Monday, March 11, 2013
The Clone Wars: Season 5 Review
The Clone Wars: Season 5 Review
zDax.
Star Wars has had a huge influence on my life. It's definitely my favorite movies series, and it had a profound affect on me when I was a kid. I realized recently that my love of Star Wars had begun to fade since no video games, movies, or anything substantial has come about since Episode III. When I heard the news that new movies were being developed I was happy, but not nearly as much as I should have been. I had seen the movie for this show and a bit of season 1 before writing it off. After rediscovering it (and how awesome it is) earlier this year my love of Star Wars has been renewed. Now I am beyond excited for new movies and games and the future of this franchise. I am so thankful for this show, and it is a testament to how good it is that it rekindled my love for Star Wars in general.
LunaticPanda.
couldn't have said it better myself. I just started a marathon of all 5 seasons and gotta say where episode 1 - 3 were bittersweet at best, Clone Wars has rekindled my love of Star Wars and excitement for the new trilogy. Bonus point: My daughter is 7 and wants to be Ahsoka for halloween. Proud poppa am I lol...
Darkenmal.
Hey hey... episode 3 is the best in the series.
PulpyFiction.
Is this Hayden Christensen?
Darkenmal.
Best fights, best graphics, best story, the full power of the mythology behind it... its my favorite.
Subarashi.
Best "graphics?..." *SIGHS*
Stryder56.
Padmae, nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! Worst writing/acting ever.
PulpyFiction.
Oh I'm not arguing that its a phenomenal flick, I waited in line for midnight release back in fifth grade, then went to school the next day and no one believed me. Fond memories of RotS. But in a world in which there already exists A New Hope, there can be no other best Star Wars.
Darkenmal.
I love them all, (except I,) and all are a good choice for your favorite Star Wars flick.
Mike_5555.
It's by far the best prequel!
Darkenmal.
Its the best overall, IMO.
Larux18.
You know what would renew everyone's hope on Star Wars? Knights of the Old Republic 3.
Linklex77.
What would renew my hope for Star Wars? For fans to shut up about Battlefront 3 & KOTOR 3.
xJediJesse.
never
Subarashi.
This picture isn't relevant to Battlefront 3 or KOTOR 3... But I just like Spoink...
PulpyFiction.
Preachers gon' preach and the sinners gon' sin. Sinner.
Bodacious_Spider.
Same here, man. I hated the movie and season 1 didn't really do anything for me. It wasn't until a few weeks ago that I came back to the show- and wow, when this show gets it right it really frigging gets it right. Yeah, the arcs tend to be hit or miss. But the action, characters, story, humor, writing, and animation just get better and better. Working my way through season 4 now and I can't wait to see what season 5 has in store!
samsonZone.
that's nice. now make me a sandwich.
Codelyokofan67.
me too
Mtoshigi.
Best part of this season was Darth Maul fighting the Emperor
sm00bz.
I just want a whole season of Maul with no fillers.
Mike000777.
I guess i really should start watching this show.
Thribs.
I would wait until its finished so you can watch it all in one go.
parker29.
That's what I'm planning on doing.
DoomReaper45.
My breakdown for the season would probably go something like: Onderon Arc - 7 Young Jedi Arc - 7.3 Droid Arc - 4.7 Darth Maul Mandalore Arc - 9.8 Ahsoka Arc - 9.1 Season 5 overall - 8.2 (in my opinion). Thanks for writing this review! Looking forward to (hopefully) more Clone Wars articles in the future.
LegoC97.
Most TV shows get worse over time, as the writers start running out of creative ideas. This show amazingly does the opposite. Every Season seems to be better than the last! I look forward to seeing what The Clone Wars has in store for us in Season 6!
Game.m.0ver.
now i dont have any star wars to look forward to on the weekends now....
ilfito.
