Star Wars: Clone Wars, Volume One

-20^th Century Fox (2003)

Summary:

Battle wages across the galaxy! Star Wars!

My Thoughts:

Star Wars has never been that big of a success on television, especially in the realm of cartoons. This includes the long forgotten Saturday morning series Droids and Ewoks. The most notable foray for Star Wars cartoons has to be the mini-toon that aired during the God-awful Star Wars Holiday Special that was most notable for the first appearance of Boba Fett. Clone Wars is a departure from those other efforts, and it succeeds in a way that they never did by being really good.

Originally, Clone Wars was shown in little bite size bits before other Cartoon Network shows, each having a pretty intesnse cliffhanger at the end. This serialized format was great, but this edition stitches the episodes almost seamlessly together. Taking place between the events of Episode II and III, it fills in some of the action in between those films. This isn't as story driven as the second volume of Clone Wars episodes, but is more of a collection of events within the clone wars time frame with a small story about Darth Sidious pushing Anakin closer to the Dark Side thrown in for extra measure. Clone Wars is a must see if you’re a clone trooper fan like I am, because there's some of the coolest clone action I've seen so far. The only thing that's missing is Boba Fett, but they're probably saving him for the film (I hope).

The animation is excellent. At first I thought that a more realistic style would have been preferable, but over time I grew to really like it since it fit the action so well. There's not a lot of dialogue, but the voice acting is awesome. The only actor that reprises his role is Anthony Daniels as C-3PO. The rest of the cast is made up of talented actors who have nearly dead-on impressions of the actors from the Star Wars films.

Clone Wars got the full THX treatment and it shows. Video transfer is great with all of the brilliant colors looking spectacular. The sound mix is a bit of a letdown in the surround department, but those awesome Star Wars brand sound effects come in clear and loud.

Extras:

Clone Wars doesn't have a whole lot on the special features category, but there’s a decent amount to consider this edition average. There are two commentaries which are an okay watch, two galleries of concept art, and best of all, a short featurette called, “Bridging the Saga.” It details how the series ties in with the films.

Also included is a section labeled “Video Games”, which is little more than an excuse to sell the Episode III and Republic Commando games by hosting trailers for them, and a playable Xbox demo of Commando. Last but not least is an Episode III teaser trailer that’s awesome, but again is only there to hype you up for the new film.

Score:

Film: 9

Extras: 7

Edition: 8

-Paul

Click here for a review of volume 2.