I will not be disappointed...I will not be disappointed...

There's this little voice that lives in the back of my mind -- it took up residence there three years ago this May. No, it's not my conscience ... it's what I've come to call my Jar Jar meter. You know, that alarm that goes off whenever you feel the need to defend Episode I to a passerby. You're ready to explain why that movie didn't include deep character development, and then *poof!you remember that Jar Jar was in the film and you lose all desire to put up a fight to like it.

That little meter has been working overtime ever since the first of the Episode II trailers hit the Internet and movie houses back in November of 2001. Now that the final trailer, "Clone War," has been released, I find it harder and harder to pay any mind to the Jar Jar meter. I'm ready and willing to now believe that Episode II will redeem the franchise and be a damn good movie.

It's hard to keep up with the various flavors of spoiler virginity that's prevalent in the Star Wars community, so I'm just going to lay out what I saw and what I thought of the trailer. So, be warned!

As with the three previous trailers, "Clone War" has a theme -- and guess what? It has to do with clones! Thousand of them, in fact -- stretching out as far as the horizon. The shot of an endless sea of clones makes the battle droid landing sequence in Episode I look like a kid's ant farm.

There is a new crisis in the galaxy, and Chancellor Palpatine wants an army to address the issue. The Senate is also asked to grant the Chancellor emergency powers, a step down the slippery slope towards martial law and the establishment of the Empire. If that doesn't give you a shiver, I don't know what will.

Anakin is portrayed as a brash youth who disregards the advice of his masters, yet exhibits uncanny skill. He is also already being encouraged by Palpatine to ignore the guidance of the Jedi hierarchy. Our Sith-to-be is already showing, while still a Padawan, that he can kick some serious booty. There are clips of Anakin Force-throwing, jumping out of his speeder and into the middle of Coruscant's traffic, and wielding two lightsabers. Yow!

This trailer is much more quickly paced than its predecessors, intent on proving that there's more than just a doomed romance fueling the story. Action scenes abound, showing many planetary locations and battles, from Obi-Wan versus Fett, to Anakin versus Dooku, to Mace Windu versus everybody. There's obviously a grand buildup to a finale battle scene that, even in the trailer, looks like it's going to finally let us see what boatloads of Jedi are capable of doing.

Things to look for in this trailer are:

• Palpatine's obsession with the color red. If you look very carefully at the scenes shown of his office, you'll see the prototypes for the Imperial Guards at the door.
• Obi-Wan's sense of frustration with his Padawan. Now we're getting to see why Old Ben still kicks himself in the arse when he tells Luke that he couldn't properly train Anakin.
• Clones. Gazillions of clones.
• Anakin is now certifiably hot.
• Lots of locations, old familiars like Tatooine to new planets like Geonasis.
• Gobs of clones.
• No cameo of Jar Jar.
• A cameo of Senator Bail Organa.
• Freaking loads of clones, dude!
• A transport that looks like it was later adapted into the AT-AT of the Empire.
• Those transports are probably carrying massive numbers of clones.
• Palpatine is already showing the looks and mannerisms he has when he is Emperor.

I really liked this trailer, mainly because it showed an important piece in the Star Wars puzzle -- the Jedi really were a group of talented fighters. Something that is conveniently forgotten when the Jedi are "all but extinct" by the time of Episode IV.

"Clone War" is now available for download from starwars.com, and will premiere in theaters on March 15 with the film "Ice Age."

Discuss this article on our message boards.

(Jody Reeves is currently suffering a crisis of her own. She's debating whether or not to see "Ice Age" on Friday. Since she's played the trailer repeatedly on her computer, she may go see "Resident Evil" first.)