Casual Star Wars Fans, There's Something WAY Better Than The Sequels.

It is known around here that I'm a big fan of Star Wars.  I'm also a big fan of animation.  What I'm most fanboy about though is good, satisfying story-telling, regardless of universe or medium.

Over the last few weeks I've been diving back into something that likely flies under the radar of the casual fan of the Star Wars saga.  If I'm totally honest it's probably my favourite of ALL the Star Wars properties, a slightly heretical opinion in some circles.

Don't get me wrong, I'm still all in when it comes to the original trilogy and have deep and abiding love for those three films.  Still, as epic and thrilling as the are, they are limited in their scope and add up to only six or so hours of viewing.  After (easily) a hundred+ viewings of it, the original still gets regular viewings at Chateau GB. 

 

One could not be blamed for ignoring EVERYTHING after this.

 

I've seen the recent sequel trilogy two or three times each and can't imagine I'll be revisiting any of them any time soon.  Totally "meh" films in my estimation.  

 

It's a crime that these weren't better and that it's too late for a three movie do-over.

I don't totally hate the prequel trilogy and rewatch them every once in a while.  I ran across three fan edits of them that improve them quite a bit, so there's that.  The best thing that can truly be said of the prequels, however, is that they spawned what I consider to be the best story-telling phase of the entire property.

 

When life hands you lemons, make an animated series out of 'em.

The animated Star Wars universe (Clone Wars, The Bad Batch and Rebels) has done more to flesh out and enrich the Star Wars universe than the nine movies combined and it has done it better.  For my money, the animated shows eat the movies' lunch. 

 

Interlocking stories over 12 seasons with more to come.

In cases like Star Wars and Star Trek and a few other properties, I've always said that the stories play out in a huge universe, so why limit sequels and spin offs to the core characters and situations?  Star Trek has started to embrace this idea with shows like Discovery and Strange New Worlds, but they're late to the party.  Star Wars may have slavishly held to telling Skywalker-centric stories in the movies, but on television for the last decade or so, they've been letting the universe spool out and expand over the course of three amazing (and one okay) shows.

That one "okay" show is the truncated two seasons of Star Wars Resistance.  It was animated in a different style than the Clone Wars/Bad Batch/Rebels computer animated style and set in the middle of the sequels' timeline.  To me it was a lesser effort with only modest charm.  Not terrible, but unless you're a real fan it's okay to skip it.

What you should NOT skip is the huge, impressive body of work (215+ episodes, around 72 hours or so of content) that is the computer animated trilogy of Clone Wars, The Bad Batch and Rebels.  To the best of my knowledge, everything in the Dave Filoni led body of work is considered Star Wars Canon, so you're missing out on some impressive backstory if you take a pass on these.  The character of Ahsoka Tano who recently leapt into live action with her appearances in The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett originated in Clone Wars, long before Rosario Dawson was fan-cast in the role. 

We've also seen other characters emerge into live action that got their start in these shows.  Cad Bane, the blue bounty hunter with the cool hat we saw in The Book of Boba Fett was seen first in Clone Wars and has become a fan favourite.  Katee Sackhoff's Mandalorian bad-ass, Bo-Katan, also made her debut in Clone Wars and is the first character I know of to cross out of the animated shows into live action with the same actor.  Ming Na-Wen's Fennec Shand debuted in The Mandalorian and crossed over in the opposite direction to The Bad Batch before returning in The Book of Boba Fett.

The shows also boast the occasional notable cameo from the likes of Liam Neeson and Ian McDairmid, among others.  Naturally Anthony Daniels returns as C-3PO and R2-D2 continues to voice himself.

Speaking of the various voice actors, special, extra-extra special kudos to Dee Bradley Baker who voices ALL the clones on Clone Wars and five of the six leads in The Bad Batch as well as any and all clone troopers we meet along the way.  It's phenomenal that one man is able to bring such presence to SO many characters on the same show.  I can only liken it to Tatiana Maslany's tour de force in Orphan Black and that's high praise, indeed.

