Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Television Review: Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Season 5

Well, thanks to Leann and Lilli going to visit family in Texas for two weeks, I'm finally caught up on Star Wars: The Clone Wars.[1] It has been announced that all the episodes for a sixth season were completed before the Star Wars franchise was sold to Disney and those will somehow be made available (possibly by being broadcast on a Disney-owned channel), but there probably won't be a seventh.[2] However, there is a hint that a new animated Star Wars series will be produced.[3] I certainly hope to see the sixth season of the current series, but I'm also willing to acknowledge that this season left things at a reasonably decent stopping point (see below). So if this season ended up being the last hurrah, I wouldn't be disappointed to see it end here.

My verdict: I still like the series and the characters, but it's less and less a show for children. But the messages they are trying to send are getting shakier and shakier and moral relativism continues to intrude on the series. For example, the main characters are constantly forced to form alliances with their enemies and they frequently discover treachery in their own ranks. Since they've decided to portray violence and murder, I'm at least impressed that they're finally killing off some major characters. On a positive note, the storytelling has also become more linear over time.

My biggest complaint, though, is in their portrayal of Anakin. Despite the Jedi injunction to control one's emotions, Anakin frequently and transparently shows anger—even in front of other Jedi—yet no correction is given. They don't seem to be concerned at all that he is flirting with the Dark Side of the Force. Even though it seems to be rushing, keep in mind that this series ultimately has to end with Anakin taking another step toward embracing the Dark Side:




Notes:

[1] You can read my reviews of previous seasons here, here, and here.

[2] See http://starwars.com/news/a-new-direction-for-lucasfilm-animation.html.

[3] See http://starwars.com/news/new-animated-series-star-wars-rebels-coming-fall-2014.html.

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