Send in the Clones
Entry posted by Nathan Strum
3,549 views
The Clone Wars started its run on Cartoon Network tonight. I never did go see the movie theatrical compilation this summer, since the previews just didn't merit spending $20 on a ticket and snacks to sit through it. I actually got about as far as the parking lot of the theater though, but common sense prevailed, and I went out for fish 'n' chips instead.
But now that it's running on TV which I'm already paying for, and therefore doesn't cost me any additional money, I decided to check it out. And it's not bad.
It's not great either.
For TV animation, I've seen better, but I've seen a lot worse, too. Unlike the earlier Clone Wars mini-series which was principally hand-drawn, this is all cgi. While this makes large-scale battles much more impressive looking, the way it's handled here also manages to suck all of the life and personality out of the characters.
Well, that is it would, if these characters had any personality to begin with. We are talking about the whole Episode I - III era here.
But I digress. 
The characters all look and act like they're sculpted out of hard plastic. The facial animation on the humans is, at least so far, stiff and lifeless. Eye contact is way off at times, and sometimes I felt like I was watching SuperMarionation. Yoda, however, was an exception. The animators seemed to have fun with him and did a pretty good job with him (most notably during action sequences). This gives me a little hope the rest can improve.
The stories in the two episodes tonight weren't bad. At least they weren't full of the insufferable politicking present in Episodes I - III. "Ambush" followed Yoda and three CloneTroopers through (surprise!) an ambush, and it was nice to see Yoda's character expanded upon. They were able to capture his personality well, and show us more sides to his personality and abilities.
They also made an attempt to give the clones some individuality, although it didn't work very well since I quickly lost track of who was who, nor did I really care. To visually distinguish them, when their helmets are off, they give them each different haircuts. Some are bald, some have mohawks, that sort of thing. Personally, I'm hoping to see one with a huge 70's-style afro. Or muttonchops. Or even... 
"Rising Malevolence" was less successful, but was obviously meant to introduce us to a key plot element (a new weapon) and bring in the rest of the main cast: Mannequin, Obi-Yawn, Mace Windbag, and the villains - Chancellor Witchiepoo,
While the main characters are generally pretty one-dimensional (ironic for three-dimensional animation), the writers seem to be going overboard to try and make the BattleDroids into comic relief. Remember Episode II, where C-3PO kept spouting off one-liners in the middle of the battle for absolutely no good reason? Same thing. But more of it. I could also do without the "newsreel" intros at the beginning. Is it too much to expect the TV audience to read a scroll for the backstory instead of having a narrator do it? Or is it just done to save air time? Fortunately, it's only done at the beginning of the episodes, but I find it distracting.
Anyway... despite the above criticisms, overall both episodes fit in pretty well with the rest of the Star Wars universe, and made for pretty-watchable TV. Not great, but certainly not awful. Is it feature-film-worthy material? Hardly. But for TV, it's an acceptable way to kill a half-an-hour. And it's always fun watching people chopping stuff up with lightsabers. Some of the previews shown for the upcoming episodes look pretty interesting. I must admit, it's bringing out a little of the 12-year-old Star Wars geek in me. Shut brain off. Enjoy ride.
Of course, nothing that happens in the series can be all that galaxy-shaking, since we already know how this whole thing ends. Who survives. Who doesn't. So the show's creators basically have to just cram as much eye candy into each episode as they can, and try to keep the audience interested enough in the plots to keep us coming back. Hopefully at some point, maybe they'll even get us to care about some of the characters, too.
Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
AtariAge on Instagram
Watch us on YouTube
Chat on Discord
62 Comments
Recommended Comments