THE CLONE WARS: NO ANGER MANAGEMENT!

His robot hand devastated having destroyed the Techno Union's cataclysmic-potential siphon generators, Anakin Skywalker goes on a destructive rampage against the cruel Wat Tambor and his cronies in the great art linked to the finale of the memorable 2005 Clone Wars Micro Series.

THE CLONE WARS: THE COSMIC MESSAGE!

Far off in the Outer Rim sieges, Jedi heroes Obi-Wan and Anakin receive an urgent communique from Mace Windu of the sneak attack of the Separatists against Coruscant and the Supreme Chancellor, as Genndy Tartakovsky's always thrilling CLONE WARS 2-D animated series comes to a close, literally, and officially crafted, to lead-in to the packed events of EPISODE III.

THE CLONE WARS: A TIME OF STRUGGLE!

The ideas of peace and justice with the Galactic Republic are swept away with the tide of the Clone Wars, as the struggle between good and evil enters a decisive new point in the Force, as seen with key characters old and new for the 2003 Clone Wars Micro-Series - one of the genuine highlights of the Prequel era of STAR WARS storytelling.

CELEBRATING TEN YEARS OF THE 'CLONE WARS' MICRO-SERIES - SEASON TWO

Now disappointingly ignored from the official STAR WARS canon timeline by the LUCASFILM Story Group (despite its being sanctioned by George Lucas, who specifically asked for it to reflect the main title crawl of the then upcoming EPISODE III), the second season of the 2-D animated CLONE WARS micro-series, award-winningly brought to life by Genndy Tartakovsky via Cartoon Network, was just as ambitious and action-packed as its earlier, short-bits 2003 run, bringing further new elements of excitement and cool-ness to the STAR WARS universe, and genuinely filling in the story/character gaps leading to the final Prequel movie's stunning opening space battle above Coruscant. Genuine and striking highlights would be the resolution to the previous season's cliffhanger introducing the psychotic General Grievous, and the Clone Arc Troopers exhilirating rescue of the near dead Jedi fighting it, led by Ki-Adi Mundi, plus the stunning Separatist invasion of the Republic's central world, as Yoda, once more on his trusty Kybuck steed, and a purple lightsaber-wielding Mace Windu lead the epic defence. All this, whilst Shaak Ti and friends try to protect their Supreme Chancellor Palpatine from abduction by Grievous and his magna-guards, during a sprawling, expansive action sequence that takes them above, across and below the city streets.

Terrific stuff!

▶ Star Wars - Clone Wars - Bridging the Saga - YouTube
How the Clone Wars microseries led the way for Star Wars' return to TV | Blastr

CLASSIC IMAGE: THE TIDE OF WAR!

Ultimately framed for a galactic war they didn't start, our Jedi heroes of the CLONE WARS micro series soldier on, alongside their fearless and diverse Clone Troopers, in this iconic promotional image for the inspired Genndy Tartakovksy/CARTOON NETWORK television event whose critical and commercial success would spawn so much great and future STAR WARS animation from its wake...

THE CLONE WARS: BLINDFOLD BATTLE!

Blindfolded they may be, but Jedi Knight legends Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi know how to use their lightsabers, in this fun piece of art from the DARK HORSE comic series linked to the 2003 CLONE WARS micro-series realised by Genndy Tartakovsky and his dedicated team of STAR WARS fans.

With the upcoming STAR WARS: REBELS animated series, it's going to be intriguing to see what new pioneering style of visual storytelling will be used: traditional hand-drawn techniques, or computer generated?

CELEBRATING THE 'CLONE WARS' MICRO-SERIES

I've been sorry to recently hear that LUCASFILM have now been kind of disowning the great work that animation giant Genndy Tartakovsky and his team did for the CARTOON NETWORK's CLONE WARS micro-series of a few year back, in favour of their own 2008 onwards show, even going so far as to removing certain elements and characters from it that had been previously recognised and mentioned in their Official Expanded Universe timeline and characters table (I guess any kind of future Blu-ray has also just been shot down in flames, too!).

