Why Star Wars: The Clone Wars is My Star Wars

It doesn't get any nerdier than this blog post is about to get and it's gonna be a long one!

You have been warned.

My introduction to Star Wars came at a pretty young age. My parents had the DVD boxset and before that I have vague memories of the tapes.

The funny thing is the first time I watched A New Home I don't think I was too impressed. I had been spoilt on the special effects that proceeded it and couldn't understand why my parents liked it so much. Leia was cool but I was still in my pink, sparkly Disney princess phase (little did I know Leia would eventually become one) and between two old men tapping glow sticks and a lot of running down grey corridors I didn't really get it.

Then my parents convinced me to watch The Empire Strikes Back... and that is when things started to change. In Empire the threat felt so much more palpable because it went from being a rebellion where Luke is an outsider to being a war that's personal.

However, what really flicked the switch in me from being someone who liked Star Wars to someone who LOVES Star Wars is... and you're going to hate me for it... you're really going to hate me for it...

The Prequels...

DON'T SHOOT! HEAR ME OUT!

They're bad. As an adult who now studies filmmaking at university I fully accept that they are some of the most poorly executed films in any franchise ever. The dialogue is beyond horrific, the CGI while good for its time, garishly overused and the plot confused and unfocused.

But as a child that didn't matter! Darth Maul was a badass! The lightsaber battles were much more exciting! Pod racing! Anakin was going to become Darth Vader! Oh no! Jango Fett! General Grievous is gross! HELLO THERE!

As a nine year old child this was the good stuff. Everything was more colourful, the design and the planets seemed much more creative. Obi Wan Kenobi was my favourite character and honestly they spoke like I made my toys speak at that age so the dialogue didn't annoy me. I was just so transfixed by the world and the tragedy of this heroic character becoming one of the most iconic villains of all time.

Although I see them for what they are now I still don't hold as much malliace for them as a lot of Star Wars fans do. Partly because they entertain me still (be it for all the wrong reasons) and partly because in 2009 a trailblazing 3D animated series was just hitting its second season on Cartoon Network.

Not only was Star Wars: The Clone Wars an amazing show in its own right, it also elevated the prequel trilogy to a level it definitely didn't deserve.

This show is incredibly important to me. It has grown up with me and I have grown older with its characters.

The last season just finished yesterday on May the 4th so today I am going to talk about why this show had the impact on me that it did and why I consider this show to be my Star Wars.

1. Characters

The Clone Wars follows Anakin Skywalker, Obi Wan Kenobi and new character, Anakin's padawan Ahsoka Tano. After the events of Attack of the Clones the Jedi are drafted to fight against the Separatists as part of the Republic army, lead by the galactic senate and Chancellor Palpatine. Most of the episodes follow these three as they travel to different planets with an army of clone soldiers, sent out on missions that they believe will bring peace to the galaxy.

Anakin is no longer Obi Wan's padawan and the two have developed a strong friendship which Anakin constantly strains with his arrogance and un-jedi-like ways which just happen to be perfect for being a strong military leader.

Anakin is the biggest difference between the show and the prequel films. He is good at what he does, a brilliant military strategist who feels much more at home on the battlefield than he does in the Jedi temple. He's rash and impulsive but not unlikable and part of that is down to his new responsibility as teacher to Ahsoka. Giving Anakin a padawan was a stroke of genius from the writers because it gave Anakin a reason to try and set a good example as he could see how his negative behaviour and ego could influence Ahsoka to follow his example and put her in danger.

The arcs the characters go through in the show is some of the best TV writing of all time in my opinion.

While in the films Anakin's transformation into Darth Vader seems far fetched there are moments throughout The Clone Wars where Anakin's anger and the darkness within him is subtly brought to the surface. The shows biggest triumph is making Anakin such a likable and interesting character that we don't want him to become Darth Vader. In the prequel series we're begging for it to happen!

Obi Wan also goes through a transformation as he has to wrestle with his own devotion to the Jedi, conflicted about being a soldier instead of a peacekeeper, something directly challenged to him by his past childhood love Duchess Satine. The loss of his master Qui-Gon-Jinn still haunts him and tragedy follows him throughout The Clone Wars, shaping him into the quiet, hardened man we will meet in A New Hope. Through these arcs we understand Obi Wan's sympathy towards Anakin and indeed that he is no fool.

My favourite scene in the entire series is when Obi Wan confronts Anakin about his feelings for Padme. While he's not aware of the extent of their relationship it shows that he isn't oblivious to the struggles of his friend.

2. Fantastic Storytelling

Whether you're a fan or not something that can't be denied is the skill in storytelling that Clone Wars demonstrates. Each storyline is usually split between four episodes. Early on in the series these would mostly cover different battles but as the war becomes more complex and the lines become blurred the stories take multiple different directions exploring a character's own feelings towards the conflict.

What I love about each storyline is that the characters come away from it changed. Unlike a lot of anthology shows where everything seems to reset at the beginning of a new arc if a character feels defeated at the end of one storyline they will still feel that way at the beginning of the next. You get the impression that each event changes everything in some small way.

Some of my favourite storylines don't include Jedi at all but at the end something fundamental will have changed and the effects will be felt across the rest of the series.

