Reaction: TheClone Wars TV Show, are these the Clones you're looking for?

From Kneel Before Pod

It's no secret how we felt about The Clone Wars movie. It was horrible and I felt shit on. If I was a child, I would hope that I felt offended by the blatant pandering and just plan down right insulting writing.

Luckily, this little post is not about the movie. This post is about the TV series. Sure, the movie was actually the first few episodes duct taped together and shoe horned onto a movie reel, but I still had hope. There was a chance that those first few episodes were just crap. Maybe they would be able to tune up the final project between the release of the movie and the premiere of the show. I am nothing if not a hopeless romantic and optimist when dealing with my favourite franchises, so why would Star Wars be any different. So I hope and I pine. Was my hoping in vain?

Short answer, no. The show that I am watching is a better experience than what I had with the movie. Notice I said experience and not product. I'm not sure if it's the fact that I'm not paying $10 to see this, or it works better on the TV, or maybe it's actually of better quality. Of course, it might be like hitting yourself in the head with a brick over and over. After awhile you stop feeling the pain and you get used to the blood running into your eyes. Thankfully, unlike the brick to the skull, The Clone Wars cartoon will not kill me so I will continue to bludgeon myself in the head with it. So you might be wanting some details at this point since I have been painting with broad strokes and bricks.

Ok, lets start off with what they do wrong. Why? Because I want to and honestly, it's a pretty short list. I honestly don't like how they are writing the villains for the most part. Both Ventress and Grievous come off as little whiny bitches at times. Especially Grievous with him complaining about the speed of his ship and what not. They really feel like token cartoon villains and not too threatening most the time. I know that outside of books and comics, these characters haven't been explored much, but I would think they would be a little cooler and darker.

To the defense of the writers, they do get some things right with these characters. In the same episode that Grievous is complaining like Anakin, they hit a couple really cool character nuggets. They really illustrate his complete disregard for both living and droid lives. At one point, to the disapproval of Dooku, he punches the head off a battle droid for opening it's stupid mouth and admitting how incompetent it is. Which is great, because he's doing exactly what I want to do. What do I want to do you may ask? Well let me tell you.

DESTROY EVERY FUCKING BATTLE
DROID IN THIS CARTOON.

The biggest carry over complaint I have about the movie into this show is the battle droids. They really, really, really need to talk less. I hope that the writers don't think that they are writing a laugh out moment when they write most of these jokes. I will admit, in the latest episode there was a good one about their aim, but it was still just so out of character in my mind that I couldn't enjoy it. On the other hand, they are writing these cute little throw away lines for Anakin and the other human characters which aren't that bad. The dialogue between living characters, especially Anakin and Ahsoka, has been pretty good. Yoda talking to clones, A&A having banter, the clones ribbing each other and Master Plo trying to keep all the kids in line is fine. It's not going to win any awards, but I can accept it because of the large demographic of the audience. They seem to have found a way to keep everything simple, but not insultingly so.

So, bottom line. I would not recommend this to any of my adult, non-Star Wars watching friends. This will not be the project that wins them over. I would suggest it as viewing for their children though. It's starting to shape up as a decent kids show with some good morale lessons in it. As far as Star Wars fans, I wouldn't dare venture a guess if they will like this or not. I will personally continue to watch it and I am sure I will enjoy a lot of it and maybe even cringe at times, but it's still better than the movie.