Check out this interview for more: Genndy Tartakovsky, 'Hotel Transylvania' Director, On The Disappearance Of His Version Of 'Star Wars: Clone Wars'

Those two early series show the excitement, action and adventure of the Prequel STAR WARS saga in its purest form yet during the 2005 lead up to the release of EPISODE III, of which there are a few fans out there who actually prefer them to the movies, and remain as enjoyable as ever. Why both series can't just sit proudly on the LUCASFILM shelf I don't know. STAR WARS AFICIONADO, however, will certainly not forget them, and will continue to celebrate such a brilliantly conceived show, brought to life by a dedicated group of industry professionals who were also tremendous STAR WARs fans...

CLASSIC IMAGE: WAR-TIME!

Brave ARC troopers go on the attack within the Muunilist capital in Genndy Tartakovsky's superb first season of CLONE WARS for LUCASFILM/CARTOON NETWORK from 2003. Annoyingly, still no sign of a Blu-ray release for this great series.

CLASSIC IMAGE: CONVERGENCE OF GOOD AND EVIL!

On the steps of an abandoned, rain soaked Massassi temple, on the faraway world of Yavin IV, Jedi Padawan Anakin Skywalker is taunted by the evil Sith wannabe Asajj Ventress in this great image from the second half of the CLONE WARS animated premiere series of 2003.

CLASSIC ART: TOONAMI JEDI!

Here's a great piece of UK bus stop/terminal promotional art for the superb animated CLONE WARS series from 2005, shown on CARTOON NETWORK, and brought to life by Genndy Tartakovsky and his talented team of writers and animators.

Somebody PLEASE release this fantastic micro-series and its epic EPISODE III related sequel onto Blu-ray!

"THE CLONE WARS" COMING SOON: JEDI MASTER EVEN PIELL

Last seen firmly rooted to his chair within the Jedi Council chambers on Coruscant in both the first two STAR WARS Prequels (played by actress Michaela Cottrell), and the CLONE WARS micro-series, its nice to see the Lannik born Master Even Piell come to action packed, green lightsaber wielding life (after a decade of memorable appearances in the DARK HORSE comic universe) in at least one episode during the final half of the new third season of THE CLONE WARS.

"I HAVE A BAD FEELING ABOUT THIS!" CHAPTER ONE

I thought I'd launch a new occasional humorous spotlight on this blog that looks at classic mistakes in the press and other general media linked to STAR WARS over the years. And there are some absolute crackers that will eventually appear. It's all just a bit of fun and nothing to be taken too seriously.

This week, we launch with a brand new mistake from this weeks esteemed UK TV listings magazine RADIO TIMES (cover date 23rd October). Kudos to them for a great weekend highlights summary (above) for the third new season of THE CLONE WARS series, which starts in the UK on SKY MOVIES PREMIERE HD this Saturday, but its a shame they got the wrong animated series picture with it! Obviously, a group of people working there didn't see the unfortunate error or weren't aware that there were two types of animated adventure series.

"ARC TROOPERS..DEPLOY!" THE ORIGINAL "CLONE WARS" ANIMATION

I love the new CLONE WARS animated series and eagerly await season three, but lets not forget the superb work done by SAMURAI JACK's Genndy Tartakovsky and his excellent team of writers and animators back in 2003 and 2005, when they pioneered the STAR WARS animation media and set the whole ball of Lucas's imagination rolling with their superb 2-D animation series. The first season of short episodes were by far my favourite, and it's a shame that the Tartakovsky vision of the saga couldn't have done a few more seasons before the arrival of Dave Filoni and his equally fine team.

Lets hope that these original and exciting shows get a worthy Blu-ray release at some point in the not too distant future, with a lot more extras and behind the scenes things than were on the original, quite basic DVD releases of the time.