Star Wars: Clone Wars (2003 TV series)

Not to be confused with Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008 TV series), Star Wars: The Clone Wars (film), or Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2002 video game)

Star Wars: Clone Wars (2003 TV series)
Genre:	Military science fiction Action Adventure
Developed by:	George Lucas
Directed by:	Genndy Tartakovsky
Voices of:	Mat Lucas James Arnold Taylor Tom Kane Grey DeLisle Anthony Daniels Corey Burton André Sogliuzzo Richard McGonagle Nick Jameson
Theme music composer:	John Williams
Composer(s):	James L. Venable Paul Dinletir
Country of origin:	United States
Language(s):	English
No. of seasons:	3
No. of episodes:	25
Production
Executive producer(s):	Brian A. Miller George Lucas
Producer(s):	Shareena Carlson (Season 3; line producer, Season 1–2)
Running time:	Season 1–2: 3–5 minutes Season 3: 12–15 minutes
Production company(s):	Lucasfilm Ltd. Lucasfilm Animation Rough Draft Studios 20th Century Fox Television
Distributor:	20th Television
Broadcast
Original channel:	Fox Broadcasting Company Cartoon Network
First aired:	November 7, 2003 (2003-11-07)
Last aired:	March 25, 2005 (2005-03-25)

Star Wars: Clone Wars is an American animated television micro-series set in the Star Wars universe and developed and drawn by Genndy Tartakovsky. Produced and released between the films Episode II: Attack of the Clones and Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, it is amongst the first of many works to explore the conflict known as the Clone Wars, and directly leads to the events of Revenge of the Sith. The show follows the actions of various characters from the Star Wars prequel trilogy, notably Jedi and clone troopers, in their war against the battle droid armies of the Confederacy of Independent Systems and the Sith. The series is notable for introducing Revenge of the Sith villain General Grievous.

The series aired on Fox Broadcasting Company and Cartoon Network for three seasons consisting of 25 episodes altogether from 2003 to 2005, and was the first Star Wars Legends television series since Ewoks (1985–1986). The first two seasons of Clone Wars, released on DVD as "Volume One", were produced in episodes ranging from two to three minutes, while the third season consisted of five 12-minute episodes comprising "Volume Two". Since its release, the series has received critical acclaim and won multiple awards, including the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program for both volumes. Its success led to it being spun off as the half-hour CGI series The Clone Wars. After The Walt Disney Company acquired Lucasfilm and the rights to the Star Wars franchise in 2012, the 2003 animated series was declared to be non-canonical and placed under the Star Wars Spin-Off banner, although elements of the series have since been referenced in canonical works.

Plot

Clone Wars is part of the Star Wars prequel storyline, surrounding the fall of esteemed Jedi Anakin Skywalker and his subsequent transformation into the Sith lord Darth Vader. The series begins shortly after Attack of the Clones, as the failing Galactic Republic and the Jedi Order are under siege from the Separatist Confederacy of Independent Systems and the Sith. As the war rages, more and more planets slip from Republic control.

Synopsis

The main storyline of Volume One features the Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi leading an assault on the planet Muunilinst, home of the Intergalactic Banking Clan, benefactors of the Separatists wishing to break away from the Republic. His apprentice, Anakin, is personally appointed to lead the space forces by Supreme Chancellor Palpatine. Meanwhile, Separatist leader Count Dooku takes in the Force-sensitive Asajj Ventress as his Sith apprentice and sends her to eliminate Anakin. Anakin diverts his attention in the middle of the space battle to pursue Ventress to Yavin 4, where he manages to defeat her in a lightsaber duel by drawing on his anger.

Surrounding this storyline are various battles focusing on other Jedi and their wartime exploits: Master Mace Windu faces a droid army unarmed on Dantooine, Master Yoda travels to the ice world Ilum to save two imperiled Jedi, the amphibious Kit Fisto leads an aquatic regiment of clone troopers on the waterworld Mon Calamari, and a team of Jedi encounter the dreaded General Grievous on Hypori.

