Revisiting a Classic - "STAR WARS: Vintage 2D Clone Wars" (2003) - Volume 1"

6 comments

Revisiting a Classic:

“Star Wars Vintage: Clone Wars 2D Micro-Series

Volume 1

(2003 - 2005)

https://images.ecency.com/DQmWgg92KkoLn2XSgZnoQEzhNHKC4gewJSkzVv1YzB5sxJ8/img_3591.jpg

Hey fellow Hivers! Right now, I’m kind of on a Star Wars kick. Playing 2003’s Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic watching Disney Plus’s The Mandalorian.

https://images.ecency.com/DQmNTM8Gy77sm6AKZZh5eHNAMhjNA2oaN8oayLYH2xmJ2j4/img_3089.gif

Darth Malak from "Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic"

https://media.giphy.com/media/q4o07mV3Zu5Hgq6bwe/giphy.gif
Din Dejarin from "The Mandalorian"

George Lucas’s original trilogy had been out for decades before I was born but I did enjoy the prequel trilogy as a kid, and stomached the recent trilogy as best I could (the latest wasn’t awful but lacked the love and style of the trilogies before it).

Anyway, I was craving more Star Wars while away from my laptop at home that I’m currently playing a modded version of KOTOR from Steam on—and I just wanted a little more Star Wars!

So I opened up Brave and found a way to watch 2003’s Star Wars Vintage: 2D Clone Wars Micro-Series on 1080p. It’s strange, I could be mistaken but I feel like it used to be just called, “Star Wars: Clone Wars” but they made a CGI continuation and I think I read online that Disney made everything between the movie prequels and CGI Clone Wars no longer canon, as in theyre just “artistic interpretations” and no longer exist on the official Star Wars timeline. If that’s true, it’s a little disappointing because the 2D series was super bad-ass. The CGI version was good too but I remember thinking the 2D version was epic when it came out. Nothing reallt like the stylish visual-mastery of almost anything done by Gendy Tartovsky—Dexter’s Lab, Powerpuff Girls, Batman the Animated Series, Cow and Chicken, Samurai Jack, and most recently Primal.

![](https://images.ecency.com/DQmdU4T5fdZLwoKSTsDwGk645U4yDmfbF9hjNLX9URrheLg/img_8460.gif)

![](https://images.ecency.com/DQmctCtMQvXtdtsS1hcSXEUs7KX4X6kxygfM1xUTpSFFEp4/img_4320.gif)

https://images.ecency.com/DQmNanDrsAXWzA54ZZxp1nGsvzcin6s7eu9mB7pwjCi3MsD/image.png

Memorable Quote

The crystal is the heart of the blade.
The heart is the crystal of h the Jedi.
The Jedi is the crystal of the Force.
The Force is the blade of the heart.
All are intertwined:
The crystal,
the blade,
the Jedi.
You are one.

(Jedi Master Luminara, Clone Wars 2D, Volume 1, 2003)

This is a brief summary of all the little stories that make up Volume One, or the first one-hour episode:

https://images.ecency.com/DQmWD2G1hiELTasrNjzb2Bo1rPDcNb2d3kv1RaDyX3To7vX/screen_shot_2023_04_11_at_11.26.34_pm.png

Palpatine gives Anakin undeserved authority.

I love how quickly this series sets the scene and gets to the action -- no fluff, no useless chatter, just space-opera action!

https://images.ecency.com/DQmUBSFDp7HJPRTux2ED1GQ8d9H3Kyi4D76M1TJngegyBAo/screen_shot_2023_04_11_at_11.27.43_pm.png

Special Clone Troopers sneak into the city and destroy the anti-air cannons.

The Clone Soldiers were always a tragic concept--thousands of people all copied from the same man and forced into a situation where they were expected to be expendable: talk about identity issues.

https://images.ecency.com/DQmPTwaPoiMBgvpJxQ7SmUM1uBjBHc4iMda2VvQPBbiHLmd/screen_shot_2023_04_11_at_11.28.46_pm.png

A green hair-tentacle Jedi defeats Separatist in an underwater battle.

We never got to see a lot of this in the Star Wars universe so far: but lightsabers underwater is such an interesting concept, also just Jedi fighting in the ocean is so cool.

https://images.ecency.com/DQmXPYAmeanLaCacNoJvqvswGmNwrYSErWhuFfqe1CwuAqF/screen_shot_2023_04_11_at_11.32.44_pm.png

Obi-Wan fights a masked mercenary made or regenerating tentacles.

