I saw a recent news headline stating, “Obama to end Star Wars”. At first I thought it was because the last batch of movies were bit below par compared to the original series, especially the animated CLONE WARS, so he was taking Lucas to task with his new presidential powers. Then I thought that maybe he was suffering the same delusions Bush had in the Robot Chicken Star Wars episode, and imaging he was the obvious successor to Mace Windu he was going to bring peace not only to the Middle East but also the whole galaxy. After all Barack Obama could easily be a Jedi name. However, as I read more I realised he was cancelling the anti-nuke programme set up by Ronny Raygun all those decades ago.
So, with Lucas left to continue milking his cash cow, the latest DVD release made its way to me. STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS™ – CLONE COMMANDOS is another four episodes from the popular Cartoon Network animated TV series that fills in the story gap between Episodes II and III. This DVD has four episodes, including “Rookies,” “Storm Over Ryloth,” “Innocents of Ryloth” and “Liberty on Ryloth.” In “Rookies,” Captain Rex and Commander Cody must inspire a rookie unit – posted alone on a distant moon – to believe in themselves in order to stave off a Separatist Droid Commando attack. In the three-part “Ryloth” arc, Jedi and Clones attempt to liberate a strategic planet from Separatist occupation, and in the process discover that the sweeping galactic conflict has taken a toll on innocent civilians caught in the crossfire.
Just as the story fits between to movie episodes, stylistically this series falls somewhere between the disappointing THE CLONE WARS movie and the excellent 2D animated series. To a certain extent it is following in the style of the 2D series, although to my eyes it is not in the same league. The planets and spaceships look fine, but the characters look like they’ve been constructed from (virtual) cardboard (and no sarcastic comments about the acting in the prequels). With viewers becoming used to the realism of CGI it was possibly a decision to make the series highly stylised to keep down the costs for TV, and let’s face it, there is a lot worse animation on TV at the moment.
It is clearly aimed at pre-teen boys, but will equally appeal to older STAR WARS fans, who like to immerse themselves in the mythology and are willing to excuse the way in which it is presented. For those fans, the whole series will be out on DVD and Blu-ray later in the year, in time for Christmas.
STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS, on DVD from October 5, 2009 from Warner Home Video and Lucasfilm Ltd available from Play and all good retailers.
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