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| Revenge unleashed. Darth Maul and Savage Opress make a lethal combination in Season Four of THE CLONE WARS, out now on Blu-ray and DVD. |
STAR WARS: THE
CLONE WARS – THE COMPLETE FOURTH SEASON
Created and
Executive Produced by George Lucas
Available on
Blu-ray (3 disc set) and DVD (5 disc set) from LUCASFILM ANIMATION/WARNER
BROTHERS
Reviewed by Scott
Weller
After a previous creatively
uneven year, the fourth season of THE CLONE WARS, now available on stunning high
definition Blu-ray and DVD from LUCASFILM ANIMATION/WARNER BROTHERS, is a more
dramatic, more adult and more animation sophisticated confection than we’ve seen
before. It may not be as much fun as its genesis years of 2008-2010, as the
series shifts into high-gear darkness more akin to the Vader-is-born finale of
the live-action Prequels, but it’s a 22 episode evolving and refined trip that’s
well worth taking. The sturdy and zippy single episodes of the past are mostly
abandoned this time around in order to tell bigger, longer running stories
(that also make more out of the shows modest production budget) within five
main arcs that really stretch out and diversify the established characters and diverse
environs: the spectacular, action-packed epic water war set on the planet of
Mon Cala, as Anakin, Padme Amidala and classic series veteran Admiral (“It’s a
Trap!”) Ackbar, trying to stop the Separatist armies from gaining a foothold,
or should that be flipper?, over the strategically important world’s new young
King, the Umbara arc-some of the most dramatic and atmospheric war storytelling
yet as the Clone Troopers of the 501st, later Darth Vader’s prime
execution squad, led by Captain Rex, take on a deranged Jedi General- the
fierce multi-limbed General Pong Krell, the Zygerrian slavers arc, where Anakin
must confront the dark nature of his troubled past in order to defeat the
return of a once vast slavers empire, and the fun and diverse planet-hopping, Obi-Wan/Bounty
Hunters arc, where our noble Jedi with a disdain for the uncivilized must
infiltrate an elite and lethal cadre of hired talents, including the nefarious
Cad Bane, to stop an assassination plot on Supreme Chancellor Palpatine. Last
but not least, probably the least successful of the arcs in my honest opinion, is
the re-emergence of Darth Maul, which sees the legendary Sith Lord, a fan favourite
last seen decapitated in the live- action EPISODE I, now very much alive,
totally insane and spider-legged limbed, wanting revenge against both the Jedi
and his once Sith Master who seemingly abandoned him: Darth Sidious (voiced by
the late Ian Abercrombie, doing double duties with Palpatine). Of all the
storylines this year Maul’s was the only one that seemed the most forced and
commercialistic, with Filoni and his team successfully, if implausibly,
bringing the horny little devil back on Uncle George’s orders, but with no
proper, rational explanation given of how he survived being cut in half and how
he ended up at the bottom of a junk yard on a far-off world. Overall, fans worldwide
have embraced Maul’s return, and now that’s he established back in the show his
personal arc will surely get better, but I personally think the series didn’t
need him back at all- that it would have gotten along fine enough with just
Maul’s lethal and equally powerful and threatening force brother-the
Frankenstein’s Monster-esque Savage Opress.
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| Padme helps the Mon Calamari fight Separatist invaders in the Water War saga. |
Blu-ray/ DVD
trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtxuAre5qLI
Check out STAR
WARS AFICIONADO’s Top Five Season Four episodes here: http://starwarsaficionado.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/THE
CLONE WARS SEASON FOUR?updated-max=2012-10-23T12:17:00%2B01:00&max-results=20&start=4&by-date=false
Not totally
extinct from the series, the single episode stories of Season Four are a mixed
bag, with the return of the outlawed Mandalorian Death Watch (and their first female warrior, Bo Katan, voiced by
sexy BATTLESTAR GALACTICA veteran Katee Sackhoff) in A Friend in Need, causing Genghis Khan and his hordes type havoc
against Ahsoka and her fugitive boyfriend, Lux Bonteri, cyborg general General
Grievous gets his ass kicked by the floppy eared Jar Jar Binks and the Gungans
in early and controversial episode Shadow
Warrior, Asajj Ventress, now an outcast bounty hunter with the death of her
people in the creepy and enjoyable Massacre,
gets some fun action in and out of a speeding
underground bullet train in Bounty
(featuring an ill-conceived and truly hypocritical voice performance from
Prequel hater Simon Pegg as classic villain Dengar), whilst lovable icon droids
Artoo Detoo and See-Threepio partake in some bizarre but enjoyably harmless
fantasy in two offbeat episodes clearly designed for the youngsters to delight
in, between bouts of intense drama and death. On a sour note, though, still no individual
stories for Mace Windu or Yoda. What’s
going on???
