Full Series Unpopular TCW Opinions

Anakin seemed to have a thing for killing children. First the Sand People, then the Jedi Younglings. I guess that whole Chosen One Prophecy requires a ridiculous amount of child murder in order to be fulfilled.

 

Then the Skeksis were right. Prophecy caused all this trouble.

 

Unpopular opinions about TCW? Heh, boy do I have a few.

TCW should never have been made. The story of the Clone Wars had already been told, by Dark Horse, Genndy Tartakovski, Lucas Arts, and various authors. The comics, books, videogames, and original clone wars series of the Clone Wars Multi-Media project did a more then supurb job at telling the story and in 5 seasons Dave Filloni crumpled a good number of those sources up and threw them into the realm of Non Canon. Thus making the hard work of licensed Star Wars authors, art designers, writers, cartoonists, etc into nothing but glorified fan fiction.

Instead of TCW, in 2008, Rebels (or a similar show) should have been made. With the completion of the saga by Episode III Revenge of the Sith, they opened up a whole new era to explore. Yes we did get a little taste of this era in The Force Unleashed Games but more could have been explored. But no, in a quest for more money they go and revisit an era that merely 3 years before already had a TV series. Yes it was short but if Cartoon network wasn't a scumbag and let Genndy write longer full length episodes, we'd see a show on TCW's scale. So basically in 2008 they saw how popular Genndy's series is and decided to capitalize on that by expanding off of his series (thats why you see similar art style between TCW and CW ie, the bulbous SuperBattleDroid heads and the pointy beards on various characters) but then decided to go a separate direction.

Now, originally TCW was supposed to be set in a time span of about 4 or 5 months in the year 19BBY after Anakin's knighting. In relation to Genndy Tartikovski's Clone Wars Series, TCW was set in that 2 minute montage of Anakin being heroic in Chapter 22 of the series. But that primal instinct we all have called greed stepped in and they decided to lengthen the series, moving Anakin's knighting back to 22 BBY immediately after Anakin and Padme's Wedding in Attack of the Clones, taking up the entire 3 years of the war so they could make more episodes and more money. Thankfully Leeland Chee stepped in and gave it a period of 2 months between AOTC and the "Cat & Mouse" episode of TCW saving a few sources from reticon, yet not all were saved.

Now my opinions on Ahsoka: The worst character since Jar Jar Binks. In fact if I was given a blaster and only had 2 shots, and I was locked in a room with Jar Jar and Ahsoka, I'd shoot Ahsoka twice. I mean, she wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't for her voice. Its like nails on the chalkboard of my mind and even worse, her voice actor has the same voice in real life!
Thats just what I think about here personally, but if I were to analyze her character In a less biased sence, I'd have to say the show could have been just as successful without her and even that logically her character should not be Anakin's apprentice. Now, why would Master Yoda in all his infinite wisdom, trust the life and education of a child with a psychopath like Anakin? He nearly got himself and Obi-wan killed on Coruscant chasing after Zam, He disobeyed Mace Windu's orders to stay on Naboo with Padme, He slaughtered a whole village of sand people (Only Anakin and Ah'sarahd Hett knew what happened but i'm pretty sure Yoda sensed Anakin's anger in the force), His rescue mission on Geonosis cost thousands of Jedi their lives, He disobeyed Obi-wan and charged Dooku, and in doing so he allowed Dooku to escape plunging the entire galaxy into a ruthless and bloody war (made less bloody by TCW but that's a different rant) and now you want to trust the life and education of a child to this psychopath? After seeing his behavior in Attack of the Clones would you grant Anakin an apprentice let alone knighthood? It never made any sense to me. When I wasted my 8 dollars seeing TCW in theaters I was thinking that at the end of the film, Yoda would admit that Ahsoka Being Anakin's padawan was a mistake and she'd go under another master and fight along side them occasionally in the following TV series but that was not the case. Now, if the series took place when it was originally set to, the 2 and a half years would give Anakin's character time to evolve into a more responsible adult and even then I don't think he's deserving of an apprentice, chosen one or not.

Now for Asajj Ventress: They Changed her ALLOT from the comics and the original Clone Wars Series. If you compare Ventress in CW (and the old Star Wars: Republic Comics if your into EU but if your not then ignore these parentheses) to Ventress in TCW you'll find that the Tattoos on her head are very different. In TCW they are these complex swirly shapes while in CW they take on a more simple pattern. Yeah that's just a minor appearance issue that most people wont care about but what really ticks me off is that they had to go and changer her species. Originally, Ventress hails from the arid gladiator world of Rattatak but in TCW they changed it to Dathomir and changed her species to Dathomiri. The problem with this is, not only do you reticon the entire Rattataki species but you create a species that originates on a world that had always been devoid of sentient life. In the previous established canon, Dathomir was a republic prison colony, the planet had no original inhabitants. but then the colony was disbanded and the female inmates of the former prisons formed into clans and eventually became the night sisters, eventually discovering the force. Also, Dathomiran witches originally were not evil. they did not view the force as evil or good, they viewed it from an animistic point of view. TCW portrays them as these evil ugly women who ally them selves to Dooku (for a brief period of time). Before TCW, the night sisters stayed mostly neutral throughout the entire war and never really played a big part on the galactic stage until the late Galactic Civil War.

