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starladyPerhaps naively, I was not fully prepared for the level of feelings raised by my anticipation for the start of The Clone Wars' final season last week. It's been…a really long time since I was fully anticipating new Star Wars content when it came out. I was hopeful for The Last Jedi, but not all-in; I totally missed The Clone Wars when it first came out and didn't get onboard with Rebels until early in S4. Maybe it was 2002, for Attack of the Clones? In any case, a really long time.
(My top three Star Wars regrets: not seeing The Clone Wars movie in the theaters, not going to Celebration in Japan, missing the costume exhibit. But I really only blame myself for that last one.)
But! The resurrection of TCW was a very good excuse for a rewatch. I didn't have time to rewatch the whole show, which is a shame, because picking and choosing the arcs I did really brought home to me how as the show went on all of its disparate threads were playing into some powerful statements about the saga overall. If you like Star Wars and you haven't seen The Clone Wars, you absolutely must. Do it in the chronological order.
I prioritized Ahsoka, Maul, and Mandalore in my selection, which meant that some backstory to some of the elements in these episodes got cut. In particular, there's almost no Asajj in these episodes, which is really unfortunate because she has one of the most interesting arcs in the saga. There's also very little Padmé, which is a shame as TCW really fleshes out her and Anakin's relationship believably and gives her a lot of the political scenes that were cut from the movies. The advantage of this selection, however, is that most of these episodes are also backstory to stuff in Rebels.
The Movies
(My top three Star Wars regrets: not seeing The Clone Wars movie in the theaters, not going to Celebration in Japan, missing the costume exhibit. But I really only blame myself for that last one.)
But! The resurrection of TCW was a very good excuse for a rewatch. I didn't have time to rewatch the whole show, which is a shame, because picking and choosing the arcs I did really brought home to me how as the show went on all of its disparate threads were playing into some powerful statements about the saga overall. If you like Star Wars and you haven't seen The Clone Wars, you absolutely must. Do it in the chronological order.
I prioritized Ahsoka, Maul, and Mandalore in my selection, which meant that some backstory to some of the elements in these episodes got cut. In particular, there's almost no Asajj in these episodes, which is really unfortunate because she has one of the most interesting arcs in the saga. There's also very little Padmé, which is a shame as TCW really fleshes out her and Anakin's relationship believably and gives her a lot of the political scenes that were cut from the movies. The advantage of this selection, however, is that most of these episodes are also backstory to stuff in Rebels.
The Movies
- The Phantom Menace - Screw machete order, this is a movie that holds up and introduces quite a lot of backstory which informs everything else that happens in the original six movies. Also Padmé was never better than she was here, and the lightsaber duel at the end is one of the best in the saga.
- Attack of the Clones - This movie has problems, but it's not as bad as popular culture remembers and parts of it are quite good. And in terms of the saga, it's probably the original tragedy of everything that happens later. Be sure to watch Padmé's speech to the Senate, which was unfortunately deleted.
- The Clone Wars - Once Ahsoka stepped off the shuttle onto Chrystophsis, the saga would never be the same.
- Second Geonosis arc (205-08) - Some of the biggest war scenes in the show and a standout set of episodes, including the introduction of Barriss Offee.
- Duchess of Mandalore arc (212-14) - Hey, did you know that Obi-Wan did the exact same thing that Anakin did as a teenage padawan, namely falling in love with a young female planetary ruler? Gee, it's almost like they were and are very similar!
- Corruption on Mandalore arc (305-06) - If we ever find out what happened to Korkie Kryze, I don't think it will be good.
- Mortis (315-17) - A strange, momentous set of episodes full of weird Force shit and a crux for Ahsoka in particular, whose path is unquestionably altered by her experiences.
- The Citadel (318-20) - The episodes that made me sit up and realize just how far the Jedi were willing to go in the war, and just how much it had cost them even before the end. Also, Tarkin was clearly born The Worst™.
- A Friend in Need (414) - Did you forget about Death Watch and the Darksaber? Dave Filoni didn't!
- Rako Hardeen/Crisis on Naboo (415-18) - Maybe faking your death and lying to your closest friends is bad? Just maybe!
- Brothers/The Fall of Mandalore (421-22, 501, 514-16) - You don't know the power of the dark side.
- The Wrong Jedi (517-20) - Never become so desperate as to trust the untrustworthy.
- Sifo Dyas and Qui-Gon Jinn (610-13) - It's difficult to overstate how much the revelations of "The Lost One" mean for the saga as a whole, particularly for Dooku. Unfortunately even some of the tie-in writers haven't seen this episode or don't understand what it means. But everything here is essential for understanding what came before and what happens after. Also, Yoda forgives himself too readily and goes too far in what he learns from the Force priestesses. A lot of things are actually his fault.
- Revenge of the Sith - This story happened a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. It is already over. Nothing can be done to change it.