Title: Star Wars: The Clone
Wars: Series Premiere Episodes: “Rising Malevolence” & “Ambush”
Starring The Voices Of: Ian
Abercrombie, Dee Bradley Baker, Corey Burton, Anthony Daniels, Ashley Eckstein,
Nika Futterman, Tom Kane, Matt Lanter, James Arnold Taylor, and Matthew Wood
Supervising Director: David
Filoni
Producer: Catherine Winder
Executive Producer: George
Lucas
Running Time: 60 minutes
with commercials (30 minutes per episode)
Media: Cartoon Network (NTSC
DVD Screener)
Series Premiere Friday,
October 3, 2008, at 8pm (ET/PT)
Network: Cartoon Network
(Check your local cable/satellite listings for channel)
TV Rating: TV-PG V
Reviewer: Mark A. Rivera
Over three years in the
making, Lucasfilm Animation’s first weekly television series, Star
Wars: The Clone Wars, reunites Star Wars fans with classic heroes
from the prequel trilogy such as Anakin Skywalker (voiced by Matt Lanter),
Obi-Wan Kenobi (James Arnold Taylor) and Yoda with the villains of The Clone
Wars such as Count Dooku AKA Darth Tyranus (Corey Burton) and his apprentice
Asajj Ventress (Nika Futterman), who was introduced in the previous award
winning animated microseries Star Wars: Clone Wars. We also get to know
new characters like Anakin’s Padawan Ahsoka Tano (Ashley Eckstein) and the
series does much to humanize characters we only saw fleeting glimpses of such as
the various Clone Troopers themselves, who are all voiced by Dee Bradley Baker.
Anthony Daniels is back again to reliably supply the voice of C3PO and Matthew
Wood reprises his role as the voice of General Grievous, but neither Christopher
Lee nor Samuel L. Jackson return to provide the voices for their animated
counterparts, which they did do for the feature
film that opened this past
August. Fortunately the talent behind their voices for the TV series do a very
good job at making the characters their own and the series moves so quickly at
times that I doubt anyone will notice outside of hardcore fans.
While the animation style
remains unchanged between the feature film and television series, the TV series
somehow looks more polished and the serialized storylines are more interesting
and entertaining than what was seen in the feature film, but what the series
does that the animated movie never really had a chance to focus on was to bring
Lucas’ heart into the story. The reason why Star Wars resonates
generation after generation is because of the humanity of the characters and the
non-denominational spirituality inherent throughout the two trilogies. While not
everyone is force sensitive enough to be a Jedi Knight, that does not hinder our
ability to better ourselves through it with the Jedi serving as inspiration for
the Clones in both episodes. Quite honestly I think in some ways the new TV
series comes closest to carrying the same spirit the classic trilogy had and it
also makes the events most of us are familiar with from Star Wars: Episode
III: Revenge Of The Sith all the more poignant because now not only are we
becoming more aware about some of the background Jedi characters from the films,
but I have to state I see the tragedy of it all even hitting the Clone Troopers,
who will lose what humanity they gain from the experience once Order 66
is given.
In short, the TV series in
my opinion is among the best Star Wars I have seen outside of the feature
films and it is much better than the animated feature. In fact there should be
no worries for anyone who missed the feature film because in my opinion one does
not necessarily have to be all that familiar with Star Wars in general to
enjoy the show, which is suitable for adults too. I guess the only thing I
cannot shake from my mind is a direct comparison between this and Paul
Verhoeven’s 1990s CGI television series Roughnecks: Starship Troopers
Chronicles though The Clone Wars offers storytelling potential the
animated Starship Troopers TV series could not in that since the opposing
sides are anthropomorphic in one way or another, it is easier to portray the
opposing point of view in episodes and give viewers more backstory into the
characters of Asajj Ventress, Count Dooku, General Grievous and even the battle
droids. If we are going to get episodes that show the plight of the Clone
Troopers, why not do an episode from the point of view of an ordinary Battle
Droid? In Star Wars sometimes the droids are more human than the humans
so perhaps this is not entirely out of the realm of possibility. So whether or
not a character is human, alien, or mechanical or a bit of everything, it is a
lot easier to relate to the Star Wars villains than it is the bugs of Starship
Troopers.
Rising Malevolence
details a devastating Separatist mystery weapon terrorizing the Republic
Starfleet. An obvious pre-cursor to
the super laser on The Death Star, the super weapon leaves a fleet of Jedi
cruisers helpless and then to be certain there are no survivors, Hunters are
sent out to kill any life forms in escape pods helplessly floating the debris
field. Can Anakin and Ahsoka race to save Jedi Master Plo Koon and his Clone
Troopers in time?
In the episode entitled,
Ambush, Jedi Master Yoda is on a secret mission to forge a treaty with the
King of the strategic system of Toydaria when his ship is ambushed by Count
Dooku. Yoda and three clone troopers must face off against Count Dooku’s
dreaded assassin Ventress and her massive droid army to prove the Jedi are
strong enough to protect the king and his people from the forces of the war.
Star
Wars: The Clone Wars, from Lucasfilm Animation,
debuts on Cartoon Network Friday, October. 3, 2008 at 9 p.m. (ET/PT)
with a special one-hour presentation that anchors the Network’s all-new night
of fantasy, action and adventure. New
series The Secret Saturdays and the
current hit Ben 10: Alien Force join Star Wars: The Clone Wars
for a night of non-stop adventure, exciting storytelling and innovative
animation. Then the schedule that follows will feature an encore presentation of
the previous episode along with a new installment that follows. The schedule at
the time of this writing, beginning October 10, 2008, is detailed below.
Fridays
Beginning October 10
8:00
p.m.
The Secret Saturdays
8:30
p.m.
Star Wars: The Clone Wars
9:00
p.m.
Star Wars: The Clone Wars
9:30
p.m.
Ben 10: Alien Force
Star
Wars: The Clone Wars is one of the most highly anticipated new series of the 2008-2009
television season and is well worth checking out.
©
Copyright 2008 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.
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