So STAR WARS sucked

You went and saw the movie and it wasn't what you expected.

If you're like me, you don't care-- another movie, another dark night in the theater half-snoozing, but this time sober as all daylight.

If you're a diehard, it must truly feel like the Empire has won.

But fear not-- there is a New Hope.

The Clone Wars animated series...

My buddy Bro Man turned me onto it sometime last year. In fact, the first season/volume that I saw is now on DVD, so if you haven't seen this brilliant cartoon companion to the Star Wars prequels, rush out and rent it. Or better yet, watch it on the Cartoon Network.

It delivers where the prequels have not. There is more action, more visual imagery, better drama-- the ridiculous dialogue sounds better coming from two-dimensional versions of the cast and puppets from the movies.

Like The Animatrix did with The Matrix, these cartoons (all very short episodes, maybe three minutes long on the average) function to supplement the main plot of the movies. A lot of missing action is realized, such as General Grievous kidnapping Senator Palpatine prior to the beginning of Revenge Of The Sith. In that movie, the whole kidnapping is referred to in the famous opening scroll, but in the Clone Wars series it gets its full due. It also paints Grievous as more of a bad-ass: in the movie, he has this whooping cough that makes him seem like an inefficient wheezebag.

The animation is first-rate, and it is far more entertaining than the movies have been lately. If you currently have the "Star Wars Blues", I highly recommend this as a potent remedy.

Now, back to my hermitage. I just had to geek out there for a short second.