Review by Tom Mimnagh
Stars the voices of Ashley Eckstein, Corey Burton, Clancy Brown,
James Arnold Taylor, Matt Latner | Written by Mark Andrews & Paul Rudish
UK certification PG | UK RRP £39.99 | DVD Region 2 | Directed by Dave Filoni & others
It’s fair to say the Star Wars prequels were a fairly disappointing affair. For casual fans or those who were uninitiated into the magic of the original trilogy, it was a series of fairly uninteresting, artificial looking, generally quite dull sci-fi movies. For the hardcore fans it was the heartbreakingly disappointing culmination of years of hoping and waiting. However, much of what was missing from the prequels in terms of the spirit and tone of the original trilogy can very much be found in the animated Star Wars Clone wars series.
The story of Clone Wars takes place in between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, focusing on the events of the war between the clones/Republic and the droids/Separatists. One of the main strands of the 22 episode third season is the betrayal of Ventress by her master Count Dooku, and her search for vengeance, while another story arc focuses on Ahsoka, Anakin’s Padawan, escaping from a Transdoshan moon, where she had been held captive.
Without giving too much away these story arcs help to expand the universe of Clone Wars to encounter a range of characters old and new, and in some regards it makes the appearance of series regulars like Obi wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker much more drab and predictable. The darker streak in Skywalker is much more evident at times also in season 3, and it helps to establish season 3 firmly in the continuity of the film series, and the Star Wars universe in general. The voice acting is excellent as always, and although it initially has a very different look to the live action films, it is very easy to immerse yourself thanks to the highly believable character movements; Season 3 continues this trend, and the animation is as sharp and slick as expected.
In many respects Clone Wars is the natural heir to the movie franchise, allowing the universe to expand endlessly, and creating new story arcs and characters to fill out extra details and stories, plus the use of in-jokes and references to help relate the show to even the most ardently sceptical Star wars fan, and in particular season 3 is even more smart and aware of its position in the Star wars universe than the preceding seasons. Clone wars is an excellent addition to the Star Wars canon, and goes some way to redeeming the story of THOSE films, but as good as it is, it will always be associated with what could have been, which acts as an unfortunate milestone round the neck of an excellent, and well executed concept.
EXTRAS Not all available at time of press, but included several behind the scenes featurettes, including the introduction of Chewbacca and an appearance from Peter Mayhew and a season 3 trailer.