TheForce.Net interviews Henry Gilroy... and Dave Filoni !!! (Your questions answered!)

Since you guys are talking about Vos, I thought I would mention that very early on in the production, I had called John Ostrander to see if he would be interested in writing the first episode that Vos would appear in. This was soon after I started in 2005. However, the producer nixed him as a writer when Jar Jar was cut, primarily because she wanted to go with very experienced tv animation writers early in the production, though she did leave the possibility of it open in the future. That's how Kevin Rubio got the job. I always thought that it was unfortunate John wasn't able to contribute to the series -- in my opinion, he certainly paid his Star Wars dues and his earlier Clone Wars work was definitive for a lot of fans.

 

OMG!!!

Thank you for this interview Henry and Dave. There is so much win in it my head nearly exploded and I'm only halfway through!

For example:

"Quinlan Vos was in an early draft of Bombad Jedi. He was working undercover and actually using his force abilities to make it look like Jar Jar WAS a Jedi. Jar Jar was even fooled himself for a while."

How sweet of an idea! I never realized the limitations of budget on your show and how you could only create one new character per episode. It all makes so much sense and with all the episodes/characters now in the can I can only imagine where this series is going to go! So excited. And I loved how you guys acknowledged the over-use of OT dialogue and that you didn't want to repeat the same stories over and over that have been done before (i.e. Jedi seduced by the dark side). Also, comforting to know that this is all under the watchful eye of George. And I really like that you use the films as your guide, not all the clutter in the EU, but still manage to reference EU stuff for us fans.


In the original final draft script of ?Destroy Malevolence?, Captain Panaka was with Padme and captured by Grievous. Grievous brutally murdered Panaka and George really liked how we did it and approved it. But alas, when the producer demanded the script be rewritten ? it was without Panaka. That version also included a lightsaber duel between Plo and Grievous on the exterior of the Malevolence in space that was freakin? awesome ? but don?t get me going! Sigh.

Dave: I did some concept paintings of that fight, Plo even had a different face mask to breath in space.

Hopefully we get to see a Plo/Grevious lightsaber fight in space one day. Plo is my favorite Jedi next to the big three (Anakin, Obi-wan and Yoda). I would also like Panaka to show up and get killed to explain why he isn't around after Episode One.

The "day in the life of a battledroid" episode sounds like a clever idea... and Mandalorians!! Wow, that would be the most amazing thing ever. I could watch an entire season where the Seps hire them and the Jedi (led by Anakin and Obi-wan) defeat them! Please use them and please use them as much as possible... not just for one or two episodes. OMG... that's exactly what I wanted to see in the PT when I first read about the Mandalorias in the Empire Strikes Back novel. I would die to know George's thoughts on them and this story...

Okay, back to the second part of the interview...

 

Okay, I finished reading the interview. Clearly, you guys get it.

Second, thank you for making Grevious a great villain...someone you love to hate. Although he is more fun for me than menacing... whereas Vader was kind of the opposite. But I still love Grevious in your show.

Third, keep using Paul Dini and Rob Coleman please. They are the best (next to both of you, of course).

 

Epic

Really, thank you so much for this, it shows (if the quality of the episodes doesn't) how much care you put into making this and that you care about the fans, thank you for 200 awesome minutes of entertainment and keep on rocking!

 

Just realized, re: Quilan in Bombad Jedi... isn't that what Luke does with Threepio kind of in Jedi to make him look like a God?

Maybe that's why that one was nixed, but in this case I wouldn't have minded seeing a repeat of OT stuff.

Glad to see George taking more of a hands-on approach. Should be interesting to see how it turns out... but wasn't OT (story by Lucas, script by someone else?) so it should be sweet if that's any indication.

 

Thanks for the awesome interview! That was seriously great.

So Dooku Captured's plot was hatched by Lucas himself? Very interesting! Now I am even more excited to see it. I assume this episode will give us some idea as to where seasons two and three are going.

The info on cut scenes/ideas is really cool to hear too. Dave and Henry, you guys seriously rock.

 

Thanks Henry and Dave, that was an excellent read.

I'm very excited about the various [DELETED] bits, particularly the Obi-Wan episode that had Henry so pumped.

I agree, clearly you guys "get" Star Wars, and we see that in each episode's feedback thread. Everyone is depressed around the LACWAC forum when it's a week of re-runs or no episode.

It's very, very interesting that Lucas came up with most if not all of the story ideas for Season 2, and as far as the "canon" debate goes, looks like it's just below the films.

 

I loved hearing insights about Lucas. Sometimes I hear stories about him or I'll read an interview and think he's an out-of-touch crazy billionaire. Other times I'll read stuff and think "wow, what a cool guy". That is hilarious to hear him make fun of Dave for his Plo Koon obsession. The more painful death idea had me laughing out loud. So funny!

I'm really excited to hear that he has taken a more active role in the writing process, but it gives me some pause to hear that he has written literally every story from season 2 onward... Does he really have that many story ideas? You'd think the show would benefit from story ideas from some other writers.

 

I'm guessing he isn't breaking every episode, but on some he is just saying things like "I want to see an episode where Dooku and Obi-wan end up trapped on a planet with a hostile force and have to work together to get off alive." And then it is up to Henry and Dave to flesh that out into a full episode.

