STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS THE COMPLETE SEASON TWO (2009-2010, Blu-ray released October 26, 2010 – MSRP $59.99)
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The Star Wars animated series, The Clone Wars makes me hate myself a little bit. My head tells me over and over again that Emperor Lucas‘ prequel films were all kinds of garbage and that these cartoons only frolic in his poisoned playground. Well, that playground must be filled with crack-rocks or something because I continue to be addicted to this show!
Is it just me, or did the Clone Wars get even better in Season Two? Sure, there aren’t as many kick-ass lightsaber battles this time around but it’s a small gripe to make about a series that now seems to have hit its stride. As director Dave Filoni guides his animated baby ever closer to creative and temporal parity with the live-action Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, new and more lethal villains are introduced, the plot thickens, tensions increase and Anakin embraces his dickishness. That’s right, the future Darth Vader is clearly closer to embracing the Dark side in Season Two, taking lives in cold blood while appearing to mature into a steady mentor to his Padawan learner, Ashoka. This is pretty great stuff – super-fun for a Saturday morning and necessary viewing for any Star Wars fan.
Star Wars The Clone Wars: The Complete Season Two is “most impressive” on Blu-ray but pales in comparison to the nearly rock-solid image of the Season One Blu-ray set. Fans who watched the episodes as they aired on television will be blown away by the image on the discs – highly detailed and in their correct, much wider aspect ratios. But videophiles might be disappointed by the occasional appearance of colour banding and artifacting/macro-blocking. As is par for the course with Warner Blu-ray discs featuring TV content, the audio is only available in a compressed Dolby Digital 5.1 surround track. It’s a nice one but can’t compete with what could, no doubt have been delivered via an uncompressed, lossless track.
Extras on the disc set are, once again, very informative and entertaining but, sadly, fewer than on the Season One set. Gone, this time around, are the longer “Director’s Cut Episodes” and episode specific featurettes. The short docs present amount to over an hour of behind the scenes footage, art and interviews. Thankfully, the excellent Blu-ray exclusive “Jedi Temple Archives” have returned, featuring over two hours worth of deleted and extended scenes, designs, art and animation. Also back for Season Two is the wonderful packaging of the 3-disc set which includes a 68-Page Production Journal, this time around slotted into an attached sleeve instead of bound into the hardcover digibook.
READ MORE: Star Wars: The Clone Wars The Complete Season Two Blu-ray set officially announced
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