Chewbacca Set to Appear on the Season Three Finale of 'Star Wars: The Clone Wars'

Based on all of the familiar faces that keep popping up in Cartoon Network’s Star Wars: The Clone Wars, that galaxy far, far away might not be as expansive as we once believed. Lucasfilm has revealed that everyone’s favorite loveable Wookiee Chewbacca will appear in the season three finale of The Clone Wars, helping Anakin Skywalker’s padawan Ahsoka Tano escape from the scaly clutches of some Trandoshan hunters on a planetary game preserve.

The series’ supervising director Dave Filoni told Yahoo! Movies that the two-part finale is some of his team’s best work yet, largely due to the involvement of the live-action Chewbacca himself, Peter Mayhew. The towering actor advised the animators on the movement, posture and mannerisms of the character during the episodes’ production. “We couldn’t have done it without him; it just wouldn’t have been Chewie,” Filoni said.

Having had the chance to meet Mayhew at New York Comic Con back in 2009, I’m glad to see him still involved with the saga. However, Chewbacca’s forced inclusion in Revenge of the Sith was more distracting than anything, and his debut on The Clone Wars seems equally motivated by the desire to sell new Chewbacca merchandise. Star Wars? Driven by toy sales? A shocking revelation, I know.

The season three finale of Star Wars: The Clone Wars airs April 1 at 8 p.m. on Cartoon Network. Watch a brief clip from the episode below.

Liam Neeson Returns as Qui-Gon Jinn in 'Star Wars: The Clone Wars'

If you’re a Star Wars geek and you haven’t been watching Star Wars: The Clone Wars, well, you should probably get on that. The second and third seasons of this groundbreaking computer-animated series have introduced some of the best Star Wars stories ever told. That’s right, ever.

Entertainment Weekly revealed earlier this week that Liam Neeson will be reprising the role of rebellious Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn on an episode of The Clone Wars airing on Jan. 28—the first installment of a three-part story arc. Neeson will voice Qui-Gon again on the Feb. 11 episode of the Cartoon Network series.

Of course, Qui-Gon is dead at this point in Star Wars chronology, so he presents himself to his former Padawan Obi-wan Kenobi as a Force ghost. Seasoned Star Wars nerd that I am, this strikes me as odd for two reasons:

1. I was always under the impression that Neeson wasn’t all that crazy about Star Wars—or its creator George Lucas—after his experience starring in The Phantom Menace. I thought this was why the planned post-mortem appearance of Qui-Gon was cut from Revenge of the Sith.
2. Obi-Wan seemed genuinely surprised at the end of Revenge of the Sith when he learned that Yoda had learned how to communicate with Qui-Gon through the Force. I know the folks at Lucasfilm are making things up as they go at this point, but this seems like a fairly flippant disregard for continuity—but then again, so were the prequels.

Gripes aside, this should be cool, and I have faith that this series’ supervising director Dave Filoni has figured out a logical way to bring back Qui-Gon without completely contradicting the films. Head over to EW.com to watch a preview.

‘Star Wars: The Clone Wars’ Returns This Friday

If you consider yourself a Star Wars fan (and who doesn’t?), then you really owe it to yourself to tune in to the season three premiere of Star Wars: The Clone Wars this Friday at 9 p.m. ET. I know, I know, it’s no secret that I’m what one might consider a “hardcore” Star Wars fan, and a James Wortman nod of approval for a Lucasfilm product is as expected as catcalling in a Jets locker room. (Oh, snap!)

But before you start labeling me a blinded, unrepentant Star Wars nerd, I should remind you that I absolutely loathed the 2008 theatrical Clone Wars film, which served as the feature-length premiere of the series (read “Clone Bores” at Broken Frontier if you need proof). I hated the simplistic plot, the juvenile dialogue and the stylized animation bugged the hell out of me. If you’re a computer-animated flick opening the same summer as Pixar’s WALL-E, you’d better be damned spectacular. Alas, The Clone Wars was far from it.

I considering avoiding the series at all costs, but I talked myself into tuning in cautiously when the first episodes debuted a few weeks later. And you know what? I learned the show was actually pretty good. More sophisticated than the slapped-together film and a hell of a lot more fun than the prequels, The Clone Wars for me went from a guilty pleasure to must-watch TV in a matter of weeks. And, thankfully, the storytelling and the animation only improved in the second season (on DVD/Blu-ray Oct. 26), as supervising director Dave Filoni and his team grew confident with the material.

With season three, I’m absolutely stoked to see what lies ahead for Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi and the rest of the gang in that galaxy far, far away (except Jar Jar Binks, he still sucks). If the quality of storytelling last season is any indication, we’re in for a real treat. And, really, as divisive as the prequel trilogy was, it’s about time the Star Wars fan community had something to celebrate in unison.

If you’ve yet to check out The Clone Wars, get caught up by visiting the official Star Wars site.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars Season One Explodes Onto DVD and Blu-ray

I’m always surprised when I run into a Star Wars fan that isn’t watching Star Wars: The Clone Wars, but I certainly don’t blame them for being skeptical. When the feature-length premiere was released theatrically in August of 2008, it was thoroughly savaged by audiences and critics (myself included) for its bizarrely stylized character designs, awkward pacing and poor attempts at humor. When that movie opened, as Obi-Wan Kenobi might say, it was as if millions of geeks suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced.

But then the television series debuted on Cartoon Network that fall, and it started off pretty good. Then it got really good. Today, as its second season rolls on, it might be one of the best pure action-adventure shows on television.

So, yeah, it’s worth checking out.

While smaller compilations of Clone Wars episodes have been released in the past, Star Wars: The Clone Wars - The Complete Season One, now available, collects all 22 episodes in a single set, including seven director’s cuts as well as companion featurettes for each installment. The set is also packaged with an exclusive 68-page production journal. Exclusive to the Blu-ray set is an interactive Jedi Temple Holocron Vault with more than three hours of additional content.

Since this set hit shelves, I’ve gotten the chance to re-watch each of these episodes, many of which I haven’t seen since they originally aired. Save for a few misfires—namely the Jar Jar Binks-centric “Bombad Jedi”—this entire season holds up incredibly well, particularly the later episodes. The Clone Wars has also introduced some pretty cool new characters, namely plucky teenage Padawan Ahsoka Tano and the sinister bounty hunter Cad Bane, who made his debut in the incredible season finale, “Hostage Crisis,” my favorite episode thus far.

Supervising director Dave Filoni and his team should be congratulated for crafting a show for young audiences while at the same time appeasing longtime fans of the franchise. If you love Star Wars, you pretty much need to own this set.