The first two episodes of the new Clone Wars series have just aired over here on Sky Movies.
I saw the film/pilot over the summer and quite enjoyed it. It wasn’t flawless (Ahsoka
was deeply annoying for much of the film, and really it felt too much like a TV pilot to have had a cinema release), but it was fun.
The series continues in this vain. The battledroids provide some pretty painful slapstick humour that doesn’t really work for me, but there’s a lot to like as well. The first episode largely features Yoda (strange since really Annakin and Ahsoka are the stars, but I guess that’s partly due to the first 3 or so episodes being shown in the cinema instead) and he felt very much to me like the mischievious Jedi Master we met in Empire Strikes Back, for the first time in years, even more so than in the prequel films.
For me though, the big stars are the Clones themselves. The series is doing a good job of fleshing them out, such as how the way they view themselves as expendable is very much at odds with how Yoda and (in the second episode) Plo-Kloon treat them as real people. Its also nice how the clones seek to differentiate themselves visually from one another, with tatoos, or unique hair cuts.
One big problem I have though (aside from some of the humour) is Annakin. The Annakin we see in this series (and its prequel film) doesn’t really gell with the Annakin we see in the films. Here we have Annakin preaching patience to Ahsoka and instructing her in how best to interpret the council’s orders (ie, how to try and get around them without causing a scene). This doesn’t really gell with the, frankly, childish Annakin the films presented us. This isn’t the same guy who would’ve ranted “Its not fair!” at the council when told he’s not to be a master.
Of course, I wasn’t too fond of that characterisation, so maybe its not a bad thing they’re ignoring it.
They do need to be careful though. Annakin is the main hero of this series, however by making him too heroic, they run the risk of it being unbelievable that this is the same guy who’ll butcher padawans like Ahsoka in the Jedi temple.
Annakin’s a tragic villain, and they need to be very careful how the handle his character in this show. Its a balancing act I felt the comics handled well. Making Annakin a focus, while also sowing further seeds for how the dark side could possess him. Of course, the comics had the advantage of being written for an older audience.
Making Annakin the hero in a kids cartoon is a bit of a dodgy prospect, and I can’t help but think using Obi Wan as the focus might’ve worked better. But still, we’ll see how they handle it as the show goes on.
(Talking of continuity, why is Grevious’ Ion Cannon treated like its a new thing in the second episode?)
I don’t mean to sound too negative though. I enjoyed these first two episodes a lot. Taken on their own merits, they’re a good fun adventure with some great characters and some very pretty CGI. And after that first episode, I definitely want to see more Yoda-based episodes as the writers handled him brilliantly.
