Have you been putting off buying The Clone Wars on DVD or Blu-Ray? If so, and if you have some cash, Amazon has the seasons on DVD starting at $18.49 and on Blu-Ray for $24.49. You might have heard that the show is the best thing ever. You might have heard it's an unwatchable mess. The truth lay somewhere in the middle. Read on for more!  UPDATE: It would seem prices are now back up to normal.

First up: the DVDs.


Season 1 is pretty good - there are a few multi-parters and guest stars like Michael York (Basil Exposition, Logan of Logan's Run), Ron Perlman, and George Takei (Sulu). Most of the major characters get decent spotlight time, with a few slower-paced episodes and the perpetual downers that are the Lurmen. Watch it. You'll understand.  The episodes where Anakin, Dooku, and Obi-Wan Kenobi had to work together to escape from a common enemy are oddly delightful, and may remind you of He-Man and Skeletor during their rare team-ups.  There's more going on in Season 1 than any of the subsequent seasons, you'll get the most story for your money here.

Season 2 is largely entertaining, thanks to a very good, varied, and bizarre arc on Geonosis. We also get more of Cad Bane, some decent Clone Trooper episodes, and a multi-part murder arc in the Senate which, well, you can skip those. There's a two-part homage to Godzilla movies, and the end of the season brings on Boba Fett in a 3-parter which, honestly, was quite fun.  The Mandalorians of Death Watch were introduced here, and they got a little more play in seasons 4 and 5.  5, in particular, was awesome.

Season 3 has amazing episodes. Season 3 has terrible episodes. "Clone Cadets," "ARC Troopers," "Hunt for Ziro," and "Evil Plans" expand the lore nicely, while "Nightsisters" and "Monster" provide the origins for Savage Opress. Meanwhile, "Heroes on Both Sides," "Corruption," and "The Academy" are excellent substitutes for sleeping pills. Seeing Sith and witches and more Hutts than you can shake a stick at makes it arguably worthwhile.  I couldn't have been more delighted watching Ziro try to con his way back into the good graces of the Hutts, plus Quinlan Vos running around made for some fantastic television.  But oh, those Mandalore episodes are a total drag without Death Watch to kick around.

Season 4 is the year that pretty much every episode is part of a larger arc, meaning stories start to drag a bit. Highlights include the bizarrely entertaining "Mercy Mission" following R2-D2 and C-3PO on Aleen, "The Box" and an entire arc following around Bounty Hunters after Obi-Wan fakes his death, and the intense, zombie-filled "Massacre" which, honestly you just need to see.   The final arc for Asajj Ventress was really fantastic, and the character was given a surprising amount of screen time in which to grow.  The Pong Krell arc is also awesome, where you get to see a Jedi Master be a total jerk to the Clones and then you get to find out why.  Of course, you had to wade through four episodes for them to get to the increasingly obvious point, but it was fun to spend time with Rex and his troops for a little while.

Oh, and also check out the Blu-Rays. (This is what I went with.)