What with Wave 3 I’ve kind of got interested in the prequel era. Will the Clone Wars series make me want to tear my eyes out or is it worth buying in to?

In my opinion, yes. It fills in a whole lot of gaps between Episode II and Episode III, has some considerably mature storytelling (even though it's a program that was originally aimed at a much younger potential Star Wars audience than the films), and adds considerable depth to many of the characters from the Prequel era. We get to see a lot more of Anakin's struggle between the light and the dark, we're given a much larger picture of the Clone Wars as a whole (including those systems that chose to stay neutral), and the scum and villainy of the galaxy are even given some good stories. For me, the Clone Wars also produced some great characters - Cad Bane, for example. I would definitely support 'buying into it'.

Just now, feltipern1 said:

In my opinion, yes. It fills in a whole lot of gaps between Episode II and Episode III, has some considerably mature storytelling (even though it's a program that was originally aimed at a much younger potential Star Wars audience than the films), and adds considerable depth to many of the characters from the Prequel era. We get to see a lot more of Anakin's struggle between the light and the dark, we're given a much larger picture of the Clone Wars as a whole (including those systems that chose to stay neutral), and the scum and villainy of the galaxy are even given some good stories. For me, the Clone Wars also produced some great characters - Cad Bane, for example. I would definitely support 'buying into it'.

Just get through that first season.. worth it. some of the episode air dates are "out of order" so it might get confusing. there is lists online that shows where the episode are chronologically.

12 minutes ago, Estarriol said:

What with Wave 3 I’ve kind of got interested in the prequel era. Will the Clone Wars series make me want to tear my eyes out or is it worth buying in to?

I think it is a little slow to start but about 3/4 of the way through the first season they find their footing and it is terrific from there. I think it is more that the animation is still a little "stiff" early on.

Like any series it is hit and miss but I really enjoy it. I especially enjoy the portrayal of Anakin as a mean dog always about to slip his chain. Clone Wars Anakin is a scary bastard. The series is available on Netflix at the moment. I'd recommend digging up a "best of" list and picking something that gets your interest and giving it a shot.

I recommend the four Umbara episodes from Season Four about episode seven. This guy:

5 minutes ago, feltipern1 said:

Cad Bane, for example.

I love Cad Bane. Sentenza set loose in the Star Wars universe.

It has a few low points, particularly near the start, but it is well worth your time imo.

And then there is the pay off when Clone Wars characters appear in Rebels (ie Hondo and others)

The Clone Wars movie and all the seasons of the TV show are on Netflix. The 7th season will be on Disney's streaming service eventually. I personally enjoy it, most of the episodes are great.

Clone Wars is coming off Netflix April 7th in Canada - don't know about the US.

15 hours ago, RuusMarev said:

And then there is the pay off when Clone Wars characters appear in Rebels (ie Hondo and others)

Having already watched through Clone Wars once when I started Rebels, I was really happy to see some of the continuity. "The Last Battle" from Rebels is particularly poignant.

28 minutes ago, feltipern1 said:

Clone Wars is coming off Netflix April 7th in Canada - don't know about the US.

Having already watched through Clone Wars once when I started Rebels, I was really happy to see some of the continuity. "The Last Battle" from Rebels is particularly poignant.

They tied Rebels and Clone Wars together in a very satisfying way in my opinion. "Twilight of The Apprentice" and "Twin Suns" is some terrific stuff. Hopefully, they'll release the Season 7 Clone Wars episodes to disc.

Make sure you look up the chronological view order list. Much better viewing then watching them in order of release.

It requires a lot of jumping around the first 3 seasons, but if you're watching on Netflix it's easy to switch.

Seasons 4-6 are pretty much in chronological order already at least.

I never watched it, but "tear my eyes out" is a pretty accurate description of how I thought it looked. I stopped actively consuming new Star Wars media around 2010-ish (whenever Force Unleashed and Kinect Star Wars came out) and I was just left balking at how little graphical progress had been made in televised CG shows since Reboot and Beast Wars. Especially considering it this was a well-funded powerhouse like Lucasfilm that has been moving visual effects forward since the 1970's. The visuals just turned me off right away.

