Thread for people that have actually seen Clone wars

Discussion in 'Science Fiction & Fantasy' started by biotech, Aug 15, 2008.

  1. Locutus of Bored

    Locutus of Bored Yo, Dawg! I Heard You Like Avatars... In Memoriam

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    I finally got around to seeing it and I enjoyed it well enough. It's not great, but it's a serviceable story as a lead in to a TV show.

    I was expecting Ahsoka to be Jar Jar annoying after some descriptions of her but she actually came off as a fairly decent character and a pretty genuine depiction of a young teen's desire for independence and respect from their elders (albeit with Force powers). There were a couple of slightly annoying comments, but nothing too egregious.

    Despite dealing with the crutch of having main characters we know won't die, they did a fairly good job at creating concern for the secondary characters. I genuinely wanted to see Rex survive when he was put in peril (and liked how Anakin was upset that he couldn't assist him - very nice characterization there), and while it was obvious Ahsoka will survive for a while at least, I too was concerned for her character (as was my daughter, especially, since I think she relates with her character).

    I liked the relationship between Anakin and Ahsoka and how it started off in the cliche way you would expect with him rejecting the idea of having a Padawan outright and chastising her repeatedly but soon developed into a grudging respect and playful competitiveness. Anakin has learned from Obi-Wan and altered his methods accordingly while having his own style of mentoring at the same time.

    I thought the battles were fairly exciting and creative if not a further example of Jedi tactical stupidity. Why not simply land on top of the large vertical pillar of death where your destination is instead of letting the enemy rain fire down upon you as you climb? It's not like there were that many droids on top and they could have easily been picked off with the dropship guns. Likewise, why didn't they simply move the artillary cannons inside the Seperatist shield and commence firing from inside it? Why not have Clonetroopers up in those nigh invincible buildings raining fire down on the droids instead of engaging them at ground level?

    But I guess you can't expect much tactically speaking from a group of monks who once thought moving into a tight group in the very center of a stadium surrounded by battledroids, hostile aliens, bounty hunters, and giant maneating creatures was a good idea.

    The Capote the Hutt sequence seemed completely superfluous to the story except as a way to pointlessly feature Padme.

    It wasn't terribly impressive, but I was reasonably entertained and it held my interest enough to see the show (which will hopefully be better). I'd give it a "B-" grade.
     
  2. captcalhoun

    captcalhoun Admiral Admiral

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    i give it 8/10. didn't like no opening crawl and no JW theme and WTF is up with WB distributing not Fox? no Fox fanfare? FAIL!
     
  3. PsychoPere

    PsychoPere Vice Admiral Premium Member

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    I finally got around to seeing the film today at a matinee showing with a friend. We were the only two people in a theater with occupancy up to 436.

    To echo some others, I missed the lack of an opening scroll, although that was of course more a result of nostalgia than anything. I did like the news reel-style opening narration and hope that it returns in the series proper. The animation style took some getting used to, and for the most part I'd say it worked for the stylization that was intended, although I never quite accepted the way that hair was portrayed.

    Ahsoka Tano is somewhat difficult for me to pin down. The production team was obviously intending for her to have a certain naive air about her, but it didn't always work. Sometimes she just came across as annoying, though her recklessness certainly reminded me of Anakin. For his part, I'd say that Anakin in The Clone Wars was a more mature character than he was in Revenge of the Sith, which is unfortunate for Episode III. I particularly liked the moments between Ahsoka and Anakin when he decided to allow her to continue on as his Padawan, and when she forced him to accept that fulfilling the mission to save the baby Hutt required that Anakin leave behind his clonetroopers.

    Obi-Wan was handled quite well in this film, getting his chances, as was the case in the live-action films, to be both a warrior and a diplomat. There may have been no Frank Oz, but Yoda's voice was just fine to my ears. I wish that Mace Windu had been given a bit more to due, though I imagine we'll see him again in the series itself, along with some of the other characters barely featured such as Padme and C-3P0. The inclusion of Padme in this feature did feel superfluous to me, particularly since Ziro was the single most annoying aspect of the entire film.

    Overall, I'd say that I mostly enjoyed The Clone Wars. There are some issues that will hopefully be downplayed in the series, but it was still a fun little adventure film with great action. I look forward to the start of the series.
     
