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00:00Star Wars The Clone Wars began with a 2008 feature film and subsequently spawned a show that ran for seven fantastic seasons ending in 2020.
00:09The series gave us the chance to finally understand what happened between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith,
00:14but there is much more to this show than what lies on the surface.
00:18The series was a maze of planning, well-placed easter eggs and cathartic resolutions to many a character's journeys.
00:24So hold tight, because I'm Gareth from WhatCultureStarWars, and here are 10 mind-blowing facts you didn't know about Star Wars The Clone Wars.
00:32Number 10, The Name Game
00:34Ahsoka Tano is arguably the breakout star of The Clone Wars.
00:38First appearing in the feature film and being expertly fleshed out over the seven-season show,
00:43Ahsoka joined canon as Anakin Skywalker's new and unwanted Padawan.
00:47Ahsoka was created by George Lucas as a way of adding a new layer to Anakin's story.
00:51She represents the true good of the galaxy and is a great character to juxtapose her master's darkening personality.
00:59Originally, however, Lucas wanted to call her Ashlar, which he says means light side.
01:03Also, it's been revealed that Ashlar is actually a canon character, a Jedi youngling who briefly appears in Attack of the Clones.
01:10However, Lucas changed his mind about Ahsoka's name in the end.
01:14Number 9, Crossing Paths
01:15You might remember in Revenge of the Sith, when Anakin and Obi-Wan Kenobi come face-to-face with General Grievous,
01:22as they attempt to save Chancellor Palpatine from the evil Separatists.
01:26Grievous famously calls Anakin out and says,
01:28I thought you'd be taller.
01:29It's a throwaway line in a long and epic film,
01:32but one that proved to be quite the hurdle for showrunner Dave Filoni when he came to make The Clone Wars.
01:37On the show, Anakin is the primary protagonist and Grievous is a major antagonist.
01:41But because it would ruin the continuity of the films if the two were to meet on the show,
01:46Filoni had to execute a series of narrative backflips to keep the two apart.
01:50Every time there's a chance the two will see each other, something steps in to push him away.
01:55It's a shame in many respects that the two never cross paths and get a chance to fight on the show,
02:00but is of course necessary for the continuity.
02:02Plus, in its place, we get Grievous and Obi-Wan's rivalry, which is one of the best in the entire canon.
02:08Number 8, Cast Connections
02:10Anyone worth their kyber crystals knows who Mark Hamill is.
02:14But did you know that he was also in The Clone Wars,
02:16playing someone radically different to ultimate good guy Luke Skywalker?
02:20Hamill has a voiceover cameo in Season 6, Episode 13, Sacrifice,
02:24where he voices ancient Sith Darth Bane,
02:27who appears as a ghostly vision to Yoda as he visits the Sith planet of Moraband.
02:31Any trace of Luke's voice is lost in Bane,
02:34and it gives Hamill the chance to play someone who diverges from his more popular role.
02:38Hamill is not the only one who revisits the canon in The Clone Wars, however.
02:42As in the 2008 film, Samuel L. Jackson got the chance to reprise his role as Mace Windu.
02:47He's replaced for the majority of the show by Terrence Carson,
02:50who captures Jackson's voice beautifully, it must be said.
02:53But he also makes an appearance in Season 7 thanks to archive footage from Revenge of the Sith.
02:57Liam Neeson, meanwhile, gets to reprise his role as Qui-Gon Jinn for several episodes of The Clone Wars,
03:03where he appears as a Force ghost.
03:05His role is much more significant than both Jackson's and Hamill's,
03:08but equally as rewarding for longtime fans.
03:11Number 7, Animating Dueling
03:13Up until Season 7, The Clone Wars was completely animated, even the lightsaber duels.
03:19This isn't a bad thing by a long shot,
03:21as many of the fights in the series rival and even surpass those in the films.
03:26I know, blasphemy.
03:27That being said, the best duel the show has to offer comes in Season 7, Episode 10,
03:32between Ahsoka Tano and a revitalized Darth Maul.
