Star Wars: The Clone Wars Season 2 Blu-Ray Review

• 14th Oct 2010

Here we have season two of Star Wars: The Clone Wars in hi-def Blu-Ray format.

Please note: this review is based on only the first eight episodes of the season, which it seems logical to assume represents disc 1 in the retail release.

So, before we get to the dramatic content itself; let us start with a quick delve into the hi-def aspect of this release as many folks are still reluctant to make the move to Blu-Ray and remain unconvinced of its merits. Arguments still break out over the question of whether or not you really notice the benefit of a Blu-Ray release over standard DVD. The internet is replete with fairly unscientific and yet not wholly unconvincing ‘experiments’ where scores of passers-by line up to be shown an image in both standard and hi-def formats side by side and then asked to determine which is which (and of course more often than not, they can’t). Silly tests like this aside; I think it’s fair to say that in general these disagreements are becoming fewer and further between. However, there are some variables in the mix that can have an influence on the viewer one way or another. The main ones being the performance capability of your playback hardware, as well as the quality of the source content itself and its transfer to the hi-def medium. These things accepted however, I think that most folks would agree that a good Blu-Ray title viewed on a decent full HD TV should look pretty darn impressive, and the Clone Wars DVD under review here is no exception.

Of course CG animation has long been almost by default; a major beneficiary of the hi-def environment. Something about the inherent clarity of a good CG image lending itself to that dense pixel count I guess. Slipping the review disc in and punching up the first episode, I was immediately struck by how nice it looked. I was of course expecting it to be good, but this was really good! At this stage I should mention that all ‘frame smoothing’ and other ‘enhancement’ wizgigs on my TV were turned off, but the set itself is THX certified, which could possibly give it a tiny edge when displaying Lucasfilm products compared to other hardware.
It’s also unfortunate I did not have a standard DVD copy to do a comparison test. These points aside; it was immediately apparent that this presentation was going to prove a class act and so it was.

There were times while progressing through the episodes that I got a palpable sense that all those technical variables mentioned earlier were coming together absolutely perfectly in some sort of technological symbiosis; ramping up my appreciation levels immensely.
Visually, it’s stunning. Everything just pops out at you with a vibrancy and energy that makes the viewing experience incredibly rich and rewarding right from scene one. 3D? Who needs it when a great 2D image pops like this one can?!

Things get even better when the first large scale battle scenes arrive a few episodes in. This is the kind of stuff that can make or break one’s overall impression of a hi-def transfer and again The Clone Wars delivers sumptuous quality and effortless ability to impress. The sound mix was cheerful enough and as you would expect from Lucasfilm all the staple Star Wars soundfonts are in full effect and sounding glorious.
C

onsidering this is an episodic TV show (albeit a high budget one), I am blown away by this consistent dynamic quality and range. My personal hi-def CG animation benchmark in this area is Pixar’s Wall-E and I must say it measures up very well.

OK, so the hi-def muscles are flexing all over the place, what of the series’ dramatic content itself?

Well it’s Star Wars so let’s take a deep breath and begin…

Being old enough to have experienced Episode IV: A New Hope at the cinema when it was just Star Wars, I’m at first glance your typical “Bah! Humbug!” original trilogy devotee. You know the type: everything after Return of the Jedi (and even aspects of that movie itself) basically suck, or at least are to be considered as pale imitations of the true Star Wars spirit. We tend to believe that George Lucas got drunk on the cute and fuzzy, lost his way and abandoned some kind of holy mandate we, as original fans tried in vain to hold him to. As such, you could be forgiven for assuming I was never gonna be a fan of some CG animated Star Wars series.
You would be wrong.

In a strange and almost karmic twist of irony I feel that in many ways the direction Lucas has gone with this series is perfect for Star Wars, certainly Star Wars as we have come to know it since Episode 1 (and let’s face it, we are never going to get another Empire Strikes Back).

By which I mean that the very heavy reliance on completely CG rendered environments, vehicles and even characters in the prequel movies that are often unconvincing, annoying and disappointing to us old nags; and the slightly lightweight feel to proceedings actually serves this series very well indeed and makes the bonds between the movies and the series that much more homogenous and instantly familiar. It works.
Clone Wars looks and feels fresh and exciting, yet also smooth, well oiled and in complete control of its own place in the Star Wars pantheon. Almost like (and I’m aware of the gravitas of the following statement); like this is somehow what Star Wars should have been all along…

Each episode begins with (in my opinion) a slightly awkward rearrangement of the familiar John Williams opening theme, and an adaptation of the ‘A long time ago….’ script, which instead offers a different quote, or truism every time. Then we get a proper Flash Gordon style clip montage of events so far, including pulp sci-fi voice over to bring us all up to speed. This can grate a little, but it’s perfectly in keeping with Lucas’s oft stated pulp influences on the original conception of Star Wars so we can’t get too bent out of shape over it. I’m just glad the montages are not of the ‘coming up’ variety that show you tiny clips of the episode you’re about to watch! I hate those. After one spoiler frame too many, I got into the habit of covering my eyes during the ‘coming up’ montages in Battlestar Galactica, which I otherwise thoroughly enjoyed.

In tried and tested episodic sci-fi TV style, each episode either serves the greater Clone Wars story arc directly, or introduces a weekly McGuffin to provide the drive and drama, these shows still adding to the bigger picture in a more subtle and admittedly contrived way. Personally, I don’t mind this approach at all, it’s nigh on impossible to generate a weekly show which never does the ‘b’ story McGuffin trick. However, for the most part; it is done here with delicacy, and a mindfulness to maintaining high quality.

Design, animation, artistic direction, lighting and cinematography are of a very high standard, with great attention to detail. I noticed some lovely Ridley Scott like lighting set-ups creeping in here and there, and action sequences are handled with precision and flare, without resorting to any post-matrix camera malarkey.

The space scenes look fantastic, and we are regularly treated to vistas that are a match of anything seen in the movies. It’s that good.

Dialogue is on the right side of classic Lucasbabble and the CG characters are believable, likeable and no more wooden than their live action counterparts. Less so maybe. Oddly, it is some of the characters that are not in the live action movies that shine the brightest for me (Anakin’s Padawan learner Ahsoka Tano being an obvious example).

As stated previously I was only able to base this review on the first 8 episodes of the season but even with this limitation I found them to be both nicely varied in theme, pace and scope. Some being closed in and tight, while others epic and expansive.

At this point I would do a quick rundown of the bonus extras included, however I feel it would be disingenuous in this instance, and I can only comment on those present on the incomplete review disc. We get a couple of reasonable short docs regarding bringing various aspects of the production to life, plus a thing called the Jedi Archives, which allows the user to view conceptual and animatic artworks relating to each episode. I would imagine that the complete pack will feature similar bonus material on each disc.

So to sum up, I guess when it comes down to it, the fact that I am now desperate to see the concluding episodes is a good indicator to me that season 2 of Star Wars: The Clone Wars has hit the spot dead on. The Blu-Ray looks and sounds great.
Well done Mr. Lucas and co. I think you just scored a bullseye and made an old Star Wars snob very happy to be at least partially back in the fold.

Ben Pegley