Star Wars: The Clone Wars First Two Episodes Reviewed
You cannot keep a good saga down, and “Ambush”, the first instalment of the TV series Star Wars: The Clone Wars proves that the small box has actually enlarged the Star Wars universe, and the visual fizz and storytelling smarts on display promise the series will punch at the same level as its big screen forebears.
Not that we should be too surprised: in the past fifteen years shows such as Buffy, The Sopranos, 24 and Deadwood have proven TV can be just as thrilling as cinema.
Retaining the grandeur of Episodes I-VI and The Clone Wars movie, Star Wars: The Clone Wars is animated in widescreen, with an emphasis on stylish compositions and big screen set-pieces, replacing the trademark opening crawl with an urgent newsreel style narration that quickly lays out key background information.
Over twenty-two breathless minutes, “Ambush” bristles with the excitement and dynamism of the Star Wars movies, but more interesting is what it leaves out.
Just as The Clone Wars theatrical movie kept General Grievous tantalisingly off-screen, the TV series begins by keeping old favourites out of shot save for Yoda and Count Dooku: Anakin and Obi-Wan have now become part of a much bigger picture.
The story arguably weaves galactic politics with action more successfully than The Phantom Menace, pitching Dooku and his acolyte Asajj Ventress against Yoda for the allegiance of a strategically vital star system, the little green Jedi Master proving why Luke Skywalker refers to him as a “great warrior” in The Empire Strikes Back.
Fighting through a regiment of droids to reach Ventress and the ruling monarch of the star system Toydaria, Yoda has opportunity to decimate Battle Droids, Super Battle Droids, and in the episode’s standout sequence, a tank column.
Director Dave Bullock was clearly weaned on wirework kung-fu movies and action blockbusters, putting the viewer amidst the action in knockout moments of lightsaber action, using this action to propel the story forward.
Visually, the day-glo moon Yoda and his three clone troopers must fight through is a pastel planet rarely seen before in the Star Wars universe, but the animators' main focus is breathing real life into the bodies and faces of their characters, based on the original designs of 2003's Clone Wars webisodes.
Tom Kane reprises his Frank Oz impersonation from the Star Wars: The Clone Wars movie, and although anyone other than Frank voicing the diminutive, emerald coloured master initially seemed sacrilegious the transition has been successful.
Early days yet but on this basis the move from big-screen to small, and the shift from live-action to (frequently awesome) animation, means the Force is still with the saga.
After making episode one "The Yoda Show", episode two of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, "Rising Malevolence" features Anakin, Obi-Wan, Mace Windu, Senator Palpatine and General Grievous, but focusses on two relatively new characters, Anakin’s Padawan Ahsoka Tano and the respirator sporting Jedi Master Plo Koon.
When Jedi Master Plo Koon’s fleet is destroyed by Separatist General Grievous’ warship Malevolence, Anakin and Ahsoka Tano breakaway from the Republic star fleet to launch a private rescue mission, against orders of the Jedi Council.
While awaiting rescue, Plo Koon, Commander Wolffe and two clone troopers discover Grievous has sent Battle Droids into the wreckage of the Republican cruisers to eliminate any witnesses of the Malevolence’s formidable ion cannon.
Supervising Director Dave Filoni takes the reins for this episode, and the thrilling sweep he brought to The Clone Wars theatrical movie is apparent here, from the Malevolence’s attack on Plo Koon’s fleet to the climactic race through the space cruiser wreckage as Anakin attempts to evade capture by Grievous.
He even makes the wisecracking “Roger, roger”-ing Battle Droids, scourge of fanboy forums the Universe over, genuinely chilling as they casually crack open escape pods, killing the inhabitants.
The insectoid Malevolence is an impressive addition to the Star Wars fleet of cruisers, with the firing of its ion cannon a nice visual nod to Episode IV: A New Hope.
But, what is most encouraging about the first two episodes of Star Wars: The Clone Wars is its focus on character, the creators understanding the expanded scope of TV allows both plot and characters to breathe, and also that Star Wars endures because of that crucial human element.
Rob Daniel
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