Star Wars TV Shows Part 1

 A hot topic in the Star Wars Universe is the lack of movies and Disney's focus on making Star Wars television shows while they plan their reset of movie plans. Ahsoka is the latest live action offering that Disney and Lucasfilm has produced. The success of the Mandalorian and Obi-Wan Kenobi shows have been offset by the mild receptions of Book of Boba Fett and Andor. 

This series will take a look at the different shows, what I liked about them and what I have not. While I have focused on the recent shows, I want to start this series with a discussion of Star Wars: The Clone Wars. This animated series debuted as the first animated movie in Star Wars. The box office for the movie was disappointing by Star Wars standards, only making around $68 million. This did enough to entice Cartoon Network to produce the show. Clone Wars ran for five seasons on Cartoon Network, it had a sixth season titled "The Lost Episodes" released on Netflix and a seventh, and final season, released on Disney+.

Clone Wars provided an insight into the events that occurred between Episode 2 - Attack of the Clones and Episode 3 - Revenge of the Sith. The Clone Wars shows Anakin as he attempts to guide his padawan Ahsoka Tano on her path to being a Jedi and Anakin's unavoidable fall to the dark side. 

Some Negatives of the show: 

Clone Wars is a show that may take some time to get into. The first season jumps from conflicts and battles with an opening segment that sets up the episode. This has the ability to make a viewer feel as if they missed an episode or missed context in a previous episode. This gets better in the later seasons, but it does make it hard to initially get into the show. 

Anakin Skywalker in Clone Wars

With the show being a cartoon, it had a perception of being a kid show and this can be off-putting for adult fans as well. This show can be viewed by children but there are darker themes and it makes for compelling viewing for adults. I had the chance to meet Matt Lanter, who voices Anakin in the show, at Rhode Island Comic Con and we discussed how the show got progressively edgier as it went on. It was great to hear even the voice actors recognize the tone shifting in the show. 

Some Positives of the show:  

Fleshing out Anakin's character between Episode 2 and Episode 3 was needed as he shifted drastically between the movies. This allowed them to show his maturation and allowed his mentoring of Ahsoka to help show his growth as well. Also, it does a great job of really showing his relationship with Obi-Wan in
a different light as well. 

As mentioned above, this show introduced Ahsoka and it also introduced Asajj Ventress to the Star Wars universe. While Ahsoka helped to show Anakin's growth, Asajj was introduced to be Dooku's apprentice. She is a great character and is a great foil to Ahsoka.

Hondo Ohnaka in Clone Wars

Hondo Ohnaka (voiced by the famous voiced actor Jim Cummings) is a space pirate introduced in this series as well.  This character is great as he is neither for the Republic nor
for the Separatists. He is simply a pirate out to make money. His episodes are some of the most entertaining. If you have ever been to Galaxy Edges keep an eye out, you might see him.

Overall, Clones Wars is a must-watch show. While it is tough to get into because of the scattershot nature of the first season, it is worth powering through that as the stories introduced in the later season add a lot to the lure of the Star Wars Universe. 

New York Comic Con 2023 Pt. 1

 Having been to FanExpo Boston and Rhode Island Comic Con multiple times, I thought I was prepared for New York Comic Con. I was not. This event is bigger than I could have imagined which was great and not so great. 

Jim Cummings

I had tickets to attend NYCC 2023 on Thursday and Friday. I knew Saturday would be overwhelming and I did not want to travel back on Sunday after the con. Thursday was a very cool day at the con. I met Ryan Parrott, the writer for over 100 issues of Power Rangers for Boom! Studios, Dee Bradley Baker, the voice of almost all of the clones in Star Wars animation, and Jim Cummings, the voice of Winnie the Pooh and Hondo Ohnaka.  

Tait Fletcher

I had the chance to talk to Tait Fletcher, Paz Vizla in the Mandalorian, again. My wife and I originally met him in July at Terrificon in Connecticut. Both times talking with Tait was great. He is a very nice and personable guy who makes you feel like you have known him forever. Also, try to check out some of his other work if you have a chnace.

Thursday finished up with a professional photo op with the cast of Star Wars The Clone Wars, Ashley Eckstein, James Arnold Taylor, Matt Lanter, and Dee Bradley Baker.  Having had the chance to meet all of them before the photo, I was excited to meet them again. Photo ops are much quicker than autograph signings but it was still a great experience. 

All in all, Day 1 was great. Spending sometime in Artist Alley was really cool. The crowd was definitely manageable. Lastly,  never be afraid to make friends with other people at the con. While in line for Dee Bradley Baker we met this awesome family who are huge Star Wars fans. We kept running into them at the con and enjoyed each meeting.

Voice cast of Clone Wars. (Left to Right)
Dee Bradley Baker, Ashley Eckstein, Matt Lanter and James Arnold Taylor