Category: Television

from StarWars.com:

Count Dooku visits the witches of Dathomir, seeking to replace Asajj Ventress with a new, deadlier apprentice. Little does he know that his new protégée — the formidable Savage Opress — has been selected by Ventress herself, and that the Nightsisters have used their witchcraft to transform the warrior into a monstrous killer without remorse, compassion or loyalty. The second chapter of a three-part Clone Wars arc, “Monster” airs at 8:30 p.m. ET/PT Friday, January 14 on Cartoon Network.

“I’ve really fallen for Ventress, and here the audience gets to learn a lot about her history. She’s an extremely complicated character,” says Katie Lucas, writer of the three-part Nightsisters arc. “She’s a cold-hearted harpy, but she has good reason to be — and now she’s displaying a much more independent side of herself. Ventress is nobody’s pawn anymore. She finally owns herself. I grew up on Buffy and Tank Girl, so writing for strong females is second nature to me. I listened to a lot of early Hole and The Distillers albums to inspire me while writing these stories; I really wanted to tap into that visceral female rage, and Courtney Love’s snarl certainly tears that right out of you.”

While Ventress has certainly asserted herself and assumed a more powerful role than ever before, “Monster” also introduces an all-new villain into the power struggle. A warrior from the same fearsome race that spawned Episode I’s Darth Maul, Opress is bred and trained to serve — but he is destined to become more powerful than ever his masters had imagined.

“Savage is a lot like Frankenstein’s creation,” says Lucas. “He’s a monster, but you get brief glimpses of a real heart beneath the surface. He’s a complicated character — I don’t think he would have turned to the dark side without the manipulation of the witches. They use him.”

Daughter of the acclaimed Star Wars creator, Lucas acknowledges her personal connections to that “galaxy far, far away,” while still recognizing her writer’s responsibility to speak to the quintessentially Earth-bound human experience.

“If I hadn’t been raised in the Star Wars universe, I don’t think there would be any way I could write sci-fi. It doesn’t come naturally to me. I’ve had to adapt,” she says. “Part of being a screenwriter is knowing how to entertain, and the other part is staying true to your own vision. I’ve always been inspired by the truths of our world, universal and personal, here in our reality, and I try to bring as much of that as I can to The Clone Wars.”

from StarWars.com:

Troubled by Asajj Ventress’ growing prowess with the dark side of the Force, Darth Sidious commands Count Dooku to eliminate her. But Ventress survives Dooku’s assassination attempt, and the jilted former apprentice vows to take revenge, enlisting the aid of her kinswomen — the mystical Nightsisters of Dathomir — in her sinister scheme. Evil clashes with evil and sparks fly — igniting the fuse for the launch of the explosive second half of Star Wars: The Clone Wars Season Three. Darkness falls and the end begins with “Nightsisters,” an all-new episode debuting at an ALL-NEW TIME — 8:30 p.m. ET/PT Friday, January 7 on Cartoon Network.

The first of a three-part story arc, “Nightsisters” pulls back the curtain to reveal bitter rivalries, seething resentments, shattered alliances and more — including the revelation of a dark sorcery as mystical and powerful as the Force itself. Wielded by the witches of far-off Dathomir, this sinister magic poses a threat to both the Jedi and the Sith, and a challenge to the delicate balance of the Force.

“We’ve still only seen a small sliver of what’s possible,” says Dave Filoni, supervising director of Star Wars: The Clone Wars. “Not only are we seeing stories from different points of view, but we are constantly learning about new perspectives that shift the paradigm entirely.”

One of those new perspectives comes from Ventress herself. Previously represented primarily as Dooku’s grim shadow and an agent of evil, her secret history is revealed when she is forced to re-examine her allegiances. The hunter becomes the hunted, but she is quick to demonstrate that she is no ordinary prey. She strikes back with a vengeance, returning to the offensive as she responds to the insult and injury of her former master’s betrayal.

“Things are changing in The Clone Wars — permanent changes that will affect the whole Star Wars universe,” says Filoni. “We are about to start seeing some significant shifts, starting with the power structure of the Separatists and the Sith. We’re shaking things up for them, and you’ll see that our bad guys are going to react strongly to that. They don’t take it too well. What we’re seeing is the start of a chain reaction. Things are really about to pick up — and this is just the beginning.”

from GeekChicDaily:

Geeks find many ways to honor Christmas night. Some watch Christmas Vacation for the umpeen zillionth time. (Why does that movie never get old?) Some swipe action figures originally gifted to younger relatives. The rest just blissfully ignore their loved ones while playing the holiday-themed Angry Birds Seasons. (Actually, let’s be honest, playing Angry Birds Seasons is how most of us spent the entire month of December.)

But this year, American geeks get a special holiday treat. For the first time ever, BBC America will broadcast the latest Doctor Who Christmas Special on the same night it airs in the UK. Not familiar with The Doctor? It’s okay. Dr. Who is a sci-fi staple of British television. The show was revived in 2005 by the BBC after a 16 year hiatus; before that, its origins go all the way back to 1963. The main thrust of the story is about time travel, so it sort of doesn’t matter where you start. You can jump in now, then go back and watch what has come before with little confusion. Just treat it as a massive origin story. (We recommend starting with “Rose” and working your way forward, then maybe going back and checking out some of the classic shows.)

This Saturday’s episode is titled “A Christmas Carol” and features a Time Lord-y take on Charles Dickens’ classic holiday story. In this version, the Doctor must save his companions from a crashing spaceship. His only way of accomplishing the feat is by warming the soul of a Scrooge-ish old man played by the former Headmaster of Hogwarts himself, Michael Gambon. The episode was written by series head Steven Moffat, who described it thus: “It’s all your favorite Christmas movies at once, in an hour, with monsters.” Sounds amazing. We can’t wait to see how they got the Griswolds to relate to inter-dimensional time travel.

A Christmas Carol airs Saturday, December 25th, 2010 at 9pm/8c on BBC America.