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TCW Episode Guide - #1 "Ambush"
31 October 2008
by Rob Daniel
"Great leaders inspire greatness in others."
What's the story:
Jedi Master Yoda and three clone troopers must face off against Count Dooku's dreaded assassin Asajj Ventress and her massive droid army to prove the Jedi are strong enough to protect a strategic planet and forge a treaty for the Republic.
EPISODE REVIEW
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.
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.
Rob Daniel
Rob Daniel
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