Star Wars Special: The Clone Wars Complete Series Review (Spoiler Free)

More about the clone wars, more on Anakin Skywalker, Ahsoka Tano & a far expansion into Star Wars lore. I am talking about the TV series Star Wars: The Clone Wars!

Genre: Action / Animation / Fantasy / Science-Fiction

Created By: George Lucas

Cast: Matt Lanter, Ashley Eckstein, James Arnold Taylor, Catherine Taber, Corey Burton, Terrence Carson, Dee Bradley Baker, Ian Abercrombie & Tom Kane.

Network: Cartoon Network

Average Runtime: 22 min.

Release Period: 2008 - 2015

Following my review early today on the animated movie The Clone Wars, I sat back down and kept writing on this review for the television show, since it belongs to the Star Wars canon. To be honest, I did not follow this TV series for quite some time, having experienced the disappointment that was the movie. When I was urged by a friend to give it a try though, I was pleasantly surprised at how good this was.

Now, I haven’t managed to watch all episodes yet and just got as far as episode one of season 6, therefore I won’t be able to give you a complete full insight of the series. I can give you my opinion though from what I have seen so far!

Compared to the poorly received animated film and its low 18% approval on Rotten Tomatoes, The Clone Wars television show made a much better impression. Critics praised the photorealism and it soon became the most-watched series on Cartoon Network, breaking all records for that channel.

The plot follows Anakin Skywalker, Ahsoka Tano, Obi-Wan Kenobi and other Jedi Knights of the Order, who lead the grand-army of the Republic against the Separatists and their droid soldiers. Episodes vary from each other, sometimes exploring the vast universe and characters in a Galaxy far, far away. Other times an episode about a specific battle or secret mission treats us with our heroes.

There is still one big issue I had with The Clone Wars TV show and that was the airing of the episodes. I don’t understand why the network would purposefully air the episodes out of chronological order, further I really didn’t understand the purpose to put the first two episodes in Season 2. That makes absolutely no sense and simply confuses the viewer.

So if you decide to watch this series, which I do recommend you do because it is surprisingly fun to watch, please watch them in chronological order to not hamper the experience. If you are interested to know the order in which to watch the series, StarWars.com created a list.

Other than that this series managed to surprise me with well-written plots and stories, which are engaging and interesting, giving as a peak into the grandness of the Star Wars lore. But what really makes this show special is the fact that it gets better with each season. While the first two seasons were a little dry, season 3 starts picking up momentum.

The characters have been all well developed and more engaging than in the movies. That might be partially because a series has more time to explore the character, but it also had to do with the direction. In my opinion Lucas simply did not manage to guide his actors properly through the movie. That and the fact that they did not have anything to work with, except a lot of green screen and tennis balls.

Ahsoka Tano was by far one of the best personas in this TV show. She did start of as somewhat irritating and whiny, always going against orders and trying to resolve problems her way. But once you get passed the first couple of episodes she starts growing on you and develops into one of the strongest characters. She reminded me a lot of how Obi-Wan described the Jedi’s to Luke.

Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi’s relationship also benefited a lot from this series. While I could not see a shroud of mutual trust and friendship in the prequels, the television show started to build a brotherly and trusting relationship between the two. I also enjoyed the Clone Trooper episodes, which focused on their different personalities.

The animation in the TV series was also a major improvement compared to the movie. It set the standard bar for television animation to new heights and looks beautiful on the small screen. The characters were able to show emotions through their facial reactions and gone was the mechanical movements from the film.

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Verdict: Star Wars: The Clone Wars managed to do what the prequel movies didn’t, which is to capture the atmosphere and mysticism of the original series. While not every episode is perfect, it does have quite a lot of quality chapters that expand into Star Wars mythology. If you have not seen the series yet, I highly recommend you either see them in high definition. I will give The Clone Wars television series a 7.5 out of 10.

Have you seen this Star Wars show? If so, what did you think of it? Leave a comment below. Thank you very much for following my blogs.