I wish Genndy had cared more about the series. Lucas recruited him because he liked Samurai Jack, but Lucas wanted to go further than Genndy was interested in going, and Genndy didn’t want to stay glued to Star Wars.

Anakin was terribly cast, but the animation was beautiful.

The more I rewatch it, and the more I learn about that transition, the more I understand it. They parted ways, and Lucas sought out Filoni after his work on Avatar: The Last Airbender. This time, Lucas made clear his intentions: a long running series in 3D animation. Lucas pushed for nonlinear storytelling, and to aim it more for kids.

At the beginning, they were supposed to kinda follow continuity of the micro series, but Lucas quickly transitioned to allowing the new series to contradict it. There are still moments of continuity that were never re-adapted, such as Ventress’s introduction, Anakin becoming a Jedi Knight, or Grievous’ introduction. These impressive and minimalist stories were so well crafted that it’s difficult not to hold them dear.

I also loved Dirge and some of the other weirder elements and characters.