(A new re-edited version of this article is available here.)

In 2003, after Attack of the Clones, Genndy Tartakovsky (creator of Samurai Jack) was hired by Lucasfilm to produce an animated mini-series set during the clone wars. The episodes were short, just a few minutes long (though they got longer in the final season) and were originally intended as toy commercials. The whole show only takes a couple of hours to watch and leads directly into Revenge of the Sith. And it’s incredible. It is a little intense trying to watch it in one sitting, as it’s nearly non-stop action, but when I was a kid, I absolutely loved it (and still do). It’s very different to the subsequent 2008 show The Clone Wars (helpfully distinguished by the word ‘the’). They’re both great and not particularly comparable but I always got the impression that the original ’03 Clone Wars at least partially influenced ’08. They share a fair amount of DNA, besides both being set during the clone wars. Some of the ’03 voice actors were carried over to the ’08 show (including Obi-Wan voice actor James Arnold Tayor). And there are characters and ideas used in ’08, that were introduced in ’03. Moreover, if memory serves, it was originally intended that the shows would exist within the same continuity (although before Disney everything was canon, there used to be a canon tier list). There’s a huge time jump in the ’03 show, covered by a brief montage. Most of ‘03 takes place at the start of the war – with the Battle of Muunilinst, briefly suggested to be Obi-Wan’s first major campaign (he states on Coruscant that his army is ready to depart and then thinks to himself that not even Qui-Gon Jinn could have prepared him for war). The final part of ‘03 takes place immediately prior to Revenge of the Sith. The original implication, if I recall correctly, was for the ‘08 show to occur during this enormous time jump. But I guess at some point they changed their minds. Presumably to avoid being creatively confined (which is fair enough).

The 2003 show was removed from canon a while back. A few books have referenced its events but it has largely been overwritten. Still, as much as I love the ‘08 show (I grew up watching it), I also love the ‘03 show. They sometimes get judged against each other, but I don’t think it has to be either-or. They’re very different shows. They’re both great in their own way and they’re not really comparable. And more than that. Since they’re focused on different events, I reckon the 2003 show could be almost completely re-canonised without affecting the ’08 continuity. In fact, I think re-canonising the ‘03 show makes the ‘08 version, and Star Wars in general, better! For one thing, there’s a lot of important events covered by ’03 which haven’t been seen elsewhere. When the ‘08 show starts, Anakin is already a knight. It’s during the events of ’03 that he gets knighted (which is kind of a big deal, no?). 2003 Clone Wars also depicts a few minor plot points, usually glossed over, like C3PO getting a gold covering instead of grey metal. The ’03 show introduced several major characters as well, such as Asajj Ventress. It’s in the ‘03 show that Ventress is found and recruited by Dooku and Sidious. She then has an awesome fight with Anakin in which she’s seemingly killed (but isn’t – she falls into a dark chasm which in fantasy does not necessarily equal death). The 2008 movie, that began the new show, seems to reference this. When Anakin arrives on Teth to rescue Jabba’s son, Dooku tells Ventress that she will soon have her revenge. To my knowledge, I don’t think the ‘08 show ever devised its own explanation for why Ventress would want revenge on Anakin. So, I reckon it’s likely that some version of that ’03 fight, in which Anakin nearly killed her and prevented her ascension to the Sith, still takes place in the new continuity. The ‘08 show did give Ventress a series of flashbacks, one of which shows her pledging allegiance to Dooku. But I don’t think these scenes contradict ‘03’s events in any substantial way (I reckon the Dooku flashback could have occurred after her apparent death in ’03). Perhaps most importantly, however, the ‘03 show introduced General Grievous to both the audience and the in-universe characters. And no subsequent show or movie has ever done a better depiction of Grievous. If you’ve never seen the ‘03 show (and if it isn’t canon), Grievous might seem like a bit of a cartoon villain (and not just because he is a cartoon villain). He’s constantly failing, running away and sometimes appears comically evil. The in-universe characters are scared of him for seemingly no reason. But the ’03 introduction of Grievous is incredible (go watch it, I’ll wait). And makes it overtly clear why the Jedi consider him a threat. Including these events and depictions in canon, can only make the canon better.

