Star Wars: Clone Wars is an American animatedtelevision micro-series set in the Star Wars universe and developed and drawn by Genndy Tartakovsky. Produced and released between the films ' and ', it is amongst the first of many works to explore the conflict known as the Clone Wars, and directly leads to the events of Revenge of the Sith. The show follows the actions of various characters from the Star Warsprequel trilogy, notably Jedi and clone troopers, in their war against the battle droid armies of the Confederacy of Independent Systems and the Sith. The series is notable for introducing Revenge of the Sith villain General Grievous. The series aired on Cartoon Network for three seasons consisting of 25 episodes altogether from 2003 to 2005, and was the first Star Wars television series since Ewoks. The first two seasons of Clone Wars, released on DVD as "Volume One", were produced in episodes ranging from two to three minutes, while the third season consisted of five 12-minute episodes comprising "Volume Two". Since its release, the series has received critical acclaim and won multiple awards, including the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program for both volumes. Its success led to it being spun off as the half-hour CGI series . After The Walt Disney Company acquired Lucasfilm and the rights to the Star Wars franchise in 2012, the 2003 animated series was declared to be non-canonical and placed under the Star Wars Legends banner, although the series has since been referenced in canonical works.
Plot
Clone Wars is part of the Star Wars prequel storyline, surrounding the fall of esteemed Jedi Anakin Skywalker and his subsequent transformation into the Sith lord Darth Vader. The series begins shortly after Attack of the Clones, as the failing Galactic Republic and the Jedi Order are under siege from the Separatist Confederacy of Independent Systems and the Sith. As the war rages, more and more planets slip from Republic control.
Synopsis
The main storyline of Volume One features the Jedi KnightObi-Wan Kenobi leading an assault on the planet Muunilinst, home of the Intergalactic Banking Clan, benefactors of the Separatists wishing to break away from the Republic. His apprentice, Anakin, is personally appointed to lead the space forces by Supreme Chancellor Palpatine. Meanwhile, Separatist leader Count Dooku takes in the Force-sensitive Asajj Ventress as his Sith apprentice and sends her to eliminate Anakin. Anakin diverts his attention in the middle of the space battle to pursue Ventress to Yavin 4, where he manages to defeat her in a lightsaber duel by drawing on his anger. Surrounding this storyline are various battles focusing on other Jedi and their wartime exploits: Master Mace Windu faces a droid army unarmed on Dantooine, Master Yoda travels to the ice world Ilum to save two imperiled Jedi, the amphibious Kit Fisto leads an aquatic regiment of clone troopers on the waterworld Mon Calamari, and a team of Jedi encounter the dreaded General Grievous on Hypori. Volume Two picks up at the conclusion to the Hypori battle: Obi-Wan sends his team of ARC troopers to Hypori to rescue the Jedi from Grievous. The Republic is desperate, and after much consideration, the Jedi Council decides to promote Anakin to the rank of Jedi Knight. The series then jumps ahead to nearly the end of the war, when Anakin has become a more powerful Jedi. He aids Obi-Wan in capturing a fortress, saves Saesee Tiin in space battle, and rescues Jedi from crab droids. Anakin and Obi-Wan are assigned to search for Grievous on the planet Nelvaan, but instead end up liberating a group of Nelvaanians who had been enslaved and mutated by the Separatist Techno Union. While rescuing the Nelvaan warriors, Anakin sees a cryptic vision of his eventual transformation into Darth Vader. Meanwhile, Grievous leads an assault on Coruscant and, despite the best efforts of Yoda, Windu, Shaak Ti, and others, kidnaps Palpatine for his master, Dooku. Anakin and Obi-Wan then set out to rescue the Chancellor over Coruscant, leading directly into the beginning of .
Continuity
Several attempts were made to maintain continuity with the overall saga, most notably bridging Episode II – Attack of the Clones and Episode III – Revenge of the Sith. Anakin appears with his new lightsaber after his first was destroyed in the previous film. In "Chapter 21", makes his first appearance in gold plating and Anakin is knighted; he sends his Padawan braid to Padmé, who stores it with the necklace he gave her in The Phantom Menace. It is implied that Anakin and Padmé may conceive the Skywalker twins on Naboo in "Chapter 22". General Grievous' cough in Revenge of the Sith was intended to emphasize his organic nature as well as the flaws of having cyborg prosthetics. Grievous had previously appeared in Clone Wars before many of his personality traits had been finalized. To reconcile the differences between the two presentations, the Clone Wars production crew inserted a scene in "Chapter 25" of Mace Windu Force-crushing the chestplate housing Grievous's internal organs. Volume Two shares aspects of its storyline with the novel Labyrinth of Evil, which was created at the same time. In the series, Anakin and Obi-Wan investigate a possible base for Grievous on Nelvaan prior to returning to Coruscant, but in the novel, they pursue Count Dooku on Tythe; Dooku briefly pauses at Nelvaan when escaping to Coruscant. According to The New Essential Chronology, the events on Nelvaan occurred before those on Tythe, with the final scene of Obi-Wan and Anakin getting the message from Mace on the cruiser taking place afterwards. Clone Wars served as a pilot for the half-hour CGI . The character designer for the latter series attempted to translate aspects of the character designs from the 2D series to 3D. It was originally reported that the new series would not supersede the continuity of the 2003 series, but following Disney's acquisition of Lucasfilm, in 2014, it was announced that 2008's The Clone Wars was considered canon, while the 2D series went unmentioned. However, Den of Geek's Ryan Britt notes that the final arc of The Clone Wars does not necessarily negate the final arc of the earlier series.
Production
The series was produced and directed by Genndy Tartakovsky, the creator of Dexter's Laboratory and Samurai Jack, and employs a similar animation style to the latter. According to Tartakovsky, the series was developed in two weeks and created by a small crew. Tartakovsky stated that he purposely animated with moveable expressive eyes to pay homage to his animated appearances in The Star Wars Holiday Special and . Additionally, the planet Nelvaan's name was a nod to Nelvana, the production company that produced all previous Star Wars animated series. In "Chapter 21", a Dulok appears, a species introduced in Ewoks. According to art director Paul Rudish, the Banking Clan planet of Muunilinst was designed to look like a U.S. dollar bill.
The series originally ran on Cartoon Network. In addition to being shown on television, the episodes were released online simultaneously on the Star Wars and Cartoon Network websites. It was heavily advertised by the channel, and was originally shown immediately before their popular Friday-night programming block, 'Fridays'.
The first season consisted of 10 episodes, lasting three minutes each. Along with the second season, it was released on DVD as Volume One.
Season 2 (2004)
The second season consisted of 10 episodes, lasting three minutes each. Along with the first season, it was released on DVD as Volume One.
Season 3 (2005)
The third and final season consisted of five episodes, lasting 12 minutes each. These episodes were released on DVD as Volume Two.
Reception
Critical response
According to the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 80% of critics have given season 1 a positive review based on 5 reviews. In 2009, Clone Wars was ranked 21 on IGN's Top 100 Animated Series list.
A series of Hasbro action figures was released in the years of the series' run, including four Walmart-exclusive "Commemorative DVD Collection" 3-packs. Dark Horse Comics also published a ten-volume comic series titled Clone Wars – Adventures, which utilized the style of the 2D animated series and depicts original stories set during the era; the last issue was published in 2007.
