Ashley Eckstein voice of Ahsoka Tano (as she is introduced here) host this preview special that was broadcast a week before Star Wars The Clone Wars premiered on Cartoon Network. It gives the 'first official look' at the new series and was shot at the so called center of the Star Wars Universe: Skywalker Ranch (Coruscant eat your heart out). Besides Ashley and a mechanical R2-D2 (remote controlled by droid wrangler Don Theis) there are also a lot of Clone troopers walking around, some of whom look like they've eaten too many happy meals.
First up Ashley interviews Supervising director Dave Filoni, who happens to be 'the chosen one' as he was allowed to take reign of the Clone Wars where Genndy Tartakovsky left off. Or going by the length of Anakin's hair in the series, everything appears to take place between Chapters 21 and 22 of the 'Micro-series'. Filoni is a self confessed fan of little seen Jedi Plo Koon, who always seems to be present in the background whenever he is talking, in this case in rough animation form on a big TV screen. Dave briefly discusses the characters of Yoda, Anakin and Ashoka, whom he describes as a like a sister to Ani's big bro. Of course Ashley chimes in to say her character is 'pretty kick butt' and Filoni has to remind her that Ahsoka is still a Padawan, not a Jedi Master. Also briefly mentioned is Tano's reverse grip fighting style, which apparently she will lose in favor of Anakin's style over the course of the series. Look at Ashley swinging the Ashoka grip.
After the break little Miss Eckstein talks to sound supervisor and voice of General Grievous Matthew Wood who's working on 'The Lair of Grievous' episode. Matt processes his relatively normal sounding voice recording and make it sound like Grievous (minus the coughing which apparently was provided by an under the weather George Lucas - or at least for Revenge of the Sith). Ashley also has a go at doing the Grievous sound, proving that nearly anyone could do it.
Star Wars hadn't been on television on a weekly basis since the short lived Droids and Ewoks cartoons in the mid Eighties and this 20 minute preview makes the most of building up to the (at the time) impending premiere by showing brief snippets of many different episodes of series one and the theatrical film that preceded it. There is even a clip from 'Cargo of Doom' which ended up as part of season two. Finally R2D2 invites Ashley into the Skywalker Ranch screening room for an exclusive sneak peek at a relatively long scene from the second episode, 'Rising Malevolence'.
7 out of 10
First up Ashley interviews Supervising director Dave Filoni, who happens to be 'the chosen one' as he was allowed to take reign of the Clone Wars where Genndy Tartakovsky left off. Or going by the length of Anakin's hair in the series, everything appears to take place between Chapters 21 and 22 of the 'Micro-series'. Filoni is a self confessed fan of little seen Jedi Plo Koon, who always seems to be present in the background whenever he is talking, in this case in rough animation form on a big TV screen. Dave briefly discusses the characters of Yoda, Anakin and Ashoka, whom he describes as a like a sister to Ani's big bro. Of course Ashley chimes in to say her character is 'pretty kick butt' and Filoni has to remind her that Ahsoka is still a Padawan, not a Jedi Master. Also briefly mentioned is Tano's reverse grip fighting style, which apparently she will lose in favor of Anakin's style over the course of the series. Look at Ashley swinging the Ashoka grip.
After the break little Miss Eckstein talks to sound supervisor and voice of General Grievous Matthew Wood who's working on 'The Lair of Grievous' episode. Matt processes his relatively normal sounding voice recording and make it sound like Grievous (minus the coughing which apparently was provided by an under the weather George Lucas - or at least for Revenge of the Sith). Ashley also has a go at doing the Grievous sound, proving that nearly anyone could do it.
Star Wars hadn't been on television on a weekly basis since the short lived Droids and Ewoks cartoons in the mid Eighties and this 20 minute preview makes the most of building up to the (at the time) impending premiere by showing brief snippets of many different episodes of series one and the theatrical film that preceded it. There is even a clip from 'Cargo of Doom' which ended up as part of season two. Finally R2D2 invites Ashley into the Skywalker Ranch screening room for an exclusive sneak peek at a relatively long scene from the second episode, 'Rising Malevolence'.
7 out of 10