 

Okay, gotta give you props, there. That's awesome.

 

Interesting stuff Maybe John will get a chance later on. That said I think that the Jar Jar episode worked really well without Vos clouding the story. Vos needs his own featured episode. Great Job on the series thus far, keep it coming

 

Sorry if I'm missing something obvious, but aren't these two the producers? Wouldn't they have final artistic discretion?

Are they referring to the actual animation supervisors and their time and budget constraints, and that they didn't have the time to build a Panaka model, or is their somebody from the Cartoon Network who has a measure of artistic input?

My favorite episode so far was probably 'The Lair of Grievous', and so I prefer the stand-alone episodes that seem as though they could exist outside of continuity ('Rookies' would probably be my second-fave, were it not for my ardent disagreement with the CW portrayal of the Clones). These episodes almost feel like 'The Twilight Zone': little vignettes that, if they touch you, you can hold dearly in your memory, but if you don't like them, you just discard them.

Because of this, I also hope that the show is given some narrative freedom and, as they say, isn't beholden to the EU or rigid timelines. I know that lots of TV these days is focused on the meta-worlds (i.e. 'Lost' and 'Heroes') but these shows seem to fizzle out quickly because the continuity constrains the creators and confuses the audience so much. The continuity tail ends up wagging the narrative dog.

 

Thanks for the interview, guys!! My little sister and I cannot describe the excitement we feel, rushing to the couch every Friday to watch Clone Wars. It's truly wonderful that, once again, Star Wars has been allowed to continue in such a beautiful light. Whoohoo!!

 

I wonder if the scene from the beginning of the movie with Obi-Wan and Anakin fighting over Christophsis in their Jedi Starfighters is from the movie prequel episode?

 

Vos... no thanks. Ostander... no thanks. His clone wars stuff was a bore... he should stick to Legacy (which, I'm kinda losing interest in, to be honest).

But if you are going to use Vos... keep it to a minimum please. There's so many other cool Jedi out there. I'd much rather see your own creations... like Nahdaar Vebb, who was really interesting.

 

I think Ostrander's Clone Wars comics are some of the best. Vos is a great character and I have a feeling he'll be in the show sometime. GL almost put him in ROTS and asked Ostrander to allow him to survive in the comic series, so Lucas will probably want to finally use him.

Movie prequel episode? Hmmm, sounds interesting. Also, I'm wondering what OT planet we'll see. Most likely Bespin or Hoth becaue they would be easiest to model.

I want to see a few character and locations from TFU also. Raxus Prime is too cool to not be used and General Kota and Kasdan Paratus would be perfect characters to explre more. Good thin we got 5 seasons of this, I know I'm really enjoying it.

 

The downside about showcasing Quinlan Vos is that it will sort of invite people to assume that the show is tied in with EU continuity (aside from Mara Jade, I think Vos is probably the EU character with the most intense following). So there'll invariably be some fans disgruntled with the character's portrayal as well as the contradictions with the EU material that'll arise. Personally, I'd like the show to branch out more - from both the movies and from the EU - and create new ideas, characters, and stories. (In fact, I'd probably be just as happy if they digressed from the Clone Wars and just explored the creatures and planets in their own rights. In 'Bombad Jedi', Rhodia would've probably been a lot more interesting if they didn't have to shoehorn Padme and a connection to the Clone Wars to it.)

As far as a prequel to the movie.....well, I think it's best for all parties involved to just look the other way, whistle, and stroll along past the movie pretending that it never happened. The CW movie is not exactly one of the proudest achievements of Lucasfilm's.

 

Sounds like it may be Hoth according to the plot of this episode,

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Trespass

That's if the plot is real.

 

I'd have liked the idea of a Dooku episode with him being portrayed as something more than the assumed villain, maybe not a big 'he's so misunderstood' thing, but the villains in the show are very.. plainly bad so far. But I guess there's plenty time for more stories and more characterization. And I hope Ahsoka and Obi-Wan at least get costume changes..
"Only a diseased mind thinks Plo Koon is the best character."

 

This is a really exciting interview. Well done for setting this up 2 and Garth, and thanks to Henry and Dave for doing this. A really interesting read.

 

I agree. Thank you for setting this up.

 

Great point. The show does almost have an anthology feel like the Twilight Zone did, aside from the loose story arcs. It seems to be about half and half.

 

Thanks for the compliment. But judging from the interview, I think we ought to expect more ham-fisted attempts to shoehorn CW into the actual SW movie storyline. There's repeated talk of some master plan and them rationalizing Jar Jar Ahsoka's existence when it's facially asinine to claim that she would've existed in the same SW universe that Lucas created with the movies.

I'd much rather have them say, "We agree that Ahsoka, Jedi superpowers, clones subsisting in the vacuum of space, and other elements of our show really don't make any sense when compared with the movies. However, the shows are each just fun exercises in where other writers and directors would've taken the SW universe." We could enjoy the show without this fixation on retrofitting everything into the movies, when we all know for a fact that the movies chronologically preceded the show. But whatever.

On another note, in the CW movie, Obi-Wan requests a new Padawan, right? What the heck ever happened to that request?