Customer Reviews

Star Wars: The Clone Wars - The Complete Season One [Blu-ray]

5 star:		(139)
4 star:		(40)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Don't bad on me for posting a review before the product is released. Amazon is so bad at informing of bonus features I thought some might want to know what this Blu-Ray (or DVD) set will include.

This is from the press release (which also notes the release date as 3 Nov.):

Star Wars: The Clone Wars The Complete Season One is presented in widescreen with English, Spanish and French 5.1 DTS audio and English, French and Spanish subtitles.

Bonus features include:

* Seven Director's Cut Episodes: Rising Malevolence, Shadow of Malevolence, Lair of Grievous, Rookies, Storm Over Ryloth, Innocents of Ryloth and Liberty on Ryloth

* 22 Episodic Featurettes that go behind-the-scenes with Supervising Director Dave Filoni and crew about the making-of each episode

* Spectacular 64-page production journal that includes early sketches, artist notes, and concept art from each episode from Season One

* Blu-ray Exclusive -- The Jedi Temple Archives: An extensive database exploring test footage, early concept art, 3-D character and object turnarounds and early animation. The Archives is a rare look at the assets in various stages of creation for The Clone Wars, with a wealth of surprises and never-before seen moments sprinkled throughout.

UPDATE: Now I have the set and can add that the disks are Region Free (I play them on my European BD player) and are encased in a book cover with a 62-page book. The front flap holds disk 1 and the back flap holds disks 2 and 3. The book is 64 pages (including front and back cover) of amazing artwork and behind-the-scenes pictures, scans, script pages, info, background, character drafts, etc for the entire first season. I hope some body uploads some scans or photos to the product page so you can see the detail. It is excellent! I can't believe they included so much in this set for such a low price.

The packaging is well done allowing disk removal without scratching. Each disk holds 7 or 8 episodes, which run back-to-back as one long movie (however with the "Clone Wars" logo and news real preceding each).

The bonus features are similar to Seinfeld's "Inside Look" features where each episode is dissected - in this case mostly by director Dave Filoni with an occasional guest - either a writer or producer. There aren't picture-in-picture tracks, everything is done as stand-alone featurettes - one for each episode. There are hidden content within each featurette where you can hit the "enter" key on your remote at certain cued times to go into an animatic or design sketch, and then back where you left off.

The "Directors Cut" episodes aren't noticeably longer and scarcely different from the aired versions. I noticed a few seconds added here and there, mostly to action sequences (space battles, saber battles, etc). I doubt the casual viewer will notice any difference at all. The quality of both audio and video is exactly as I hoped - top notch!

Regardless: I can't recommend this set highly enough! It's such an amazing steal at this price and has a much bettter packaging than ROME or Battlestar Galactica which pretty much pissed me off! (You can't remove the disks in either of those box sets without scratching them since they are encased in cardboard sleeves with very shoddy casing!)

Aside: In a commentary for the last episode (featuring bounty hunters and a new character named "Cad Bane") director Filoni reveals that Zero the Hutt will be back in season two for a run of episodes and that we'll see more of the Hutts throughout the Cone Wars!

I know, sounds like an exageration, but believe me. This is the finest box set you will ever experience. This is what Blu-Ray is about folks. Fantastic surround sound that encompasses the entire sound field, flawless dialogue tracks, and thunderous bass. Dear God, Star Wars was meant to sound like this. Digital clarity that only Blu-Ray can provide.

Our cable company has yet to add Cartoon Network to our HD roster, so what a pure joy to finally see this beautiful animation come to life in all of its glory. The episodes are simply glorious. The colors, the lighting, the depth, the dimension, I just can't believe anyone would say something negative about this presentaion.

The packaging is fantatsic as well. Built solid, with amazing texture, and beautiful booklet with early images of the charecters, planets, and crafts, along with fun comments about each. The discs are held in place quite nicley, and the whole set just reflects Lucas perfection!

The special features are so in depth, and fascinating. My 7 year old son and I just loved hearing the backstories and realizing how much care goes into every aspect of the charecters and storylines. I know some people just don't accept this new generation of Star Wars. Well, you know what. Thats their loss!

