Mildly Surprised

So I'm sitting here at about 12:45 in the morning while Episode One plays in the background. We watched Kindom of Heaven earlier and Jane wanted something a little more "kid friendly". I am being somewhat taken aback by how utterly not-crappy it is. I mean it's not Oscar worthy in any sense of the word but I remember this film being a lot crappier than it is. It's surprisingly decent. It's amazing what a few years can do to soften the hard edge of criticism. By the way, this upcoming May will be the TENTH ANNIVERSARY of Episode One. Doesn't that make you feel old?

STAR WARS - Attack of the Character Development

So I just finished watching Star Wars: The Clone Wars for the third time in two days just now, and I have to say - I applaud Dave Filoni and the people of Cartoon Network for the courage to actually show death and other "horrors of war" on a television network intended for children before 11 p.m. There is, sadly, more than enough kid-friendly battle droid humor to go around. However, the two episodes that I've seen have already dealt with more adult themes more thoughtfully and artfully than Lucas' much maligned prequel trilogy. In addition to CGI-bourne, bite-size looks at concepts of loyalty, spirituality, and the instrinsic value found in all sentient life, there has also been more character growth and development one hour of The Clone Wars than in the entire six hour prequel trilogy.

Well known characters like Skywalker and Kenobi are more fleshed out in this series (although, Ewan McGregor had already done as fine a job as anyone could have - given what he had to work with) Young Ahsoka Tano is cute and thankfully less annoying than I had initially feared. However, what truly makes this series give me hope for the future is its focus on peripheral Jedi - like Plo Koon and Kit Fisto - and, more importantly, the clones themselves. Filoni has managed to give each and every clone a unique and compelling personality. Despite the fact that every clone has the same face and is voiced by the same actor, I became interested in the plight of every single one of them. Well done Mr. Filoni. I pray that this streak of good SW writing can be extended well beyond two episodes.