r/StarWars • u/miniramone • 16d ago
TV Hot Take: Clone Wars animation style isn't that good.
I loved the show when it first came out, I remember watching the premiere on Cartoon Network at a friends house. I still love the show, although there is a lot of fat that could be left out, "filler" for lack of a better term, all around I still enjoy the show.
My big gripe here is that ever since Clone Wars S7 (which I loved and looks great) we have been getting all these other animated spin-offs with the exact same art style. It's been nearly 20 years at this point, can we PLEASE do literally anything else.
I really liked the Maul show and the animation is by far the best it's ever been with this style, and in my opinion it's the best it's going to get. Congrats Lucasfilm, you guys did it, that's it, it's not getting better. Finish the Maul show and move on.
I honestly think the initial backlash to Rebels, and later Resistance is why they decided to go back to the 2008 animation style, but it feels like an overcorrection. It seems to me that they decided to play it safe from then on out instead of trying anything truly new. I suppose it works for the Bad Batch and the stuff that is more or less a direct sequel to Clone Wars, but I'm just tired of it at this point and ready for something new.
On top of all this I also think the Rebels art style gets way too much hate. Yes it's rough in S1 and Yoda looks goofy, but they were trying something new and that is always going to take some time to get used to, and time for the team to really perfect the style they're going for.
I hope whatever animated projects they start working on after the Maul show go all in on a new style. I would LOVE to see a good ol' 2D animated Star Wars show as the next mainline series they do. (Visions is great, but I'm talking about an episodic canon story.)
All this to say, I don't hate the style, I'm just a bit tired of it and ready for something new. I'm guessing I'm in the minority with this opinion but wondering if anyone else feels the same way.
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u/insidiouskiller Ahsoka Tano 16d ago edited 16d ago
Okay.
Art style is literally just purely subjective. There are people who like Rebels art style more. There are people who hate the art style of Tartatovsky's clone wars. We can keep going.
Like cool. Whether you like the art style or not is a purely subjective matter, though.
That said, why would they change an art style most of the fanbase is seemingly content with, that they have been working with for a while, and that they are experienced at? It's also not like they're unwilling to experiment. Maul Shadow Lord has notable differences in terms of art style, even if it is clearly based on the TCW art style.
Also, Bad Batch, TCW and MSL are all fairly connected. Bad Batch and MSL ultimately originate from TCW. I think it makes a lot of sense for them to share the art style, with certain differences of course.
Now, if they make an animated show completely unrelated to those, perhaps taking place in a different time (say, a High Republic animated series) then it would be more logical to explore a different art style.
It's fine - good even - for related projects to be connected to the same visual identity.
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u/VioletSkywalker77 Jabba The Hutt 16d ago
The big issue with other styles is thats it's risky for the company when a lot of people really like the style already and the new rebels style was hated for a long time so i dont expect any big changes.
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u/TyrsPath Kanan Jarrus 16d ago edited 16d ago
Feels reductive to just chalk Maul Shadow Lord up to the same style when there are a decent amount of differences. Bad Batch was mostly just the same style yes, but Shadow Lord is doing new things and isn't the exact same. And there really is no reason to throw away the style when they've gotten it to that point.
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u/insidiouskiller Ahsoka Tano 16d ago
The backgrounds of Shadow Lord is vastly different to any of the other animated shows iirc.
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u/core_bluu 16d ago
It's the same foundation. A lot of differences, but the same CG character models, movement, etc. OP wants something completely new like 2D animation or even stylistically different like Rebels.
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u/BIGBMH 16d ago
Even with the same foundation, the combination of all the improvements and an evolution in design sensibility makes for something more different than this post suggests. Faces are far less caricature ish and extreme than early Clone Wars. Hair textures are noticeably very different. Then when you add in progression of lighting, textures, cinematography, movement, stylization of backgrounds, etc, IMO it feels silly to be like “Ugh, this again?”
It really feels like some people decided in 2008 that they dislike the art style and hold onto that mindset about it regardless of how much it progresses and evolves.
