20 Years Ago Today, Genndy Tartakovsky’sClone WarsChangedStar WarsForever

Twenty years ago today , the mess of a tiny animated cartoon Yoda — cover in a hooded cloak , his unripe lightsaber stir up and obligate high — riding atop a goatlike saddle horse transformed Star Wars as we knew it . A twelvemonth before at the climax of Attack of the Clones , he ’d told us that get , the Clone Wars had : now they rightfully had , and Star Wars wouldnever be the same .

Across two yearsand 25 chapter , Star state of war : Clone Wars — made for Cartoon connection by the seminal director behind Dexter ’s Laboratory , Samurai Jack , and more , Genndy Tartakovsky — make for audience to the front business line of its nominal construct in a way only teased by Attack of the clone the yr before . In doing so , Star Wars unleased a potential difference it had , at that point , not tapped into in 10 : how the powerfulness of living could be used to spread out its extragalactic nebula , and not just do so cinematically and in terms of its traditional knowledge , but stylistically as well .

Clone Wars was not necessarily a story serial — its third season would bring more define game and structure that played out over its expanded runtime , but for the most part it was a serial of idle sketch , windows into different fronts of the war . The dialog was austere , its leg setting limited . Clone Wars secernate its story through the beats of its action , the raise and fall of combat . The quiet moments in between the frenzied flurries of chargeman bolts and lightsaber swings were exactly that : silence , a tension that suffer everything fromelite ARC Troopersslinking through the city street of Muunilist to the rain - slicked forests of Yavin 4 , playing host to a moody duel between Anakin Skywalker and Asaaj Ventress , all the way to the devoid wastelands of Hypori as General Grievousmade his horrifying debut .

Screenshot: Lucasfilm

It ’s fascinating that Clone Wars — which was , for the most part , almost a stylistic tone piece more than it was a Star Wars account — went on to set the stage for so much of what would follow in the next two decades of the dealership and beyond . Its direct impact on the 3DCG animated seriesThe Clone Warsis , of course of study , obvious : not just in how the latter show infused the former ’s ideas with large narrative goals , but in its own influences and stylization , and the view it desire to tell . The Clone Wars ’ spotlight on the personality of the Clone Army can draw a line directly to Clone Wars ’ own fascination with the mask legions of the Republic through figures like Captain Fordo , and beyond that in its geographic expedition of a humanity of Force users outside just the characters of the movies — from Kit Fisto to Luminara Unduli and Bariss Offee , even to its villains in the like of Asaaj Ventress and Count Dooku .

But perhaps above all Clone Wars ’ bequest outside of its lineal impact on The Clone Wars — and how that show has gone on to fundamentally reshape so much of contemporary Star Wars fabrication through characters like Ahsoka Tano — is how it mould its consultation to be prepared for a world of Star Wars that looked nothing like the movies . That was n’t the movies . Tartakovsky ’s bold - delineate , exaggerated prowess trend on Samurai Jack and his other works translate to Star Wars in a fantastic way , give Clone Wars a feeling that pushed the esthetic of the Prequel Trilogy even further into its classic , mid-20th - C sci - fi influences , a legacy that we see in the animated projects that came after it even beyond just The Clone Wars , like Rebels and even Star Wars Visions .

That overdone aesthetic did n’t just apply visually , but cinematically as well . Clone Wars collapse us feats of action the motion picture never could , Jedi at the apex of their power dismantling belt of foes in exclusive strikes or mere gestures of their hired man — it pushed the limit of what we could see as acceptably Star Wars - ian to a kind of folkloric mythos . It brought overstated tales of how Mace Windu alone could terminate the siege of Dantooine , how just 10 Clone Troopers could wrench the tide of the Battle of Muunilist , of how just a single cybernetic Separatist General could make a squad of Jedi tremble in concern . Clone Wars ’ stylistic demonstration lends itself to a blurring between the real and the surreal in way of life few Star Wars stories — so obsessed with the stiff definition of what is and is n’t part of a prescribed canyon as the enfranchisement can be these solar day — have since , embracing that idea that there ’s always a little the true in legends that would come to define the transition from one era of the expand Universe to the next .

Screenshot: Lucasfilm

Screenshot: Lucasfilm

Clone Wars arrived at the acme of the Star Wars prequel epoch , a windup of ideas George Lucas had had about his story for ten beforehand . But in such a small , impactful way — even purportedly “ supplanted ” as it would be by a 2nd serial publication to bear its struggle ’s name twelvemonth later on — it would go on to influence so much of Star Wars for the decennary to come , and keep doing so as the franchise enter an even more culturally saturated geological era .

Star war : Clone Warsis streaming onDisney+ .

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Screenshot: Lucasfilm