I’m here to tell you it’s passé to dislike the prequels and the Clone Wars cartoons and the great Bearded One. It’s cool again to like Star Wars (though the really cool kids never stopped and never chose between trilogies). But instead of Ewoks or Droids, we have Clone Wars. And it’s something we should be thankful for. I mean, let’s be honest, as awesome as it was to see a hundred Jedi flare up their lightsabers around the arena on Geonosis and tear the place apart with the aid of the mysteriously acquired Clone Army, it was simply the spark that started an intense, explosive conflict. And as breathtaking as it was to watch that final, desperate battle over Coruscant after Grievous’ daring maneuver to kidnap the Chancellor, we were watching the close of a war we never saw. Clone Wars fills in that gap. I’ll admit, I wasn’t completely sold after the theatrical Clone Wars kick-off. I enjoyed it, but there was something missing that I wasn’t able to put my finger on until I had watched the first few episodes of the show. The problem? It’s a Saturday matinee (or Friday night in this case) serial in every sense of the word and it needs those carefully placed pauses and cliffhangers for the structure to work. Scotch taping three episodes together doesn’t give it the air it needs to breath. My advice to you is to start watching with Friday’s episode. It’s called “The Lair of Grievous” and it’s about Kit Fisto and his former Mon Calamari padawan finding themselves in Grievous’ lair and it looks to be dark and thrilling and fantastic. (Here’s the trailer.) I can practically guarantee that, after a few episodes, you’ll want to watch the prequels again and when you do, you’re in for a pleasant surprise. Bryan Young is a regular contributor to Huffington Post and writes about Clone Wars and other geekiness at Big Shiny Robot. [He’s also a film producer – ED]
