Star Wars: The Clone Wars - Season 3

Series 3 opens as five headstrong clones struggle to complete their training on Kamino. The Clone Wars goes back to the original Star Wars film when Obi-Wan Kenobi tells Luke Skywalker that he was once a Jedi knight the same as your father and that they fought together in the Clone Wars. Since that moment fans have been obsessed with what the clone wars were. This new TV series takes place immediately after the events of Star Wars-Episode II: Attack of the Clones. The series follows Obi-Wan Kenobi and his apprentice Anakin Skywalker and introduces us to some new characters such as Ahsoka Tano a girl Jedi knight as well as characters we already know. The third season of the Clone Wars TV series has no major story arc: it's just a collection of adventures tied together by the recurring characters. Much of the first half of the season is devoted to diplomatic maneuvering in and out of the Senate. The filmmakers use the behind-the-scenes manipulations of the Trade Council and Banking Clan to make rather pointed political statements about the deregulation of the banks and the cost of the Separatist War impoverishing education, infrastructure, and health care on the planet Mandalore. The directors crank up the action in the second half of the season. When Count Dooku betrays his personal assassin Asajj Ventress, she tries to take revenge with some help from a new Sith killer, the unfortunately named Savage Opress. These episodes involve a world of witches that feels out of place in the Star Wars galaxy. The season comes to a slam-bang conclusion with five linked episodes involving the rescue of Jedi General Piel from a Separatist prison--an adventure that introduces a CG version of Chewbacca. The filmmakers appear to have spent most of their budget on special effects (rain, lava, explosions, lightning) and surface texturing (down to the dirt Padawan Ahsoka Tano gets on her skin). The animation is uneven at best, with many of the characters moving like weightless puppets. Not surprisingly, the Droids and robotic characters move more convincingly than the living ones. Jabba and the other Hutts lack the oozing, walrus-like bulk of the original, but the mask-faced Savage Opress executes some fancy battle moves. (Not rated: suitable for ages 10 and older: violence, violence against women, torture) --Charles Solomon