Star Wars: The Clone Wars Season 3 DVD Review

George Lucas and the team at Lucasfilm are back to fill the gap between Episodes II & III with Star Wars: The Clone Wars Season 3, coming to DVD and high-definition Blu-ray Disc on 17 October 2011 from Lucasfilm Ltd. and Warner Home Video.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars Season 3, is very much a season of 2 halves. The series opens on the homeworld of the clone army – Kamino, where we follow the rather less than stellar performing ‘Domino Squad’ being pushed through their clone training paces. It’s an enjoyable starting point which delves further into the inner-workings of the clone army training regimen, and leads to an action packed 2nd episode with General Grievous and Ventress launching a full on assault on the cloning facility.

Episode 3 (‘Supply Lines’), sees things take a slight turn for the worse as Jar Jar Binks shows up… This starts a run of episodes focusing on the politics of the Republic, with various characters dealing with trade missions and other political matters which, whilst adding texture to the background of The Clone Wars, feel a little out-of-place in a Star Wars animated show.

Things start to pick up again with the R2-D2, C-3PO centred episode ‘Evil Plans’, where a simple shopping trip of the droid companions leads to the escape of Ziro The Hutt, and the introduction of fan favourite Jedi Master ‘Quinlan Vos’ (making his first appearance in animated form) to help Obi-Wan track Ziro down.

The Clone Wars, Season 3

There are a few other significant story arcs this season. We see the planet of ‘Mortis’ for the first time, and it’s inhabitants ‘The Ones’ – Father, Daughter and Son. These 3 seem to have an enormous connection to The Force, although George is playing his cards close to his chest on exactly what their connection is.

Episode 18 – ‘The Citadel’ starts a 3 part story arc where Obi-Wan and Anakin are sent to rescue Jedi Master Even Piell from an impenetrable prison, along with a young Captain Tarkin. The 2 episode arc (starting with Episode 21 – ‘Padawan Lost’) sees Ahsoka kidnapped by Trandoshan slavers for their big hunt, which leads to the first Clone Wars for a certain favourite walking carpet…

The standout arc for me though goes to Katie Lucas (daughter of George), who turns in a great 3 parter (starting at episode 12 – Nightsisters). After Count Dooku is ordered by Darth Sidious to kill his apprentice Ventress, she escapes Dooku’s assassination attempt and returns to her Nightsister clan to plot revenge. This involves turning Dathomirian Zabrak Nightbrother ‘Savage Opress’ into a terrifying warrior to act as Dooku’s new apprentice, only to have him turn on his new master on Ventress’s command. It also leads to a reveal that someone we thought long dead may not be as deceased as being sliced in half would usually imply…

Overall Star Wars: The Clone Wars Season 3, has some great stories in it, and even though the season is a little uneven, it’s well worth delving into for any Star Wars fan. The DVD extras also include some great detailed interviews with cast and crew about various key episodes in the run.

Star Wars™: The Clone Wars™ The Complete Season Three is out on Blu-Ray and DVD on 17 October 2011

 8/10 – A bit uneven, but well worth it for any Star Wars fan!

Source Code to be the new Quantum Leap?

Source Code - TV Series

Moving a project from the cinema to the small screen (or vice versa) can be a tricky thing… However, Buffy, Stargate, Terminator (despite it’s short run), and M*A*S*H all made decent transitions, and Mark Gordon, the producer of Duncan Jones’ brilliant movie Source Code, is hoping to he can make it too, after securing a pilot commitment from CBS to turn the film’s premise into a weekly tv series.

Source Code stars Jake Gyllenhaal as pilot Colter Stevens, who wakes to find himself on a train headed for Chicago, with no memory of how he got there, or why he appears to be in someone else’s body… He doesn’t have long to muse on this predicament though, as 8 minutes later the train explodes, and he awakes again, but this time in some sort of military training simulator. Dazed and very confused, Captain Colleen Goodwin (Vera Farmiga) appears on a monitor to explain that he is taking part in an experimental ‘source code’ project which allows him to re-live the last 8 minutes of someone’s life, albeit in an alternative reality. The reason he is on that train is to try and identify the bomber before he can set of a much larger explosion in central Chicago.

For the TV series, the plan is to have 3 federal agents using the ‘source code’ technology to jump into people’s bodies to prevent or solve tragic past events. It’ll be interesting to see how they approach moving the mythology to the small screen, as the film leaves it quite open to shoot off in a number of different directions. It’s fair to say this is likely to make some key changes from the film, which very much centered around Stevens, his confusion to the situation, and his mental state. In the same way Stargate saw the TV iron out the process of gating to a planet compared to the movie, i’d rather expect the TV show to focus more on the ‘event’ than the bumps of using the system.

The pilot is being penned by Steven Maeda, writer/executive producer on the superb (and tragically cancelled) ‘Lie to Me’, and ‘Lost’, so he’s no stranger to a good mystery story, and a bit of sci-fi weirdness! Although the basic premise is very ‘Quatumn Leap’, there’s enough other material set up in the movie to make this a much more edgy concept. Will be very interesting one to watch develop.