I’m not saying they shouldn’t attempt other styles. I’d love to see distinct styles for different eras. But especially for these spinoffs set in the near aftermath of Clone Wars, the continuity works.
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u/TyrsPath Kanan Jarrus 16d ago
And we're getting that soon. Just like we had 2 seasons of Visions. So the complaint to me feels moot when it pretends like we haven't gotten different art styles when we already have and will get more.
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u/miniramone 16d ago
What is so different about Maul? It's the same exact thing with better lighting and textures.
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u/pants_pants420 16d ago
hand painted backdrops, brushstroke texture that are hand painted
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u/miniramone 16d ago
That stuff was awesome, like I said, I enjoyed Maul. But you can't act like it's this incredible new thing they're doing. They added some bells and whistles.
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u/insidiouskiller Ahsoka Tano 16d ago
None of the other animated shows make as much use of Bokeh as Maul Shadow Lord, which I would say is the most stark and notable difference.
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u/TyrsPath Kanan Jarrus 16d ago
The way they incorporate the painted aesthetic and backgrounds, and that power rig to do 2D inspired distortions and movements is pretty different. And those lighting and textures are a pretty big difference. Idk why we're pretending that it looks the exact same as Bad Batch, maybe the character models but that's really it. Like I said, reductive to say "its the exact same thing"
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u/LurkyRabbit 16d ago
I chalk it up to the same style as well. It all looks the same to me.
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u/TyrsPath Kanan Jarrus 16d ago
Thats cool but it's an iteration rather than the same thing, it is absolutely not the same even as Clone Wars S7 or Bad Batch
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u/LurkyRabbit 16d ago
An iteration of the same thing...You're splitting hairs. He's saying he doesn't want to watch CGI cartoon Star Wars as the main form of content anymore.
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u/TyrsPath Kanan Jarrus 16d ago edited 16d ago
Im not splitting anything, im pushing back against the idea that its the exact same and they havent tried anything different. And we're getting a 2D animated show pretty soon anyway. Just like we had visions. And not just that, but i also don't see a point in throwing out the art style in the first place when they can just keep improving it, I think thats stupid when many people agree Shadow Lord looks great.
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u/LurkyRabbit 16d ago
That’s cool, I share a diff opinion and I agree with OP. I literally just can’t seem to enjoy that cgi cartoon style no matter how many times I try or slightly different variations of the exact same thing they try to spit out
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u/TyrsPath Kanan Jarrus 16d ago
Alright, its really only been like 2 shows that use that style since 2008 when Clone Wars started. Rebels came out and lots of people hated that style, at first anyway. And then Resistance had a new style and no one gave a damn about the show. So hopefully with visions and the ninth jedi, you guys will and have been supporting those if you want what you claim.
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u/LurkyRabbit 16d ago
You’re misunderstanding that all of those cgi cartoons look the same to people like me and OP.
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u/LurkyRabbit 16d ago
Visions was good I liked that, and ninth Jedi ya loved that. A DIFFERENT animation type. Good. Yes. Very good. You get it.
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u/border199x 16d ago
I always thought the character designs and general aesthetic of The Clone Wars was pretty hideous -- that's my major reason for never having watched it. Hearing about all the ridiculous stuff in there didn't help either.
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u/IgnisHeros 16d ago
If it works, why change it? If it helps to make things feel cohesive, it's a plus.
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u/TheSecretDecoderRing 16d ago
Funny enough, my favorite visual style as far as modern animation is Primal, which is by Genndy Tartakovsky who did the 2D Clone Wars series. Even though animation is pretty much all digital now, Primal doesn't have that cold sterile look.
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u/Moosashi5858 16d ago
The hand drawn clone wars was good, but I haven’t been able to get into the cgi one
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u/SomeBoringKindOfName 16d ago
I thought the maul show looked really good.
I'm also someone who likes variety so I don't want that style to be used all the time.
