Have I said this before? I forget. Sometimes I plan to say things and then I don’t know if I have or not.

Anyway I’ve been watching The Clone Wars. It’s animated which isn’t usually my thing but it’s really really good. The characterisation is spot-on, the voice acting is amazing – I had to look it up to see whether the movie actors had reprised their roles as it sounded so good. Would thoroughly recommend.

BUT it humanises the clone troopers. This I think is wonderful as surprisingly (especially because this was apparently made for kids) it adds a lot of nuance and shades of grey. However it does make me wonder why the clone troopers accepted Order 66. They are superior to droids because they have the capacity for independent thought – that is why in one episode a clone trooper had turned traitor and become a separatist spy! So why would they just turn on the Jedi like that? The Jedi who had led them through years of war? The Jedi who had stood between them and danger countless times?

Watching the show the Jedi don’t treat the clone troopers as expendable. They could use them as meat shields (they are clones, we are not, so we are more important and should be protected kind of mentality) but they don’t. They protect the troopers at great risk to themselves. I watched Mace Windu Force-push two clones to safety off a falling bridge before he saved himself and he nearly didn’t make it. The Jedi openly mourn the clone losses. In the very first episode of this show Yoda had them take off their helmets, one clone said “what’s the point we look the same?” And Yoda said in the force they looked different.

I know the clone troopers were trained to follow orders but I don’t know, I’m finding it hard to reconcile the loyalty and respect in the show, to just blindly following Order 66.

It’s about the only seeming ‘inconsistency’ in the show. Otherwise it’s incredible. They have the seeds of the empire with the Admiral and his uniform and the walkers – all recognisable stuff! And it makes so much sense that it began under the republic because the empire evolved from the republic and it took a long time. I think it was around the Death Star time that the last vestiges of illusions of democracy were eradicated. The immense machine of the empire didn’t just appear overnight.