Tonight the new Star Wars: Clone Wars animated series debuts on the Cartoon Network. This marks the first time since 1987 that a weekly Star Wars TV series has been on the air. The the original two animated show, of course, were the atrocious Droids animated series than ran from 1985 to 1986 and the even worse Ewoks series that ran from 1985 to 1987. On the plus side, the new Clone Wars series doesn't have very high standards to live up to in regards to previous Star Wars TV shows. However, that also means bitter Star Wars fans like myself are expecting this show to continue the tradition of crappy Star Wars animated series.
I could be wrong though. The Clone Wars movie was enjoyable. And the trailer Cartoon Network has put out for the new series looks really good. So there's hope the show may actually be good. As a lifelong Star Wars fan though, and having been raised always wondering what these mysterious "Clone Wars" were that Leia's hologram mentioned in Episode IV, the show has a lot of expectations to live up to. And I doubt the series will feature everything I'd like to see in it.
In honor of tonight's debut broadcast, I've put together a list of The Top 9 Things I Hope Will Be In The Clone Wars Series (But I douby we'll get to see). Here we go:
9. Delta or Omega squads
The Clone Wars have already been covered a lot in books and video games, and one of the really enjoyable things to come from those materials were the men of Delta and Omega Squads. The squads are commando squads of specially trained republic clones that go on suicide missions all the time and do some really cool stuff. Omega squad starred in the Republic Commando novels that were written by Karen Travis. Delta squad starred in the Republic commando videogame for the original X-Box system.
Both the books and the game deal with the squads' actions during the Clone Wars, and they'd be the perfect subjects for episodes of the TV series. They're elite units of badass commandos who could work closely with the Jedi on very dangerous missions. Plus, having them in would be a nice nod to the expanded universe in general.
Odds we'll get to see this: 40 to 1
8. Quinlan Vos
Quinal Vos was a Jedi Master and General during the Clone Wars. Thus far, he's only appeared in comic books, but he's a huge fan favorite, and for good reason. First, he looks like a badass. He's got dreadlocks and a cool costume. Plus, in the comics he has a tendency to walk the edge of dark and light sides of the force. Both Darth Tyrannus and The Emperor have expressed an interest in him before.
He'd be a great new character to introduce in the Clone Wars series. He could be sort of an Anti-hero Jedi. Someone who's constantly battling with himself and with the darkness within. Stories with this character would be a lot of fun. And I get the feeling he and Anakin would have some very interesting conversations indeed.
Odds we'll get to see this: 100 to 1
7. Mace Windu Being A Bad Ass Motherfucker
My favorite episodes from the first Clone Wars animated series was the two-part series that focused on Mace Windu. In it, we got to see Mace Windu singlehandedly wipe out an entire droid army. He even took down a massive superweapon all on his own. He truly is the most badass of the Jedi. So it would be with much joy if we were to be able to see more of this.
What I'd like to see is one whole Episode devoted to Mace Windu. I want to see him go off on some mission alone somewhere where he's forced to whup more droid ass than you'd see in any 3 other episodes of the show combined. This man has a purple lightsaber, and he's not afraid to use it. He needs to be given armies to lay waste to.
Odds we'll get to see this: 2 to 1
6. General Greivous Earning His Reputation As A Jedi Killer
The differences between the General Grevious we saw in the original Clone Wars series and the one we saw in Episode III are staggering. The one in the original Clone Wars was a major force to be reckoned with. He easily stood his ground while fighting multiple Jedi masters at once. He was seen dispatching Jedi without a thought and collecting their lightsabers as trophies. His very presence was frightening to the Jedi. He even had a menacing voice.
In stark contrast to that though, the Grevious we saw in Ep III was a joke. He sounded silly, he had an annoying cough (thanks to Mace Windu from the Original Clone Wars series) and he spent most of the film acting like a bitch before he was killed off by Obi-Wan. He didn't kill a single Jedi in the film, and thus failed to establish himself as a major threat. And then, to top it off, he wasn't even killed in a cool fashion. He got taken down by a couple of well placed blaster shots. How lame.
The new Clone Wars series can make up for this though. It can re-establish Grevious as a major threat to the Jedi. Have him be a badass again and let him kill a few Jedi. It'll go a long way towards redeeming him as a villain.
Odds we'll see this happen: 10 to 1
5. Some Sort of Super Weapon
It's not really a Star Wars story if it doesn't have a super weapon in it somewhere. Death Stars, Super Star Destroyers, you name it. Star Wars has always been about stupendously large machines that deal out death on a massive scale. And the Clone Wars series needs to be no different.