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STAR WARS: The Old Republic gets a launch date!

It’s been a long (long time…) in coming, but Bioware have finally given us a release date for STAR WARS: The Old Republic… And it’s the 22nd of December 2011 for Europe (20th of December if your over in North America)! Merry Christmas everyone!

SWTOR is a game we’ve been desperate to play ever since it was announced back in 2008. Originally planned for early 2011, not unsurprisingly give Bioware’s usual ‘we’ll release it when it’s ready and not before’ attitude, it slipped, and we were beginning to wonder if we’d ever get to see SWTOR this side of the 2011 holiday season. Thankfully the lil Bioware Ewoks have been hard at work, and from all the footage and previews i’ve see, SWTOR is not only ready, it should be one of the most engrossing and detailed MMORPG game worlds ever created.

Like previous Bioware games, SWTOR has a heavy focus on story, way more so than any other MMORPG gone before. Bioware plan to firmly re-attached the RPG part of the acronym – something that has been sorely missing in many more recent MMO releases.

After your initial 30 days, the subscription costs are pretty much in line with the genre’s other major player ‘World of Warcraft’, with 1 month subs at £8.99, 3 months at £25.17, and 6 months at £46.14. No news on how early the ‘Early Game Access’ will be yet.

So there your are, you now know what to ask Santa to get you for Christmas… STAR WARS: The Old Republic – 22nd of December 2011.

Twitter Fans Name Sci-Fi’s Sexiest Stars

Anna Silk in Lost Girl

In a survey commissioned by TV channel Syfy to celebrate the launch of fantasy series Lost Girl which launches on Thursday 1st September at 10pm, they asked fans on Twitter to vote to determine Sci-Fi’s favourite stars. The new series boasts it’s very own feisty temptress, Bo (Anna Silk) – soon to be a sure favourite herself – as a Succubus who drains humans of their sexual energy through kissing before leaving them for dead. However Bo doesn’t want to be evil, and is struggling to learn to handle her power when she finds other members of her obscure race which could be the key to her living a normal life. With spirited sidekick Kenzie by her side, they struggle to live in what has suddenly become a dangerous world – the biggest danger being from Bo’s own kind.

So, who won? Well looking at the lists, it’s fair to say that, whatever you think of Joss Whedon, he’s got an eye for the ladies… and a few of the men… 

Firefly, Dollhouse and Terminator:SCC star Summer Glau trounced the competition in the girls list. Buffy herself, Sarah Michelle Gellar, came in 3rd, the lovely Jewel Staite 4th, with Dollhouse and Buffy/Angel star Eliza Dushku coming 5th. It doesn’t stop there though. The 6th (Gina Torres), 8th (Morena Baccarin), and 9th (Felicia Day) places where all taken up by Whedon alumni!

Joss does less well in the guys list, with the highest place going to Firefly‘s (and every other Sci-fi show under the sun!) Mark Sheppard coming in 4th, and Captain Tightpant’s – aka Nathan Fillion, coming in 5th. The top of the guys list is of course dominated by the Supernatural trio – Jenson Ackles coming 1st, Jared Padalecki 2nd, and Mischa Collins 3rd. Mark Sheppard was in Supernatural too… That guy gets everywhere!

The full galleries of the top ten Babes and Hunks appear below!

Sci-Fi Babes

Sci-Fi Hunks

Lost Girl premieres on Thursday 1^st September at 10pm, only on Syfy.

Keep up with all the latest UK premiere dates over on our UK Air Dates page!

Review: Cowboys and Aliens

Cowboys and Aliens (Ford & Craig)

Sitting in my impro class last Friday, the teacher commented that sci-fi and horror are the movie genres most frequently made, and the fact that if your a hot girl, you will gain male fans who will watch you in anything. At the time of writing, Olivia Wilde (Ella Swenson) and her cat-like eyes are ranked #3 on imdb’s starmeter.

With sci-fi & the western both being genres which dominate our collective interests, it’s surprising no one has done it (this directly anyway!) before. Sure, you can argue Star Wars is a space western, but there are few movies that have genuine wild west cowboys on Earth battling aliens.

Cowboys and Aliens opens with Jake Lonergan (Daniel Craig) alone outside a town with the cheesy name Absolution, not knowing who he is or how he got there. For the next two hours, the audience is taken on a ride through an invasion of aliens in the Wild West to discover his identity. In keeping with our 21st century need for instant action and gratification, director Jon Favereau installs the first fight scene 2 minutes into the movie. Favereau then keeps the action going with multiple sources of danger lurking all around Absolution, not the least of which from local wealthy rancher Woodrow Dolarhyde (Harrison Ford) and his son Percy (Paul Dano).

