Nine years ago, Disney forked out $4.05 billion to buy the Star Wars property from George Lucas (who’s used the money wisely). It’s been a hit-and-miss gamble, with at one sure-fire hit underperforming (Solo: A Star Wars Story) plus derided threequel (The Rise of Skywalker). Still, they own Star Wars, so they might as well make the most of it. With that in mind, it’s a bit strange to learn that, a year and change after it bowed, Disney+ will finally get around to making public some Star Wars content that’s both top-shelf and a bit arcane.
As per Variety, on April 2 the streamer will add a bevy of deep-ish cut Star Wars effluvia. The most high profile of them is the original Clone Wars, which ran for three seasons between 2003 and 2005. Directed by Samurai Jack’s Genndy Tartakovsky, it was meant to bridge the gap between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith. Its first two seasons unspooled in five-minute bites — it was Quibi before Quibi! — but the third expanded into a full 12 minutes each. (In 2008 Clone Wars returned as a regular-length show, but minus Tartakovsky.)
It’s been a touch inexplicable that the first Clone Wars was AWOL from Disney+. Not so much another big newbie: the two Ewok spin-off TV movies from 1984 and 1985. A mere year after Return of the Jedi, the most marketable figures hit the small screen in Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure, bringing back Warwick Davis’ Wicket, as well as esteemed actress Fionnula Flanagan. Ewoks: The Battle of Endor arrived the next year, this time with Wicket joined by Wilford Brimley and Paul Gleason, the mean principal from The Breakfast Club.
To answer your question: No, you’re not getting the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special. Okay, you sort of are: Disney+ will soon boast “The Story of the Faithful Wookiee,” the only genuinely good part of the franchise’s first major misstep — a cartoon interlude that, among other things, introduced the world to Boba Fett. Still, a dazed Carrie Fisher warbling the theme to Star Wars with lyrics or GTFO.
(Via Variety)