Star Wars: The Clone Wars

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!

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.

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.

This was a series I grew up with, but I'll try to stay objective with it.

The animated series - can we say that? - evolved/grew up during the years. At the beginning it was really kid-friendly, but, years after year, season after season it started to be filled with quite gory/scary stuff I'd rather not show to a 6-7 years old kid.

I don't think that's a negative side though, as this series managed to explain many empty points we had about either some events occurred in the movies, or the whole mysticism of the Force, a really good expansion of the saga -directly came from its inventor George Lucas - that helps fans understand better the star wars.

As I already said, the series is not completely childish, and adults could enjoy it as well.

Now, to the reason of why this didn't get a 10/10: the first season, and a few episodes we meet on the way that aren't really important story arcs. I must say that, despite season one is the only one I have on DVD, I don't really like it, has not many strong story arcs, as instead the other seasons have, also all seasons include several single episodes that are put just to fill the episode list. But yet this is saved by the absolute supremacy of the story arcs.

Like many others, I saw the world premiere of Clone Wars on Cartoon Network, and I have to say, I was very impressed. George Lucas has done it again! Now I actually have something to look forward to on Friday nights. The characters act pretty much act like they do in the movies, all the voices sound great, the animation is amazing, and the episodes actually have a plot! I will agree, however, that I don't think it was quite necessary for Lucasfilm to release a movie version just for the sake of promoting the television show. I hear that they're making at least a hundred episodes or more, so hopefully they'll live up to the first two. A job well done all around.