The script does a good job of meshing these two genres and creates a fun, entertaining experience. However, the concept for this movie screams for simple mindless fun and the writers should have left it at that. Unfortunately, about half way through, they decided the movie needed some depth and a message. Of course, what would a western be without Indians, but in this case, the script uses them to teach Lonergan a lesson about his past, which in turn gives him the information he needs to go on and fight against the aliens in order to save the earth. This is the classic Hollywood cliché of a person needing to go through great trials and suffering in order to triumph over self as well as external obstacles and dangers. My other issue with the script is that while Woodrow Dolarhyde is introduced as the town villain, even going so far as to tie one of his workers to two horses as he interrogates him, Dolarhyde’s conversion to ‘the good side’ happens so quickly that it is not believable.

The film, however, is superbly cast and Favereau elicits excellent performances from his actors, including the young and adorable Noah Ringer. And by putting Indiana Jones and James Bond together in a film loaded with action, how can you miss? Especially since they are hot. And guys, you will definitely ‘appreciate’ Olivia Wilde. SPOILER ALERT: In one scene, she is wearing very few clothes. You might want to wear a bib. Just saying…

6/10 Looses points for it’s cheesy attempt at a deeper meaning.

Top 4 SciFi Shows We Want To See!

Over a chat with some fellow GeekTowners recently, we were mourning the loss (or long hiatus) of the Stargate franchise after the cruel cancellation of the actually rather good SGU, and it got us thinking… What scifi shows would we like to see – with the exception of the obligatory ‘bring back Firefly‘ obviously…

4. Star Wars – Live Action TV Show

We're waiting George!

Apart from from needing a decent title, and seemingly not having moved forward much since it was first announced a few years back, the Star Wars Live Action TV Show has been slowly bubbling along behind the scenes. Lucas says he has 50 hours written out of an initial run of 100. However, in a recent interview the big man himself has said it’s basically on hold until the technology manages to catch up with his vision of what he wants the show to be – i.e. we want it to be epic and we can’t afford to do it on a tv budget…

Really George?.. What the heck are you planning that you, the man that’s amassed a fortune selling everything from Star Wars lunchboxes to C3PO tape dispensers (yes, really), think it’s not cost effective to produce a Star Wars TV show?! Are you planning on blowing up an actual planet each episode? Genetically engineer real Ewoks maybe? I’m struggling to see how a Star Wars branded ‘anything‘ at this point won’t make you your money back, despite whatever fortune you spend on it! *Sigh* so while Lucas waits (presumably for someone to construct an actual Death Star so they can shoot it somewhere with that authentic ‘Death Stary feel’), we will get Robot Chicken’s Star Wars Sitcom which Lucas greenlit earlier this year. At least that’s something new (and I do expect it to be awesome!), but I’d still love to see the live action show move forward!

3. Mass Effect the TV Series

Mass Effect TV Show

BioWare have made a number of truly great computer games, but one of the strongest universes they’ve created was the one that Mass Effect resides in. There is a Mass Effect movie in development, but that’s no reason to not consider a TV series after that. Look at the success Stargate had (even though the the original writer seemingly hated the tv show!).

Mass Effect provides a vivid and interesting environment that could easily expand in TV. With so many varied races and characters to explore, I can’t help but think a tv show set in the Mass Effect universe would allow the story to expand far more than a film would every allow.

2. Fray the TV Series

Fray TV Show

Yes, I know we’re fanboys when it comes to Joss, but after he’s done sorting out Marvel’s men in tights, I’d really love to see him have something back on the small screen, and it’d be nice if it was something Slayer related. So how about a Fray tv series?

For those of you that don’t know about Fray, it was a series of comic book written by Joss about a new Slayer set in a hi tech future. In this timeline demons had though to have been banished from Earth, and the Watchers are a crazed cult. But when vampires (now know as lurks) start to re-appear in New York’s slums, a new Slayer is called in the form of thief Melaka Fray to battle the increasing threat… Vamps and Slayers in a futuristic scifi setting?.. What more could you want!

1. Slingers TV Show

Ever since the ‘sizzle reel‘ for Slingers popped up in 2009, we’ve been backing the show to get made! For those of you that have yet to catch the video – see above! Slingers is set set in 2263 A.D. An interplanetary war has left a section of humanity cut off from Earth by an impassible barrier. Some people are prepared to do as the military tell them, and make the best of a bad situation. Some have other plans… People such as Dominic ‘DM’ Monroe and his merry band of brothers decide to *ahem* borrow… the military’s experimental spaceship, which has the capability to ‘sling’ itself to any point in the universe. That means in theory, it is the only craft that side of the barrier has the capability of reaching Earth…

In terms of tone, it’s been described as “the action of Bullitt, the sophistication of Ocean’s 11 and the humour of M*A*S*H all wrapped in a futuristic package.” That description alone makes me want to see Slingers go into production! Things have been a bit quiet in terms of actual news on Slingers recently, other than the odd tweet from creator Mike Sizemore about “meetings in LA going well”, there’s not been much news recently. Looking at the stunning work the guys did on the the sizzle reel, I’m surprised it hasn’t been snapped up yet. Still, you know what they say… Good things come to those who wait…