Impressive, most impressive

STAR WARS: CLONE WARS

I dont normally comment on TV shows, but with this I'm going to have to make a rare exception. Admittedly, I was a little sceptical of this show at first. Years have gone by, but the bitter taste of the atrocious prequel movies still lingers on my tongue :P Despite that, the “Star Wars: Clone Wars” animated show is an excellent addition to the Star Wars universe.

The series was directed and produced by Genndy Tartakovsky, the man responsible for the daring “Samurai Jack” (a show I’ve yet to experience firsthand). It tells the story of the Clone Wars, which chronologically takes place between the 2nd and 3rd prequel movies. As such, it’s somewhat necessary to have seen the first two movies (“The Phantom Menace” and “Attack of the Clones”) to get where the Clone Wars characters and stories originated.

And here lies the shows one and only failing; it’s so intertwined with to the dire prequel movies that it’s practically impossible to fully enjoy or appreciate the show without having seen the other Star Wars movies first. Having been subjected to the first two prequels, it was tough to get past the awful acting and clunky dialogue and see the characters as viable persons worth exploring. Clone Wars quickly changed my mind on this though.

The main cast of characters are handled wonderfully. Gone are the hollow, soulless movie incarnations. Anakin is far less petulant and whiney when you take away Lucas’s clunky dialogue and Christensens scowling face. It’s easier to believe that Anakin and Padmé are actually in love and the evolution of Obi-Wan relationship with his padawan is handled skilfully.

But what I found most appealing about this show is its use of secondary characters. For example, I really enjoyed the brief excursions with the lesser-known Jedi. It bolstered the idea that there was actually a vast Jedi Order in existence, populated by diverse aliens from throughout the galaxy.

They took a very stylised approach to the design of the characters, using bold lines and colours and simplifying everyone’s look, so that only their key identifiable characteristics remained. Simpler designs allow for more fluid and complex animation, and the hand drawn work here is exquisite.

The ships are brought to life using 3D animation (very reminiscent of those on Futurama). The backgrounds are highly detailed, almost painterly affairs, offering up beautiful backdrops against which the action plays out.

The action scenes were impeccably staged, with a fast pace that still left time to appreciate the spectacle (something the new movies never accomplished). Also refreshing was the inspired use of “the force”. Not only did the Jedi use it more often, but they also employed it in surprisingly imaginative ways.

Considering the theme of the show was war, violence was a necessary part of the story and I have to applaud the creators for not shying away from it, even considering it was a kid’s show broadcast on the Cartoon Network. Characters (good and evil) are dispatched in various, sometimes shockingly brutal ways.

The first volume is made up of twenty three-minutes shorts, the length of which forced the writers to be very economical with their plotting in order to get the story across. Each episode usually involved a brief battle sequence, with little or no dialogue. Some of the episodes are constructed so well visually, that they manage to convey the story with no dialogue at all. But when dialogue IS used, it’s believable and true to the characters. It’s telling when the dialogue in a cartoon is more accomplished than that in its big screen movie counterparts.

Volume two differs in not only the show length (five fifteen-minute episodes), but also that the story directly leads up to the opening scenes of Episode III. When seen back to back, the two volumes of Clone Wars are the perfect bridge between Episodes II and III. That’s not to say they improve the movies. If anything, they only serve to highlight the inadequacies of the feature length films. In just two hours, the creators of this show manage to give more depth to the Star Wars characters than Lucas et al managed over the entire run of prequels (which clocked in at well over six hours in all).

There are a few inconsistencies here and there as some of the characters in “Clone Wars” were handled differently to their movie counterparts. This was mainly due to the fact that Episode III was still in development when Clone Wars was already in production. But I think in almost all cases, I prefer the cartoons interpretation of the characters.

If you consider yourself a fan of Star Wars and were let down by the disastrous prequels, then do yourself a favour and check out the fantastic “Clone Wars” on DVD. It reaffirmed my faith in Star Wars and gave me some hope for its future as a franchise.

Both volumes can be purchased right now at a bargain price in HMV :D And watching the show in a two hour-long burst is infinitely preferable to the 3 and 15 minute bites they were originally aired as! :P