The Hollywood Reporter broke the news last night (amid all the JJ Abrams Star Wars foofaraw) that Warner Brothers has signed commercial director Nic Mathieu to the post of director for their long in development live-action conversion of Robotech.

Many names have been attached to the script, most excitingly Lawrence Kasdan, and Tobey Maguire is still set as a producer.

If this movie gets made, I’ll be able to die a happy man. Robotech is one of my favorite cartoon series’ from my childhood and it holds up in a way that people don’t seem to believe. It’s epic, it’s heartbreaking, it’s fantastic. And this could put Warner Brothers on the map with another massive geek franchise. It has the potential to beat the pants off of Transformers and be like a sci-fi Lord of the Rings for them.

From the Hollywood Reporter:

The project is a coup for Mathieu, a commercials director whose spots are known for their inventive CG effects but who has yet to make his feature debut.

But Warners already has shown it has plenty of faith in the burgeoning filmmaker: He is attached to direct The Wind, a David Keopp-written sci-fi project that the studio picked up in spring 2012 after being dazzled by his impressive presentation.

Mathieu also is attached to direct The Story of Your Life, an alien drama being produced by Shawn Levy’s 21 Laps.

There’s still no word on when the movie would happen, but it’s still exciting to hear and see it moving forward.

Here are two new clips from Saturday’s episode of The Clone Wars. I’m not sure about you guys, but I’m predicting a bad end for Pre Vizsla. Why else would Kenobi be teamed up with Bo Katan in the trailers? Perhaps Maul ends up uniting Mandalore more than fracturing it for his plans.

Who knows?

What I do know is that I really want to see this episode.

With the backing of the Hutts and an army of the galaxy’s most vicious criminals – including the Death Watch, Black Sun and the Pykes – Pre Vizsla and Maul lead an attack on the planet of Mandalore. Conquest of Mandalore strains the tenuous alliance between the Sith and Death Watch in “Shades of Reason,” airing this Saturday, January 26th at 9:30am ET/PT on Cartoon Network.

Back in August I told you about this Star Wars and Powerpuff Girls mashup that would be coming to the Internet and I’m happy to let you know that the first episode is completed. The show is smart, funny, and adorable and combines two of my favorite things: Star Wars and The Powerpuff Girls. It seems to have the same sense of humour as the original show.

It’s incredibly well played.

I do have a couple of complaints about it, though. For one: it’s reliance on stock backgrounds that don’t fit the style of the show. It takes me out of things. And this should be a no-brainer since the backgrounds on the original show are minimalist and simplistic. The second is that the story telling isn’t as fast or well constructed as the actual Powerpuff Girls show. But that could be because this is just the first episode and they’re getting up to speed, both as filmmakers and in the story.

Other than those complaints, I think it’s worth your time for Mojo Jojo-style General Grievous alone.

You can get more information on the filmmakers at their website.

Censorship on The Clone Wars is nothing new.

Back in Season 3, there was a big to do about a missing moment with Asajj Ventress. It looks like Cartoon Network censors have struck again, taking out vital elements of the show for what appears to be no reason.

People get their limbs and heads cut off in Star Wars. Sure, it might be a bit much for some kids, but kids affected by that sort of thing should be watching with the parents under their direct supervision anyway.

Lucasfilm confirms in their trivia gallery that it was cut for broadcast and will reappear on the Blu-ray/DVD.

The first time I watched this episode, I felt like there was something missing in that moment. Implying that there had been decapitations was cool, but it felt like a pulled punch. It didn’t seem like a mistake to me until later in the episode when someone slashes at the head of one of the female Bounty Hunters and the shot cuts exactly as it had before when the Black Sun Vigos had been decapitated. I was left to assume the same had happened to the Bounty Hunter.

But then a shot and a half later she merely ducked out of the way.

With the language of cinema being what it is, that assumption would NEVER have been made had Cartoon Network not tampered with the editing in the prior portions of the episode. It’s sloppy and bad for everyone.

I mentioned it on Twitter and Pablo Hidalgo tipped me off that my assumptions about a punch being pulled were correct and the proof would be posted at some point on the official Star Wars website. It’s live now and that’s where this picture comes from.

This leads me to wonder if the iTunes version of the episode is unedited. That way, I’d be able to watch the episode as it was intended and without all of the obnoxious lower-thirds Cartoon Network runs during the episode.

I’m not sure about you guys, but if The Clone Wars DOES move from Cartoon Network, it can’t do it soon enough.

For those who love Star Wars, be sure to follow Swank on the Full of Sith podcast.

This episode starts with one of the coolest Aliens references I’ve seen. Just like the opening salvage team in James Cameron’s alien, the Death Watch, led by Pre Vizsla, cut open a hole in the ship Obi-Wan and Asajj Ventress left them in and find them in a form of hyper-sleep. It’s long been known that the Force can allow Force-users to enter a hibernation sleep to preserve their life signs. Based on the glittery dust (perfectly recreated from the opening of Aliens), they must have been drifting in space for quite a while.

