Saga of the Stars

George Lucas

2012-01-20T21:10:00.004-06:00

George Lucas is retiring.
Depending on what side of the fence you're on, this is either somewhat sad news or cause for celebration.

Lucas is easily one of the most polarizing individuals in various circles. While everyone agrees that he's an important person in the history of filmmaking, many people also assume that he's some kind of terrible, egocentric, literally-evil hack writer that only does things for the money.

In 1996, just before the release of the Star Wars Special Edition films, Mark Altman—the at-the-time editior of Sci-Fi Universe Magazine—said this after a preview screening:
"For those who grew up on Star Wars - a really seminal film for a lot of us - it's kind of a shock to see it butchered. It's like watching your childhood being raped."

And thus began the "George Lucas raped my childhood" paraphrase/quote. It's been a huge internet meme and somewhat of a geek mantra. There's even a song about it.

There's also a facebook group about it. This is what's written in their "about" section:

In 1977, George Lucas created the Star Wars Trilogy, an epic saga which would come to define a generation. Star Wars would play an integral role in the childhood of millions of children worldwide.

But nearly 20 years later, the descent began. In 1997. The Star Wars trilogy: Special Edition butchered the original films fan hads grown to love. He made Greedo shoot first.

1999 truly saw the beginning of the end for Star Wars. One word. Jar-Jar (or is that two?) How about two more? Jake. Loyd.

It was all downhill from there.

No sets, no story, awful dialogue which no actor could salvage. But that's ok. Because George Lucas had computers. And money. And computers.

It was all downhill from there.

I want my childhood back.

Give me back a badass Han, Lak Sivrak, matte lines on my snowspeeders, and a band in jabba's Palace that doesn't look like a drag review.

Really? "Butchered?" Greedo shooting first "butchers" the movie for you? I'm not fond of it either, but how exactly does that "butcher" the entire movie? That entire scene takes literally one minute, and the change is around one second. And it butchers the movie?

"No sets, no story, awful dialogue... but that's ok. Because George Lucas had computers. And money." This seems to suggest the reason why people seem so intent on the idea that Lucas is such a terrible person: they assume that Lucas didn't care that he was making a bad movie, and was in it entirely for the money.
Why couldn't he have simply made mistakes with the prequels, or merely had a difference of opinion? Why should we assume that he was being greedy?

"Give me back a badass Han, Lak Sivrak, matte lines on my snowspeeders, and a band in jabba's Palace that doesn't look like a drag review."
I actually had to look up who Lak Sivrak was. His name wasn't even mentioned in the movie, he has no speaking lines, and he gets less than a few seconds of screentime. He is literally just some guy in the background of the cantina scene. And this is the reason the Special Editions are so terrible?

"...matte lines on my snowspeeders..."
The matte lines around the snowspeeders were never supposed to be there; they were a limitation of the available special effects tech at the time. Look at these comparisons (top=old, bottom=updated):

In those last two comparisons, the snowspeeder is partially PASSING OVER the AT-AT's leg. And the "Lucas raped my childhood" people would prefer THAT one? That goes beyond what's objectively good or bad; that's just people complaining because something isn't the same way they remember it. Who cares that it's a far, far better version of the scene? Not them, apparently. Their childhood memories are far more important than anything else. And that's the real clincher. Take a look at the language used: "give me back a badass Han... matte lines on my snowspeeders..."
Those people are treating Star Wars like something they own. Like it's their property somehow, and George Lucas is some kind of vandalistic intruder.

Take a look at Amazon.com's listing for the Star Wars saga on Blu-ray. The user reviews are completely skewed to the point where the average score is a mere 2.5 out of 5 stars, and most of the reviews are 1-out-of-5s.

That's lower than all four of the Twilight movies. Literally. Even the worst-reviewed Twilight film is a full star rating higher than the Wars saga.

Do people really hate Star Wars that much? Honestly? Look at the review scores. 1,062 people gave it a 1, but almost no one gave it a 2 or a 3. How does that work?
No one who reviewed that Blu-ray set probably actually thinks that Star Wars is only worth 1 out of 5 stars; they're just venting their frustration.

In an interview with The New York Times, Lucas shed some light on various aspects of his relationship with Star Wars fanboys.

