Jumping from one hit to hopefully another one, a writer of the top-rating Nickelodeon animated series
Avatar: The Last Airbender Dave Filoni was recently signed up to take the reins of
The Clone Wars, the television series inspired by the 31-year old Star Wars franchise and pop culture phenomenon. Finoli, 34, worked with
Avatar and was interviewed and hired by George Lucas himself to usher the ongoing saga of the Skywalker family to its fourth decade.
Finoli was also at the helm of the seventh film in the franchise, also called
Clone Wars, which debuted in theaters recently. He and his team did so well in using computer animation to create the Star Wars cartoon series that he was chosen to do the movie, too.
"I can't even begin to tell you how strange and wonderful and great it's been," said Filoni, who, only three years prior, was one of the fans who went to the opening night of Revenge of the Sith. "Just getting to meet George Lucas was pretty amazing, and then working with him and getting to be part of this process ... it's a great responsibility. I feel like my job is to bring his universe to the screen and make sure it lives up to the standards he's set."
The Clone Wars features the voice of some familiar personalities, including Samuel L. Jackson, Christopher Lee, and Anthony Daniels, who has voiced C3PO since the character’s first appearance in 1977.
The TV adaptation will begin airing on the Cartoon Network and TNT this fall with weekly 30-minute episodes. Both the film and the series will reportedly take place between Episode II (Attack of the Clones) and Episode III (Revenge of the Sith) in the Star Wars universe. And while Avatar became a huge hit, Finoli feels more pressure to create and direct anything that’s part of the Star Wars legacy, which has a massive and loyal fan base worldwide.
“You can get a way from a lot of things up there. But then, you know, making a Star Wars movie is the sort of pressure you can't forget about for too long."
Avatar: The Last Airbender enjoyed massive ratings success during its last week when it attracted 19 million viewers.
-Glenn L. Diaz, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Source:
Baltimore Sun
(Image Courtesy of Web TV Hub)