Opinion: #SaveTheCloneWars Twitter Protest - Thank You

Sunday, March 24, 2013

Opinion: #SaveTheCloneWars Twitter Protest - Thank You

Posted by Dominic Jones on 3/24/2013 6 comments

By: Dominic Jones

Fandom never ceases to amaze me. The turn out for yesterday's #SaveTheCloneWars Twitter protest was astounding! I will admit, I feared this protest would turn out to be nothing more than a few friends and I trying to make it seem like we were making more noise then we actually were. Boy was I wrong. When the clock stuck 9:30 am PST, thousands of Save The Clone Wars tweets from fans began to pour in. Fast forward to 9:30 pm PST and the the tweets were still coming! That's right 12 hours later and (at least) every minute there was a new tweet bearing the hashtag #SaveTheCloneWars. Like Savage Opress, it truly was a sight to behold.

The tweets came from fans of all types. Men and women, children and adults, teenagers and grandparents; everyone chimed in. But it wasn't just your average fan either. Rick Fitts, who's made appearances on Star Trek and just about every other TV series ever made, took to Twitter and let Disney know that he loved the show. Megan Rath and Sam Huntington, the stars (along with Sam Witwer) of Being Human, participated and got the word out. Even Harry Knowles of Ain't It Cool News spoke out in support of the show. Everyone was out to support The Clone Wars.

Given that massive layoffs have taken place at Lucasfilm Animation, the chances of actually saving the series may be slim to none. But we accomplished something greater than that. We were loud and it will be next to impossible for Disney to ignore the over 7000 tweets that poured in from fans showing their support for the show. It is now a matter of how they will react. Hopefully, we taught them to think long and hard before they decide to cancel something so beloved again.

The greatest thing that happened, however, was something that was never considered when planning this protest. Not only did we (hopefully) get through to Disney, in the process we also reminded the cast and crew of The Clone Wars how loved they are. It was as much a thank you to them, as it was an attempt to save the series. It is for that reason, above all else, I consider Saturday a success.

But the fight's not over! Keep letting Disney know you love the series, drive the message home. Make sure they don't make this kind of mistake again! If you haven't sent a letter already - WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? Send one now and let your voice be heard. Keep tweeting @Disney and using the hashtag #SaveTheCloneWars. Make sure they think twice about decisions like this in the future.