I’ve gotten a bit behind in my reviews of The Clone Wars. Since I’m pretty jazzed about the most recent episode, I figured I’d get caught up by reviewing all the episodes leading up to it in one giant post. (more…)
Posts Tagged ‘Star Wars’
Clone Wars - Reviews - Episodes 2.07-2.11
Monday, February 1st, 2010Clone Wars - Review - “Weapons Factory”
Wednesday, January 27th, 2010
Weapons Factory
Luminara & Anakin act as decoys to divert new enemy super-tanks - while Padawans Barriss Offee & Ahsoka attempt to destroy a Separatist droid factory.
I wasn’t a big fan of this one. It’s not a bad episode, but it kind of felt like two episodes put into a single episode time frame. As if the entire third act - the search for the Padawans - could have been it’s own thing.
Apart from that rushed ending, the rest of the episode was decent. It was nice to see Luminara again and her padawan, Barriss, is a welcome new character to the show. Frankly, I wouldn’t mind more Barriss and Ahsoka team-up episodes (there’s another in “Brain Invaders”), as they make for a good duo.
There’s some good action scenes throughout and I particularly liked the destruction of the droid factory.
As far as the rushed ending was concerned, there were some decent elements to it. Not knowing Ahsoka’s fate in the Star Wars lore, I did have a bit of a genuine concern for here well-being. I didn’t honestly expect her to die (she doesn’t), but there was a part of me that thought it’d be awfully ballsy of the creative team to just kill her off this early on in the second season.
Despite that one setback, the rest of it’s entertaining enough. There have been very few bad episodes of the show, and this keeps the good episode trend going.
Some Movie Reviews
Friday, May 29th, 2009Adventureland - A “dramedy” about a kid who graduates college but has to work at a theme park in order to pay for an apartment in New York the following fall. I thought the movie did a pretty decent job at capturing the feeling of that time when one first falls in love and idealizes the other person, overlooking their flaws, and then also when the rude awakening happens and one realizes that their partner isn’t quite what they’ve built them up to be in their mind and how to handle it. Also, good performances from a strong cast; when it’s funny, it’s pretty funny. When it’s not, it’s still worth watching.
Angels & Demons - The best National Treasure flick ever made, A&D perfects that other franchise’s formula of following clues and using information that the characters already know but which they don’t find out over the course of the movie to lead them on to the next clue. Better than it’s predecessor, but still so/so. Tom Hanks is just kind of there and the casting of Ewan MacGregor still has me scratching my head a bit (c’mon, man - I’ve seen Trainspotting. You’re better than this!). A decent rental.
Outlander - New to DVD, it’s a competant sci-fi/fantasy flick about an alien who teams up with vikings to hunt down dragons. There’s nothing amazingly earth-shattering about it other than it’s a high concept flick that is well put-together and effective in a time when too often bigger tentpole flicks forget the basics and fall apart (see my Terminator: Salvation review). A breath of fresh air amidst too many MTV-editing-style soulless wastes of celluloid.
Fanboys - Speaking of wastes of celluloid, this flick about a group of friends trying to break into Skywalker Ranch in 1998 isn’t quite one, but if you aren’t a Star Wars fan watching it while drinking with other Star Wars fans or you aren’t wanting to sit through an hour and a half of almost funny jokes and cameos just to see Kristen Bell in a Princess Leia gold bikini (which is pretty nice), then it’s probably not for you as the whole seems more like a group of gags that were written and strung along a loose plot, as opposed to developing a movie and writing the jokes around them.
Taken - Ever wonder what a foreign, fifty-something-year-old Jason Bourne would do if his daughter were kidnapped for the European sex market? Look no further! This movie is another competent action flick, nothing that will completely knock your socks off, but good enough to make you root for Liam Neeson as he kicks ass across Paris.
Drag Me to Hell - I never thought I’d see another Sam Raimi Evil Dead movie, but somewhere in this flick’s fantastic seance sequence, I realized that was exactly what I was watching. And I loved it. I’m not a fan of the torture porn horror flicks of late. I like to be scared, surprised, and shocked in my movies, but I’m not a big fan of being disturbed by them, which is what I think the likes of Saw and Hostel are going for. Luckily, DMTH manages to shock, surprise, and scare without ever sinking to the levels of disturbing that so many “scary” movies go for these days. And, the flick was actually funny on top of all of that. Some of the shocks and scares are done in such a way that I was laughing in glee as the main character (portrayed by Alison Lohman) was tortured by the demon sent to torment her. Of course, anyone that has seen Raimi’s brilliant Evil Dead Trilogy (particularly Army of Darkness), would be expecting just that, and man, does Mr. Raimi deliver. Frankly, I think it’s Raimi’s best work since at least before the first Spider-Man movie, and it really makes me wish he’d drop the webhead and come up with more flicks like this. Perfect for a drive-in (if it shows up at one near you) and if it’s out on DVD by Halloween, pick it up and watch it with a group of friends. Well done, Mr. Raimi. Well done indeed.
More Clone Wars Reviews and Season One Thoughts
Sunday, March 22nd, 2009I’ve been a bit lax in reviewing Star Wars: The Clone Wars this last month. A big part of that had to do with getting comfortable with my new blog (all posting has been down on my part) and part of it had been that until earlier this week, I was a few episodes behind.
Now, I intend to get caught up. The season finale just aired and so I’ve got four episodes that I haven’t discussed. I’m going to talk about them, then give my overall impressions of the series. Here we go!
Storm Over Ryloth
Ahsoka disobeys Anakin’s orders and loses most of her squadron — prompting Anakin to help give his Padawan a lesson in a respect for authority and the opportunity for redemption.
