2003 ‘Clone Wars’ Clip Goes Viral, Dave Filoni Discusses Show

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filoni 2003 clone wars

Credit: Cartoon Network/Lucasfilm

Today, when most people think about Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Dave Filoni’s animated series that began airing in 2008 and ultimately ran for seven seasons across Cartoon Network, Netflix, and, ultimately, Disney+. The show introduced fans to Anakin Skywalker’s Padawan, the now-beloved character Ahsoka Tano (voiced by Ashley Eckstein/portrayed in live-action by Rosario Dawson in The Mandalorian).

ahsoka
Credit: Lucasfilm/Disney

Related: There’s a New ‘Star Wars’ Trilogy (and It’s Better Than Ever)

In 2003, however, Star Wars: The Clone Wars — the version developed by Genndy Tartakovsky — began airing on Cartoon Network. This laid the groundwork for Filoni’s series — and, in some ways, the foundation for Jon Favreau and Filoni’s streaming hit, The Mandalorian — and, now, fans on social media are remembering ARC-77, or Fordo, and one of the most iconic moments from the original Clone Wars animated show, which was removed from Star Wars canon when Disney purchased Lucasfilm in 2012.

It all started when Twitter user Grant shared the viral Clone Wars clip and wrote:

I will never get over this as long as live 

The Tweet now has over 55,000 likes and upwards of 12,000 reTweets!

**The language in the following post may not be suitable for all readers**

Keyhole number 3 wrote:

I loved this also specifically because of how the droids were portrayed, just an insane, overwhelming amount of them that were hyper specialized for specific situations. WAY better than the usual comic relief they were in the 3D series [referring to the Filoni/George Lucas series]

Related: Ahsoka Tano & Boba Fett Share a Wild ‘Star Wars’ Record

Aver the Dorbley wrote:

Still remember my brother saying, so matter-of-factly, “He’s nuts because he’s different.” Like, because his armor had some red on it, it magically made him 10x better at fighting.

Related: ‘Star Wars’ Unveils a New and Deadly Power

German Shepherd Pog noted:

Kinda crazy that Jedi are hyped to be these insanely powerful godlike warriors who can solo entire armies but this series is probably the only Star Wars media where you get to actually see it happen.

**The language in the following post may not be suitable for all readers**

Hu Tao’s Partner in Crime shared these thoughts about Fordo’s relegation to Star Wars Legends material:

…love Fordo. It’s criminal how he never got brought back for anything. Just stuck in Legends Limbo. Justice for Captain Fordo

Taco the Warlord made a point that, really, is the crux of the entire 2003 Clone Wars show:

They were so bad*** for NO REASON

Related: Will Dave Filoni Make More ‘Clone Wars’ Episodes?

Now, the viral clip has sparked other posts about the nearly two-decade-old Star Wars series.

Daily 2003 clonewars shared this image of popular clone character Commander Cody — reported to be played in live-action by Temuera Morrison in the upcoming OBI-WAN KENOBI: An Original Series — if he had appeared in the earliest incarnation of Clone Wars:

Awesome art of Commander Cody if he was in the 2003 clone wars show (original art by Pearl Marley)

Related: Dave Filoni Might Be Gearing Up For a Live-Action ‘Clone Wars’ Event

Star Wars creative mind Dave Filoni has previously weighed in on the original Clone Wars. In a 2017 interview, Filoni shared some thoughts about the Star Wars Expanded Universe with ComicBook.com:

“I think what you see in a lot of the work that I get to be involved with is that I have a tremendous respect for all the people that worked through that era. I felt like those storytellers were really able to keep Star Wars alive and very vivid for a bunch of people, myself included. I don’t think you can ever take anything away from that effort. I would never frankly, personally, try to marginalize it.”

Filoni also shared:

“A lot of it is very good. I didn’t read everything. I don’t know it in detail as some of the fans do, and so that’s why I would hesitate to say that I’m this mega EU fan. I just have a tremendous respect for it all, and I have a tremendous respect for the fact that people love it. I knew, many of us did inside Lucasfilm, how difficult it would be when we’re saying, ‘Okay, these are now Legends regardless of how much that makes sense.”

dave filoni
Credit: Twitter – Star Wars Holocron

Related: ‘The Mandalorian’ Fans Thank Favreau, Filoni as Season 2 Ends

Next up for Dave Filoni? The continuation of The Mandalorian saga. The final episode of The Mandalorian Season 2 (“Chapter 16: The Rescue”) featuring the culmination of Din Djarin’s (Pedro Pascal) quest to deliver Grogu (AKA The Child AKA Baby Yoda) to the Jedi Order — in this case, Luke Skywalker (CGI Mark Hamill) — aired on Disney+ on December 18, 2020.

Now, Favreau, Filoni, and their crew are gearing-up for The Mandalorian Season 3 and a trio of spinoffs — Ahsoka, Rangers of the New Republic, and The Book of Boba Fett.

Showrunner Favreau has confirmed that The Book of Boba Fett will arrive on the Disney streaming platform in December 2021 alongside the new animated Star Wars: The Bad Batch show, but the third season of The Mandalorian and its two interconnected shows do not have official release dates at this time.

In addition to The Mandalorian becoming the epicenter of the Star Wars galaxy, Lucasfilm’s 2020 Walt Disney Company Investor Day segment included news about additional upcoming series — 11 Star Wars shows in total are heading to Disney+ — and upcoming Star Wars feature length films, including Patty Jenkins’s Star Wars: Rogue Squadron (2023).

What do you think? Is the 2003 Star Wars: The Clone Wars series under-appreciated? Check out more about what Dave Filoni has been up to in the special edition of Disney Gallery: The Mandalorian, now available on Disney+.

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