Review: Star Wars – The Clone Wars
7th May 2020
Copyright: Disney
Star Wars has had a bit of a rejuvenation recently with Disney’s revival of the franchise, bringing out the sequel trilogy. However, with the delivery of Disney+ in March, citizens of the United Kingdom have been able to stream The Clone Wars – the TV adaptation of the film with the same name.
In light of this, the seventh – and final – season of the show has completed that the gap between Episode II (Attack of the Clones) and Episode III (Revenge of the Sith) quite nicely.
When you look at the canon films, you jump from the beginning of the Clone Wars (Ep. 2) to the end (Ep. 3). Understandably, if you included the bits and bobs that happened in between, it would result in an excruciating long movie. So, going for the start and end maybe was the best solution for Star Wars creator, George Lucas.
I remember watching this series when I was younger. However, I didn’t like it because back then I believed the animated characters should be played by the actors who played them in the live version. Despite this, I have watched the entire seven-season programme since Disney+ was released in the UK and now I want to slap my younger self for missing this gem.
It was interesting to see the chosen one, Anakin Skywalker descend into the dark side in a more analytical way. Identifying his actions and tendencies which led him to his fall, while wondering how the story would have unfolded if Obi-Wan Kenobi or Skywalker himself corrected these tendencies.
Despite these flaws – in the way of the Jedi Order, he still showed compassion for those around him, Jedi and clones. If you were to remove this show, it is hard to understand why he fell to the dark side in the prequel trilogy – apart from to set up the storyline for the original trilogy. Yes, he worried about losing his wife, Padme Amidala, but he didn’t seem to have any greed for power and control. It wasn’t until he fell that he wanted such things.
I feel this TV programme provides us with a more in-depth perspective of how Skywalker slowly fell into the dark side, more than what the movies could provide. Showing us aside, of him, we never really got to see in the movies apart from a few brief moments (slaughtering younglings in the Jedi temple and the Tusken Raiders on Tatooine). For that, this is definitely an interesting watch for the avid Star Wars fan and should be included on your next run-through of the franchise.
