If you are a devout fan of Star Wars, then chances are that you wholeheartedly despise the prequel trilogy, like a large number of the fandom. Over the years, the hatred towards the prequel trilogy has only multiplied for messing up a lot of the original trilogy’s mythos and turning some beloved characters shallow and one-dimensional. However, every cloud has a silver lining. For the prequel trilogy, it came in the form of a 3D CGI animated series called Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Created by George Lucas himself and produced by Lucasfilm Animation, The Clone Wars started off with an animated movie and successfully remained on TV for six seasons till 2014.
Ahsoka Tano, Anakin’s apprentice, is one of the prominent characters in the series
The Clone Wars does not have a definitive plot of its own per se. The Clone Wars animated movie serves as the show’s premiere and deals with Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi along with AhsokaTano, Anakin’s new Padawan, being assigned to save Jabba the Hutt’s son. Following the movie’s event, the show features a collection of stories that happen during the Clone Wars(between the films Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith) set throughout the galaxy, presented as arcs that span one to four episodes. While most of the story arcs focus on Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Ahsoka, there are plenty of other arcs in the show centering on other characters, both on and away from the battlefield, offering a broad look into what transpired during the Clone Wars.
Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi’s characters and their relationship was developed well in the show
The absence of an overarching greatly affected the earlier seasons of The Clone Wars. Seasons one and two largely consists of self-contained and inconsequential story arcs that play out more or less the same way. Additionally, the arcs focusing on the politics behind the war dragged too much and often focused on dull, shallow characters. The arcs (that no one asked for!) featuring Jar JarBinks as the central character were among the worst in the show. However, judging The Clone Wars based on its first two seasons and giving up on it would be a grave mistake for Star Wars fans. If you are patient enough to sit through seasons one and two, your patience will be rewarded a great deal over the remaining seasons of the series.
The sharp rise in the show’s quality from season three is quite obvious as it delivers strong arcs that develop the franchise’s lore in a big way. The stories depicted in the show have serious implications on the events of the movies and resolves, to an extent, some threads the prequels left open without answering. Even without the connections to the movies, The Clone Wars is an amazing show with an identity of its own that explores the politics, horrors, and moral dilemmas posed by a war, albeit in a child friendly manner.
The Clone Wars was successful in giving sufficient importance to all its characters
Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Ahsoka’s journey to a Force-sensitive planet called Mortis, a story about the origin of Order 66 that lead to the downfall of the Jedi Council in Episode III, and Count Dooku’s conflict with the Nightsisters are only a few of The Clone Wars’s thrilling stories. The show gets only better and more compelling with each season. Though it does not have a proper conclusive story, the show’s final arc featuring Yoda’s spiritual journey guided by the Force is one of the best tales in the Star Wars franchise as a whole, and provides some insight into Obi-Wan and Yoda’s whereabouts in between the prequel and original trilogies. Some of the threads from The Clone Warsis carried over to its replacement, Rebels too.
The Clone Wars features several intense and visually rich action sequences
The Clone Wars has some of the best character development in the entire Star Wars saga. Anakin is portrayed as the great Jedi warrior he is made out to be in the original trilogy and his transformation into Darth Vader is presented in a convincing manner. Ahsoka is a great character who gets a complete arc of her own throughout the show and displays an interesting perspective on the happenings of the war, presented through her wise contemplations. Obi-Wan’s life is expanded as well in the show. In addition, The Clone Wars features story arcs focusing on other members of the Jedi Council, Clone commanders, the Sith, a young BobaFett, and even R2-D2 and C3PO. The Clone Wars has plenty of great action and space-battle sequences too.Also, viewers get to see a lot more places from the Star Wars universe, most of which are aesthetically very pleasing.
With its great story arcs, characters, cool action, and neat connections to the movies, it would be extremely rewarding for the hardcore fans of the franchise. In many ways, this animated series is everything the prequels could have been, if done right. With Rogue One on theaters now and plenty more Star Wars material on the way, The Clone Wars is great binge-watch material for fans of the Star Wars saga.
Tags: Ahsoka Anakin Skywalker Star Wars Star Wars saga The Clone Wars
