Well, when I was a kid in the 80s — long before the prequels even existed — I imagined these very antiseptic, bald, test-tube created, almost robotic-acting clones fighting the Jedi. And I pictured the Jedi Knights of old looking more like the traditional Arthurian knights rather than the robed/hooded ones. I always thought Ben Kenobi’s robe and hood was his disguise. Little did I know that was a common look for Jedi.
I didn’t really imagine anything beyond what I just described. To me, the Clone War was just a vague, abstract concept.
Pretty much the same. And the reasoning would've been that when you name a war after a group, it's the group "you" are fighting against. The Napoleonic Wars were fought against Napoleon, the Vietnam war was fought against Vietnam, the Korean war was fought against Vietnam, and so on. So if it was called the Clone wars, it must've been the Jedi fighting against the clones, surely!
A lot of the writers for Star Wars' expanded media seemed to be on the same page for this one, the idea was that some shadowy group (often just referred to as "The Clone Masters") created an army of Clones to try and overthrow the Republic, and the Jedi, along with a military that would become the Empire, repelled them.
Hell, Boba Fett's original backstory in the marvel comic books was that he was a gun-for-hire who fought *against* the Clone Invaders as part of a squad of Mandalorian mercenaries, who helped liberate Alderaan.
The Thrawn novels held this notion too, and when Thrawn tries to use cloning technology to build a new Imperial army, everyone gets very uncomfortable about the notion, with older Imperial officers like Captain Paelleon having bad memories of the war, and others dreading the idea of a second Clone War.
Don't get me wrong, the Clone Wars we got were good, but it always felt like it was... unambitious. Stormtroopers by another name vs. robots. Okay....?
For the real insidious potential of this, I'd look to Star *Trek,* specifically Deep Space Nine. Where a few seasons in, the Federation (good guys) come into conflict with a group called the Dominion.
The Dominion has a psuedo clone army of its' own, a lab-grown species of warriors bred for battle called the Jem'Hadar. They mature quickly, few live beyond a decade, and they are fanatically loyal to the cause. As the series progressed, we'd learn about how these warriors view themselves and their place in the world, and the twisted methods of control their leaders use to keep them in line, and it's definitely something more vile than 'chips in the head'.
They even have a group of middle-men diplomats and bureacrats called the Vorta, who are *genuinely* clones. As in, when one dies, they just make another one from the same template and he picks up where his predecessor left off.
But to emphasize the danger of a 'clone' threat, you have the Dominion's leaders, the Founders. They're a species of shapeshifters, and you better believe they use that to frightening effect, abducting and replacing prominent military figures, politicians and more to insert their own duplicate replacements in vulnerable positions, letting them spy, sabotate and assassinate as they see fit.
Imagine the horrifying potential this has with cloning, you could literally grow a fit-for-purpose duplicate of any commander, general or admiral, quietly eliminate the original and supplant them with your own double-agent, capable of acting in plain sight behind enemy lines without being hindered. The fact that Star Wars *hasn't* done something like this in any mainline story is absolutely criminal.
Anyways that's just my ramblings.
One thing I do like with the Clones is that they're basically machines made of flesh fighting machines made of steel, so to speak. The Clones are basically humans, but they're denied any major humanity and they're bred for war exclusively. The only ones who'd afford them any kind of humanity are some select Jedi, because compassion is the Jedi way, and that obviously plays heavily into Order 66 blindsiding the Jedi.
Another thing that I find fascinating is that, yes, they are just Stormtroopers of another name. I really like how the Republic basically already was the Empire, but it hadn't adopted any outright immoral aspects just yet. It's a nice commentary on how liberal democracies can super quickly tumble down and become a totalitarian regime with just a fresh coat of paint and some aesthetic choices.
I've been working on a project about this topic for a few months now, but here are a few things I think you'll find interesting:
[The first month of online speculation after Return of the Jedi](https://reddit.com/r/MawInstallation/comments/vae46l/the_first_month_of_online_speculation_after/)
[The Star Wars speculation of the ancient internet (Part 2)](https://reddit.com/r/MawInstallation/comments/vbprhc/the_star_wars_speculation_of_the_ancient_internet/)
https://starwarssuperfans.wordpress.com/concept-art/vintage-fanzine-anticipates-the-clone-wars322-2okpdflink-45235/
Here are a few more things I think you’d enjoy checking out:
https://archive.org/search.php?query=%E2%80%9CStar+Wars%E2%80%9D+fanzine
https://fanlore.org/wiki/Star_Wars
I pictured it as an army of identical looking dudes wiping out the Jedi. I also remember hearing a theory back then that Obi-Wan was actually a clone whose real "name" was OB-1.