  4. Mr Light

    Mr Light Admiral Admiral

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    Maybe the explanation for Anakin's immaturity in SITH is that he's grieving from Asoka having just died in his arms right before the movie started ;)

    Of course, that would invalidate Volume 2 of Clone Wars (original toon). Which was spectacular. Sigh.

    I'm really curious how they're going to reconcile the CGI toon continuity with the animated toon and the novels and the comics.
     
  5. Ethros

    Ethros Vice Admiral Admiral

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    ^ Well in the cartoon Clone Wars, going by the DVDs- Chapters 1-21 all take place soon after the end of Episode II, and Chapters 22-25 are all in the direct lead up to Episode III

    There's a big gap in between 21-22, where Anakins & Obi-Wans hair styles change etc. The CGI movie (and subsequent TV series) take place in between there
     
  6. Mr Light

    Mr Light Admiral Admiral

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    Ah, but doesn't the opening of Vol2 show Anakin becoming a Knight and getting his ponytail sliced off? And in CW-CGI he has his SITH mullet and costume. Of course, you could say that the opening montage of Vol2 takes place at the midpoint of the three years or so, and the actual Vol2 story was right before SITH.

    It's interesting to see Obi-Wan was using a CLONES-era Jedi starfighter in the movie and not the SITH-era one. But at the same time, weren't the Destroyers in the movie the SITH era ones, and not the ones seen at the end of CLONES?
     
  7. ATimson

    ATimson Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Volume 2 invalidated itself; Labyrinth of Evil is the "official" version of those events as far as the rest of the EU is concerned.

    If you're willing to ignore any date/time references in the books, everything Anakin and Obi-Wan were involved in through Praestlyn is in the first six months of the war, and everything else is in the last six months. If you try to include those date references... well, you lose Labyrinth of Evil for sure. I believe also Jedi Trial. Not sure about others off the top of my head.
     
  8. ATimson

    ATimson Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Oh, probably. But then, the Star Destroyers in the various Clone Wars media have been pretty much broken from the start. (Why the Venators weren't just Victorys, I'll never understand...)
     
  9. misskim86

    misskim86 Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Saw it today, I can't agree with people dissing it, it's not worse than the other prequels. Sure it's crap but it's not worse than the others. The only thing that sucks is that you're never excited because you know everyone will be ok.
     
  10. exodus

    exodus Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    I didn't even know there was a difference.
     
  11. CmdrAJD

    CmdrAJD Commodore Commodore

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    I went to see Clone Wars because my 8-year-old son wanted to go. For the first time ever, I had no interest in a Star Wars project. That said I actually enjoyed myself quite a bit. Maybe it's a case of lowered expectations, but taken for what it is, a fast-moving flashy cartoon aimed at kids, it's pretty fun. In a "real" Star Wars movie, the stupid slapsticky antics of the battle droids is annoying and makes no logical sense. In the cartoon, I can laugh at the silliness.

    The best comparison I can make is that Clone Wars is GI Joe for this decade. Armies blasting away at each other without anyone really getting hurt. Yes, droids and clones are dropping right and left, but nobody important suffers so much as a scratch. If this is what the TV series is going to be like, I'm sure my son is going to have a great time every week. Will I be watching? Ehhh...maybe occasionally...if it happens to be on.

    Still I've seen a lot of complaints about how this is the low point of Star Wars. Lucas has completely lost it. Blah blah blah. Funny, I don't remember those kinds of complaints about the Ewoks or Droids cartoon series or the Ewoks TV movies in the 80s (all of which I thought were awful). There is an audience for Clone Wars. They are the kids of today who have grown up with the prequels. They're going to eat this up. I own copies of the prequels, but I can't say that I have any urge to rewatch them. My son, however, loves them. He prefers them to the originals, and he absolutely loves clone troopers. Personally I'm happy to see history repeating itself in a way. My son's imagination has been captured by Star Wars just as mine was when I was a kid.
     
  12. Mr Light

    Mr Light Admiral Admiral

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    In AOTC, Jedi used the tiny fighter with no wings, which required the big detachable ring for hyperspace. In ROTS they used the ones with TIE cockpits and wings.

    In Clone Wars Vol 1 they used the AOTC fighters. I forget Vol 2 but they probably used ROTS ones since it took place immediately before ROTS.