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| Leading from the front. Anakin Skywalker and Captain Rex fight the Umbarans. |
Four key episodes
of the season (The Carnage of Krell,
Escape from Kadavo, Massacre and
Bounty) come in director’s cuts (but watching them its difficult to see
what exactly has been added/deleted to them-they come in at pretty much the same
running times as the original episodes IMO), though the Maul episodes
director’s cuts are noticeable by their absence-saved for the recent US only
single disc release of the story as a feature-length entity.
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| Threepio and Artoo encounter new life forms in Nomad Droids. |
Best watched in the
Blu-ray format, where the hard work of the animation team is really showcased, there’s
the kind of classic and inventive fast paced storytelling and action you expect
from STAR WARS with the high calibre of its behind the scenes team, led by
Supervising Director Dave Filoni and George Lucas as Executive Producer, plus its
aforementioned incredible locales (new stands outs like Umbara and Zygerria, as
well as return visits to worlds like Naboo, Coruscant and Nal Hutta) beautifully
realised with some of the most gorgeous state of the art animation yet seen on
TV. Let’s also not forget the great voice acting from a fine series of regulars
who have made the famous character roles their own in this specialised medium,
particularly the core Jedi trio of Matt Lanter as Anakin Skywalker, James
Arnold Taylor as Obi-Wan and Ashley Eckstein as Padawan Ahsoka Tano.
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| Obi-Wan goes undercover, and bald, to infiltrate a group of bounty hunters in Deception. |
As always the
special features accompanying these season sets are still not as comprehensible as fans would like them to be, but
there’s enough to enjoy and discover. The Blu-ray and DVDs contain five great
behind the scenes video commentaries on the story arcs, from Filoni, a perfect
host, enthusiastic STAR WARS fan and splendid choice of overall animation
leader for the series, with a core group of behind the scenes veterans
including Joel Aron, Killian Plunkett and Keith Kellogg. As well as showing
their own personal friendships and humorous banter, the teaming’s provide a
wealth of interesting information on how the shows and storylines/characters were
developed, what things were planned for but dropped, key things/little Easter
eggs to watch out for in the episodes and a verbal sneak peek from a teasing
Filoni of things to come in later CLONE WARS episodes (like a desert planet
environment involving Captain Wolf and his Clone Troopers).
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| The new Darth Maul emerges from the fires of hell! |
On the Zygerrian
story, there’s the welcome presence on the viewing couch of writer Henry
Gilroy, back on the series to adapt his popular THE CLONE WARS comic from DARK
HORSE to animated reality, providing some intriguing anecdotes. For Maul’s
return, the flavor is a little different, as the behind the scenes give way to
Filoni with writer Katie Lucas, Maul vocal actor Sam Witwer and Obi-Wan actor
James Arnold Taylor. Things feel a but less fun here, but some interesting
material from Lucas and Witwer is revealed nonetheless about writing for Asajj
Ventress and the playing of the new Maul. Fan favourite Taylor clearly enjoys
his work on the show and the return of Obi-Wan’s greatest antagonist.
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| Major space battle action ensues in Plan of Dissent. |
Not on the DVD,
the Blu-ray has further noteworthy material in it’s Jedi Holocron area, delving
deep into the behind the scenes canvas of the series, with lots of deleted
scene (mostly of the animatic kind (check out a sequence here: http://www.sfx.co.uk/2012/10/18/clone-wars-season-4-deleted-scene/), including a different ending to the
episode Escape from Kadavo, plus a
few completed animation pieces), animatic and final episode comparisons, 3-D
character turnarounds, occasional snippets from the voice cast who talk about their
involvement in selected episodes (notably Dee Bradley Baker, who voices the
many Clone Troopers) and lots of great conceptual artwork.
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| Hiding in plain sight. The evil Darth Sidious as Supreme Chancellor Palpatine in Crisis on Naboo. |
A minor complaint
to the Blu-ray release is that the box sets seem to be getting cheaper looking
and produced each year. The inside plastic disc holders will prove breakable
over time, and should have been in more sturdy, attractive packaging. Apart from an inside sleeve wrap, there’s
also no deserving booklet/guide to the series and no Bounty Hunter poster with
the UK release. What happened there, LUCASFILM/WARNERS?
STAR
WARS AFICIONADO RATING: A solid and spectacular animated hit once more worthy
of the STAR WARS reputation. Season Four overall storytelling: 3.5 out of 5. Disc
extras 3.5 out of 5
Get
STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS – THE COMPLETE SEASON FOUR on Blu-ray here:
THE
COMPLETE SEASONS ONE TO FOUR available on Blu-ray here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Star-Wars-Clone-Season-Blu-ray/dp/B005YYCLHW/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1351348277&sr=8-8
On DVD
here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Star-Wars-Clone-Season-1-4/dp/B005YYCLEK/ref=sr_1_18?ie=UTF8&qid=1351348298&sr=8-18
