Star Wars: The Clone Wars told a Darth Vader origin story better than George Lucas’ Star Wars prequels did. While George Lucas never directed a Clone Wars episode, the Star Wars creator was heavily involved in the 3D animated series set between Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones and Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith. Starting with a feature-length film released in theaters in 2008, Star Wars: The Clone Wars build up from the non-canon 2D-animated Star Wars: Clone Wars micro-series and was a landmark for 3D-animated TV productions.
With a budget superior to other similar animated shows, Clone Wars helped Lucas fulfill his Star Wars vision. Though later Clone Wars seasons had longer, more lore-heavy arcs, the show was defined by its episodic approach. Clone Wars was able to cover the entirety of the Clone Wars conflict, meaning that it got to develop Anakin Skywalker and other Jedi in a way that the Star Wars prequels never could. From revisiting elements from the Star Wars Expanded Universe to creating original characters like Ahsoka or General Rex, Clone Wars expanded the Star Wars universe in a way that no movie had done.
Clone Wars Showed The Jedi At Their Prime Better Than The Movies
One of the reasons why George Lucas wanted to make a Star Wars prequel trilogy was that he could show the Jedi at their prime. Lucas always made sure to point out during the release of the first three Star Wars movies that he simply did not have the technology and the budget to fulfill his vision of the Jedi and the Star Wars galaxy. The first Star Wars movie, which was later retitled Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope, featured a galaxy in which the vast majority of the Jedi had already been extinct. Aside from Luke and Vader, Obi-Wan and Yoda were the only Jedi in the original films.
Obi-Wan recalls how the Jedi protected the galaxy for thousands of generations, which is something audiences could only picture using imagination. That is why the prospect of an “Episode I” was so exciting, as George Lucas would finally be able to show the Jedi at their prime. While the Star Wars prequels did have far more Jedi action than the original trilogy, the movies were still very focused on only a handful of characters. Apart from the First Battle of Geonosis in Attack of the Clones, the Star Wars prequels’ action scenes were mostly focused on Anakin and Obi-Wan.
Clone Wars, on the other hand, would follow a different Jedi in almost every episode. From background characters like Kit Fisto and Plo Koon to the original Jedi, Clone Wars got to show the Jedi Order in action in a way that the prequels didn’t. Anakin and Obi-Wan obviously had a lot more screen time than other Jedi, but still, Clone Wars had enough episodes to flesh out pretty much every background Jedi from the prequels. The Clone Wars action sequences were also more ambitious than those of the prequels, which makes sense given the technological limitations of an early 2000s live-action movie.
Clone Wars Actually Showed What A New Hope’s “Clone Wars” Were
Luke mentions “the Clone Wars” upon learning that Ben Kenobi was once a Jedi Knight. The term “Clone Wars” was never used in the original trilogy again after that, and audiences had to speculate what Luke meant by it. Whether George Lucas had already envisioned the Clone Wars as audiences got to know in the prequels is difficult to say. However, given how Lucas’ Star Wars prequels plans were initially quite different from the final result, the Star Wars creator most likely had to adjust his vision for the Clone Wars as well. That considered, the Star Wars prequels barely showed the actual Clone Wars.
Attack of the Clones ends with the beginning of the Clone Wars announced by Master Yoda himself. The Star Wars prequels' version of Clone Wars was completely different from the Old Expanded Universe, which was no surprise considering that Lucas perceived the Expanded Universe as a different universe from his Star Wars movies. Still, George Lucas only got to show the full extent of the Clone Wars in the Clone Wars show as Revenge of the Sith starts as the Clone Wars are about to end following Count Dooku’s death. Fortunately, Clone Wars had more than a hundred episodes to fill in the gap between Episodes II and III.
Clone Wars Anakin Is The Jedi Knight The Original Trilogy Promised
Perhaps Clone Wars’ most significant contribution to the Star Wars franchise is how it improved Anakin Skywalker as a character. Anakin was supposed to be flawed and naive as Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith portrayed him, but he was also supposed to be one of the finest Jedi Knights and a good friend to Obi-Wan Kenobi. The Star Wars prequels failed to show the Jedi Obi-Wan described to Luke in A New Hope, as it went from an inexperience padawan in Attack of the Clones to a soon-to-become Darth Vader in Revenge of the Sith with no in-between.
That is something Star Wars: The Clone Wars got to fix by following Anakin Skywalker during those “lost years”. It almost seemed like Clone Wars’ Anakin was trying to live up to Obi-Wan’s description of the character in A New Hope, as this 3D-animated version of Skywalker proved several times that he was “the best starship pilot in the galaxy”, “a cunning warrior”, and “a good friend”. For example, the first Clone Wars episode in chronological order is about Anakin’s flying skills. Clone Wars also showed how much Anakin trusted Palpatine, which is something neither Attack of the Clones nor Revenge of the Sith got to cover much.
Clone Wars Anakin & Luke Parallels Worked Better Than The Prequels’
Anakin destroying the main Trade Federation ship in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace and saving the day is described by George Lucas as “poetry” as revealed in The Beginning: Making Episode I. Lucas mentioned how Anakin’s arc “rhymes” with that of Luke in A New Hope, a strategy that Lucas continued to use in Episodes II and III. For example, Anakin loses his hand fighting Dooku in Attack of the Clones similar to how Luke lost his hand against Darth Vader in The Empire Strikes Back. Likewise, Yoda’s conversation with Anakin about visions from the future and attachments was very similar to Yoda and Luke’s training in The Empire Strikes Back.
However, Clone Wars explored those parallels better than the prequels did. Whereas the movie version of Anakin only seemed to care about Padmé, Clone Wars Anakin valued his friends in a way that resembled Luke’s affection for those around him in the original trilogy. Clone Wars got to show that Anakin, just like Luke, wasn’t ready to be free of attachments not only because of Padmé but also because of characters like Obi-Wan and Ahsoka. Star Wars: The Clone Wars also had visual parallels between Anakin and Luke, such as Anakin getting R2-D2 to hide and eject his lightsaber just like Luke and R2 did in Return of the Jedi.