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The heart of Star Wars is still beating... ...even if some among us feel it may not be at Lucasfilm anymore. The Clone Wars cartoons were 19 3-minute shorts plus 1 10-minute finale that aired between fall 2003 and spring 2004 on Cartoon Network. But plenty of others have already praised the series, and I see no reason to disagree so I'll let their comments stand. This is a review of the DVD itself. (NTSC Region 1 release) If you're reading this, I will assume you can readily see the cover artwork for the DVD. All the artwork, inside and out, is done just as well, all in the same style as the cartoon itself. The DVD contains a single-page insert with an image of Anakin on one side and a list of chapters on the other. A+ for the artwork. There are a few extras on the disc, nearly half of which are aimed at the game-playing public, and one which can only be accessed using an Xbox. Points off for that one. Why not a PC-playable demo version as well? Had they included that, they might have actually sold me an Xbox too. A preview of Episode 3 has been included, but it's the original teaser trailer, so it's hardly a coup; any hardcore fan would have seen it many times by now. An exclusive trailer or brief sneak peak BTS would have been better. A few interesting commentaries and featurettes are also present, which does give the Extras Watcher something to do, if not much. Watch closely in the Extras material for brief glimpses of new Episode 3 footage. C+ on the Extras. The main program is presented in a way that I expect will confuse a few people: It's been cut into a single 1 hour, 9 minute cartoon. This was done at the expense of a bit of audio here and a bit of animation there. In addition, there is no option to view the chapters individually as they were originally broadcast. The move will aggravate many purists, I suspect, but for me it is a welcome change. Or rather, a step in the right direction. I say "step in the right direction" because the edit is not perfect. In cutting the shorts together, apparently little concern was shown to pacing changes and transitions between some of the chapters. Some wipes and cuts were abrupt and intrusive, and a few important music cues were cut short as though taken off by a Civil War surgeon (with a rusty hacksaw and no anesthesia). On top of that, in at least one spot chapters were reordered entirely, although I've yet to figure out exactly what is gained in this change. (For those who are interested: The underwater battle was originally after Durge's charge and before Ventress's arena fight. It is now _before_ Durge's charge, moved from spot #5 to #4.) A minor irritation to me, but an irritation nonetheless. And I'm sure it will be yet another thorn in the side of many purists. I will confess that- after the cartoons originally aired- I had cut together my own long-form version for easy viewing (As, I would suspect, have others) and can honestly say that the official edit could very easily have been done better. On a number of the transitions, they did exactly the same as I'd chosen to do. I'll even concede that one or two of theirs were better executed. But the rest seemed too choppy, and even disrupted the flow from one chapter to the next that should have come very easily. As for the technical quality: With Lucasfilm at the helm, one can expect nothing less than top notch video and audio. On this DVD, that is exactly what you get. The sound and video are pristine. Overall: Program (not counting the edit): A+ Packaging (including the edit): C (A+ for the box, C- for the full-length edit) My only real complaint is with the sloppy editting on the full length cartoon. Even with that flaw, though, I would consider this DVD a must-own for even the casual Star Wars fan.