Star Wars Clone Wars - Season 1-3 [DVD]

For viewers of Star Wars, whether hardcore addict or passing fan, the Clone Wars series comes as a nice treat and contains a lot of great material that would be impossible to use in a movie, or even another trilogy. Each season to date offers 22 episodes, each approximately 24 minutes in length. Lucas has promised "at least 100 episodes", and with season 4 airing as I write this review, we can expect at least a season 5 to follow. Sadly, as ratings have dropped since season 1, it is anyone's guess whether we will receive anything beyond that.

The Clone Wars was preceded by the movie of the same name which wasn't too popular, but works well as a feature length pilot to the series, and is worth watching as a lead-in to this series. It sets the scene, and introduces the characters in their animation form. The series generally follows the same tone.

The Clone Wars is perhaps something that can't be taken as seriously as the movies, but should not be taken lightly either. They offer a balanced set of short and sweet story lines, including some fairly adult themes, with murder, suicide, treason, and other similar nasty events frequently arising. I think Lucas must enjoy thinking up new ways of killing off clone troopers in weird and wonderful forms, besides being shot by a blaster. There is also a lot of wit, and some of the comments between the characters are very amusing, as are the animated facial expressions. The clone troopers themselves play a great part in the series, and the episodes do not always focus centrally on the Jedi, but on their specially-bred soldiers. There is not a great mention of the Sith, at this stage, but if you're aware that Clone Wars occupies the timeline between Star Wars movies II: Attack of the Clone and III: Revenge of the Sith this is normal. The war between the Republic and the Separatists is constant, and leads to most of the large-scale action, and many sub-plots.

The animation is great, slightly angular, but beautifully rendered. The space and land battles are fantastic, as are the well choreographed lightsaber duels. The sound effects are always excellent, the music fits the scene, and the voice acting is well performed. Although the scripts are often a little simplified, and sometimes a bit cheesy, we are looking at 24 minute episodes, no time for lengthy monologues and conversations of little value.

Episodes often follow on from each other to create a 2 or 3 part story arc, and some characters are often recurring guests. Use of aliens from the movies and new lifeforms helps keep the cast interesting. You can often expect an episode to either be quite mature, or quite kiddy. The show does target adults and kids, and there are many subtle jokes for the adults even in the more kiddy episodes. Despite the gradual drop in ratings I do not feel the show has become worse over time; season 3 is as good as season 1 and leaves me wanting more. I await the next DVD release keenly as I don't see these on TV as they air.

For those complaining that the music is not John Williams. I don't think we can afford to sit through the full orchestral Star Wars theme at the beginning and end of each episode and still expect to get 24 minutes, so intro theme is shorter, and slightly different and is enjoyable, regardless. Kevin Kiner has captured the mood nicely for the series' scenes.

If you want a lot of action, humour, emotion, engaging plots and typical Star Wars heroes and villains, then this is definitely for you. Adults will enjoy it, kids will love it. Kudos to Lucas for a great effort, considering the initial resentment many fans expressed at the Clone Wars movie, it is fair to say that the series makes up for it ten-fold! I am highly looking forward to seeing future seasons, and sincerely hope that the show lasts longer than 100 episodes.

There've been rumours of a "proper" Star Wars TV show (as opposed to just a collection of 3 minute cartoons) for years, but it wasn't until The Clone Wars movie came out that we got a taste of what it would be like. I wasn't impressed at all - the movie looked great, I'll grant you, but I wasn't pleased the voices weren't always done by the proper actors and the story was nearly as kiddified as Phantom Menace. For this reason I avoided The Clone Wars TV show like the plague until I got bought this Bluray Boxset.

I admit it now, I was an idiot - the series is infinitely better than the movie. Every twenty-minute episode is fast and exciting, but it doesn't feel kiddified at all. In actual fact the writers of the show really delve into Star Wars mythology and tell stories that fans actually want to see. By the time we get to Season Three, there are brilliant stories like the Mortis trilogy (where Anakin literally tries to bring balance to the Force and gets a glimpse of the tryant he'll become), the Savage Opress episodes (about Darth Maul's brother, and Ventress's witch-like sisters on his home planet) and even a cameo from Chewbacca. Watching it I got used to the voices too, and some of them - Padme, Greivous, Yoda - are pretty much perfect soundalikes (C3P0 must still be Antony Daniels).

I also like how most of the episodes can be watched on their own, but if you watch two or three together they usually follow on from each other to form a mini-movie. It really helps get you into the Star Wars world. You need to be careful of the chronology though when you're watching as it gets a bit confusing sometimes - the series zips back and forth all over the place, with prequels to The Clone Wars movie still showing up in Season Three, just a few episodes before stories that must be set right before Revenge of the Sith.

The extras are generally very good in every set - you get a nice booklet with every season with some very nice illustrations, and various documentaries looking at individual episodes / stories. Overall the extras on Season One are the best as there is something on every episode, but in the other Seasons there are less features.

If you're like me and was put off by the movie version, please don't be - The Clone Wars features some of the best Star Wars stories out there. Expand your universe today!

Really enjoyed the box-set, just finished watching them finally! comes in a good box and is cheaper than buying each series seperatley, looking forward to the next series out on blu-ray!