For the life of me, I can't remember what this crazy tentacle-merc's name was but he was quite the opponent--basically a giant squid pretending to be in the shape of a person.

https://images.ecency.com/DQmP6hV8wxrQsmDhf1b1juxyV5Yk4uzXUW9Hx5CVkQsU598/screen_shot_2023_04_11_at_11.30.28_pm.png

Dooku looks for a disciple and chooses Asaj Ventress, a bald alien woman with impressive Force and lightsaber ability.

Count Dooku was a character who didn't get enough screen time in the movies to my opinion -- or in Asaj Ventress's case, not at all -- but the fact that he was once Qui-Gon Jin's master, or Obi-Wan's master's master really shows the historosity of the Jedi Order.

![](https://images.ecency.com/DQmVtJpbE8Re3VFE5o5a3EVVTzAcSSJQGDbfDWdpndxfYvx/screen_shot_2023_04_11_at_11.35.08_pm.png)

![](https://images.ecency.com/DQmU6ivoLDwdQyZUvJKr9sRzK5AZUepgagrN92qTVskiidc/screen_shot_2023_04_11_at_11.35.19_pm.png)

Anakin chases Asaj in a space-fight before FTL’ingn after her, abandoninf Obi-Wan and the Clone Troops.

I'm not a big fan of racing or aerial fights but Star Wars is one of the few exceptions, the idea that real-live pilots could outmaneuver machine-driven aircraft is a little far-fetched but quite the romantic ideal.

https://images.ecency.com/DQmXSDdRxkPqjEiPNMxEbpntvYcVd9vxDybjsyzM5yji3fq/screen_shot_2023_04_11_at_11.36.12_pm.png

Mace Windu faces off against battle droids and a giant kinetic ship, which he all smoothly destroys with his excellent lightsaber ability and spectacular Force powers.

We never really got to see too much of Mace Windu's abilities in the live-action movies but he's basically a Jedi god in this sequence.

https://images.ecency.com/DQmPx9wdgA8CUxP9w7TSCZrSJxzwAJvbUikQa69UnbZadBX/screen_shot_2023_04_11_at_11.41.13_pm.png

https://images.ecency.com/DQme4ma1xj4p1upEh2FZhGpKrbtDEfcJbPQSpC85PxyL61D/screen_shot_2023_04_11_at_11.43.36_pm.png

Jedi Master Luminara recites teachings to her apprentice Barriss who is assembling a lightsaber in a Jedi Temple buikt within a Force crystal cave—before they are attacked by an army of stealth droids.

Sometimes it's easy to think of the Jedi in Star Wars as stuffy space-samurai but this section reminds the viewer that they're the last of an ancient order that had temples all around the galaxy and created their lightsabers from naturally-occurring crystals that they considered as holy. Also, we got to see some female Jedi dish-out a can of whoop ass!

https://images.ecency.com/DQmP6gHsZ4yD5YrkCpp2xR8kVvZnpecT7EPPfkbkawMNRgD/screen_shot_2023_04_11_at_11.43.50_pm.png

After Luminara and Barriss get trapped under crystal-cave rubble, Yoda force-persuades Padme’s bodyguard into flying to Illum to rescue the trapped Jedi.

I think this scene is supposed to be funny: Yoda force-persuading Padme's bodyguard into changing his mind -- but it just came off as really creepy, like how many times did the Jedi use the Force to force people to obey them?

https://images.ecency.com/DQmb4ZqcoQbDT7nJiv3LYDeWppnxmvVhSEhVoVVdRPoF6F9/screen_shot_2023_04_11_at_11.44.25_pm.png

Yoda destroys stealth droids with his lightsaber and a Force-pushed avalanche before Force-lifting the rocks atop Luminara and Barriss.

Yoda's cool in a old-man warrior kind of way but he's also one of those weird stereotypes of being almost too-good. I've always wanted to see a prequel of his backstory, his young crazy days when he was more like Obi-Wan or maybe Anakin.

https://images.ecency.com/DQmXA5BMGuHrMk54F4TV9ScJswaXN4okBzF1XGXbSB6h1WC/screen_shot_2023_04_11_at_11.44.47_pm.png

Padme goes to look for Yoda, so C-3PO and R2D2 help her defeat stealth droids before reuniting with Yoda and the other Jedi.

It's weird to the animated version of movie-characters: Anakin and Padme's voices sound ... slightly off(?) in 2D Clone Wars. I don't know how to describe it--it's like they're voiced by actors way too young for the characters maybe.

https://images.ecency.com/DQmbc6mwskcxQKwZQeQ5Zwffuk5nbbQAVtWgn8bNps3MicL/screen_shot_2023_04_12_at_12.03.32_am.png

Yoda reveals the Jedi Temple was a secret few knew and learns from R2D2 that Count Dooku revealed it.