Really, this episode was “take it or leave it” for me. The story is about Anakin and Ahsoka having to break a blockade over the planet of Ryloth so that Obi-Wan Kenobi can bring troops in and begin a liberation of the enslaved Twi’lek people. Right off the bat, Ahsoka looses almost an entire squadron of starfighters, which shakes her confidence and Anakin has to restore it if his padawan is going to help him lead the attack on the blockade.
It sounds good on paper, but the execution was just off and the emotions that the episode is trying to convey never really reverberate to the audience. That idea just barely falls flat and for the life of me, I couldn’t figure out why until just a few minutes ago when it dawned on me: no one “important” is lost. In previous episodes when clones have died and the show has wanted the viewer to feel the loss, they’ve at least built up the characters a bit before disposing of them. Not here. A bunch of near-nameless, completely personality-less clones are killed, Ahsoka feels bad, and we’re asked to do the same but it’s hard when nothing differentiated this batch of clones from the others that get wasted on a weekly basis other than they are Ahsoka’s. Had it been Rex and his lot getting blown away, yeah, we’d feel bad as there’s emotional attachment: but in this case, these clones are just helmets with names.
That’s not to say that there aren’t good moments. The new Neimoidian commmander Mar Tuuk was intriguing and I’m glad Lucasfilm changed their original plan of killing him off and reanimated the ending so that he escapes. Also, Anakin and Ahsoka’s final attack plan at last showed some creativity in the big capital ship fights that I’ve kind of felt has been lacking from the Star Wars series as a whole and I hope this cartoon begins expanding on big ship battle strategies.
But like I said, despite a few good elements, there’s not much else. It’s not bad per se, it just isn’t much of anything.
Innocents of Ryloth
To sabotage a powerful Separatist weapon, Obi-Wan and a small clone force enter an occupied town, and discover that its residents are being used as a living shield.
Luckily, I liked this episode much better. Of course, in the previous episode, Anakin and Ahsoka were eventually successful and Obi-Wan is able to land his troops on the planet. His mission: take out the large cannons so that Mace Windu can land more troops and free the capital city.
While the previous episode lacked an emotional core, this one has one in spades. Two of Obi-Wan’s scouts find a presumably orphaned Twi’lek girl in an abandoned village and the three of them bond as the clones protect her. It was actually pretty effective and I really liked the two clones who shared the spotlight with Obi-Wan in this one. I’m hoping we see more of them down the line.
Also, Obi-Wan had what has become my single-most favorite Jedi moment of the series thus far when he uses the Force against some ravenous beasts. It really made me stop and go “Holy crap!” (even if I didn’t say it out loud) and makes me feel that the Jedi need to be having more of these kind of moments in the series.
And finally, a battle droid cleaning a cage had a bit of humor that I genuinely felt worked, was funny, and made me gut-laugh.
Overall, though, the episode was good - not great, but pretty decent and pretty typical of what I’ve come to expect out of the series. This one is basically par for the course for how the show’s been going and a good one to show people if they want a general feel for how the series is.
Liberty on Ryloth
With his forces stretched thin, Mace Windu must convince Twi’lek freedom fighter Cham Syndulla to help him save the capital city from the droids destruction.
With Obi-Wan completing his mission in the previous episode, Mace is free to attempt to retake the Twi’lek capital city in this, the last part of the “Ryloth Trilogy.”
Although Mace does have to sway the freedom fighter and his forces to bolster Mace’s troops so that they have a large enough army to free the capital, don’t let that little bit of story fool you - this episode is about action; nothing more, nothing less. And if there is one thing that the Clone Wars cartoon does well, it’s action.
Mace had more than one “Holy crap!” moment in this one and it’s good seeing Jedi getting to be more than just ultimate soldiers. Mainly in the series, they’ve been using Force pushes while leaping about and swinging lightsabers. That’s all fine and good, but without using the Force in other instances, the Jedi as presented thus far have been kind of underplayed. Between Obi-Wan in the last episode and Mace in this one, you get to see Jedi do what Jedi should do and it’s a refreshing change of pace.
Other than that, there really isn’t anything in this episode. It’s an out and out action piece, as it should be as the third act of a trilogy. The Ryloth Trilogy itself was pretty well handled and it was interesting to see various aspects of one military conflict, from Anakin and Ahsoka’s space front, to Obi-Wan’s espionage and sabotage mission, to Mace’s final push for the capital. I liked the depth of the liberation in that aspect and hope that the series continues to show that the Clone Wars are more than just ships shooting at each other and Jedi hacking up droids.
Hostage Crisis
To free crime lord Ziro the Hutt, bounty hunters seize control of the Senate Building and take hostages — completely unaware that Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker is still inside.
The season finale frustrated me. As a final episode of the season, I didn’t feel like it had enough “oomph” in comparison to several of the earlier episodes, especially the episodes Cloak of Darkness and Duel of the Droids. Yet, I know that they saved this episode for last to serve as a teaser for the next season (the preview for Season 2 at the end of the episode shows as much). But that’s just it - it felt like the appetizer before the meal. Good on its own right but not quite enough to sustain me. I wanted more and not in the “Holy crap, that was awesome!” way that I think the show’s creative team intended but in the “That was good but where’s the rest of it?” kind of a way that left me wanting.
Apart from that, the episode had one other issue that became even a bigger nuisance for me after the last two parts of the Ryloth Trilogy. In those episodes, the Jedi were Jedi-esque. Here, Anakin is without lightsaber and doing his best John McClane impersonation but is still kind of weak. He barely uses the Force against the bounty hunters and pretty much gets owned by them. And that’s a weakness that I think the series has overall: when the writers need the Jedi in peril, they forget that they can use the Force. However, when the writers need them to do something amazing, suddenly the Force is back on. There seems to be no logic in the way the Jedi do or do not use their powers and it appears based on whatever is convenient to the plot. This episode and The Gungan General seem to exemplify that shortcoming best.
