It took me a long time to actually sit down and watch this series, and when I did I was left wondering what it was that most people saw in it.
When I first heard of the clone wars series, I was a kid, and I remembered the cartoon miniseries which had aired on Cartoon Network. I had always felt that the prequel movies had been something of a letdown, failing to really show Anakin's fall to the dark side. In the movies, Anakin's fall felt like a hormonal teenaged tantrum culminating in the slaughter of children. He went from angsty to full blown evil in a jarring transition that left me unsatisfied. So, when I heard there was going to be this animated series to fill in the gaping blanks and focus on the war that took place largely between Episode II and Episode III I thought, "okay, now we'll see how the war affected Anakin and we'll get a much more satisfying demonstration of how he falls, including Palpatine's influence on him."
What we got instead was a trademark of Filoni which I first identified from those few episodes in the first season of Avatar: the Last Airbender with which he was involved. Namely, disjointed, episodic fluff which barely advances the overall plot. Each episode is largely self-contained and irrelevant. The characters are no different by the end of each than they were at the start, and the overarching plot of the ongoing war has either stood still or barely advanced. It felt like a Saturday morning cartoon whose purpose was to entertain for 30 minutes without doing anything that might prevent them from making episodes indefinitely (like advance the plot toward some kind of conclusion).
As a result, the Clone Wars early seasons accomplished very little despite the number of episodes it showcased. Anakin is shown as a typical hero, and though his character is a vast improvement over the edgy teen depiction the movies gave us, there is very little time spent fleshing out his fall to the dark side. The vast majority of the series is spent telling the story of the clones instead. They are given much more personality than in the movies, which isn't a bad thing per se, but it does cause certain narrative problems later on. It also spends a great deal of time showcasing certain original characters this show invented, such as Anakin's never before seen padawan Ahsoka Tano, a bounty hunter named Cad Bane, and a pirate who's name fails me. These characters are fine in their own right, but the series suffers a problem with its OC cast that I typically associate with amateurish fanfiction, and that's that they often steal the spotlight from the legacy characters. By the end of the series, we are well acquainted with these characters and their capabilities and motivations, despite their mysterious absence in the films. The series then has to jump through hoops to explain these absences which often feels clunky and unnecessary. Worse, by the end of the series, I felt that Anakin's story had been no better fleshed out than it was in the movies. He still goes from good to bad in .6 seconds. It felt like the writing team got distracted by their original characters, then remembered that they were supposed to be telling another story at the last second.
Which brings us to the last couple seasons. The second to last season (the last to be hosted by Cartoon Network) was the only point in the story that any effort to tell a cohesive overall story manifested. As I understand it, the series had been put on the chopping board, and this motivated those involved to put more effort in that previously in an attempt to save it. Most of this storytelling focused on Ahsoka and the clones, and while it was decent, it wasn't doing what the series ought to have done and focused on enhancing the central story of Anakin and his fall to the dark side. So, while it was more interesting than the proceeding seasons, it still felt largely pointless. At this point I was ready to wash my hands of the series as a disappointing kiddie show.
Then Disney picked up the series for a final season. Honestly, if the whole thing had been produced with the quality and pacing of this last gasp, then I would join everyone else in singing the Clone Wars praises. Sadly, even in this season, Ahsoka the clones are the central characters. Anakin is relegated to a glorified background character, and that sucked, but to my surprise, for the first time in the entire series, I actually cared about Filoni's OCs, and the finale was truly moving.
In the end I was left wishing that the series had showcased the quality I only saw in the very last season, and that it had focused more on Anakin's story rather than all the forgetable side characters. The Clone Wars was, overall, a missed opportunity with a handful of decent stories to tell.
Nothing to write home about.
When I first heard of the clone wars series, I was a kid, and I remembered the cartoon miniseries which had aired on Cartoon Network. I had always felt that the prequel movies had been something of a letdown, failing to really show Anakin's fall to the dark side. In the movies, Anakin's fall felt like a hormonal teenaged tantrum culminating in the slaughter of children. He went from angsty to full blown evil in a jarring transition that left me unsatisfied. So, when I heard there was going to be this animated series to fill in the gaping blanks and focus on the war that took place largely between Episode II and Episode III I thought, "okay, now we'll see how the war affected Anakin and we'll get a much more satisfying demonstration of how he falls, including Palpatine's influence on him."
What we got instead was a trademark of Filoni which I first identified from those few episodes in the first season of Avatar: the Last Airbender with which he was involved. Namely, disjointed, episodic fluff which barely advances the overall plot. Each episode is largely self-contained and irrelevant. The characters are no different by the end of each than they were at the start, and the overarching plot of the ongoing war has either stood still or barely advanced. It felt like a Saturday morning cartoon whose purpose was to entertain for 30 minutes without doing anything that might prevent them from making episodes indefinitely (like advance the plot toward some kind of conclusion).
As a result, the Clone Wars early seasons accomplished very little despite the number of episodes it showcased. Anakin is shown as a typical hero, and though his character is a vast improvement over the edgy teen depiction the movies gave us, there is very little time spent fleshing out his fall to the dark side. The vast majority of the series is spent telling the story of the clones instead. They are given much more personality than in the movies, which isn't a bad thing per se, but it does cause certain narrative problems later on. It also spends a great deal of time showcasing certain original characters this show invented, such as Anakin's never before seen padawan Ahsoka Tano, a bounty hunter named Cad Bane, and a pirate who's name fails me. These characters are fine in their own right, but the series suffers a problem with its OC cast that I typically associate with amateurish fanfiction, and that's that they often steal the spotlight from the legacy characters. By the end of the series, we are well acquainted with these characters and their capabilities and motivations, despite their mysterious absence in the films. The series then has to jump through hoops to explain these absences which often feels clunky and unnecessary. Worse, by the end of the series, I felt that Anakin's story had been no better fleshed out than it was in the movies. He still goes from good to bad in .6 seconds. It felt like the writing team got distracted by their original characters, then remembered that they were supposed to be telling another story at the last second.
Which brings us to the last couple seasons. The second to last season (the last to be hosted by Cartoon Network) was the only point in the story that any effort to tell a cohesive overall story manifested. As I understand it, the series had been put on the chopping board, and this motivated those involved to put more effort in that previously in an attempt to save it. Most of this storytelling focused on Ahsoka and the clones, and while it was decent, it wasn't doing what the series ought to have done and focused on enhancing the central story of Anakin and his fall to the dark side. So, while it was more interesting than the proceeding seasons, it still felt largely pointless. At this point I was ready to wash my hands of the series as a disappointing kiddie show.
Then Disney picked up the series for a final season. Honestly, if the whole thing had been produced with the quality and pacing of this last gasp, then I would join everyone else in singing the Clone Wars praises. Sadly, even in this season, Ahsoka the clones are the central characters. Anakin is relegated to a glorified background character, and that sucked, but to my surprise, for the first time in the entire series, I actually cared about Filoni's OCs, and the finale was truly moving.
In the end I was left wishing that the series had showcased the quality I only saw in the very last season, and that it had focused more on Anakin's story rather than all the forgetable side characters. The Clone Wars was, overall, a missed opportunity with a handful of decent stories to tell.
Nothing to write home about.