The Clone Wars.

Ok, go ahead and get all the angst out of your mind. I’m going to try and make this trip down memory lane as bearable as possible, considering the Clone Wars era is one giant headache. The exact cause of the pain might be different for each fan, but there’s no denying that thinking too long about events that take place during the Clone Wars can lead to side effects that include: timeline frustration, Traviss cough, and Ahsoka pox.

So go ahead and take your meds, and then jump past the break for a look back at the journey that the Clone Wars has taken fans on, and where the next stop is headed!

“You fought in the Clone Wars?”

“Yes. I was once a Jedi Knight, the same as your father.”

For almost three decades, the details of the Clone Wars existed only in the minds of any Star Wars fan that caught its fleeting mention in A New Hope. Even with the prequel trilogy, the Clone Wars as a whole receives only a small amount of focus, with the opening battle highlighted in Attack of the Clones and the end of the war shown in Revenge of the Sith. But between the last two prequel movies, war waged on. And fortunately for fans, the Star Wars Expanded Universe chose to go into great detail with the wars.

This column is all about juxtaposing an older Star Wars event with a more recent one, and looks forward to the New Hope waiting somewhere in the future. So for the second Spectre of the Past/Vision of the Future column, let’s rewind the clocks and take a critical look at the triumphs and failures found in the two different attempts to show the Clone Wars.

Following the release of Attack of the Clones, the Expanded Universe attacked the issue of the Clone Wars with the intensity of a multimedia project. Every medium available was used, though ultimately to varying degrees of success. Between 2002 and 2005, the focus was highlighting myriad battles and characters involved in every aspect of the Clone Wars. For the sake of space and their extremely limited impact on the overall story, however, I will not be discussing the video games.

Dark Horse jumped out of the gates with character-driven stories, introducing readers to new villains like Asajj Ventress and Durge, and utilizing Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker for great arcs like “Obsession.” Their best, however, was the overall arc that followed Quinlan Vos as he battled himself, the dark side and Count Dooku all throughout the Clone Wars. In fact, I think it goes without saying that what Dark Horse produced for the Clone Wars was some of its best work in the Star Wars universe yet. As beautiful as the Clone Wars looked when seen in the movies, Dark Horse proved that it was a story meant to be told and viewed through the pages of a comic book.

Durge - One of the more interesting villains to come from this era

The Clone Wars received a more rocky start with Del Rey, which produced a number of novels. Some, like Jedi Trial, were universally panned. Others, like Republic Commando: Hard Contact, were universally adored. Unlike the Dark Horse work, which truly embraced the Clone Wars and focused on myriad heroes and villains, the books were much more tightly focused on the dynamic between Obi-Wan and Anakin. Though Mace Windu, Yoda and Padme all had roles to play in the stories, they were given the backseat in favor of the onscreen duo. What the Clone Wars did do, however, was introduce several authors into the Star Wars EU for the first time, a reason that may have caused such disharmony between levels of enjoyment with the books. The books also focused on deeper issues, things overlooked in the movies and comics simply for time constraint reasons. Love it or hate it, Karen Traviss diagnosed and disassembled the whole view of the Jedi using a clone (”slave”) army during the Clone Wars and created some haunting moments in her Republic Commando series (which is continuing on as Imperial Commando, beginning this summer!). And while critics maintain that it detracts from the overall feel of “classic Star Wars,” I cannot help but feel grateful that an author has dared to look beneath the surface and give readers a more in-depth look into the real, moral issues surrounding something as controversial as fighting a war with clones.

Hard Contact - A video game tie-in novel that started a revolution

The largest new medium that tackled the Clone Wars, however, was television. Done in a unique animation style, similar to the artwork of Samurai Jack, countless viewers watched as Obi-Wan and Anakin fought against the Separatist forces of Count Dooku. Star Wars fans watched their favorite characters use over-the-top force powers with unabashed glee, and for many it was easy to dismiss it as part of the story (the idea of the first Clone Wars cartoon being Holonet movies, which purposefully exaggerated Jedi powers was floated, and something that Matthew Stover toyed with in his book, Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor). Fans of continuity, however, got their first real headache with the television show, which also gave viewers a look at Durge and Asajj Ventress, both of whom acted completely out-of-character to those who had already been introduced to them from the comics. Durge was a brute instead of a homicidal jokester, and Asajj Ventress ignored the presence of her most hated foe, Obi-Wan, to instead battle Anakin. Continuity issues aside, the only other real problem with the cartoon was that the decision was made to make the first 20 “minisodes” only about two minutes in length. The time maximized the action, but minimized the dialogue and storytelling. This, however, was rectified in the last five episodes, which gave viewers a longer story that highlighted the Separatist invasion of Coruscant that is seen in the beginning of Revenge of the Sith and gave viewers the first glimpse of General Grievous in four-arm action.

The first attempt at an animated Star Wars television show

Yes, slight hiccups aside, the first foray into the Clone Wars wasn’t too bad.

Enter The Clone Wars.