I hope with so many interesting possibilities and great characters like Ashoka and Ventress and of course the usual suspects like Anakin and Obi Wan we are beyond political and kid oriented episodes even if at least for next season. I mean the political mess and the over compliance of the Jedi Council are pretty well established now and we do not need droid centric episodes (though R2 is allowed to continue kicking but and being awesome) when there are such terrific stories like the 2 final acts to tell. I like the longer episode arcs as long as the story is good but the Onderon could have benefited from perhaps one episode less and the D squad should have been done in 2, although Gregor definitely was amazing and more effective than regular clones in a fight.
Prof_Grizwold.
I actually thought that this season was slightly worse than season 4 because season 4 had a lot of even stories but this definitely felt like season 3 and how they were both split into 2 halves. To be honest, I'm kind of tired of 4 part arcs and I feel that the score was just a tad bit high considering that the D-Squad Arc was possibly the worst story in the entire series. But Darth Maul and Asoka stories made up for that! :)
gambolingman.
Great Season that could have did better without WAC
Way_of_Samurai.
I seriously gotta get back into this Series!
JayHirschfeld.
If you take under consideration that Ghost Prison now is a CANON arc in the star wars universe, the upcoming events will shape those events even more as we go closer towards ROTS.. i iwll however not endure a second season like 5.. if 6 will be like this again.. ill stop somewhere in between s7.. if they decide to renew that is
NarnianKnight.
My review of the season: Onderon Rebels: These episodes were just okay. There were some great parts in it, but it was mostly boring. I would of liked it better if it was two or maybe three episodes. My Rating: 6/10 Youngling Arc: I have mixed feelings about this one. I liked that the first episode was about an important part of a jedi's journey. What I didn't like was it felt a little to boring. I always like an episode when Hondo is in it. He's always a GOOD comic relief. And the younglings fighting the pirates was pretty cool. My Rating: 7.5/10 D-Squad Arc: AAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGG!!!! The low point of the season (maybe even of the whole series). WAC and Gascon were stupid and it was hard to watch the idiots going through "an endless void". Now, what was a great part of the arc was Gregor. It was really fun watching a Republic Commando in action. I would of liked this arc if it was two episodes and if the Astro Droids and Gregor were the only main characters. This was a WEAK arc. My Rating: 3/10 Maul and Death Watch: Yeeesssss! Goodness this was a great arc. So many great parts. First thing is that there were actually character deaths. Something CW has been missing. Second thing there were a few good shockers in this arc. Really good. But my favorite part had to be the dual between Maul and Vizla. My Rating: 9/10 Ashoka Arc: Wow. Amazing. Incredible. Can't describe it better then that. 10/10. As a whole, I actually liked season 4 better. As for indivisual episodes and arcs, season 5 was best. All in all, great season. BTW: Sorry for the long post!
1Absolutebadass.
That averages out to 7.1, so not quite great. I concur with your reasonings though, spot on.
NarnianKnight.
Whoops! Forgot to average it :-)
BloodMeridian.
The force is definately strong with this series
bf3assult.
can you say Asoka episode 7
Andodalf.
Bt it'd be live action, and shed be old... And live action...
JerrodDRagon.
Anyone but me miss one off episodes...not everything needs to be 5 episodes for one story I loved two of the saga's, one was ok and two were god awful.....lets hope they stop making 5 episodes aimed at just kids
LoveWaffle.
Given that it's moving to Disney XD, I wouldn't be surprised if the next season was 20+ episodes aimed at only kids.
LoveWaffle.
