Review
"Andor" - The Star Wars comes of age
by Luca Fontana
The Clone Wars, Season 7: an immaculate farewell
4.5.2020
It's time to say goodbye to «The Clone Wars». The final seventh season, by Dave Filoni and his team, couldn't have been presented better.
One thing in advance: there are no spoilers in this review. I’m not going to talk about anything that isn’t mentioned in the trailers.
The end of the final season of «The Clone Wars». What was I expecting? Good question. I'm not that sure. After all, the animated series has been with us fans for a whole 12 years – cancellation included. And that's the point.
No more. The wait is finally over.
A finale in three acts
His loyalty has paid off. With the seventh and final season of «The Clone Wars», Filoni can finally finish his creation in a decent way.
Oh yeah, you read right.
While being sad at the same time.
«The Clone Wars» is extremely dark and heart-wrenching, especially in its last act, as Filoni doesn't shy away from addressing an adult audience. There are no more childish jokes or hollow phrases that only children could find funny. Ruthless. Serious. And brutal. At the latest when a certain dark Sith Lord stands up to dozens of Clone Warriors and leaves behind a massacre akin to Darth Vader in «Rogue One».
As seen in the Umbara episodes of season four, where Clone Rex has to justify himself to Jedi General Pong Krell, to whom Clones are cannon fodder at best.
I followed your orders. Even in the face of a plan that was, in my opinion, severely flawed. A plan that cost us men. Not clones. Men! As sure as it is to my duty to remain loyal to your command, I also have another duty: to protect those men.
The Umbara episodes didn't only reveal the inner conflict of many Clone Warriors, but also a view of the Jedi and their Order that is anything but infallible. An idea that director Ryan Johnson borrowed for his widely scolded «The Last Jedi». This theme is certainly repeated throughout this last Clone Wars Season.
But I don't want to give too much away.
Ray Park in mo-cap, Kevin Kiner invokes John Williams
The VFX artists at ILM – the company that Star Wars creator George Lucas founded in 1975 to create the effects for «Star Wars» – have taken the series to a new level of intricacy. I would never have thought that a cartoon series could achieve anything similar.
This becomes really evident in the third and final act. Darth Maul and Ahsoka lead one of the most memorable lightsabre duels in Clone Wars history.
The choreography is furious, violent and nerve-racking. It's as absurdly acrobatic as it is clean – just as we once got to know these battles in the prequels.
The secret to how «The Clone Wars» does this lies in one aspect of the production: Filoni brought back Ray Park especially for this duel. The man who played Darth Maul in the first prequel – «The Phantom Menace». Thanks to Motion Capture, it's his movements and stunts that you'll see in this duel.
Epic.
In addition, there are the significantly improved facial animations – I don't even want to think about the really lousy and stiff faces during the first few seasons. Or the light levels and dust particles that give each scene an eerie depth and make everything all the more vivid.
The final season really knocks everything out of the park: for example, there's a scene with a crashing spaceship, which explodes in clouds of smoke and bursts of fire before it's shredded by the planet's atmosphere – with our heroes somewhere inside. It's so detailed and elaborately animated that I forget that I wasn't watching a movie, but a cartoon.
Another flawless aspect: Kevin Kiner, the composer. He didn't only compose all Clone Wars, but also all Rebels music – more Star Wars music than John Williams.
This isn't a coincidence: just as the plot of the series slowly but surely merges into the movies, so does Kiner's music merge into William's motifs. And when Ahsoka Tano's theme appears for the last time, everything becomes clear: we won't see her again. This is farewell.
Forever.
Conclusion: the ending you always wanted
I'm confused. Empty. The series is over. For good this time, I guess. And that's a good thing. Because I couldn't have wished for a better series finale to «The Clone Wars».
Series creator Dave Filoni and his team of incredibly talented VFX and dubbing artists, as well as the tireless Kevin Kiner, who once took on and successfully mastered the difficult legacy of John Williams, are to be thanked. They all created a last season which is surprisingly gripping and dark, especially in its third act.
But we still have the original question: what did I want from this final season? Now I finally know: I didn't want «The Clone Wars» to end. I wanted «The Clone Wars» to be completed.
My wish has been granted.
Luca Fontana
Senior Editor
Luca.Fontana@digitecgalaxus.chI write about technology as if it were cinema, and about films as if they were real life. Between bits and blockbusters, I’m after stories that move people, not just generate clicks. And yes – sometimes I listen to film scores louder than I probably should.
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