Something about the resilience of The Clone Wars really reminds me of George Lucas and his leadership and sticking to a vision and ignoring the noise:

The movie was panned by critics. Hardcore fans were annoyed by the whiny little padawan. Even the animation was criticized as wooden and odd and was used to continue the attack on the prequels, which George had just completed. Roger Ebert wasn’t kind:

But Lucas seemingly didn’t care. He put Dave Filoni, Henry Gilroy, and the cast and crew in a position to carry out a vision. A story. He had his fingerprints all over it, but wanted this show to go on. More than 100 episodes. He saw where it was going.

There’s something sorely missing in the new era of the franchise. The maverick, stick to your guns attitude is part of what made Lucas a legend. He ignored critics and fans when they raised hell because it “wasn’t they wanted.”

By the time the show was cancelled, fans were outraged and started campaigns just to keep it. Now that it’s back, there are very few folks who don’t view this final arc as one of the best things the franchise has done. That doesn’t happen if George gives in to critics.

The company and franchise can learn something from that attitude. You don’t get season 7 and The Siege of Mandalore if you let online criticism and message boards and YouTube comments section dictate the stories you tell. Here’s hoping they can capture that Maverick attitude.