For me, this has been the worst season of the show in a good while. First of all, we didn't spend all that much time with characters we've grown to care about. Obi-Wan was an important figure in only 3 episodes this season, Anakin in a slightly larger handful of episodes, and there were no episodes dedicated to the Clones (whose episodes have always been better than they should be). In fact, the final arc of the season is the only one that focused on a series regular - Ahsoka. Instead, we spent a lot of time with Ahsoka and characters other than the regular cast. While a focus on Ahsoka wasn't all that surprising, given her character exiting the show, it's problematic that she's the only regular character to get the spotlight. And while she was present throughout the Onderon and Younglings arcs, she was more tacked on to those arcs so the audience would care about the Onderon Resistance and the Younglings' adventure than she was an organic part of the story. You could have taken Ahsoka out of the Onderon arc and you'd have the same story. And while it isn't necessarily a bad thing that we got arcs focused on characters outside the main cast, it becomes a problem when it's four of the five arcs this season, not to mention that only one of those four focused on entirely new characters. The season felt like filler, keeping me waiting for something important to happen. And when it did happen, the season was over. Then again this entire show is filler. Narratively, it's supposed to fill the space between Episodes II and III and little else. However, this gets at the other problem with this season, and one I've had oftentimes with this show - It has no idea how to be filler. This season particularly after D-Squad, suffered from a number of problems in characterization and contradictions with the established Star Wars lore. I understand that, according to the system of canon levels this franchise operates under, any contradiction between this show and anything but the movies goes in The Clone Wars' favor, but that's no excuse for the writers behind this show to treat the rest of the canon with as much rampant disregard as they have. Particularly when those contradictions are entirely unnecessary. This is most notable in two events that bookend the season. In one hand, there's Adi Gallia dying on Florrum. In the other, there's Barriss Offee becoming a Dark Jedi. Neither was at all necessary. The only reason Adi Gallia might have been used in that episode is for fans of the character (if there are any) to see her fate - yet, the only people that would want to see that already knew General Grievous killed her on Boz Pity. And even worse, they turn her into a redshirt. So why not use a new character to be that redshirt? The same could be said of Barriss' face-heel turn at the very end of the season - 1) the only people that would care to see her fate are the people that already know she was killed during Order 66, and 2) it probably would have been better if she was replaced by a new character. Did the Umbara arc last season, one considered to be one of the series' highpoints, suffer because its secret Dark Jedi, Pong Krell, was a character created for the show? To make matters worse, her fall to the Dark Side comes out of nowhere. There's an off-hand reference to a friend of her's dying in a battle at the beginning of the arc, but there's no real reason for her to fall. Dooku fell because he committed a genocide in the name of the Republic; Anakin fell because he wanted to protect his wife and unborn children; but Barriss only fell because her friend died - something that applies to just about every Jedi we've seen. (Disclaimer: I know I'm in the extreme minority on my next point) Problems in characterization aren't limited to Barriss. The one that was most problematic for me is actually one that I've seen praised - Maul's. The Zabrak Sith's transformation into a warlord comes out of nowhere. I've brought this up a lot talking to other people about this show, and I keep hearing the same response - The Sith instictively seek power. Yet, this was not Maul's character. Instead, he was driven only by his insatiable bloodthirst and loyalty to his master. The latter's probably gone by now, so there's a reason for him to want to get revenge on Obi-Wan and Palpatine. But to tack on a story about him taking control of the Mandalorians* is against his character, especially when it's unnecessary. Maul wanting his revenge is enough to carry the arc; we could have had Kill Bill with lightsabers. * Never mind that a relatively healthy, thriving Mandalorian culture is a huge smack in the face of all levels of Star Wars canon, G Canon or otherwise. I freely admit that Maul prior to this season was a flat character, so I can't hate that this show gave him some personality. However, the show developed him in the wrong direction. Besides the fact that Maul's development comes out of nowhere given his character, his development made him less of a unique character. Just about every other Sith and Dark Jedi craves power, so for Maul to not have that instinct made him a fresh change of pace. Now that he's acted on that instinct, he's no different from his fellow Sith. He's now little more than just a clone of what Dooku and Grievous were when they were introduced, before they had been turned into a joke (which this show is a primary contributor in). Just as a side, I'm incredibly disappointed that Savage went out like he did. He was introduced as the next big thing after Asajj, so it's infuriating that he went out so ingloriously. That all being said, I can't deny that this season had a number of intense and emotional scenes. Maul's duels with Vizla and Sidious are some of the best this series has ever done. And Ahsoka's exit at the end of the season is one of the few times I've been moved by the show. But why should I care about them when another television show will come along in a few years and retcon it all from happening?
