Star Wars: The Clone Wars Releases Final (Unfinished) Episodes

[Fanghawk]

Star Wars: The Clone Wars Releases Final (Unfinished) Episodes

Lucasfilm has released its unfinished Star Wars: The Clone Wars episodes in full, which is great if you don't mind the incomplete animations.

The Star Wars prequel trilogy <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/escape-to-the-movies/5357-The-Phantom-Menace-13-Years-Later>wasn't especially well-liked, but the same isn't true of Expanded Universe spin-off material. The animated Star Wars: The Clone Wars series was a critically acclaimed award-winner, gaining enough of a following to warrant six full seasons. Now it turns out that Lucasfilm made more content than it could even fit it into the show: As part of a final send-off to The Clone Wars, Lucasfilm has released four unfinished episodes <a href=http://www.starwars.com/video/the-clone-wars-legacy>at StarWars.com for fans to enjoy. And enjoy it they will, provided they don't mind sitting through all the incomplete animations.

You see, while these are technically four full episodes, they only consist of the story reel and audio. That means character models aren't quite complete, with heads and limbs occasionally disconnecting from their bodies, while various placeholders exist for animators to address later. (My personal favorite being the giant, temporary message hanging over the planet Utapau.) Regardless, there's a certain pleasure in the behind-the-scenes feels of these episodes. Even better, they address plot points the show never had time for, such as the fallout of Ahsoka leaving the Jedi Order.

These episodes are also significant because they represent Lucasfilm's final Expanded Universe content. Now that Disney <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/134042-Lucasfilm-Unveils-First-New-EU-Star-Wars-Novels>is rebooting Star Wars' extended canon, these are the last episodes to receive George Lucas' seal of approval. That's a pretty significant turning point, and it's nice that to see these episodes won't just be buried in a Star Wars archive somewhere.

The new Lucasfilm series, Star Wars: Rebels, officially premieres next week. While there's a possibility <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/126389-Star-Wars-Rebels-Returns-to-Classic-Trilogy-Roots>the new show will be linked to previous Clone Wars episodes, the extent of this connection remains to be seen.

Source: <a href=http://www.starwars.com/video/the-clone-wars-legacy>Star Wars, via <a href=http://ca.ign.com/articles/2014/09/25/unfinished-star-wars-the-clone-wars-episodes-released>IGN

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[Basement Cat]

I can dig this.

The original Dungeons and Dragons animated series from the 80's ended without the very final episode being made. MTV's Downtown from the late 90's was cancelled before they played the very last episode of the season: They played it once, years later, without warning, late at night, somewhere, and I only saw it because I bought the limited DVD collection which was available solely under the cover of being "advertisement" or something.

I never watched the Clone Wars series but I have thought about buying up the collected series and having closure like this available is always good.

Basement Cat approves. ^_^

 

[Nimcha]

I really like this series and every time I watch an episode I'm like 'Yeah this is pretty awesome' but I always forget to keep watching... >.>

 

[Sniper Team 4]

I enjoyed this series I suppose. It could have been so much more if they had stuck with what they promised it would be: Ashoka's story, with Anakin, Obi, and the others being the supporting cast, not the other way around.

But anyway! I will have to give this a watch! I see that it deals with what happened to Ashoka after she quit. Good. It drove me nuts that they just stopped after that. I'll be sure to take a look later.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

The confirmation that TCW is part of the Old Canon and doesn't reflect the new material is going to piss a loooot of people off. I for one can't wait to laugh at their tears. Yeah, I'm pissed about the old EU being ditched too, but I got over my anger and just went back to enjoying good stories regardless of their validity.

 

[DoctorM]

Lucasfilm has released four unfinished episodes

I count 3: A Death on Utapau, In Search of the Crystal and Crystal Crisis.
Are they counting the 46 second clip of Big Bang as an episode?

 

[Ishal]

The confirmation that TCW is part of the Old Canon and doesn't reflect the new material is going to piss a loooot of people off. I for one can't wait to laugh at their tears. Yeah, I'm pissed about the old EU being ditched too, but I got over my anger and just went back to enjoying good stories regardless of their validity.

The EU didn't have a lot of quality material at all though. Death Troopers? The Yuuhzahn Vong? Having Palpatine come back as a clone, alright... fair. Making Thrawn a somewhat compelling villain, killing him, then having him also come back as a clone? That is some tepid anime/fan fiction tier writing. And it was quite common.

OT: TCW was never good in my eyes. It started out bad, then just got slightly less bad over time. It was really random, and didn't handle dark themes well at all. It touched on a lot of mature topics, but handled them clumsily. Oh, Lucas wanted to comment on the dangers of the banks? Okay, let's have an episode about the Republic wanting to de regulate the banks to get the credits to fund more clones. Except... they'd be dealing with the Banking Clan, who signed a treaty aligning themselves as Separatists. The republic would not, and should not be dealing with them. But, as Lucas himself said when asked about issues like this, "Continuity is for wimps." So fuck it I guess?