That said, that seems like an awful lot of negetive for an episode that I didn’t feel was a bad episode. It actually was pretty good as a tease for things to come, which is the rise of the bounty hunters in the Clone Wars. The lead bounty hunter, Cad Bane, didn’t really do much apart from planning the whole attack, but his few moments of ruthlessness were enough to make me go “There’s more to this guy than what they’re showing us,” and I’m looking forward to seeing his character expand and grow in the coming season. Also, his sniper, Aurra Sing (who appeared briefly in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace as a pod race spectator) has been mentioned as having an expanded role in Season 2 as well, and I find that very intriguing. And Ziro the Hutt returned and that makes me happy as I’m not one of the Ziro-haters and thoroughly enjoyed his character in the movie The Clone Wars. I’m hoping we get to see more of him as the series progresses.
But yeah, like I said, while a good episode in its own right and an exciting taste of things to come, it was just lacking as cap to the season.
Season One Thoughts
In the beginning, I was a bit skeptical of the show. The movie actually genuinely entertained me, but the first few episodes I found a bit lacking. However, as the show’s progressed it’s gotten stronger in all departments - writing, animation, action, and character development. It changed from something I started watching because of my frightening loyalty to Star Wars to actual “Must See TV.” I know that a lot of people in my age range refused to watch it as they were put off by the animation style, as well as having a bad taste left in their mouth by the prequels. I think these are weak excuses that people are letting get in the way of enjoying a truly good cartoon. The animation actually isn’t bad at all and has only improved as the series has moved on (Dave Filoni has said in interviews that the animation in the first several episodes was severely limited by budgetary constraints). And also, this isn’t the prequels - it’s much better and as it turns out, this is the Star Wars that I wish the prequels had been. When I think of the characters from the prequel era - Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Padme Amidala - I find that I think of their Clone Wars interpretation, not their movie counterparts.
While it’s true that the series has had a few The Phantom Menace moments, that’s not typically what it is. At times, it has the best elements of A New Hope. Other episodes share the darkness and depth of The Empire Strikes Back. This cartoon is fun. This show is worth watching.
This series is Star Wars.
Top Five Favorite Episodes of Season One
1). Cloak of Darkness
2). Duel of the Droids
3). Trespass
4). Mystery of a Thousand Moons
5). Jedi Crash
Clone Wars - “Blue Shadow Virus” and “Mystery of a Thousand Moons” - Reviews
Saturday, February 14th, 2009
Blue Shadow Virus
Padmé & Jar Jar are captured while searching for a secret Separatist bio-weapons lab, sparking Anakin, Obi-Wan & Ahsoka to try and save their friends and halt the release of a deadly virus.
Cartoon Network aired two episodes last night instead of the normal one. The first new episode, Blue Shadow Virus, had a few things going on that I really dug. Chief among them was Dr. Vendi. A Separatist scientist, he’s the one behind the nefarious Blue Shadow Virus and has been working on improving it. I found this character highly entertaining - he was like a mad scientist with a German accent. In fact, there seemed to be some strong Nazi overtones with him and his plot to create genocide with his biological weapon.
Another new character that I liked, but feel most people will find annoying is the new Gungan, Pepe Bow. I don’t know why, but I get the feeling we may see her again and my gut tells me she might become a romantic foil for Jar Jar (this is supposition on my part). Yes, Jar Jar is in fact in the episode, but much like the rest of the episodes, I typically don’t find his antics annoying in this show. Also, Captain Typho makes his first appearance and that’s kind of cool.
The action through the Separatist lab is well done, but at this point, it’d be more of an anomaly if the action in this series wasn’t well done. It was also nice getting to see Naboo again and I had deja vu watching Obi-Wan stroll around the hanger in Theed where he fought Darth Maul in The Phantom Menace (why couldn’t they have included a bit of throw away dialogue to that effect?).
Overall, not the best episode in the series (it suffers from some slow pacing up front and not much in the way of depth of character), but definitely in the “good” category as opposed to the “okay” or “bad” ones.
Mystery of a Thousand Moons
The fatal Blue Shadow Virus menace is still at large, infecting Ahsoka, Padmé, and many clone troopers — and giving Anakin & Obi-Wan just 48 hours to find the antidote on a mysterious planet from which no visitor has returned.
This was my favorite of the two episodes, for one reason and one reason only: Iego. The planet was mentioned in The Phantom Menace as having angels that live on one of its moons and not only do we visit the planet as Obi-Wan and Anakin head there searching for a cure to the Blue Shadow Virus from the previous episode, but we get to see one of those aforementioned angels, which gave me a little bit of a geekgasm.
Another aspect of the adventures on Iego that I dug was the new character, techno wiz-kid Jaybo Hood. His role felt so very…”Star Wars” and odd that I couldn’t help but enjoy it. At once, it was both familiar and new and I really liked that. I liked the visual design of the planet too. It seemed like one giant ghost town and that feeling was aided by the mention that the planet may or may not be haunted by “Droll.”
Ahsoka and Padme had some decent bits clearing out battle droids from the laboratory they are trapped in on Naboo and Rex, with his final line of dialogue in the episode, proves once again why he’s my favorite clone.
This episode has definitely managed to make its way into my ranking as one of the best episodes of the first season, which has just seemed to become more and more solid as it’s moved on. I’m still in the dark on why more people aren’t watching it. More often than not, it’s good. Really good.
Next time on Clone Wars…
Storm Over Ryloth
Ahsoka disobeys Anakin’s orders and loses most of her squadron — prompting Anakin to help give his Padawan a lesson in a respect for authority, and the opportunity for redemption.
