Why Star Wars: The Clone Wars' Intro Was So Familiar
Star Wars: The Clone Wars stands out from the rest of the long-running franchise both for its animation and signature spoken voiceover. However, while the narration that began every episode was a marked departure for a property known for its explanatory title crawls, the technique instead evoked another iconic – though perhaps less-well-known – sci-fi series. Though the original intention may have been to reinvent Star Wars' famous opening, the reality is that The Clone Wars is actually much more reminiscent of its genre relative. But, instead of detracting from the show, the similarities actually help make The Clone Wars even more successful.
Ever since Star Wars opened in 1977, the space opera series stood out from its more understated box office rivals with its bombastic opening score and glaring yellow titles. While the script crawl certainly made Star Wars relatively unique, it also served a very specific narrative purpose – setting up the story for viewers and establishing the movie as part of a much larger epic tale. The Clone Wars continued this approach, using the vocal talents of Tom Kane to allow the story to jump seamlessly from location to location, setting the context for each individual episode.
Related: Star Wars: What If The Jedi Refused To Fight In The Clone Wars?
On one level, The Clone Warsvoiceovers serve as a simple stand-in for the much slower written versions seen in the movies. After all, in individual 20-minute episodes, wasting 90 seconds reading exposition feels needlessly indulgent. Yet the result of switching to the spoken title crawl is that The Clone Wars ends up copying the approach of Paul Verhoeven's 1997 sci-fi masterpiece Starship Troopers. Just as in The Clone Wars, Verhoeven's movie
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