“I think there are a lot more important things in the world” than feuds with fanboys, Lucas says with a kind of weary diffidence. But then he gets serious, even a little wounded. Lucas explains that his first major features — “THX 1138” and “American Graffiti” — were forcibly re-edited by the studios. Those were wrenching experiences he has compared to someone keying your car (he loves cars) or chopping a finger off one of your children (he has three and loves them too). Afterward, Lucas set out to gain financial independence so the final cut would forever be his. “If the movie doesn’t work,” he vowed, “it’s going to be my fault.”

In the last decade and a half, Lucas has given “Star Wars” several “final” cuts. For the 1997 special edition, he made Greedo, a green-skinned alien, fire his blaster at Han Solo because Han’s murdering Greedo in cold blood — as the 1977 version had it — struck him as a violation of his own naïve style. For the new Blu-ray version of “Return of the Jedi,” Lucas added Darth Vader shouting, “Nooo!” as he seizes the evil emperor in the movie’s climactic scene. Lucas made the Ewoks blink. And so forth.

When fanboys wailed, Lucas did not just hear the scream of young Jedi; he heard something like the voice of the studio. The dumb, uncomprehending voice in his Socratic dialogues — a voice telling him how to make a blockbuster. “On the Internet, all those same guys that are complaining I made a change are completely changing the movie,” Lucas says, referring to fans who, like the dreaded studios, have done their own forcible re-edits. “I’m saying: ‘Fine. But my movie, with my name on it, that says I did it, needs to be the way I want it.’ ”

Lucas seized control of his movies from the studios only to discover that the fanboys could still give him script notes. “Why would I make any more,” Lucas says of the “Star Wars” movies, “when everybody yells at you all the time and says what a terrible person you are?”

As it happens, I'm currently taking an English class focused entirely on studying the Harry Potter books in-depth. Yes, it is exactly as awesome as it sounds. At some point, the class discussion wandered towards Star Wars (being a related fantasy franchise), and one of my classmates said "I never watched Star Wars because I never understood why they did the whole movies-out-of-order thing." Another of my classmates immediately said "it's because George Lucas wanted more money, so he changed the story and said there was more before the first movie." I immediately countered with "No, he had the vague story for the whole saga before the first movie was released." The second classmate replied "Well, the thing is, I think George Lucas lies."

The conversation went on from there (and I think I technically ended up winning the debate), but that was a surprising example of just how deeply-embedded the Lucas-hate is in general society. For one reason or another, people just assume that Lucas is a bad person. And that hate apparently reaches Lucas, to the point where it became a large factor in his decision to stop making movies and retire.

I'm actually really pissed off at the internet and geek culture now. For all the arguments about George Lucas being some kind of satanic monster, the people making those arguments are the ones most deserving of all that vitriol. All the douchebags that whine and complain that Greedo shoots first can't even stop and realize that for every minor edit to the Star Wars saga, there's a huge contribution to filmmaking.

George Lucas created ILM, and revolutionized visual effects.
He revolutionized and set the standard for sound in film with THX.
Out of ILM spun Pixar, thus George Lucas is the godfather of modern CG animation in film.
Digital film and film editing were completely revolutionized by Lucasfilm. If you've ever used Windows Movie Maker or iMovie, you have George Lucas to thank for that.

Biggest of all, George Lucas gave us an epic fantasy story wrapped in a science fiction package that tapped into the very heart and soul of humanity. If he hadn't created Star Wars in the first place, no one would have loved it enough to get pissed off at the fact that it's 1% different than it was when they watched as a kid.

So now the people obsessed with blaming Lucas for the raping of their childhood have their way. Their comments have actually hurt him, and he's retiring.
Hey, people: go die in a fire.

Clone Wars Characters

2011-11-01T01:41:00.001-05:00

It occurs to me that The Clone Wars, now in its fourth season, has a rich cast of original characters that have really shined. I figured I'd run down my favorites.

From least-to-most-favorite.

Pre Vizsla

Truth be told, I don't like this character that much. But the fact that he's a Mandalorian who wears the actual armor and does the kinds of things we'd expect from a Mandalorian gets him points.

