Show Type:Action/Adventure/Sci-Fi
Episodes:88 Episodes (4 Seasons)
Average Viewers: 2.5 Million per episode
Information on cast and crew at: IMDB and Wikipedia.
Links: Official Site #1

My Thoughts on the Show

few years ago I went round my friends house, as you do, and played some games. However, I noticed a DVD boxset sitting on his shelf named Star Wars: The Clone wars. This was first I had ever heard of it, so I asked if I could borrow it (after being recommended to watch it). And I'm so glad I did.

I wouldn't call myself a massive star wars fan, but I do enjoy watching all Six of the Star Wars films and regularly play the Lego Star Wars video games. So having a whole TV series based on Star Wars seemed like a no-brainer to me, so I started watching the series.

Before I discuss the tv series, I would to briefly mention the movie. As a movie, it wasn't star wars finest hour. The episodes chosen for the movie weren't the best either, as I found the main story to be weak compared to some of the strong early episodes of the series. However... some of the scenes are very impressive, especially the lightsaber duels. And I quite liked familiar star wars locations to ease the audience in to the Clone Wars universe. So overall, as a movie its quite weak, but part of the tv series, it's does a decent job to ease us into the series.

And now onto the series. I'll have to start with the animation first and foremost. Simply put it looks really good. No wait, it looks excellent. The animation is just as good as the major CGI films, and done on a much smaller budget. All the characters you know and love from the live-action films have been faithfully re-created to give a unique new look to each character, but at the same time, being instantly recognisable to their live-action counterparts. Considering that the series doesn't have a muti-million budgets unlike the CGI films, it looks as impressive (or dare I say it?) even better at times.

I'll have to mention the voice actoring while I'm on the subject of good things about the show. Now, those of you who will expect the likes of Ewan McGregor, Samuel L Jackson and Natalie Portman to reprise their roles will be disappointed, as only Anthony Daniels (as C3-PO) reprises their role. (With the exception of Samuel L Jackson as Mace Windu, and Christopher Lee as Count Dooku in the movie) However, the replacement voice actors have been picked brilliantly, as some like Obi-Wan Kenobi, General Grievous and Mace Windu being almost identical to their real-life counterparts, while all the others are very close. The only one I'm not to fond of is Yoda, but saying that, its still pretty good.

The new regular character of Ahsoka Tano is also a great addition. There is a big difference and experience between Analkin from the events of the Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the sith. This is because of the big presence in the clone wars, and Ahsoka Tano was assigned as his apprentice, so he learns a sense of responsibility and matures into the Jedi Knight that he will turn out to be. You will quickly bond with her as a character (like all the others), and because she is young, you can see the clone wars through a younger pair of eyes, and from a younger perspective.

Because of the limited time of the films, and because there is a lot of episodes of this show, Mr Lucas and his team has made an effort to focus on other characters in the star wars universe, which haven't had much exposure in the films. Ki-Adi-Mundi, Luminara Unduli, Kit Fisto, Plo Koon, Boba Fett and many others appear throughout the show, even through they got very limited roles in the films.

I couldn't end my count of this show without mentioning the clones themselves. They didn't get much personality or anything in the way of character development in the films, so I'm very glad that a show about the clone wars, has time to explore the world throughout the eyes of troopers. They get quite a lot of dialogue and even whole episodes dedicated to just the clones, which is always good to watch. There even voiced by the same voice actor, but you would never know by watching it!

Great voice actoring, some brilliant stories, great characters, and some great action sequences, I would recommend this series for anyone who enjoys the films. George Lucas puts all his unused ideas from the live-action films into this series - and you can tell. Hopefully it will get to the 100 episode mark. And good to that!

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