Full Series The Clone Wars Chronological Order (TCW Episodes & Viewing Orders)

Hopefully some of this will become clearer as they expand their library of models for the leads, give us a just post-AOTC anakin and Obi-Wan and then a just pre-ROTS Anakin and Obi-Wan. At least that would give us a general heads up of the positioning in the timeline.

 

After taking into consideration the previously mentioned idea that the chronological order can be figured out by looking at the newsreel footage, I have analyzed all the newsreels for episode footage, with the idea that no episode in chronological order can show the footage of a not-yet-seen episode; all episodes in my order are in such an order that no later episodes' footage is seen when watching the newsreel of an episode. Plus, the order actually makes quite a bit of sense, as far as production order and episode events go. Here is my newsreel analysis:

Ambush newsreel:

Bombad Jedi
The Clone Wars (A New Padawan, Castle of Deception, Castle of Doom, Castle of Salvation)
Duel of the Droids
Rising Malevolence

Rising Malevolence newsreel:

Downfall of a Droid

Shadow of Malevolence newsreel:

Rising Malevolence

Destroy Malevolence newsreel:

Shadow of Malevolence

Rookies newsreel:

Ambush
Cloak of Darkness
Lair of Grievous
Shadow of Malevolence

Downfall of a Droid newsreel:

?

Duel of the Droids newsreel:

Downfall of a Droid

Bombad Jedi newsreel:

The Clone Wars (A New Padawan, Castle of Deception, Castle of Doom, Castle of Salvation)
Downfall of a Droid

Cloak of Darkness newsreel:

Bombad Jedi


Lair of Grievous newsreel:

Cloak of Darkness

Dooku Captured newsreel:

The Clone Wars (A New Padawan, Castle of Deception, Castle of Doom, Castle of Salvation)
Rising Malevolence
Rookies

The Gungan General newsreel:

Dooku Captured

Jedi Crash newsreel:

Cloak of Darkness
Rising Malevolence
Storm Over Ryloth

Defenders of Peace newsreel:

Jedi Crash

Trespass newsreel:

?

The Hidden Enemy newsreel:

?

Blue Shadow Virus newsreel:

Rookies

Mystery of a Thousand Moons newsreel:

Blue Shadow Virus

Storm Over Ryloth newsreel:

Rising Malevolence
Rookies

---

And here's my order based on the above analyses:

[i]The Hidden Enemy[/i]
[i]The Clone Wars[/i] ([i]A New Padawan[/i], [i]Castle of Deception[/i], [i]Castle of Doom[/i], [i]Castle of Salvation[/i])
[i]Downfall of a Droid[/i]
[i]Duel of the Droids[/i]
[i]Rising Malevolence[/i]
[i]Shadow of Malevolence[/i]
[i]Destroy Malevolence[/i]
[i]Bombad Jedi[/i]
[i]Cloak of Darkness[/i]
[i]Lair of Grievous[/i]
[i]Ambush[/i]
[i]Rookies[/i]
[i]Dooku Captured[/i]
[i]The Gungan General[/i]
[i]Storm Over Ryloth[/i]**
[i]Innocents of Ryloth[/i]**
[i]Liberty of Ryloth[/i]**
[i]Jedi Crash[/i]
[i]Defenders of Peace[/i]
[i]Trespass[/i]*
[i]Blue Shadow Virus[/i]**
[i]Mystery of a Thousand Moons[/i]**
[i]Hostage Crisis[/i]**

*Episode could be placed before the film, but is instead placed like so due to production order indications, as well as lack of pre-movie confirmation by Lucasfilm.
**Episode could be placed earlier (but still after the film), but is placed like so due to production order indications.

 

The Nute trilogy may come before the Malevolence trilogy if the Clone Wars: Visual Guide (which I just read) is an indication. The last 1/4 is devoted to the TV shows and they tackle the Nute trilogy first, as in immediatly following the movie, then Ambush (the Yoda episode), then the Malevolence trilogy. That's all the book goes up to, but it seems:

Hidden enemy
Movie
the droid duology
Bombad Jedi
Cloak of Darkness
Ambush - the book actually places this between Cloak and Lair. This also fits with what the critics were told when this episode screened that it was episode 5.
Lair of Grevious (based on his actions in the droid duology to explain why Dooku is upset with him)
Malevolence trilogy.

 

I fail to see how the order in which the episodes are discussed in a book (a book which is just a basic introduction to the series, covering episodes at random, and even then, only a few) can be taken as a chronological order... Also, my order still stands as a good, sensible order if you look at my above analyses. And you can't really determine where certain episodes go just based on stuff like "[Grievous'] actions in the droid duology to explain why Dooku is upset with him;" how do we know Dooku's not upset at him about something else? Granted, if the newsreels back up this order I'm all for it, but it doesn't seem so. You're buying way too much into a 'this guy is mad in this episode so I'll screw with the whole timeline just to give his anger an explanation' sort of thing. Most of your orders seem more feeling-based than chronological, and a chronological order is what this thread is about.

 

Well, if it's from a season 2 episode, then that would imply that Rookies takes place after it, but that just means that the season 2 episode in question takes place in the middle of what we've already seen. Besides, The Hidden Enemy (prod. #201) and Mystery of a Thousand Moons (#202) were intended for season 2 if you look at the production numbers, so it makes sense that there are left-over episodes that we'll see next year.