I have come to love these charecters, and they are handled with intergrity from the writers. The episode "Rookies" is one of the most moving stories I have seen in many years. These clones do have personalities, and you hurt for them as they mature and try to fullfill their "purpose". Yoda is a pure joy in "Ambush", as he takes on a challenge to defeat a legion of battledroids, while helping 3 clone troopers learn more about who they are, and how to use the force in their own unique way. Plo Kloon also shows his compassion for the clones as he risks his own life in space to save their lives because of how much he values them. The special connection between Anakin and R2 is also explored, as well as his genuine care for Asoka (his young padawan).

My son and I love Captain Rex, and Asoka, and really enjoy the appearances by Aurra Sing, Kit Fisto, Plo Koon, Aayla Secura, and so many other fun charecters we only catch little or no glimpse in the films. We are both so psyched for what has been rumored to be Boba Fett's appearance in season 2!

If you are a fan of the series, this is simply a must have. If you have been turned off from the series from all of those...well, you know what I mean. Forget them and give it a try. FINALLY, a box set worth every penny!!!!!!!!!

When I heard that they were releasing a Star Wars "cartoon" in the Movie theaters, I scoffed. I have seen the movies dozens of times and still remember seeing the original at the drive in (!) in 1977 all summer long. I've read all the best Star Wars books (*cough*TimothyZahn*cough*), played most of the games, have all the music on my ipod and saw Episode III at midnight. Yea, I'm a fan. Episode 1 and 2 didn't do it for me, but EP3 brought Lucas back into my good graces.

Despite being a hard core fan, I refused to see a Star Wars cartoon in a movie theater. Rubbish! I declared. How can Star Wars be a blocky cartoon?

That was a mistake. When I finally got the movie on DVD, it was fantastic. When this show came out on Cartoon Network, finally, for the first time in YEARS I had a Sci Fi show that I actually looked forward to watching each week. Yes, its a cartoon. Yes, I would prefer a live action show or another movie, but I know that is later and never (respectively). Yes, it could be geared a little more toward adults (but then BattleStar Galactica was so much geared toward adults, that I couldn't watch it. Its softcore porn wrapped in a swearfest, served with torture and gore... oh goody. Lorne Greene is spinning in his grave...) but in the end, just about every episode of Clone Wars is memorable, with little to no filler.

Parts of it are recycled, some of the scenes are almost stolen right from the movies, but it works, it works, it works. And there is enough new material to overlook the recycled parts. I like the quips, I like the new Padawan and the action scenes are fantastic.

I don't give away 5 stars easily. And if you're turned off at my comments about "BS" Galactica and think your shows need more porn and gore, not less, you might be turned off a bit at Clone Wars.

After EP3, I thought I would never get a chance to invest my imagination in the Star Wars universe again, but Clone Wars proved me dead, dead wrong.

EDIT - My review is based on having seen every episode. Now that I've got the DVD set, I am even more impressed! There is a 64 page book in the middle of the DVD's with concept art from the show and its very nice. The case is not cheap, its more like a book itself. I'm guessing that they will eventually offer a nice book shelf container for holding all the seasons when it is done. In the words of Darth Vader: "Impressive, most impressive"

So, the original releases of Clone Wars Seasons 1 & 2 came in nice DigiBook packaging which included concept art in a book inside the hard cover book that held the 3 discs. Something that made these releases unique. So now, Season 3 comes out in a standard 3-disc Blu-ray case, so in order to prepare for this change in packaging, WB re-releases the first two seasons in standard cases as well apparently back in September about a month before Season 3 comes out. But here's the kicker. The digibooks ran around $40 new on or around release day, and now the prices on these re-releases are over $50. What's up with that? Downgrade in packaging and you jack up the price? These should be discount releases. $20-25 max. The only justification for the increase in price would be if these include DTS-MA HD sound over the original 640 Kbps DD tracks. But that's stretching it. Anybody got any actual specs for these?

My son and I watch this together and we both love it. I really think that they did a good job on the computer animated Clone Wars series. It captures my 4-year old's attention and fuels his imagination. I was 7 when the original Star Wars hit theaters back in the 70's. It's great that Star Wars is still around and still cranking out new content for yet another generation of wannabe space pilots.

Great series, great DVD boxed set. We love it. I've already got season 2 stashed away in the closet for Christmas.

The sound and picture quality on these disks is amazing. I'm truly blown away by it on my 1080p tv. Also, the aspect ratio of these episodes is different than the broadcast versions. On tv they cut off part of the sides, even though it is presented in widescreen on tv. The blu-ray episodes have an aspect ratio closer to the Films.

