THE CLONE WARS: THE YOUNG READERS ADAPTATION OF THE FILM
Written by Tracey West
Published by PUFFIN BOOKS
Reviewed by Scott Weller
From
the opening battle within the crystalline streets and cities of Christophsis,
to the finale lightsaber duels between Sith and Jedi on the dangerous barren
desert world of Tatooine, the STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS YOUNG READERS EDITION
adaptation of the first animated film, penned by Tracey West, zings along at a
brisk old rate that perfectly captures both the film and its target readership
of ages 8-11. Yep, characterization is limited on our favourite heroes and
villains of the Saga (though Ahsoka gets the best of what treatment there is,
being the new youngster with whom the books readers will hopefully relate to),
but the well described action and lean to the bone transfer of the films
screenplay (which omits anything that doesn’t keep it’s readership full on to
the story of Obi-Wan, Anakin and Ahoska) keeps you turning the page (missing
sequences cut for pace reasons include the Bounty Hunters heads being delivered
to Jabba’s Court, the recon commandoes on Teth, the cute scene with Ahsoka
telling Rex and the Clone Troopers about how she saved Anakin in Christophsis,
and Ventress choking/manipulating Captain Rex). To maintain said pace in the
books second half, several sequences that were spread out in the finished film
are also condensed into one period of time (I.E. the majority of Padme’s
scenes, sadly showing, even more so, just how brief her character’s contribution
actually proves to be to the story).
The
book compensates for any missing on screen losses, however, with some
intriguing scripted and filmed scenes that would actually be omitted from the
final animated movie, like Ahsoka and Anakin, with help from Artoo, facing off
against Ventress, whilst taking on a rampaging Rancor at the same time. Also on
Teth, a moment where the Jedi pairing go head-to-head against a walking Vulture
Droid (which Ahsoka finally brings down). Finally, though proving an
un-necessary sequence which deserved to be cut when read, where, to lose weight
to achieve an escape orbit from pursuing Vulture Droid fighters, Ahsoka is
almost blown out of the Twilight’s cargo bay when she opens the bay
doors to loose out its stored containers.
With
the adaptation presumably being written whilst the film was still in
post-production, there are also a few little differences in the way certain
characters are described and what ships are used in combat-Rex doesn’t have the
blond/white hair he sports in the film, Threepio is bronze rather than gold,
and a Neimoidian spherical cruiser attacks the Republic cruiser in the Teth
atmosphere rather than one of the Separatist EPISODE III cruisers that would be
led by General Grievous.
Adding
to the reading experience the chapter’s introductions are nicely designed with
a modern feel, and there is an excellent 16 page colour photo section of high
quality stills from the movie including two cut scene images (the aforementioned
Anakin and Ahsoka versus Ventress and an excellent shot of the menacing General
Grievous).
The
book isn’t going to win any awards for literature any time soon, but it is a
great read for the kids, and a pleasantly diverting enough one for adults, too,
who may want to enjoy some light, but highly exciting action/adventure STAR
WARS fun for a couple of hours whilst in the garden, before heading on in to
the much darker and violent world of Karen Traviss’s adult
adaptation for the film. As a starter to that main course, the junior
novelisation works a treat….
AFICIONADO RATING: A fun and lively adventure (but
what on earth is a Retail Droid?), with a nice, colourful photos section. The
junior version of film adaptations these days may be different animals to the
ones that STAR WARS fans from the seventies may have consumed, but it is
nonetheless a solid read for the younglings. 7 out of 10
No comments:
Post a Comment