Clone trooper
Clone troopers are fictional characters from the Star Wars franchise created by George Lucas. First introduced in the live-action film Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones, they have since appeared in various other Star Wars media, including Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith and the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Star Wars Rebels, Star Wars: The Bad Batch, and Tales of the Jedi as well as comics, novels, and video games set in both the Star Wars Legends expanded universe and the current canon.
In the Star Wars canon universe, the clone troopers were soldiers who fought for the Galactic Republic during the Clone Wars and during the early rise of the Empire. All clone troopers are artificially produced soldiers, created at special cloning facilities on the planet Kamino from the DNA of bounty hunter Jango Fett to serve as the military of the Galactic Republic during the Clone Wars, which takes its name from the troopers. They are genetically engineered to age at twice the rate of a normal human in order to be ready for deployment much quicker, and be unquestionably loyal to the higher chain of command. During the Clone Wars, the clone troopers served under the command of the Jedi Order as they fought against the droid armies of the Confederacy of Independent Systems, a movement organized by numerous planets that sought to secede from the Republic. At the end of the war, Sheev Palpatine, the Republic's leader and secretly a Sith Lord who orchestrated the conflict to gain political power, issues Order 66, which brands the Jedi as traitors and forcibly compels the clone troopers, under the control of inhibitor chips implanted in their brains, to execute them. Following the formation of the Galactic Empire and the destruction of the cloning facilities on Kamino, clone troopers are slowly replaced by Imperial stormtroopers, non-clone human recruits.
During the development of The Empire Strikes Back, Lucas initially conceived a planet of clones, which is why the Clone Wars was mentioned for the first time in the original Star Wars film. The clone trooper armor was designed to suggest an evolution into the stormtroopers of the original trilogy, and it incorporated features from both the armor of stormtroopers and Boba Fett, revealed in Attack of the Clones to be an unaltered clone of Jango Fett. The armored troopers in Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith are computer-generated images voiced by Temuera Morrison, who played Jango Fett. Younger clones were played by Bodie Taylor and Daniel Logan, who played the younger Boba. Clones not wearing helmets were played by both Morrison and Taylor, who wore chroma key body suits to isolate their heads, and some clone troopers featured a blend of the actors' features. Beginning with The Clone Wars film that launched the animated series of the same name, adult clone troopers are voiced by Dee Bradley Baker and young clone troopers are voiced by Logan. In Star Wars: Clone Wars, all clones were voiced by André Sogiluzzo.
Upon their debut in the Star Wars prequel trilogy, clone troopers received a mixed response from critics and audiences, due to their limited screen time and the films never explicitly stating that they were distinct from the original trilogy's stormtroopers; some felt that the implication of stormtroopers being soldiers created solely for war took away from the impact of the conflict. Reception of the clone troopers improved significantly with their portrayal in The Clone Wars, which introduced numerous clones with distinctive traits and personalities and made an effort to humanize them, exploring their relationships with the Jedi and fellow clones and their thoughts and feelings about the Clone Wars and their own existence. Since then, numerous Star Wars works set during the Clone Wars era have featured clone troopers as main characters, with many going on to become fan favorites. Clone troopers have become cultural icons, and a widely recognized element of the Star Wars franchise.
Concept and creation
Development and design
In writing The Empire Strikes Back, Leigh Brackett's first draft of the film initially developed Lando Calrissian as a clone from a planet of clones involved in the Clone Wars mentioned in A New Hope and were nearly made extinct by the war, but this concept was not featured in the final film. George Lucas later came up with the alternate concept of an army of clone shock troops from a remote planet used by the Republic in the war that followed. Lucas intended for the prequel trilogy to depict the evolution of the galaxy's fighting forces, and the clone troopers were the step after flawed battle droids.Clone troopers were designed to strongly suggest the army's evolution into the Empire's stormtrooper army. Concept artist Jay Shuster said of the armor design, "It follows the formula for a lot of the prequel trilogy. Take something pre-conceived in the existing trilogy and de-generate it." Design Director Doug Chiang incorporated both features of the Boba Fett and stormtrooper armor into the design, acknowledging the "vague assertion in Star Wars lore" that Fett's armor was connected to those of the stormtroopers. Initial concept models implied that the first generation armor was thicker and bulkier than stormtrooper armor, and this characteristic was retained by the art department for Revenge of the Sith. Lucas expressed a desire for individualized trooper armor from the beginning of art development for Revenge of the Sith. Several variations were largely dictated by environmental needs, but others were influenced of the 2003 Clone Wars animated series and the desert stormtroopers of A New Hope. The clone trooper designs "progressed" closer toward the stormtrooper designs, and the film included variant designs similar to the sandtrooper, scout trooper, and snowtrooper armor of the original trilogy.