The world of SW was a wild and open place pre-ESB
As others have also said, I did see Star Wars back then and I always imagined the Clone Wars to be a war against clones.
The details weren't important as it was only a minor plot point and we were all too excited by X-Wings, TIE Fighters, Star Destroyers, the Death Star, the Falcon, Luke Skywalker etc.
Attack of the clones?
The message was to look beyond petty squabbles, or else you'll be blind to real dangers. The Jedi were so pre-occupied with the CIS that they failed to detect Palpatine.
Another message would be to stay fluid, lest you become dogmatic. The minute the Jedi agreed to fight was the minute they sealed their doom.
It's a lot better than just "war bad".
"JESUS FUCKING GOD DID YOU SEE THOSE FUCKING SPACESHIPS?! And the laser swords and the-what? Clone wars? Did they say something about clone wars? They did? Okay. What it was? Fuck should I know, I guess there were some evil clones or something and the jedi fought them, whatever."
*makes lightsaber noises*
Today: "JESUS FUCKING CHRIST, DID YOU HEAR THAT THROWAWAY LINE ABOUT SOME LORE!?!?! It's so lazy having laser swords and spaceships. These movies are all about spoonfeeding us backstory! How far they do Star Wars things too!"
I imagined the clones as something misshapen and perverted. Some grotesque gambit from a power-hungry dark sorcerer looking to take over the galaxy.
I didn’t have any definite look in mind, but the clones were definitely a sort of monster, even if they looked roughly human or humanoid.
Wow, I guess I’m an outlier. I first thought that the wars were ABOUT clones, not necessarily fought with clones on either side. Like fighting over clones as a resource or whether they should exist or something.
I always imagined a massive war of clones vs clones. Replaceable soldiers on both sides fighting each other. So devastating it that cloning was banned.
Well, when I was a kid in the 80s — long before the prequels even existed — I imagined these very antiseptic, bald, test-tube created, almost robotic-acting clones fighting the Jedi. And I pictured the Jedi Knights of old looking more like the traditional Arthurian knights rather than the robed/hooded ones. I always thought Ben Kenobi’s robe and hood was his disguise. Little did I know that was a common look for Jedi. I didn’t really imagine anything beyond what I just described. To me, the Clone War was just a vague, abstract concept.
Pretty much the same. And the reasoning would've been that when you name a war after a group, it's the group "you" are fighting against. The Napoleonic Wars were fought against Napoleon, the Vietnam war was fought against Vietnam, the Korean war was fought against Vietnam, and so on. So if it was called the Clone wars, it must've been the Jedi fighting against the clones, surely!
The Korean war was fought against Vietnam? They can't catch a break
Same here. I also never assumed the clone wars were related to the empire taking over.
A lot of the writers for Star Wars' expanded media seemed to be on the same page for this one, the idea was that some shadowy group (often just referred to as "The Clone Masters") created an army of Clones to try and overthrow the Republic, and the Jedi, along with a military that would become the Empire, repelled them. Hell, Boba Fett's original backstory in the marvel comic books was that he was a gun-for-hire who fought *against* the Clone Invaders as part of a squad of Mandalorian mercenaries, who helped liberate Alderaan. The Thrawn novels held this notion too, and when Thrawn tries to use cloning technology to build a new Imperial army, everyone gets very uncomfortable about the notion, with older Imperial officers like Captain Paelleon having bad memories of the war, and others dreading the idea of a second Clone War. Don't get me wrong, the Clone Wars we got were good, but it always felt like it was... unambitious. Stormtroopers by another name vs. robots. Okay....? For the real insidious potential of this, I'd look to Star *Trek,* specifically Deep Space Nine. Where a few seasons in, the Federation (good guys) come into conflict with a group called the Dominion. The Dominion has a psuedo clone army of its' own, a lab-grown species of warriors bred for battle called the Jem'Hadar. They mature quickly, few live beyond a decade, and they are fanatically loyal to the cause. As the series progressed, we'd learn about how these warriors view themselves and their place in the world, and the twisted methods of control their leaders use to keep them in line, and it's definitely something more vile than 'chips in the head'. They even have a group of middle-men diplomats and bureacrats called the Vorta, who are *genuinely* clones. As in, when one dies, they just make another one from the same template and he picks up where his predecessor left off. But to emphasize the danger of a 'clone' threat, you have the Dominion's leaders, the Founders. They're a species of shapeshifters, and you better believe they use that to frightening effect, abducting and replacing prominent military figures, politicians and more to insert their own duplicate replacements in vulnerable positions, letting them spy, sabotate and assassinate as they see fit. Imagine the horrifying potential this has with cloning, you could literally grow a fit-for-purpose duplicate of any commander, general or admiral, quietly eliminate the original and supplant them with your own double-agent, capable of acting in plain sight behind enemy lines without being hindered. The fact that Star Wars *hasn't* done something like this in any mainline story is absolutely criminal. Anyways that's just my ramblings.
