Spoilers ahead, so if you haven’t seen the episode, turn back.
Back during Season 3 there was a bit of a row over a shot that was cut by censors at Cartoon Network. You can read the full story about that here, but the long and short of it is this: Asajj Ventress killed a clone on her lightsaber and didn’t drop him until giving him a sensual kiss. It was an incredible, revealing moment in the character of Ventress, but it was cut at the last minute by Cartoon Network.
I just finished watching the season five premiere of The Clone Wars and am wondering if Cartoon Network censors have struck again.
I was at the premiere at Celebration VI and feel like there was another odd omission from the version shown there and the version that aired.
When Savage Opress sustains his major wound at the hands of Obi-wan, there were close up glimpses of the stump of the Zabrak’s arm. Shorn bone and meat were visible. It was a bold move, but not gratuitous in any way. After the show, Dave Filoni and Joel Aron spoke to the crowd about how what we saw was already a severely toned down version of what they’d originally wanted to do.
On the episode I saw this morning, that detail was completely absent. The camera cut anytime we’d get a good look at the stump and the wound was pitch black.
I’m not saying with certainty any censoring occurred. Perhaps I mis-remembered the shots I thought I saw. Perhaps Filoni and crew decided to tone it down preemptively, knowing Cartoon Network wouldn’t like it. Perhaps my TV’s brightness wasn’t up enough.
But I don’t think so.
Between instance like this, the change in time to Saturday morning (which really doesn’t feel right), and the obnoxious lower thirds and commercials, it makes me wonder if Cartoon Network is a good home for The Clone Wars.
Perhaps issues like this wouldn’t bother me so much if there were a pay alternative I could utilize simultaneously. I already don’t get to see the show until 10:30am MST, and as I write this an hour later, the episode still isn’t available for purchase on iTunes. Why can’t we get a premium, pay option, that eliminates the need for censoring, commercials, lower thirds, and terrible SD resolution?
I’d even prefer to see this as a Saturday matinee in a movie theatre. I’d pay for that every week.