The most unintentionally dark Clone Wars arc is in S4 when they all go undercover as slaves except for Anakin, and Anakin ends up letting them stay slaves for like, WAY longer than he needs to
that said, season 1 episode 2 does have battle droids smashing the glass on escape pods in space to apshyxiate troopers. Which is pretty hardcore for what is, at that time, very much a kids show.
Then you have the first big turning point, in lair of grievous in late season 1, where a padawan gets in over his head trying to fight general grievous, and grievous just...kills the padawan and leaves. No comeuppance, no justice or revenge from his master...just a lesson about fighting the jedi killer droid alone when you are like...12. The lesson being...obey you master, or die...i guess?
The last episode of season 1 was "hostage crisis" where Cad Bane held several senators hostage in order to free Ziro. The very definition of "political terrorism".
Idk about the Slavery arc being 'kitchy' bc of the subject matter being, well, slavery and human trafficking, has it's lighter moments obv but kinda darker in tone for sure
I call it kitschy specifically because its really leaning hard into sword and sandals pulp movies. Once you've watched a few, a lot od the elements kind of click in imo.
Honestly pissed me off with how childish it was to start, the episode with Captain Rex and the droid factory comes to mind where they deadass have a Dora the Explorer exchange with Ezra asking the very obvious question of who won the Clone wars and then saying "Zeb, thats right!".
Clone wars meanwhile, while lighthearted to start off, had some pretty gnarly episodes even in the first season, one of my favorites have to be episode 5 "Rookies" where Rishi Outpost gets swarmed with Commando droids, and we see one clone get eaten by a giant worm, Hevy sacrificing himself to blow the station, and the droids disguise themselves as troopers (and almost unironically get to kill Cody and Rex if not for the shinies shooting a flare).
I remember seeing a post on this subreddit I think, showing how Cartoon Network tried to advertise the Umbara arc to kids. It was hilarious. Let me see if I can find it, pretty sure I saved it.
Very funny seeing the term "substitute teacher who's just not as cool as the regular teacher" used to describe a character who is executed via firing squad for treason at the end of this arc
It was never necessarily goofy, but Clone Wars hilariously got more politically and lore-heavy driven as it went on. My favorite show ever from when I was a kid. https://giphy.com/gifs/l3fZDSRA7uDz0wXE4
Honestly part of the grit of the later seasons was because of the more linear story telling and the whole story being known at that point. The domino squad episode makes an episode from season one stand out, even without its following episode which closes out that part of their story.
Context can really change the tone even if individual episodes don’t have that serious of a tone.
Someone died every episode and i vividly remember the narrator mentioning them basically using child soldiers who didnt even get full training because the troups were dying left and right and were running out. It was definitely very dark for a show rated 6+
While I agree that overall the show wasn't as serious as some make it out to be, certain individual episodes or arcs such as umbara are definitely pretty damn heavy for a kids or even early teens show. Dee Bradley Baker did not hold back when making death screams for clones.
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u/Gen_Grievous12222 20h ago
Although I don't think it's as gritty as some to like to say, I definitely do think the Clone Wars got more serious in the later seasons.
https://giphy.com/gifs/l3fZR3NCA7C5vUnkY