Other fan favourites have emerged from these shows as well, several of which (Ezra Bridger, Hera Syndulla, Sabine Wren) will be seen in live action for the first time with the Ahsoka series set to be released in 2023.  They come out of the Star Wars Rebels show that gave us the best Star Wars family since the Skywalkers, even though none of them were related.

One character from this little corner of the Star Wars universe that I'd absolutely LOVE them to bring to life is Hondo Onaka.  He's a pirate and a scoundrel and simply wonderful.  Think Han Solo with less ethics.  Oh, and he's voiced by the IMMORTAL Jim Cummings.  That's Winnie the Pooh's voice actor. 

 

Hondo at his best.  Save the day then pad the bill.

Cummings has expressed willingness to reprise the role for a live action appearance and I'd be SO happy if that came to be.  Hondo and Ahsoka are easily the best characters introduced to the franchise since Yoda and Lando showed up in Empire.

So why should you watch these shows?  Once you get past the angular animation style, these shows are as lush and beautifully filmed as any of the movies.  This universe looks like a place where knights could wield magical powers in opposition to evil forces of unimaginable power.  It's truly spectacular how many varied places the stories are set in, from high-tech megalopolis to neon glowing jungles and everything and anywhere else you could imagine Star Wars characters travelling to.

Settings and cinematography are fine, but the story is the important thing and these three shows have that in spades.  Clone Wars focus was mainly the adventures of Anikin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi during the titular Clone Wars, but other Jedi get episodes of their own, including several that casual fans would be unfamiliar with.  Ahsoka gets a Padawan-to-Jedi arc with a shocking ending, clone troopers develop character and depth, Anakin and Padme's secret marriage is explored and much, much more goes on over the course of the seven seasons of the show.  The stories are not all linear, with a more "adventure of the week" and "to be continued" format than we've grown used to in modern television and it works like gangbusters.  In a very real way, this show is the Star Wars equivalent of The Next Generation.  If you are short of time you can watch a few episodes and see a capsule story and move on until the spirit moves you again.

The Bad Batch spins directly out of Clone Wars, starting just as Clone Protocol 66 is enacted and the clone troopers turn on the Jedi.  Somehow Clone Force 99, also known as The Bad Batch are spared the effects of the order and watch in horror as their comrades turn on their Jedi leadership.  The season follows the small band of non-comforming clone troopers as they try to navigate their new normal.  It's more linear than Clone Wars and lends itself to a weekend binge.  The second season is due to drop Jaunuary 4 and that's a date that can't come fast enough for me!

Rebels is yet another binge worthy effort.  Four seasons that follow young Ezra Bridger as he falls into a rebel cell based on his home planet of Lothal.  Much like Ahsoka, Bridger gets a Padawan-to-Jedi arc and by the end of four seasons, the rag-tag band has grown into a true family.  The final episodes of the fourth season tie up the show in one of the more satisfying, if open ended, ways of any of the Star Wars properties.  So much to love here, but one of the true stand outs is C1-10P or "Chopper".  The astromech is snark in a can, voiced by showrunner/genius Dave Filoni.

 

Chopper.  Taking on the universe one Jedi and Lasat at a time.

I imagine that some folks don't bother with Clone Wars or the others simply because they're animated.  If that's any part of your reason for not watching, you'd be doing yourself a disservice.  These shows are among the best the Star Wars franchise has to offer, animated or not.  Star Wars can be incredibly hit and miss but these three shows maintained an amazing level of quality in acting, direction and writing throughout their runs.  Dave Filoni deserves a lifetime Emmy yesterday.

 

Find them on a streamer, buy the DVDs (Only Clone Wars up to Season 6 and the full 4 Seasons of Rebels are available so far) or find a friend who can screen them for you.  If you do the latter, you should bring beer.

 

May The Force Be With You.  Always.