Darth Maul... Just No: It is just poor story telling and an obvious exploitation of the fan's undying devotion to the franchise and, at times, stupidity. Now i know Katie Lucas originally came up with the whole thing but if you ask me, George should have put her script on the fridge rather than on the television. In the years before TCW, a few author wrote novels and comics about a cybernetic Darth Maul but George has been quoted saying that he doesn't like it when authors bring back the characters that he kills in his films and those sources were deemed non canon. Now several years later, his daughter writes essentially the same thing and now all of a sudden it's okay?

This whole Darth Maul being alive was the final straw for me, It's what caused me to cease watching the show which at that point, I was only watching because I was curious to see if they would at least try to start complying with the established canon.

Clones, Clones, Clones: I think It's cool and all that they tried to give some personality to the Clones but when they start disobeying orders, intentionally deserting from battle, and betraying the Republic that's when they started messing with things that should not be messed with. "They are totally obedient, taking any order without question..." Prime Minister Lama Su (not keen on the spelling of his name but you know of who I speak). Now I know in the arc trooper episodes they explained that they had to stretch Jango's DNA but I don't buy it. Because they moved the start of the series from 19 BBY to 22 BBY, that would make the clones you see in TCW part of the first few generations of clones you see in AOTC, that would make them the "totally obedient" ones that the Prime Minister spoke of. So sorry, your half assed explanation as to why you've been contradicting the movies, the ultimate source of canon, doesn't work. Also, this whole thing with promoting clones and giving generic clone troopers the opportunity to train as ARC troopers doesn't work either. If you've ever played Republic Commando, you would know that clones are born into their rank. If your a generic clone your a private, if you were born a Clone Commander, Your a Commander, if you were born an ARC Trooper, Your an ARC Trooper, etc.

These are just my opinions and theories backed up by a few facts that I have come to know over years of research I had done as the series progressed so don't take anything the wrong way. This thread is for unpopular opinions about TCW and my opinions about TCW have been mocked and ridiculed on numerous other websites for 4 years so I thought, why not share my opinions?

If You Don't Care About Expanded Universe (Which Is Ironic Because TCW Is EU) Then Don't Read This Last Part: On the Whole, TCW has been pretty harmful to expanded universe, more than people realize. In my personal opinion, the stories told by the Dark Horse comics, the video games by Lucas Arts, and the novels by various authors tell a better story then any episode of TCW and to see those stories cast out into the cold harsh realm of Non Canon, just saddens me. These stories are epic and instead of being replaced by TCW's stories, should have been told or at least acknowledged in TCW. But alas, it was not so.

And if you think that these reticons didn't effect anyone personally then think again. After the airing of the first few episodes in the Mandalore story arc, Karen Traviss, author of the highly respected and enjoyed Republic Commando novels, left the Star Wars Franchise. Here is a licensed Star wars Author, who's work is adored by her fans, now has her hard work that millions came to love, demoted to nothing, practically fan fiction. So on August 8th, 2009 she resigned, her Imperial Commando novels unfinished. Myself and my fellow Fandalorians (fans of the Mandalorians made popular by her novels) mourned for the loss of this great Star Wars author as well as the pacification (or as I inappropriately call it the pussiification) of the Mandalorians.

I weep for continuity and for the foreseeable future, I see the realm of non canon growing larger and larger every year with the addition of the new films as well as Dave Filloni's new monstrosity, Rebels.

 

Hater

 

I don't see the irony at all. You can lump the EU in one whole continuity, but there are people like me that believe the stories barely relate to each other. For example- Callista Trilogy- everyone forgets about Callista at the end of the book. Dark Empire- Everyone forgets Luke turns to the dark side. That's why in my mind, EU isn't a continuity one can make sense out of that has to be preserved, instead of overwritten at any possible opportunity by better and better authors.

And nothing in the EU reaches the quality of the movies or The Clone Wars due to George Lucas being involved. If the original author isn't making it, it IS glorified fanfiction.

 

George Lucas isn't going to be involved in Rebels and he's leaving the SW franchise forever (probably) after supervising Ep VII.

I don't really understand the point of view that quality material can't be written without Lucas. Believe it or not, there are other people who can write interesting characters and a good script. In fact, there are many that are much better than Lucas. He was a world builder, not an expert writer.

 

I've often seen great authors go on to butcher their own franchises with horrible sequels, etc. Lightning rarely strikes twice, and when it comes to George Lucas, it's a popular opinion that the prequel has less quality than the OT. I don't think that he is the sole source of quality Star Wars. I think Filoni is just as good if not better, and I have a lot of faith in Rebels. Then again, I don't think that there are 'many' that join those ranks of quality comparable to the classic movies. My opinion as star wars writers I want acknowledged as canon: George Lucas >>>> Fanfics on fanfiction.net >>>> The EU (which contradicts itself and has ooc writing more frequently than a cohesive fanfic might.)