Volume Two picks up at the conclusion to the Hypori battle: Obi-Wan sends his team of ARC troopers to Hypori to rescue the Jedi from Grievous. The Republic is desperate, and after much consideration, the Jedi Council decides to promote Anakin to the rank of Jedi Knight. The series then jumps ahead to nearly the end of the war, when Anakin has become a more powerful Jedi. He aids Obi-Wan in capturing a fortress, saves Saesee Tiin in space battle, and rescues Jedi from crab droids.

Anakin and Obi-Wan are assigned to search for Grievous on the planet Nelvaan, but instead end up liberating a group of Nelvaanians who had been enslaved and mutated by the Separatist Techno Union. While rescuing the Nelvaan warriors, Anakin sees a cryptic vision of his eventual transformation into Darth Vader. Meanwhile, Grievous leads an assault on Coruscant and, despite the best efforts of Yoda, Windu, Shaak Ti, and others, kidnaps Palpatine for his master, Dooku. Anakin and Obi-Wan then set out to rescue the Chancellor over Coruscant, leading directly into the beginning of Revenge of the Sith.

Continuity

Several attempts were made to maintain continuity with the overall saga, most notably bridging Episode II – Attack of the Clones and Episode III – Revenge of the Sith. Anakin appears with his new lightsaber (as it appears in Episode III) after his first was destroyed in the previous film. In "Chapter 21", C-3PO makes his first appearance in gold plating and Anakin is knighted; he sends his Padawan braid to Padmé, who stores it with the necklace he gave her in The Phantom Menace. It is implied that Anakin and Padmé may conceive the Skywalker twins on Naboo in "Chapter 22".

General Grievous' cough in Revenge of the Sith was intended to emphasize his organic nature as well as the flaws of having cyborg prosthetics. Grievous had previously appeared in Clone Wars before many of his personality traits had been finalized. To reconcile the differences between the two presentations, the Clone Wars production crew inserted a scene in "Chapter 25" of Mace Windu Force-crushing the chestplate housing Grievous's internal organs.

Volume Two shares aspects of its storyline with the novel Labyrinth of Evil, which was created at the same time. In the series, Anakin and Obi-Wan investigate a possible base for Grievous on Nelvaan prior to returning to Coruscant, but in the novel, they pursue Count Dooku on Tythe; Dooku briefly pauses at Nelvaan when escaping to Coruscant. According to The New Essential Chronology, the events on Nelvaan occurred before those on Tythe, with the final scene of Obi-Wan and Anakin getting the message from Mace on the cruiser taking place afterwards.

Clone Wars served as a pilot for the half-hour CGI The Clone Wars. The character designer for the latter series attempted to translate aspects of the character designs from the 2D series to 3D. It was originally reported that the new series would not supersede the continuity of the 2003 series, but following Disney's acquisition of Lucasfilm, in 2014, it was announced that 2008's The Clone Wars was considered canon, while the 2D series went unmentioned. However, Den of Geek's Ryan Britt notes that the final arc of The Clone Wars does not necessarily negate the final arc of the earlier series.

Production

The series was produced and directed by Genndy Tartakovsky, the creator of Dexter's Laboratory and Samurai Jack, and employs a similar animation style to the latter. According to Tartakovsky, the series was developed in two weeks and created by a small crew.

Tartakovsky stated that he purposely animated C-3PO with moveable expressive eyes to pay homage to his animated appearances in The Star Wars Holiday Special and Droids. Additionally, the planet Nelvaan's name was a nod to Nelvana, the production company that produced all previous Star Wars animated series. In "Chapter 21", a Dulok appears, a species introduced in Ewoks. According to art director Paul Rudish, the Banking Clan planet of Muunilinst was designed to look like a U.S. dollar bill.