 

I put them in groups based on character development. First you have episodes without Ahsoka. These come first. Then you have episodes where it appears Obi is working closely with Ani and his new padawan. Then you have Obi moving away from Ani to allow him to train Ahsoka on his own.

Group 1 - Pre Ahsoka (Obi & Ani and other adventures)
Trespass
Rookies
Dooku Captured
Gungan General
Ambush
Hidden Enemy ---> The Movie (enter Ahsoka)

Group 2 - Trio Adventures (Obi trains with Ani & Ahsoka) & note Jar Jar & Grevious & Weapons Focus
Blue Shadow
1000 Moons
Malevolence Trilogy
Bombad Jedi
Cloak of Darkness
Lair of Greivous

Group 3 - Ani & his Padawan adventures (Obi in background)
Droid Duo
Jedi Crash
Peace
Ryloth Trilogy
Hostage

 

Yeah but that's not a chronological order. Looking at your first episode, "Trespass," if you read the webcomic there's a clone trooper that says one of his hatchmates died at Christophsis, which we all know happened in The Hidden Enemy and then the movie. This places Trespass sometime after the movie. I think at this point, the newsreel timeline presented above is probably extremely close to the actual order.

 

I feel like with the newreel footage they just stuck footage onto it and didn't intend it to reflect continuity, though now it inevitably will.

Also, Attackinator, there's no reason to believe the visual guide writer wouldn't go in order since he places the movie first and goes episode by episode with the movie so why wouldn't he continue that with the first few episodes. It's also consistent with the episodes.

At that point they probably hadn't tagged on the newsreel footage yet.

 

Good find. However, just because Anakin and Obi-Wan weren't there yet, doesn't mean that Clones couldn't have already been fighting on Christopsis with the natives. My big question is if Tresspass happens after Hidden Enemey and the movie, then where is Ahsoka? Why is Anakin still doing missions with his master? This seems to hold more weight that an ambiguous line in a webcomic.

Another reason why I put Tresspass early along with the Dooku series is Obi-Wan is the stronger leader. Ani is still deferential which a Jedi with a Padawan on his own would not.

Tresspass, Rookies, and Hidden Enemey are all very Clone focused. In Tresspass the Clones are alone just like in Rookies.

Also, I think my groupings are close to chronological. Could be wrong.

 

Is it just me, or are we faced with a continuity error due to Skytop Station?

It was used in the webcomic for Ambush by the CIS to locate Yoda. It was "later" destroyed in the Droid duology. Earlier in the forum, it was suggested that Ambush takes place simultaneously along with the duology. Now our newsreel idea conflicts with this, because Ambush must be placed after the duology, along with the Malevolence trilogy and the Nute trilogy. Also, the Droid episodes cannot be moved after the two trilogies, because Downfall is in the newsreel for Rising Malevolence. We're faced with a bit of a conundrum, because the episodes can't really move, and skytop station cannot be used to find Yoda after it's destroyed.

There are a couple really dumb solutions/retcons, such as that the first part of the webcomic takes place before ALL of the episodes, and then the clones leave for their mission in the second half of the comic, which takes place much later in the storyline. Also, they could just say that the station was rebuilt, which still wouldn't make much sense. Any ideas?

 

Nice call on the part I bolded. But keep in mind Anakin and Obi-wan are still working as a team, even up until the opening of ROTS so it's not that unusual for them to go on missions together. Also, Ahsoka goes on a mission with Luminara sans Anakin during Cloak of Darkness. The good thing about this is that it leave room for stories set in between the episodes to explain these things.

Yes, the characterization of Anakin is yet another thing to consider when doing the continuity so that he doesn't go back and forth, but gets stronger as a leader as we go forward.

 

Personally, The Newsreel is pretty much an indication of production order - not really chronology.

 

Anakin's fleet had three starships in the Droid duology. In Storm Over Ryloth, he loses two of those three. Interestingly, in Jedi Crash, Anakin has only one ship, the Resolute - the only ship that survived Storm Over Ryloth. Perhaps the Aayla duology happened after Ryloth?

Also, in Destroy Malevolence, isn't Greivous referring to his lair when he talks about the secret base in sector four? Dooku was confident in Greivous' leadership at that point, but then he lost the Malevolence and disrespected Dooku. That's a perfect setup for Lair of Greivous - I can even see Greivous entering hyperspace in Destroy Malevolence and leaving hyperspace in Lair of Greivous.

 

My newsreel order reflects both things you mentioned. I am quite confident my order is correct, or as close to correct as we've gotten.

 

So am I. This evidence only more strongly suggests that the newsreel footage is the way to go.

 

I was just watching the episode commentary for Innocents of Ryloth, and Filoni is talking about the new Tactical Droids. He says that "later on" the Republic starts to use them to find out information from them, but this already happened in Blue Shadow Virus. I think this is a clear indication that this trilogy is supposed to be set earlier on in the timeline, and it lends even more credence to the newsreel footage timeline.

 

Why havent we seen any commando droids?

Is Rookies one of the last first season episodes which we had seen?

 

I believe Filoni said that they were really expensive for the Separatists, and are only used rarely. I'm sure we'll see them again soon.

Besides, they were defeated by a squad of rookie clones anyway, right?

 

Besides, they were defeated by a squad of rookie clones anyway, right?



Helped by Cody and Rex.

 

Giving even more credence to the newsreel order.

 

I?m surprised the first two Ryloth episodes were produced as 15 and 17, they look better than several later episodes. Perhaps they spent more time making them?