Then they brought back Darth Maul, because someone told them he was a good villain, apparently? I dunno. Then... then they partnered him with a character called... "Savage Oppress." Savage... Oppress... I have no words.

It could have been better, and it's not like it didn't have good moments. The bounty hunters were handled really well. But it just wasn't enough. RIP TCW, you tried.

 

[faefrost]

The confirmation that TCW is part of the Old Canon and doesn't reflect the new material is going to piss a loooot of people off. I for one can't wait to laugh at their tears. Yeah, I'm pissed about the old EU being ditched too, but I got over my anger and just went back to enjoying good stories regardless of their validity.

I'm confused. Do you mean confirmation that the Clone Wars remains in cannon, while the rest of the EU got jettisoned? Because that was my take from all of this.

And the EU fans should never ever resent TCW. The creators of that show so obviously loved the EU and used every opportunity to bring EU elements over into the TCW cannon. From characters to planets to ships. Heck one of the last, sadly unfilmed, TCW stories they came up with was a Quinlan Vos and Ventriss team up.

And for those that haven't checked it out. The Clone Wars is really really good (provided you skip any JarJar, Padme or C3PO centric episodes. These are normally 2-3 per season. Especially skip the first season Padme, JarJar and 3PO one that involves hazmat suits). By the second and third seasons Clone Wars was someof the best stuff in the Star Wars Universe since Empire Strikes Back. Some of it is so dark you won't believe they got away with it on a children's network. If you can make it past the rather cheesy pilot movie, everything beyond that just gets better and better. some highlights include a Jedi + Bounty Hunter Magnificent 7 story arc that works really well, Loads of delicious Bounty Hunters. Almost anything with Ventriss or Cad Bane, and the 'Darkness on Umbarra" story arc which is one of the most gripping scifi war stories ever made.

sadly I am not yet sold on Rebels. The characters look a little to typical and tailor made to be cool and edgy. "Look the Jedi, he has a soul patch! And the Mando chick she's a pink grafiti hipster! see how cool they all are?!?!" Yeah I think it will be targeted younger and not have the same punch as Clone Wars or the movies.

 

[TehAardvark]

The confirmation that TCW is part of the Old Canon and doesn't reflect the new material is going to piss a loooot of people off. I for one can't wait to laugh at their tears. Yeah, I'm pissed about the old EU being ditched too, but I got over my anger and just went back to enjoying good stories regardless of their validity.

I'm confused. Do you mean confirmation that the Clone Wars remains in cannon, while the rest of the EU got jettisoned? Because that was my take from all of this.

And the EU fans should never ever resent TCW. The creators of that show so obviously loved the EU and used every opportunity to bring EU elements over into the TCW cannon.

No they took what elements they liked and butchered everything surrounding it. I was(AM in reality, it will always be my own canon preference) a fan of the EU. Plenty of shit sure, a lot of gold too, and the fact that that shitty CG show remains canon while jettisoning Thrawn, X-wing series, Darth Bane trilogy, & the Republic Commando series is just fucking pathetic.

Pretty much everything I've seen from Disney after this is just sad, and I had high hopes for them cleaning up the mess Lucas had made of his own IP. But this Rebels show looks like "TCW, but in the time people LIKE" smacks of pandering. The games look so much more generic. The books and comics and even worse now then they were. And this slow drip of "Who gives a fuck" info from the movie set are all collaborating to this "bad feeling". For christ's sake it's a movie about continuing Star Wars, bringing back all the old actors, re-working the timeline, filling in the intervening years.... and the news we get is "look there's a batmobile in the side of the Millenium Falcon now... no really you just have to squint!"

I should be more pissed off, 6 months ago I would have been, but I've just lost all interest anymore. I used to proudly call myself a Star Wars nerd, now I avoid the subject because the truth is just pathetic and complicated. I'm done, I'm the last person I thought would say this, but FUCK THIS SERIES!

 

[Ishal]

snip

Just a bit of advice, if you're going to be the salesperson to convince people to give a series a chance, it's probably best to keep the caveats to a minimum.

The Clone Wars is really really good (provided you skip any JarJar, Padme or C3PO centric episodes. These are normally 2-3 per season. Especially skip the first season Padme, JarJar and 3PO one that involves hazmat suits).By the second and third seasons Clone Wars was someof the best stuff in the Star Wars Universe since Empire Strikes Back. Some of it is so dark you won't believe they got away with it on a children's network. If you can make it past the rather cheesy pilot movie, everything beyond that just gets better and better.

That's what? 4 caveats? I'm supposed to skip parts of the first season? The season that's supposed to set up the rest of the series? C3PO and Padme episodes are bad? So they didn't handle some characters from the movies well?

