Ok, so, for the record, I TOLD YOU SO. Hot on the heels of the less-than-enthusiastically received Clone Wars movie, comes the innagural episode of the series, “Ambush” (which aired last Friday on Cartoon Network). Remember how I asked all of you to give the show a chance, no matter how you felt about the movie? Because with all the episiodes they’re going to produce, chances are some good ones were inevitable? Well guess what? It freakin’ already happened.
“Ambush” was awesome. The story is fairly simple (remember, this show is geared towards a younger audience) but the devil – or, in this case, a little green angel – was in the details. Yoda was the episode’s focus and not since The Empire Strikes Back has the pint-sized Buddha felt more like… well, like Yoda!
One of the things that bugged me about the prequels was Yoda’s “demotion” to little more than an army chief; all he did was bark lame orders like “concentrate your firepower on the big round thing.” Gone was the wise, whimsical Jedi Master who earned the love and respect of everyone around him.
Well, in “Ambush,” he’s back to his old self. Yes, we see him in prequel-style combat, but this time he shows us how his size puts him at a unique military advantage (and it works). However, the real charm of the episode was in his interaction with the Clone Troopers. Yoda befriends, protects and teaches these “mere clones” as if they were brothers, and his scene with them in the cave brought to the surface everything you have ever loved about the character. Between the intelligent, memorable dialog and the use of “Yoda’s Theme” music, I actually got a chill. It felt like Star Wars.
When was the last time THAT happened?
Go watch it. Now.
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Darth Mojo 
I found myself enjoying the episodes quite a bit, potted morals included. The dumb droid dialogue annoyed me a little, but not enough to detract from the overall story. I was also glad to see that the Toydarians were toned down a lot from the Flying Shylock of Watto — and the King had a snarky sense of humor.
However, Corey Burton’s performance as Dooku pales, pales, pale against Christopher Lee’s performance, even the less than stellar Lee of the Clone Wars movie.
“The Force Unleashed” is pretty good too! (And it’s got Crashdown as the lead.)
Alright already! I’m going, I’m going…
I agree with you 100% about “Ambush.” I thought the cave scene with the Clones and the Plo Kloon episode where he does about the same thing goes out of its way to show that the Jedi really care about these Clones and aren’t going to throw them around like battle droid pawns. Thinking that these same Clones will eventually turn on their Jedi just because they are ordered to hurts a little.
The prequels, besides explaining too much about where some things came from, also in parts didn’t explain enough. We were forced to assume since Obi-Wan had cute names for a couple of the Clones that they were actually friends. Now with these episodes and the movie we see that they worked together and respected each other great. Also in the Plo Kloon episode, we got to see Palpatine personally contact Anakin after the Jedi left his office to give him some friendly advice, again something only casually mentioned in the movies.
I really think this series might actually do what is advertised and be an entertaining fill-in to the space between Episode II and III. Should we have needed it? No. Is it welcome? Yes.
YES YES YES YES YES!
What I really hated about the Clone Wars toon movie was the lack of the “classic” SW theme.
The first two episodes are great,Yoda fights like Sonic. Not for a single milisecond I was afraid of the bad evil sith chick. Yoda could take care of her using only one hand. Well, actually he did.
Think I´m gonna love the show.
BTW: drop us some bone, please, I’m suffering for acute BSG withdrawal, and it hurts. Just a pic, whatever, I beg you!
I’ll have to check it out. But no Christopher Lee? That’s too bad. The pleasant surprise of the size of his part in CLONE WARS was something I really enjoyed about the movie.
I was thinking the same thing – this was the Yoda we saw in Empire and really haven’t seen since. It was a great episode. I’m willing to put up with the inevitable clunkers if they come out with something this good every so often. My 10 year old son (who is probably in the middle of the target demographic for Clone Wars) loved it as well. It’ll be fun having something we can watch together and both enjoy.
Because, y’know, I have limited tolerance for Pokemon cartoons.
I really enjoyed ‘Ambush’ as well. I did think it was great to see Yoda more Yoda-like.
I really try to keep an open mind to the prequels and the subsequent entities, and the more that George lets others have some influence the more we’re getting entertainment closer to what we wanted. Just look at the original Clone Wars cartoons. I think the Made Windu shorts were some of the best ‘Star Wars’ I’ve seen in years.
Bravo to ‘Ambush’. It was fun, entertaining, and a great job bringing more of the ‘real’ Yoda back into the franchise.
Cheers!
Mojo, I couldn’t agree with you more. And I for one will acknowledge your “told you so” and admit I should have listened. Yours was literally the ONLY positive review I read of the “Clone Wars” movie, so I didn’t bother to see it in the theaters.
But, since it’s free to record on my DVR, I decided to give the series a chance. And I’m glad I did. I really enjoyed both episodes.
Like you said, this was the first time since 1980 (I was ten years old!) that I felt like we have the “actual” Yoda back. His appearances in “Jedi” and the prequels just lacked something, I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. It just didn’t seem like Yoda.
His scenes in this episode with the clones were great, and reminded me a LOT of how he trained Luke. But even more importantly to me was the fact that we saw the CHILDISH, humorous side of Yoda again. His little jokes and chuckles and playfullness really reminded me of Frank Oz’ performance in “Empire”. I don’t know who they have doing Yoda’s voice in the cartoon, but he was BRILLIANT.
Oh, and by the way, you barely mentioned the second episode that the Cartoon Network showed on premiere night, but I also really enjoyed the second episode with Anikan and Ashoka (sp?) searching for survivors.
The Separatist’s new weapon was really cool, kind of had a “Death Star” vibe… and based on upcoming storyline descriptions, it looks like at least the next two episodes will deal with the storyline of how the Republic handles this new threat.
I hope that the series will have some serialized storytelling, with stories taking place over multiple episodes. It would make the series reminescent of the old Flash Gordon serials from the 20’s and 30’s… which, after all, were the major inspiration for “Star Wars” in the first place!
Yeah, Yoda did show his child-like side. I remember at one point Yoda laughing like he does when he’s playing around with Luke on Dagobah. That was something I was going to mention, but I forgot.
Tom Kane is voicing Yoda, who pretty much does a better Yoda than Frank Oz nowadays.
I just caught up with the last three episodes lurking on my DVR. I really enjoyed these! Even some of the battle droid silliness worked for me. Looking forward to the next eps!
“omfg the best star wars chapter in 28 years!”
Meh. Knights of the Old Republic still has this beat as the best Star Wars chapter since the originals. It had something new rather than something familiar as in this case with Clone Wars.
And since RotS, I just stopped liking Yoda. They depicted him as a chicken who ran into hiding till he died in self exile. Why? I’m not quite sure. Just seeing him fight and interact with the clones yet not do anything for the Rebellion at all during their struggle against the Empire just doesn’t make any sense.
hey, where did you go mojo :( You haven`t posted all month