In 1996 when I was 14, I wrote several letters to Dark Horse Comics, expressing my concern over what I thought was unrealistic and cheesy dialog spoken by members of Rogue Squadron in the Shadows of the Empire mini-series. Dark Horse published one of these letters in a subsequent issue, complete with an editor’s rebuttal. Since then, my enthusiasm for Star Wars has slowly wavered, partly because entering into a discussion about Star Wars is such a loaded gambit. Outspoken support of contemporary Star Wars is rare among adults. But through adventures in babysitting, I’ve discovered the most vocal fans of modern Star Wars. Children. And these kids—the current generation of rabid Star Wars fans—they like The Clone Wars best of all.
Now, I am not one of the haters who believes that George Lucas has “raped my childhood” or some other hyperbole. My adult Star Wars philosophy for the most part has been a passive one; I figure Star Wars is owned by George Lucas, not me, and he can do whatever he wants to it. But lately, while babysitting, I’ve been asking a new question—what about the active childhoods out there? Is their Star Wars not their babysitter’s Star Wars?
Full disclosure: I have not seen every single episode of the current Clone Wars animated CG series. But I have seen enough to know the basic characters and situations. I know who Ahsoka is and that her nickname is “Snips.” Most of this I learned because of babysitting, but I admit to having watched some of the 1st season of the CG Clone Wars out of fan curiosity. (While not as rabid in my fanboy praise as others, I really did enjoy the Genndy Tartakovsky non-CG version back in 2003)
The eight-year-old I sit for most frequently loves The Clone Wars. His favorite character? Captain Rex, a clone commander. His least favorite character? Obi-Wan Kenobi. This kid, (we’ll call him Boxy in order to protect the innocent) has an encyclopedia which lists every single character from the series. On more than one occasion, he’s handed it to me and asked me, “Who is your favorite clone?” The first time I was taken aback and simply said, “I don’t like the clones. They end up being stormtroopers.”
“But they’re so cool!” Boxy insisted, “Captain Rex can kill anybody!” At the end of this conversation, I calmly told him that I like Ahsoka better than any of the clones, because at least Ahsoka is a Jedi. He responded that Ahsoka is “lame”, to which I had no rebuttal. If I was a kid, I might not like Ahsoka either, but as a babysitter, I’m really glad she’s in there. Because Ahsoka is the only character who isn’t a solider spewing generic military dialog, or a Jedi/senator saying confusing things about galactic politics, her presence makes the show a little more human.
The next time we had the discussion concerning “who’s the best clone?” I looked over the book in a little more detail. Lo and behold, I found a clone who had deserted the Army of the Republic! Great, I’d found my favorite one. He’d never be a stormtrooper.
“This guy,” I said, “He’s my favorite clone.”
“He doesn’t even count!” Boxy said, “Why would anyone leave the clone army? That’s stupid.”
Another boy I watch, a seven-year old who I’ll call “Wesley” is significantly confused as to what actually happens to Anakin. His parents haven’t let him watch Revenge of the Sith, because of the PG-13 rating. I wholeheartedly support their decision, because at this point, I’m not sure if this kid could handle the idea of Anakin turning on everybody, to say nothing of all the clones going ballistic. Like Boxy, Wesley likes the militaristic and shoot-em’-up aspects of The Clone Wars. He’s constantly making shooting sounds when we go to the park, and constantly refers to himself as “Captain Rex.” One day, we were playing with Star Wars Legos, and I was desperately trying to find one character from the classic trilogy. Suddenly, I find Lando and promptly stick him in the pilot’s seat of one of those faux-X-Wing things the clones flew in Revenge of the Sith.
“You can’t do that!” Wesley says, “Lando doesn’t know how to fly spaceships!” I’ve been babysitting for awhile, so I didn’t snap at him or anything. I calmly asked him if he remembered how Return of the Jedi ended. “I don’t like that one,” Wesley says, “It’s boring.”
Now beyond personal taste, I’m not sure I have any real proof that a show centered around soldiers is any less Star Wars, than my Star Wars, which was pretty much all about guys who were anti-establishment. Through the eyes of these kids, I try to see The Clone Wars the same way I saw the Rogue Squadron comic books back in the 1990s. But therein lies my problem. All the characters in Rogue Squadron had different personalities. The majority of the characters on The Clone Wars are literally the exact same person.
An old friend of mine started teaching Junior High drama last year. He played a theatre game with his students, telling them to pretend to be any fictional character they wanted. The other students would then guess who they were by the clues given. One student said the only person cooler than him was Captain Rex. Immediately, another student knew who he was. “You’re Commander Cody!”
Obviously the ironies here are numerous. But the most important one is this: the Commander Cody they are talking about is the guy who tries to shoot Obi-Wan in Revenge of the Sith. Why is this guy cool? And further, why is there an entire kid’s show in which these sorts of identical, personality-lacking automatons are depicted as the heroes?
Last time I checked, stormtroopers/clones were known primarily for one personality trait: Being “the weak-minded.”
Ryan Britt’s writing has appeared here as well as Clarkesworld Magazine, Nerve.com and elsewhere. Ryan once made a lightsaber out of a broken sprinkler and still has numerous copies of the Shadows of the Empire, and X-Wing comics in which his childhood letters to the editor were printed.
Why are they there? To make money off the parents of kids who think they’re cool. But to be fair, in the context of pre-Vader, they ARE the good guys. They’re trying to keep the republic together, they work with the Jedi, etc. etc. The problem is what their ultimate purpose is.