EPISODE I - 1×01: Ambush
EPISODE II - 1×02: Rising Malevolence
EPISODE III - 1×03: Shadow of Malevolence
EPISODE IV - 1×04: Destroy Malevolence
EPISODE V - 1×05: Rookies
EPISODE VI - 1×06: Downfall of a Droid
EPISODE VII - 1×07: Duel of the Droids
EPISODE VIII - 1×08: Bombad Jedi
EPISODE IX - 1×09: Cloak of Darkness
EPISODE X - 1×10: Lair of Grievous
EPISODE XI - 1×11: Dooku Captured
EPISODE XII - 1×12: The Gungan General
EPISODE XIII - 1×13: Jedi Crash
EPISODE XIV - 1×14: Defenders of Peace
EPISODE XV - 1×15: Trespass
EPISODE XVI - 1×16: The Hidden Enemy
EPISODE XVII - 1×17: Blue Shadow Virus
EPISODE XVIII - 1×18: Mystery of a Thousand Moons
EPISODE XIX- 1×19: Storm Over Ryloth
EPISODE XX - 1×20: Innocents of Ryloth
EPISODE XXI - 1×21: Liberty on Ryloth
EPISODE XXII- 1×22: Hostage Crisis
Clone Wars - The Hidden Enemy - Review
Tuesday, February 10th, 2009
The Hidden Enemy
Anakin and Obi-Wan discover evidence of a traitor amongst their ranks while attempting to lead Republic forces to liberate the planet of Christophsis from a Separatist siege.
I really, really wish I could have seen this episode prior to the movie version of Clone Wars. It is set just prior to the events of the movie and I thought was a great set-up for that story. It was interesting to see just how the good guys got into such a bad situation where the movie starts off and I think that this episode gave the film more depth and greatly expanded upon the conflict on Christophsis.
Also, the episode dealt a lot with the clones and I thought it perhaps did the best job yet in the series at showcasing how individual they really are and really established that clones are there own people.
I find it interesting that this series is beginning to show that it isn’t a linear version of the events of the war and it will in fact jump around a bit. I think that perhaps this is a good thing as “prequel” episodes of the series can help flesh out other episodes, much as this episode did for the movie. My only hope though is that some day Lucasfilm releases a chronological version of the series and movie on DVD/Blu-Ray so that I can sit back and marathon view them in the proper order.
Next time on Clone Wars…
Blue Shadow Virus
Padmé and Jar Jar are captured while searching for a secret Separatist bio-weapons lab, sparking Anakin, Obi-Wan and Ahsoka to try and save their friends and halt the release of a deadly virus.
EPISODE I - 1×01: Ambush
EPISODE II - 1×02: Rising Malevolence
EPISODE III - 1×03: Shadow of Malevolence
EPISODE IV - 1×04: Destroy Malevolence
EPISODE V - 1×05: Rookies
EPISODE VI - 1×06: Downfall of a Droid
EPISODE VII - 1×07: Duel of the Droids
EPISODE VIII - 1×08: Bombad Jedi
EPISODE IX - 1×09: Cloak of Darkness
EPISODE X - 1×10: Lair of Grievous
EPISODE XI - 1×11: Dooku Captured
EPISODE XII - 1×12: The Gungan General
EPISODE XIII - 1×13: Jedi Crash
EPISODE XIV - 1×14: Defenders of Peace
EPISODE XV - 1×15: Trespass
EPISODE XVI - 1×16: The Hidden Enemy
EPISODE XVII - 1×17: Blue Shadow Virus
EPISODE XVIII - 1×18: Mystery of a Thousand Moons
EPISODE XIX- 1×19: Hostage Crisis
EPISODE XX- 1×20: Storm Over Ryloth
EPISODE XXI - 1×21: Innocents of Ryloth
EPISODE XXII - 1×22: Liberty on Ryloth
Clone Wars - Trespass - Review
Saturday, January 31st, 2009
Trespass
While investigating the disappearance of a clone security force, Anakin and Obi-Wan get caught in the middle of an escalating conflict between the furry territorial inhabitants of a desolate ice world and the greedy representatives of a nearby moon.
Visually, this is my favorite episode of the series thus far. The animation is stunning and the team did a great job in bringing the ice planet to life. Also, all of the new designs - the “bubble” speeder, snow clonetroopers, the Pantorans - were great and screamed “McQuarrie!” (after the concept artist of the original trilogy). Plus, it had the Talz, and as any of my Star Wars friends know, I’ve got a soft spot for that race thanks in a large part to the Talz Jedi, Foul Moudama, from the “Clone Wars” micro-series that aired a few years back (yes, I own his action figure…). The episode just had an Empire Strikes Back vibe, which is always welcome in my book. The action was very similar to a traditional Western wagon-train attack sequence, and was well executed. Captain Rex demonstrated once again why he’s my favorite clone in the series with a slammin’ little sequence. The story itself was okay, nothing too earth shatteringly great, but with great animation and first rate sequences, it still remained enjoyable. Not the best of the best, but right now the Clone Wars is on a seven episode streak of goodness as far as I’m concerned. We’ll see how next week’s episode (which takes place before the Clone Wars movie) holds up.
Next Time on Clone Wars…
The Hidden Enemy
Anakin and Obi-Wan discover evidence of a traitor amongst their ranks while attempting to lead Republic forces to liberate the planet of Christophsis from a Separatist siege.