They really do a good job of delivering the motive for sequences really quickly and tying other plots together before going to the fade-out.

https://images.ecency.com/DQme4RRjYfDREbc4Y8aJHKofdVYzAJKpLBb9hMWpFPzxiMN/screen_shot_2023_04_12_at_12.04.56_am.png

Anakin follows Ventress to a jungle planet and Clone Troops that Obi-Wan sent arrive, just in time to be destroyed by Ventress along with theirs and Anakin’s ships.

We get to see more of Asaj Ventress in the CGI Clone Wars which is nice but to me this will always be my first introduction to her character -- basically a hellishly talented she-devil.

https://images.ecency.com/DQmPU8chWk3k6NYTVZL2cqgFvrsVarpxasdC6XYv5tVMhnL/screen_shot_2023_04_12_at_12.05.35_am.png

https://images.ecency.com/DQmZ48ERS8dQJ7FZ91TnREKZckhFHDs6dRgKg6H3q7rB3sw/screen_shot_2023_04_12_at_12.06.20_am.png

https://images.ecency.com/DQmSCfdRSzgaPN5WYMcwnYP3J5qLhsWLn5V32snBMnQyquM/screen_shot_2023_04_12_at_12.07.37_am.png

https://images.ecency.com/DQmWB1t2zC7XSv2Zzm6Gzm5CPCh6XGHGxxycUtwpHCHtNfk/screen_shot_2023_04_12_at_12.08.27_am.png

Anakin fights Ventress on the jungle floor and nearly bests her but she flees to the treetops above and chases him to abandoned ruins where they duel in the rain.

Anakin keeps jumping to his opponent’s high ground to find himself disadvantaged. Feels like foreshadowing. Gendy Tarkovsky is super good at creating compelling atmosphere.

https://images.ecency.com/DQmbDwTg777uDbmMtPiJvoYjUtVriCNtwJqy24d5mmS5Fqw/screen_shot_2023_04_12_at_12.18.05_am.png

https://images.ecency.com/DQmRdHcMhf7yDVy9QzjExokHedSdiAzvJHxQs28kFs1Mey3/screen_shot_2023_04_12_at_12.18.20_am.png

https://images.ecency.com/DQmTuEZgchusPryCu3xLf5eRuV1d1iMY8GHH3uaaKzBjHyU/screen_shot_2023_04_12_at_12.19.08_am.png

https://images.ecency.com/DQmSHinxkBE9PciYzopkfJVLrU3UyA7VtQ9Vrfs3vae2s8J/screen_shot_2023_04_12_at_12.10.51_am.png

Anakin and Ventress blast each other with their Force powera until she disarms hum of his lightsaber before he steals hers and sends her falling off a cliff.

This fight was way more intense and destructive than I remember, like I thought there would be a little more warm-up before this fight but this actually happens in the first episode.

https://images.ecency.com/DQmfVwv1TH1zZpBaW48S4UnKqaNLbSoL56QaTnKimCPBEYD/screen_shot_2023_04_12_at_12.25.10_am.png

A wolfman Jedi and his Clone Troops defeat Separatists droids before Obi-Wan reunites with Anakin who stole Ventress’s ship.

I had no idea that there was basically a werewolf Jedi. Obviously they had alien ones but it made me immediately picture vampire Jedi, mummy Jedi, Frankenstein Jedi, robot Jedi (well, I guess that's what Grievous and Vader are).

https://images.ecency.com/DQmSx4bpRmn4s8o8voBKhfCeXsrmPXsiBuoxbx8P8BZ2qay/screen_shot_2023_04_12_at_12.13.46_am.png

Volume 1 ends with some Jedi, on another planet, calling Obi-Wan for help before being cornered and slain one-by-one by General Grievous, a powerful lightsaber-wielding cyborg.

The movies just didn't do General Grievous justice. He was this super-slick unstoppable force, like a giant robot vulture Jedi dude who made the regular Jedi poop their pants in fear because of how scared of him they were.

In conclusion, I thought episode one of the 2D Vintage Clone Wars Mini-series was really good. Definitely doesn't take it's time the way the CGI version did, probably due to less episodes -- plus it was from a time period where media was more self-contained and not an endless string of double-hour trailers for the next double-hour trailer. To be fair, I haven't rewatched the CGI Clone Wars series, so it's been ages but this one just seems more firmly imprinted in my mind, compared to that one. It's probably not fair to judge between the two until I watch the complete 2D series and then try the CGI one, but there's something to the overall sense of cool Gendy Tarkovsky accomplished here. I can definitely see that this was made by the guy who did Dexter's Lab and Samurai Jack.