REVIEW: "THE CLONE WARS" SEASON TWO DVD / BLU-RAY



The cast of STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS Season Two, out now on DVD and Blu-ray. All images: LUCASFILM ANIMATION.

 Review by Scott Weller

The term “Second Best” takes on a whole new, more positive meaning with the release of George Lucas’s sophomore season of STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS being released today on Blu-ray and DVD from WARNER BROTHERS.

With its improved animation and a bold new direction of storytelling, bigger risks are taken this year on the episode front, and now has never been a better time to enjoy the action, honour and heroics of our favourite STAR WARS heroes as well as the grand ambition, evil and all round destructive power of the dark forces they fight against.

On Felucia, the Clone Troopers provide cover fire for the Jedi in the season's opening episode THE HOLOCRON HEIST.

Resplendent, especially on the Blu-ray format where everything is so crisp and alive, presented in their correct aspect viewing ratios, with piercing sound design, this unique series feels even more remarkable and individualistic than ever. And, despite what could have been a heavy continued war backdrop (which is marvelously realized in the epic four part attempt by the Jedi to re-take the weapons factory world of Geonosis, starting with LANDING AT POINT RAIN), the beauty and wonder of the STAR WARS saga is as evocative as ever, made by a production team whose love for the subject matter shines through. Supervising Animation Director Dave Filoni and his team continue to build on what has been developed with the shows successful premiere season cementing further the building blocks of a series that will last a few more years yet, and getting to indulge themselves in an exciting new arena for STAR WARS adventure and characterization. Just as excited with the possibilities of the show is the series creator, George Lucas, who contributes many of its overall storylines this year, even getting to make a personal tribute to his late iconic film-making friend, Akira Kurosawa, with his unique STAR WARS take of the Japanese film THE SEVEN SAMURAI (known in the US as the ever classic THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN) that’s worth checking out. And there’s all kinds of other storytelling to keep the pot warm, too, from humour to comedy, and from action to horror (check out the yucky parasites in the episode BRAIN INVADERS or the undead Geonosian insects in LEGACY OF TERROR. Yuck!)

A little quality time together for the Skywalkers in SENATE SPY.

Readers of the AFICIONADO Blog will already know what our top five episodes were of this season, but special nods must also be given to CHILDREN OF THE FORCE, BOUNTY HUNTERS, CAT AND MOUSE (set before the events of the 2008 pilot movie), and WEAPONS FACTORY for their great storytelling and fast paced adventure. There’s also some intriguing, if not perfect, individual stories to compliment the epic battles, with several tales set on the political homeworld of the Republic, Coruscant, and involving Padme Amidala (nicely voiced by Catherine Taber) as she investigates murder, corruption, and deceit within the political system (look out for a STAR WARS variation of the classic Hitchcock movie NOTORIOUS when our favourite ex-Queen gets caught up in spying on an ex-lover). Despite the occasional story flaws of these quieter tales, these episodes are still generally more enjoyable than most other dramatic series on real-life TV!

The Mandalorian warriors known as Death Watch make their first appearance in Season Two.

The series also bravely, if sometime confusingly, starts to play around with its own time frames, setting some episodes from Season Two before certain episodic events seen in Season One. And adding to the general acclaim of the storytelling are a lot of innovative firsts, including premiere appearances in the animated format for the young evil-to-be Boba Fett (voiced by original actor Daniel Logan), with his continuing story arc in wanting revenge for the death of his father from the movie ATTACK OF THE CLONES, and the introduction of numerous bounty hunters (including the classic THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK reptilian villain, Bossk). This seasons overall title: RISE OF THE BOUNTY HUNTERS effectively covers its first and last quarters with some very enjoyable episodes and the new set of villains, including last years freshly introduced, fiendishly clever and adaptable rogue Cad Bane, who proves a serious challenge to our Jedi heroes, and equally provides the shows writers with some valuable breathing space whist they plan bigger and bolder stories for the previous seasons existing line-up of baddies so as not to make them feel stale. Sadly, bald female assassin Asajj Ventress makes no appearance this year, but cyborg Jedi-killer General Grievous makes up for this and returns for more foul deeds in a very exciting and highly effective two part adventure. Overall, there’s a little bit more darkness thrown into the mix this season, what with the extra bounty hunter threat, which the production team have obviously initiated so as to make the animated series occasionally a little bit closer to the harder edged sequel movie, THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, rather than the fantasy of STAR WARS.