EPISODE I - 1×01: Ambush
EPISODE II - 1×02: Rising Malevolence
EPISODE III - 1×03: Shadow of Malevolence
EPISODE IV - 1×04: Destroy Malevolence
EPISODE V - 1×05: Rookies
EPISODE VI - 1×06: Downfall of a Droid
EPISODE VII - 1×07: Duel of the Droids
EPISODE VIII - 1×08: Bombad Jedi
EPISODE IX - 1×09: Cloak of Darkness
EPISODE X - 1×10: Lair of Grievous
EPISODE XI - 1×11: Dooku Captured
EPISODE XII - 1×12: The Gungan General
EPISODE XIII - 1×13: Jedi Crash
EPISODE XIV - 1×14: Defenders of Peace
EPISODE XV - 1×15: Trespass
EPISODE XVI - 1×16: The Hidden Enemy
EPISODE XVII - 1×17: Blue Shadow Virus
EPISODE XVIII - 1×18: Mystery of a Thousand Moons
EPISODE XIX- 1×19: Hostage Crisis
EPISODE XX- 1×20: Storm Over Ryloth
EPISODE XXI - 1×21: Innocents of Ryloth
EPISODE XXII - 1×22: Liberty on Ryloth
Clone Wars - Defenders of Peace - Review
Saturday, January 24th, 2009
Defenders of Peace
While the Jedi combat a new Separatist weapon, the pacifist Lurmen must decide whether they will lay down to the oppressive Separatists or fight with Anakin, Ahsoka and Jedi General Aayla Secura.
This one was pretty straightforward. Bad guys invade planet, Jedi protect the inhabitants. There wasn’t much else in the way of plot other than the Irish, Sonic the Hedgehog lemurs arguing amongst themselves whether to fight or not. Otherwise, it had decent action pieces, which seems to be par for the course with the series overall. Nothing really to complain about other than, well, the series seems to have more of a focus on adventure than on actually getting to know any of the characters. It’d be nicer if there was just a tad more depth to it, but it still isn’t a bad show. And it was kind of cool that Mr. Sulu played a fat Neimoidian general.
Next time on Clone Wars…
Trespass
While investigating the disappearance of a clone security force, Anakin and Obi-Wan get caught in the middle of an escalating conflict between the furry territorial inhabitants of a desolate ice world and the greedy representatives of a nearby moon.
EPISODE I - 1×01: Ambush
EPISODE II - 1×02: Rising Malevolence
EPISODE III - 1×03: Shadow of Malevolence
EPISODE IV - 1×04: Destroy Malevolence
EPISODE V - 1×05: Rookies
EPISODE VI - 1×06: Downfall of a Droid
EPISODE VII - 1×07: Duel of the Droids
EPISODE VIII - 1×08: Bombad Jedi
EPISODE IX - 1×09: Cloak of Darkness
EPISODE X - 1×10: Lair of Grievous
EPISODE XI - 1×11: Dooku Captured
EPISODE XII - 1×12: The Gungan General
EPISODE XIII - 1×13: Jedi Crash
EPISODE XIV - 1×14: Defenders of Peace
EPISODE XV - 1×15: Trespass
EPISODE XVI - 1×16: Hidden Enemy
EPISODE XVII - 1×17: Blue Shadow Virus
EPISODE XVIII - 1×18: Mystery of a Thousand Moons
EPISODE XIX- 1×19: Hostage Crisis
EPISODE XX- 1×20: Storm Over Ryloth
EPISODE XXI - 1×21: Innocents of Ryloth
EPISODE XXII - 1×22: Liberty on Ryloth
Star Wars - The Clone Wars - Reviews
Friday, January 23rd, 2009Okay, I know it’s a little late for this, but I thought I’d go through and review the CGI animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars, which is currently airing on Cartoon Network. As far as I know, I’m the only one out of my group of friends that is watching this regularly, which is a shame, as it’s a fairly decent little show. First off, I’ll start with my thoughts on the movie that hit theaters in August, then go through the episodes in the order that they originally aired. And away we go…
Star Wars: The Clone Wars
Anakin Skywalker and his Padawan learner Ahsoka Tano find themselves on a mission with far-reaching consequences, one that brings them face-to-face with crime lord Jabba the Hutt. But Count Dooku and his sinister agents, including the nefarious Asajj Ventress, will stop at nothing to ensure that Anakin and Ahsoka fail at their quest. Meanwhile, on the front lines of the Clone Wars, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Master Yoda lead the massive clone army in a valiant effort to resist the forces of the dark side …
As an introduction, the movie is okay. For myself, the strongest elements of the movie are the first and third acts. It kind of drags in the middle, but not from lack of action. If anything, there’s too much action as the middle is nonstop. As an audience member, it’s easy to get tired and to need that extra time to catch one’s breath. Still, the animation is decent and the voice acting is top-notch. Apart from too much happening, the only other downfall that I thought it had were a few instances of “humor” through the battle droids, which seemed stupid and forced. Still, it sets up the series well enough, which is what I suppose it was meant to do.
Ambush
Jedi Master Yoda and three clone troopers — Jek, Thire, and Rys — must face off against Count Dooku’s dreaded assassin Ventress and her massive droid army to prove the Jedi are strong enough to protect a strategic planet and forge a treaty for the Republic.
This episode has one thing going against it: battle droids. For whatever reason, George Lucas has insisted to the show’s creators that the droids be stupid and a source of humor. The stupid part, I can buy, but there are down right slapstick moments involving the battle droids in this episode. That kind of undermines the whole notion of the war, as these are the foot soldiers of the enemy and if you can’t take their soldiers seriously, how can you see them as a real threat? Despite that, most anything directly involving Yoda in this episode is gold. There’s a great scene of Yoda and his clones in a cave where they have a discussion about the Force. It’s one of the best Star Wars moments in any media, I feel. And there’s plenty of Yoda action, which is always fun as well. Still, the droid humor takes what could have been a great episode and turns it into one that is only so/so.
Rising Malevolence
An attack by a devastating new Separatist weapon leaves Jedi Master Plo Koon and his clone troopers struggling to survive until Anakin and Ahsoka can find them.
