Star Wars: The Clone Wars is pretty cool

The original Star Wars: Clone Wars (2003)

[I want to talk about the new Star Wars animated series. If you don’t wish to read about this, please cover your eyes, or move on to the next posting. This is your first and only warning. Star Wars geekiness to follow.]

Okay, the Star Wars prequels (Eps 1-3) did not live up the greatness of the original Star Wars trilogy (Eps 4-6.) The acting was eh. The dialogue was a bit boring. The kiddie jokes were almost bad enough to make you sick to your stomach (I’m looking squarely at you, Phantom Menace.) Once the dialogue stopped, and the action started, that was pretty good.

A few years ago in 2003, Cartoon Network broadcasted a series of animated shorts called Star Wars: Clone Wars. I completely missed out on them, but I heard they were pretty decent.  I stopped reading the Star Wars books many years ago, because there were so many, and you couldn’t keep up. To satisfy my SW lust, I’ve resorted in the past to playing my Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic games, and checking out the latest progress on the Star Wars: The Old Republic MMORPG, which is scheduled to be released…. who knows when.

What is a Star Wars fan to do?  If you haven’t already, you need to check out Star Wars: The Clone Wars on Cartoon Network, because it is good. I believe it’s covering some of the same stories as the 2003 series, but I believe there are additional stories.  In any case, same idea — Lucasarts is filling in the timeline between Episodes 2 and 3.  It’s in the same animated style as the 2008 Clone Wars movie [same title, it seems] that came out last summer.  Now, is this series the greatest thing since….. Jamaican beef patties were invented?  No, certainly not.  Are these episodes as great as the original Star Wars trilogy? Not at all. 

Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008)

So why watch?  Well, they’re “good enough”, you could say.  The episodes are shorter than the long movies, so they’re bite-sized.  The stories are decent and interesting. The action is fun to watch. In a nutshell, you get your fix, and it is actually likeable. I’ve almost caught up on Season 1. Season 2 begins Oct 2nd, and I’m looking forward to it.