Star Wars Retrospective #3
Released: 2008
“You’re reckless, little one. You never would’ve made it as Obi-Wan’s padawan … But you might make it as mine.”
(originally posted February 18, 2021)
Disclaimer! My episode reviews will contain spoilers! If you have not yet seen this fantastic series, and have any interest in doing so, then I very strongly urge you to press the back button right now and go treat yourself. The less you know about it going into it, the better. 🙂
Star Wars: The Clone Wars debuted with a theatrical film, then went on to have a long and successful run as a TV series. One interesting quirk about the TV series is that the episodes take place out of order. Much like the mainline Star Wars films, the production and release order of the Clone Wars episodes differs from where they take place in the narrative timeline.
And so, one thing I wanted to do different this time around, which I’ve never done before, is to view the episodes by their narrative chronological order. Compared to last time when I just did the series by episode release order. I was already excited to watch the series again as it is, but doing it now by the “true” episode order has gotten me even more excited. Before we launch into the first season, however, we will be taking a look at the pilot film that kicked off said series.
…oh wait. Not quite yet. If we’re doing the series chronologically, then we have two episodes here which take place just before the film.
2×16. “Cat and Mouse” – A very solid intro to the series. In fact, it works a little better as a pilot episode than the film does. Coming on the heels of Attack of the Clones, immediately we’re dropped right into the middle of another battle. Already we can see the growth in Anakin’s character; he’s still headstrong and reckless, but he is otherwise much more composed, confident, and competent here. Admiral Trench is surprisingly fun and memorable despite being (at the time) a one-shot villain. The two of them go head-to-head in a showdown of wits and cunning, and the situation is tense and engaging from start to end. Good stuff.
1×16. “The Hidden Enemy” – Another solid episode. One nice thing during my rewatch is that I forgot who the traitor was, so in a sense it was like discovering it for the first time all over again. Granted, the clone characters are all introduced fairly quickly of each other and thus it isn’t really much of a “surprise” when we find out which of them is guilty, but it still makes for a fun little mystery. Ventress also makes her debut here. She’s a character that (initially, at least) didn’t stand out to me a lot the first time I saw the series, but she feels a lot more distinct and important to me now that we’ve seen the rest of her character arc unfold.
Okay, now onto the film. Which itself is actually comprised of what would have been four episodes of the TV series; “The New Padawan”, “Castle of Deception”, “Castle of Doom”, and “Castle of Salvation”.
I will admit, I can see why the film had a less-than-stellar reception upon release. On paper it sounds like a great idea, to edit the first few episodes together so that fans and general moviegoers can have a brand new Star Wars movie, which would also build up hype and interest for the then-upcoming series. Yet at the same time, it does serve to highlight that this wasn’t really a proper movie in itself. Indeed, the premise of Jabba’s infant son being kidnapped and needing to be rescued feels more like TV material than movie material.
It’s a bit of a shame, really, as I doubt very many people, even those who did like the film, would have ever imagined at the time what a wonderful journey the rest of the series would end up taking them on.
Even I was kinda “meh” about the film when I first saw it years ago. This time around, however, I’m happy to say that I enjoyed it quite a bit more. It actually benefited from my familiarity with the rest of the series now. As with Ventress, Ahsoka and Rex didn’t stand out to me much the first time, back when they were brand new characters. This time around I found them much more interesting. It was great to see Anakin and Ahsoka being introduced to each other and immediately forced to work together. Interesting how Anakin balks at being assigned a padawan, but he warms up to her pretty quickly after their first battle together.
I also love when she calls him “Skyguy” and then Rex starts laughing. It’s a nice look at the friendship that will eventually blossom between Ahsoka and Rex as well.
The rest of the film, meanwhile, is less engrossing for the story in itself, and moreso seeing the dynamics between Anakin, Ahsoka, Rex, and Obi-Wan and how the four of them learn to work together on their mission. Still, in itself the mission to rescue “Stinky” and return him to Jabba does have a goofy charm of its own.
Until the next time in our galaxy far, far away, my fellow Cantina mates.