Ultimately, I found this episode a little bit boring. It’s not bad, as the droid humor is very much toned down from the previous episode, but the majority of it is spent with Plo Koon and his clones in a life pod wondering if anyone will find them. Of course, anyone who has seen Revenge of the Sith knows that Plo Koon survives until that movie, so it gets kind of tiring wondering if someone will save them as you know it’s simply a matter of time until someone does. Of course, that someone is going to be Anakin and Ahsoka, who spend much of the episode looking for Plo and his soldiers. Once they do find and save them, the action kicks up and the last four minutes or so of the episode are top notch, involving an action sequence through a debris field that is pretty well done.
Shadow of Malevolence
With the help of his Padawan Ahsoka and Jedi Master Plo Koon, Anakin utilizes new long-range Y-wing bombers to lead a bold strike on General Grievous’ warship, the Malevolence, and its destructive weapon.
Okay, I dig this episode. No droid slapstick (that I can remember) and it’s pretty much a straight forward “mission” episode. There’s some nice sequences, including a short cut through a nebula and also the bombing run on Grievous’ warship. To me, the episode captures the classic Star Wars “feel” and so far is the standard in my mind for any episode that is going to involve space battles.
Destroy Malevolence
Padmé Amidala and C-3PO are taken hostage by General Grievous, leaving Anakin and Obi-Wan to save the Senator and complete the destruction of the Malevolence.
If the previous episode did a great job of capturing the classic Star Wars feel for space battles, this episode equally captures that feel, but for rescue missions. Damn, if this isn’t the prequel version of rescuing Leia from the Death Star. That’s not to say that it’s a total rip off of that plotline, but rather it’s a story in that vein and it does a great job at it. Obi-Wan gets some great moments, it’s nice to see Anakin and Padme interact, and dammit if C-3PO and R2-D2 wandering on their own through hallways doesn’t make me giddy. It’s a fitting conclusion to the Malevolence trilogy and a prime example of what the Clone Wars should be.
Rookies
Alone on a distant outpost, clone officers Rex and Cody must inspire their rookie unit to believe in themselves to stave off a Droid Commando invasion.
This one just doesn’t do it for me. There’s nothing wrong with it per se, but I found myself going, “Where are the Jedi?” I actually like Rex alot, but this episode focuses more on the other clones than him and frankly, they aren’t that interesting. The best part about it for me: the commando droids. Those guys are kind of bad ass.
Downfall of a Droid
R2-D2 is lost during a fierce space battle — and Anakin must find him before the Separatists discover the Jedi military secrets locked in his memory banks.
I probably would have liked this episode a lot more if it weren’t for one thing: the music. For the rest of the series, the music is okay. But here, it seemed wildly out of place (there’s even some techno in here). Also, the opening space battle was kind of weak. I’m guessing that’s because this is some of the earliest animation for the series (as per Dave Filoni, series director) and they hadn’t quite gotten to the point where they were ready to do space battles. The rest of the episode isn’t bad and it’s kind of fun watching Anakin and Ahsoka take on some IG droids. There was one other thing that bothered me initially, but it makes 100% sense in light of the following episode and isn’t an issue for me at all now. Also, I like the Trandoshan junker.
Duel of the Droids
Anakin, Ahsoka and replacement droid R3-S6 embark on a dual rescue + sabotage mission when they discover R2-D2 is being held at Grievous’ secret enemy listening post.
I actually like this episode quite a lot. The problems that I had with the music from the previous episode are fixed and there’s some really great action, including Ahsoka versus Grievous, Anakin’s rescue of R2-D2, a battle in a hanger bay, and R2-D2 himself having his own fight. Again, another prime example of what the series should be and another proud addition to the Star Wars pantheon.
Bombad Jedi
Jar Jar Binks is a Jedi Knight? So thinks the Separatists when the comically heroic Gungan and C-3PO fight to save Padmé Amidala from doom at the hands of evil Viceroy Nute Gunray.
Dammit, if I didn’t like this episode. Yes, it has Jar Jar in it. But as a Jar Jar-centric episode, it’s not bad. He has his usual slapstick antics, but in a more light-hearted setting than the drama of the prequels, it kind of works. I actually found myself laughing at the misadventures of this Gungan and really liked the end showdown with the slug monster. The only problem I have with it is, in a real world if there’s someone as clumsy as Jar Jar around, who in their right mind is going to take him on a diplomatic mission? Apart from that giant leap in logic, it’s fun enough.
Cloak of Darkness
Ahsoka and Jedi Master Luminara escort captured Viceroy Nute Gunray to trial, unaware that Count Dooku has dispatched his deadly apprentice assassin Asajj Ventress to free the prisoner and eliminate the Jedi.
This is my favorite episode of the series, by far. It’s got warrior chicks, it’s got Jedi versus Sith, it’s got blue Senate Commandos, it’s got betrayals and action and clones, oh my! Seriously, I highly enjoyed it and if there’s one negative that I can say against it, it’s that a fairly interesting character meets their untimely demise and I would have liked to have seen more of them later on in the series. Ah well. It wasn’t enough of a detraction for me to ruin my enjoyment of this otherwise great show. This is a truly wonderful episode, is everything the Star Wars prequels should have been, and has a great The Empire Strikes Back ending. Loved it.
Lair of Grievous
Grievous must prove himself worthy of the Separatists when Count Dooku leads Jedi Master Kit Fisto and his former Padawan, the Mon Calamari Jedi Nahdar Vebb to Grievous’ villainous enclave.
Another really strong entry in the series. There’s great action, an appropriate amount of humor (thanks to Grievous’ doctor droid, one of my new favorite characters), and a little bit of backstory for General Grievous. Moody and atmospheric, the whole episode is nicely constructed. The only downside, after the previous episode’s fantastic lightsaber duel, the final showdown in this one seems a little bit of a let down. It’s not bad, it’s just not as high octane as the previous one. Still, can’t complain too much, otherwise one might get the impression that I didn’t like the episode and I very much did like it.
