I love Star Wars. Like many people my age I grew up during the franchise's original release, the memories of which I cherish to this very day. Sadly, once the original trilogy concluded there was a 7-8 year period where Star Wars became less relevant, fading like the ghost of Obi-Wan Kenobi into pop-culture history. In the early 1990's things started to turnaround though, with the release of Timothy Zahn's "Heir to the Empire" novel Star Wars found new life in the form of bestselling books. Before long new toys were being produced, comic books published, video games created and eventually "updated" versions of the three beloved films were released in theaters. By the end of the decade Star Wars was - once again - a dominate force in the entertainment industry.Then came the prequels. Without a doubt the most anticipated films of my life, the Star Wars prequels proved the old adage that you can never go home again. In other words they were horrible. Not Twilight horrible mind you, just very flawed films in need of heavy story edits, better casting and better characters. Since the release of "The Phantom Menace" Star Wars has continued to spiral out of control. The extended novel universe went to hell during its "New Jedi Order" storyline, toys have become too plentiful and too expensive, comic books are a crapshoot and the latest CGI cartoon continues to run a very tired Clone Wars concept into the ground. Why do I mention all this? Because even as the Bantha carcass that was the Star Wars franchise continues to be picked clean, there are still a couple of bright spots left to remind us why we loved Star Wars to begin with. One would be the Knights of the Old Republic video games, an immersive adventure set in the Old Republic era. The other would be Genndy Tartakovsky's fantastically conceived Star Wars the Clone Wars cartoons.
Unlike the current CGI Clone Wars series seen on Cartoon Network, Tartakovsky was given the rare opportunity to create a Star Wars story his own way, as opposed to the Lucasfilm way (and before the Clone Wars became overused). Premiering in 2003 Tartakovsky's Clone Wars was made up of 20 three-minute shorts totaling one hour in length (this would be seasons 1 & 2). The stories were a mixture of standalone and interconnected events taking place during various battles throughout the galaxy. The second hour (season 3) was comprised of 5 twelve-minute episodes and featured a more in-depth story which ends right where the third prequel film (Revenge of the Sith) begins. Though stylistically different from other Star Wars vehicles, Tartakovsky's Clone Wars works surprisingly well, probably because the cartoons creators stuck to what they knew best, action.
For those who don't know, Genndy Tartakovsky was the man behind both Samurai Jack and Dexter's Laboratory, he also played a big part in the success of the Powerpuff Girls. If you've seen any of these cartoons then you should've noticed how stylized the action is, a staple mark of Tartakovsky shows. Being such a strong visual communicator Tartakovsky is also known for keeping dialog sparse, choosing instead to tell his stories through pictures rather than words. With the Clone Wars my fear was that Tartakovsky would try and modify his directing style to better fit the Star Wars universe. Thankfully this was not the case, and all of these elements are used effectively throughout the series.
The writing from Star Wars the Clone Wars is actually pretty minimal. With the initial episodes being only three-minutes each, there just wasn't a lot of room for complicated story. The twelve-minute episodes that followed do have more substance - with the plot playing out more like a short film - but action is clearly the focus of the series. This is an amusing contrast to the actual prequel movies which have been panned for having far too much "political intrigue", and not enough action. Despite the "lack" of deep narrative however, Tartakovsky's Clone Wars never leaves you feeling cheated, quite the opposite actually. The short running times of each chapter forced the show's creators to streamline everything into a micro format, eliminating anything that is unnecessary and emphasizing only what's important. It's the cartoon equivalent of a powernap, all the substance of a 22 minute show but packed into a far shorter time frame. Taken individually - or all at once - each episode of the Clone Wars is a perfect example of how less can be more.
Besides the tight storytelling and great action, Tartakovsky is also a master of making things look - for lack of a better word - cool. Clone trooper infiltration of a city, awesome. General Grievous chasing three jedi all over Coruscant, nice. Mace Windu vs. an entire droid army, fricking mind blowing. Even really silly ideas - like the jousting villain Durge - work surprisingly well. It would be so easy for a lesser director to falter here, to make these concepts look cheesy or formulaic. Not Tartakovsky, just about everything he does is both awe inspiring and innovative.
Visually Star Wars the Clone Wars is very much a Tartakovsky cartoon. Everything from the characters to the vehicles to the environments are highly stylized and use minimal detail. It's this minimalist approach that makes Tartakovsky an unusual fit for the Star Wars universe, in some ways he's not a good fit at all. The cartoony look associated with his work is a stark contrast to the hyper detailed "dirty" space look that Star Wars usually exhibits. This is why I was afraid Tartakovsky might try and change his animation style, thankfully he didn't. As for the quality of the visuals themselves, they are excellent. When moving the animation is very fluid and energetic, colors are crisp and backgrounds fantastically quirky. You wouldn't mistake the show for an animated feature or anything, but it still looks very high end. Like many cartoons these days the Clone Wars does feature some CGI, thankfully the Tartakovsky style of animation is a perfect match for this and everything blends together seamlessly. In short, this is a very polished show.
I mentioned earlier Tartakovsky's penchant for sparse dialog. What I meant by this is that long sequences of events - especially ones related to action - will often take place with no words. This doesn't mean that everything is silent - quite the contrary - in the absence of dialog sound takes on a whole new level of effectiveness. With noises normally overlooked now emphasized, sounds relating to things like frustration, elation, struggle and annoyance become far more effective. You would be hard pressed to find a better use of sound and silence in animation today.
Musically Star Wars the Clone Wars uses the same orchestra style music synonyms with the franchise. This is a good constant since the show is such a visual departure from the movies. Voice acting is good all around with many of the voices used in later incarnations of the Clone Wars stories. At the risk of sounding repetitive, this series is very well put together in all phases of its production including audio.
Looking back over this review I think I spent more time talking about Genndy Tartakovsky than I did the actual show itself. With that in mind I'll finish by saying that Star Wars the Clone Wars (often referred to as the microseries) is an excellent series. With an overall run time of just over two hours the show isn't particularly long, but what it lacks in length it more than makes up for in content. If you're a fan of Star Wars, action/adventure animation or Genndy Tartakovsky then this is a must watch. Unfortunately both DVD volumes of the series are out of print, so tracking down copies can be tricky. The best place is probably Amazon, though new copies are outrageously priced the used copies are still pretty affordable.
