Back when The Clone Wars was first cancelled, the animatics from an arc entitled The Bad Batch released on StarWars.com. Here we had four super commandos on a mission with Anakin and Rex to stop a Separatist plot that is allowing them to gain a major advantage in the war. It was an enjoyable arc, but there was nothing really special about Clone Force 99 – otherwise known as The Bad Batch.
When it was announced that The Clone Wars would be returning for a final season, The Bad Batch was one of the first confirmed for it. A number of changes were made for the arc that made it feel more impactful, but still the Bad Batch had little character focus. I still loved them, but that lack of focus made them feel like any other squad – particularly when you’ve got Rex and Echo in the spotlight. They were never meant to be the focus, though. They served as an introduction. An introduction to a series that put the focus on them. When that first announcement was made, there was a lot of uncertainty about how good it would be. The Dark Times and the immediate aftermath of Order 66 is something that hadn’t before been explored in this new canon, which we would now see. But how good would the series be with a squad of clones that many disregarded?
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The year was 2003. Attack of the Clones had been out in theatres for a year, with the Clone Wars multimedia project already in full swing with the likes of The Clone Wars video game and Republic comic series, but 2003 was where it started to really take off. The first of the Clone Wars novels were releasing, and so too was this TV micro series at the end of the year.
Produced by Genndy Tartakovsky – of Samurai Jack fame, it had a runtime of 3-5 minutes per episode, with ten per season (which would be merged into volume 1 in later years. Showing off various battles of the Clone Wars, the focus would be on the Battle of Muunilinst that was headed by Obi-Wan and Anakin. That first volume proved to be a success, with the third season bringing in a longer runtime per episode, but with a shorter episode count. While the first volume showed off battles happening near the beginning of the Clone Wars, the second continued the events of the first's finale, before enacting several jumps in time that leads into the events of Revenge of the Sith. This is a surprise to be sure, but a welcome one. Disney has added a few of the old Star Wars classics to Disney+ under the label of Star Wars Vintage. Most of these are based on the original trilogy era with a particular focus on ewoks. To start with, though, I decided to take a look at something that could very well have remained lost to time – purely because of what it was attached to.
A year after the original Star Wars released, and during the making of The Empire Strikes Back, The Holiday Special arrived a week before Thanksgiving, and then was never broadcast again. The critics and viewers ripped into it as an experience, naming it as one of the worst things to have ever aired. But the one small light within this otherwise dark spot on the franchise was the animated short that featured within it. While The Holiday Special might never see the light of day in an official capacity, the animated short has finally seen an official release on Disney+. The Story of the Faithful Wookiee is a small story featuring several elements that would make their way into The Empire Strikes Back. The main one being Boba Fett. The sequel trilogy, despite being a fun watch, has grown ever the more flawed with each new film released in it. The Rise of Skywalker showing that the most. The lack of direction has hurt it, along with the fact there are massively obvious mirrors to the original trilogy. Some of those work, others not so much, and if you’ve read my review of The Rise of Skywalker, you’ll know of one mirror that I absolutely hate.
Everyone has their own ideas for what should have happened, and I’m no different. This article is going to detail all those ideas to create my own vision of a sequel trilogy within the Skywalker Saga, looking at the plot element within all three of the trilogy, then going a bit deeper with the main throughline of it. First, though, there needs to be the lead up to that point. If December 2007 was when I first got into Star Wars, and the first half of 2008 when I started to expand my knowledge of it, the latter half – especially November – was when I really started to enjoy it.
I was finding out about everything Star Wars around that time, revelling in the new discoveries, but it was something that had caught my eye while in Toys R Us that interested me most. A trailer of an animated Star Wars. That being The Clone Wars theatrical release. I didn’t watch it in the cinema, nor did I really pay much attention to anything about it. Not because I wasn’t interested, but because I’d had little exposure to anything outside of the books and games. In fact, I’m pretty sure that Toys R Us visit was where I first got the DVDs of the original trilogy. However, while on holiday in America in November, I watched a few episodes of the series, and my love of the The Clone Wars started. I didn’t follow everything about it, but from that point on I made a point of asking for the Complete Season DVD sets every Christmas, and each and every season I loved. It's coming two months after it was meant to, but better now than never. I started with the Original trilogy in terms of films, and say I prefer them over the prequels – Phantom Menace aside. The sequels have a special place having both released near my birthday.
While my ordering of the originals on their own probably wouldn’t cause too many problems, when the sequels are added, then things start to get interesting. If you haven’t already, go and read my thoughts on the Prequel trilogy, then continue with my thoughts on both the originals and sequels here. It can be jarring going from Rogue One to A New Hope in that the visuals are a definite downgrade between films. I never let the visuals deter me from enjoying a film, but with A New Hope there’s nothing really to call out. It’s effectively same world new style, and if you’re really going to get hung up on the visuals then there’s quite a lot you’ll miss. To end Star Wars Month off in terms of articles, I’ve been sitting on this one for a while. Attack of the Clones is my least favoured of all the films.
While I don’t harp on about the romance between Anakin and Padme as though it destroyed the entire film, it is the area that’s dragging it down the most. For this Rewrite, I’m going to look at all of the film. The first thing to note is the opening. Nearly everything about it is fine. There’s just one thing that bugs me. Where is the bomb placed? The explosion makes it look as though it’s in the ship, and if it is – how did someone get access to the ship to place it there? As part of Star Wars month, I thought I’d do this review of all the films. I’ve talked Star Wars a lot. I’ve reviewed the newest films, reviewed the closing of The Clone Wars and opening of Rebels, but aside from mentions of the original and prequel trilogies, I haven’t ever given full thoughts about them.
I know there’s lots of reviews – both serious and parodical – that give a variety of different opinions, and I doubt there’s much I can add that hasn’t already been said. However, Star Wars is my number one core franchise, so it only makes sense I finally review all six films. I’m adding the new ones to the list as well, though they won’t be in full. It was a real surprise when The Clone Wars ended, though not totally unexpected. Whisperings began as far back as before Season Five even aired, with the change in time slot on American Cartoon Network, some believed the show was to end soon. After all, Disney had just recently acquired Lucas Film at the time. Season Five airs as normal, and then we get the video of Dave Filoni announcing the end of The Clone Wars, but that the stories weren't finished. Indeed, they weren't.
Despite Rebels being the main focus of Filoni and his team, thirteen episodes of The Clone Wars were put out onto Netflix, delving deeper into both Order 66 and the clones' origin. Oh, and Yoda learning the true meaning of victory. But the team gave out yet another part of The Clone Wars in the form of the Darth Maul: Son of Dathomir comic mini series. And then, not even two weeks ago, the full outline of this program - The Clone Wars Legacy - was revealed to us. So first off, let me say that I've seen this subject cropping up everywhere Star Wars related, in various forms, and decided I'd offer my thoughts on it.
I've been invested in the Star Wars Expanded Universe for as long as I've been a fan (it was Star Wars Battlefront 2 that got me being a fan in the first place - that has to mean something), and started out with the opening book to the Republic Commando series, and Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader. I loved those two books, and collected many more since. But there was a slight hitch. |