Dooku Captured
During their own attempt to kidnap Count Dooku, Anakin and Obi-Wan discover that the Sith Lord has already been captured by pirates.
One word: gundarks. That’s what the episode boiled down to for me, as we finally understand why it’s so hard to pull the ears off one of these suckers. A lot of other good things going on too, particularly the band of Weequay pirates. I really liked these characters, particularly their leader, Hondo, and his Kowakian monkey lizard. One of my favorites of the series thus far, as it felt like this is the first time the series has really opened up the Star Wars universe. Up until this one, it’d mainly been Jedi, clones, and droids. The pirate clan was a welcome breath of fresh air. And there were gundarks!
The Gungan General
While negotiating Count Dooku’s ransom, Anakin & Obi-Wan are taken prisoner. The Jedi & Sith form an unlikely alliance in a bid to escape with Jar Jar Binks as their only hope.
Well, the parts not involving Jar Jar are good. But Jar Jar’s inclusion in this episode feels rather forced and isn’t pulled off nearly as well as in Bombad Jedi. Also, it’s a different voice actor for the Gungan, one who happens to do a pretty horrible impression of Jar Jar, which I found very distracting. Also, there seems to be a pretty major contradiction between the end of the last episode and the beginning of this one. Still, despite these flaws, the episode never falters into “bad” territory. Actually, it’s pretty good and I consider it a must watch just for one insanely awesome moment with Count Dooku that had me yelling at the TV. Yes, it was that cool and I hope we get more bits like that to come.
Jedi Crash
When Anakin is gravely injured in battle, Jedi General Aayla Secura must teach Ahsoka the Jedi philosophy of having no personal attachments — while they brave the hostile planet in search of medical help for the Jedi Knight.
A lot of good stuff in this one. First of all, the opening sequence is easily the best battle of The Clone Wars thus far (it beats out the bombing run, but doesn’t take place in space, so that’s still the space standard) and had it been in any of the movies, would have probably been an iconic moment in the saga. Aayla Secura is a well written and well acted character and even if she hadn’t had her, um, “shapely” figure, I would have found myself liking her quite a lot. There’s a nice bit with a ship being on a collision course with a star and also the stuff on the hostile planet is nicely handled. The Irish, Sonic the Hedgehog lemurs on the planet were pretty interesting too, and I’m curious to see how their pacifist philosophy carries over into tonight’s episode. Another well done episode, a great example of what the show should be and one that feels like it adds to the Star Wars mythos as opposed to borrowing bits from it. Well done, and probably in my top 3 episodes thus far.
Coming up on Clone Wars…
Defenders of Peace
While the Jedi combat a new Separatist weapon, the pacifist Lurmen must decide whether they will lay down to the invading forces or take up arms with Anakin, Ahsoka and Jedi General Aayla Secura to protect their belief system.
EPISODE I - 1×01: Ambush
EPISODE II - 1×02: Rising Malevolence
EPISODE III - 1×03: Shadow of Malevolence
EPISODE IV - 1×04: Destroy Malevolence
EPISODE V - 1×05: Rookies
EPISODE VI - 1×06: Downfall of a Droid
EPISODE VII - 1×07: Duel of the Droids
EPISODE VIII - 1×08: Bombad Jedi
EPISODE IX - 1×09: Cloak of Darkness
EPISODE X - 1×10: Lair of Grievous
EPISODE XI - 1×11: Dooku Captured
EPISODE XII - 1×12: The Gungan General
EPISODE XIII - 1×13: Jedi Crash
EPISODE XIV - 1×14: Defenders of Peace
EPISODE XV - 1×15: Trespass
EPISODE XVI - 1×16: Hidden Enemy
EPISODE XVII - 1×17: Blue Shadow Virus
EPISODE XVIII - 1×18: Mystery of a Thousand Moons
EPISODE XIX- 1×19: Hostage Crisis
EPISODE XX- 1×20: Storm Over Ryloth
EPISODE XXI - 1×21: Innocents of Ryloth
EPISODE XXII - 1×22: Liberty on Ryloth
Phantom Memories: A Star Wars Journey, Pt. 1
Thursday, June 26th, 2008Last night, I downloaded a bootleg version of the extended score for “The Phantom Menace” and it got me to thinking about my experience as a Star Wars fan. I think it’s safe to say, I’ve been one all my life. In fact, there isn’t a time that I can remember discovering Star Wars. It’s always just been there.
My earliest memory is of Jabba the Hutt upon seeing “Return of the Jedi” when it was originally released in ‘83. My childhood memories between the ages of 2 and a half and 4 are filled with playing with Star Wars toys with my cousins, receiving my Ewok Village playset, Rancor, and Vader’s TIE Fighter for separate Christmases. I seem to remember Star Wars being on TV a lot during family gatherings. And this poster - an original my mom took from the theater she worked at when Star Wars was out originally - hung in my cousins’ bedroom:
As a child, Marty Griffin, Ryan Simmons, Justin Simms, and I would get together and play with our Star Wars toys, often losing the figures in the sand pit we played in. Or we’d actually reenact the movies with Ryan being Han, Marty being Chewie, Justin was Lando (though, having a different ethnicity), and I was Luke. And while there wasn’t much in the way of new Star Wars material in the latter half of the ’80s and the early ’90s, that really didn’t stop us.
I fell out of Star Wars around ‘90 with the advent of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but occasionally went back to it. Upon the release of “Batman: The Animated Series” and “X-Men,” I jumped ships again, as often children do while going with the “in” thing. But while I liked the comic book world I was being introduced to (and still dig them), my love for Star Wars never truly went away.
