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"The Clone Wars" Gets a Strong Start in Premiere
By Grant White
10-02-2008, 7:35 AM |
It was about a decade ago that I became a Star Wars fan. Ironically, it was because of the widely loathed Special Editions. I got pretty into it, eagerly savouring new information and merchandise. However, by the time of 2002's Attack of the Clones, I was pretty burned out. Star Wars movies are brilliant fun fests that you can watch over and over. But the wider franchise is pretty much creatively bankrupt, and it was Lucasfilm's sheer focus on the officially termed 'Expanded Universe,' which tries to mesh the films with what is often officially sanctioned fan fiction, that led me to find other interests.
 One of the few EU projects that worked well was Clone Wars, the Genndy Tartakovsky-helmed series of mini animated episodes set during the legendary conflict. The Clone Wars have been part of the series lore ever since the beginning, inspiring fans to imagine just how that conflict went down. There's been a lot of fan speculation and even a few botched official mentions, but finally the controversial prequel films set the basic groundwork for that epic war. Tartakovsky's series took that and ran with it, creating an enjoyable success that some would argue was even better than the prequels themselves.
With the movie side of Star Wars effectively concluded, Lucasfilm has moved on to television projects. The first of these is a logical return to the Clone Wars, only now as a half-hour CGI series.
The series' opening story was ultimately released to cinemas to garner more attention, but I have to admit to not seeing it. So watching the two episodes of this official TV premiere is my first true introduction to the new series.
The first thing that strikes you is the art style. Tartakovsky's series was visually punctuated by the design work of Paul Rudish, previously established in Samurai Jack. The look is very stylized, recreating familiar characters with sweeping angular designs. It was perfect for Jack, and it worked fairly well for a Star Wars project too. However, this new series seems to have tried to transition that into 3D, and the results are certainly mixed. Now, as a designer myself I have to be fair and say that clearly some work has been done, and truly these designs are a mix between realism and Rudish. But some elements, like Dooku's massive pointy beard, which worked fine in 2D, just seem out of place. I'm sure some would argue further that the series should have just gone for full photo-realism, but then they were probably the ones screaming foul that Star Wars would ever return to animation out of some warped belief that animation is 'kiddy'.
 Leaving aside the design work, the actual quality of CGI animation here is strong. It's been a long road for computer animation on TV, going back over a decade or so when 30 seconds of painfully obvious CG amongst cell animation was a cheap ratings gimmick. With Clone Wars, you can easily see that a significant budget was raised, and it shows through in both the visual quality, the staging and motions. I've only done a brief bit of CGI animation myself, but from that alone I can appreciate how difficult it is to light, time and stage a scene, not to mention the subtle motions that help really sell what you're doing. I don't think this is trying to be far too creepily true to life, unlike certain recent experimental CGI movies, but there's definitely a fair amount of competent creative skill at work here.
Of course, all of that is pretty meaningless without good stories, which I'm glad to say are also part of the package. The two episodes I got to see featured pretty standard plots, but handled them in a way that brought an interesting new perspective to the already well established Star Wars story. The first, which sees Jedi Master Plo Koon and some clones adrift in a life pod, is nice for the bond it shows to have developed between the Jedi and their troops. The other side of this story is Ahsoka pushing for a rescue mission, since she has a friendship with Koon. Ahsoka has been one of the most disliked characters of this new series, and she definitely screams 'kid appeal character', but in fairness she's pretty tolerable in this story. It's also interesting to see her relationship with Anakin and the maturity it requires him to carry. There were fleeting glimpses of this in both the previous series and in Revenge of the Sith, but as a fan it's nice to get to see Anakin as a level-headed, respected Jedi Knight. He still has his own unique way of doing things, but he's not the whiner which made the prequels disappointing.
The second story has Seperatists attacking Yoda's transport, leaving him with only three clones while still needing to reach a meeting point by nightfall. This is a familiar tale and certainly one that other takes on the Clone Wars setting have used. However, it generally manages to avoid falling into cliché and is enjoyable if only for getting to see both Yoda's rarely seen fun side and the Jedis' relation to their clone troops. It's charming to see the Jedi show their troops the same respect they show everyone else, especially in the face of the clone's fears that they've been created simply to be thrown at the enemy and then replaced. It also adds to the weight of the final prequel film when ultimately the loyal clones will turn on their former generals, and both sets of former allies have to start killing each other.
 It's kind of a shame that despite these strong stories and generally well written protagonists, the bad guys don't quite measure up. My big complaint with this is the battle droids. Borrowing an element from the films, the battle droid armies often fall into goofy comedy or wisecracking remarks. This really robs them of any genuine menace. I'm sure you could argue that I am looking at it too seriously, but when both of these stories rely on a feeling of claustrophobia, you need to genuinely fear the villains for menace to be maintained. Hopefully, as the series continues and more individual villains get focus this issue will be resolved.
Ultimately, I think this is a strong start to the series. You could make the argument this is money for old rope, but I think the production team have brought a fresh angle to the story. I'm sure some of the elements have appeared in novels and such, but Star Wars has really always been a visual experience. Obviously there's more episodes to come, but so far, Clone Wars starts its TV campaign with a good strategy.
(Read a second opinion on Star Wars: The Clone Wars by Jacob T. Paschal: "Clone Wars": Not a Bad Copy.)
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