The first season of this show, and that "movie" by extension, hit me with mixed feelings. I liked the fact that there was more Star Wars to be had, but the story line and some of the inconsistencies bothered me. Here we are, half way through the second season and I have to say I am impressed. I find myself enjoying each episode, where I once thought I could do with out it. Let's talk about why.
Big Ships and Space Battles.
On an HDTV the backgrounds and capital ships of The Clone Wars look excellent. Part of my apprehension in regards to this show was all the merchandise out there looked dumb. The cartoony effects, I don't think, relate to toys and shirts. However on a TV screen, in motion, they don't look half bad. The ships always are shown at dynamic angles and move in a manner reminiscent to the movie's ships. The only problem I have with the ships is that there is a discrepancy between damage taken and damage dealt. Sometimes a small ship can take two hit from a turbo laser while a large ship can be disables by a couple shots from a star fighter. Lazy.
Obi Wan's Leadership.
The voice actor that plays Obi Wan does a bang-up job of mimicking Ewan McGreggor's voice. Obi Wan in the cartoon sticks very closely to the attitude and abilities of his motion picture counter part. That's a good thing. The best part of Obi's inclusion however, is how he ditches Anakin in favor of his own elite Clone Trooper squad. Obi Wan leads the squad in search of General Greivous. True, we all know he doesn't catch up and dispatch him until Episode III, but it's fun to watch.
Less Anakin
For starters the animated Anakin looks nothing like Hayden Crappensten. That's a 4,000 point bonus right there. While some episodes focus on him, alot of them do not. What a pleasure! Anakin's whiny nature bothers us all. The fact that he has a padawan is painful in it self, as he is not a Jedi Master. Add to that his border line crush on Asoka, and his rubbish tutelage technique , Anakin's cartoon counterpart is almost as painful to watch as Hayden Christhe'stryingtoactagain's. Good thing the episodes depart from his story arch every once in a while.
Clone Troopers
These guys are bad. They are also not portrayed as weak or stupid. Rather many of the troopers have their own personality's and history's. Some of the best episodes focus on them. I like captain Rex and Commander Cody. There is even an episode with a dessert er clone who has a family.
Asoka.
Though she looks like a teenage cliche idiot character, and sometimes is, Asoka actually is more bearable than I thought at first. I hate the way Anakin calls her Snips and she calls him... Whatever it is she calls him. However, it's nice to have a padawan on the show. In my opinion they should have put her under a different master, but what can you do.
Scum and Villiany
In my opinion something the prequels sorely lacked were good non-jedi powerful characters. Jango Fett was all right, but his suit was too shiny. The bounty hunters and scum included in the cartoon go a long way to diversify the stories. They are very violent and mouthy, given they are in a cartoon. Just right.
Minor Characters From the Movies Get Larger Roles.
Characters like Jocasta Nu and Kit Fisto are barely explored in the movies. They are great characters too. The cartoon includes them frequently and tastefully. Many of the jedi have episodes that focus on them exclusively.
All in all I think the Clone Wars cartoons are great filler until we get a live action show. I hope to the Lord that they ditch this over exposed story line soon. A CG show post Return of the Jedi would make my day. I bet Mark Hamill needs the voice acting work and it aint hard to fake Han Solo's voice. Please.
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