Star Wars: The Clone Wars

What’s it about?

Tales of the Jedi Knights leading the Grand Army of the Republic against the droid army of the Separatists.

The facts

• Created by George Lucas
• Starring Matt Lanter (Anakin Skywalker), Ashley Eckstein (Ahsoka), James Arnold Taylor (Obi-Wan), Dee Bradley Baker (Clone Troopers), Tom Kane (Yoda), and Catherine Taber (Padmé)
• English language
• 7 seasons, 26 minutes per episode (on average)

Why did it get this rating?

This series was self-rated by Disney+. You can find out more about self-rating by streaming providers here.

This show becomes progressively more violent with every season. The earlier seasons start out light-hearted, for younger audiences, and it gets more violent and dark as it goes on.

Violence and cruelty

This series contains animated fantasy violence where characters shoot and stab each other with futuristic laser weapons. Many characters are killed onscreen in mostly non-bloody ways, and many more are implied to be killed offscreen. There are depictions of dismemberment, suicide, torture, and executions.

Some of the strongest moments of violence include:

• A main female character is suspended in the air and force-choked by a villain for an extended time. This is done to taunt her love interest as he watches. The villain then suddenly stabs her through the stomach with his lightsabre. We see her shocked face as she dies in her lover’s arms in what is a very intense, emotional scene (Season 5, episode “The Lawless”).
• A group of slavers kidnap multiple innocent people, then let them loose in a jungle to hunt and kill them for sport.
• In one scene, it’s heavily implied that many children are killed right after the scene cuts.
• A clone trooper’s arm is cut off by a closing blast door. This scene has graphic sounds, and the arm is shown for a few seconds, but there is no blood (Season 7, episode “Shattered”).
• In season 4 episode “Water War”, there is an underwater war where bombs are stabbed into people’s chests, exploding them into ashes. These scenes show blood mixed with water, pieces of body parts, and one decapitated head. This is one of the most disturbing scenes in the show.
• Electrocution is a very frequent form of torture in this series. A Jedi is tortured and electrocuted to death slowly and painfully (Season 2)

Suicide

A slave attempts to assassinate her master with a knife but fails and decides to leap off a balcony to her death. We see her dead body lying on the ground from a distance, but there is no blood (Season 4, episode “Slavers of the Republic”).

Content that may disturb

A man undergoes a brief brain surgery to have a chip removed from his head. We see the chip as it is sucked out from his head and into a small canister, with some blood shown.

One Jedi master turns evil, tricking his clone soldiers into killing their friends from another battalion. They discover this and turn on him.

Some women are implied to be sex slaves.

Drug use

There is a drug in the show called “spice” which is referenced frequently, and people are seen smoking it, as well as drinking beverages that are implied to be alcoholic.

Some members of a crime syndicate are depicted as drug lords, transporting spice and using it frequently.

When content stays with you:

We all have our boundaries, and it’s completely okay if something you’ve watched is weighing on your mind. If certain content lingers with you, consider having a chat with friends or whānau to debrief about what you’ve just seen. But if you’re still feeling affected, please reach out to any of the following helplines for support.

• 1737
• Safe to talk
• Lifeline
• Youthline

Further information

• Why are ratings and content warnings important for me and my whānau?
• Brain development – how it works, why it matters

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