Ever wonder what happened in the 3 year gap between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith? With all the hate directed towards the prequel movies, maybe you shouldn't answer that one. Having recently rewatched the prequels in their new blu-ray incarnations, I think they are judged way too harshly. The most glaring weakness of the movies, especially episodes 2&3, are that they feel rushed. For example, Anakin falls too easily. Also, Anakin and Padme fall in love too easily. Lots of plot holes and explanations of those plot holes are seemingly left for other movies that will never get made. Well, that's now not necessarily true with the arrival of The Clone Wars cartoon. The creators are allowed to take their time building up characters and plotlines that could only be done superficially in the movies, including the classic original trilogy. It makes me wistfully wonder whether there might some day be a cartoon based on Episodes 4-6. There probably will.
Season One was preceded by a full length movie, The Clone Wars, which is also available on Blu-ray, so make sure you watch that before you start the series. The main event of the movie was Anakin gaining his first and only (?) Padawan learner, the feisty but lovable Ahsoka. Most of the Jedi have become generals in the Republic Army, blissfully unaware that Chancellor Palpatine, aka Darth Sidious is orchestrating the entire Civil War with the help of Count Dooku, and HIS apprentice, Ventress, the not quite Sith assassin.
While Anakin, Obi-wan, and Ahsoka are the main characters of the series, the writers seem to view the show as more of an ensemble piece. For instance, episode 1 stars Yoda, and not the crotchety know-it-all of the prequel films. He is shown more as the laughing trickster of Empire before Luke found out his true identity. I think he only laughed once in the prequel trilogy, and that wasn't very whole hearted. Other episodes feature Jedi that looked cool in the movies but sometimes never even spoke, like Luminara, Aayla Secura, and Kit Fisto. I guess Kit did have a semi-speaking part in Revenge of the Sith. IF you could call dying screaming like a little girl speaking. Other episodes feature clone troopers and even the much maligned Jar Jar Binks as the main stars.
A lot of the episodes have 2-3 episode story arcs which are just as good as if not BETTER than any of the live action movies. I know this might sound incredible but after finishing the first season multi-part finale, I'm actually feeling like I enjoyed this TV show even more than the live action movies, EVEN the original trilogy which I completely loved. Watching the Clone Wars cartoon, the Star Wars universe just seems so much richer. You actually have time to deal with the consequences of character's actions.
One of the things that bothered me about Attack of the Clones was when Anakin went berserk and killed all those sand people. Yoda sensed his pain and that something terrible had happened. But we never did get to see whether Yoda asked him about it. Or did Obi-wan ever ask him what happened on Tatooine. Or did Yoda or the Jedi ever think for one second WHO had really ordered the clone army to be manufactured. Like was it such a good idea to just show up on Kamino and just pick them up no questions asked. I would want to know who had ordered them and what their intentions were before I armed them and let them loose on the galaxy.
While the live action movies didn't have time to ask questions like these, the cartoon does. For example, in one of the later episodes, a clone goes bad, or let's just say, he turns against the Republic. He sees the Republic and the Jedi as slavemasters, ordering him and his "brothers" to lay down their lives for no reason other than being commanded to. It really flips the tables on who is right in the Star Wars universe. One mystery that is further compounded by showing how individual the clones are is that it just seems unbelievable that they would carry out Order 66 so I hope the writers somehow figure out a way to resolve that.
All in all, I loved this first season, and already have the next two on my shelf ready and waiting.
My Grade: A+
Visit the official site: http://www.starwars.com/explore/the-clone-wars/
No comments:
Post a Comment