As much as fans love Star Wars: The Clone Wars and all the spinoffs and sequels that have followed on from it, it’s still kind of a sore point that Dave Filoni’s excellent animated series had to wipe Genndy Tartakovsky’s unique and artful Clone Wars show out of canon. Folks haven’t forgotten Tartakovsky’s work, though, and the good news is that a new generation of Star Wars lovers can now discover the original Clone Wars on Disney Plus, as all 25 episodes of the cartoon can be found on the platform in the US from this Friday, April 2nd.
Airing from 2003-2005 – so in between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith – Clone Wars was the first piece of Star Wars screen media to flesh out the period of the prequels in a satisfying way that fixed some of the weaknesses of George Lucas’ movies. Celebrated animator Tartakovsky (known for Dexter’s Laboratory and Samurai Jack) brought his idiosyncratic visual style to the table, meaning that the 2D animation of his show arguably holds up better today than the CG work on the early seasons of The Clone Wars, which debuted three years after its predecessor concluded.
Clone Wars doesn’t feature Ahsoka Tano, but it did introduce a couple of other popular characters into the saga. The show actually sported the first appearance of General Grievous ahead of Revenge of the Sith, and bounty hunter Durge also made a big impact on fans, with folks still hoping that he could be brought back into canon and turn up in live-action one day. Maybe in The Mandalorian.
Alongside Clone Wars, a ton of other Star Wars content can be found on Disney Plus from today as well. Including the fondly remembered Ewoks cartoon from the 80s, not to mention the two live-action Ewoks spinoff films made during that same decade and The Story of the Faithful Wookiee. This is the animated segment from the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special, but don’t expect the full version of that to be shared anytime soon.