Shortly after we moved from our old neighborhood in ‘93, I remember finding the young adult book “The Glove of Darth Vader” at the Rock Island Library and deciding to read it. I also remember that while being captivated by the idea of Luke’s adventures continuing beyond the movies, finding the book a little bit ridiculous. Not too much later, I picked up the paperback version of “Dark Force Rising” by Timothy Zahn from our grocery store. I tried reading it, not knowing it was the second book in what would come to be known as the “Thrawn Trilogy” and was thoroughly confused and so I quit. But not all was lost. Again the library pitched in and my love for Star Wars was rekindled in ‘94 when I found the first book in the “Thrawn Trilogy” and read “Heir to the Empire” (to this day it remains the only book I’ve ever read more than once and I intend to read it again someday).
Jazzed about Star Wars again, I watched the movies over and over. I had plenty of time: I was a home-schooled kid, living in the middle of nowhere. My only friends were back in Colona, from church youth group, or my cousins. Star Wars became my escape: I could identify with Luke Skywalker, stuck on Tatooine, doing nothing. It connected me to earlier, happy and nostalgic memories while allowing my imagination to roam the stars. Sure, I was stuck in Sherrard, but that didn’t make me trapped there.
In early ‘95, I began collecting the MicroMachine vehicles and playsets. I also connected with Josh Howard, one of the older kids in youth group who was also a big Star Wars fan. I was impressed by his collection and he would take the time to talk Star Wars with me, which was pretty cool, being a fourteen-year-old and talking with an eighteen-year-old and allowing Star Wars to bridge an age gap that otherwise seemed insurmountable at those times.
It wasn’t long after that when I saw in the latest Wizard magazine that they were coming out with a brand new line of Star Wars action figures, after nearly ten years of being absent from toy shelves. I was excited: I’d been a fairly loyal X-Men collector, most likely due to my friends from Colona and I having been on a superhero kick the last year that I lived there, and so shifting my toy collecting from comics to Star Wars seemed pretty natural. And then, in August of ‘95, I happened to hit Toys R Us while my parents were in Eagles Grocery Store next door and I found him: the new Darth Vader figure, sitting on the shelf. It was an amazing site to behold: the sculpting on the figure was far superior to the toys I had grown up with. I didn’t even mind that he was overly muscular. He was a new Darth Vader and I had to have him. I used all my allowance money and paid the $5.35 that it cost. It was a great day.
Soon Vader was followed by the rest of the action figure line, and for the first time in my life, my collecting took on a more adult focus: I bought two of every figure: one to keep in the box and display on my wall (hanging from thumb tacks) and one to open. I was thrilled when on Christmas that year I received two of the elusive Princess Leia figures, which I had yet to receive. I regularly checked Wizard for Star Wars toy updates and was nearly giddy when I saw the Boba Fett and Biker Scout figures in there for the first time. I continued collection them, and soon a border of Star Wars figures began to encircle the top of my bedroom wall, while the figures posed on shelves and vehicles sat on dressers. The MicroMachines soon went into storage, as did many other random pieces of Star Wars merchandise that family members felt compelled to buy me for pretty much no reason other than they knew I was a fanatic.
Which I was. Star Wars was fast consuming my life. I read the books, bought the stuff, talked Star Wars with friends. Which was fine, because in the mid-90s, it was cool to like Star Wars. In ‘96, a bunch of my friends from youth group, including Justin Anderson, became huge fans of the Star Wars Customizable Card Game that was released by Decipher. We would spend hours playing that game at church, with everyone bringing their cards and holding tournaments. As much of an obsession that Star Wars had become for me, it was about the right time for it, since everyone else was in Star Wars fever too.
“Shadows of the Empire” hit later that year. It was a multimedia event and Lucasfilm likened it to a movie without a movie. There were comic books, a toy line, a novelization, soundtrack, and Nintendo 64 video game. I ate it up. I took the comics with me to summer camp and read them there and my cousin Jared’s mom rented him an N64 system so that we could get the game and play it. It was amazing and to this day, bounty hunter IG-88 scares the crap out of me.
And as great as all of that was, we Star Wars fans knew that we had 1997 - the 20th Anniversary of Star Wars - to look forward to. George Lucas had announced that he would be releasing the Special Editions of the Original Trilogy into theaters. They were updated versions of the movies, with new sequences and effects. I was excited. I studied pictures from them in the issues of Star Wars Insider, amazed at what computer animation could do. Then my dad and I went to see Star Trek: First Contact and the trailer for the Special Editions played. I was floored. January ‘97 could not approach quickly enough.
I saw “A New Hope” opening day, after waiting in line for an hour (that seemed like such a long time back then). Saw it twice that day actually, then went and bought new toys afterwards with Jared. It was an amazing experience to see the opening the way it was intended and it seemed like the Star Destroyer in that shot stretched on forever. And it was great when some jackass used their laser pointer to point at Princess Leia’s breasts onscreen and a ton of angry Star Wars fans went off on him. I went to “The Empire Strikes Back” three weeks later with Matt Johnson and still remember the moment he pulled an entire Pringles can out of his sleeve, as well as when the movie stopped and the lights came up early due to projector problems and looking to see Boomer, who had arrived late to the showing, looking very embarrassed and guilty walking down the aisle at just that moment. And I remember seeing “Return of the Jedi” in Galesburg with my basketball team and Boomer getting yelled at by theater staff for trying to walk in with a Pepsi (which he turned around and pretended to throw away, but really snuck in by shoving it in his coat). When those versions of the movies came out, I didn’t care about Greedo firing first or Jedi Rocks. All I knew was that I was seeing Star Wars in theaters again and my journey was coming full circle from my earliest memory.
But it wasn’t. Not really. For in ‘96 Lucas had announced he was going to move forward with the long awaited Episodes I, II, and III. The story was just beginning…