Comic-Con ’08: Star Wars Panel

This afternoon, the traditional Star Wars panel was held in Hall H. Not a lot to report there; we saw a lot of stuff anyone can watch on the Net right now, such as the release trailer for Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, and the final trailer for Star Wars: The Clone Wars. But we also saw some never-before-seen footage from a few cut scenes in The Force Unleashed, and extended scenes from both The Clone Wars film and TV show.

The Force Unleashed footage was spoiler-heavy, so I’ll not dish about it here. But it looked great, like a really juicy Star Wars movie that everybody there wanted to see. Before we watched the Clone Wars clips, some of the folks responsible for it were brought out for some Q&A time with Star Wars fan relations director Steve Sansweet (I can’t help wondering how many times a day this guy has to say the words “Star Wars”). Among the info gleaned from this interview time:
- George Lucas grew increasingly involved with the TV show as time passed. As he saw the level of work being produced, he became more passionate and personally invested in it. Depending on your point of view, this could be a good thing or a bad thing.
- I’ve seen reports elsewhere online about how the TV series would be self-contained episodes, with no over-arching storylines. Yet one of the panelists today described the scene we were shown from the show as “part of the show’s first story arc.”

We got to watch a long battle sequence from the movie, and it looked spectacular. Big, epic, with sweeping camera moves and realistic-feeling battle operations. Even juicier was our first look at the entire first act of an episode of the TV show entitled “Cloak of Darkness.” The episode centers around Jedi Council member Luminara Unduli, but Anakin’s padawan, new character Ahsoka, also features prominently. It really did maintain the big feeling of the Star Wars films, with lots of action and spectacle, and the idea of getting to see something of this quality on a weekly basis is truly exciting. But while it looks to be a visual feast for the eyes, I’m not yet convinced that the story will be the huge step up from the prequels that we’re all hoping for.

But let’s face it: we’ll all be watching regardless. It’s Star Wars.

I wonder if that says more about the legacy of Star Wars itself, or our collective mania, as fans?