Now we’re getting to the good stuff! Star Wars: Clone Wars–again, not to be confused with Star Wars: The Clone Wars and put a pin in that–Volume Two collects the 5, thirteen minute episodes from season 3. And with a longer runtime compared to Volume One/seasons 1 and 2’s four minute episodes comes a more cohesive story with time to explore the characters. But we can’t forget that this series is meant not just to entertain and sell toys, but connect Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones with Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that this ends on a bit of a cliffhanger.
Picking up right where Volume One ended, a deployment of clone troopers (Mr. André Sogliuzzo) attempt to rescue the Jedi survivors of General Grievous’ attack: Ki-Adi-Mundi (Conehead with a beard, voiced by Daran Norris), Shaak-Ti (red skin with white horns, voiced by Grey DeLisle), and Aayla Secura (blue skin with head tentacles and she apparently never speaks). Problem is, Grievous (now voiced by Richard McGonagle) is still there. The cyborg takes out a few clones–in addition to the two Jedi he killed–before he tactically retreats. We have a flash of a young Anakin being taken by Qui-Gon Jin to what looks like the Dark Sided cave on Dagobah, but I have no idea when that was supposed to happen during Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. Anyway, Grievous poses a threat to the Jedi order and with their numbers stretched they need all hands on deck. Obi-Wan nominates Anakin to become Jedi Knight, arguing he’s already completed most of the trials out in the field. Ani, meanwhile, is making out with his secret wife, Padmé, but are interrupted by C-3PO in his new gold plating. During a montage Anakin gets promoted, loses his rat tail, and somehow acquires a facial scar, so now we’re visually caught up to Revenge of the Sith. Meanwhile, Grievous gets lightsaber training from Count Dooku before Darth Sidious orders the General to launch an invasion on Coruscant. But before that, Grand Chancellor Palpatine sends Obi-Wan and Anakin to Nelvaan, setting up the two stories of this third season/second volume.
On Nelvaan, Anakin’s rash actions upsets a local tribe’s rituals, which draws him into their problems: all the men are gone. It’s just women and children! Cue ashamed look from Skywalker. Anyway, after a vision quest he learns of a past warrior of the Rokrul people who apparently had a metal hand, just like Anakin. Now chosen to find the missing men, he finds a hidden base run by evil scientists who have been abducting Rokrul to experiment on, turning them into seemingly mindless big brutes. Certainly doesn’t help that Ani doesn’t speak the language. But one of the recently mutated rallies his brethren and they destroy the operation, returning to their people and, after a moment of shock, welcomed back in. Congrats, Anakin, you’ve completed the trial of spirit, making you a full Jedi Knight. Back on Coruscant, the Separatist army invasion is all a distraction with the real goal of General Grievous abducting… Palpatine. Huh, he really doesn’t know who his boss actually is. Shaak-Ti and two other Jedi attempt to rescue the Chancellor, but Grievous and his robotic MagnaGuard troops manage to get Palpatine off planet. At least Mace Windu managed to crush Grievious’ chest, causing the villain to start wheezing.
And that’s pretty much where Revenge of the Sith picks up, with Anakin and Obi-Wan sent to rescue Palpatine. And we even have Anakin’s scar! I would say we don’t know how he got it, but there are two sides on this for me. The first is yeah, I actually–as of writing–have no idea how Anakin got scarred and assume some comic or the later The Clone Wars series–keep that pin–explains it plainly. But then the other side knows how he got it: he slipped in the shower. Ridiculous, right? WELL LEMME QUOTE GEORGE FUCKING LUCAS WHEN ASKED:
“I don’t know. Ask Howard [Roffman, president of Lucas Licensing]. That’s one of those things that happens in the novels between the movies. I just put it there. He has to explain how it got there. I think Anakin got it slipping in the bathtub, but of course, he’s not going to tell anybody that.”
– George Lucas
So what’s the truth, George? That Star Wars is something you feel like you had to constantly tweak to get it as close to your vision as possible, or something where you offload details on someone else so you can focus on the flashy stuff? This has bugged me ever since I read it over a decade ago and still does to this day. Throw in that I actually don’t know how he got it and sure, why the fuck not? Who amongst us hasn’t had a visually striking scar from fucking up in the bathroom? So relatable!
But while this series has been pretty enjoyable, it’s been replaced by the 2008 Star Wars: The Clone Wars series. The second series was announced as “a 3D continuation of the pilot series,” but over time and seven seasons changes between the two shows began to develop. For one thing, The Clone Wars aired in a half hour block and had multiple seasons, so character development and expanded plots were a natural byproduct. I mean, Ahsoka Tano was popular enough to get a live action series, and if you just go by the 2003 Clone Wars you have no idea who that is. So after Disney bought the franchise and divided everything into “Canon” and “Legends,” Clone Wars was labeled non-canon.
As for the differences between Canon and Legends, I’ll get to that when we get to the sequel trilogy. Rest in peace, Ben Skywalker, son of Luke and Mara Jade…
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