1Absolutebadass.
You made a lot of good points. I too wondered why they didn't focus on Cad Bane, Obi-Wan, Anakin, Ventress (more), Boba Fett etc. over droids and implausibly impetuous younglings. Ahsoka did seem tacked on to the Onderon arc without a good reason for actually being there. Having Barriss be the only possible deceiver and not showing her reasons for turning to the dark side were both a little weak. It would've been perfect if she was present on Umbara during Krell's insane orders, to justify her losing faith in the jedi but the writers of TCW don't seem to plan anything out. If only they did, things could join together a lot easier and the show would be more complete as a whole, rather than them planning it season by season. Savage's death and lack of development at all in S5 (and 4) was the biggest waste of all imo. His introduction in S3 was incredible and he was, so quickly, a fully 3 dimensional character but the writers did nothing with him except make him Maul's lackey. When he died there was little impact on me because he was little more than an insignificant background character ever since his first arc in S3 ended. Huge waste.
LoveWaffle.
Thanks for reading my whole thing; I wasn't all that certain anyone would.
Nachi-Wan.
i think he was always meant to be maul's underling, ever since seeing maul through that crystal thingy
Thribs.
He was killed by none other then the Emperor. Only a few have been killed by his hand. He should be honoured.
LoveWaffle.
Still died like a bitch.
Thribs.
Off topic but has anyone here read Dark Empire? It's awesome and it explains why the Emperor has lived so long. I hope they use this animation and adapt it.
ColinJB.
This season was OK. It had much to improve upon. Hopefully Season Six is better. If Disney is smart they will air it. I think a 6/10 is fair.
CaptMario.
The trial of Ahsoka was the scariest. It showed the beginnings on how the Empire run their criminal court system.
Trev7.
I miss the first season with all the clone war battles! But most of all I'm still waiting for Star Wars Battlefront 3!!!!!!!!!!!!
Charles_Buttlicker.
This season was just okay. I would have given it a 6.7.
1Absolutebadass.
Completely agree. Breaking down the arcs, imo Onderon was about a 6/10, the younglings was a 5, WAC/Gascon a 4, Maul an 8 and Ahsoka's arc a 9. That averages to a 6.8, so I don't completely agree then. :P
Charles_Buttlicker.
One does not simply do math to get an average score on IGN!
Thribs.
I think Maul arc was slightly better than Ashoka's but otherwise I agree.
1Absolutebadass.
It's a close one alright. Revival and Eminence were fantastic episodes but the other two, while great, were too rushed imo. I would've liked to have seen the invasion and consequent rebellion each given the time they deserved, as opposed to the invasion occurring with such minimal, pathetic resistance, the numerously alluded to assassinations by Maul ignored completely and the end rebellion arising from nothing.
TheGreyWard.
This show really demonstrates how good Star Wars can be with Lucas in the background and a younger , passionate guy taking point. It gives me hope for the future. And Filoni, man, I owe you a beer. Anytime.
Guest.
Great review Eric, I'm glad you decided to review the season as whole. Season 5 was very up and down. The Darth Maul/Mandalorian and fugitive Ahsoka story arc were truly amazing. "The Lawless" is my favorite episode of the entire series. Those two arcs are a testament how far this show has come. The final scene of "The Wrong Jedi" was perfection. I know some people didn't like the Youngling arc, but I really enjoyed it. The final episode of the Youngling arc was fantastic. I agree that Onderon arc was just OK. Nothing exceptional, "Tipping Points" was the best episode out of that story arc. The droid arc was a low point for the season, and the series. It was a waste of four episodes. I did like Gregor though. I wish we saw more of Captain Rex this season, he's a character that deserves more screen time. It would've been nice to see Cad Bane too. There were lots of amazing moments this season like Maul vs. Vizsla, the death of Satine, Ahoska on the run, Steela's death, Maul building his empire, Huyang, Gregor's last stand, Anakin vs. Barris, Maul/Savage Vs. Sidious, and of course the final scene of the season. I'd probably give season 5 an 8.5, not quite as good as season four as a whole.