I'm really enjoying the extras they go into a lot of detail and explain some really cool things. Also, some of the bad (jar jar and fart jokes). The best part of the special features is getting to see clips from the films in 1080i for the first time. I Cannot wait for that blu-ray boxset! The Jedi Archives special features are really enjoyable too but for the concept art you can't select things to zoom on which stinks if you have a small tv. Even on my 42" some things are still too tiny to see as big as I would like.

The box everything comes in is top quality too. It's kind of like the whole thing is a book you open it up there's production notes and concept art in a booklet attached to the case. Disk 1 is on the front and the back has Disks 2 and 3 stacked on each other (like many boxsets do these days).

Overall it's a fantastic set that does exactly what it should. I wish there was a full commentary for the episodes but getting a 7min featurette per 20 minute is a good replacement. Also, i wish there were full behind the scenes features not just ones for specific episodes. But they have all of that on the Clone Wars movie set so it's understandable. Hopefully the Season Two set includes those kinds of things.

- PS: my first set came with Disk 1 and 2 copies of Disk 2. But Amazon sent me the replacement and i got it within 24 hours so no harm done.

At first I thought a cartoon version of Star Wars could never be good, until I was bored and bought The Clone Wars movie. Absolutely awesome. The stories are unbelievable. While the series seems to be geared toward children, it is great for adults as well. I actually couldn't wait for the first season to come out on DVD and bought it on iTunes. I even think the campy droid humor is awesome. And yes, beings are killed in some episodes. They couldn't have picked a better way to bridge the gap between episode II and episode III. I have seen all the movies multiple times, read all the 110+ books and even the comic books and I say this does Star Wars Justice. A must get for any Star Wars fan.

That's the main problem with this show. The design is great. The animation is fantastic. The voice acting is decent and no doubt will get better as the show progresses. The picture on blu ray is outstanding.

From a visual standpoint, the series offers complete immersion into the SW universe. If that's mainly what you want and are not too concerned with the writing, this series will suit you just fine. For the majority of the 22 episodes the scripting is about equal to that of the prequel trilogy. If you are fine with the writing in episodes I - III, you will absolutely love this. If you did not like the writing in those films, I would recommend renting this before purchasing. There are a handful of excellent episodes, but too many others are chock full of things I did not enjoy about the prequel trilogy and that is the reasoning for my three-star review. Ironically, the first episode is probably the best of the 22.

A number of races, cultures, and planets within the canon are featured prominently. Lots of characters who were mere background pieces during the prequel trilogy are brought to full life here, and it's a great thing to see. There are some excellent space battles and if you love to see the large and small starships of the SW universe in action you will be very satisfied. It's a great expansion on film for many things we fanboys (and girls) have only read or dreamed about. The clones are featured quite prominently, so those of you familiar with Karen Traviss' writing will also find much to enjoy. While many characters are featured, Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Anakin's padawan Asoka are definitely the main focus in the majority of the episodes. Personally I would rather that not be the case because the galaxy is so large and the story possibilites are unlimited, but that being said there is plenty of deviation throughout and hopefully even more in future seasons.

There are behind-the-scenes features for quite a few of the episodes, one of which revealed that a particulary memorable villain was voiced by George Takei! A nice surprise for Star Trek fans. The packaging of the blu ray is excellent. It is a book-like case containing quite a few pages of conceptual designs and notes from the pre-production period of the show. The three discs are encased on the inside of the front and back covers and the aforementioned pages are between. As you can see the cover has one of the Clone commanders, and if you display the package near your tv while you watch it's a menacing enhancement to the show.

So that's that. Pleny to enjoy for Star Wars fans old and new alike, and plenty of room for improvement in regards to better writing in future seasons. For those of you with the mindset that "it's only a cartoon, what do you expect?", I can point to numerous action/adventure cartoons with far superior writing and character development. See Justice League season 2 and Justice League: Unlimited season 1 and 2 for examples. I hope this was helpful to those of you on the fence.

For the Science Fiction Star Wars geek, what's not to love? So what, it's done in almost video game animation style. I'm all right with that. The series absolutley SCREAMS Star Wars. It has all the things we all thought were cool about the movies. And it is made by fans of Star Wars, which is a plus. They stay true to the universe. The bonus features are awesome as well. I was, like I am sure a lot of fans, a little hesitant that animated SW could be good, but this is good. Granted the droids are a little too dumb, but I can get over that. This is good entertainment.

Love the movies and options on the DVDs. However, the case/holder is a piece of junk and they constantly fall out!!!