Star Wars: Clone Wars (2003 TV series)



Star Wars: Clone Wars (sometimes referred to as Tartakovsky's Clone Wars) is an American science fiction animated microseries created, directed, produced and co-written by Genndy Tartakovsky, set in the Star Wars universe. Produced and released between the films Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, it is the first of many works to explore the conflict set between the two known as the Clone Wars, and directly leads to the events of Revenge of the Sith.

The show follows the actions of various characters from the Star Wars prequel trilogy, notably Jedi Knights and clone troopers, in their war against the battle droid armies of the Confederacy of Independent Systems and the Sith. The series created many concepts which were later re-used in other Star Wars works, notably the character of Asajj Ventress and the ARC troopers, and introduced the character of General Grievous for the first time.

The series aired on Cartoon Network for three seasons consisting of 25 episodes from 2003 to 2005, and was the first Star Wars television series since Star Wars: Ewoks in 1986. The first two seasons of Clone Wars, known together as "Volume One", were produced in a two- to three-minute "micro" format, while season three consisted of five fifteen-minute episodes making up "Volume Two". Both volumes were later released on home video edited as feature-length films. Since release, the series has received critical acclaim and won multiple awards, including the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program twice for both of its volumes.

Backstory
Star Wars: Clone Wars is part of the Star Wars prequel storyline, surrounding the fall of esteemed Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker and his subsequent transformation into the Sith Lord Darth Vader. The series begins in the year 22 BBY, a few months following Attack of the Clones. The Clone Wars have just begun, with the failing Galactic Republic and the Jedi Order under siege from the Confederacy of Independent Systems wishing to secede from Galactic society with the help of the Sith. As the war rages, more and more planets slip from Republic control. Both the Jedi and the Sith use a metaphysical power known as the Force, but in different manners: the Jedi draw on the "light" side which is fueled by selflessness and compassion, while the Sith draw on the "dark" side which is fueled by primal urges such as greed and hate.

Synopsis
The main storyline of Volume One features the Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi (James Arnold Taylor) being assigned to lead an assault on the planet Muunilinst, home of the Intergalactic Banking Clan, benefactors of the Confederacy of Independent Systems wishing to break away from the Galactic Republic. His apprentice, Anakin Skywalker (Mat Lucas), is personally appointed to lead the space forces by Supreme Chancellor Palpatine (Nick Jameson), the secret alter ego of Sith Lord Darth Sidious. Also on Muunilinst, ARC (Advanced Recon Commando) Captain Fordo (André Sogliuzzo) leads more clone troopers on an assault. Meanwhile, Separatist leader Count Dooku (Corey Burton) takes in the Dark Jedi Asajj Ventress (Grey DeLisle) as his apprentice and sends her to eliminate Anakin. Anakin diverts his attention in the middle of the space battle to pursue Ventress to Yavin 4, where he manages to defeat her in a lightsaber duel by drawing on his anger, which is considered a path to the dark side.

Surrounding this storyline are various battles focusing on other Jedi and their wartime exploits: Jedi Master Mace Windu (T.C. Carson) faces an entire droid army unarmed on Dantooine; Grand Master Yoda (Tom Kane) travels to the ice world Ilum in order to save two imperiled Jedi Knights; the amphibious Kit Fisto (Richard McGonagle) leads an aquatic regiment of clone troopers on the waterworld Mon Calamari; and a team of Jedi encounter the dreaded General Grievous (John DiMaggio in season 2; McGonagle in season 3) on Hypori.

The Volume Two storyline picks up two years after Anakin's victory over Ventress and Obi-Wan's victory on Muunilinst. With Grievous emerging to claim victories for the Separatists, the Republic is in need of more Jedi Knights. After much consideration, the Jedi Council decides to promote Anakin to a Knight. Six months later, Anakin has become a strong Jedi Knight and has helped the Republic several times, such as aiding Obi-Wan in capturing a fortress, saving Saesee Tiin (Carson) from a space battle, and rescuing a couple of Jedi from bigger droids. During the rest of the war, Anakin and Obi-Wan are assigned to find Grievous on the planet Nelvaan, but instead end up liberating a group of Nelvaanians who had been enslaved and mutated by the Techno Union.

Meanwhile, General Grievous leads an assault on Coruscant and, despite the best efforts of Yoda, Windu, Shaak Ti (DeLisle) and others, kidnaps Palpatine for his Master, Dooku. While rescuing the Nelvaan warriors, Anakin sees a cryptic vision of his eventual transformation into Darth Vader. He then sets out with Obi-Wan to rescue the Chancellor over Coruscant. This leads directly into the beginning of Revenge of the Sith.

Production
The series was produced by Genndy Tartakovsky, creator of Dexter's Laboratory and Samurai Jack, and employs a similar animation style to Tartakovsky's Samurai Jack. Tartakovsky revealed in his Hyperspace commentary tracks on the official Star Wars website and on the Volume I DVD that he purposely animated C-3PO with moveable expressive eyes to pay homage to the animators of and the animation style of Nelvana, the production company behind the animated segment from Star Wars Holiday Special and the 1980s Droids cartoon series. George Lucas, who inspired the Clone Wars television series and served as an executive producer on the series, gave Tartakovsky all the major events during the Clone Wars.

Broadcast
The pilot series, produced primarily with traditional animation, originally ran on Cartoon Network. In addition to being shown on television, the episodes were released online simultaneously at the Star Wars and Cartoon Network websites. The series was heavily advertised by Cartoon Network, and was originally shown immediately before their popular Friday night programming block Fridays.

Season 1 (2003)
Season 1 consisted of 10 episodes, lasting 3 minutes each. These episodes were released on DVD together with those from the second season as Volume One.

Season 2 (2004)
Season 2 consisted of 10 episodes, lasting 3 minutes each. These episodes were released on DVD together with those from the first season as Volume One.

Season 3 (2005)
Season 3 consisted of 5 episodes, lasting 12 minutes each. These episodes were released on DVD as Volume Two.

Critical reception
In 2009, Clone Wars was ranked 21 on IGN's Top 100 Animated Series list.

Home media
Chapters 1–20 of the series were released March 22, 2005, as Star Wars Clone Wars: Volume I. The episodes were edited together into one continuous feature. The set featured English subtitles, and commentary tracks on all the episodes, as well as art galleries, behind the scenes information, and the featurette "Bridging the Saga: From Clone Wars to Revenge of the Sith", the Revenge of the Sith teaser trailer: with interviews of George Lucas, Genndy Tartakovsky, and the Clone Wars production crew. The disc also featured a glimpse of Volume II, an Episode III game trailer, and a playable level of the Xbox game Star Wars: Republic Commando.

Chapters 21–25 of the micro-series were released on December 6, 2005, as Star Wars Clone Wars: Volume II. The release was an edited together compilation of the five chapters, similar to the Volume I release. The set featured English subtitles, and commentary tracks on all the episodes. Features included a Revenge of the Sith movie trailer, art galleries, trailers for the Star Wars games Battlefront II and Empire at War, an Xbox demo with two levels from Battlefront II, and the Lego short film Revenge of the Brick. Also included was the featurette "Connecting the Dots", which highlighted the creative process that Genndy Tartakovsky and his team used to link Clone Wars to Revenge of the Sith. Volume II was released significantly later than the DVD release of Revenge of the Sith. According to Van Ling, the producer of both DVDs, the Volume II disc was released at such a late date due to an extremely tight schedule in producing the DVDs. According to http://starwars.com, both DVDs were produced at exactly the same time, but the Clone Wars DVD could not be finished in time for the DVD release of Revenge of the Sith. Ling apologized to fans for this.