Pair that with the prequel trilogy having left a bad taste in my mouth and not really wanting to see any more exploits of these characters, I never got into it. I remember owning the prequel trilogy DVDs but I'm not sure I ever actually watched them outside theaters. I mostly remember them as being much less interesting than the Clone Wars that were built up in my head through the OT and some of the novels.

I can't comment otherwise. I was too old to be part of the show's target audience and not in the segment of 20-somethings that liked the prequels or regularly watched cartoons outside of things like King of the Hill. Nothing has ever made me want to give it a second chance.

I think you've gotta look past its design and appreciate the setting and stories for what they are - an expanse to the universe. There's a lot of story telling across the seasons for TCW CGI, there are some daft episodes of course but it certainly matures over the seasons, you see characters progress and take shape as well as explore the universe on levels that you simply don't get with the films. There's a lot more you can do with animation than with films, and whilst it's easy to say that nothing can compete with the original trilogy, I'll even suffer through the prequels and the latest terrible trilogy attempt to see more of the universe and how things develop.

But for TCW I liked watching the series for the progression of the clone troopers (clones, arcs and rep commandos etc), the battle scenes (lets face it there's plenty of action!), the new characters, races and space ships/vehicles, along with the stories on ani's padawan, the emperor, boba, bounty hunters, death watch, rep' commandos, dooku's apprentices, obi's small but interesting dive into his past, etc etc.

6 hours ago, infyrana said:

I think you've gotta look past its design and appreciate the setting and stories for what they are - an expanse to the universe. There's a lot of story telling across the seasons for TCW CGI, there are some daft episodes of course but it certainly matures over the seasons, you see characters progress and take shape as well as explore the universe on levels that you simply don't get with the films. There's a lot more you can do with animation than with films, and whilst it's easy to say that nothing can compete with the original trilogy, I'll even suffer through the prequels and the latest terrible trilogy attempt to see more of the universe and how things develop.

But for TCW I liked watching the series for the progression of the clone troopers (clones, arcs and rep commandos etc), the battle scenes (lets face it there's plenty of action!), the new characters, races and space ships/vehicles, along with the stories on ani's padawan, the emperor, boba, bounty hunters, death watch, rep' commandos, dooku's apprentices, obi's small but interesting dive into his past, etc etc.

I may give it a chance based on what people in here are saying, but I can't help but look at it and say "I have a bad feeling about this."

I don't have Netflix, is there anywhere else to watch it? Preferably not requiring a paid subscription? Is there a particular episode I should watch that will give me a good feel for whether I want to watch it or not? I know that starting from the beginning isn't always a good idea since it takes time for it to hit its stride sometimes.

9 hours ago, ArcHammer said:

I may give it a chance based on what people in here are saying, but I can't help but look at it and say "I have a bad feeling about this."

I don't have Netflix, is there anywhere else to watch it? Preferably not requiring a paid subscription? Is there a particular episode I should watch that will give me a good feel for whether I want to watch it or not? I know that starting from the beginning isn't always a good idea since it takes time for it to hit its stride sometimes.

It is available on disc. You might check your library to borrow it. I think it will soon be pulled from Netflix though and end up on Disney's service. I think it might be on Amazon Prime.

Season 3 episode 1 "Clone Cadets" then Season 1 episode 5 "Rookies" then back to Season 3 for episode 2 "ARC Troopers" is a good intro I think. I recommended the Umbara arc above but it is a slight outlier as to overall "feel" of the show. The animation is a bit "stiff" in season one but improves. If you don't like the look you don't like the look. The animation improves but the overall art style remains the same. Jar Jar shows up here and there but I don't think "they tell bad stories" is a fair criticism of the show.

I guess giving it a shot is worth the NetFlix trial. I think a month is enough to figure out whether I like it or not. I doubt I can dislike it more than Rogue One.

51 minutes ago, ArcHammer said:

I guess giving it a shot is worth the NetFlix trial. I think a month is enough to figure out whether I like it or not. I doubt I can dislike it more than Rogue One.

