“When destiny calls, the chosen have no choice.” – Opening credits
I have a confession to make — I’ve never been a huge fan of Star Wars. As a self-proclaimed sci-fi junkie, I appreciate the extent to which this franchise has broadened the genre’s scope of possibilities, but I can’t quite justify costume-and-convention levels of adoration and dedication to the massive canon of lore that has developed over the better part of the past thirty years. The ingredients are all there — a corrupt government extending its imperial wrath throughout the galaxy, dead space dogfights, scanty slave outfits… but it’s no Battlestar Galactica, no Firefly.
Maybe it’s because in the back of my mind, I think that George Lucas is beating a dead horse and somehow getting milk — he may have created the series, but he has most certainly destroyed it with his retroactive editing. In my mind, the franchise’s shining moment was in 2003 when it scooped up the seasoned veteran Genndy Tartakovsky — the creative genius behind Samurai Jack and Dexter’s Laboratory — to helm the animated Star Wars: Clone Wars. Though that particular incarnation of the Clone Wars chapter is over, the story has since been revisited in Cartoon Network’s Star Wars: The Clone Wars.
The season four premiere picks up amidst a political quorum between the Mon Calamari and the Quarren, two aquatic space species on the verge of civil war. Being manipulated by Count Dooku’s newest puppet, a space-shark named Tansom, the Lovecraftian Quarren side with the Separatists, starting a civil war. Charged with the protection of the Mon Calamari’s inexperienced young king, Anakin Skywalker and his Padawan, Ahsoka, prepare the remaining loyalists for the impending invasion. By the end of the premiere’s first part, “Water War,” the assault is in full effect, forcing the Jedi and Mon Calamari into retreat.
Fans of the original trilogy will recognize Captain “It’s a trap” Ackbar, whose presence helps alleviate the inclination to face-palm oneself after realizing how heavily the Gungans are featured in the aptly-titled second half of the premiere, “Gungan Attack.” After learning of the rebellion on Mon Calamari, the Jedi Council reaches out to its allies, the Gungans, who are charged into action by the enthusiastic Jar-Jar Binks. As amusing as it is to hear a grown — albeit, animated — man get called “Annie,” Jar-Jar and the Gungans are simply too cartoony to maintain the illusion that the animated series occurs in the same universe as the hexology of movies. Here, I’m specifically referring to the “surrounded at gunpoint” gag that occurs near the end of the episode — it’s nearly as bad as the emphatic narrator who sounds like he was ripped out of the Powerpuff Girls.
I may not be the biggest fan of the series, but I certainly enjoyed the detailed crispness of the 3-d animation — the underwater battles reminded me a lot of Tartakovsky’s work on Clone Wars, and I am most definitely a fan of his. The character dialogue, however, sucks; it always has. Every conversation, no matter how serious, is extra cheesy — I’m not looking for a pizza, I just want a little bit of effort. More distance between us and the Gungans is a good first step, although this week’s conclusion left the fate of the Mon Calamari to be decided another time. Specifically, next week’s third part to the season’s opening chapter.
This review originally appeared on TV Geek Army.