And as for the bit about it being dark. You claim you're not sold on the new series? Fair. However, "dark" is more closely associated with being edgy than "cool." Dark =/= good storytelling, and it didn't make good storytelling in TCW. Darkness on Umbara sported one of the worst villains of the show. And with another villain being named "Savage Oppress," that's an accomplishment. A hamfisted mustache twirling jedi villain who hated clones because reasons. His ultimate goal being a desire to join the separatists and become a Sith. And his brilliant plan was to undermine the clones and get them killed? He's a Jedi, he could have and should have simply defected. But the writers needed a villain to pit the clones against. Just lazy.

I'm not exactly sold on the new series either. But it's looking a lot more promising than TCW did, and the setting is already better than the prequel era.

 

[DoctorM]

Lucasfilm has released four unfinished episodes

I count 3: A Death on Utapau, In Search of the Crystal and Crystal Crisis.
Are they counting the 46 second clip of Big Bang as an episode?

To clarify, StarWars.com shows the length of 'Big Bang' as 47 seconds, don't let that fool you, it is a full 23 minutes.
So yeah, a featurette, an introduction and 4 episodes. Nice.

 

[Trishbot]

The confirmation that TCW is part of the Old Canon and doesn't reflect the new material is going to piss a loooot of people off. I for one can't wait to laugh at their tears. Yeah, I'm pissed about the old EU being ditched too, but I got over my anger and just went back to enjoying good stories regardless of their validity.

Let me know when those "good stories" in the Star Wars universe popped up after they tossed out the Extended Universe.

I still can't believe something as great as Knights of the Old Republic is out, but Jar-Jar in all his glory was deemed more important and worth keeping around.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

The EU didn't have a lot of quality material at all though. Death Troopers? The Yuuhzahn Vong? Having Palpatine come back as a clone, alright... fair. Making Thrawn a somewhat compelling villain, killing him, then having him also come back as a clone? That is some tepid anime/fan fiction tier writing. And it was quite common.

Uhmmm Thrawn never came back as a clone. There was a clone of Thrawn but it never was awakened. There was a lot of hinting in Zahn's books that Thrawn faked his assassination, and Zahn himself stated that if the story called for it he might have revealed Thrawn was alive and well (and not a clone) but it never came to fruition. Yeah there was a lot of crap in the EU, but overall it was interesting stuff.
OT: I wasn't a fan of TCW especially because I enjoyed the hell out of Karen Traviss' Republic Commando/Imperial Commando series and the show fucked up that part of the canon so badly she quit writing the last commando book because she didn't want to waste so much paper on a retconned story.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

The confirmation that TCW is part of the Old Canon and doesn't reflect the new material is going to piss a loooot of people off. I for one can't wait to laugh at their tears. Yeah, I'm pissed about the old EU being ditched too, but I got over my anger and just went back to enjoying good stories regardless of their validity.

I'm confused. Do you mean confirmation that the Clone Wars remains in cannon, while the rest of the EU got jettisoned? Because that was my take from all of this.

And the EU fans should never ever resent TCW. The creators of that show so obviously loved the EU and used every opportunity to bring EU elements over into the TCW cannon. From characters to planets to ships. Heck one of the last, sadly unfilmed, TCW stories they came up with was a Quinlan Vos and Ventriss team up.

Clone Wars is old canon now. It's over and done with.

And I've got plenty of reasons to resent TCW. I enjoyed most of the show, but as it went on, it got dumber and dumber. If the creators loved the EU, why did they bring up EU staples and then ignore everything about them? Korriban gets a name changed to Moriband, which is not only moronic and on the nose, but the explanation was that Lucas thought people would be too stupid to tell the difference between Korriban and Coruscant. Because mixing up a city planet and ancient Sith Egypt happens to often.

Or making the Mandalorians, a culture known for their warriors, predominantly pacifists and Jango Fett was never a true Mandalorian but a thug who stole their armor.

Or killing Evan Piel and Adi Gallia when one was slain in the comics by Grievous, while the other managed to survive Order 66 for a time?

Or turning Quinlan Vos into a surfer dude instead of a deep cover operative infiltrating Dooku's inner circle? Or making Ventress go rogue rather than her escape late in the Clone Wars? Or how Ryloth has a day night cycle despite being tidal locked? Or how the Dathomir Witches changed from Rancor riding force users to literal double bubble toil and trouble witches? Or how Darth Maul and Oppress aren't actually Zabraks but male Dathomiri, while Eeth Koth and Agen Kolar are still Zabraks?

Quinlan Voss escaped the clone wars and went on to have a child with a woman he saved from prostitution. Having a romantic team up with Ventress of all people, good god.

 

[Scarim Coral]

While I glad they get to finish off their stories in graphic novel format but I won't be buying it (I don't buy comicbook). Maybe if maybe at some point in the future, the local library may have it for me to borrow out to read.