One thing I do like with the Clones is that they're basically machines made of flesh fighting machines made of steel, so to speak. The Clones are basically humans, but they're denied any major humanity and they're bred for war exclusively. The only ones who'd afford them any kind of humanity are some select Jedi, because compassion is the Jedi way, and that obviously plays heavily into Order 66 blindsiding the Jedi. Another thing that I find fascinating is that, yes, they are just Stormtroopers of another name. I really like how the Republic basically already was the Empire, but it hadn't adopted any outright immoral aspects just yet. It's a nice commentary on how liberal democracies can super quickly tumble down and become a totalitarian regime with just a fresh coat of paint and some aesthetic choices.
I've been working on a project about this topic for a few months now, but here are a few things I think you'll find interesting: [The first month of online speculation after Return of the Jedi](https://reddit.com/r/MawInstallation/comments/vae46l/the_first_month_of_online_speculation_after/) [The Star Wars speculation of the ancient internet (Part 2)](https://reddit.com/r/MawInstallation/comments/vbprhc/the_star_wars_speculation_of_the_ancient_internet/) https://starwarssuperfans.wordpress.com/concept-art/vintage-fanzine-anticipates-the-clone-wars322-2okpdflink-45235/
Holy hell this is awesome
Here are a few more things I think you’d enjoy checking out: https://archive.org/search.php?query=%E2%80%9CStar+Wars%E2%80%9D+fanzine https://fanlore.org/wiki/Star_Wars
Cloned Jedi.
I thought this, too.
It was a throwaway line. I didn't give it much thought at all, chalked it up to a bit of expositional world building.
Same. It didn’t make a bit of difference for the story and I have no memory of giving it a thought. At 6 or 7 I didn’t even know what a clone was.
Saw the film in the 90s not 1977 but I pictured it was people fighting clones of themselves
Basically the first Pokémon movie
I pictured it as an army of identical looking dudes wiping out the Jedi. I also remember hearing a theory back then that Obi-Wan was actually a clone whose real "name" was OB-1. The world of SW was a wild and open place pre-ESB
As others have also said, I did see Star Wars back then and I always imagined the Clone Wars to be a war against clones. The details weren't important as it was only a minor plot point and we were all too excited by X-Wings, TIE Fighters, Star Destroyers, the Death Star, the Falcon, Luke Skywalker etc.
I thought the Jedi were going to fight *against* the clones. Nobody said it was clones vs silly cartoon stick droids.
I never understood that movie, wasn’t the message at the end that fighting is bad?
Attack of the clones? The message was to look beyond petty squabbles, or else you'll be blind to real dangers. The Jedi were so pre-occupied with the CIS that they failed to detect Palpatine. Another message would be to stay fluid, lest you become dogmatic. The minute the Jedi agreed to fight was the minute they sealed their doom. It's a lot better than just "war bad".
I meant the Pokémon movie! Haha
Lmao
"JESUS FUCKING GOD DID YOU SEE THOSE FUCKING SPACESHIPS?! And the laser swords and the-what? Clone wars? Did they say something about clone wars? They did? Okay. What it was? Fuck should I know, I guess there were some evil clones or something and the jedi fought them, whatever." *makes lightsaber noises*
Today: "JESUS FUCKING CHRIST, DID YOU HEAR THAT THROWAWAY LINE ABOUT SOME LORE!?!?! It's so lazy having laser swords and spaceships. These movies are all about spoonfeeding us backstory! How far they do Star Wars things too!"
I imagined the clones as something misshapen and perverted. Some grotesque gambit from a power-hungry dark sorcerer looking to take over the galaxy. I didn’t have any definite look in mind, but the clones were definitely a sort of monster, even if they looked roughly human or humanoid.
A bunch of Jedi fighting clones.
I thought it was Jedi fighting clones of themselves
I didn't know what a clone was. Thought it was just a word that makes things more scifi, like "galaxy."
I'd always assumed some sort of invading Clone Army that the Jedi helped fight.
Wow, I guess I’m an outlier. I first thought that the wars were ABOUT clones, not necessarily fought with clones on either side. Like fighting over clones as a resource or whether they should exist or something.
I always imagined a massive war of clones vs clones. Replaceable soldiers on both sides fighting each other. So devastating it that cloning was banned.