I saw a couple of episodes of Star Wars: The Clone Wars when it was originally airing on Cartoon Network, but just a couple, and only when my younger sisters were already watching it. Why? Because it came out when I was in high school and had no time for fun. (That’s only a slight exaggeration.)

Anyway, I never really got around to watching it, partly because you’re Not Supposed to Like the Prequels or Anything to Do With Them. But, come on. The prequels aren’t that bad. Yes, they’ve got Jar Jar Binks. Yes, the romance is cringe-tastic. But I’ve always kind of liked them in spite of their flaws. They’re different from the original trilogy, and the lightsaber battles are way cooler. The Clone Wars (the show, not the movie) does a lot more of what I liked about the prequels: it expands on the Star Wars universe in interesting ways.

When I heard the entire series was on Disney+, I was so excited to finally get to watch it all after years of just seeing an episode here and there. Ben and I have just finished season 2, and since it’s probably going to take us a while to get through all 7 seasons, we decided to write about our thoughts so far.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars is about what the title says it’s about: the Clone Wars. There’s not really an overarching story, other than Palpatine being an evil puppeteer pulling strings on both sides of the conflict and the Jedi being remarkably blind about his involvement in the whole thing, even when he makes cryptic-but-obvious I’m-the-Bad-Guy statements. 

Seasons 1 and 2 mainly follow Ahsoka Tano, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Anakin Skywalker (plus some clones) as they deal with various Separatist threats to the Republic and win (or lose) battles. I’ve heard that for some people, there’s not any tension when these three get into danger, since we already know they live to get to Episode III. I didn’t feel that way though; if anything, it heightened the tension for me because there are plenty of situations that seem impossible to get out of, and I always wanted to see how they’d pull it off. (Also, I’m very impressed with Obi-Wan. He makes it all the way through Star Wars with both arms still attached to his body.)

There are some clusters of two or three episodes that follow the same arc, but mostly we get to travel far and wide across the galaxy and watch the Clone Wars conflict progress. It’s a lot of fun, and so far, Ben and I are really enjoying it. Here are some of our favorite things about it.

Clone Wars Anakin

I never really cared about Anakin Skywalker before. He was just annoying and/or creepy in the prequels. But in Clone Wars, Anakin is cool. He’s funny. He actually cares about his clone troopers instead of being an aloof Jedi master who spouts Jedi tenets when things go wrong. I find myself liking him and caring about what happens to him, which was not the case in the movies. 

Clone Wars Anakin is still smug and, despite his inability to follow orders, things usually work out for him anyway because he’s just so good at everything. He’s also impulsive, stopping at nothing to save the people who are important to him. These characteristics are strengths that make him a charismatic military leader, but they’re also the flaws that you know will eventually lead to his downfall.

I think that particular exploration of Anakin’s character is fascinating, and I’m sure it will come into play in more interesting ways as the show progresses. Clone Wars Anakin is so much more fun to watch than Prequel Anakin, and the worst thing about it is that you know he’ll fall to the Dark side eventually.

So Many Characters

I did watch the Clone Wars movie back in the day, so I already knew Ahsoka Tano was Anakin’s padawan. So far, I’m not that crazy about her, but I’ve heard she gets better, so I’ll keep watching with that in mind and expect to love her down the road. And even though I don’t like Ahsoka right away, it’s refreshing that one of the main Jedi in Clone Wars isn’t one of the same Jedi from the movies. 

Besides that, Clone Wars lets you spend more time with other characters! We get to see lots of the other Jedi, and Clone Wars has given Ben a new favorite: Plo Koon, who is apparently the only Jedi to think of Force-grabbing a bad guy before they can escape. (Why do none of the other Jedi do this?) 

Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Ahsoka are still the main focus and most of the episodes follow at least one of them. But some episodes are about none of them, like the episode where Rex discovers a clone deserter hiding out on an outer rim planet. 

This is a welcome deviation from the movies. In a galaxy where everyone is a Skywalker, a Solo, or a Palpatine, it’s nice to have some episodes where you don’t see any of those yahoos and just get to know some of the other characters on a deeper level. (The exception, of course, was the early episode where Jar Jar Binks and C-3PO get left to their own devices and have to save the day when Padmé gets captured.)

So Many Worlds

Does anyone else get sick of Tatooine? ‘Cause I definitely do. It feels like every Star Wars movie, and now The Mandalorian, wants to go back to Tatooine in one way or another. Guys, come on. It’s a huge desert. Luke couldn’t wait to get off of it, and every time I have to go back there in one of the Star Wars movies I definitely understand why. There are like a gazillion other, more-interesting-to-look-at planets in the galaxy.

That’s why I love that in most of Clone Wars (so far, at least), we get to see those other planets and interact with the alien cultures instead of just seeing Tatooine and whatever deserted moon is hiding a rebel base. I can’t keep all of the planets and alien races straight, and I don’t care. I just think they’re cool.

Who to Binge With

Clone Wars is rated TV-PG. So far, the language and jokes are fairly clean. It’s an animated kids’ show, and I think for some reason I thought that meant it would be violence-free. That is, obviously, not the case in a show that heavily leans into the war part of Star Wars. Most of the violence isn’t graphic, but you do see people get tortured. There’s no gore or anything (at least, not yet), but there are a lot of on-screen deaths (mostly done by storm troopers in explosions or shot by blasters or stepped on by a giant Zillo beast). Some of the lightsaber deaths are unexpected and unceremonious, like the episode where Ventress straight up stabs Gilderoy Lockhart’s twin through a chair. Also, the clone troopers burn some Separatist Geonosians alive with flamethrowers??? So, there’s that.

There are also a lot of space ladies in drafty outfits, and I’m not sure why. If I were a space lady, I’d bundle up because it’s cold in space, but hey. Maybe they’re all immune to the cold or something. *shrug emoji*

We could talk a lot more about the first couple of seasons of Clone Wars, but then we’d probably get more spoiler-y, and we wouldn’t have time to sit down and watch more of it. Suffice it to say, it’s been a fun ride so far. Hopefully it stays that way.

Every season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars can be streamed via Disney+. Or, if you don’t want to be subject to the whims of the Disney overlords, you could buy them from Amazon or iTunes and just add them to your permanent collection.