The Good: “Ryloth” series is interesting
The Bad: “Rookies” is lame, No DVD bonus features, A better set exists!
The Basics: The one-disc “Clone Commandos” Clone Wars DVD trades on consumers not knowing they get greater value from the complete Season 1 set for these episodes!
One of the few things I am hoping will happen as the result of Blu-Ray’s impending takeover as the dominant medium for home viewing it that I shall never again be plagued by single-episode discs of television shows. It is bad enough that there are DVDs which underuse the capacity of the medium, one only hopes that the cashgrab for television shows in anything less than a complete season (I prefer complete series packs, for the most part!) is a thing of the past. I thought it might be until I saw how Lucasfilm was releasing its new television show The Clone Wars willy-nilly before the complete season pack came out. The second of the two packs which are virtually guaranteed to disappoint even the fans is “Clone Commandos.”
“Clone Commandos” was one of two single-DVD releases from the Star Wars: Clone Wars animated series prior to the release of The Clone Wars – The Complete First Season (click here for that review!). “Clone Commandos” included four episodes of the computer-generated animated series on a single disc. For those unfamiliar with the concept, it greatly helps to have seen the cinematic release The Clone Wars (click here for the review!), in order to understand the prevalence on screen of characters like Ahsoka, who has a pretty big part in the four episodes of “Clone Commandos.” The DVD is not a total loss, though, as three of the episodes are heavily serialized and essentially tell a single story. Even so, there is no good reason (especially now!) for fans to bother with picking up this DVD.
The four episodes found on “Clone Commandos” are not actually adjacent to one another, in terms of story or airdates, save the last three. As a result, the first episode on the disc seems to be included more to give the theme of “Clone Commandos” some weight, as opposed to actually being a great story that fans would want before the release of the boxed set. The four episodes on this disc are: “Rookies,” “Storm Over Ryloth,” “Innocents Of Ryloth,” and “Liberty Of Ryloth.”
In “Rookies,” a Republic listening post is besieged by a more intelligent model of Battle Droids. When they breach the perimeter of the base, they slaughter several of the clones inside and force the remaining ones into hiding. Captain Rex and Commander Cody arrive at the outpost as part of an inspection tour and quickly realize that all is not as it seems. They quickly find the remaining clones and work with them to liberate the outpost to prevent the tactical loss to the Separatists!
In “Storm Over Ryloth,” Wat Tambor invades the loyalist planet of Ryloth and establishes a blockade around the planet. Arriving, feeling overconfident, Ahsoka is given a chance to prove herself, but Tambor’s spacefleet is surprisingly adept at turning away the Republic ships. Arrogantly, Ahsoka defies orders and in the process loses her team. Recovered by Anakin, she is chastised and looks for a way to redeem herself by playing by the rules for a change.
In “Innocents Of Ryloth,” Obi-Wan and a clone squadron land on Ryloth with a mission to destroy Wat Tambor’s weapon. As they make their way toward the occupied town, it becomes clear that the Twi’lek are being used to keep the weapon safe by having them placed near the most vulnerable areas of the weapon. As Obi-Wan works to figure a way around the problem, two clone troopers discover a Twi’lek girl hiding out in an attacked area and they rescue her. As they near the weapon, they gain intel from the girl about the state of the Twi’lek and the weapon.
In “Liberty On Ryloth,” Mace Windu arrives to try to retake the capital city. Unfortunately for him, the greatest asset on Ryloth, Cham Syndulla, is distrustful of the Ryloth Senator’s agenda. He refuses to work toward the liberation of Ryloth with the Jedi and clones until he gets assurances that the Twi’lek will be free after the liberation. Working with the clones and Windu, he comes to respect the Jedi and the Republic and the Jedi work to force the politician to keep his word!
The Clone Wars is essentially a children’s or young adult television show and the episodes on “Clone Commandos” tend to embody that. While there is character growth, most notably in Ahsoka’s conflict with Anakin in “Storm Over Ryloth,” the episodes tend to be more plot-heavy and the character growth is obvious. Conversely, younger children are less likely to appreciate the more complicated political machinations at work in “Liberty On Ryloth,” which actually holds up better for adults. The violence in these episodes is pretty stylized – though “Rookies” is too graphic for younger children.
The Clone Wars features state-of-the-art computer animation, but fans of what Lucasfilm can do with CGI are likely to be drastically disappointed. This show, illustrated well on the episodes of “Clone Commandos,” features a color palate that is more pastel than steely and the animation is annoyingly blockish. As well, the emphasis at the beginning of each episode on an obvious moral seems to indicate that she show is happy to mortgage its loyal adult audience and aim for a child audience which is getting a very different view of the Star Wars universe than most adults have. Instead of a galaxy truly ravaged by war, “Clone Commandos” illustrates how the Jedi and their clone armies were virtually unstoppable, no matter the odds against them.
Why, then, do I have such a strong reaction against this one-disc set? There are two reasons. First, real fans of Star Wars and now The Clone Wars are much more likely to enjoy the entire season set and without knowing these episodes are in that complete season boxed set, they may mistakenly buy this thinking that there is something on here that is not on the boxed set. The second reason is corollary; this one-disc treatment which was used to tease the full-season boxed set actually has less than the boxed set has. There are no DVD bonus features on this disc, whereas the full-season set features a behind-the-scenes featurette on all four of the episodes. As a result, in addition to having mediocre primary programming, “Clone Commandos” offers fans less than they ought to get, especially if they are considering shelling out anything for the series!
For other works in the Star Wars franchise, please check out my reviews of:
The Phantom Menace
Attack Of The Clones
The Clone Wars, Vol. 1
The Clone Wars, Vol. 2
Revenge Of The Sith
A New Hope
The Empire Strikes Back
Return Of The Jedi
3/10
For other television program reviews, please check out my index page!
© 2010 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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