THE BEST GETS BETTER!!!
A look forward to Season Two of THE CLONE WARS
By Scott Weller
So, the first season of THE CLONE WARS has ended its unequalled quality run of animated television success with the ambitious, action packed Ryloth Trilogy and the smaller but still highly effective single episode thriller HOSTAGE CRISIS, introducing the nasty bounty hunter, Lee Van Cleef…sorry…Cad Bane. With this series, those people who had loved the previous, and now sadly one-off, animated film found even more to enjoy with the characters, environments and action within its vast storytelling scope, presented on an almost un-interrupted weekly basis by both CARTOON NETWORK in the US and SKY PREMIERE in the UK, as well as other worldwide territories whose list is ever growing-kudos to you guys and LUCASFILM for sorting that all out. Those who didn’t like the film, well, interestingly, the majority of them grew to like the series and its individual darker, harder edged tales like ROOKIES and THE LAIR OF GRIEVOUS as the season went on, as well as the more traditional but grander storytelling in the best STAR WARS tradition like the Malevolence saga. As for those who really hated it and thought the series was an abomination-a further degrading of the Original Trilogy purity- well, that was more even fascinating as those fans enjoyed watching it to say how much they didn’t enjoy watching it!!! You see, the beauty of STAR WARS in its new format- a series that keeps everyone entertained in different ways!!
As for the future…well, with such a success story like this, Season Two was a given anyway for pick up, at least so far, by CARTOON NETWORK, who’ll never turn down the chance to have a major league, iconic hit series on its hands, and I doubt neither will SKY in the UK, either- it needs all the big series it can get to bolster its extremely high subscription charges in the face of the recession...and anyway, LUCASFILM had already shown great confidence in their series product-right from the start, Lucas had always championed the animation medium within his universe and he had already launched successful animation linked to the saga in the eighties, but this time there was a difference, he was going to do it all on his own and with his money and then sell it to buyers-incredible to believe, with his track record, this was to prove difficult at first, as none of the TV stations knew what to do with the show (and it would probably have gone straight to DVD in the US if WARNERS/CARTOON NETWORK hadn’t agreed to pick it up after everyone, rather stupidly and lacking any kind of strategic bravery, turned it down)-now the series is a success everyone will do the same thing and take bigger risks with this type of event programming. Lucas’s individualism in attitudes and his commitment to STAR WARS is good for us as it confirms at least three to four more seasons to come to be sold to television stations and in syndication-an 100 episode tally is that lucky number for the latter, after all. By the time you read this, work has probably been complete on a full 22 episode second season, and pre-production, if not already begun, on the third season, is in the works...
In weekly TV series, you most likely get a ration of one third great storytelling, one third average, one third bad. But with THE CLONE WARS, that hasn’t been the case at all-it’s pretty much been consistently good each week-there hasn’t been one seriously dud episode as far as this reviewer’s concerned…
So far, in Season One alone, we’ve thrilled to amazing new planets, weapons, aliens, characters (like Rex and Ahsoka) and bold new styles of storytelling in every field-from high drama, to horror, and comedy. A popular series can normally run out of ideas with just one season, so what can we expect to see in year two? Can the producers keep the series fresh and interesting without telling the same kind of war stories we’ve already seen and duplicate what people could perceive as the same old lightsaber duels? Well, despite such fears, what we’ve see so far and what might occur next in the STAR WARS universe can actually be seen as a strength, and from the way we try to guess how Lucas’s mind works, as well as what’s tentatively been revealed so far via interviews by Dave Filoni and Henry Gilroy on the various media sites it looks like big will be getting even bigger!!
With regards to the next wave of stories, I think the mix will be just the same probably, even more ambitious, we understand, and ground breaking in that pretty much all the storyline ideas for Season Two have come from Lucas himself-it doesn’t get more official and non EU than that!!- and have been passed onto the shows writing staff to develop. Lucas, as ever with STAR WARS, had his eye on everything on the last season of the show, but with the story telling and writers for series one, there was a lot of creative leeway. On Two that leeway is still there-it has to be in the ever changing fields of animation, of which a series like this undergoes permanent creative transition until its finally locked in-but Lucas wants to have more fun in his sandbox...and the STAR WARS world is a much better place when its creator is involved. Additionally, it’ll be nice to see a good mixture of old and new writers/directors working together as well-like Lucas, I’m all for new direction and thinking out of the box.
