Full Series Who is your favorite TCW writer(s)?

I couldn't find any thread discussing the many writers of TCW and the individual episodes/arcs they were responsible for, let alone one that queried you for your favorite TCW writer. so I decided to make one.

Now, I realize that writing a TCW episode is largely a team effort, with the executive producer, George Lucas, responsible for many story ideas, and the directors, lead by Dave Filoni, also playing a huge role. So the lead writer's responsibility for the story of the episode is probably far less than that of an EU author writing a SW novel or comic. But still, I want to see how folks choose based on the knowledge of who wrote which episode.

I decided to only list writers that wrote more than one episode and/or who were sole writers for that episode, which is most of the writing crew. Note that a few episodes are missing; for example, "Lethal Trackdown" was written by Dave Filoni, the sole episode where he was lead writer.

Note: Bolded names are those writers listed on the poll options; they were responsible for more than one arc's worth of episodes (so they've written more than four episodes). However, feel free to choose "Other" if you prefer one of the other writers on this list, and be sure to respond with their name and the reasons why you chose them.


Henry Gilroy: TCW film, Bombad Jedi, Lair of Grievous, Innocents of Ryloth, Liberty on Ryloth, Children of the Force, the Slaves of the Republic trilogy

Steven Melching: TCW film, Ambush, Rising Malevolence, Shadow of Malevolence, Rookies, Bombad Jedi, Trespass, The Zillo Beast Strikes Back, Supply Lines, Sphere of Influence, The Academy, the Slaves of the Republic trilogy

Katie Lucas: Jedi Crash, Sphere of Influence, Assassin, Nightsisters trilogy, Ventress/Maul Returns arc, Order 66 arc (upcoming)
George Krstic: Downfall of a Droid, Storm Over Ryloth, Cargo of Doom

Julie Siege: Dooku Captured, The Gungan General

Drew Z. Greenberg: * The Hidden Enemy, Hostage Crisis, Children of the Force, Geonosis arc (all 5 episodes), Grievous Intrigue, The Deserter, Lightsaber Lost, The Mandalore Plot, Duchess of Mandalore, Senate Murders, Cat and Mouse

Brian Larsen: * Mystery of a Thousand Moons, Geonosis arc (all 5 episodes), Grievous Intrigue, The Deserter, Duchess of Mandalore, Cat and Mouse

Paul Dini: Cloak of Darkness, Holocron Heist, Voyage of Temptation

Eoghan Mahony: Hostage Crisis, Legacy of Terror, Supply Lines

Carl Ellsworth: The Deserter, Bounty Hunters

Craig Titley: Blue Shadow Virus, The Zillo Beast

Cameron Litvack: Clone Cadets, ARC Troopers, Corruption, the Aacademy

Steve Mitchell & Craig Van Sickle: Evil Plans, Hunt for Ziro, Nomad Droids

Daniel Arkin: Heroes on Both Sides, Pursuit of Peace, Shadow Warrior

Christian Taylor: Mortis trilogy, A Friend in Need, Youngling arc, Clovis arc (upcoming, rumored), Yoda/Sifo-Dyas arc (upcoming)

Matt Michnovetz: Citadel arc, Umbara arc, Bounty Hunters arc (possibly upcoming); Rated 83.6
Bonnie Mark: Padawan Lost, Wookiee Hunt, Mercy Mission

Jose Molina: Mon Calamari arc

Brent Friedman: Deception (Rako Hardeen) arc, S5 droid arc

Chris Collins: Onderon arc, Shadow Conspiracy/Mauldalore arc

Charles Murray: Fugitive arc

*Greenberg was the supervising writer for Season 2, while Larsen was the staff writer. Both were largely responsible for the same set of episodes, so I decided to list them together on the poll.

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It was a tough choice for me to choose my favorite TCW writer, so I ended up choosing three! I went for Katie Lucas, Christian Taylor and Chris Collins. Katie Lucas and Collins penned some of my favorite arcs in the show in the Nightsister trilogy, Ventress/Maul Returns arc, and the Shadow Conspiracy arc. I also liked Taylor's style and focus on the Force and the Jedi in general, plus the Death Watch, and greatly look forward to the upcoming Yoda arc written by him. I also gave an honorable mention to Matt Michnovetz; of the mutli-arc writers, he had the highest overall episode score (though not by much), in his consistently quality Citadel and Umbara arcs. He's also a great guy IRL, willing to answer fans' questions on twitter regarding little tidbits on the bonus content.

 

Paul Dini. Great guy, I'm a long time fan of his overall body of work, and he's the only writer on the list (imo) who's got nothing but good episodes to his name. I want to vote for Matt Michnovetz, but I couldn't stand the Citadel arc so...sorry Matt. And most of the other writers are like this too, so I'm going with the one guy (imo) who's got consistent A-list material without any trash.

 

I voted Katie as well, it makes me wish she had been old enough to "help" George write the prequels.

 

I don't know. In many of the episodes I watched that Katie Lucas took part in it seemed it delved a little too much into funky witchcraft type stuff. So I'm glad George decided to sell to Disney instead of letting her get control of it. I'd be afraid that future movies would all be about casting spells and all that weird stuff if Katie Lucas was running the show.

 

Don't know much at all about the EU version of the nightsisters but based on a couple images people have posted on the Rebels thread about them it looks like they were xena/amazon type female characters.

 

Whoever wrote the Umbara Arc

 

I'd have to go with Chris Collins and the Onderon arc since it looks like that arc is going to play a large part in the upcoming Rebels show and explain the initial inception of the Rebellion.

 

Ahh, the only knowledge of the EU nightsisters I have is of that photo that the guy posted in the Rebels thread where a nightsister is jumping over something with her boobs hanging out. And also the Plagueius book where a nightsister is giving Maul to Palpatine.

 

I voted for :Matt Michnovetz and Christian Taylor but it was a difficult choice, so many great writers.

 

My top choice would be Chris Collins because of Mauldalore. Brent Friedman second because I thought his arcs seemed well-written.