“Star Wars: The Clone Wars” Season Four is a fun animated series with great action, incredible animation and well written stories (for the most part). Not sure how fanboys liked the show but for myself, as a modest fan of the franchise, I found each episode, and the season as a whole, to be enjoyable.
“Star Wars: The Clone Wars” The Complete Fourth Season (2011-12)
REVIEW NAVIGATION
The Movie | Special Features | Video Quality | Audio Quality | Overall
Genre(s): Science Fiction, Action, Adventure
Warner Bros. | NR – 493 min. – $59.99 | October 23, 2012
MOVIE INFO:
Directed by: Various
Writer(s): George Lucas (created by)
Cast: Matt Lanter, James Arnold Taylor, Catherine Taber, Anthony Daniels
DISC INFO:
Features: Commentaries, Test Animation, Concept Art, 3D Turnarounds
Number of Discs: 3
Audio: English (DTS-HD MA 5.1), French (Dolby Digital 5.1), Spanish (Dolby Digital 5.1)
Video: 1080p/Widescreen 2.40
Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish
Disc Size: NA
Codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Region(s): A, B, C
THE MOVIE – 3.75/5
Synopsis: The battle to save the galaxy reaches new heights of peril and new depths of darkness. The valiant Jedi Knights and clone troopers defend exotic planets from enemy forces. They wage war underwater, battle across a night-shrouded world and take on the merciless Death Watch. Our heroes are tested like never before as Anakin is haunted by the realities of his past, Ahsoka fights to free her people, and an undercover Obi-Wan braves a deadly bounty hunter tournament. The season culminates with the shocking return of a villain from the past: the ruthless Darth Maul, who will stop at nothing to achieve vengeance.
Quick Hit Review: I’ve never been a big fan of the Star Wars franchise, at least beyond admiring and enjoying the original trilogy and excoriating the prequels for its use of visual effects in place of strong performances, well developed characters and story. So going into the series, “Star Wars: The Clone Wars”, I didn’t have high expectations but surprisingly I found it entertaining and the animation well done. This fourth season is nice for both fans and novices taking individual stories connected with an overall theme that being the Jedi’s attempts to thwart the advancements of Count Dooku, as he and the Empire hope to take over more territory.
SPECIAL FEATURES – 2.75/5
This release comes with a sleek and glossy slip cover. The 3-discs are contained in a standard sized Blu-ray case. Each of the following features are spread across the set.
Video Commentaries are available on “The Battle of Mon Cala”, “Slaves of Zygerria”, “Darth Maul Returns” and “Obi-Wan Undercover” sequences. Each one has the episode director, artist and other talents as they talk about the sequence over behind-the-scenes, episode and other footage from the universe.
Jedi Temple Archives allows viewers to discover galleries of original 3D models, process comparisons, character designs, deleted scenes and more. ** Blu-ray Exclusive **
VIDEO – 4.5/5
“Star Wars: The Clone Wars” Season 4 arrives on Blu-ray via Warner Home Video presented with a rare, for television programs, 2.40 widescreen aspect ratio. The 1080p high-definition transfer looks sharp from beginning to end and best of all, features bright colors which nicely jump off the screen. Given how some other recent animated features looked on Blu-ray, I was pleased with the video.
AUDIO – 4.0/5
The season comes equipped with a 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track which sounds alright but not entirely dynamic compared with other releases out there. That being said, the dialogue levels do sound clear and during the numerous action scenes in every episode, the front and rear speakers also get some use although it seems some of it is a bit front loaded.
OVERALL – 3.75/5
Overall, “Star Wars: The Clone Wars” Season Four is a fun animated series with great action, incredible animation and well written stories (for the most part). Not sure how fanboys liked the show but for myself, as a modest fan of the franchise, I found each episode, and the season as a whole, to be enjoyable. The Blu-ray set is nice with solid audio/video transfers and some OK features.
Published: 10/25/2012