A Look at Star Wars: Clone Wars - Volume One

You fought in the Clone Wars? - Luke Skywalker to Obi-Wan Kenobi, Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope

The shroud of the dark side has fallen. Begun the Clone War has. - Yoda, Star Wars: Episode II: Attack of the Clones

Until 2002, when Episode II was released in theaters, the Clone Wars were a nebulous yet important part of George Lucas's Star Wars saga. In the Classic Trilogy, they are part of the backstory and only three lines of dialogue in A New Hope refer directly to them.

Yet the series of conflicts known collectively as the Clone Wars looms large in the Star Wars mythology as the catalyst for the rise of the Galactic Empire, the destruction of the Jedi Order, and the transition of Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker from impetuous hero to the evil Sith Lord Darth Vader. But as important as the war between the Separatists and the Republic is, moviegoers only get to see the beginning of the galaxy-wide conflict in Episode II: Attack of the Clones and its tragic ending in Episode III: Revenge of the Sith.

Cable and satellite television subscribers who get the Cartoon Network - and now, DVD owners - have seen other engagements in the animated micro-series Star Wars: Clone Wars

When I first read about how George Lucas had greenlighted writer-director Genndy (Samurai Jack) Tartakovsky's 20 three-minute-long episodes that bridge the three-year gap between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, I was less than optimistic about both its quality and success.

You see, I still have all-too-vivid memories of how badly Star Wars television programs had fared, beginning with the bizarre Star Wars Holiday Special of November 1978 and continuing with such awful entries as The Ewok Adventure, The Battle for Endor, Droids, and Ewoks. Also, the one drawing that illustrated the article on the then-upcoming Clone Wars - of Anakin Skywalker brandishing a lightsaber - was a turn-off because it was very stylized. (I guess I could say it looked too abstractly cartoonish.) So even though I had not ruled out watching it when it premiered on the Cartoon Network, I also wasn't very excited about the so-called "micro-series."