Watching “The Clone Wars” (7 p.m. Central Fridays on Cartoon Network), I wonder if the “Star Wars” prequels should’ve been animated all along. “Clone Wars” feels more like “Star Wars” than the live-action movies do.
You would think the opposite would be true — that living, breathing actors would automatically deliver more immediacy and realism. But the folks behind “Clone Wars” are “Star Wars” fans, and I theorize that’s the major difference.
George Lucas dreamed up the prequel world, and he contributes ideas to “Clone Wars” (for example, Ziro the Hutt’s Truman Capote voice in the movie). But I don’t think of Lucas as being a big fan of his own work; he strikes me more as an unapologetic defender of his own work — same thing with prequel trilogy producer Rick McCallum. The builder of the sandbox might admire his work, but there’s no way he can have as much fun as the kids who get to play in it.
In the latest episode, showrunner Dave Filoni and his team revealed that Anakin had been to Mustafar before the events of “Episode III,” on a mission with Ahsoka to rescue kidnapped younglings. Seeing Mustafar (beautifully animated, as is everything on this show) gave me a thrill similar to when I read Luke-Vader showdowns as a kid in “Splinter of the Mind’s Eye” and the Marvel comics. Yes, “Clone Wars” says, key moments happen outside the blockbuster movies.
It’s not all about movie recalls, of course. The latest addition to the lore is bounty hunter Cad Bane, a Duros with a mechanical and strangely accented voice. Working for Darth Sidious, he escapes our heroes in the first episode of this season, cleverly disguising himself as a clone trooper, then gets away again in episode two. His value system is the same as Boba Fett, but Fett’s been softened ever since we saw him as a kid in “Attack of the Clones,” so we needed a cool new bounty hunter.
Also this season, Sidious’ plans get more specific than the broad “create a war, then become Emperor” goal. He hires Bane to steal a Jedi Holocron with a list of Jedi potentiates on it, then has him kidnap a couple of those younglings to perform experiments on. Yeah, Sidious eventually settles on Anakin as his apprentice, but this is a guy who believes in backup plans, and we see that here.
Filoni and company also expand on stuff introduced in the movies simply for the sake of having more fun with it. Zam Wessel, from the beginning of “Attack of the Clones,” came from a race of shapeshifters, so “Clone Wars” has a shapeshifter working for Bane who infiltrates the Jedi Temple. This gives Ahsoka a chance to duel with several “different” Jedi as the shapeshifter mimics them — pretty cool.
It’s also neat that Ahsoka has her own lightsaber dueling style — she holds her saber kind of backwards in her opening stance. She is entirely integrated into this world. I never think of her being the one main character who wasn’t in the movies.
Yet the heroes from the movies are in perfect (if slightly exaggerated for this stylized medium) character. If you had only seen the films, you’d still recognize Anakin, Obi-Wan, Yoda and Mace Windu immediately. Next week, the underused Padme returns, and I’m looking forward to it even though Natalie Portman has nothing to do with performing the animated Padme.
Maybe that’s a good thing. “Clone Wars” isn’t about whether the actors are good or bad, or whether Lucas should’ve had a better writer pen scripts from his stories. Instead, it’s about the story, and “Clone Wars” has proven that it has plenty of those up its sleeve.
Bottom line: “Clone Wars” is “Star Wars,” in the very best sense of the phrase.
What are your thoughts on Season 2 so far? Is it better than the first season? Or did you not follow “Star Wars” from the big screen to the small? (If that’s the case, there’s still time to recover: The Season 1 DVD comes out on Nov. 3).
Comments
More Cad Bane and less Jar Jar!# Posted By Trevor | 10/12/09 9:12 PM
Even I have to agree with that.# Posted By John Hansen | 10/13/09 2:43 AM