Clone Cadets

After seeing Domino Squad in the very first episode of the series I knew that they would be a regular appearance, and I was right.

This episode features strong themes of brotherhood and resilience that are played out perfectly through the lenses of Fives, Echo, Hevy, Cutup and Droidbait. Having a detailed backstory to Cutup, a clone who died pretty early on, is a nice touch to show that all clone troopers have seperate personalities and interactions.

The highlight of the episode to me is not only the fast paced action scenes that go from sloppy to superb (showing the progress made by the squad) but also the relationship between Hevy and 99.

It may make you think critically about the Republic's treatment of clones, but this episode will still entertain you from start to finish.

This episode is about a group of clones as they train to be approved for battle. It is quite strange watching a drama about brotherly camaraderie and personal journeys of clone troopers when you know that the clones end up serving the Emperor and wiping out the Jedi but it all makes sense when you watch the rest of Clone Wars. In fact that makes this quite sad and touching.

I find the way it is written is engaging and you feel sympathetic towards several characters. All the clone depth adds to the horror of order 66 when it comes.

It could be termed rather cliched as we have all seen this training scenario with an overly harsh commanding officer, squabbling 'recruits', self doubt and battling adversity in numerous forms before. But it is done well.

It is interesting to see how clone troops are developed for battle. The commanding officer seems overly angry and bullying but serves his purpose as the antagonist.

It is really interesting how the idea of Jango's DNA beginning to be overstretched and requiring new subjects for cloning. That is a big plus in terms of the overall story I think as is the deepening mystery of the clones destiny. It helps explain why they get decommisioned.

This is a good story.

My rating: 8/10.

This was the show that really gave the Clone troopers their time to shine, and this episode put them firmly in the spotlight with a great story about a group of soldiers who learned the values of teamwork. It is a prequel to another episode from the first season, but the fact that it comes after adds a lot of emotional weight to the episode, mostly because of things that were teased. There is something powerful and inspirational about these stories, and even though it is animation, it still brought out all the feelings that I had inside. Giving the troopers life was the best thing they could have done with this show, and this episode stands out as a great example of what can be done if you have the right idea and the passion behind you.

You have a emotional story that bring charachters to life, you get inloved with all the Domino Squad and this chapter teaches you the true meaning of brothers

Sorry, but the more I watch the Clone Wars, the less I can accept the fact that the deeply, profoundly unethical practices of the Republic are blatantly ignored.

Here, you have a group of people bred to be what is in every conceivable way slave labour, and the lesson seems to be 'we can't fail, because if we do not become slave soldiers we will have to be slave janitors, like Quasimodo here, and that is worse'.

This is a rather appalling moral for a story, isn't it? And the fact that they age faster makes it so much worse - it's not like they get to retire once the war is over; honestly, acknowledging any of this would make the series so much deeper, but at best you get a clone being slightly less supportive for the entire idea.