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Starring
The Voices Of: Matt Lucas, James Arnold Taylor, Tom Kane, Nick Jameson, Anthony
Daniels, Grey Delisle, Corey Burton, John DiMaggio, Daran Norris, Kevin Michael
Richardson, Andre Sogliuzzo, Cree Summer, and Tatyana Yassukovich
Supervising Producer: Brian Miller
Story By: Bryan
Andrews, Darrick Bachman, Paul Rudish, and Genndy Tartakovsky
Based On “Star
Wars” Created By: George Lucas
Producer/Director:
Genndy Tartakovsky
Feature
length: 69 minutes
Extras:
“Bridging The Saga: From Clone Wars To Revenge Of The Sith”
Featurette, Behind-The-Scenes Featurette, Two Director’s Commentaries, Still
Galleries, “Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith” Teaser Trailer,
Episode III Video Game Trailer, Star Wars: Republic Commando Video Game Trailer,
Xbox Playable Game Level Of Star Wars Republic Commando
Languages:
English, French, and Spanish Language Dolby Surround Sound
Subtitles:
English Closed Captions and Subtitles
Packaging:
Amaray Keep Case
Chapter
Stops: 21
Sound:
Dolby Surround Sound
Years
of Television Broadcast: 2003/2004/DVD Release: 2005
Home
Video Distributor: Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment
MPAA
Rating: Not Rated
Reviewer:
Mark A. Rivera
Animation
has always been a useful marketing tool when it comes to expanding a popular
film or television franchise, but usually an animated series would premiere
after the feature film would have it’s theatrical run. Now since the success
of “The Animatrix” on the Internet and DVD and the Emmy® award winning two
seasons of the epic animated microseries “Star Wars: Clone Wars,” the
marketing of an animated extension to a franchise or brand name property has
matured with straight to video tie-ins like last summers “The Chronicles Of
Riddick: Dark Fury” and “Van Helsing: The London Assignment,” which served
as prequels and bridges to expand the universe of the respective characters and
prepare audiences of all ages for what they can expect to see on the big screen.
After
watching the VHS screener of season two of “Clone Wars” last year I said in
my TV review that “as
a whole “Star Wars Clone Wars” not only appears to be the great precursor to
Episode III, but if the powers that be in Lucasfilm and Cartoon Network wanted
to, they could easily continue the adventures should another set of episodes be
commissioned and produced before next year’s theatrical debut.”
Now on the same week that this compilation of the first two seasons of Clone
Wars hits DVD, the third season of “Clone Wars” will air in five 12 minutes
installments that same week and it will serve as a lead-in to the opening of the
upcoming theatrical release of “Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith”
this May while providing further expansion and insight to what George Lucas has
described as a pivotal event in the history of the Star Wars universe, the Clone
Wars themselves. Hiring Genndy Tartakovsky (Samurai Jack) to produce and
direct the animated series was a stroke of genius in my opinion because he gives
the characters a certain visual style that is both familiar and somewhat unique
at the same time and he brings an anime quality to the series while maintaining
a western cultural sensibility.
While the first
half of the series tends to focus more on the exploits of General Obi-Wan Kenobi
coordinating the ground campaign on the surface of Muunilinst and facing off
against the alien bounty hunter Durge, the second half focuses the dual between
Anakin and Dark Jedi Asajj Ventress, which qualifies as one of the best light
saber duals in the series despite the fact that this is a cartoon. The outcome
not only adds dimension to Anakin’s power as a Jedi, but it takes him a step
closer to the dark side as well as further estranges his relationship with
Obi-Wan. There are also short side adventures involving other Jedi Knights on
other worlds like Kit Fisto assisting the Mon Calamari against a Separatist
droid army on their ocean covered world and Mace Windu single handedly
destroying a Confederacy weapon on Dantooine that is sort of like the ultimate
cockroach crusher. The most damage to the Jedi occurs when Padme, C3PO, and R2D2
accompany Yoda to the icy planet Illum, where Jedi Luminara Unduli and Barris
Offee are in mortal danger as cloaked droids attempt to destroy the caverns
where the crystals the Jedi use to create their light sabers are stored and
cared for. The results of this campaign combined with the appearance of General Grievous
truly are what deal the most damaging blows to the Jedi because like the events
that occurred in both Episodes II and I, each battle the Jedi win is ultimately
an empty victory for them. They are still pawns in a greater Chess game being
played by the Sith. We all know this, but it is the knowledge of the events to
come that lead us into the original classic trilogy of films that makes watching
what transpires equally compelling and bittersweet. General Grievous is
definitely the most demoralizing villain to appear in the “Star Wars Saga”
since everyone first saw Darth Vader in “A New Hope.” His manner of speech
and taunting methods are enough to make even the most renowned Jedi Knights
sweat. The only thing more devastating than hearing General Grievous is actually
seeing him in action. He can easily fight with three light sabers and still be a
threat with his remaining free limb.