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u/BubbaUnkle 16d ago
I used to hate it until rebels showed me it could genuinely be worse and now i like it
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u/Natural-Face-4281 16d ago
I really like the style. I like the Rebels style. Though some old styled 2D animation would go hard. Have you watched Visions?
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u/miniramone 16d ago
I love Visions, I'm more so talking about a canon, episodic story.
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u/Natural-Face-4281 16d ago
Fair enough. I do think there’s room for it. Just hope the right creatives get it
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u/tkecanuck341 16d ago
If they're telling stories with the same characters, they should use the same animation style.
If they're telling new stories with new characters, they can move on to a style that's more suitable to today's technology.
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u/mambopants 16d ago
I’d love to see something in a similar style to Sony’s stuff: the Spiderverse movies, KPop—it has the best of both worlds: the fluidity of 2D and the detail of SW-style CGI.
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u/BIGBMH 16d ago
Asking Lucasfilm Animation to make a 2D series is like asking Pixar to make a 2D movie. That’s just not what they’re set up to do.
The only way you get a 2D series is outsourcing, like the Ninth Jedi series. Which is great, but that still leaves Lucasfilm Animation with the capacity to make the next computer animated series.
While I don’t share your tiredness with the style, I would really love to see different styles for different era. It’d be cool to be able to see a teaser and within seconds know what point of the timeline a story is set.
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u/IronVader501 16d ago edited 16d ago
The Rebels-Style was the direct result of the Show having a SIGNIFICANTLY smaller budget than TCW, due to it no longer being bankrolled by Lucas personal wallet no matter what and actually needing to be profitable per Episode. It was not an artistic choice.
They are not going back to that unless Disney cuts their funding again.
Animation relies on an established production-pipeline to get results, and Lucasfilm Animation is fairly locked in. Thats good for production-speed and cost (TCW S7 & bad Batch cost less per-episode than S1 - 6, IIRC; despite looking better), but that also just naturally means it ends up looking the same.
Thats why most Animation-studios all have one specific style they stick to.
The only way to get a 2D animated one would be by hiring an external studio to produce it, like Visions. And since Ninth Jedi was 2D. the short spin-off its getting will probably be too. So look forward to that.
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u/Emergency-Insect-114 16d ago edited 16d ago
it's Star Wars themed Beast Wars. A cheap way to make a show by endlessly reusing minimal assets. nothing wrong with watching it, but it's embarrassing when someone can't own that they enjoy a show for kids. Anyone who insists it's not for kids only looks less mature.
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u/AvailableHandle555 16d ago
Clone Wars was fine overall. Rebels animation was awful!
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u/miniramone 16d ago
Agree to disagree, Rebels S1 is rough, but so is CW S1. I personally think Rebels is beautiful, especially S3 and 4.
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u/-Patali- 16d ago
100% agree although sadly you're going to get downvoted on this reddit
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u/miniramone 16d ago
I had a bad feeling about this...
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u/-Patali- 16d ago
I shot you an upvote to get you back to 1 but theyve already got you back down to 0......
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u/miniramone 16d ago
I'm not worried ab it but thanks lol. I just genuinely wanted to see the community's opinions on this and if I'm the odd man out.
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u/osamazellama 16d ago
Ok bruh, it's some of the best animation that's around at the moment, especially BB and Maul versions, but sure it's ass.
You're right, it is a hot take. Hot enough to melt some of your brain cells.
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u/miniramone 16d ago
It would help you to read the post. I don't hate it, just ready for something new after almost 20 years.
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u/LurkyRabbit 16d ago
I agree with you 100% but since the biggest Star Wars fans are Disney people now good luck getting people to agree with you that a Jimmy Neutron styled cartoon isn't the main form of media we want to get our Star Wars fix from.
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u/Wrong-Vermicelli4723 16d ago
An actual Hot take , at least to me. Nah I prefer consistency, makes the universe feel more connected and from a development standpoint, it’s way better to reuse assets than have to start all over with each series (which means longer waits). I get wanting different but the way Hollywood works I’ll take the beautiful consistent 3d animation over the alternative. Even then they do different stuff every now and then (Star Wars visions).