 

I don't agree with you VanishingReality, but I respect your opinion.

SW is hit-and-miss in everything it does, I feel, because it is so damn big. There's just so much.

The films are hit-and-miss - I hate TPM, but the other 5 range from good to masterpiece. TCW is hit-and-miss - it produced both the 4-part WAC-Gascon adventures and S1 Jar Jar episodes, Umbara and the Maul episodes.

Likewise, the novels and comics range from excellent to terrible. There's no way to have as much content as SW does without it being this way really.

 

THIS! This is pretty much my only true issue with TCW. The ruination of my favorite EU series, Republic/Imperial Commando. And I had NO idea that the reason the series was left incomplete was because of TCW. So sad & horrible. Poor Karen! That pussification was stupid and ridiculous. Ugh.

 

I suppose Lucas being involved with the television shows is a vanishing reality.

Anyway, I disagree that Lucas = quality content.

 

Though I do understand that this is your opinion... it seems that a few creative people are being blamed for decisions that were out of their control...

It was George Lucas in charge of TCW. Everything went through him. Don't blame Filoni for doing what Lucas told him to do.

It was George Lucas' idea to bring back Darth Maul not his daughter. Lucas changed his mind and wanted Maul to come back. Apparently he regrets killing him off in TPM so brought him back in TCW so that he never died.

TCW is telling the story of The Clone Wars that George Lucas wanted to tell. He is the one who has essentially given the nod to overwrite stuff but you can still fit that stuff in. There is this thing called imagination and your choice. You don't have to be told what is canon and what isn't.

 

I really really doubt that Mr. Lucas was always 100% involved with writing the episodes, he had other projects he was working on while TCW was on the air (for example Red Tails witch I enjoyed). And Dave Filloni claims to like Expanded universe, why didn't he say "hold on a sec George, maybe we can workshop this idea a bit so it doesn't conflict with this"? And it was Lucas who commissioned the Clone Wars Multi-Media Project back in 2002 to bridge the gap between Episodes 2 and 3 as he was still working on Episode III. If you notice, there is a 3 year gap in between Episodes 2 and 3, both chronologically and in real life (2005-2002=3). Why would he decided to go back and rewrite all of that 3 years later?

Also Katie Lucas wrote the Savage Oppress (completely stupid name BTW but that's just my opinion) story arc so I'm pretty sure she made the suggestion that maul was still alive in her script. It was daddy who said "oh okay what the hell, people love repetition so why not? We'll make a couple bucks off of it" (not literally but you know what I mean)

The whole series to me just screams: MONEY PLOY. Why go back and make a show about an era you just finished? because it was popular and you want to capitalize that so you can make money. Supposedly the whole thing was to fund the fabled Live Action Series (this is just a rumor) but we never got our live action series did we? Its not about good story telling anymore its about money.

And all of it, all of it could have been forgiven if the dialogue was written a bit better. "lets go get em sky guy!" please, I want to watch Star Wars not Jimmy Neutron

 

I believe they had less of Lucas involvement in the first two seasons then he became heavily involved: everything had to be okayed with him so he had a lot of control. All stories ideas came from Lucas.

Because he probably would have been fired from his job if he dared to disagree with the maker?

Because this is Lucas. He kept tampering with the OT, and he even managed to contradict the OT with the PT. Also the 3 year gap was never stated on screen... it could have been expanded to last longer, which is a possibility that we can't rule out.

I think that bit at the end of that arc was added in much later. It wasn't there originally. That is what I've been led to believe.

Yes, well, it was a kids show... but it was a show that thoroughly entertained quite a few adults too

 

If you are trying to make TCW flow with the movies, it's really simple: giving Anakin an apprentice and reviving Darth Maul were just foolish ideas.

 

As long as those two issues were dealt with before ROTS then its fine... Ahsoka was and Maul unfortunately wasn't but if the show had continued I'd bet we would have got his as well. We will probably eventually get a conclusion to Maul's ultimate fate, whether its through a different form of media or not remains to be seen.

 

You just didn't need either of those things to make a good story for TCW. Maul, was better off dead. Bringing him back alive creates a million problems.

Ashoka was a nice character, but why did it have to be Anakin's apprentice? What good came out of that dynamic?

 

Ahsoka enhanced Anakin's character, IMO.

 

Actually, Katie Lucas made certain to have that scene showing Ventress' backstory, to definitively bring much of her EU history into TCW. She's shown she has more regard to the EU than her father ever has.

 

My name is now dissing George Lucas? Nooooooooooo!

 

I loved the Mortis arc.

I thought it was great and I want to learn so much more about the Mortis people, their connections to the force and everything about them.

Edit: I also don't understand the Ahsoka hate, especially any hate during the 5th season.

 

I'd love a Ones novel, though there is some merit to keeping them mysterious.