The Clone Wars had too much filler
Star Wars: The Clone Wars has earned the reputation of being one of the greatest projects in the history of George Lucas’ legendary franchise. The series and its film tell the story of the Jedi leadership of the clone army fighting for the Republic against the Confederacy of Independent Systems. Fighting villains like Count Dooku and General Grievous, the Republic’s brave heroes proved to be central parts of the Star Wars story.
The Clone Wars was a great series, but it’s no secret among the fan base that it had a tendency to delve too deeply into filler territory. At seven seasons and 133 episodes, it shouldn’t be a surprise to some Clone Wars Episodes felt inconsequential or unnecessarily long. These episodes are loved by some fans, but they don’t have the same entertainment value or significance as others.
Star Wars: The Clone Wars
Jedi Knights lead the Grand Army of the Republic against the Separatist Droid Army.
- Release date
- October 3, 2008
- Pour
- Tom Kane, Dee Bradley Baker, Matt Lanter, James Arnold Taylor, Ashley Eckstein, Matthew Wood
- Seasons
- 7
10 Saving the Papanoida sisters
“sphere of influence”
One of Padme’s closest allies in the Senate was Pantora’s Senator Chuchi. In the episode “Sphere of Influence”, Chuchi enlisted Jedi assistance when the daughters of her planet’s newly elected leader, Chairman Papanoida, were kidnapped. This prompted Papanoida himself to embark on a rescue mission.
The episode had an interesting concept, but incorrectly focused on characters that fans simply didn’t care about. The episode explored the galaxy’s criminal underworld in a way that felt superfluous within the series, drawing on familiar characters like the Hutts and having a predictable ending.
9 The adventure of C-3PO and R2-D2 on Aleena
“Mission of Mercy”
In the season four episode “Mercy Mission,” C-3PO and R2-D2 accompanied Commander Wolffe and his unit on a humanitarian mission to the planet Aleena. While navigating the native temple, the droids were suddenly transported underground, where they encountered a hidden fantasy world.
Commander Wolffe and his wolf pack received surprisingly little screen time throughout the series, and the focus on the droids made the episode feel like filler bait and switch. What could have been a showcase of how a fan-favorite clone unit performs without a Jedi instead became a lackluster side quest.
8th Gascon’s droid squad
“Secret Weapons”
Starting with the season five episode “Secret Weapons,” viewers were introduced to Colonel Gascon, who assembled a small team of astromech droids to go on a secret mission. This three-part story arc followed the team as they became lost in space and made their way to the planet Abafar, where they met Commando Gregor.
The three episodes could have been combined into a simpler two-parter instead of becoming one of the series’ slowest storylines. The notable lack of clones and Jedi could have worked for one episode, but trying to make it work for a full hour made the episodes pretty missable except for the use of Gregor.
7 The Liberation of Onderon
“A war on two fronts”
While many of the Republic’s engagements were sanctioned battles, some of their missions were secret, unofficial attempts to take on the Confederacy. In the four-part story arc that began with “A War on Two Fronts,” fans were treated to a Vietnam-style intervention by the Jedi to train a small group of rebels led by Saw Gerrera.
The episode was important both in following Ahsoka as she begins to feel disillusioned and in laying the foundation for the Rebel Alliance. However, it’s a good example of a story that shouldn’t have been longer than three episodes, and its film-length running time didn’t seem justified, especially since it was never picked up again in the series.
6 Track down Ziro
“Hunt for Ziro”
In the Clone Wars In the film, it was revealed that Jabba the Hutt’s uncle, Ziro, was responsible for the kidnapping of Jabba’s son Rotta. The criminal was imprisoned, but in the episode “Hunt for Ziro”, Obi-Wan teamed up with Quinlan Vos to track down the gangster.
The episode was largely inconsequential, largely following the Jedi trail of the Hutt, who proved to be one of the most despicable characters in the galaxy. Quinlan Vos is a Jedi fan favorite, and this episode simply wasted him on a repeat of the animated film with no real stakes.
