Search - Star Wars: Clone Wars, Vol. 1 (Microseries) on DVD

Star Wars Episode 2.5

Strategos | 02/19/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Star Wars Clone Wars Volume 1 takes place 4 months after the events of Attack of the Clones. Since then the Clone Wars have traveled across the galaxy like fire. Hundreds of worlds have been engulfed in the horror of a massive galaxy war. The Jedi knights have been called to lead the clone army. While the movies show the beginning and the end of the Clone Wars the expanded universe has done the job of showing all the middle events. This cartoon is certainly exceptional. Its easily the best Star Wars cartoon by far. In fact its superior to The Phantom Menace and Return of the Jedi. Its Jar Jar and Ewok free. The cartoon shows multiple Clone Wars battles of many characters. She Mace go phyco on a whole mess of droids, see Obi-Wan as a general, See how lightsabers are made, and see some of the best lightsaber duels around. The cartoon has a lot of cool vilians. Dooku is at his best. Since the fact that hes evil is no longer a mystery as in the movie he is free to show off more then in the movie. We also get Durge and Assji Ventress. Both have been introduced in earlier comics and are awsome in animated form. Durge, who reminds me of Terminator 2s T-1000, gives Obi-Wan quite a match against this seemingly unkilable foe. Assji Ventress was a character planned for both of the previous prequel movies but got scraped both times. We now see her in this cartoon. She is a very tortured character and the battle she gives Anakin gives an awsome forshadowing on Anakins eventuel turn. By far the most important villian appearance has to be the introduction of General Grievous. The Military Cyborg killing machine who is the major villian of Revenge of the Sith. Grievous is unstopable. His fast, dangerous, and unholy fighting is absolutly amazing. I can't wait to see him as a realistic digital model on the big screen. He is sure to be awsome. Clone Wars Volume 1 ends with a cliffhanger for Volume 2. The 3 minute format kind of bothered me. For this DVD all 20 short episodes have been edited together into a single hour long movie. I am very happy about this but I am very dissipointed by the fact that we are having two seperate releases. Since both volumes only are 1 hours each they could easily have been given a single release as a single 2 hour movie and have plenty of room for extras and a 5.1 track. The fact that we are getting two seperate releases with only a 2.0 track feels like a very cheap attempt to get our money. Despite this I still recommend Clone Wars Volume 1 with a whole heart."

Jedi Jousts, Jedi Karate, Jedi Duels, and Jedi Killers!

Strategos | In Space above Planet Earth | 05/06/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Oh, and Jedi Water-Breathers, Jedi Women, and Mind-Tricks!

Like most fans of Genndy Tartakovsky, I was hyper-ventilating when I heard that he was going to be creating Star Wars cartoons. The man had already proved time and again with Dexter's Lab and the Powerpuff Girls (to say nothign of Samurai Jack), just how tight, slick, mesmerizing (and just plain cool!) action sequences could be in modern cartoons.

Like those shows, the Star Wars cartoons were at first to be only a few minutes in length. "Oh no!", thought many. "How can you tell Star Wars in a space of a minute or two!?". Well, it just so happens that these guys specialize in making minutes count like no other, creating dramatic tension in seconds instead of minutes, and thowing elaborate fights at you right and left, smoothly flowing from one episode to another.

Of course when I saw these awesome cartoons on television I kept telling myself that I HAD to have them on DVD. For animation of this brilliance, the crystal-clear quality of DVD was just an absolute must. The wait HAS been worth it.

While the original flow the show had to be changed (each episode doesn't end in a dramatic musical moment and there are no lightning-fast preveiws of the next episode to grab your attention), these changes were neccisary to make the cartoon episodes flow smoothly in one continuous story arc.

In fact, I'd say I like the DVD version better. In place of individual episodes with beginnings and endings, we have one episode changing to another with screen-wipes (an old Star Wars standby that works to great effect here). The sparkling transfer and high-fidelity sound really add to your enjoyment of the show. And the two short documentaries (and the two commentaries!) will doubtless add to the enjoyment of hardcore fans just as much as they did for me.

The voice actors are mostly different from the movies. There isn't much dialog. The music is not as elaborate or sweeping. the animation is simple. Valid points all, but also all irrelivant. Genndy Tartakovsky's brilliance comes from the simplicity of the animation (you might even say that he's pioneering a brand new way of producing animation in our time). The dialog that is there is carefully chosen and tweaked. Music is used for maximum dramatic effect. And the action scenes...

The real reason to own this DVD is for the AWESOME action scenes. From the space battles, to the underwater battle, from the gladiator arena to the jedi jousts, there are constant surprises in the way that the action sequences work out. And when you see the fight between Ventress and Anakin for the first time you are bound to be impressed (it's the best fight Anakin has had yet {though I have not yet seen Revenge of the Sith}). I mean, in Attack of the Clones we had a fight between Obi Wan and Jango Fett, and I was dissapointed. In this we have a fight between Ventress and Anakin that is not only longer, but is more elaborate, and features a light-saber fight in the rain with crackling and SIZZLING of the light-sabers while the two combatants wait for the other to make the first move.

The characters manage to convey emotion despite a lack of dialog. In the first episode there is a wonderful farewell between Padme and Anakin (where Padme just looks at him and blinks like a character out of a Chuck Jones cartoon), in the episode with the two female jedi (my personal favorite) we get a strong sense of friendship and understanding (the last time the apprentice imitates her master is really great), and in the episode where Yoda launches a rescue for the two Jedi the interaction between Yoda and Padme (and the looks that they exchange when he tells her that he'll call her if he needs her help) is really sweet.

The greatest episode overall though, is probably the last. When a collective of Jedi are surrounded by General Grievous and his driod army, we finally get to see a REAL villain capable of wiping out Jedi (just as the space battles let us finally see why Anakin was the best star-pilot in the galaxy). The first time I saw Grievous fight all those jedi at once my mind was blown. It's a wonderful action sequence that keeps you guessing and keeps up a break-neck pace to the end, and also a wonderful tie-in to the movie still to come.

Now if only they would release the rest of the episodes on DVD so I can finally sleep at night..."