My star wars interest has awakened again with andor, and ive so far tortured myself through jar jar binks in episodes 1 and 2 to refresh the lore on palpatines rise to power and transformation from the republic to the empire.
I am considering jumping into the clone wars before moving into episode 3. Both movie, series and the ps2-era game.
Are they worth it from a lore perspective?
Disney bought Star Wars in 2012, and it officially branched its canon in 2014 away from the existing EU. What that means is anything made before 2014 except for the main movies, the Clone Wars CGI cartoon, and the Rebels cartoon is not part of Disney canon.
Some elements of the classic EU have been reincorporated back into the Disney canon, but often remixed when they show back up.
What that means is old EU material isn’t directly part of canon and can only sometimes at best be used to guess at what might be in the new canon.
That said, the Tarkovsky Clone Wars cartoon rocks. I haven’t played the PS2 Clone Wars game, but the Republic Commando game is really great and has a modern widescreen fan fix now. The books about clones were interesting, a different take than the modern canon with clones having a much more Mandalorian cultural influence.
Ah good to know - i really enjoyed some of the EU back in the day, like the kyle katarn stuff and shadow of the empire (maybe its mostly nostalgia). But i guess whatever happens in the clone wars game will not be “accurate” as the lore input im after. I did barely play both it and republic commando as a kid - i remember republic commando being pretty cool, but at the time i couldnt get into it (maybe i couldnt figure out the tactical stuff or maybe i was just too busy force grip kicking people online in jedi academy?). Cool to hear it has a widescreen fix! I see its on gog, so i might grab myself a copy!
Not every episode, but there are a lot of important episodes particularly around Ahsoka and some of the other minor characters like Saw Gerrera, Asaj Ventress, Cad Bane, etc. Probably Hondo will be relevant at some point. He’s not my favorite but a lot of fans love him.
Also Rebels. It starts out very kid-oriented, but after the first season it gets into some mature storytelling and continues with many of these side characters and the central characters of Ahsoka.
Other than Saw, I don’t think any of it is relevant to Andor (and I wouldn’t say the Saw stuff is super important to see anyway).
So what im most interested in are the events that leads to palpatine’s seizure and consolidation of power and the building of the rebellion. ill definitely check out some of the saw stuff. I didnt enjoy ahsoka as much
I enjoyed Rebels more than Ahsoka. Also part of the greatness of the character of Ahsoka is her growth, and if your introduction is the live action show and not CW, you’re missing pretty much every reason to care about her. I’m hopeful that the show finds its groove. Lots of shows have rough first seasons. I’m really going to miss Ray Stevenson. I think he was the best part of that show.
There is a lot in CW about Palpatine’s consolidation of power and relationship with Anakin.
Ok good to know, ill give rebels a shot as well :) This started as a re-watch of episodes I-III before the final arc of andor, but now i need to decide if i go for episode 3 before diving back into clone wars.
There are like 3 to 5 multi-episode arcs that aren’t really necessary, but having watched almost all of clone wars, it’s very good - especially at the end - and recontextualizes or adds context to a lot of the stuff in episode 3 that seems odd or is unexplained. Anakin is a better character for it. The same goes for Rebels once you get past the first 1-2 seasons. In general, it’s worth your time. Go find an essential watch list online.
Rebels hasnt really been on my radar, but its been mentioned several times here so i guess i need to check out that as well! Seems to be parallel to andor so i guess a good time to watch it is after episode 3?
Rebels is more or less a sequel to Clone Wars with a lot of characters reappearing and continuing there story.
It’s all pretty good when you don’t have some removed in your ear telling you it’s trash.
I see “removed” in your post so i will insert “jar jar binks” and i definitely dont want that
From a lore and world building perspective, absolutely. If you like what Andor has done with those, and I’ve particularly been enjoying the world building, CW will probably hit the spot for you. A couple things to note:
-There is a lot of Clone Wars. It’s not going to be as tight as Andor or even all relevant, especially since it’s an anthology series.
-There are some real stinkers and some boring episodes/arcs. The Jar Jar stuff, the droid stuff, a lot of it is a miss for me.
-But there is some really good stuff. The Umbara arc and season 7 especially.
-Really makes the Clone Wars as an event seem very important to the universe, whereas going by the movies alone it’s almost a background event that we get at the end of one movie and the beginning of another.
-Overall, I think it does a really good job of fleshing out the characters, their motivations, and their relationships. Adds a lot more weight to RotS, especially season 7.
From a lore and world building perspective, absolutely. If you like what Andor has done with those, and I’ve particularly been enjoying the world building, CW will probably hit the spot for you.
This sounds very good! :)
There is a lot of Clone Wars. It’s not going to be as tight as Andor or even all relevant, especially since it’s an anthology series.
Yea thats what keeping me from just diving in without seeking the jedi council for advice first!
There are some real stinkers and some boring episodes/arcs. The Jar Jar stuff, the droid stuff, a lot of it is a miss for me.
There was posted a list above here with essential episodes - i hope that perhaps skips the worst of this. I would really not like to sit through too much jar jar - he was more insufferable than i could remember…
Really makes the Clone Wars as an event seem very important to the universe, whereas going by the movies alone it’s almost a background event that we get at the end of one movie and the beginning of another. Overall, I think it does a really good job of fleshing out the characters, their motivations, and their relationships. Adds a lot more weight to RotS, especially season 7.
Yea i always found something lacking when they didnt go into this. Seems like it is worth a watch from my perspective!
I think you should watch Clone Wars, but from memory, there weren’t too many plot points about Palpatine that are different or expand on what is already in AotC and RotS, but maybe i’m forgetting something. As others have said, Anakin gets a lot better treatment in The Clone Wars than the prequels did, and Ahsoka’s journey is the star of the show.
Just don’t watch Star Wars Resistance.
I watched the whole show and recommend to only watch the most essential episodes. Wasn’t there a decent list on Kotaku? I can’t find it anymore :/
Rebels on the other hand is a great show from beginning to end.
Edit: Found the list in a Signal chat and it’s actually dead. Here, take this archive link: https://web.archive.org/web/20240715053812/https://www.kotaku.com.au/2023/07/the-essential-clone-wars-episodes-every-star-wars-fan-should-watch/
Thanks for the link! Yea the number of episodes is a little daunting tbh… so that list will come in handy!
Yes, it is worth it. It’s overly a “kids” show to start, but it matures as it goes along.
There are lists of various essential episodes, which is fine, but even the unessential episodes can still be fun. Of course if you’re calling Jar Jar torture then maybe an abridged version is the way to go.
After The Clone Wars I recommend Rebels & Bad Batch. Also if you’re looking for lore the, “Tales of ____” series are worth your time.
I’ve personally enjoyed Clone Wars film cuts by NumeralJoker, where episodes are combined into feature-length story arcs. He’s also made the “Siege of Mandalore Cut” of RoTS which weaves in a few Clone Wars episodes that happen concurrently with RoTS. I think this is a better flowing experience if you can stomach longer run times (most are 1-2.5 hours, with a 4.5h finale).
Probably not recommended for a first time watcher, but if you’re already familiar with the story of episodes II & III it might be worth looking into. Also makes it easier to skip the filler arcs, and generally saves a lot of time on intros/credits.
Of course the downside is that you have to torrent them, since it’s a fan edit.
Here’s what the changes look like: https://youtu.be/HLByflZXue8?list=PLEh8pd-FJc5OL6PCLu1B9WKDbrcLudDr7
Thats a cool project!! I can torrent :)
