‘Star Wars: Clone Wars’ (2003)
For over a decade, Star Wars fans have accepted Dave Filoni’s Star Wars: The Clone Wars as the one canonical telling of the legendary Clone Wars. The CGI-animated series makes for a sweeping epic, introducing Ahsoka Tano, Captain Rex, and the seeds of Anakin Skywalker’s downfall. But it’s not the franchise’s first take at a Clone Wars cartoon. From 2003-2005, animation mastermind Genndy Tartakovsky oversaw Cartoon Network’s Star Wars: Clone Wars. High on action and cut off from canon, the series has been largely overlooked by contemporary fans…until now. Star Wars: Clone Wars is now streaming on Disney+. That means you not only get to revel in Tartakovsky’s evocative artistic style, but you also get to try to figure out how to shoehorn this delightful show into the existing canon.