STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS was one of the first causalities when Disney bought Lucasfilm.   It was cancelled in the middle of the production of what would have been the sixth season of THE CLONES WARS TV series (partly as a move by Disney not to have the show air on Disney rival THE CARTOON NETWORK and to start anew for STAR WARS with their new creative direction for the franchise).   Disney refocused their energies on STAR WARS: REBELS for Disney XD and sold first streaming rights to the unfinished sixth season of STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS to Netflix.  I really liked this last season as I love how THE CLONE WARS series allows the character focus to shift from major characters to the supporting characters.   One storyline drops dead cent on a clone trooper while another turns the central character drive on Yoda and yet another seeing Mace Windu and Jar Jar Binks being an unlikely team.  The animated series was far from running out of steam and this last batch of episodes makes me want to go check out the first five seasons (and watch the many episodes I have missed out on).

 

THE UNKNOWN/ CONSPIRACY/ FUGITIVE/ ORDERS makes some major connections to Episode III- REVENGE OF THE SITH with Order 66 which will spell doom for many Jedi as a clone named Fives discovers the conspiracy to control the clones after a clone trooper freaks out and kills a Jedi during a battle against the Separatists.

 

AN OLD FRIEND/ THE RISE OF CLOVIS/ CRISIS AT THE HEART is all about the corruption of the banking system and a big scheme to get the banking clans under the control of the New Republic.   Padme is brought to the center and you can see how the secret marriage between Padme and Anakin has some serious trust issues as an old enemy Rush Clovis comes back who gets unexpected help by Count Dooku to expose the corruption of the neutral Banking Clans

 

THE DISAPPEARED Part 1 and 2 shows what a great pairing of Mace Windu and Jar Jar Binks can be in addition to me enjoying the character of Jar Jar for the first time

 

THE LOST ONES/ VOICES/ DESTINY/ SACRIFICE is a major story arc for Master Yoda as he explore the power of how to train to survive as part of the Living Force after death.  His quest takes him to several worlds including the ancient Sith homeworld where the spirit of Darth bane is voiced by Mark Hamil.  You also have Liam Nesson doing the voice for the spirit of Qui Gon Jin.  This arc also explores the mystery behind dead Jedi Sifo Dyas

 

SPECIAL FEATURES:

THE CLONE WARS DECLASSIFIED is a 16 minute retrospective featurette and tribute to the people who worked on THE CLONE WARS animated series as they talk about the challenges they faced, the stuff they did, and looking at the end of the show

 

STORY REELS FOR THE UTAPAU ARC-

A DEATH ON UTAPAU/ IN SEARCH FOR THE CRYSTAL/ CRYSTAL CRISIS/ THE BIG BANG

 

FINAL ANALYSIS:  I just can’t just call it THE LOST MISSIONS, but the unfinished last and sixth season of THE CLONE WARS is a great example of how great the storytelling was for this series I will miss.   Also other scripts that didn’t get to story reel stage were turned into an upcoming novel and a comic book series from Dark Horse (the Darth Maul mini-series from THE CLONE WARS scripts).   I do wish Disney allowed the animators to finish the whole season before canceling, but 13 more episodes and four story reels are a last good celebration of this groundbreaking STAR WARS animated show

 

This review is ©11-14-2014 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission.  Send all comments to feedback@enterline-media.com

 

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