The designs of clone trooper in snow and cold weather gear, seen in season one of The Clone Wars, are heavily inspired by early concept and costume by Ralph McQuarrie, Joe Johnston, and John Mollo for The Empire Strikes Back.
Portrayal
In Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, all clone troopers are computer-generated images and are voiced by Temuera Morrison, who played the clone template Jango Fett. The child clone troopers were played by Daniel Logan, who also played Jango's clone son Boba Fett, and the clone troopers as young men were played by Bodie Taylor, who was cast for his resemblance to a younger Morrison. Taylor was filmed multiple times and composited to fill out crowded shots set in Tipoca City, and in some cases he was entirely digital.Commander Cody, seen in armor without his helmet in Revenge of the Sith, was played by Morrison. He wore a blue bodysuit and only footage of his head was used for Cody; he held a stormtrooper helmet to approximate the digital clone trooper helmet Cody carries. Like Morrison, Taylor also played armored and clones without helmets in Revenge of the Sith, wearing a blue bodysuit that isolated his head. Some clone troopers were entirely digital and featured a digital blend of Morrison's and Taylor's facial features. The armor was match-animated to the actors' bodies.
The clone troopers are voiced by Dee Bradley Baker in the 2008 animated film The Clone Wars and its related animated television series of the same name. Baker attempted to give each clone trooper a unique voice, taking into account personality, age, and position within the unit, sometimes describing the clone in a single adjective and focusing on that descriptor for the voice work. Each clone was voiced individually, with all the clone's lines for the episode recorded at one time before moving to another character, and the dialogue was edited together.
Logan voiced the young clone troopers in seasons two and three of the 2008 television series. Baker reprises his role in the 2014 Rebels and 2021 The Bad Batch animated series.
Appearances
Film
In Attack of the Clones, Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi discovers the clone army on Kamino. He is told by the Kaminoans that Jedi Master Sifo-Dyas ordered the army on the Republic's behalf ten years prior; however, Sifo-Dyas' apparent death shortly before that timeframe leads the Jedi Order to doubt this. The clone troopers are cloned from Jango Fett, a bounty hunter hired by a man named Tyranus, later revealed to be Sith Lord Count Dooku. The clone troopers' genetics are altered so that they age at twice the normal rate and are more loyal and easier to command. The clone army is deployed to Geonosis under the command of the Jedi to rescue Obi-Wan, Anakin Skywalker, and Padmé Amidala from execution by the Separatists. The ensuing battle becomes the first one in the Clone Wars. Although the clone army emerges victorious, Dooku and many other Separatist leaders escape, meaning that the war has only just begun.In Revenge of the Sith, set three years later, the clone army continues to fight in the Clone Wars against the Separatist battle droid armies. However, just as it appears that the Republic will win the war, Chancellor Palpatine, secretly the Sith Lord Darth Sidious, orders the clone army to execute Order 66, a command for the Clone Troopers to kill their Jedi Generals due to the latter being labeled as traitors to the Republic. Due to them being compelled to turn against the Jedi, The clone troopers betray and kill their Jedi commanders, although a few manage to escape. Meanwhile the 501st Legion, led by the newly christened Darth Vader, storms the Jedi Temple, burning it and killing the vast majority of the Jedi inside, effectively ending the Jedi Order. Following Vader's assassination of the remaining Separatist leaders, under the orders of Sidious, Palpatine transforms the Republic into the Galactic Empire and the clone army becomes the basis of the Imperial Army.
Clone troopers are referenced in The Force Awakens when Kylo Ren chides General Hux for the betrayal of rogue stormtrooper FN-2187 and suggests that Supreme Leader Snoke should consider a clone army.