“Evil plans”
The episode “Evil Plans” was created as a prequel to the episode “Hostage Crisis”, the story in which Cad Bane attacked the Republic. In the prequel episode, Padme and Anakin sent their two trusty droids on a shopping spree so they could find a rare fruit that the senator wanted to use for a banquet. While shopping, they were captured by Cad Bane.
The idea of making an episode centered on two fruit-buying droids in a series dedicated to an intergalactic war is one of the most glaring cases of filler in the series. To make matters worse, the episode wasn’t even consequential, as it merely added context to an episode that had already been released – a full two seasons earlier.
4 The debate over funding cloning
“Striving for Peace”
One of the interesting aspects of Anakin and Padme’s relationship was how at odds the two were on various aspects of the Clone Wars. Padme was by no means a pacifist, but she grew tired of the sacrifices of war and the enormous cost of paying the clones. This debate formed the basis of the episode “Pursuit of Peace”, dedicated to the politics of the Republic.
Several episodes of the series were devoted to the politics and finances of the war, but “Pursuit of Peace” didn’t need to be its own episode. A theme explored in episodes like “The Rise of Clovis” became redundant and Padme’s efforts ultimately failed.
3 Ashoka and the Martez sisters
“Gone from a trace”
The long-awaited revival of The Clone Wars because a seventh season began with a bang with the return of Echo and the arrival of the Bad Batch. However, the season’s second arc was much more disappointing, returning to the story of Ahsoka as she aided the Martez sisters in the underworld of Coruscant.
The seventh season was limited to just 12 episodes divided into three storylines. The Martez sisters could have made for a two-part story that reintroduced Bo-Katan to the series, but that was almost completely inconsequential compared to the overarching story of the season. The war itself didn’t play a role and the episodes felt more like a way to keep Ahsoka busy after her departure from the Jedi Order.
2 Bail Organa and Jar-Jar’s diplomatic mission
“supply lines”
One of the things The Clone Wars Stories dedicated to supporting characters and lesser-known Jedi and their clones performed best. One of the best of these was the story of Jedi Master Ima-Gun Di and the handful of troops, led by Captain Keeli, that he left behind on Ryloth as he held the line against the droids so that the locals could escape.
The brilliant Last Stand style story was unnecessarily overshadowed by a silly, comedic mission from Jar Jar Binks and Bail Organa trying to send help to Ryloth. While Captain Keeli and Gun Di established themselves as some of the Clone Wars’ greatest heroes, an episode that should have been dedicated to them spent little time with them. The story could have been one of the best episodes of the series, but instead it earned a mediocre reputation.
1 Saving Jabba’s son
The Clone Wars movie
Before The Clone Wars When the series began, the spin-off was introduced to fans with an animated film that followed a Jedi mission to find and return Jabba the Hutt’s kidnapped son. The film began with a bang, following Anakin and Obi-Wan as they battle droids on Christophsis and later introducing Ahsoka.
The film started well, but ended in an uninteresting side quest, and the film didn’t leave much room for exploring the individuality of its essential clone troopers. The film should have been an Umbara-style war film, alternating between battles and Republican politics, but instead seemed like one big side quest.
war of stars
Star Wars was created by George Lucas and began in 1977 with the film of the same name, later retitled Episode IV: A New Hope. The original Star Wars trilogy centered on Luke Skywalker, Han Solo and Princess Leia Organa, who helped lead the Rebel Alliance to victory over the tyrannical Galactic Empire. This empire was ruled by Darth Sidious/Emperor Palpatine, who was aided by the cybernetic threat known as Darth Vader. In 1999, Lucas returned to Star Wars with a prequel trilogy about how Luke’s father Anakin Skywalker became a Jedi and eventually succumbed to the dark side of the Force.
- Created by
- George Lucas
- First film
- Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope
- Last film
- Star Wars: Episode XI – The Rise of Skywalker
- First TV show
- Star Wars: The Mandalorian
- Latest TV show
- Ahsoka