Cad Bane

He actually gets on my nerves a lot, what with his constantly repetitive plots. (Cad Bane goes somewhere to steal/kidnap something/someone and narrowly escapes Jedi capture. Rinse & repeat.) But at the same time, he's a credible non-Force user threat that evokes the gunslinging nature of the Original Trilogy.

Asajj Ventress

Technically she was around before TCW (being in the previous Clone Wars animated series), but she's really been treated with respect here, mostly in the 3-part Nightsisters trilogy of Season 3. Her connection to the Dathomiri witches (previously only seen in the Expanded Universe) is very cool, and she's given a ton of focus as a developing character. It's also just great to see more dark Jedi than Dooku and Sidious, neither of whom are very cool.

Savage Oppress

Dumb name; serious Sith apprentice. Savage might be a little shallow, but he's got a ton of potential, and his connection both to the Dathomiri and to Darth Maul are really great.

Commander Wolffe

His no-nonsense attitude is entertaining and his cybernetic eye is really cool, but the real reason he's on this list is his awesome new Season 4 armor. Yeah, it's that awesome.

Captain Rex

Rex is a character that hasn't gotten much to do in the show other than follow orders inside his cool custom-painted helmet, but in a few episodes (Season 2's "The Deserter" and Season 4's "Darkness on Umbara") Rex showed some real unique character, breaking from the static clone programming. It makes me wonder how Order 66 will play out with these new character developments. Will he resist the order? Can he? Can any clone? We'll just have to find out.

Domino Squad

We've seen Domino Squad go all the way from training simulations to being on the frontlines of the war. We've seen two of them die tragically, one die heroically, two become ARC Troopers in the 501st Legion, and only one survive thus far. Like Rex, these heroes break from the norm. Fives in particular seems to be a bit of a rebel within the army, befitting of an ARC trooper.

Plo Koon

So Plo Koon was already in every one of the prequel films. But he never spoke or did anything important other than apparently die, so I count him more as a Clone Wars character than anything else.
He's a very, very OT-style character. He seems wiser than just about anyone else, and is skilled enough with a blade and a starfighter that he gets a billion cool points. I actually like the duo of Plo and Ahsoka better than the Ahsoka/Anakin pairing.

Ahsoka

Ahsoka may be the most unlikely fan favorite ever. In spite of her rough start, she's grown into a mature, relatable, and amazing character. She's a perspective character, like Luke in the OT—a type of character sorely lacking in the prequels. She's the closest thing The Clone Wars has to a central character, and is much of the reason why the show has been as well-received by fans as it has been. Ahsoka is easily one of my top five favorite Star Wars characters.

Star Wars Fan Days IV

2011-10-14T22:32:00.001-05:00

This past Saturday, I went to Star Wars Fan Days IV in Irving, TX. Fan Days is basically a miniature SW convention. It was pretty cool.

Here were my highlights:

Stepping out into the main room. Since I'd never been to a convention of any kind before, I was a little unprepared for just how awesome the sight of thousands of geek collectibles at bargain prices was. I didn't actually end up picking up anything (needed to save money for Batman: Arkham City coming out next week), but I was sorely tempted.

Getting to see The ForceCast do a live show. Because of the weird echoey acoustics in the room, I couldn't hear much and ended up leaving early, but it was still great to actually see the people that I'd been listening to on my iPod for about 4 years now.

Seeing movie-quality Boba and Jango Fett costumes in-person. Just so cool.

Seeing this little five-year-old Princess Leia nervous about meeting a real-life R2-D2. Oh, by the way, I MET AN ACTUAL R2 UNIT THAT MOVED AND SPUN ITS HEAD AND BLINKED ITS LIGHTS AND WHISTLED AND yeah it was pretty awesome.

The above is a photo of Timothy Zahn (right) and Aaron Allston (left) answering a question that I got to ask them at their Q&A panel. For those unaware, Timothy Zahn is pretty much the creator of the modern Star Wars Expanded Universe. He's known as the great writer by which all other Star Wars writers are judged. And I got to be in the same room with him and ask him a question. That is so cool.

