Star Wars: The Pop-Up Clone Wars to begin in May

VH1's Pop Up Video may be long gone, but the idea of "pop-up" blurbs in re-airing of popular shows has continued strong. Lost and Heroes have done it, and now Cartoon Network has announced Star Wars: The Clone Wars Decoded, a re-airing of the hit show's first season complete with little pop-up notations. Beginning May 1, 2009 at Clone Wars regular 9 PM ET time slot, Decoded will re-air all 22 episodes of the series' hit first season, leading to the second season premiere in the fall.

The text windows will offer trivia, background information on characters and the larger Star Wars storyline. I can't wait for the Jar Jar Binks episodes. "Jar Jar is a stupid character." "This is what happens when you indulge the whims of the creator no matter how stupid they are." "The creators of the character Jar Jar Binks were so ashamed of their contribution to the Star Wars mythos that they quit television. They're currently working in product and character development for Chuck E. Cheese."

I guess if you missed the first season of the series this is a pretty good way to catch-up, or if you're new to Star Wars in general, but I have my doubts that it would be worth going back and re-watching the episodes if you've already seen them. The aforementioned Heroes and Lost pop-up episodes were incredibly disappointing as far as offering true insight or commentary. Instead they were basically a primer for new viewers. Now I can see the value of that in a show as dense as those that struggles to pick up new viewers as it goes along, but it doesn't do much for the resale value of the episodes to those already watching.