The Clone Wars televison show... Part 2

It was a moment that most either viewed with indifference or slight dread. After all, why cover events that had already received extensive Expanded Universe coverage just a few years ago? With eras like the Knights of the Old Republic heating up, why does the Star Wars galaxy really need more stories of droids fighting Jedi?

The answer, simply, is because George Lucas said so. Following the theatrical finish of the prequel trilogy, he decided to dabble in Star Wars even more, bringing the Clone Wars to television in the way that it should have been done the first time around. The animation, rather than cartoon, is CGI in a way that is similar to (but not) how the first Clone Wars television show was shot.

So let’s talk about Ahsoka.

As most of you probably know by now, Ahsoka is the apprentice that Anakin Skywalker had during the Clone Wars. Yes, the padawan that was never mentioned in any of the films or any previous Clone Wars material. Ahsoka’s introduction, and overall importance to Anakin Skywalker’s character, was unfortunately handled about as well as the Secret Apprentice’s character was. Ahsoka was thrown into the fray with no history or real compelling introduction, and fans were basically told to deal with it.

Like her or hate her, Ahsoka is here to stay

Now I can understand the reasoning and appeal for Ahsoka. There needs to be a female Jedi that can also be cool, hip, and down with the youth. And it’s nice to have an important female in Anakin’s life who isn’t a regular human. That said, Ahsoka is the bane (pun intended) of the Clone Wars right now. She often learns the lessons that Anakin himself was apparently learning in the Clone Wars years earlier, and puts him in more of a mentor role. It negates Obi-Wan’s overall presence, and makes us all cringe every time she calls Anakin “Sky Guy.” The only good thing that comes out of her comes from the hopefully grisly death she may receive during Order 66.

Ahsoka further compounds things because the creators of the show refuse to give a concrete timeline for the Clone Wars television show. Currently, there is a “wait and see” mentality. But for those who enjoy reading things in order, the Clone Wars will likely be a complete continuity mess for the near future in terms of the timeline, especially since people like director Dave Filoni have acknowledged that the episodes do not run in chronological order.

People are quick to throw compliments to Dave Filoni, though I would argue that he’s poisoning Star Wars EU. He makes a show to fans about supporting established material and canon details, but he has yet to fight for (and succeed in) getting an EU detail put into the show rather than a Lucas-inspired detail. I think he would do Star Wars EU a tremendous favor to really stand up and fight to get more canon material in the show.

That isn’t to say that the new focus on the Clone Wars have been all bad, though. Visually, the show is very pretty. It allows other Jedi like Plo Koon and Kit Fisto have seen their share of screen time, too. Once the initial “new” factor had worn off of the show, though, I had lost interest at first. Count Dooku, General Grievous and Asajj Ventress (the three primary villains) were all overplayed in the first half of the show’s opening season, though the second half struck back with several new villains including the surprisingly cool Cad Bane. It was a relief to see the show take risks and introduce its own characters rather than relying on old, played out villains.

We'll be seeing a lot more of the awesome Cad Bane soon enough

Currently, the Clone Wars is also getting a five book series with Karen Traviss writing Books 1 and 3, and Karen Miller writing Books 2, 4 and 5. The first novel, The Clone Wars, was a novelization of The Clone Wars, yet I thought it succeeded far above the movie by actually giving the reader more necessary background information and showing the emotions hidden beneath the surface. In essence, it added a whole extra layer to The Clone Wars. Karen Miller’s book, Wild Space, was a great debut for a new Star Wars writer. Though I was overall nonplussed at her portrayal of the dynamic between Mace Windu and Yoda, and found Obi-Wan and Bail Organa’s bickering throughout the novel to be extremely tiresome, many found her book to be extremely enjoyable. The one problem that the books have, however, is that they are strongly tied to the television series. Without prior knowledge of what goes on during the show, the reader loses a certain amount of connect with the books.

So what does the future hold for the Clone Wars? I think it is safe to say that the television show will enjoy a long life, though it is unknown just what effect that will have on canon and the overall timeline of the era. Though with the live-action television show nearing, perhaps a weaker influence by Lucas will allow Filoni to break free from his supposed restraints and give the fans more of what we supposedly want to see. I would not be surprised to see more Clone Wars books announced either, especially if they continue to provide readers with the impressive material they have given so far. Though it seems unlikely that Dark Horse will provide a focused and parallel set of stories for the time period given how far they are stretched currently, one can always feel comfort knowing that LucasArts will pimp at least three more mediocre Ahsoka-related Clone Wars video games rather than giving fans another installment of the Dark Forces/Jedi Knight series. Ok, not much comfort there.

The point is that the universe didn’t implode after the first set of Clone Wars material was released, and it won’t after the second course runs dry. Sure, it’ll be around a lot longer this time around. But knowing that worrying will get me nowhere, I’ve decided to embrace the “wait and see” mentality. As long as they keep Cad Bane coming, you’ll hear limited complaints from me about that galaxy far, far away.