Star Wars The Clone Wars Series 3

Despite fan’s displeasure with the Star Wars prequel trilogy and the critical mauling The Clone Wars introductory film received on its release in 2008, the animated TV series has remained popular enough to be given a third series. I was lucky enough to be shown the opening double bill of episodes from the new series – subtitled ‘Secrets Revealed’ – before their broadcast on Sky Movies Premiere on 23rd October.

The first episode introduces us to five new clone troopers who are being put through their final stages of training in what seems like a tween friendly homage to films such as Full Metal Jacket or Starship Troopers. This may not be an ideal start to the series as it is totally devoid of any familiar faces – there’s no Obi Wan, Anakin, Yoda or R2-D2 so new watchers may find themselves somewhat alienated by lack of common reference points and established fans will be disappointed by a lack of continuation from the previous series. Still, where The Clone Wars has stood out is in its exploration of aspects of the Star Wars universe that have been looked over in the films – the opportunity to see the training of the clone troops and their living quarters will satisfy the curiosity of many fans. There’s also a fairly trite message about teamwork for us to savour by the episode’s end.

The second episode is an improvement and sees the Separatists launch an assault on Kamino, the planet on which the clones are made and trained, last seen in Episode II: Attack of the Clones. Obi Wan and Anakin are thankfully present in this episode which also delivers what Star Wars fans really want from this series: dogfights, shootouts and lightsabre duels, which, after the slightly dull opening salvo, this episode delivers in spades. Despite some quibbles – the consistently naff dialogue which is somewhat of a hallmark of the series (if not the films…), the fact that one new character that the first episode spent a great deal of time introducing has been killed off off-screen between episodes and that the question of exactly how General Grievous got from his spaceship to the submarine remains unaddressed – I enjoyed this episode.

The CGI animation, already impressive in previous series, is really great this third time around. Though squarely and unashamedly aimed at the kids, Star Wars fans of all ages should find something to like in most of these episodes. And while it’s lovely to see a film series I grew up with and loved continuing to entertain and amuse a new generation of fans, personally I can’t quite get on board with The Clone Wars and I think it comes down to two basic problems. The first is my discomfort with being expected to sympathise with the Stormtroopers, who are of course, the stock villains in the original trilogy. Secondly, whenever the Jedi encounter General Grievous, why don’t they simply levitate him upside down and dump him flat onto his ugly face?