Star Wars: Clone Wars (2003) - Season 2 Review


Darker The Coming Storm Grows.

Building upon all the best aspects of its debut season, season two of Clone Wars improves in every department as it delivers a compelling story, visually beautiful animation and character development which links smoothly with the film series.

In this sophomore season, the show focuses on three very different arc, all of which harbour their own individual strengths. After initially picking up from the season one finale, showing Anakin darting off into hyperspace in pursuit of Count Dooku's apprentice, Asajj Ventress, we are then whisked away to a different corner of the universe. Here we witness Jedi Master Mace Windu in all his glory, as he takes on the droid army invading Dantooine. This arc is the shortest of the season, lasting just two episodes and opting to focus more on action than plot, but it does this in bombastic fashion. Witnessing Windu destroy an entire ARMY with his bare hands (and a bit of help from a lightsaber) is thrilling and lends extra weight to Windu's status, since we see little of his fighting prowess in the movies. I also wanted to mention how ridiculous but awesome that droid battleship punch-the-ground thingy is. If only we got to see THAT in live action!

From here, the show takes us to the fabled Jedi temple on Ilum where bit-part Master Jedi Luminara Unduli and her padawan Barriss Offee battle off chameleon droids. This arc is entertaining, as we watch Padme and Yoda fly to the rescue, although Padme's screen time feels underwhelming and does little but stretch out an already thin plot. The scenery is at least a new take on an ice-planet and it's always fun to dig into Jedi history alongside some of the major characters from the franchise, but I just felt like this arc was lacking something to really keep me gripped.

The final arc is by far the strongest, as Anakin travels to Yavin IV to battle Asajj Ventress. Watching clone troopers be taken out one-by-one in the jungle Predator style is brilliant, whilst the following epic battle between Anakin and Ventress is the coolest lightsaber battle of the series. The show digs into Anakin's character here too, as his rage builds and he struggles to control his overwhelming anger. In a nice touch, we see flashes of Yoda, Obi-Wan and even Qui-Gon Jinn, as they look on sombrely at Anakin's gradual descent to the dark side, whilst the latter defeats Ventress, sending her tumbling off a cliff face. The cinematography in this fight also warrants praise, with some great close ups and framing, including one particularly excellent shot where Anakin stands angrily, with Ventress' red lightsaber in his hand, illuminated in the red of the moon, foreboding his transformation to Darth Vader in the coming years.

The final chapter takes a detour, introducing us to General Grievous as he crushes a group of Jedi on the planet Hypori. The transition doesn't feel abrupt, with the script leading cleanly into this new conflict without skipping a beat. Clearly, Grievous has a larger part to play in the final season, which I have read is supposed to lead directly up to the start of Revenge of the Sith. If that season can maintain the strength of character development that this season has achieved, along with the genuinely interesting story arcs and consistently great visuals, it will be on to a winning finish.

FEATURED CHARACTERS
- Yoda
- Obi-Wan Kenobi
- Anakin Skywalker
- Mace Windu
- Padme Amidala
- Count Dooku
- Asajj Ventress
- General Grievous
- Luminara Unduli
- Barriss Offee
- Captain Typho
- C-3PO
- R2D2
- Ki-Adi Mundi
- Shaak Ti
- Aayla Secura
- K'Kruhk
- Tarr Seirr
- Sha'A Gi
- Paxi Sylo
- Voolvif Monn
- Daakman Barrek

FEATURED PLANETS
- Muunilist
- Dantooine
- Ilum
- Yavin IV
- Hypori

TRIVIA

  • "I have a bad feeling about this", the classic Star Wars quote, is used frequently throughout the season
  • Wilhelm scream: very quietly in Chapter 12 during the battle a shortened version of the scream can be heard
  • Of the first 20 parts in this 'Micro-Series', this is director Genndy Tartakovsky's favorite Chapter
  • WILHELM SCREAM: In Chapter 7 by Clone trooper being tossed around like a rag doll by Asaij Ventress
  • The Wolfman Jedi, Voolvif Monn was chosen to appear in this episode by way of a competition on cartoon-network.com. He made another appearance in chapter 22, while the characters who lost the competition, Roron Corobb and Foul Moudama got substantial parts in chapters 24 and 25
  • Master Daakman Barrek is named after series production coordinator and writer Darrick Bachman
  • The original plan for this chapter was to wrap up the Anakin and Obi-Wan storyline and show that Durge was still alive in two minutes, then roll one minute of credits (which none of the previous chapters had). But when it was decided to include the winner of the Cartoon Network choose a Jedi competition as well as introduce Revenge of the Sith villain General Grievous, the end result ended up being over twice as long
RATING: 8.5/10

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