Off topic from that, the phrase, “Who’s your favorite clone,” left me rather dumbstruck. They’re clones. They’re all Jango Fett with military training. They were all raised the same way, from the same DNA, in the same place, in waves at the same time. They wouldn’t have individual personalities and unless certain clones were selected for greater training as commanders, you could literally take Rex and swap him with clonetrooper #203482.
Also, I think it’s kind of weird/funny/ironic that Anakin in the show is a) far more LIKEABLE than Anakin in the movies and b) apparently more well-adjusted.
It’s a kind of terrible symmetry that Revenge of the Sith and the Stormtroopers in Eps 4-6 will destroy the legacy of the Clone Wars show that these kids love just like the prequels destroyed (or at least tarnished) the previous generation’s childhood Star Wars experiences.
I never got into the new Clone Wars series after watching droid soldiers hum a happy tune while inflicting horrible cruel death to Republic troops by snapping open their escape pods. IMHO, the show has no idea who its public really is. It may have improved, but I’m no longer curious enough to try it.
Although I agree that Ahsoka is the one salvageable thing… but prolly Anakin butchers her first when he goes Vader…
I enjoyed the Republic Commando by Karen Traviss book precisely because they gave the clones personality and showed they were more than mindless automatons. Though I didn’t read past the first book so perhaps that changed later.
It is strange, because for my son (4) Anakin is the hero and I think he does like the newer movies more. I’m not sure he has entirely made the connection between Anakin and Vader.
He won’t decline watching the older movies though, and still likes the characters from those movies. Empire or Jedi are my go to picks when I put a movie in.
It’s all about your frame of reference. I’m boomer generation and I have two sons aged 7 and 10. My favourite is Empire Strikes Back, I think Han Solo is cool and that Luke’s a big sissy.
I can just imagine in twenty years or so the Lucas estate decides to make Star Wars VII, VIII and IX…and I will hear my sons telling their sons: “Kid, these new Star Wars films are nearly as bad as those really old ones they made first time around…Commander Cody owns those Jedi twins.” “Dad, they don’t say ‘owns’ any more.”
Am I missing something, or can we please do a search and replace on ‘Stormtropper’ -> ‘Stormtrooper’ ?
I love the Clone Wars CG series! I grew up on the original Star Wars and adored them. I experienced Episode 1-3 in high school and early college. I liked Ep 1, and hated 2-3 (Anakin was creepy beyond words, and Padme putting up with his crap was equally bizarre).
The Clone Wars is brilliantly, fantastically done! I thought I would hate it because I hated the 2d “movie” and didn’t immediately like the look of the boxy designs for the show. One night my fiancee and I caught an ep from season 1 that was entirely about the clones. We were surprised at how amazing every thing looked, the great dialogue and writing, and the character development. Typically when we buy a new series we watch one episode a night. With Clone Wars we watched 2-4 a night! Everyone who’s a SW fan should really give it a chance. It’s not like the sad, uninteresting toy fare that children’s shows usually are.
To the OP’s confusion on having a show about the clones, I understand. I’m sure I had the same misconception before I watched it. In truth, the execution is brilliant. It explores the idea of how really different you can be in a culture where everyone is the same dude and you all had relatively the same childhood and training. The clones DO have surprisingly different personalities some times, while still sticking to their training archetype.
They’re depicted as heroes because they ARE. Star Wars has always had some complex political (and familial!) tones that relate to the real world. In the context of the Clone Wars, the clones are on the side of the Jedi and thus “heroes”.
OP, have you discussed the show with any female children? You might get a different “fav character” answer from them. My fav is Ahsoka hands down, and I imagine she’d be tops with other girls (and boys) too.
I also agree that Anakin is WAAAY more likeable/well-adjusted in the show. Sometimes his cockiness gets a little irritating when he’s talking to Obi-Wan or Ahsoka, but overall a huge improvement. I can see why the kids might not like Obi, since his VA makes him sound really snooty in trying to match Ewan, trying to match Sir Alec. Gets a little stilted in the process.
Magentawolf: Thank you and done.
:-)
Well, it makes sense for clones to have different character traits. In research with identical twins, twins raised in separate households are more identical in likes and behavior than twins reared in the same home. Identical twins in the same home strive to be different from one another, in likes, dislikes, hobbies, and activities. So maybe it isn’t as far fetched as it sounds at first.
@JoshuaEvans–I actually just finished reading Order 66, the last of the Republic Commando series by Karen Traviss, last week, and I say that she does continue to develop the clones as individual people throughout the series.
@ryancbritt–I loved the Clone Wars series before I started reading those books, but I would certainly recommend them to anyone who is trying to find sympathy with the clones or understand why they might be cooler than the Jedi. That series gave me some pretty good insight and offered up a lot more to think on than the cartoon does. I have always been a straight up Jedi fan, I can’t even bring myself to think about playing KOTOR dark side, but those books manage to actually show/explain something the cartoon only implies–that while the Jedi theoretically are the good guys, the rest of the Republic doesn’t necessarily see them that way. And with sort of good reason.
As far as the clones, and how it’s possible to like them knowing that they turn into Stormtroopers–well, as others have already said, they ARE the good guys in that place and time. They are trained to serve and protect the Republic. When they turn on the Jedi it isn’t because they’re evil but because they believe the Jedi have turned on the Republic. And after the Republic is gone, they continue to serve the Empire because they really don’t have a whole lot of other choice, as non-citizens with no rights.
Um…I may have wandered off-topic. I mostly just wanted to say I love the Clone Wars cartoon because it fleshes out what could have been the coolest part of the prequel movies, but that they just kind of skimmed over (i.e., the actual Clone Wars). Also, if you want to try to find some understanding of the clones for future dealings with your charges, Traviss’ books might be a good source for that.