This is the first series of the Clone Wars cartoon series which fills in some of the gap between the second and thirds episodes of the Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith.
There is a lot to enjoy here. I love the animation style used here which is very stylised and full of energy. The series is produced by Genndy Tartakovsky, the creator of Samurai Jack, and the look and design of Clone Wars owes a lot to that series. All the main characters from the Prequels return in animated form along with a few new characters such as the evil Sith Apprentice Asij Vantress. With the exception of C-3PO (Anthony Daniels) the voices are done by a cast of experienced voice actors and they do a great job, although there is noticably little dialogue in this first series.
The series itself was originally broadcast as twenty 3 minute shorts which were pretty much stand alone with a few common plot threads running through. Rather than squeeze all the cast members into 3 minutes they dedicate episodes to one or a few characters, for example Mace Windu and Yoda both have their own episodes. However to me 3 minutes is just too short and you're left wanting more. On the DVD these episodes are edited into a single episode which works pretty well and is much more satisfying. You can watch the individual episodes too if you like.
The series itself compliments the prequels very well and in a lot of ways works a lot better than those films. This feels a lot more like the Star Wars of old - fun, action and adventure. This may just be that we find the kind of story the Prequels tell more acceptable in animated form. Or, without wanting to get too Star Wars fanboy about it, it could be the fact that it is Tartakovsky not George Lucas who had most control over the series. In any case the series was very successful and spawned a second series of longer episodes and the stories with continue in a Clone Wars CGI animated movie and subsequent TV series.
The DVD also features quite a few extras. There are two behind the series featurettes which are interesting and two informative director commentaries. There are two galleries of concept art and storyboards which give another opportunity to appreciate the artistic style of the series. There are trailers for Revenge of the Sith and the Republic Commando computer game and a playable level of Republic Commando for the XBox which is pretty good, if you have an XBox.
In summary I think this is a great series which I would definitely recommend to any Star Wars fan young or old. The series brings more life and energy than the actual Prequel films could muster and the animation style gives a fresh new look to the Star Wars universe. The episodes themselves are a bit short, something which was changed for the second series. However, edited together the series works much better although it is still feels a little short. There are some decent extras to fill the DVD out a bit though.
Make no mistake,Clone Warsis honest-to-goodness authenticStar Wars. The animated series ... more
takes place betweenEpisode II, Attack of the ClonesandEpisode III, Revenge of the Sith. If the feature films covers the beginning and end of the war,Clone Warsdepi...
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Advantages: Excellent animation, official bridge between films, introduction of new characters Disadvantages: There are nore episodes - should have included them all on the DVD
Advantages: Excellent animation, official bridge between films, introduction of new characters Disadvantages: There are nore episodes - should have included them all on the DVD
![Star Wars - The Clone Wars Vol.1 [DVD]](http://images.ciao.com/ide/images/icons/no_pic_generic_S1.gif "Star Wars - The Clone Wars Vol.1 [DVD]"){kind=icon}
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