Looking at some of the episodes from Season Two that ended up transplanting into the premiere year roster, there’s really a stronger sense of confident storytelling and character-they stand out from their Season One counterparts. Just looking at those episodes, TRESPASS and THE HIDDEN ENEMY, our heroes are more mature, the relationships are moving forward and the CGI animation itself has improved in leaps and bounds. Intriguingly, Dave Filoni has said in certain interviews that there wasn’t enough money available in Season One to create more than a select batch of characters-this has bound to have changed by year two. The earlier shackles of getting the series off the ground have been lifted and thrown aside now that Lucas’s establishing the Singapore animation department as a viable company have grown fruition and are pumping out such good quality work, not just for THE CLONE WARS but other non STAR WARS animated projects that they are planning for the future. With success, budgets normally get slashed on continuing TV series by profit-desperate companies, but with THE CLONE WARS, Lucas’s independent financing brings creativity and freedoms that aren’t the norm in Hollywood, and that means that more money, not previously available to what had previously been the “dip in the water” animation experiment that Season One was, has come into play that can ploughed into the new episodes and the generation of additional characters and storytelling. Even with the extra monies available, let’s not forget there is a reverse situation too, as some of the vibrancy of year one, even with it’s previous restrictions, will be prevalent in Season Two as well-there are still several unseen episodes from that premiere year to come, like CARGO OF DOOM and THE BATTLE OF THE MIDNIGHT SHADOW (wow, I love that title-let’s hope that the episode lives up to the title alone!!) that have been slotted into this next season, presumably for very specific reasons that we’re not aware of yet, including one directed by veteran Prequel favourite, Rob Coleman, whose sterling first efforts on DOWNFALL OF A DROID, JEDI CRASH and LIBERTY ON RYLOTH fully showcased what a marvelous animation director he was for STAR WARS (Rob, come back- we miss you!!). We can also expect to see Series Guru Filoni returning to do at least another couple of episodes (ones that involve Jedi Plo Koon we imagine!!), as well as new some old faves from series one like Justin Ridge. Is there a chance we may see George actually do one, too? That would be terrific, eh!! On the writing front, we assume Henry Gilroy will still be at the ship’s helm, alongside Steven Melching and with ex-intern Katie Lucas, whose credited JEDI CRASH episode exceeded expectations, writing several new stories within the series writing staff. With the new adventures we’re hoping that the series will keep the action flowing but strengthen the existing characterization of our heroes at the same time. Though Filoni doesn’t like the idea of Anakin as a cold blooded killer, his personality will very gradually get darker until he gets to the point of being nearer his EPISODE THREE persona-we assume that Season Two, now that the fun of One is over, will have to make him a little more serious and harder edged in places, becoming a bit more “we do what we have to do” in his attitudes. Will his Padawan, Ahsoka, enter that same kind of mind set? Or will she continue to act as a straight talking counterbalance to him, as she was previously? And will she survive to the end of this next year, or make it to the full run of the entire series? Probably the latter, but the only one who knows for sure what will happen to the Padawan is Filoni himself (who says he has notes all about it!!). If Ahsoka goes to a full five seasons, we’ll hopefully start to see her mature and grown up in the three year conflict, as , not just in the way she’s written but CGI realized as well (glimpsed in the first Season Two preview shown with HOSTAGE CRISIS in the US). Here’s wishing that there will also be plans to show some of her continued Jedi training from Anakin, in the same way that Yoda helped Luke.
As for the other players of the saga, we may get a few more Anakin/Obi buddy adventures that really test their mettle, plus a few more singular Obi-Wan eps too (I felt he was short-changed a little this first year), and lets not forget Padme and Jar Jar (but, for the latter, not unless you get Ahmed Best back-the guy who does his voice now is terrible!!). As for new characters, well, Cad Bane was a great start for the villains wasn’t he-we’ll see more of him (possibly in CARGO OF DOOM?) and perhaps they’ll even be some links to the upcoming live action series thrown in for good measure (especially as that series format has such a bounty hunter promised theme to it)… The series does need more distinctive new baddies and the producers are aware of that. Hopefully, despite having to appeal to younger audiences, Filoni and the gang won’t forget the legions of grown ups who love the series existing creations, too, but make improvements. Lets see Grievous and Dooku a little darker edged. So far, apart from the death of Nahdar Vebb in LAIR OF GRIEVOUS, the series has not shown the Jedi being truly defeated by the enemy. They may have been beaten back, and they may have faced a stalemate at times, but I think the Republic has to get the odd bloody nose from the Separatists-we may get that from Season Two if the series is getting darker. There’s also the chance to have baddies old and new go up against each other for control of the Separatist fraction-a civil war within a civil war could be intriguing.
And how about some more old faces on the heroes side- we had Bail Organa back in HOSTAGE, but lets get him and Queen Brea, too, and how about Ric Olie, Captain Panaka, Sebulba and Watto (how about an episode just on the last two on Tatooine) and the lovable Dexter Jettster (again, how about a great episode with them, or an original story, on how he and Obi became friends in the first place!!). And more…perhaps something involving Padme’s family… and more on the mystery of Kamino and properly wrapping up all the not totally explained on screen plot threads between the actual Prequel films themselves, like the Sifo-Dyas stuff from EPISODE TWO. Of the planets, how about finally seeing Corellia, and what about the Wookiees on Kashyyyk (Lucas may have barred Chewie from the series, but there’s no harm is seeing the rest of the Wookiee populace and planet). Storytelling doesn’t have to be confined to events between EPISODEs TWO and THREE, either, as THE HIDDEN ENEMY demonstrated-they weren’t afraid to tell Prequel stories to Prequel films, so how about an episode with Qui-Gon and a young Obi-Wan linking into a story set between TWO and THREE, or perhaps something with the Lars family with Shmi, or Jango and Boba prior to meeting Obi-Wan (we are aware that Boba after EPISODE TWO is a no go restriction imposed on the team by Lucas- that he is exclusively just for the live actions series- but, hey, we can dream, right?)
