Star Wars: The Clone Wars is an American 3D CGI animated television series created by Lucasfilm Animation, Lucasfilm Animation Singapore and CGCG Inc. On August 15, 2008 the Star Wars: The Clone Wars film was released in theaters; it served as the official pilot episode and the introduction of the series. The series made its debut on the American Cartoon Network on October 3, 2008. It is set in the fictional Star Wars galaxy, during the same time period as the previous 2003 Star Wars: Clone Wars series. The show itself takes place during the three-year interim between Star Wars: Episode II â€" Attack of the Clones and Star Wars: Episode III â€" Revenge of the Sith. Each episode has a running time of 22 minutes, to fill a half-hour time slot. Star Wars creator George Lucas originally claimed that "there [would] be at least 100 episodes produced". In total 121 episodes were produced in the series.
On March 11, 2013, Lucasfilm announced that Star Wars: The Clone Wars would be "winding down," effectively canceling the series as Lucasfilm ended its contract with Cartoon Network, following its acquisition by Disney. The unreleased episodes that had already been produced are referred to as "bonus content." On January 16, 2014, the German television network Super RTL announced their plans to air the "bonus content" as a sixth season, which would consist of 13 episodes. Season 6, along with the other seasons and the feature film, were made available on Netflix on March 7, 2014.
Series overview
Episodes
Film (2008)
As a lead in to the TV series of the same name, the film was released theatrically on August 15, 2008, and was distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, which also holds the home media distribution rights to both this film and the first five seasons of the television series. Though critical reception was negative, the film was a box office success, and grossed $68.3 million worldwide against an $8.5 million budget.
Season 1 (2008â€"09)
The hour-long premiere episode of Star Wars: The Clone Wars aired on October 3, 2008, and set a new record with Cartoon Network as their most-watched series premiere, attracting 3.992 million total viewers. The season finale, "Hostage Crisis", was broadcast on March 20, 2009, and the original broadcast received 3.297 million viewers. The feature film has the production codes 1.01, 1.03, 1.04, and 1.18. Season 1 depicted the attempts of the Republic and the Separatists to gain the allegiance of many planets and moons.
Season 2: Rise of the Bounty Hunters (2009â€"10)
The season two premiere, "Holocron Heist", was broadcast on October 2, 2009, and attracted 2.581 million viewers. Episode 15 was first released in Canada. Episodes 16â€"21 were released in UK before airing in US. In Season 2, the Sith resort to hiring bounty hunters and mercenaries to steal objects and intel or to assassinate targets for them. Meanwhile, the Jedi lead the Republic forces in an assault on the primary battle droid manufacturing facility. The one-hour season finale combined of "R2 Come Home" and "Lethal Trackdown", was broadcast on April 30, 2010, and the original broadcast received 2.756 million viewers.
Season 3: Secrets Revealed (2010â€"11)
The season three premiere, consisting of "Clone Cadets" and "ARC Troopers," was broadcast on September 17, 2010, attracting 2.42 million viewers. These episodes, and certain others in this season, cover events from previous seasons. Episodes 21 and 22 were released in the UK before airing in the US. The season finale, consisting of "Padawan Lost" and "Wookie Hunt," was broadcast on April 1, 2011, attracting 2.31 million viewers.
Season 4: Battle Lines (2011â€"12)
The season four premiere, consisting of "Water War" and "Gungan Attack", was broadcast on September 16, 2011, and attracted 1.93 million viewers, the lowest premiere viewing of all seasons. The season finale, "Revenge" was broadcast on March 16, 2012, attracting 2.03 million viewers.
Season 5 (2012â€"13)
The season five premiere, "Revival", was broadcast on September 29, 2012, and attracted 1.94 million viewers. Season five consisted of 20 episodes instead of the normal 22 episode count. The season five finale, "The Wrong Jedi", was broadcast on March 2, 2013, and attracted 2.18 million viewers. Unlike the first four seasons, the episodes for Season 5 were released to DVD and Blu-ray in Chronological order as opposed to Broadcast order.
Season 6: The Lost Missions (2014)
Episodes from the sixth season of the series were released on March 7, 2014 on Netflix.
The 13 episodes of season six premiered in Germany on February 15, 2014 on Super RTL.
Episodes in narrative chronological order
While the series is designed to be an anthology of both standalone episodes and small story arcs, various events throughout inform stories, characters, and relationships to create a recognizable narrative chronology. On March 17, 2014, in recognition of the release of the complete series on Netflix, Lucasfilm Animation released an official chronological episode order.
Crystal Crisis On Utapau Story Reels
Bad Batch Story Reels
Dark Disciple Novel
Darth Maul: Son of Dathomir Comic Series
Dark Disciple Novel
The Clone Wars Legacy
At the time of cancellation in March 2013, there were still many episodes in development. 13 of these episodes were finished to become part of Season 6: The Lost Missions but there were still additional arcs that were never released. In September 2014, StarWars.com released details of multiple story arcs from the unfinished episodes.
Darth Maul: Son Of Dathomir
A 4-episode arc continued the story of Darth Maul following the events from the Season 5 episode The Lawless. The arc gave reason as to why Darth Maul was resurrected in the Season 4 episode Brothers. The four episodes were titled: The Enemy Of My Enemy, A Tale Of Two Apprentices, Proxy War, and Showdown On Dathomir (production codes: 6.21 - 6.24). The arc was adapted into a 4-part comic book released in August 2014.
Crystal Crisis On Utapau
In September 2014, four unfinished episodes were released in completed story reel format. These story reels (or animatics) are preliminary animation to give the crew a better idea of how the episode will come together before committing to expensive animation. The four episodes released were titled: A Death On Utapau, In Search Of The Crystal, Crystal Crisis, and The Big Bang (production codes: 6.01 - 6.04). The arc took place on Utapau with Obi-Wan and Anakin investigating an arms deal involving the Separatists and a kyber crystal. The arc also dealt with Anakin's feelings after the disappearance of Ahsoka. It was included in the Season 6 Blu-ray.
The Bad Batch
A 4-episode arc featuring Rex and Echo was adapted in to story reel format and was screened on April 17, 2015 at Celebration Anaheim. Scripted by Brent Friedman, it is the first in a four-part story arc focusing on a ragtag unit of clone commandos of the same name. The episode, along with the rest of its arc, premiered on April 17, 2015 at Celebration Anaheim, and was released on StarWars.com shortly after on April 29, 2015. Wat Tambor, who appeared in the Ryloth trilogy returns in this arc, as well as Admiral Trench. The four episodes released were titled: The Bad Batch, A Distant Echo, On The Wings Of Keeradaks, and Unfinished Business (Production codes: 6.09 - 6.12).
Dark Disciple
An 8-episode arc with Asajj Ventress and Jedi Quinlan Vos has been adapted into a novel by Christie Golden titled Dark Disciple, released on July 7, 2015. The eight episodes were titled: Lethal Alliance, The Mission, Conspirators, Dark Disciple, Saving Vos, Part I, Saving Vos, Part II, Traitor and The Path. (Production codes: 6.13 - 6.16 and 7.05 - 7.08)
References
External links
- List of Star Wars: The Clone Wars episodes at TV.com
- Skymovies.com Episode Guide
- The Clone Wars section on StarWars.com
- CartoonNetwork.com Schedule