My question was a bit of a softball ("what Star Wars films are you guys' favorites, and why?"), but it was purposely done to lead into my friend's follow-up question ("If you could go back and rewrite anything from any of the films, what would you change?"). Those questions sparked some really interesting answers and insights into Star Wars that I hadn't ever thought of before.

I saw an actual DeLorean in-person. It was from about 4 stories up (I forgot to go down and take a picture at ground-level), but still. I saw a DeLorean!

The Clone Wars cast panel. I got to see Steven Stanton (Tarkin), Catherine Taber (Padmé), Ashley Eckstein (Ahsoka), Meredith Salenger (Bariss Offee), and Tom Kane (Yoda, Admiral Yularen, the announcer) up on a stage. It was awesome.

Finally, I got Tom Kane's autograph. It was actually my first time getting anything signed by anyone. And it's just so cool! I kinda think that I'm gonna go around and "collect" these 8x10 signed photos; put 'em in an album.

So yeah. That was Fan Days. It was fun. Totally going again next year, with WAY more spending money in my pocket.

Love

2011-10-12T13:22:00.000-05:00

As much as I love Star Wars, there's one major aspect of it that's always bothered me. One thing that's never sat right; one thing that seems to not only not make sense within the Star Wars story itself, but to contradict the very truths of both mythology and reality.

I'm talking about the highly negative view the Star Wars films have of romantic love. Let's look at every instance of it that we see in the Star Wars saga:

Luke and Leia.
Well, that turns out weird. A New Hope pushes the idea that Luke is the young hero who rescues the princess, complete with googly-eyes and romantic swings across Death Star chasms. While Leia never directly acknowledges that she has feelings for Luke, it seems pretty open. Even if it is just to stick it to Han Solo, she full-on kisses Luke in The Empire Strikes Back. And then she turns out to be his sister. What?!
The only real justification for this sudden plot twist is the fact that Leia then becomes a familial connection for Luke, and thus an emotional weakness/strength in his final battle with Vader. Otherwise, the only reason seems to be that Jedi are simply not supposed to fall in love.

Han and Leia.
This is the only romantic connection that seems to work in the saga, but it's not taken to the end. We get the vague idea that Leia and Han are together at the end, but there's no sense that things will stay that way.

Anakin and Padmé.
This is, by far, the most closely-examined romantic relationship in the saga. Anakin is a possessive, selfish psycho. That's it. Interestingly, however, this is seemingly taken to be the example of why all Jedi cannot be romantically involved. As though every Jedi, no matter whom, will eventually fall to the Dark Side simply because of their fear of losing the one they cherish. This is very disturbing. It seems to imply that for Jedi, that fear of loss is far more powerful than any positive love ever could be.

Now, aside from romantic relationships, there seem to be varying effects of platonic or familial love. As I said, Luke's brotherly love for Leia gives him the strength to defeat Vader, but is he truly motivated by compassion for Leia, or by anger against Vader for threatening her? It seems to be the latter, as Luke is only barely able to pull himself back from the Dark Side at this point.
On the other hand, Vader's fatherly love for Luke is what drives him to make the right choice in the end, effectively redeeming himself and coming back to the Light Side.

In 2002, George Lucas made this comment:
"Jedi Knights aren't celibate - the thing that is forbidden is attachments - and possessive relationships."

So, basically, Jedi can have all the one-night stands they want, but if they become emotionally involved, it's all over? Jedi can have children—and, seemingly, the parent/child relationship is a very positive one for Jedi—but spouses just can't work? How is that?

I don't often like to write about peoples' personal lives, especially people I don't know, but I think it's worth mentioning that much of the original trilogy films were edited and otherwise influenced by Marcia Lucas, George Lucas' former wife. They divorced the year Return of the Jedi was released, though Lucas adopted two children afterward. George has not remarried since.

George's seeming rejection of romance and embracing of parental love seems to mirror what's seen in the Star Wars saga: romantic love brings about only pain and destruction, while parental love is the only power strong enough to heal those wounds.

Although Star Wars is based on truths from a thousand different mythologies and quite a bit of real, honest truth, the saga's view on romance seems to be based more on Lucas's bad past experiences than on any reality.

The Saga on Blu-Ray

2011-05-04T23:06:00.000-05:00

So. The entire Star Wars film saga is coming to Blu-ray this Fall, and the details of its content were just announced today. You can check out the full details here.

