Star Wars: The Clone Wars - Episode I: Army Of The Republic

Intelligent condensed edition of the heavily padded animated series. smudger9 wisely cut the juvenile elements, as well as Jabba’s kid, choosing to focus on Domino squad. I didn’t understand what he was doing initially, but it makes sense as the edit progresses.

Video - Good cutting throughout as the narrative weaves between Jedi Obi-Wan and Anakin and Domino squad, skitters over to Greivous and the delicious Asajj Ventress. Blacks are solid throughout and there are no problems around flares, bursts, explosions, etc ... Some of the edits seemed quick but never too noticeable.

Audio - Clear 2.0 stereo. No subs, though the dialogue was clear and understandable throughout. That includes droid-speak and garbled mutterings of Admiral Trench.

Narrative - Some unavoidable problems here, I’m afraid. smudger9 has shaved chunks of time, so there is a loss of cohesion. With the necessary re-arranging, there is a “jumpy” feel to the story. Character arrivals and departures are frequently abrupt. The same could be said for the Lucas originals and live action, however. In my eye, clone 99's story was nicely done, yet the subject of a spy onboard Resolute was broached and forgotten.

Enjoyment - Despite my teasing of Trekkies, I have been just as obsessive / compulsive at times with Star Wars. And, as I have commented with TrekVerse fans, Star Wars buffs can also be guilty of jumping for any installment of the canon. Which is why most older fans bought these “kiddee” videos, and learned to leap over lame portions.

smudger9 has done all the leaping for us. Despite above-mentioned quibbles, this edit holds together well and is enjoyable from start to finish. His version is more battle action heavy, less character study. Yet it is also Clone Wars, so what do you expect? It does not quite work for me as a fledged theatrical release, but it is better than a stitched together TV series or a vintage serial (no recaps!).

Anyone who does not have a problem with the animated series in general will have a blast with this.

I like the Clone Wars cartoon... there I said it. I wish it was a little more dark, a little more adult, and a little less "stompy" on the somewhat putrid flesh of a once great franchise, but overall, it is fun. I really like the Asoka character, and also the Asajj Ventress character and a lot of the other things going for it (clone troopers, etc), even though they violate alot of the "sense" of the overarching story.

All that being said, I think that this edit really nailed the best of what Clone Wars could have been. I liked that they treated Asoka more like the youngling she is, leaving her at the temple, etc. I also like how the story of Domino company (one of my favorite arcs) complemented the rest of the narrative.

My biggest problem, however, is that the episodic nature of the story made itself known: The spider-alien general who is a major villain then disappears, the really long gap between clone segments, the abrupt appearance and disappearance of Asoka, Ventress being there with no introduction. Minor quibbles really, but they still nagged at me a bit as I watched and ultimately lessened the experience. Perhaps it was my familiarity with the source material, and I intend to show it to a friend who has never seen the show before and see if they notice.

Overall, however, I found it to be very fun and a nice change of tone for material I already enjoyed but wanted more from. Definitely a watch again.

This is a quite enjoyable and commendable edit. It doesn't quite work very well as a film - the structure's all off - but I suppose that's to be expected. This is built out of mainly episodic, 22 minute stories. Smudger9 tries his best to hide this by incorporating multiple episode arcs and having different storylines play at once, but the edit still, for the most part, ends up being made up of a number of small stories, each with their own climax. Some don't even seem necessary to the overall edit (the "Cat and Mouse" and "Grievous Intrigue" portions for example), though I understand why they were included. The issue is, once we get to the end and the real climax, it just doesn't feel as momentous as it should.

Still, if you take this edit as a shortened, rational compilation of episodes from the series, it works very well. I look forward to future installments by Smudger9.

Not overly familiar with the original film and show as have only seen them once a couple months ago, but this was definitely a big improvement over both. The pacing is fantastic, with almost non-stop action throughout, which keeps the mainly poor dialogue to a minimum. A worthy entry into the Star Wars saga.

Thank you smudger9. This is the only way I could really bring myself to watch through Star Wars: The Clone Wars so I have no real point of reference, only to say that it feels very well edited and paced. It feels like a family friendly Star Wars film with a lot of kiddy content left out which I'm really grateful for.

The story itself wasn't anything to write home about. The clones were all super cringe, but that's not at all the fault of the editor. The writing, art direction and voice acting just made me really dislike all the clones. Given what you had to work with, it's amazing you could salvage a watchable story about them at all.

It's a shame that you lost the working files of the 5 movies you had worked so hard on. I really hope that you or someone in this community is able to complete the saga one day. For now I will continue to enjoy and offer my thanks.