Clone Wars

Last week the Clone Wars was canceled. On the same day, I received disc 1 of season 1 from Netflix. I had heard good things about the show from many different people. Though its a cartoon intended for kids, they all said it was worth watching.

So I got started on the show and was pleasantly surprised. It is definitely a kids show, there’s no getting around that. Some of the plots and behaviors fall into the silly category. The villain keeps escaping at the last second. Jar Jar is just as annoying in animated form and the droids are face palmingly stupid.

But its all within the realm of Star Wars. Its for kids yes, but for adults as well. Lucas said the prequels were intended for kids. While that necessitates a raised eyebrow, galactic trade disputes are not kid friendly plot lines, the things that were annoying in the movies work okay in animation.

The plots work just fine for a half hour kids program. There’s plenty of adventure and lightsabers. You can really enjoy the Star Warsyness of it all. And in some ways, the characters are noticeably better than they were in the movies.

Anakin is the prime example. He’s far less whiny and annoying. He really comes across as someone who is worthy of being called a Jedi Knight. I don’t really see a connection between this Anakin and the one from Episode 2, but that’s a good thing. It will be interesting to see how they progress the character toward Episode 3.  That I hear is something they do well.

And my son seems to enjoy it as well. He’s only 1, so his attention span is short. But he pays as much attention to an episode as he does with Sesame Street. That still means it takes 2 sessions to watch one 20min episode, but I’m okay with that. It’s really only intended as a means to take a break, drink some milk and  calm down when he starts to get whiney.

I got on the band wagon late, but it should be fun.