Star Wars: The Clone Wars

Truly a fantastic series which will flesh out the prequel era immensely

I was apprehensive about seeing the Clone Wars movie, but after it pleasantly surprised me, I was definitely looking forward to this TV show. After watching the first two episodes aired tonight on Cartoon Network, I can safely say my anticipation was rewarded.

Judging by these two episodes, I can see that a lot of work has been put into this series, and it's not just something for the kiddies to watch. It was watching a mix of the humanity of original trilogy with the action of the new trilogy. It's a great show, and definitely worth a watch for Star Wars fans of all ages. Just give it a try, you're bound to love it.

The first two seasons of The Clone Wars are rather decent, but all of your interest will be completely captured once you begin S3 and onwards. The action is spectacular, the animation gets much better, the characters develop extremely well, and the story itself fits perfectly into the Star Wars story as a whole.

I actually stumbled on this series by accident - and what a nice surprise! While I did not see the associated animated film (because of the very bad reviews), this show seems to have some very good things going for it.

For a TV series, the visuals and sounds are really great. The colors, scenery and style of "3D" animation are really appealing. And the sounds (including character voices) are pretty well done too.

Characters: It took me three episodes to get comfortable with the new look of the main characters. It was a bit awkward watching them at first, but now it's OK. One slight issue I still have is that they sometimes remind me of characters from a kid's show than a general audience show.

But that's OK - it's really great to have 30 minutes of good quality Star Wars story-telling each week. The force is with this show!

Here is a full analysis of the show season by season.

Season 1: Extremely underwhelming start for a show I've heard so much about. The animation is pretty good for a TV show, but that's about it. The episodes are very straightforward, have no real consequences, and more often than not seem to be like moral anecdotes for kids. Very disappointing. Rating: 5.0/10

Season 2: Definitely some improvement but still a long way from anything "good". It is still standalone episodes, very repetitive, and apart from a little better world exploration, the show seems to be headed nowhere. Rating: 6.5/10

Season 3: All of a sudden, the show entirely changes its tone. This is no longer a kids show, more like PG-13. The animation also improves greatly. From episode 1, we are given a much more compelling narrative. It's no longer standalone episodes, we now have story arcs. Longer arcs means more time to develop the story, added depth to characters, and much more in-depth world building. This show finally seems to be going somewhere. Rating: 8.0/10

Season 4: This is where the show becomes just amazing. We feel The Revenge of The Sith gradually being set up. The stories are getting darker and grittier. What's best is the narrative is no longer black and white. We are shown the war from the perspectives of those we have so far only called "villains". Rating: 9.0/10

Season 5: Another amazing season. Like I said, after season 4 the show reaches a very high standard and stays there. Although there are some boring arcs, the main story fully compensates for it. I will not go into too much detail, in fear of spoilers. Rating: 9.5/10

Season 6: Slightly, only slightly, worse than season 5, which for me is the absolute peak of this show. It still has its fair share of good story arcs and sets up many events of Episode 3. Rating: 9.0/10

Season 7: Season 7 has 3 story arcs, of which the first is pretty decent, and the second is catastrophic. However, the final arc of 4 episodes is something in itself. It is deserving of all the great reviews that it is receiving and more. By playing into episodes 3, it in a sense redeems the prequels, but I will not say much about it to avoid spoilers. Besides, Disney's graphics overhaul is simply amazing, and makes the show so much more fun to watch. A perfect season and show ending for me. Rating: 10.0/10

Thoughts: An amazing show which I would recommend everyone to watch. However, if you have less time/patience, I'd suggest skipping the first 2 seasons, and soke arcs of the coming seasons (just check the episode ratings to know). This show is a great filler that takes place between the events of episode 2 and episode 3 of the prequel films. It adds so much more relevance to the events of episode 3. Viewers' biggest problem with episode 3 was how it felt rushed. Just watch Clone Wars and it will all seem to fit in place.

Salient Features: 1. Humanising the Clones: The films did little justice to the clones, who were treated quite like droids with the exception of Obi Wan and Anakin. This show shows their human side, their psychology during the war, and adds uniqueness to each clone.

2. Ahsoka: I will not say much to keep this review free of spoilers. All I can say is, Ahsoka's character development is at par with some of the best I've ever seen. It's a real pleasure seeing her grow from a unbalanced padawan to a well trained Jedi Commander.

3. Dark side: This show also portrays the war from the perspective of the siths, somewhat humanising them, and giving us more clarity as to their decisions.

4. Bounty Hunting: Even the bounty hunters aren't two dimensional characters who only care for their bounty. The show portrays bounty hunting as a respectable job, and displays the code of honour which exists between them.

TL;DR: The show is a solid 10/10 for me, and a worthy addition to the Star Wars Saga. A must watch for all Star Wars fans.