It seems to be the week of comebacks, isn't it? I restored Xiang's blog, revived my old YouTube channel, and now I check my computer after a few days of not doing so, and find that my Google notifications are filled with a bunch of posts all dealing with the same breaking news: The Clone Wars show has been resurrected.
Above: The clone troopers marching into battle, ready to fight at the Jedi's command.
What even is The Clone Wars, you may ask? Well, in case you couldn't tell from the title, it has to do with Star Wars. It was an animated TV series that started in 2008. It took place between Star War episodes II and III, and told the story of what the movies mostly skipped: The events of the Clone Wars, a series of battles named after the army of soldiers that were all identical clones of the bounty hunter Jango Fett (Boba Fett's dad).
Above: Anakin and Obi-Wan look confused in the Clone Wars Comeback trailer. "Wait, this is a thing now?"
Fans loved this show for many reasons. One, it gave them Star Wars content during a time when it was believed that there would never be any more SW movies, and this was content to feed their fandom thirst. Two, it was simply a show that was good; good storylines, action-packed, well thought-out characters, and a frequency of episode releases all ensured that in the minds of many, this was the only good prequel-era Star Wars content. But that wasn't all. It was the characters, specifically Ahsoka Tano.
Above: A young Ahsoka Tano as she appears in The Clone Wars.
When Ahsoka was introduced in the show's debut, it marked the appearance of one of the series's first ever female Jedi main characters. While there were obviously female main characters at that point (Leia, Padme), none of them were a Jedi (although Leia did have some Force powers). Ahsoka was a pretty, young alien girl who just so happened to be able to lift things with her mind and be badass with a laser sword. In other words, you could imagine just how much she was able to resonate with fans, especially young girls.
Above: The Mickey Mouse Empire claims its brand-new bounty.
So, why is this post such a big deal, if the show is already 10 years old, you may ask? Well, you see, the show died an unfortunately early death. Following the 2012 purchase of Lucasfilm by Disney for $4 billion (Mr. Krabs would be proud), Disney quickly started to clean up the "mess" left behind by good ol' George Lucas. This included labeling all books, games, and comics created after the movies were made (then known as the "Expanded Universe" or "EU") as "Legends"; a nicer way of saying that they were no longer considered a part of the Holy Star Wars Canon™ ; a nicer way of saying that this content was not accurate in the Star Wars timeline; which is, finally, a nicer way of saying that they didn't like this stuff and thought it was dumb. [I mean, according to the EU, Chewbacca dies, and that is pretty dumb.)
Above: A poster for the original Clone Wars animated series.
One of the most devastating blows suffered by Disney's purchase of Star Wars (other than having to see a picture of Darth Vader with Mickey Mouse ears, ugh) was the announcement that you had to kiss goodbye to your Ahsoka Tano and Captain Rex plushies (and your Netflix subscription) because The Clone Wars, in its 6th season but still with a storyline that was unfinished, was officially canceled. The last episode aired in 2014, and fans have been mourning the show's absence ever since.
Above: Every since Disney bought Star Wars, a lot more lore and storylines have been introduced to the timeline than it could have had before.
In the four years since it ended, a lot has happened. The movies made a comeback in the form of an entire new trilogy, with two movies so far (which aren't terrible like the prequels were). There have even been two spinoff movies (Rogue One and Solo). Not only that, but an entirely new animated series was created to fill the gap in fan's hearts during the Clone Wars's absense. What show was it? Star Wars Rebels.
Above: A poster for Star Wars Rebels.
Star Wars Rebels was similar to the Clone Wars in many ways: It was an animated TV show, took place in between two movies (specifically III and IV), and had to do with war. This time, instead of Ahsoka rallying up the clone troopers to fight the dark side with Anakin at her side; it is Ezra Bridger rallying up the Rebel Allaince to fight the Empire with Kanan at his side. While the series as a whole turned out to be great in the end, it surely didn't fill in the gap in fan's hearts left by the Clone Wars. This partly had to do with the fact that the first season of the show gave it a start that was slow, to say the least. So many fans were turned off and disappointed by the first few episodes that many didn't even bother to watch the episodes that followed.
And don't you dare think that Disney just sat on their piles of money, uncaring and unaware as to their shrinking fanbase (AKA shrinking profits). They needed something to regain fan's interests. Something that would bring back the immense following that The Clone Wars had, yet Rebels simply lacked. You can guess what that key to regaining success would be: Ahsoka.
So that is why the season finale of season 3 ended with Ahsoka meeting Vader (AKA Anakin) for the first time in a decade or two, within the walls of a Sith temple. She has no idea of Vader's true identity, so when she damages his helmet during the fight, she has a peek at his eyes and realizes in shock who he truly is.
It is quite a chilling moment, possibly the best one in the whole series. She stares into her former master's eyes, hoping to find traces of hope, love, or even mercy. Instead, all she is greeted back with is his scarred and reddish eyeball glaring back at her.
And after that, the camera shifts back to good ol' Space Alladin (what I like to jokingly call Ezra Bridger). As if I cared about what he was up to, and not the best animated Star Wars character! I was so ticked off at this point. I didn't care about the annoying rebels; Zeb and Ezra and Kanan could have died for all I care (fine, not true), but Ahsoka's life was all that I wanted to survive that episode. However, we unfortunately didn't find out what the result of the duel was. Instead, a few moments later, Vader walks out of the temple in an evil pose, to find that the other rebels have escaped. Ahsoka has succeeded in stalling long enough to make the good guys get away (that reminds me so much of the ending to The Last Jedi with Luke, and I just realized now. Huh, a repeated plotline, I guess). We had no idea what happened to her, and whether or not she was dead, until a few seasons later.
