The year is 2008 and Star Wars is essentially in limbo. George Lucas’ flawed prequel saga has yet to be reassessed via decades of memes and the big return of The Force Awakens is still around seven years away, and while tie-in novels, comics and rewatches of Genndy Tartakovsky’s Clone Wars miniseries had been keeping the flag flying for devout followers, cinemas are bereft of the sound of lightsabers igniting or the strains of those absurdly recognisable John Williams themes.
However in 2008, we got something of a return that not only filled that Star Wars void, but would eventually go on to form the entire backbone of a new generation of lore that we’re still feeling the effects of this day. It came in the form of The Clone Wars, an animated movie that would go on to become the pilot of a television series that itself would end up redefining the entire franchise for new generations. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves, because without those seven seasons of all important context, The Clone Wars proves to be quite a painful watch.
The Clone Wars is still in its infancy and as the Galactic Republic and the Separatists scrabble to conquer or liberate countless planets, the Jedi realise that if they don’t manage to secure more hyperspace lanes, their forces will be stranded as they’ll get out manuvered by their enemies. We rejoin Jedi Knights Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker as they lock horns with a droid army on the planet Christophsis and wait for some vital reinforcements, but much to Anakin’s annoyance, all they get sent is a young padawan named Ahsoka Tano who comes with some alarming news – Yoda has decreed that she’s not to be trained by Kenobi, but by the more headstrong Skywalker. Obviously the legendarily reckless Anakin is pissed that he now has to babysit a teenage girl in the middle of a war zone, but as the two banter and butt heads as they slice up battle droids together, dark forces are plotting against the Republic.
Realising that the only hyperspace lines still available to the Jedi are owned by slug-like gangster Jabba The Hutt, Count Dooku has hatched a plan to frame the Jedi for the kidnapping of Jabba’s son, Rotta The Huttlet. In retaliation, Anakin and Ahsoka travel to the planet Teth to order to rescue the little slug and thus save the war, but as Dooku closes his trap, his assassin Asajj Ventress targets Obi-Wan in order to make the Republic’s failure complete.
With Padmé Amidala joining the fight as she searches for clues of Coruscant, can the Jedi worm out this conspiracy, save Rotta and deliver him back to his slimy papa in order to save the war, or will the multi-tiered plans of the shadowy Darth Sidious come to pass, thus dooming the galaxy?
Before we get into the nitty gritty of it all, I fully recognise that Star Wars: The Clone Wars is ground zero for many of the things we take for granted in the franchise today, not least withstanding the rise of George Lucas’ natural successor, Dave Filoni. Not only a creative force for the rest of the Clone Wars series and Star Wars: Rebels, but vital to the creation of Disney+ shows such as The Mandalorian, Ahsoka, The Bad Batch and Maul – Shadow Lord, he’s not only oversaw elements from the extended universe become cannon, but he’s brought numerous original creations from his animated shows into live action too. None of this would have been possible without the opening salvo of the Clone Wars animated movie, so it’s kind of a surprise to discover that it’s pretty damn irritating. While eighteen years of subsequent world building can do wonders for a film, back in 2008, we had no idea what would eventually occur and as a result, it kind of sucks.
For a start, the pilot of a TV show, even one based on Star Wars probably had no business being on the big screen, especially as the animation wasn’t exactly on par with the more polished likes of Wall•E (which was only released about a month before) and the pace was more akin to the overstimulated freneticism of a Saturday morning cartoon show. Gone is the slightly more sober style of the live action films as the majority of plot, exposition and character work are delivered on the run, usually with lasers zapping everywhere and things blowing up every two seconds. It also doesn’t help that the film feels more like three episode grafted together which gives the whole thing a disjointed feel.
The plot concerning the kidnapping of Jabba’s son (technically a precursor to baby Grogu?) doesn’t really take hold until the second act, with the first devoted entirely to the introduction of Ahsoka and a lengthy battle on Christophsis. But by the time we get to the third act, the story suddenly shoehorns in Padmé out of nowhere to do some spy stuff and further along the plot. Also, anyone expecting a more classic Star Wars feel was no doubt thrown by the use of an opening narration in the style of an old news reel rather than an opening crawl and the fact that a lot of the voices we decent representations of the characters, but sounded slightly off as Ewan McGregor or Hayden Christensen.
However, one of the made sticking points proves to be the addition of a brand new padawan for Anakin that immediately drew the ire of fan boys everywhere. These days the character of Ahsoka Tano has become both a fan favorite and a leading light of the entire franchise, but back in 2008 complaints about her never even being mentioned in Revenge Of The Sith, having out of place Valley Girl energy (a fucking boobtube, Filoni?) and being cynical pandering to the kids were genuinely valid.
If you think I’m being overly harsh, I’d like to point out that even though the Clone Wars series went on to become impressively layered and incredibly dramatic, that doesn’t suddenly magically and retroactively stop it’s starting point from being a strangely hollow affair that reduces its source material to a string of loud noises. Still, the design ethic of the character models is solid, Samuel L. Jackson and Christopher Lee return to provide vocals and there’s a genuinely great action sequence in the form of vertical battle that sees a bunch of AT-TAs plod their way up the side of a sheer cliff. However, just because Star Wars: The Clone Wars was a great show, it doesn’t mean that the pilot was a good episode – or a movie.
Even operating in sort of a Star Wars lite capacity, The Clone Wars simply can’t hope to even come close to the grandeur of even the prequel saga as it’s sights are set on simpler targets. However, regardless what I feel about this awkward little sub-adventure, we wouldn’t have half of what we have now without it – whether you think that’s a blessing or a curse is down to you.
🌟🌟
We Have Issues 