Clone Wars [ Micro-Series ] - Original Broadcast Restoration / Chapter Format (RELEASED)

ABOUT:

I was recently brought back to those times between 2003-2005 when - as a kid - I was always glued to the TV so I can catch and enjoy three or twelve action-packed minutes of animated Star Wars content on Cartoon Network. This was “Star Wars: Clone Wars”, the Micro-Series which were the best short-lived moments of my childhood.

With all 25 episodes ending their run, the series was eventually released to home media so enthusiasts can enjoy them in the form of multiple episodes edited together as two full-length films, each on its own DVD Disc.

Even though those are still some of my most prized pieces of media from my shelf, I could never again relive the nostalgia of re-experiencing each episode individually as they were aired on CN and streamed on good old Hyperspace.com.

Thus, I decided to take matters into the my own hands and worked my way through restoring the broadcast’s chapter format “almost” to the dot while retaining the integrity of the official DVD disc picture for all 25 episodes.

EDIT LOG:

[ Hasbro Bonus DVD and TVREC footage was used as reference. ]

• The video and audio sources used for the edit are the PAL-DVD discs of Volume I and Volume II.

• Recreated the title cards for each chapter while matching the font style, spacing and even the fade effect length / duration during the intro of each episode.

• Reconstructed animation (frame-by-frame repurposing) which was rendered obsolete by the transition effects in-between scenes / chapters - this is done at the start or ending of episodes.

• Certain shots / scenes playout differently or in reversed order when it comes to the broadcast version, so all of these were edited to properly match.

• Remixed audio with reverb or reconstructed audio cues at the start and ending of episodes.

• The edit retains the DVD picture quality and format.

*NOTE: The broadcast version contained footage which was exclusive to it and it’s not present on the home release, thus I used what is present on the DVD to bring everything as close as possible.

TOOLS USED FOR THIS EDIT:

• MakeMKV
• FRE:AC
• AVIDEMUX
• CyberLink PowerDirector
• Adobe Premiere Pro
• MKVToolNix

If you own “Star Wars: Clone Wars” Volume I and Volume II, do not hesitate to PM me in order to get these.

The pack contains all 25 restored episodes, plus 3 featurettes at the end of each season. All videos are .mkv format.

I was unaware that the broadcast version had some different footage to the DVD releases. Is there a list of what the different scenes were?

Unfortunately there isn’t a documented list so far, but I can point out the most notable:

• Chapter 2: The ending of this episode uses an alternative footage when the droid sniper focuses his target on the ARC troopers getting out from the LA-AT wreckage.

• Chapter 9: The episode begins with a high vantage view of the Muunilinst sky and buildings and then the camera pans down to the street level where Obi-Wan passes through on his speeder.

• Chapter 18: Starts with a shot of Anakin dueling Ventress which did not make it into the Volume I edit, but a glimpse of it can be seen during the DVD Menu if I remember correctly.

Other than these, there are some other shots which were cut shorter so the transition effects can be more on point when it comes to the home release edit’s progression.

Nice! I share your fond memories for this series.

UPDATED / IMPROVED NEW RELEASE:

I was unhappy with some aspects of the edit, so I released an updated version of the restored “Clone Wars: Micro-Series” chapters.

With this latest release I perfected the quality of the sound and added more audio cues so that we can get closer to the original broadcast format.

“RESTORED THE MICRO-SERIES HAS BEEN.”

If you own “Star Wars: Clone Wars” Volume I and Volume II, do not hesitate to PM me in order to get all 25 restored episodes.

Twenty years ago, right at this hour, the Emmy-Awarded TV Series, “Star Wars: Clone Wars” was being broadcasted - for the very first time - on “Cartoon Network”. In order to celebrate, I created a digital cover for my fan edit:

The other variation was placed at the beginning of the thread.

cool project ! I like the colors on the first cover you posted more ,but I can appreciate the nostalgic vibe you were probably going for with the second iteration . I loved this series when it first came out . I have fond memories of watching it on the official Star Wars website , on a Windows desktop with a CRT monitor . When the series was finished,and both DVDs were released , I enjoyed watching it as a complete movie . This felt more like it captured the feel of Star Wars than any of the live action prequel movies did to me .

Cool project. Question: why didn’t you use the D+ versions? They are in higher quality and I believe in correct aspect ratio.

Indeed, the D+ versions are superior in quality, but in order for this project to meet all the necessary / required criterias of a fanedit, I used the best official source released to home media.

I own both PAL and NTSC versions of these DVD-Video disc releases.

When it comes to the superior release, PAL is the winner.

The D+ is not actually upscaled. It uses the original unaltered source without the small losses in quality which always come along through the DVD encoding process.

As for upscaled versions, animation upscale is something that only destroys the original picture / detail if not performed manually on the source material. This kinda’ sums up my opinion when it comes to upscaling in general.

So yeah, I will always go for Standard Definition instead of HD if there is no actual work done to the film masters / source.