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For those Star Wars fans out there, like myself, next week marks the return of Genndy Tartakovsky’s unique Star Wars: Clone Wars animated “micro-series” with five new episodes. These last chapters will lead into Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. They will run twelve minutes, with the first of these chapters set to premiere at 7 p.m., Monday night on the Cartoon Network.
I was given an opportunity to view the first chapter in this new “season”, which is formally titled Chapter 21. The rest of the chapters air at the same time on the Cartoon Network every night thru Friday.
The story picks up pretty much where Chapter 20 ended. A platoon of ARC Troopers — a special operations variation of clonetrooper — comes to the rescue of the Jedi who were trapped battling General Grievous. There is a cool fight sequence between them and Grievous, which serves largely to wet one’s appetite for seeing this robotic evil-doer on screen in Revenge of the Sith. During this, we learn which of the Jedi survived the climactic duel of Chapter 20.
The action then moves to Coruscant, where the Jedi Council debates about the fate of their order. Dwindling numbers mean they must consider forgoing tradition and promote several young padawans to knights without having them go through the “trials”. This includes Anakin Skywalker, which causes much debate.
Meanwhile, Anakin secretly rendezvous’ with Padme. His marriage is still a carefully guarded secret. However, he is soon called away to meet with Obi-Wan, who wishes to discuss with him the decision of the Jedi Council regarding his status.
This is technically considered the show’s third season. The first season consisted of the original ten chapters, which aired in November, 2003. The second season (again ten chapters) aired in March of last year. It was originally supposed to end there, but the series’ success led them to produce this new set of five chapters.
The artwork is the same in Chapter 21 as in the previous chapters, although it did seem to have a different tone. There is a sense of darkness that did not seem present in the first 20. It was also a more developed story, which was refreshing. One of the frustrating things about the other chapters were their length, which didn’t allow for much character interaction. Here we see more between Obi-Wan and Anakin, Anakin and Padme, as well as the other characters.
Basically this means there is actual time for dialogue. The only action sequence in Chapter 21 is the opening when the ARC Troopers arrive to battle Grievous. I loved watching the Troopers do their work, as they charge in and simply start blasting. One trooper with his massive spinning blaster, cutting through metal and debris reminded me of Jessie Ventura in Predator, and his Gatling gun that sliced through the jungle.
The only part of the story that bothered me was the appearance of C-3PO. His appearance in the earlier chapters was the worst part of that collection, and he’s the only misstep here. Again he’s used for comic relief, and its so goofy you can’t help but groan. I thought the rest of it was interesting. One scene in particular is a flashback of Qui-Gon Jinn and a young Anakin Skywalker. It didn’t really fit into continuity, so I’m not certain what it means, but I’m sure we’ll find out soon enough.
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