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pretty long time ago in a number of galaxies both near and far, far away, the Clone Wars get underway following the events in Episode II: Attack of the Clones. Led by the likes of General Kenobi (Taylor), Mace Windu (Terrence Carson), Anakin Skywalker (Lucas) and even Yoda (Kane) himself, the armies of the Republic fight against Count Dooku and the seemingly insurmountable clone hordes. Kenobi departs for the banking colonies on Muunilist while Anakin receives assignment from Chancellor Palpatine (Jameson) to lead the battle in space; during their two-pronged attack, a small coterie of soldiers quietly invade the city's protected center and dismantle clone resistance.
Meanwhile, on Mon Calamari, Jedi Master Fisto leads a charge against underwater assailants as the planet's inhabitants divide acrimoniously down political lines; Mace Windu battles entire armies single-handedly on Dantooine; Count Dooku recruits new adversaries for the Jedi masters, including Asajj Ventress and Durge; Padme tries to help Yoda rescue a group of Jedi stationed on the remote planet of Ilum; and the Emperor prepares the final phase of his attack upon the Jedi order—from within.
As the stakes rise higher and defeat seems imminent, Anakin abandons the soldiers fighting in space to follow one warrior who seems at long last to be his equal; Obi-Wan forbids this, but he disregards his orders and pursues the assassin anyway. What he soon discovers, however, is that the only way to defeat his opponent is to let go of his hatred and fear and unleash the full power of the Force. But will his efforts to avenge his fallen comrades seal his own fate as well?
Beautiful, but often forced
At first glance, the idea for Clone Wars is a great one: Show all of that boring "war stuff" that happens in between celluloid installments, provide further fuel for dedicated fans' febrile appetite for all things Star Wars and set up all of the important characters for the final film. But in execution, this series of three-minute episodes doesn't hold up quite as well as one would hope; rather, it holds up exactly as well as one would expect given the dodgy quality of the two prequels, which were built upon entrenched SW fanaticism rather than the desire simply to tell an entertaining story.
That said, the animation itself is terrific. The folks responsible for the series wisely avoided following in patron saint Lucas' footsteps and rendered everything by hand, attempting to evoke the iconic imagery of the series rather than trying to recall every last detail of a character's computer-generated countenance. The minimal inclusion of CGI adds to rather than detracts from the mix, and quite frankly makes the fight scenes between machines look even cooler than in their initial conception. Additionally, the characters are bound less by the strictures of plausibility (even in Lucas' world, things remain grounded in the physics of three-dimensional interaction), and the writers can explore ideas that would either be too goofy or just too far-fetched to work even within Star Wars' four walls.
Overall, the DVD is a welcome substitute for the webisodes that fans must track down on the Internet, because you can watch the entire series in one fell swoop. But, unfortunately, that doesn't mean that it makes for more compelling viewing overall; rather, the flaws become glaringly apparent—especially in the storytelling's fealty to exposition-heavy dialogue—and deaden what could have been some crackerjack sequences. The extras, which include commentary tracks and some behind-the-scenes footage, will be interesting only to die-hard fans, but this collection's true purpose is plainly evident from frame one: to entice reluctant fans to the dark side once again to spend their hard-earned cash on yet another of Lucas' merchandising distractions.
There have been worse offenses in the history of the Star Wars franchise than this Clone Wars series, and this DVD, if nothing else, shows what a couple of clever fans could do with Lucas' source material if given the opportunity. (Perhaps this should be dubbed A New Hope.) But the story possesses many of the same flaws as its forebears (the sins of the father and all that) and doesn't hold up to multiple viewings; I dug the idea of underwater Jedis once, but a second run-through had me reaching for the fast-forward button. But despite one's better judgment, the Force is strong in this one, so resist if you dare; if nothing else, it will whet your appetite for Episode III. —Todd
Also in this issue: Star Wars: Episode III—Revenge of the Sith, Hercules and Sapphire and Steel: The Complete Series DVD
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