star wars: clone wars animated series illustrates unconventional warfare

[trinydex]

has anyone ever watched season 5 episode 2 of clone wars? titled: battle of onderon. the story arch over that series of episodes surrounding illustrates very basic unconventional warfare. it's quite a sophisticated illustration for a children's cartoon.

actually there's a lot of military and political themes in the animated series that are fairly sophisticated and even realistic.

does anyone know if this was animated series was consulted by a military professional?

[Big A]

I wouldn't be surprised if the producers/writers consulted with former military or intelligence personnel. I mean how many movies has Dale Dye played an officer on the Joint Chiefs Staff in?

Both this cartoon and Rebels are supposed to be kid shows but they are really stretching that definition...

[trinydex]

there are many other themes that have to do with politics, not being able to directly aid a neutral country but intervening by sending food and medical supplies. very realistic.

also a lot of the clones have nationalistic or patriotic tendencies and there's many sentiments that are espoused that glorify combat and sacrifice and service to a higher cause. I feel like kids that grow up watching this might end the pussification of america.

[MountainRaven]

I wouldn't be surprised if the producers/writers consulted with former military or intelligence personnel. I mean how many movies has Dale Dye played an officer on the Joint Chiefs Staff in?

Both this cartoon and Rebels are supposed to be kid shows but they are really stretching that definition...

Did you ever watch Gargoyles? May have been after your time. It was a favorite of mine after Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and concurrent with Star Trek: The Next Generation and -Deep Space Nine.

I believe the guy's name is Jordan Weisman, worked on Gargoyles in the 90s and helped get Rebels started. Dave Filoni is another guy who is probably the chief driving force behind The Clone Wars and Rebels cut his teeth on the animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender... which like the two Star Wars shows is a kid-oriented TV show that gradually becomes darker and more complex as the series advances from the first episode of the first season to the last episode of the last.

I think part of this is sort of the whole Harry Potter series, though. The series tries to grow with the kids watching it. I mean, The Clone Wars had a five-and-a-half season run. That means that some of the kids who started watching it when it started would have been five, six, seven... but the time the series ended they would have been in their early teens. Of course, such complexity also helps endear the shows to the older viewers - older brothers and sisters who have to watch it, parents, and random over-grown nerds and geeks.

In any event, Star Wars has always been very strongly informed by real history.

The Republic, by democratic means, becomes an Empire. Hints of both Rome under Gaius Julius Caesar and Caesar Augustus and Weimar/Nazi Germany.

The Grand Army of the Republic - the official name for the Republic's armed (and mostly clone) forces - a name shared with both the armies of Napoleon and the Union. And tying into the latter bit of history, we have, as bad guys, the Confederacy of Independent Systems.

Ground combat pays homage to Westerns, to WWI and WWII, Korea, Vietnam, &c. (Hoth is pretty much a combination of Germans fighting a defensive battle against British Mk1 tanks and UN troops taking part in bitter, freezing combat in Korea against unstoppable Chinese/Korean human wave attacks.) Space combat is an eclectic mix of Golden Age of Sail and WWII air and naval combat.

Given all this, it does not surprise me one bit to think that somebody writing story arcs for Star Wars would pull out, say, a history of Vietnam's resistance against the French or Mao's forces against Chiang Kai-Shek's for inspiration. (Plus some Mujahideen being covertly supported by the Republic against the CIS through a mercenary third party and needing some sort of MANPADs to take down heavily armored gunships.)

(Sorry for the rant. Brain's scattered. Need moar sleep, haha.)

[ramairthree]

When I was in school,
I did see the Ewoks as Like 'yards in Nam with the Empires
As China /NVN and the good hugs as USA.

Although,
I hated them.
I wanted them to be Chewbacas.

[Moose-Knuckle]

When I was in school,
I did see the Ewoks as Like 'yards in Nam with the Empires
As China /NVN and the good hugs as USA.

Although,
I hated them.
I wanted them to be Chewbacas.

The struggle is real!

