Comics Cornerstone Special Edition: So Long and Goodnight
Image Courtesy of Disney and Lucasfilm
Hello again, friends! I welcome you all to the last – that’s right, the last – edition of Comics Cornerstone here on The Vessel website. I can’t say how grateful I am of the support you’ve all given this series over the last nearly two years. It’s been a fun ride, but it isn’t over yet! I’ll be continuing this series over on my private blog site which you’ll be able to find here when it’s up and running: https://comicstone.blogspot.com/ There are no posts up there as of yet, but there will be soon! You might even say I’m starting it off in “spectacular” fashion (hint, hint!).
I wanted my last post here to be special and it just so happened that one of my favorite shows just ended this last Monday with possibly the greatest finale I’ve ever seen. So, I figured what better way to end my tenure than with a review/reflection of “Star Wars: The Clone Wars”. So, this blog today will sort of have a dual purpose of reflecting on my time with The Vessel as well as reflecting on “The Clone Wars” as a whole. Enjoy!
When I think about the final season of the show, words are hard to find. It was unceremoniously canceled in the early 2010s due to the Disney buyout of Lucasfilm. The show had come so far since its first season and creative director Dave Filoni said that he didn’t get to end it the way he properly wanted to. And thus, “The Clone Wars” was put on the shelf with the rest of hundreds of other unfinished projects, never to be seen again. Until 2018.
During a ten-year celebration panel at Star Wars Celebration 2018, the cast and crew of the show made a surprise announcement that the show would be returning for one more season on Disney+! Needless to say, this news was the highlight of the convention. Any hope of a revival had long dissipated in the minds of fans and after the divisiveness of 2017’s “The Last Jedi”, this was some much-needed good news. Unfortunately, it would be another year and a half before the season premiered. Hopefully, it would be worth the wait.
Well, it turns out it was! The season kicked off in late February with a four-part arc focusing on a special unit of defective clone troopers on a dangerous mission to rescue a fellow trooper who was long thought dead. Without spoiling anything, we move on from there and then enter what is most likely the low point of the season focusing on the return of fan-favorite character Ahsoka Tano, who hadn’t been seen since the middle of season 5. The arc focuses on her dealing with an illegal spice smuggling operation in the underbelly of the planet Coruscant. It’s not that the episodes aren’t good, but they ultimately have no bearing on the overall plot and thus, don’t feel like final season material. If these had aired two or three seasons ago, then I wouldn’t care. But we only had 12 episodes to wrap this thing up and spending four on this felt a little odd.
The last four episodes are where things really get going. We finally get the long-teased Siege of Mandalore and it does not disappoint! The stuff we see in this arc might be some of the best Star Wars since the original trilogy. It also gives one a new appreciation for the prequels since the events here took place concurrently with and tie directly into “Revenge of the Sith”. It might even tell that story better because I’d argue it evokes more emotions than that movie ever did. Again, no spoilers! But I’m telling you, if you haven’t seen it yet, you’re doing yourself a disservice. The last two minutes alone might be the most heartbreaking thing that any Star Wars fan will ever see for a long time. It’s an ending that we knew was inevitable when the show first started 12 years ago. Just by the premise, we knew where it was heading. Yet seeing it come to fruition is just as surprising and painful as if we’d known absolutely nothing.
“The Clone Wars” came a long way since its premiere back in 2008. Especially the character of Ahsoka. She started off as the childish and somewhat annoying apprentice to Anakin Skywalker and grew into a loving and noble hero who ultimately understands what it means to be a Jedi even more than the council itself. And the actual show grew from an average Saturday morning kid’s show on Cartoon Network to something that fans of all ages can appreciate and get something out of. Even by the time Season 2 rolls around, we’re already dealing with some very mature themes that the average 8-year-old might not quite understand. But when a show can find that perfect mixture that attracts all types of audiences, then you know you’ve got something special. After all, the Force is all about balance and this show definitely found it.
There you have it, folks! I hope you enjoyed my retrospective of “The Clone Wars”. If you haven’t already, I strongly encourage you to watch it. It’s available on Disney+, so it’s not like you have to shell out $30 for the Blu-Ray or digital copy of the seasons. It’s literally right at your fingertips! But don’t take my word for it, judge the show on your own merits. After all, it’s all subjective.
I have to say, it’s bittersweet and really quite fitting that my last review here be focused on the ending of one of the greatest animated series of the last 20 years. Just as it ended in great fashion, I hope you think my time here did as well. It’s been a true honor to do this for the last two years and I’m so very grateful to everyone who gave me this chance. Without the support of Nancy Sutton and the rest of the staff at The Vessel, I doubt I would have found the proper motivation to do what I’ve done. And without you guys, the readers, there’d be no point to this. You all are the reason that I’ve been able to keep this up. So, thanks to everyone for an awesome two years! And don’t worry because the adventures will continue once I get my site up and running very soon. I hope you all will follow me over there and continue to read my crazy thoughts! Again, thank you and it’s been an honor. So, until next time, stay safe, stay healthy, and stay comical!