The basic gist of it is this:

#1: The films will be the Special/DVD Editions, not the theatrical releases. This doesn't bother me so much, since we already have the theatricals on DVD, and Lucasfilm apparently never remastered the theatricals in HD, so a blu-ray release doesn't make sense. Still, though, it would have been nice.
#2: We still don't know any of the details about new content from the films, other than the one revealed deleted scene from Return of the Jedi. Which is pretty lame. I wanna hear what else we'll see.
#3: Most of the big stuff we're getting is in the form of documentaries (that are actually pretty long). A few of them seem really cool. For instance, an 84-minute doc on the 501st Legion?! Awesome!

One semi-minor gripe I have with the box set, though: the box art.
Now, the art for the individual trilogy sets (which I assume are inside the larger box's case) are amazing.

I love those. But the combined box set (pictured at top)? Eh. It's a great art piece, and it's true that the Tatooine horizon is one of the most iconic Star Wars images, but I don't really like the overall sandy look of it. It seems a little messy, like it needs to be more neutral somehow. It's distractingly abnormal.

Oh well. Still buying the thing when it comes out this Fall. Yay.

Prequel Judgment

2011-01-21T22:47:00.000-06:00

So I'm getting tired of people "looking down" on prequel fandom. I totally sympathize with peoples' concerns over the prequel films' faults, but it's just too much sometimes.

It's not so much the judgment on the prequel films themselves; it's the judgment on the fans of the prequels. Sometimes I feel like my opinions are taken less seriously when I try to refer to anything prequel- or Clone Wars-related. It's just frustrating.

More Movies?

2010-10-25T22:02:00.004-05:00

Wow. Been a while since I posted stuff here, huh?

Okay, so IESB.net reported on Friday that there are "New Star Wars Movies Planned." Rumors of new SW films are nothing new. George Lucas's original plan for the saga was to have the first six episodes follow the Skywalker family's saga, then start Episode VII with an elderly Luke passing the torch to a new generation of Jedi knights for episodes VII-XII. Yeah, that's right, the original plan was to have TWELVE films, not six. Lucas later changed his mind (probably because he got old), and claimed that he "never planned on more than six films," but that's all garbage because he already said otherwise in previously published interviews.
What makes this particular rumor so compelling is that it's IESB.net, which is a highly reliable source.

"First, let me remind our readers of IESB's past scoops so anyone doubting the news will be aware. From Joss Whedon directing the Avengers, to the recent announcement of Disney's planned renegotiation of the Paramount Marvel deal, to the countless casting scoops, directing scoops, to our solid sources at Lucasfilm.
Confirmed IESB scoops specific to the Star Wars universe include the first announcement of the PG-13 rating of Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, the first word of a live action Star Wars TV series as well as the Clone Wars animated series. Yes, all of these Lucasfilm scoops were all first reported here on IESB.

...Can we expect Lucasfilm to confirm our story? Have they ever? Nope, I am sure that they will spin this or completly deny the story, but we will stand 100% behind our source."

So, yeah. This seems pretty legitimate. It's far from a confirmation, but it's got a good chance of being true at the very least. Of course, Lucasfilm denied everything, but honestly, what else would they do?

The report outlines the basic gist of the new films:
"Too early for story details but one thing that our source is certain about, they will not be prequels but instead sequels. It's not for certain if they will be the long awaited Episodes 7, 8 and 9 but could instead be Episodes 10, 11 and 12 or possibly even further out in the Star Wars timeline. And by giving space in the timeline, possibly even as far as 100 years or 1,000 years in the Star Wars universe future, Lucas avoids having to make these stories "fit in" with what the previous stories have told."

So here's the thing:
True or not, is making more films a good idea? I briefly had a texting-convo with my good buddy Robert about an hour ago on this very topic:

Aaron:

There are some seriously strong rumors about a new Star Wars sequel trilogy.

Robert:

Nooooooooooooo

Aaron:

You *don't* want more films?