Voice cast

• Anakin Skywalker (Mat Lucas)
• Obi-Wan Kenobi (James Arnold Taylor)
• Yoda (Tom Kane)
• Mace Windu (Terrence "T.C." Carson)
• C-3PO (Anthony Daniels)
• San Hill (Corey Burton)
• Count Dooku (Corey Burton)
• Asajj Ventress (Grey DeLisle)
• Palpatine / Darth Sidious (Nick Jameson)
• Clone troopers (André Sogliuzzo)
• Padmé Amidala (Grey DeLisle)
• General Grievous (John DiMaggio (Seasons 2) and Richard McGonagle (Season 3))
• Capitain Typho (André Sogliuzzo)
• Saesee Tiin (Terrence T.C. Carson)
• Ki-Adi-Mundi (Daran Norris)
• Shaak Ti (Grey DeLisle)
• Kit Fisto (Richard McGonagle)

Broadcast

The series originally ran on Cartoon Network. In addition to being shown on television, the episodes were released online simultaneously on the Star Wars and Cartoon Network websites. It was heavily advertised by the channel, and was originally shown immediately before their popular Friday-night programming block, 'Fridays'.

Episodes

Season		Episodes		Originally aired
				First aired	Last aired
	1	10		November 7, 2003 (2003-11-07)	November 20, 2003 (2003-11-20)
	2	10		March 26, 2004 (2004-03-26)	April 8, 2004 (2004-04-08)
	3	5		March 22, 2005 (2005-03-22)	March 26, 2005 (2005-03-26)

Season 1 (2003)

The first season consisted of 10 episodes, lasting three minutes each. Along with the second season, it was released on DVD as Volume One.

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Original air date	Prod. code

<tbody> </tbody>

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Original air date	Prod. code

Season 2 (2004)

The second season consisted of 10 episodes, lasting three minutes each. Along with the first season, it was released on DVD as Volume One.

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Original air date	Prod. code

Season 3 (2005)

The third and final season consisted of five episodes, lasting 12 minutes each. These episodes were released on DVD as Volume Two.

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Original air date	Prod. code

Reception

Critical response

According to the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 80% of critics have given season 1 a positive review based on 5 reviews. In 2009, Clone Wars was ranked 21 on IGN's Top 100 Animated Series list.

Awards and nominations

Award	Type	Season(s)	Year
Saturn Award for "Best Television Presentation" in the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA	Nominated	1 and 2	2004
Emmy Award for "Outstanding Animated Program (for Programming One Hour or More)"	Won	1 and 2	2004
Emmy Award for "Outstanding Animated Program (for Programming One Hour or More)"	Won	3	2005
Emmy Award to background key designer Justin Thompson for "Outstanding Individual in Animation"	Won	3	2005
Annie Award for "Best Animated Television Production"	Won	3	2006

Home media

Both volumes were distributed by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (currently 20th Century Studios Home Entertainment), making it one of the few have their Home Media releases released through.

Title	Release date		Chapters
	Region 1	Region 2
Star Wars: Clone Wars: Volume One	March 22, 2005	May 9, 2005	1–20
This release contains all 20 of the show's 3-minute episodes, edited together into one continuous feature with English subtitles and an optional commentary track. Extras include art galleries, behind the scenes information, and the featurette "Bridging the Saga: From Clone Wars to Revenge of the Sith", the Revenge of the Sith teaser trailer: with interviews of George Lucas, Genndy Tartakovsky, and the production crew. The disc also features a glimpse of Star Wars: Clone Wars – Volume Two, an Episode III game trailer, and a playable level of the Xbox game Star Wars: Republic Commando.
Star Wars: Clone Wars: Volume Two	December 6, 2005	December 5, 2005	21–25
This release contains all 5 of the show's 12-minute episodes, edited together into one continuous feature with English subtitles and an optional commentary track. Extras include a Revenge of the Sith movie trailer, art galleries, trailers for the Star Wars games Battlefront II and Empire at War, an Xbox demo with two levels from Battlefront II, and the Lego short film Revenge of the Brick. Also included was the featurette "Connecting the Dots", which highlighted the creative process that Genndy Tartakovsky and his team used to link Clone Wars to Revenge of the Sith.