Both Death Watch and the Sith brothers see this as a fortuitous opportunity to consolidate forces to take back the Galaxy, with Mandalore as a first step. I loved the scene between Vizsla and Maul drinking tea. I love moments like that, when villains show a more quiet side, discussing things. Though Vizsla did give a rousing speech about Mandalore:

But since neither Pre Vizsla nor Darth Maul have honor, they’re both plotting to betray each other, exactly as you’d think the situation would turn out. But who is going to get the upper-hand here?

This episode is action and set-up heavy, but for a setup episode it really knocked my socks off. Sure, it had long scenes of Vizsla and Maul talking, but it also had decapitations, face-offs between Sith and the Bounty Hunters (including Embo and his James Bond-Odd Job hat), showdowns with Black Sun and Jabba’s army, Mandos flying through the sky and blowing things up… It had everything you could have wanted as far as action goes for an episode, save a lightsaber on lightsaber showdown between a Jedi and a Sith.

More than anything, though, this episode is Maul assembling his chess pieces for the epic match of grandmasters to come. On one side you have Palpatine, Yoda, and the Jedi Council, on the other side you have Sidious, Dooku, and the Separatists, and then a new force in Maul, Death Watch, and the entire underworld.

It’s sad when you think about who it is who has the advantage here and pieces on two sides of the board.

Death Watch will be but a blip to be swept up under the conflict, and Maul will be pinched out from the Republic and the Separatists. And based on that trailer for the rest of Season 5, Sidious is going to be the one personally mopping the floor with Maul.

Things are finally kicking in to high gear with the Clone Wars. This was a solid episode with high-octane action and excellently scripted exposition. Hopefully we’ll see the pieces move deeper into play next week and into the weeks beyond.

At the USO premiere screening event of Star Wars: The Clone Wars in San Diego, I saw ‘Eminence’ and don’t want to spoil it. You better watch it! (more…)

Wow.

This is really what we’ve all been waiting for. Ever since I saw the trailer for the whole season, this is what things have been leading toward. This is going to be amazing.

From the press release:

After barely escaping their encounter with the Jedi at the beginning of the season, Savage and Maul are found by Death Watch. Both parties forge an alliance when they realize they have a common enemy in the Jedi general, Obi-Wan Kenobi, in “Eminence,” airing this Saturday, January 19th at 9:30am ET/PT on Cartoon Network.

Trivia:

• · Guest Stars: Pre Vizsla is voiced by Producer/Director Jon Favreau, Darth Maul is voiced by actor Sam Witwer (Being Human), Savage Opress is voiced by actor Clancy Brown (The Shawshank Redemption) and Bo-Katan is voiced by actress Katee Sackhoff (Battlestar Galactica).
• · The discovery of the incapacitated Sith brothers, nearly frozen in a drifting starship, was staged as an homage to the opening scenes of Aliens (1986) wherein Ripley is found by a salvage team.
• · All the Huttese dialogue in the episode was translated from English. The phrase “Stuka Crispo,” heard uttered by Jabba the Hutt, means “Death Watch.”

From the press release:

On his journey to become the Ultimate Hero, Peter Parker has handled tough challenges. From learning to team up with fellow Super Heroes (including The Avengers!), to fighting baddies from across the Marvel Universe, to remembering to pick up groceries for Aunt May, Spidey thought he had things all webbed up. Now in Season 2, his world’s been turned upside down as his teammates become roommates, and they’re left to face foes without the help of S.H.I.E.L.D. But when iconic Marvel villains like The Lizard, Kraven, Electro, the Rhino and Doc Ock team up to take on the young heroes, it’s time for Spidey to discover the “great responsibility” of being a leader. Catch the one-hour SPECIAL PRIME TIME PREMIERE of Ultimate Spider-Man Season 2, January 21 at 7p/6c on Disney XD. And keep up with the team every Sunday at 11a/10c inside Marvel Universe.

I still can’t wait for this movie…

I want to see Superman take a beating so bad I can taste it…

BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS, PART 2, the next entry in the popular, ongoing series of DC Universe Animated Original Movies,
arrives January 29 from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment as a Blu-ray™ Combo Pack and DVD, On Demand and for Download. The PG-13 film is produced
by Warner Premiere, DC Entertainment and Warner Bros. Animation.

Here’s a trailer for the new season! Sound off in the comments and let me know if I should be watching this show.

On his journey to become the Ultimate Hero, Peter Parker has handled tough challenges. From learning to team up with fellow Super Heroes (including The Avengers!), to fighting baddies from across the Marvel Universe, to remembering to pick up groceries for Aunt May, Spidey thought he had things all webbed up.  Now in Season 2, his world’s been turned upside down as his teammates become roommates, and they’re left to face foes without the help of S.H.I.E.L.D. But when iconic Marvel villains like The Lizard, Kraven, Electro, the Rhino and Doc Ock team up to take on the young heroes, it’s time for Spidey to discover the “great responsibility” of being a leader. Catch the one-hour SPECIAL PRIME TIME PREMIERE of Ultimate Spider-Man Season 2, January 21 at 7p/6c on Disney XD. And keep up with the team every Sunday at 11a/10c inside Marvel Universe.