“Star Wars: Clone Wars: Volume
One” is presented on DVD with a beautiful THX certified anamorphic widescreen
(1.78:1) aspect ratio complete with the THX Optimizer® program for proper
picture and sound calibration. The clarity is stunning. English, French, and
Spanish Language Dolby Surround Soundtracks are included along with English
Closed Captions for the hearing impaired and English Subtitles encoded as
options. While a discrete 5.1 Surround Soundtrack would have been preferable,
the Surround Soundtracks still have a high fidelity to them. The 20 episodes are
chapter stopped so one can access them more or less as they appeared when they
aired on Cartoon Network, but thankfully they are presented as a complete
animated feature with only the Clone Wars opening title and closing credits book
marking the action as a whole instead of individually.
Producer and Director Genndy
Tartakovsky provides a new audio commentary exclusive to the DVD and his
commentary from the premium “Hyperspace” portion of www.starwars.com
is also included. Tartakovsky’s comments on both commentaries are more or less
the same in terms of content. Occasionally as he narrates the onscreen action he
will reveal where inspiration for certain characters and items came from. For
instance, Asajj Ventress is based loosely on an unused early concept for Darth
Maul while the pod racer used in “The Phantom Menace” inspires the look of
Anakin’s Jedi Starfighter, which enables him to jump into hyperspace without
the need of the ring like booster the other Jedi use. On a broader scale, this
keeps with Anakin’s/Vader’s choice to always have their transportation
standout from the crowd whether it is the Tri-Fighter that we will see in
“Revenge Of The Sith,” the Tie Advanced Prototype he piloted in “A New
Hope” or his command Super Star Destroyer “Executor” as seen in
“The Empire Strikes Back” and “Return Of The Jedi.” Of course this also
serves the simple dramatic purpose of enabling the viewer to know which ship is
Anakin’s/Vader’s in the vast oceans of outer space or congested space
battles seen in the films.
The main difference between the
commentaries is that of perspective. Tartakovsky has a better idea of what Lucas
will unveil in Episode III than he did while recoding the Hyperspace commentary
so as a result the comments reflect that knowledge to a certain extent in the
DVD exclusive commentary. I was very happy to hear Tartakovsky give props to the
Nelvana animation studios that created the Droids and Ewoks series in the 1980s
as well as the short that first introduced the character of Boba Fett in the
1978 Holiday Special. He purposely animated C3PO to pay homage to those shorts
and acknowledges Anthony Daniels contributions during the recording sessions,
which helped make the dialogue keep in fitting with the character.
The other bonus features includes
“Bridging The Saga: From Clone Wars To Revenge Of The Sith”
(7:34), which features interview clips with George Lucas and Genndy Tartakovsky
as well as other members of the “Clone Wars” animation team and features
some exciting clips from both season three of “Clone Wars” and “Revenge Of
The Sith.” The EPK featurette given to the press shortly before the premiere
of season one of “Clone Wars” back in 2003 (4:04) is also included along
with short still galleries of posters and artwork as well as storyboards and
sketches. Trailers for the upcoming Episode III video game (1:10), which looks
exciting, and “Star Wars: Republic Commando” (2:34) are also included and if
you have a Microsoft Xbox Video Game System, you can sample a playable level of
“Republic Commando” too.
Last, but certainly not least is the
Episode III teaser trailer (1:48) presented in beautiful anamorphic widescreen
with English Dolby Surround Sound. The interactive menus open with an animated
montage and are well rendered and easy to navigate. “Star Wars: Clone Wars:
Volume One” will debut on DVD-Video on Tuesday, March 22, 2005 at retailers on
and offline courtesy of Lucasfilm and Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment
and be sure to catch the premiere of season three of “Star Wars: Clone Wars”
that same week on Cartoon Network.
© Copyright 2005 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.
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