Star Wars: Clone Wars (2003-2005)

*Attack of the Clones spoilers.*

There are three separate Clone Wars projects on IMDb, and this is the first. It shares certain connective tissue with the Clone Wars that follow it, but this action-oriented short-form serial is definitely just a precursor of what was to come.

After the reveal of Count Dooku’s betrayal in Attack of the Clones, we get a glimpse into some of the adventures and battles that occurred during the Clone Wars, the in-story years between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith. While Anakin Skywalker and/or Obi-Wan Kenobi are often at the center of the mini-episodes (and I mean mini, like three minutes long,) a wide range of prequel-era heroes appearances, along with some trademark baddies.

As of this writing, I’ve gotten through the first season of the main Clone Wars series, and it’s clear that the Star Wars animated series leveled up significantly between the two. Even though they share some of the same DNA, not least of which is the voice cast, it’s admittedly not fair to compare the two: the 2003 series has a different, much simpler animation style, and again, each episode is about three minutes long! This isn’t really a series for exploring characters or ideas, or for fleshing out a story.

Because of its highly serialized nature, one adventure might take place over the course of four or five episodes, while others are just single snapshots. It’s a chance to feature lots of battle scenes and fun animated action, wild physics-defying Force moves from our main Jedi, and a bunch of different planets/new aliens. There’s a little story here and there, but mostly, the show feels designed to give us a taste of what the Clone Wars looked like for our heroes (and villains.)

Yep, the gang’s pretty much all here. In addition to Anakin and Obi-Wan, we also get Padmé, Yoda, C-3PO and R2-D2, Mace Windu, and more, including plenty of clones. We also see familiar villains like Palpatine, Dooku, and General Grievous, along with new character Asajj Ventress, Dooku’s apprentice. Special shoutout to James Arnold Taylor, who nails Ewan McGregor’s Obi-Wan voice, and to the animators who designed Obi-Wan’s clone armor look.

I’ll admit that I’m not the target audience for this series, which is made more to hold kids’ attention and give them bite-sized episodes to whet their appetites. In that sense, I’m sure it got the job done, but I never really got into it. It’s been more fun for me to watch the main Clone Wars series and realize what Star Wars created out of this somewhat flimsy beginning.

Warnings

Violence, scary moments for kids, and thematic elements.