Star Wars: 8 Reasons The Clone Wars Was Better Than The Prequels

star-wars-the-clone-wars-20 We all know that the Star Wars prequels were bad. All of them were absolutely terrible in every way, except as merchandising vehicles. If you have any doubts that the movies were bad, or that they were in any way redeemable, please go visit Mr. Plinkett, of whom I am a (rather terrified) fan at http://redlettermedia.com/category/plinkett-reviews/ He will set you straight, and he€™ll send you free pizza rolls! Anyway, that being said, I€™m of the opinion that the only good piece of film-type-art to come out of Lucasfilm since €œReturn of the Jedi€ is the €œClone Wars€ cartoon. Yes, I am a grown-up. No, I mean it. Stop laughing, I€™m serious! *force choke*. That€™s better. As I was saying, the €œClone Wars€ cartoons are actually excellent. They€™re well-written, well-acted (do not laugh!), and all around better than the prequels. In fact, when you compare them to the prequels, they look like Emmy winners. I know you don€™t believe me, even though I €œconvinced€ you to stop laughing. So without further ado, here are the nine reasons €œClone Wars€ is better than the Star Wars prequels.

9. Development Of A Wider Universe

clones In some ways, this is one of the prequels€™ few forgivable sins. When you€™re creating a civilization€™s worth of merchandise, you can€™t tell every story. That€™s what the EU is for. But there are certain things that the prequels really needed to address, and then didn€™t. For example: the clone army that is the centerpiece of the Clone Wars. We know they were grown from a single template, they follow orders, they will kill whoever they are told to kill, and they are good in battle. That€™s it. We don€™t know what they think of themselves, what they think of the life they were bred into. We don€™t know if they have individual personalities. We don€™t know how they see the Jedi around them. Or take the Jedi younglings. Their murder was a big deal in €œRevenge,€ but what do we know about them? Just that they€™re Jedi in training. They€™ve got no personalities, no history, no context. Now they€™re dead, and we should care because they were kids. I used those two examples because they€™re ones €œClone Wars€ rectifies magnificently. The very first episode of €œClone Wars€ focuses on the adventures of Yoda and three clones. Those clones€™ individual personalities, and Yoda€™s ability to perceive them, are the central emotional drama of the episode. Later episodes sometimes exclude Jedi characters entirely, focusing instead on drama among the clones, on their ideas about war, the Jedi, each other, and themselves. There€™s even a clone who goes rogue, marries a local woman and has a child, because he questioned what he was bred for. These are important issues, and the show dealt with them while the movie brushed them aside. And the Jedi Younglings get an entire arc to themselves. They have personalities, histories, relationships. And depressing as it is to watch them and know they€™ll die, it certainly creates more emotional investment than that €œsomeone deleted it from the archive memory€ thing.
Contributor
Contributor

Rebecca Kulik lives in Iowa, reads an obsence amount, watches way too much television, and occasionally studies for her BA in History. Come by her personal pop culture blog at tyrannyofthepetticoat.wordpress.com and her reading blog at journalofimaginarypeople.wordpress.com.