Many fans were ecstatic at the reappearance and semi-proper send-off for the characters of Ahsoka and Captain Rex, but that did not at all stop people from wanting the Clone Wars series to finish what it started (just like what Kylo Ren thinks about Vader; finish what you started). People continued to bombard Dave Filoni (executive producer of two of the Star Wars animated series) with the hastag #SaveTheCloneWars on Twitter. Filoni had to do something to acknowledge the fan's constant begging. He had to give them an answer: Yes or no, is the show coming back? He could have easily said no, then and there, something along the lines of: Sorry guys, its never coming back, so please stop tagging me with that hashtag a dozen times per hour. But he didn't; Instead, he waited until the 10-year anniversary of the show in order to give the fans some exciting news.
So just a few days ago, at the San Diego Comic Con panel celebrating the 10th anniversay of the show, they gave fans an epic trailer that breaked some phenomenal news to them: The Clone Wars had officially been saved!!! Season 7 had finally been finished by Dave Filoni, and fans could finally see the proper conclusion to the series, with the ending it was always meant to have.
You can watch the epic comeback trailer below:
You can tell that the fans aren't just happy; They're over the top excited! You can see a video of the fans at Comic Con being the first people to see the trailer, and their reaction is purely over-the-top madness! The video of it is below:
So, when can you watch it? It will be released sometime next year, 2019, and will be available to watch exclusively via Disney's yet-to-be-announced streaming service.
Above: Ahsoka in the comeback trailer, reuniting with her Jedi master Anakin through a hologram. "Master, it's been a while..."
That trailer gave me goosebumps all the way through. It was great being able to see the clones and their memorably unique personalities (quite ironic, considering they're all technically the same person). Ahsoka seeing Anakin again after leaving the Jedi Order still made me happy, despite that her other official "return" was in Star Wars Rebels. It was super clever how the makers of the trailer decided to flip the #SaveTheCloneWars into #CloneWarsSaved (which obviously fits the situation a lot better).
I guess that I can cancel my Netflix subscription peacefully... Once I finish watching the original show, anyways I saw the beginning season, and the entire finale episodes, but I skipped a lot of stuff in the middle. I have a year ahead of me to catch up on all the episodes I missed, so come 2019 I will be all ready to watch the new season as soon the new episodes release. I didn't watch the clone wars until quite later, (I was 4 years old once it came out), so I am not as big of a fan as some other people (a lot of them, actually.) I am still excited, as this will probably be the first TV show I will watch entirely and keep-up-to-date with since Gravity Falls ended two years ago (it feels like it was so recent, though, doesn't it?)
This announcement is great for multiple reasons. One, it keeps the fans happy, of course. Two, it gives people Star Wars content when there would have otherwise been a drought of it (episode 9, the final one in the saga, comes out around two years after when the previous movie, TLJ, released.) And three, it shows that Disney is willing to listen to its ever-passionate Star Wars fanbase. The Star Wars fanbase, while still being a strong one overall, has always been a heavily divided one. For example, for almost any movie in the saga, you can find that half the fanbase enjoys it, while the other half thinks it the worst movie ever made.
This entire idea of fans petitioning Disney to change Star Wars may remind you of the current pleas from way-too-passionate fans to have a remake of The Last Jedi (due to several controversial opinions on it, ranging from critiques on Luke's character arc to downright hatred and racism towards the characters). I am absolutely not one of those people, but I can still tell you this definitely: That will never, ever happen. I'm not biased about it either; it's just stone-cold fact. Why? I mean, if they listened to the fans about The Clone Wars, why won't they with The Last Jedi. The difference, as writer on The Slate online magazine Marissa Martinelli perfectly puts it, is this: (source: https://slate.com/culture/2018/07/star-wars-fan-campaigns-clonewarssaved-vs-remakethelastjedi.html)
Most importantly though, #SaveTheCloneWars has succeeded where #RemakeTheLastJedi will fail because its purpose, to paraphrase an embattled Star Wars heroine, was not fans fighting what they hate, but saving what they love.
I hope you enjoyed this post! I try to post every day or two during summer, so be sure to click the subscribe button at the top of my blog so you can receive email notifications whenever I make a new post. Tomorrow I will try to write a story about Waluigi's backstory. Feel free to leave your thoughts and suggestions in the comments below, but remember to stay positive as I need to approve comments before they become public. If you like my blog, be sure to tell your friends about it so I can gain a greater audience. My current goal is to reach 130K views by the end of the summer, and I am currently at 121.8K views. Stay tuned, and I hope you enjoy the vast amount of blogging content that is soon to come! :)
Here is a link to my previous post, about last week's Nintendo News: http://www.arcabaran.com/2018/07/nintendo-news-roundup-nintendo.html
If you liked this post, be sure to browse the labels at the top of the post's sidebar to find other similar posts on this blog. Here are some other blogs you may like.
Onur’s Blog- First Step, Next Step, This Step: My little brother got inspired by me to start his own blog too! He writes mostly about Nintendo and posts decently often. Here it is: https://onur3.blogspot.com/
Burak’s Blog: My AABO buddy Burak has written about very similar topics that I do, over on his own blog. I highly recommend you check it out, so here it is: http://biloglu.blogspot.com/ He even figured out how to intricately code and host his own website, and I have to say I’m quite impressed by it: http://buraksblogmore.com/
This is Arca, signing off. Bye for now!
Comments
Post a Comment
Feel free to give positive feedback, reactions, or suggestions in the comments! All comments can be seen by me before they are public. I can choose to approve them or not.