03:35But did you know that this fight was created mostly through the use of motion capture technology?
03:40When watching it back, you realize just how seamless and complex the characters' movements actually are.
03:44In the scene, professional stunt artist Lauren Mary Kim and Ray Park,
03:49who played Maul in both The Phantom Menace and Solo, A Star Wars Story,
03:52provide motion capture performances for Ahsoka and Darth Maul, respectively.
03:57Add their talents to the vocal chops of Ashley Eckstein and Sam Witwer,
04:00as well as the stylish animation the series is now known for,
04:04and what you're left with is one of the most visually stunning and satisfying moments of the entire series.
04:09Number 6, The 501st Legion
04:12In 1997 in South Carolina,
04:15Albin Johnson and Tom Cruise founded the 501st Legion,
04:18a charitable organization that makes realistic costumes from the original trilogy.
04:23Johnson and Cruise started by making Stormtrooper costumes,
04:25and styled themselves the 501st Legion, or Vader's Fist.
04:30The name was coined to honor both the films and the real-life heroes of World War II.
04:34Their popularity grew at such a rate that even George Lucas joined them at a charity event at one point.
04:39Eventually, they became canon in Timothy Zahn's novel Survivor's Quest,
04:43and the clone unit subsequently appeared in Revenge of the Sith with Darth Vader as he sacks the Jedi Temple.
04:49Although not named in the film itself, the Battalion of Clones was revealed to be the 501st thanks to Lucasfilm's merchandising.
04:55Of course, all this eventually led to the 501st Legion becoming a part of the Clone Wars later down the line,
05:01serving under Anakin and his Padawan Ahsoka.
05:03All of this makes for a very sweet and respectable way of honoring the many fans of Star Wars.
05:08But perhaps the best thing about the 501st is that it gave us its superior, Captain Rex,
05:13who remains one of the show's most popular figures.
05:15Since we're on the subject of Captain Rex and the clones who give the series its name,
05:22let's take a look here at the veteran clone's conception and the work that goes into personalizing the men who all sound and look the same.
05:29Rex was originally going to be called Alpha,
05:31after a clone called Alpha 17 who appeared in the comic Star Wars Republic.
05:35But the name was scrapped because Lucas felt the main cast featured too much alliteration already.
05:40Lucas then decided to call him Rex instead,
05:42and gave him the job of being the central clone character of the show.
05:45Enter D. Bradley Baker, who had the job of voicing the clones.
05:48Despite all the troopers effectively being the same person,
05:51Baker knew as well as Lucas and showrunner Dave Filoni
05:54that the essence of the show was to humanize the clones.
05:57Baker thus went to great lengths to differentiate the troopers,
06:00recording all their lines separately and adding inflections on key adjectives for each one.
06:05Rex was given the most thought due to his large role on the show,
06:08and Baker and Filoni even made a clone triangle to help rank the troopers by the importance of their role on the show,
06:14which Rex obviously topped.
06:16Number 4, Lost Episodes and Arcs
06:19Despite its popularity on Cartoon Network,
06:22The Clone Wars was cancelled midway through Season 6 after being purchased by Disney.
06:26Although Disney brought the show back for a seventh and final season on its new streaming service,
06:30the season was shortened and many key arcs and storylines were left unresolved.
06:34The two key arcs have been made into successful and well-reviewed novels and comics,
06:38but would likely have been better suited to the show, it must be said.
06:41For example, the comic Son of Dathomir detailed a four-episode arc
06:45which would have seen Darth Maul kidnapped and tortured by Darth Sidious
06:49following the death of Savage Opress.
06:51The whole story would have been epic, pitting Maul against both Dooku and Grievous.
06:55That's not the arc we long for the most, however,
06:57as on the show Asajj Ventress is robbed of the chance to have her story end on a satisfactory high.
07:03In an epic eight-episode arc,
07:05the former assassin would have sought forgiveness from the Jedi Council
07:08and joined forces with eccentric Jedi Quinlan Vos in a bid to kill Count Dooku.
