Star Wars: The Clone Wars

After the (very awesome) initial movie release, Star Wars: The Clone Wars television series entered the arena with one-shot, light-hearted episodes depicting everyone's favourite galaxy far, far away. Most of the episodes were amusing (the droids were generally portrayed as the comic relief), and the relationships between Obi-Wan, Anakin, and his new padawan Ahsoka Tano were tentatively explored. There was even a Jar Jar (ugh) episode or two, and most of the episodes were rife with thinly-veiled lessons for the kids.

It wasn't until episode 9 (Cloak of Darkness) that things really started to get interesting. Suddenly a huge "TV-PG: for moderate violence" sign was posted at the beginning of each episode, and 'lo and behold-- people in the animated Star Wars galaxy actually began to *die*.

No one really cares when clone troopers or the odd political figure dies every now and then, but in what is currently my favourite Clone Wars episode ever (1x10 - Lair of Grievous), one of the Jedi actually *dies*.

Another favourite is the 2-parter "Defenders of the Peace" (1x13 and 1x14), which deals with the implications of the wars on farflung, peaceful planets. The quality of the storytelling here was practically at the level of the quite-philosophical Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes, and I was pleasantly surprised at its depth.

It's ironic that the stories in this animated series far surpasses the latest Star Wars trilogy, but there you go. George Lucas should be thanked for greenlighting it, and congratulated for not writing any of it. Lol.

Clone Wars is currently on its 17th episode and I highly recommend this to fans both young and old.