Star Wars: The Clone Wars - The Complete Season One (review with Epinions link)

When I was a much younger Star Wars fan in my early teens, one of my hopes was that George Lucas would create a TV spinoff based on the adventures of Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Han Solo, Chewbacca, C-3PO and R2-D2 as they faced off against the evil Darth Vader and the legions of the Empire.

Of course, I had no idea that Lucas had made the film now known as Episode IV: A New Hope with two other films in mind, nor did I (being naive and unschooled in the business of filmmaking) realize how expensive it would have been to adapt Star Wars from the big screen to the little one and make it work as well as the late Larry Gelbart had done with the TV version of M*A*S*H.
After the disastrous one-time airing of the misbegotten Star Wars Holiday Special in 1978 and the somewhat lackluster live-action set-on-Endor TV movies Lucasfilm released in the early 1980s, I realized that maybe Star Wars  wasn't really one of those film sagas that was meant to be given the M*A*S*H treatment.

However, the success of the Lucasfilm-approved 2-D Star Wars: Clone Wars animated microseries which bridged the gap between Star Wars - Episode II: Attack of the Clones and Star Wars - Episode III: Revenge of the Sithproved - at least to me - that television can be a good medium for Lucas to continue telling stories set in that galaxy far, far away and not necessarily focusing on the tragic fall of Anakin Skywalker and the rise of Emperor Palpatine.

The Clone Wars: Season One
Though I was not impressed when I saw Star Wars: The Clone Wars as a theatrical release in the summer of 2008, I did eventually accept it as the pilot episode of the Cartoon Network's new computer animated series of the same name.  Indeed, when watched as a DVD on TV and in that context it actually works better than it did in theaters.

Executive produced by creator George Lucas and overseen by producer Catherine Winder and series director Dave Filoni, Star Wars: The Clone Wars' first season consists of 22 episodes, each of which is a stand-alone 22-minute story, although many of them form complex two- or three-episode story arcs.

The series, which is now in its second season on Cartoon Network, loosely follows the continuing adventures of Anakin Skywalker, now a fully-fledged Jedi Knight, and his Padawan learner Ahsoka Tano as they lead the 501st Legion of the Grand Army of the Republic during the Clone Wars.  

Anakin's former Master, Obi-Wan Kenobi and other major Star Wars Prequel Trilogy characters (Palpatine, Padme Amidala, C-3PO, R2-D2, Mace Windu and Yoda) also appear frequently in the first season; the series' first regular episode, Ambush, is Star Wars' first Yoda-centered video adventure.

But because Lucas, Filoni, Winder and story editor Henry Gilroy know that fans want to know more about other characters such as the clone troopers. Jedi Masters Plo Koon and Kit Fisto or villains General Grievous and Assajj Ventress, Star Wars: The Clone Wars includes episodes that spotlight them and not the "usual suspects" of the Skywalker-Kenobi crowd.

Another thing that stands out is that the series is, like its live action Lucasfilm forebear The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, an anthology that doesn't follow a set chronological order.  

One example is the episode The Hidden Enemy, in which Anakin, Obi-Wan and the clones under their command have to deal with a potential traitor in their midst.  

Though it was the 16th episode of the series, it takes place shortly before the events of The Clone Wars movie and prior to Ahsoka's first meeting with "Skyguy."

And although the series airs on kid-friendly Cartoon Network, it is rated TV-PG for good reason; unlike most "cartoons" where characters can go through battles and other nasty situations virtually unharmed (as in the 1980s'GI Joe series), Star Wars: The Clone Wars features many episodes in which clone troopers and even Jedi Knights are injured or even die.

For first-time viewers, the animation (which was inspired by the British animated series The Thunderbirds) does take some getting used to.  It's rendered in three-dimensional computer style and done in a slightly exaggerated style (Count Dooku, for instance, has a decidedly knife-like look in his face-and-beard) reminiscent of both the 2003-2005 Clone Wars series and anime.

Once the viewer gets used to the visual style, though, the strength of the writing will win over almost all Star Warsfans, with perhaps the exception of fanboys who will never accept the Prequel Trilogy as worthy of the Star Warsbrand.

Sure, the stories' tone is not always as "serious" as any of the live-action films' writing is supposed to be (at least in the eyes of the too-dedicated Star Warriors), but Lucas, Filoni, Winder and Gilroy infuse The Clone Wars' 22 episodes with enough of the magic that made the Classic Star Wars Trilogy, well, classic.  Lines such as "I have a bad feeling about this" and in-jokes such as numbering an escape pod One Nine Seven Seven (a tip of the hat to the year Star Wars premiered) are little touches that make this grizzled fan really enjoy Star Wars: The Clone Wars.

For the complete review of Star Wars: The Clone Wars - The Complete Season One, please go here