Outside of the conflict of Jedi/Clones against Separatists there’s also destruction on an even bigger scale with the fun homage to the monster movies of the fifties and sixties, with the GODZILLA/ KING KONG like Zillo beast rampaging and striking terror into the citizens of planets Malastare and Coruscant in another memorable two parter that’s especially fun to watch for the younger audiences.

Our heroes use their abilities to find the missing Jedi-to-be in CHILDREN OF THE FORCE.

With Year Two there are also more attempts to have different characters interacting with each other, and less stories of Anakin and Obi-Wan together than previously. This year we see tales with Jedi pairings like Ahsoka Tano with new Jedi characters like the marvelous old timer Tera Sinube (in the episode LIGHTSABER LOST) or with her ex-Master, Plo Koon (for a LETHAL TRACKDOWN), plus intriguing combos like Mace with Anakin, or Obi with Adi Gallia, which helps keep the series fresh and interesting whilst stimulating the series writers more.

Boba Fett and his new Bounty Hunter allies get ready for a LETHAL TRACKDOWN.

Die-hard STAR WARS fans will also find out a little bit more about the race who constructed the armour later worn by the enigmatic Boba Fett - the people of Manadalore, a planet almost wiped out by war years before, and whose Monarch is struggling to stop the return of her people’s war-faring ways. Called in to help, Obi-Wan Kenobi’s past relationship with the alluring Duchess of Satine is plutonically re-kindled in a three part tale which has some good moments. In this more serious season, another plus is that, for haters of comedy character Jar Jar Binks, they’ll be able to breathe a sigh of relief that he’s not in this second year, though I personally thought there were a couple of new irritants far worse in replacing him, namely the Seth Green voiced droid Todo and Republic Police Inspector Divo, the latter I found particularly despicable and out of place in the series.

The Duchess Satine: one of many intriguing new characters in THE CLONE WARS Season Two.

Beyond my individual preferences, though, Lucas and his empire continue to create stories that appeal to the broad spectrum, and that’s the ultimate key to STAR WARS evergreen success in films, TV and beyond. This particular series is deservedly popular with four generations and has now uniquely reached the point where selected classic characters, translated into animation from both movie trilogies, now seamlessly interact with the new series cast (like Jedi Padawan Ahsoka Tano, herself an emerging character with a healthy fan base), with more additions on the horizon, from not only the films but the STAR WARS Saga’s vast history in the Expanded Universe media of publishing, too!

Following on from the animated adventures, on the extras side of things, sadly there are no extended episodes as seen with the Season One boxset, as the production team pretty much have the episodes running lengths constructed to a key art form now, with little plot and character wastage, though some brief extended scenes do appear here and there in the special features area, alongside 2 and 3-D animation, key interviews with some of the artists/designers, animatics and character templates. There’s also several enjoyable, if still too short, documentaries on key episodes of Season Two, like the Holocron Trilogy that opened the year, the Geonosian saga, the Zillo Beast and the return of Boba Fett.

Overall, the extras are very good, high quality and value for money (including a lovely 68 page production journal book with selected notes and info linked with key artwork of the developing series and characters), but there’s still not enough of them and I wanted to see and know more, in addition to things like stills galleries, episode commentaries, and putting out all the original episodic trailers done for the US CARTOON NETWORK. Especially more from the production side (in both the US and Singapore) would have been very satisfying. As with all Lucasfilm STAR WARS related extras, we always get a good amount of them, but never as much as we’d hoped. Let’s hope the upcoming Blu-ray set of the movies breaks that tradition and gives us much more than we could ever have dreamed!

DVD release trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMv3cBOfKdk

STAR WARS AFICIONADO RATING: Overall season rating 3.5 out 5. Special features content overall rating: 3 out of 5

STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS Season Two-out now in the UK on Blu-ray and DVD from WARNER BROTHERS.