The first season of Star Wars: Clone Wars turns up in high definition.
Theres also a moral message to each episode, displayed on screen.
Its a novel approach that fitsStar Warsand Jedi teaching perfectly.
Bizarrely, its probably this lack of real world morality that is the weakest point of the series.
Its usually reinforced with how fantastic the good side of The Force is.
Obviously, we know differently.
We want to shoot lightning and crush throats.
Its almost saying that children can only handle nice, fluffy and happy things.
Thats not to say that the story is bogged down with political wranglings.
Its more about packing lots of action into the 22+ minutes of running time.
For me, the battle droids, with their annoying dialogue, are a particular weak spot.
I didnt particularly like them in the films and its the same here.
Half way through the series, for reasons best known to Lucasfilms, Jar Jar Binks is back!
Theres a moment where C3-PO thinks Jar Jar is dead… Jar Jar features in a few episodes, at one point pretending to be a Jedi.
I guess that the series is aimed at a young audience, so they might like him.
There are some really good action sequences, space battles and light sabre fights in particular.
When Ahsoka takes on General Grievous, its fluid and impressive.
Space battles are well rendered, though dont have the feeling of kinetic energy of the movies.
The clone troopers feature heavily in a number of storylines and are more than just disposable characters.
They also seem to all be Australian.
Ive got a bad feeling about this makes its way into episodes.
It was also my first thought when I saw the CGI.
At first, the CGI style is a bit jarring.
Being able to see how things went from line drawings to moving 3D rendering is definitely interesting.
Theres no blocking or artefacting, colours are clear and defined.
Taken for what it is, though, youll like it if youre aStar Warsfan.
Star Wars: The Clone WarsSeries 1 isreleasedon November 16.
Rating:
4 out of 5