We’ll also probably see a few more new types of Clone soldier that HASBRO will delight in getting ready for enthusiasts later in the year, as well as a few more clone-centric episodes to come that will hopefully live up to previous fare like ROOKIES and THE HIDDEN ENEMY after their overwhelming success last year. Then there are the other new characters introduced this year, some all too fleeting, that could be expanded on further, like the Lucas designed Angels of Iego-they deserve a sequel story, mesa thinks.
As for the Jedi, I feel, again, that its time for more-more at the temple-more on the others-Shaak Ti, Luminara and Barriss deserve something, as does Ki-Adi…Quinlan Vos almost made it to EPISODE THREE with his troops on Boz Pity-is there a chance he might finally speak on screen!!
And more YODA please!!!
Filoni and Gilroy also recently revealed that a certain character or planet from the Classic Trilogy that had previously been barred from use in THE CLONE WARS have now been made unrestricted by Lucas, who’s keen to have them in the new animated series as time goes on. Could it be someone like Tarkin, or perhaps a planet like Dagobah? Perhaps we’ll discover a non EU reason why the little green Jedi chose that world for hiding in…
With his love of the Expanded Universe of comics and books, expect Filoni to give us more fun references to them in the following seasons. In the same way that Aayla Secura made the leap into the film universe, will the same happen again with someone else into the animated series?
And let’s see more adventure from other characters point of view or like a day in the life type episode-these ideas have not been ruled out after Season Three apparently…Filoni and Gilroy had previously hinted in their FORCE.NET interview that there will be changes into the way the Separatists are viewed and we’ll find out more about their organization and its leaders, with Dooku probably coming to the fore, and much deservedly if you ask me!!, possibly for several episodes…
It would be interesting if THE CLONE WARS animated series final episodes (say by Season Five) dealt with events during EPISODE THREE as well... it would be sad, yet thrilling, to have Ahsoka come up against her (former) Master in his Darth Vader persona-whether as the human version of the Dark Lord or in his breathing suit. I know people, especially the children that love her, don’t want to see Ahsoka die, but I think that will be her destiny, and if she’s does die at the end of the run-if Lucas and Filoni really have the guts to see this thing through to its logical conclusion- then they won’t have her disappear out in to the edges of the Outer Rim where she’ll never be seen again until her appearance in the Expanded Universe novels!! If she’s gonna go, send her out in memorable style-either against Anakin or at the very least dying trying to save him/the Jedi-but who knows what will what happen? Perhaps Anakin gets a premonition of her demise. I tell ya something, if Anakin were a real person and in my family, I’d bump up my insurance premiums and move to another country if he started having deathly dreams about me!!
Long term, I’m also hoping that, if THE CLONE WARS continues in it’s successful ascension, that ole’ mister Lucas will finally accede to fan pressure and give us a series based on the exploits of the Classic Trilogy, too-or at the very least, perhaps have a few future timeline adventures thrown into the CLONE WARS mix in bridging in the gaps to the Classic Trilogy in the same way that EPISODE THREE did. There are already signs that Filoni and his team are doing this with occasional bits of design and dialogue in episodes so, if STAR TREK can do it within their own unique universe and timelines, I don’t see why THE CLONE WARS can’t, either…
As for any series negatives, this is slight, but how about some more memorable music. Kevin Kiner had a difficult and controversial job at first taking over from John Williams and he succeeded with his animated movie, which was different to what we used to but worked well. I think we’ve all got used to his series work, but the last half of the first season I thought his work wasn’t very distinctive or memorable. For Two, let’s free him up a bit more score wise for musical invention. But at the same time, let’s not forget the Williams themes, either-it seems to me at times that the Force theme has disappeared from the show after early appearances. Yes, there is the possibility of over-using it, in the same way as composer David Arnold pulled back from using the 007 theme form the later JAMES BOND movies- because he felt it made the audiences dramatically too safe and comfortable in tense action scenes with the character, that Bond will get out of things too easily once you hear the theme, but with STAR WARS, the Skywalker/ Jedi/Force themes, used effectively and in the right places, are still stirring stuff!! If the trailers aren’t afraid to use Williams score (as brilliantly realized in the excellent Ryloth trilogy trailer seen online and at WONDERCON’09) then neither should the production team!!
So, as you can see, there’s no fear of treading the same ground in Season Two-there’s just so much potential to be mined, to build and go beyond what’s gone before-and so much excitement out there to come. It’ll be interesting to see how much of our predictions and our shopping lists of wants actually come true. We’re reckoning that a fair few of them will. George, Dave and the gang did us proud this year and exceeded all our expectations.
And I’m sure I speak for the majority of readers when I say September 2009 just can’t come quick enough!!