07:13These stories would have been an excellent addition to the series
07:15and would have added further gravitas to characters we had grown to root for already.
07:203. Radically Different Pitch
07:22There was actually once a time when Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi
07:25were set to be side characters on the show.
07:28I know, imagine that.
07:29Instead, Dave Filoni wanted the series to revolve around the crew of a ship reminiscent
07:33to the iconic Millennium Falcon.
07:35On the ship, audiences would have met a smuggler, his girlfriend, a Gungan called Lunker,
07:40a Jedi Padawan called Ashla who would go on to become Ahsoka Tano,
07:43and her master.
07:44A lot of this went on to become the basis of Star Wars Rebels.
07:47Filoni's vision was put in place to steer clear of the continuity of the films,
07:51as he didn't want to interfere with what had already been put into canon.
07:54However, George Lucas eventually joined the project and decided the series would be better
07:58if it focused on the characters audiences already knew.
08:01On top of that, Filoni later wanted Ahsoka to be Obi-Wan's Padawan.
08:05But once more, Lucas saved the day and steered him in a more compelling Skywalker direction.
08:102. Honoring the Past
08:11In the early development of The Clone Wars, Lucas said he didn't want certain characters appearing in the film or the series.
08:18These primarily included Chewbacca, Jabba the Hutt, Boba Fett, and Han Solo.
08:22Although the former three were all eventually added to the show,
08:25everyone's favorite rebel smuggler never made an appearance.
08:28However, that doesn't mean his legacy strayed too far.
08:31Captain Rex, for example, bears a small scar on his chin as reference to a similar cut on Solo actor Harrison Ford.
08:38Also, in a less direct reference to the famed pilot,
08:41a Season 3 arc sees some of our favorites freezing themselves in carbonite.
08:45The fact that the carbonite freezing was a success during this dangerous mission
08:48gives us insight into how Darth Vader knew it would work on Solo years later.
08:53Whether this was direct foreshadowing or not,
08:55it nonetheless remains a nice little nod to one of the original trilogy's most iconic moments.
09:011. Familiar Soundtracks
09:03Music has always been a unique selling point of the Star Wars films and the Clone Wars.
09:07John Williams' masterful and suspenseful score is a pop culture touchstone,
09:11and the Clone Wars does well by honoring the maestro's tones.
09:14Although Williams himself has not written any music specifically for the show,
09:18his most famous numbers still make it into the series.
09:21The most prominent examples can be found in Season 7,
09:24as the threat of Order 66 begins to loom over the galaxy and the fate of our heroes.
09:29For example, as the Siege of Mandalore unfolds,
09:31we get the chance to hear the same music used in the opening of Revenge of the Sith,
09:35when Anakin and Obi-Wan are seen racing to save the Chancellor,
09:38showing that they are taking place at the same time.
09:41But the most compelling use of Williams' work comes when Captain Rex gets the famous Order from Darth Sidious.
09:47It's a heartbreaking and unfortunately inevitable moment.
09:50As Rex turns on his friend and joins his brothers in trying to kill Ahsoka,
09:54as Ahsoka holds them off, you can hear Williams' Anakin's dark deeds play,
09:58the same song used in Revenge when Darth Vader eliminates the Separatist Council.
10:02It's a sneaky easter egg, and easy to miss given the tension of the events unfolding.
10:06But once you notice it, it's the kind of thing that makes you both smile and feel a sudden pang of nostalgia.
10:11And that's our list.
10:13Know of any other mind-blowing facts fans didn't know about Star Wars The Clone Wars?
10:17Let me know all about them in the comments section right down below,
10:19and do not forget to like, share, and click on that subscribe button while you're at it.
10:23Also, make sure to head on over to whatculture.com and find some more incredible articles
10:27just like the one this video you're watching right now is based on.
10:29I've been Gareth from WhatCulture Star Wars.
10:31Thank you very much for watching this video today.
10:33May the Force be with you, and I will see you very, very soon.
10:36Bye-bye.
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