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Star Wars has made a few attempts at coming up with marketable TV ideas. The Christmas Special, "Droids," "Ewoks," they didn’t seem to understand that we fans wanted Jedi duels and freakish aliens, not singing and cutesy teddy bears with spears. These TV ventures lacked the depth and danger of the movies.

Finally a TV adaptation delivers with the "Clone Wars." Just as the name suggests it is about war and those who fight it. But, wait! Which "Clone Wars" am I talking about? There have been 2 series, both worthy of attention.

Genndy Tartakovsky's series came first and was originally presented as a micro-series – 3 minute episodes each telling a brief story that fit together as one larger picture. It is technically not canon, but it fits in well.

It accomplishes many tasks: filling in some of the time between episodes 2 and 3, developing the character of Anakin as a loose-cannon Padawan becoming more and more enamored with Palpatine and skirting the edge of the Dark Side, furthering the relationship of Anakin and his master, deepening the plot of Count Dooku’s scheming, illustrating the level of power that some of the Jedi have, and introducing the fearsome General Grievous. There are several minor characters explored in more depth, original villains introduced, and pretty much all of the main characters given some attention.

Palpatine manages to separate Obi-Wan and Anakin by sending them to different parts of the battle. Not only is he setting up Anakin for a scheme to win him to the dark side, he subtly inserts a little dissention between master and padawan. Kenobi takes on San Hill’s banking clan who is backed by the bounty hunter Durge. Anakin leads the battle in space against huge gun platforms.

Meanwhile, Count Dooku has been searching for the next great warrior. He finds a promising candidate in the Force trained Asajj. She is the ideal candidate to hunt Anakin. The pair will face off in a fierce battle.

Intertwined with the primary story line are several smaller stories. Some viewers consider these pointless, but I enjoy seeing the minor characters developed a little more.

Mace fights an army of droids on Dantooine. This is little more than to show why he is not involved with any of the other events; he caught up in this battle. It’s also a showcase of the level of his power which we have barely seen up to this point. I think he's actually a bit too powerful. It’s one thing for him to come up with a clever way to win the day, but to be completely surrounded by legions of heavily armed killers and get out with a single Force push makes me wonder why he didn’t send the rest of the Jedi home and battle the droids himself when rescuing Anakain and Obi-Wan in Attack of the Clones.

Kit Fisto assists the Calamari in fending off a combined attack of droids and Quarren. The purpose here seems to be to show that the war has reached numerous planets and has pit different native species against one another. It also showcases Kit’s Jedi powers in a unique way, using his amphibious makeup to battle underwater. This suggests that certain Jedi are better suited for certain tasks and are sent on missions according to their strengths.

Droids attack a secluded Jedi temple trapping Luminara and her padawan Barriss beneath tons of rubble. Yoda and Padme embark on a rescue mission. First of all, this shows that Jedi training is not limited to Coruscant. Second, we get to see a portion of the lightsaber creation process. Third, it reveals that no place is safe from attack, not even remote caverns supposedly known only to the Jedi. Fourth, it shows Yoda’s concern for other Jedi in need as well as his ability to single-handedly mount a rescue. And finally, it shows Padme’s heart by way of her concern for Yoda’s safety even though she has no idea how greatly she has underestimated the master’s abilities.

The final episode ends with the introduction of General Grievous. He is a fearsome warrior that makes Darth Maul look like an easy opponent (at least in this depiction, other appearances show that he's not quite the warrior he appears to be here and relies more on his troops and guards than his own fighting abilities). He takes on multiple Jedi, at least 2 of whom are highly trained. He’s incredibly agile and impossibly fast.

The series is fast-paced and exciting. It’s dark and dangerous. It’s bold and heroic. It is a worthy addition to the Star Wars universe. Which is not to say it’s without its flaws. I think the animation design could have been better. I like the angular characters in Samurai Jack, but they don’t work as well in Star Wars. I would much rather have had a more faithful recreation of the actors’ likenesses. They are not so far off that it’s hard to tell who’s who, but a dead-on image would have fit the universe more. Even so, the animation is smooth and solid. The expressions get the moods across, the backgrounds show off details of the environments, and the combat feels intense.

Often the dialogue takes a back seat to visuals and sound. This is one of the things that drew me to Samurai Jack. Telling a story with just pictures is no easy task. Sure a picture is worth a thousand words, but using no words takes a lot of talent. It adds an excellent artistic element to this series that I haven't seen often.

There is a ton of action: space battles, lightsaber duels, gladiator free-for-alls, shoot-outs, ARC trooper infiltrations, and plenty more. Clone and droid armies, ships, and bounty hunters all get their turns to show what they can do. What most of us really want to see is Jedi and Sith in action. We get heavy doses of that. With genuine Martial Arts moves combined with Jedi powers faithful to what has already been set as the standard in the movies, the Jedi moves feel simultaneously natural and fantastic. Plus we get to see the extremely cool effects of water on lightsaber blades. I’d like to see the movies get a little inspiration from that!

There are a couple of moments where the voice acting sounds a little bit off like with the maintaining a particular accent sounding unnatural and forced, but mostly the voices are outstanding considering they are not the original actors (with the exception of Anthony Daniels). I am particularly impressed with Dooku (Genndy says in the commentary that it turned out to be one of his favorites, too). Corey Burton's commanding boom captures Chris Lee’s essence incredibly well.

Morality

Spirituality

There isn't a lot of time for spiritual development other than what comes inherantly with Star Wars and stories about heroes fighting for the benefit of others. The Force is mystical, and the Jedi way is to use that in service of the people of the galaxy. Anakin is something of a cautionary tale of how serving the wrong master can lead to detriment, but we don't really get the full scope of that in this series. We do see the pull of Palpatine growing stronger with most viewers knowing what Anakin's dark fate will be.

Final Thoughts