The episodes are around 22 minutes long. You can watch the three episodes I recommend to get a feel in a little over an hour.

And "The Umbrella Academy" among other things is worth a Netflix trial.

On 3/26/2019 at 7:13 PM, Frimmel said:

I recommend the four Umbara episodes from Season Four about episode seven. This guy:

As a rule, the clone episodes (as opposed to the Jedi ones) tend to be awesome.

The domino squad sequence mentioned by @Frimmel . "Rookies" was probably the episode which sold me on the show - "okay.....so, not just a kid's show where no major character is ever really in danger, then."

12 minutes ago, Magnus Grendel said:

As a rule, the clone episodes (as opposed to the Jedi ones) tend to be awesome.

The domino squad sequence mentioned by @Frimmel . "Rookies" was probably the episode which sold me on the show - "okay.....so, not just a kid's show where no major character is ever really in danger, then."

The show has some very dark moments in it. I've seen some "Is this a kid's show?" sort of consternation with it but I think they do the darker themes very tastefully for failure to find a better term.

I think if I had kids there would be plenty of opportunities in watching the show to talk about good and evil and good needing to do some not nice things to stop evil. I think it asks questions about where you cross the line from trying to do good to being evil yourself.

I hit the point you're talking about with the show with "Holocron Heist" and Cad Bane in the room with the dead Jedi. Most certainly "not just a kid's show."

I watched "Clone Cadets" before work today on @Frimmel 's advice and I actually didn't hate it. It's refreshing to be able to watch a show that might have some more serious themes without it being in-your-face graphic like HBO and its clones do. I'll be watching more. May stick with this. About to watch "Rookies" now.

The art style may take some adjustment but I'm going to try to give it a fair shake.

I finished "Rookies" and started "ARC Troopers" but it's mentioning characters in the opening teaser I don't recognize. Did I miss something? I plan to go forward with watching the series but don't know whether to start from the beginning or do the Chronological order thing? I'm too far out of my element to figure this out on my own, someone please do my thinking for me. I just don't want to spoil any surprising turns of events or anything.

Oh well, I guess at this point the hook is set, I may as well go through the chronological order.

8 hours ago, ArcHammer said:

I finished "Rookies" and started "ARC Troopers" but it's mentioning characters in the opening teaser I don't recognize. Did I miss something? I plan to go forward with watching the series but don't know whether to start from the beginning or do the Chronological order thing? I'm too far out of my element to figure this out on my own, someone please do my thinking for me. I just don't want to spoil any surprising turns of events or anything.

Oh well, I guess at this point the hook is set, I may as well go through the chronological order.

Is this the order you're using?

https://www.starwars.com/news/star-wars-the-clone-wars-chronological-episodeorder

57 minutes ago, markcsoul said:

Is this the order you're using?

https://www.starwars.com/news/star-wars-the-clone-wars-chronological-episodeorder

Yeah, that's the one.

1 hour ago, ArcHammer said:

Yeah, that's the one.

You shouldn't be watching arc troopers for quite awhile then.

48 minutes ago, markcsoul said:

You shouldn't be watching arc troopers for quite awhile then.

I was initially following @Frimmel 's advice on a few episodes to watch to see if I'd like the show. Doing the chronological order from here on out though.

I am glad I watched those first, too. The irritating villain in "Cat and Mouse" honestly would have turned me off the whole series had I seen it first.

On 3/31/2019 at 1:34 AM, ArcHammer said:

I finished "Rookies" and started "ARC Troopers" but it's mentioning characters in the opening teaser I don't recognize. Did I miss something?

Yes, you missed something. As you've gleaned onto I recommended episodes "out of order." They were in order for the character Fives and were meant to give you a feel for what the show is.

One of the things to remember is that the show cribs on the old Saturday morning serials. It was not uncommon for theaters to miss installments or for installments to be screened out of order and to have plot holes and missing information. With modern shows you'll get a "previously on..." to start the show. Sometimes with Clone Wars that little tease is in fact brand new information. It is a fun thing about the show. You have to pay attention and have both a short and long memory and most of all a willingness to roll with it. It is supposed to be fun. It isn't a chore. "Fly casual."