ThaBloodyAssassin.
Fight/ scene of the season darth sidious v oppress / maul
SkybornBrethren.
I agree with the score. I did truly like everything aside from the Droid arc (and while this is not the case for most viewers, I believe, I didn't absolutely hate it), and two of the five arcs rank up there with the best the series has ever offered. The Mandalore story arc was the best the series has given in terms of action and was more complex than anyone expected, and the Fugitive arc following it was the most gripping and emotional of the whole show (yes, it is my favorite arc of the entire series). The Younglings storyline was great as well, and although overshadowed by the final arcs in retrospect, it had a lot of great moments. Onderon was decent, and I didn't find a whole lot to complain about aside from the fact that it was a little slow and a lot of the dialogue didn't flow. I understand why people might not like the arc, though, because after all it placed emphasis on new characters that a lot of people had trouble caring about. Lastly, the Droids arc was boring and repetitive aside from that third episode, and having merely 2 talking characters for the most part was painful - especially given who they were. Nonetheless it gave some fairly good moments like Gregor's death and throughout the final episode concluding that storyline. Overall, I agree with the score. It's hard to ignore the Droids, yes, because they took up four episodes. However, this could be used conversely, as we can't forget about the two incredible arcs that followed that took up EIGHT episodes together. Overall, it balances out.
jun97299.
For God sakes its time to get out of the episode 1-3 era. Just end it. No more doo doo Ani
JediRevan1138.
is it me or has this season had too many story arcs? whatever happen to individual episodes?
Nachi-Wan.
i loved everything from this season save the droids arc. if that arc had been just the last 2 episodes i would be fine with it, just like the 2 droids episodes from season 4
UnderkingsUnderpants.
The series has really grown both tonally and in its execution.The first seasons were entertaining enough but I watched them as a time-killer for weekend mornings.But this and the previous season were just full of action-packed,gut-wrenching moments with real suspense and I think we should all be grateful to Filoni and Co. for giving us The Clone Wars.Speaking of this season,every episode involving Darth Maul was awesome-he's THAT good a character.The WAC storyline was *ahem* whack(pardon the pun) and I fought real hard not to shed manly tears during that final scene on the Jedi Temple,where Ashoka and Anakin said their goodbyes to eachother...That episode will stand the test of time as one of the strongest,thematically gorgeous episodes ever done in a cartoon show.
Spaghettisean.
Question: During the last arc, there was a battle on Cato Neimodia. But isn't Cato Neimodia under CIS control? Isn't it the home of the Trade Federation?!
JediRevan1138.
I think the Republic was trying to retake Cato Neimodia so they can get some intel of the CIS. just a theory though which I think we well find out next season since there was suppose to be an arc about Clovis this season.
Spaghettisean.
I thought about that, but didn't they say the Republic was defending Cato Neimodia?
jamie_329700.
There is a trilogy of episodes called the Clovis arc that were set for Season 5. These episodes would have featured Cato Neimoidia and explained why that battle was taking place in the Fugitive arc. It's likely we'll see these episodes air as part of Season 6.
Spaghettisean.
oh yeah I think they removed that arc and the episode about that bounty hunter (the one with the awesome hat and pet wolf) and inserted the Younglings arc instead.
sparkyy77.
Good review can't wait for Season 6 if it has been confirmed?
ilfito.
They are working on it but it is not clear where it will air or if there will be delays in when it premieres with CN and DXD working some deal although since it has been said the show has always been on a yearly agreement I would think there is not much CN can fight for, so it might just be a scheduling thing on the side of DXD.
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