoka. It all comes to nought, of course-Grievous is too wily and powerful- but they give it a damned good try!

5.The Russan skyworld. Credit to the designers of this episode for the story's intriguing outdoor locale and the Trade Federation communications/sphere base hanging very Bespin-like in its atmosphere of the Ruusan moon. Very THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK and hauntingly eerie- the scenes where our heroes skydive and infiltrate the base is another one of those classic STAR WARS moments full of wonder and danger to come, nicely accomplished by Rob Coleman and his team, backed up with some nice incidental music from Kevin Kilner.

Coming October 15th to UK DVD and Blu-ray: STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS - THE COMPLETE SEASONS ONE TO FIVE.

CLASSIC IMAGE: TAKING A BREATHER!

One of the EPISODE III behind the scenes crew assists Tarfful the noble and fierce Wookiee leader, played by Australian star Michael Kingma, in a filming break on an ILM green screen stage somewhere between 2003 and 2005 in the US. Much of the footage for the Wookiee battle, albeit seen far too briefly in the finished movie, would be directed by respected animation supervisor Rob Coleman.

"THE CLONE WARS" SEASON TWO. SWA's TOP FIVE EPISODES. NO 2: "CARGO OF DOOM"

Jedi Trap! Ahsoka Tano: prisoner of Cad Bane in CARGO OF DOOM.

"Almost there!"

Yes, Red Leader's words are in our heads as we're about to reach Pole Position as to the Top Five episodes of Season Two of THE CLONE WARS (out on UK DVD and Blu-ray from 15th November, from WARNER BROTHERS), and it was a toughie to make the final selection, but CARGO OF DOOM, despite much worthy consideration, is ultimately Number Two.

1. Cad Bane. At his most intimidating, dangerous and cunning, this Bounty Hunter without remorse is ruthlessly and efficiently determined to fulfill his current mission for the Separatists, and he proves one slippery customer for our brave Anakin and Ahsoka in trying to corner and battle. Its a shocking moment later in the episode when he captures and electrifies Ahsoka, then threatens to blast her into space if Anakin refuses to co-operate. Voice actor veteran Corey Burton truly brings this unique character - who would have been marvellous in a live action STAR WARS film - to animated reality, whilst the Durosian Bounty Hunter's overall design, with that amazing DEADWOOD-style hat, is superb.

2. Death of a Jedi. The grim, tortured demise of Rodian Jedi, Bolla Ropal, is quite a shocking and sad moment in the series, subtly underplayed and sensitively handled for the series younger audience by the production team. Despite Bane's lack of concern, even the Battle Droids in the episode join us in our sorrow at his loss.

3. Zero G battle. Kudos for the inspired opening space conflict with the Republic Walkers on the Separatists cruisers hull, but its the superb Zero Gravity battle interior sequence that is the highlight for me, which apparently proved quite a challenge to choreograph and edit to the right length during the production process. Love the moment when Skywalker almost has Bane and the stolen Holocron before Artoo restores the hangar to normality, the ceiling walking Clone soldier with the heavy weaponry and the balletic but deadly movements of Ahsoka.

4. Amping up the tension. George Krstic's script is a winner: full of incident and building up the menace and the threat of the damaged and destructing Separatist cruiser as the episode progresses. Its an action/ adventure set within a race against time disaster movie, as Anakin and co. have to rescue Bolla, get the captured Holcron and Kiber crystal, capture or take out Cad Bane if they can and get off the exploding enemy vessel. And there's that great ending where everybody presumes Bane is dead. Think again. CARGO OF DOOM is pure STAR WARS, executed with style and visual flair by the much missed Rob Coleman. And on the humour front, how can we not make special mention of the fun little moment where Captain Rex bangs his head ala the Stormtrooper in EPISODE IV. Nice touch!

5. The Jedi Holocron/Kybur Crystal. They've been the stuff of legend in the Expanded Universe (with the Kybur Crystal having been at the very dawn of the printed STAR WARS world with 1978's Alan Dean Foster fun tale, SPLINTER OF THE MIND'S EYE), and here we get a brief but intriguing look at how they operate, demonstrated in a mysterious and fascinating scene (with nice accompanying sound design) involving Anakin's forced opening of them. I imagine we'll see more of these devices, and what else they store, at further points in the continuing series.

STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS Season Two, available in the UK on DVD and Blu-ray from November 15th.