[trinydex]

[QUOTE=Fjallhrafn;2268040](Plus some Mujahideen being covertly supported by the Republic against the CIS through a mercenary third party and needing some sort of MANPADs to take down heavily armored gunships.)
/QUOTE]

I forgot to mention this one too. that same arch had mercenaries deliver the equivalent of stinger missiles to the insurgents so they could take down the dominant air power of the drone army.

the other historical cues you have mentioned are also definitely present. I feel like the biggest plot device that the overall star wars storyline is a little off history about is the fact that the sith are the head if both sides of the conflict.

I did watch gargoyles, but I was not old enough to catch the sophistication. possibly the only reason I am catching the sophistication of the clone wars now is that I'm a post 911 adult.

[Firefly]

Robotech was pretty deep.

I grew to hate hippies because of that show. Especially Lynn Kyle. He'd always be protesting the Robotech war and meanwhile Rick Hunter suited up and killed up Zentraedi.

[MountainRaven]

I forgot to mention this one too. that same arch had mercenaries deliver the equivalent of stinger missiles to the insurgents so they could take down the dominant air power of the drone army.

the other historical cues you have mentioned are also definitely present. I feel like the biggest plot device that the overall star wars storyline is a little off history about is the fact that the sith are the head if both sides of the conflict.

I did watch gargoyles, but I was not old enough to catch the sophistication. possibly the only reason I am catching the sophistication of the clone wars now is that I'm a post 911 adult.

Well, it is a space opera about a group of reclusive wizard-knights leading an army of age-accelerated clones against a fallen master wizard-knight and his army of robots. I think a little stretching of the burning of the Reichstag into a three year-long galactic civil war isn't the worst thing they could have done. :P

[Big A]

Did you ever watch Gargoyles? May have been after your time. It was a favorite of mine after Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and concurrent with Star Trek: The Next Generation and -Deep Space Nine.

I believe the guy's name is Jordan Weisman, worked on Gargoyles in the 90s and helped get Rebels started. Dave Filoni is another guy who is probably the chief driving force behind The Clone Wars and Rebels cut his teeth on the animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender... which like the two Star Wars shows is a kid-oriented TV show that gradually becomes darker and more complex as the series advances from the first episode of the first season to the last episode of the last.

I think part of this is sort of the whole Harry Potter series, though. The series tries to grow with the kids watching it. I mean, The Clone Wars had a five-and-a-half season run. That means that some of the kids who started watching it when it started would have been five, six, seven... but the time the series ended they would have been in their early teens. Of course, such complexity also helps endear the shows to the older viewers - older brothers and sisters who have to watch it, parents, and random over-grown nerds and geeks.

In any event, Star Wars has always been very strongly informed by real history.

The Republic, by democratic means, becomes an Empire. Hints of both Rome under Gaius Julius Caesar and Caesar Augustus and Weimar/Nazi Germany.

The Grand Army of the Republic - the official name for the Republic's armed (and mostly clone) forces - a name shared with both the armies of Napoleon and the Union. And tying into the latter bit of history, we have, as bad guys, the Confederacy of Independent Systems.

Ground combat pays homage to Westerns, to WWI and WWII, Korea, Vietnam, &c. (Hoth is pretty much a combination of Germans fighting a defensive battle against British Mk1 tanks and UN troops taking part in bitter, freezing combat in Korea against unstoppable Chinese/Korean human wave attacks.) Space combat is an eclectic mix of Golden Age of Sail and WWII air and naval combat.

Given all this, it does not surprise me one bit to think that somebody writing story arcs for Star Wars would pull out, say, a history of Vietnam's resistance against the French or Mao's forces against Chiang Kai-Shek's for inspiration. (Plus some Mujahideen being covertly supported by the Republic against the CIS through a mercenary third party and needing some sort of MANPADs to take down heavily armored gunships.)

(Sorry for the rant. Brain's scattered. Need moar sleep, haha.)

Yes though not religiously like Batman The Animated Series and The Adventures of Superman.

The thing I love about both The Clone Wars and Rebels is how much Dave Filoni borrows from the Ralph McQuarrie concept art. The episode of TCW where Obi-Wan goes undercover as a bounty hunter, his outfit was one of the original concepts for Boba Fett.