Merchandising

A series of Hasbro action figures was released in the years of the series' run, including four Walmart-exclusive "Commemorative DVD Collection" 3-packs (which did not include a DVD). Dark Horse Comics also published a ten-volume comic series titled Clone Wars – Adventures, which utilized the style of the 2D animated series and depicts original stories set during the era; the last issue was published in 2007.

References

Footnotes

Citations

External links

Template:Wikipedia books

• Star Wars: Clone Wars at the Internet Movie Database
• Template:Wookieepedia
• Template:Tv.com show
• Template:Bcdb

{{{header}}}
{{{body}}}

v - e - dRelations to the navigation articles collection

Template:Annie Award for Best Animated Television Production Template:EmmyAward AnimationLessThanHour {{{header}}} {{{body}}} v - e - dGenndy Tartakovsky Television series Dexter's Laboratory • Samurai Jack • Sym-Bionic Titan Films Dexter's Laboratory: Ego Trip • Hotel Transylvania • Hotel Transylvania 2 • Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation • Gwen and Dan Lucasfilm Ltd. Parent company: The Walt Disney Company Divisions Industrial Light and Magic | Lucasfilm Animation | LucasArts | Skywalker Sound Former divisions: Pixar | THX Star Wars Original Trilogy (1977-1983): IV - A New Hope | V - The Empire Strikes Back | VI - Return of the Jedi Prequel Trilogy (1999-2005): I - The Phantom Menace | II - Attack of the Clones | III - Revenge of the Sith Sequel Trilogy (2015-2019): VII - The Force Awakens | VIII - The Last Jedi | IX Star Wars Anthology (2016-ongoing): Rogue One | Solo Indiana Jones Raiders of the Lost Ark | Temple of Doom | The Last Crusade | Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Willow Willow American Graffiti American Graffiti | More American Graffiti Laser Warriors Laser Warriors: Episode I - The New Ship | Laser Warriors: Episode V - Attaclk of the Aliens | Laser Warriors: Episode VI - Revenge of the Tripod Voyage of the Pirates Voyage of the Pirates | Voyage of the Pirates 2: Dragon Prince | Voyage of the Pirates 3: Island of Thieves | Voyage of the Pirates 4: Tales of the Spirit | Voyage of the Pirates 5: Sea of Thieves Titan Warriors TV series: Star Wars: Droids | Star Wars: Ewoks | Hey Vern It's Ernest | Maniac Mansion | The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles | Laser Warriors: Alien Wars | Star Wars: Clone Wars | Star Wars: The Clone Wars | Star Wars Rebels | LEGO Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures | Star Wars Resistance TV films: Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure | Ewoks: The Battle for Endor Other films: THX 1138 | Twice Upon a Time | Latino (uncredited) | Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters | Labyrinth | Howard the Duck | Tucker: The Man and His Dream | Willow | The Land Before Time (uncredited) | Radioland Murders | Red Tails | Area 51 | Strange Magic Template:Rough Draft Studios v - e - d Current 1990s debuts ToonHeads (since 1992) • The Moxy Show (since 1993) • Space Ghost Coast to Coast (since 1994) • What a Cartoon! (since 1995) • Cartoon Planet (since 1995; since 2012) • Dexter's Laboratory (since 1996) • Big Bag (since 1996) • The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest (since 1996) • The Tex Avery Show (since 1996) • The Fantastic Voyages of Sinbad the Sailor (since 1996) • Johnny Bravo (since 1997) • Cow and Chicken (since 1997) • I Am Weasel (since 1997) • The Powerpuff Girls (since 1998) • Ed, Edd n Eddy (since 1999) • Courage the Cowardly Dog (since 1999) • Mike, Lu & Og (since 1999) 2000s debuts JBVO (since 2000) • The Bob Clampett Show (since 2000) • Sheep in