The separatist army should design some end-all-be-all uber weapon at some point in the series. Something that can kill an entire planet's population, or that can make stars go out or go nova or something. There needs to be an episode where a team of Jedi have to infiltrate and destroy the superweapon. It would fit well into the Star Wars galaxy to have such a thing happen. And that's the kind of story you can make last a whole season. Have rumors of a deadly new weapon start up. The Jedi have to investigate. They find out about it, then they have to find it and destroy it. That's epic sci-fi drama right there.
Odds we'll get to see this happen: 6 to 1
4. Mark Hamill Be The Voice For Anyone
Since starring in the original Star Wars saga, Mark Hamill has established himself as an incredible voiceover talent for animated TV shows. He was the Joker on the Batman Animated Series, he was Fire Lord Ozai on Avatar: The Last Airbender. He's been on shows like Robot Chicken and Futurama and Justice League. This man's geek cred is through the frakking roof.
Fans would go crazy if Mark Hamill were to make a return to Star Wars. It would be a perfect media event too. Lucas could market the hell out of Mark Hamill, Luke Skywalker himself, returning to the Star Wars fold. He could play a leader of the Sepatatist leader, or a new Jedi character that gets introduced. It doesn't matter. Just put him somewhere. He deserves to be added. And you know he'd totally love to do it too.
Odds we'll get to see this happen: 100 to 1
3. See Anakin Get His Facial Scar
Ever since we saw the first posters for Episode III, and we got to see Anakin with his new facial scar, the question has been asked by fans everywhere...how did he get it? Sure, they answered this in the comics. Asajj Ventress gave it to him in a fight on Coruscant. But I know I'm not alone when I say that seeing Anakin get his scar in comics form is not enough.
Something that big needs to be seen in a video media format. At some point during the series, we need to see Anakin get his scar. Have it be in a big, epic battle in a season finale episode. Make it happen at some huge dramatic point in the series where it looks like the Republic might actually lose the war. And when he gets scarred, we need to see Anakin go ape shit. He just needs to go super angry dark jedi for a bit after that and wipe out some huge Separatist force. Make him getting that scar mean something. Make the scar be a symbol of his progression towards the dark side. Make it matter.
Odds we'll get to see this happen: 20 to 1
2. Anakin be the Jedi we've all been told he was
The first real clue we had of Anakin's awesomeness was the comments Obi-wan made to luke in Episode 4. "He was the greatest starfighter pilot in the galaxy. And he was a good friend." From that point on we've been told all sorts of stuff about how powerful Anakin was. How strong he was with the force. Yet we've only seen little bits of this strength and greatness in the movies. Sure, he won the pordace. And yeah, he killed Count Dooku. But we haven't really seen Anakin go off in any major form. We have yet to see why he's considered the greatest pilot in the galaxy. We haven't seen Anakin single-handedly take out an Army.
Anakin spent most of the films pouting and being an all around whiny bitch. We need to see Anakin be the true hero we've all been told he was. He needs to do something truly self sacrificing. He needs to lead his forces to victory. He needs to lead by example and be an inspiration to his troops. He needs to show himself to be the most powerful Jedi of his time. Less whining...more badass.
Odds we'll get to see this happen: 3 to 1
1. The Death of Ahsoka Tano
Anakin's spunky little Padawan needs to die. Not right away, mind you. She's one of the stars of the new series, so she's going to be in it for the long haul. But where is she by Episode III? Nowhere. She's not around anymore, she's never referred to by other characters. She never makes another appearance after the Clone Wars. So where does she go?
In my opinion, she dies. It makes the most sense. It's a war. People die in wars all the time. Regardless of age or gender or status as a Jedi, if you fight in a war you could possibly die. I think it would be a brilliant move to let us watch as this scrappy young kid goes through the war, grows up, becomes a Jedi, and then dies in battle near the end of the series. Think of the affect it would have on Anakin to lose his former Padawan after he becomes so close with her through years of fighting side by side. It could be yet one more thing used to push him on the path to the dark side.
I highly doubt we're going to se Ahsoka die during the series though. The series is being aimed at kids, so the it's pretty much guaranteed that they're not going to deal with something so dark and heavy during the show. But one can dream, right? If anything, she needs to die just for calling Anakin Sky Guy. In fact, Anakin should be the one to kill her during one of his fits of dark side rage. That would be awesome.
Odds We'll see this happen: A Million to one
Odds We';; see Anakin kill her: A Billion to one
I'm no separatist. I can't stand their stupid droid soldiers. That incident with the Stormtroopers was a separate matter entirely. It had to deal with a bounty hunter and a Twi'lek dancing girl. I'll have to tell you about it sometime. ;)
ReplyDeleteAnd I was stoked to see that one of my items actually made in in the first two episodes. Yay me.
However, the first episode that they aired was really really bad. The second was better, but still had issues. And the trailer for next week's episode showed Jar Jar. I'm now officially scared.