Some of my favourite storylines are:

Landing at Point Rain (Season 2)

Deception (Season 4)

The Mortis Trilogy (Season 3)

Voyage of the Damned (Season 2)

Revenge (Season 4)

Orders (Season 6)

Siege of Mandalore (Season 7)

The Umbara Quadrilogy (Season 4)

Lawless (Season 5)

3. Exploration of Lore

Ok so who else went crazy at the end of The Mandalorian? If you did it's probably because you've watched The Clone Wars. Clone Wars basically had a free pass to explore the entirety of the Star Wars universe. Everything mentioned in any of the main films gets its chance to shine. The Clone Wars itself was just in an off-handed line Ben Kenobi said to Luke in A New Hope.

We get to spend time following a young Boba Fett on his journey to becoming the coolest bounty hunter in the galaxy. We get an awesome trilogy of episodes about the lore behind the Force itself. We spend time on Mandalore learning about their history and the civil war and everything connects together beautifully. The attention to detail on this show is stunning and is still impacting the Star Wars universe in other shows and films. Spin-off film Solo showed the reappearance of a character that Clone Wars fans knew had been alive and kicking for ages.

4. Ahsoka Tano

When Ahsoka was first introduced in the terrible animated film fans hated her. She was whinney, bratty and didn't seem to contribute a lot. When she left the Jedi order in season 5 fans were crying.

Ahsoka is the embodiment of The Clone Wars for me. In a time where most female characters were still only there to get kidnaped in action adventure shows, Ahsoka was my hero!

The show has really been her story all along and it seems only fitting that the four part season finale focused on her. I have an undying affection for this character who was flawed but grew up with me through the series. She was my eyes into Star Wars and the character I can still relate to the most.

5. Scale

This show is huge.

I don't just mean in popularity I mean in how big and epic it is. This is a story that spans through that entire galaxy far far away and deals with themes of dictatorship, betrayal, political dishonesty, genocide, post traumatic stress, the moralities of war, the ethics of cloning, religion, indoctrination... yeah it is a kids show... I know right?

While it never shies away from a good vs bad story, where Clone Wars really excels is exploring the vast grey area that the prequels never touched on. Does evil have to exist for good to prevail? Is Anakin's destiny set in stone? If you knew your fate would you try and change it?

The battles are huge. The cities are beautifully designed and each planet is individual and recognisable. It feels more expansive than any of the films.

6. The Clones

The reason why I didn't talk about the Clones in the first section is because they deserve their own! The Clone Wars turned an army of nameless copies into a brilliant group of memorable characters. Unlike the films where the deaths of soldiers seem cheap, the Clone Wars makes us route for them as individuals and gives them whole story arcs devoted to them.

Their conflict of wanting the war to end but knowing they wouldn't be alive without it is one of the most interesting philosophical questions of the show. Knowing that these characters will eventually be the ones to gun down their jedi commanders is heartbreaking.

Many of the Clones we are introduced to in the first series die a tragic death. Instead of being treated flippantly, their deaths are given as much weight as the death of a main character. The fact I can still remember a lot of their names (Rex, Cody, Fives, Wolf, Echo) is a testament to the impact they make on the show.

7. Villains

Good heros are only as good as the villains their fighting and in many cases the villains outshine their opponents.

Darth Maul is the big bad of the series but my personal favourite baddie is the slimy bounty hunter Cad Bane. What a fantastic character and design. He will never not be creepy yet inexplicably cool.

Just like the heroes, the villains go through just as much character development. In many cases we don't want to see them captured or killed, we're having too much fun watching them do their diabolical thing.

8. An incredible ending

I never thought I'd ever see this series finished. When Lucasfilm got bought out by Disney I thought that was it. I was gutted. To be invested in something for so long only for it to grind to an unnatural halt is never fun.

Last year when the trailer came out... I couldn't believe it.

The defining show of my childhood was finally getting an ending!

Then I got scared. What if they ruined it? It had been eight years since the last full season. Would they make it accessible for their now grown up original audience?

It is everything I could have wanted and more. We got to see Anakin and Obi Wan one last time before the events of Revenge of the Sith. We got a satisfying ending for Ahsoka and the last clone survivor Rex. Darth Maul's arc was brought to a satisfying conclusion and they did it all without compromising their creativity, giving us a set of new characters and storylines. Nothing felt rushed or forced. It was emotional!

9. Legacy

With the way I'm talking about it you'd think that this animated kids show was the second coming of television. A lot of it is nostalgia but I will defend this show to my last breath because it opened my eyes to what was capable with Science Fiction. I think back to a lot of the old episodes regularly and I remember religiously recording them so I could watch it with my sister.

Clone Wars wasn't just a show it was a community and a world which encouraged your imagination. Wouldn't it be cool if this happened? What if this happened?

A lot of what inspires me as a writer came from this show and for that I will be forever grateful.

I imagine how I feel about Clone Wars is how a lot of people feel about the original trilogy. Maybe one day I'll show it to my kids and they'll have no idea why I like it so much, who knows?!

If you've got to the end of this insanely long post then thank you!

Next time we'll be back to actual film stuff I promise!

May the force be with you always!