-----------------------------------------EPISODES' REVIEW------------------------------------------
When a show says its pushing for 5 seasons, you generally tend to get very nervous, especially since an entire 1st season and a motion picture tanked your expectations, being "mediocre" at best. But now this new DVD release has really swept me off my feet! Star Wars never looked so good on TV! The acting is superb (with a few exceptions I'll roll out later), the story is never bland (although it suffers from unbelievably goofy premises) and each and every episode is able to hold the other up by its caliber in brilliance! It literally shoots the standards of the upcoming seasons by light-years!
The animation has made great strives and Season 2 is not shy when it comes to proving itself. The character models themselves interact with the environment, climate and other characters much more realistically. I can't even think of any particular technical hiccup off the top of my head -- not one -- from this season, which is a huge plus, in my opinion.
One technical issue I know the Clone Wars is suffering from though is that they haven't perfected the art of RAIN! I can't think of a single episode with a grey cloud in the sky, which is pretty unrealistic if you ask me. Its not a huge complaint, just a technical obstacle I'd like to see this show overcome.
The character's models could be as fantastic as they please: the characters 'themselves', however, could definitely use some tweaking. In a time-block of half an hour (22 minutes excluding commercial breaks), if amazing what both Seasons have been able to pull off. Sometimes the acting sounds forced, though, and dialogue is painfully rushed (I'm looking at you, Ahsoka and Anakin!). On the plus side, the voices fit well with the character's and their established personalities (with the exception of Grievous, who is just a miserable mess of inconsistency).
The story is outstanding, even for its constrained time-frame. Every episode acts and feels like it'd be at home playing on any big-screen cinema (which is, ironically, the exact opposite of how I felt about the feature-length film). The episodes' tone has gotten rather darker even, which I think compliments the kid's intelligence and the older viewer for watching a "kid's show" as well.
There's really not much else to say except the lack of legitimate villains. Count Dooku, General Grievous and Asajj Ventress get little to no action whatsoever(with the exception of Grievous getting his own 2 episode story arc... which was VERY disappointing). Some new adversaries are introduced, but they never really go anywhere (Cad Bane and Captain Honoka are the only exceptions) Instead, mercenaries, bounty hunters and even giant Godzilla wanna-bes get jammed into the show and really takes a lot away from the "Clone Wars"!!!
I understand that the Clone Wars can't shove battle droid and clone trooper clash in our face every episode, but it'd be a nice change of pace. Season 2 covered every genre you could think of: monster movie, murder mystery, kidnapping, extortion, revenge (the list goes on!), but the show needs to understand that it can't tread too far from its element.
------------------------------------------DVD'S REVIEW---------------------------------------------
Like the last season's collection, Season 2 offered 4 discs containing the 22 episodes and a very neat book that contains concept art relating to the season. The disc offers different language options and precise subtitles too (you know, the basics). Unfortunately, one REALLY disappointing thing about the package is its presentation and its lack of bonus material.
Last Season's DVD boxset offered interesting featurettes for every episode, explaining production, technical difficulties, etc. Instead, Season 2 has a new tab on its 'bland' menu labeled "Bonus Material" where you're lucky if you at least find ONE episode autopsy (there is also trailers for Star Wars games and other media, but they hardly count as worthy material). Season 1's 'main menu' even looks more impressive than Season 2's: Season 1 has a montage of clips from its episodes on each disc, where as Season 2 only has a still picture of Yoda on each disc ("Very disappointing, this is!")
Could it really have been that hard to stuff everything into those discs? Maybe the episodes' technical superiority made it relevant to take out good portions of bonus material, but that's no excuse: they could have just simply put another disc in the set dedicated to bonus material and be done with it! And its not like they weren't ever produced: even "StarWars.com" still has them in its video library, and its been -- what -- half-a-year, at most? To be honest, I smell a marketing tool to get Average Joes to get Blu-rays (which I assume are PACKED with bonus material) and with my limited budget, I guess I'll just have to stick to my guns and complain some more.
----------------------------------------------OVERALL----------------------------------------------
To write a lengthy review, it definitely required me to do extensive nit-picking. I still think, even with the few complaints I have, its a worthy buy. If you are willing to cough-up the extra bucks for Blu-Ray, you'll find a complete half of this review to be irrelevant. The episodes themselves are worth the buy, regardless of package and presentation.
I see Season 2 as the forerunner... and the seasons that follow it will be as marvelous, if not greater, than the last.