There are, admittedly, some continuity problems that would arise from re-canonising ‘03. But they can for the most part be explained. For instance, the ’03 and ‘08 show each have their own, very different, version of the war on Mon Cala (an ocean planet divided between the Republic-backed Mon Calamari and the Separatist-backed Quarren). Though both versions feature Jedi Knights Kit Fisto, they appear initially incompatible. For one thing, the ’03 version depicts the Mon Calamari as knights riding on big sea snakes. The ‘08 version does not do this. But the discrepancies are explainable. The ’08 version depicts the formal outbreak of the Mon Cala civil war, but I would imagine that there had been some hostilities leading up to this, amongst the more extreme groups. And, sure enough, the ’03 narration references a group called the Quarren Isolation League. The ’03 version, moreover, has the Republic divers embarking from unpainted Acclamator-class assault ships (this might seem like a tangent but it is relevant).In ’08, the Acclamators are always painted with a red stripe. The only other place they’re seen unpainted is in Attack of the Clones, suggesting that any depiction in which they’re unpainted (like the ’03 version of Mon Cala) would occur near the start of the clone wars. In the ’08 version of Mon Cala, by contrast, the clones have already had their armour update (phase 2 armour), suggesting it occurs during the mid-to-late war. I’d surmise then that at the start of the clone wars, the most radical and pro-separatist members of the Quarren Isolation League immediately rebelled and were defeated by Republic troops and traditional Mon Cala law enforcement (the weird Mon Calamari knights). Meanwhile, tensions between the official Mon Cala and Quarren governments continued to escalate (likely inflamed by the radicals) until a full-blown civil war erupted between them, depicted in ’08. In this way, I think, the continuity clash is resolved. I reckon that most of the continuity errors can be explained in a similar way. For reasons of pacing and time, the various shows can only ever depict a snapshot of political events that are presumably multifaceted. If the two shows have different or contradictory versions of the same event, it could just be a different aspect of the same complex whole.

One of the main inconsistencies between the shows, often referenced to explain the de-canonisation of the ’03 version, are the different characterisations. In particular, the ‘03 version of Grievous is, as previously said, massively different to the film and ’08 version. He also doesn’t even have his cough. There was a brief attempt to explain this (Mace Windu crushes his chest) but the explanation doesn’t line up with the ’08 version. This is a discrepancy that I think, however, can be largely overlooked. First, because his cough seems a little less severe in the ‘08 show than it does in Revenge of the Sith (so the chest-crushing moment might still be canon/make sense). More substantially though, because some of the ’03 characterisations are more film-accurate than the ’08 version. Most notably, with Anakin. The ’08 show did an incredible job of depicting Anakin. It made him much more likeable and showed him as the hero he was always described as being (instead of someone who brags about destroying a village of sand people). But he doesn’t act the way, in ’08, that he does in the films. Recent live-action depictions of Anakin, in the Ahsoka and Obi-Wan shows, have gone a long way to reconciling these differing characterisations. But they do remain. The ’03 characterisation of Anakin is much closer to the film version. So, while the ’03 show’s version of Grievous is not in keeping with the films, it does have a more consistent version of Anakin. In both cases, the respective mischaracterisation improves the character, so I’m prepared to overlook it. Besides, just as political events are multi-faceted, so are people. We only get a few brief glimpses of Grievous in the ’03 show, at most a few in-universe hours of his life. He might have just been in particularly good form on those days (I realise this is a weak argument for inconsistent characterisation, but I stand by it). As for the ’03 Jedi being overpowered, a common critique, I can overlook that as well. Even in the films, Jedi power levels are inconsistent. In The Phantom Menace, there’s a scene in which Obi-Wan and Qui Gon are suddenly able to run at super speed. Which no Jedi has ever subsequently done in the entirety of the franchise. Some more thought is probably needed to square the various character discrepancies though. For now, however, I don’t think the ’03 show suffers from any inconsistencies that the rest of the franchise doesn’t also demonstrate.

The only continuity clash that can’t be resolved, at least to my mind, is in the ’03 shows final scene. It’s the moment in which Anakin and Obi-Wan learn that Coruscant has been attacked and the Chancellor kidnapped by Grievous. They then rush off to save him. This wasn’t a problem prior to the release of ‘08 season 7, but now it’s directly contradicted during the incredible Siege of Mandalore arc. This also depicts Anakin and Obi-Wan learning about the attack on Coruscant and then rushing of to save the Chancellor. Although even here, the ’03 show does get referenced. They mention that the Jedi Shaak Ti has gone to protect the chancellor, which is depicted by the ’03 show. Still, I can’t think of a way to reconcile these two different depictions of the exact same moment (although perhaps it can be done), which does rather throw cold water on everything I’ve said so far. And it’s just a single line of dialogue that causes the continuity problem, which is annoying. It will never happen, but my ideal scenario is for a re-release of the ’03 show that’s been slightly edited (special edition style) to be a little more in-keeping with the canon. That might be heresy, I know, but I don’t mean anything substantial (nor do I want the original version to disappear). Just a slight re-ordering of events and a change and/or exclusion of the continuity breaking line. In short, I just want the ‘03 show to be re-canonised in some way.

-Dexter