Last night Star Wars: The Clone Wars premiered on Cartoon Network with two episodes. I saw the movie that was out in theaters in August, so I already had a good idea of what to expect. The series uses a unique style of animation that seems to be about halfway between realism and cartoon. The style seems to work pretty well in combination with the style of action, dialog, and plot that are targeted more or less at children.

For me, watching a children’s animated series as an adult is kind of a strange experience. I find myself thinking how much I would have loved this series when I was eleven and just discovering Star Wars. But now, it can be a bit of a struggle to get past the heavily cliched and cheesy dialog.

Nonetheless, the two episodes were somewhat enjoyable. The first episode followed Yoda as he and three Clone Troopers battled legions of the Seperatist’s Droid Army in order to prove the worth of siding with the Republic to the Toydarian king. The plot made little sense and the attempts at comic relief with the Battle Droid dialog were pathetic. However, Yoda kicked some serious butt and the action scenes were pretty cool.

The second episode followed Anakin Skywalker and his new apprentice, Ahsoka, as they searched for survivors of recent space battle. The episode also featured Jedi Master Plo Koon who was in command of a  small Republic fleet when it came up against the Seperatist’s new weapon, a huge battle cruiser armed with a gigantic ion cannon (reminiscent of the one on Hoth in The Empire Strikes Back). When the ion cannon hit the Republic ships, they all lost power and the Seperatist cruiser blasted them to pieces. Plo Koon and three Clone Troopers managed to escape in a life pod and were eventually found by Anakin and Ahsoka.

Though the second episode didn’t contain the same level of action as the first, I found that I enjoyed it more. The plot was a lot more believable and compelling. It was also interesting to follow Plo Koon for much of episode, who proved to be a fairly interesting character. Luckily, it also had less cheesiness than the first episode, so that helped too.

Overall, I think the series will probably end up being something that children may enjoy quite a lot. Fortunately, I think there is also enough positive factors that adults can also enjoy the show as well, but probably to a lesser extent.

When I first saw Star Wars at age 11, I was completely captured by its magic. I began watching the movies obsessively, collecting action figures and other memorabilia, and reading the novels. I became very excited about Star Wars and drew a lot of inspiration from it. As I got older and the prequels came out, I still had a lot of enthusiasm for Star Wars, but it started to ebb. Shortly after Revenge of the Sith came out, my interest really dropped off.

When I heard that the Clone Wars television series was going to debut on the big screen, I was intrigued, but not terribly excited. Nonetheless, I did my duty as a loyal fan and made my way to the cinema last night to see the movie. Overall, I’m glad I went to see it, but to be brutally honest, it was terrible. The movie combined all of the cheesey lines of the prequels with stiff animation, a lame plot, and less-than-stellar voice acting.

It’s terrible to say, but I wish George Lucas would just relinquish his grip on the Star Wars universe. It’s like he just doesn’t care what people think of his projects anymore, like he’s only out to please himself, and the results have not been good. The dialogue, as expected, was terrible, especially between Anakin and Ahsoka, the animation was passable, and the plot was just stupid. And what was the deal with Ziro the Hutt? That was just unsettling.

Now, despite the fact that the movie was pretty awful, there were a few bright spots. First of all, there were some very cool lightsaber duels and battle scenes. Second, many of the children in the audience seemed to enjoy it pretty well, so this might be a good movie to take your kids to.

Overall, I’ve got a bad feeling about the television series. My expectations are pretty low at this point, but I still plan to give it a chance.

Lucasfilm announced today that the upcoming “Clone Wars” animated television series will kick off with a feature hitting theaters August 15, 2008. The series will then premiere on Cartoon Network and continue regular airings on TNT.

The series takes place during the Clone Wars, which falls between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, and will feature Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Padme Amidala from the movies and new characters, such as Anakin’s padawan, Ahsoka.

Personally, I am very excited about this announcement. For months now, Lucasfilm has confirmed that they were working on the “Clone Wars” series at their facility in Singapore and suggested a late 2008 debut, but little more. Now, not only do we have confirmation that the series will air this fall, but we also get a feature film out of the deal too. For a Star Wars junkie like myself, this is awesome news. I really didn’t think that their would ever be another Star Wars film in theaters, but this opens the doors to all kinds of new possibilities.

Starwars.com has put up a nice video about the series that you should check out if you are interested.