SomethingToDo2

Like many Gen X-ers, I love Star Wars. So, it was kind of a big deal recently when I watched the original trilogy with my two young sons for their first time. Thankfully, they loved the movies and ran about wielding imaginary lightsabers pretending to be Luke Skywalker, Obi Wan Kenobi and Han Solo battling dark lord Darth Vader and his stormtroopers. And yet a phantom menace lurked.

I had convinced myself the Star Wars prequel movies were good. Repeated DVD viewing revealed they weren’t. Was it just older and cynical me that had changed? Would my five-year-old self have liked The Phantom Menace? Nope. My young sons were so bored watching it I sneakily skipped DVD chapters to condense its interminable duration. Congratulations George Lucas. You managed to make a Star Wars movie that alienated older fans and young children.

My sons were still keen for more Star Wars action. This was a problem.

They’d liked a little of Phantom Menace (not insufferable CGI cretin Jar Jar Binks but the evil Darth Maul, especially when “spoiler” Maul is sliced in half by Obi Wan Kenobi — kids are cruel and love that kind of stuff) and wanted more. They’d noticed my Attack Of The Clones DVDs. They wouldn’t enjoy them. Where to get another fix? I decided to give the Clone Wars cartoon TV series a go. And it actually is good.

Clone Wars consists of 20-minute episodes full of adventure and excitement; two things Yoda warned Luke Skywalker not to crave. It’s by no means perfect — there’s an execrable episode starring Jar Jar Binks — but it’s action-packed, fuelling young imaginations just like the original Star Wars movies captured mine. It’s fun and has likeable characters (Anakin Skywalker and young Jedi Ahsoka’s Clone Wars banter is way better than Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen’s cringe-worthy lack of on-screen chemistry in the Star Wars prequels). You can’t expect more than that. Star Wars is essentially for kids. Sometimes, old school Star Wars fans forget that.

And, if you’re a Star Wars enthusiast without young kids who really can’t abide watching cartoons, check out this wonderfully bitchy evisceration of The Phantom Menace. It’s funny and true. Something entertaining emerged from that fiasco after all. Meesa laughed.