Friday, December 2, 2011

Program Review: The Clone Wars, Seasons 1 & 2


Last week I just picked up the DVD set to Star Wars:  The Clone Wars, Season 3.  While Season 4 started back in September, I'm just now finishing-up Season 2.  Due to my active life-style and rotating work schedule, I don't watch much television.  Even when a show has been on the air for a few years, as the The Clone Wars has been, it may take a while for me to get around to viewing it.

I managed to catch a few episodes at a friends house, which spurred me on to buy the DVD sets.  I could say the shows are better than the movie prequels--but that would be setting the bar too low.  Based on their own merit, the shows are decently written and are entertaining.  The show even explores the lives of the clones, some of whom fall in love, desert and betray their comrades. 

What I really like is each episode runs under 30 minutes in length.  This is a perfect amount of time for me to watch a complete show, without having to set my DVD player on pause, before I turn in for the night. 

For as long as the Star Wars franchise has been around though, The Clone Wars still suffers from a few defects.  While the animation and special effects are superb, the small unit tactics employed by the droids and clones are often absurd.  Both sides march against each other, with blasters blazing, in close-order formations, as if they were Greek hoplites facing the Persian horde.  On a personal level, Padme and Anakin's love story is still awkward, clunky and grates on my nerves at a fingernails-on-the-chalkboard level.  I find the relationship between Obi-Wan and Satine, the Duchess of Mandalore to be far more interesting and feels more natural.  (Spoiler alert:  Obi Wan considered leaving the Jedi Order for Satine?  Who knew?).

Overall, The Clone Wars is a good investment of my sparse free-time and I give the series a 4-star rating. 

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