the Big City (since 2000) • Time Squad (since 2001) • Samurai Jack (since 2001) • Grim & Evil (since 2001) • Justice League (since 2001) • The Popeye Show (since 2001) • Baby Looney Tunes (since 2002) • Whatever Happened to... Robot Jones? (since 2002) • Codename: Kids Next Door (since 2002) • What's New, Scooby-Doo? (since 2002) • The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy (since 2003) • Evil Con Carne (since 2003) • Teen Titans (since 2003) • Duck Dodgers (since 2003) • Star Wars: Clone Wars (since 2003) • Megas XLR (since 2004) • Justice League Unlimited (since 2004) • Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends (since 2004) • The Batman (since 2004) • Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi (since 2004) • Krypto the Superdog (since 2005) • The Life and Times of Juniper Lee (since 2005) • Camp Lazlo (since 2005) • Firehouse Tales (since 2005) • My Gym Partner's a Monkey (since 2005) • Ben 10 (since 2005) • Squirrel Boy (since 2006) • Ellen's Acres (since 2006) • Class of 3000 (since 2006) • The Land Before Time (since 2007) • Out of Jimmy's Head (since 2007) • Chowder (since 2007) • Transformers: Animated (since 2007) • Chop Socky Chooks (since 2008) • Ben 10: Alien Force (since 2008) • The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack (since 2008) • The Secret Saturdays (since 2008) • Batman: The Brave and the Bold (since 2008) • The Othersiders (since 2009) • BrainRush (since 2009) • Destroy Build Destroy (since 2009) • Bobb'e Says (since 2009) • Dude, What Would Happen (since 2009) 2010s debuts Adventure Time (since 2010) • Ben 10: Ultimate Alien (since 2010) • Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated (since 2010) • Generator Rex (since 2010) • Unnatural History (since 2010) • Mad (since 2010) • Regular Show (since 2010) • Sym-Bionic Titan (since 2010) • Tower Prep (since 2010) • Robotomy (since 2010) • Young Justice (since 2010) • The Problem Solverz (since 2011) • The Amazing World of Gumball (since 2011) • The Looney Tunes Show (since 2011) • ThunderCats (since 2011) • Secret Mountain Fort Awesome (since 2011) • Level Up (since 2012) • Green Lantern: The Animated Series (since 2012) • Dragons (since 2012) • Ben 10: Omniverse (since 2012) • Teen Titans Go! (since 2013) • Incredible Crew (since 2013) • Teen Titans Go! (since 2013) • Beware the Batman (since 2013) • Uncle Grandpa (since 2013) • Steven Universe (since 2013) • Mixels (since 2014) • The Tom and Jerry Show (since 2014) • Clarence (since 2014) • Over the Garden Wall (since 2014) • We Bare Bears (since 2015) • New Looney Tunes (since 2015) • Be Cool, Scooby-Doo! (since 2015) • Long Live the Royals (since 2015) • Bunnicula (since 2016) • The Powerpuff Girls (since 2016) • Mighty Magiswords (since 2016) • Justice League Action (since 2016) • Ben 10 (since 2017) • OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes (since 2017) • Unikitty! (since 2017) • Apple & Onion (since 2018) • Summer Camp Island (since 2018) • DC Super Hero Girls (since 2019) • Victor and Valentino (since 2019) • Mao Mao: Heroes of Pure Heart (since 2019) • Infinity Train (since 2019) • Steven Universe Future (since 2019) 2020s debuts ThunderCats Roar (since 2020) • Elliott from Earth (since 2021) • The Fungies! (since 2021) • Looney Tunes Cartoons (since 2021) • Tig n' Seek (since 2021) • Jellystone! (since 2021) • We Baby Bears (since 2022) • Tiny Toons Looniversity (since 2023) • Jessica's Big Little World (since 2023) • The Heroic Quest of the Valiant Prince Ivandoe (since 2023) See also Current original series • Cartoon Network Studios (co-productions, films) • Warner Bros. Animation Template:Toonami-anime