Robert:

9 film marathon?? (note: Robert is referring to the fact that we and other friends have an annual Star Wars 6-film 12-hour movie marathon tradition)

Aaron:

They're not supposed to be Skywalker-focused, so they'll be a different storyline. Post-Return of the Jedi, I think. Might be episodes 7-12, as was originally planned in 1977. So... two marathons? Lucasfilm's denying the rumors, of course, but I'm not really believing them ATM.

Robert:

Post-jedi, like to destroy all of the EU? Jerks. Or maybe they adapt the X-wing series?

Aaron:

No telling. Though if the new movies are better than the EU (which is possibly), I'd accept it.

Robert:

Mrragh. I am not happy with this, its likely to irrevocably destroy the new republic era of EU

Aaron:

Dude. Books>Films? Nuh-uh.

Robert:

I have little faith that they will be anything but money mongering films

Aaron:

That's never been Lucasfilm's M.O. Even The Clone Wars is great.

Robert:

Hahahahahahahahah nice sarcasm

Aaron:

Totally not sarcastic there, buddy

Robert:

The clone wars is great? Which one? And attack of the clones was great?

Aaron:

Hang on. It's blog post time.

So, yeah. There's a chance that if they do films in the era after Return of the Jedi, they'll eradicate some Expanded Universe material. A whole frakton of it.
However, as much as that would suck, I do think that it'd be better to have more movies. I'd rather have a new trilogy and just go ahead with wiping out the post-Jedi EU. Then the EU can start over alongside and after the new movies.
And hey, if the new films take place more than 125 years after ROTJ, there's no EU material to contradict anyway. So there might not even be anything to fuss about.

Then there's the question of quality: can new Star Wars movies ever be good?
Personally, I think anyone who's familiar with Star Wars stories such as Knights of the Old Republic (the game, not the comic), Star Wars: Legacy, and the Thrawn Trilogy of novels can say with absolute certainty that the Star Wars universe is definitely an extremely fertile ground for storytelling. The main complaint raised against this idea of new films is that the Prequels weren't necessarily amazing. They had a plethora of problems, and many fans feel that George Lucas is entirely to blame for them. Furthermore, there are some who believe that anytime GL does ANYTHING with Star Wars, he's only doing it for monetary gain and with absolutely no artistic integrity or respect for his own creation.
I disagree.

I stopped reviewing The Clone Wars TV series last year, not because it wasn't good, but rather because it had reached a standard of unwavering high quality that just didn't make for interesting criticism anymore. And guess who comes up with 80% of all the story ideas for The Clone Wars? George Lucas. He oversees, edits, and is in complete control of the series. Sure, the show might only exist because Lucasfilm needs to make money (because, other than ILM, what else do they have? Indiana Jones?), but is that a bad thing? If a product is good, what's wrong with selling it? Capitalism at its finest, I say. (that one was for you, Robert.)

Yeah, the Prequels aren't all that amazing. They've got brilliant epic special effects and a masterful galaxy-spanning story, but sometimes-terrible dialogue and vomit-worthy acting (mostly in episodes II and III).
Here's an interesting idea that I've heard thrown around: perhaps Star Wars is better when George is still in control, but technically hands-off? That was the approach for The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi (in which GL was the Exec Producer, but not the on-set director), as well as the current setup for The Clone Wars.

Here's a cool article from Wired.com on "5 Reasons Lucas Should Film a New Star Wars Trilogy." I agree with it for the most part.

—

5 Reasons Lucas Should Film a New Star Wars Trilogy

Heard the big sci-fi rumor? Messages boards went wild over the weekend based on an unsourced report that George Lucas might be making another Star Wars trilogy, timed to land after the planned 3-D re-release of the first six episodes.

Some fans swooned over the possibility while others — still seething over the second batch of Star Wars films and other gripes — spewed bile on the idea. While Lucasfilm predictably denied the rumor, we think Lucas should reconsider.

Here’s our five cents, in the form of five reasons why the Skywalker Ranch hands should get cracking on another trilogy in a hyperspace nanosecond.

5. It’s not a stretch.
Lucasfilm has been building out the Star Wars cinema and toon universe ever since The Phantom Menace landed in 1999. The excellent Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated series is currently on its third season, heading for 66 episodes, with more surely to come. Another Star Wars live-action TV series, aiming to deliver a syndication-friendly 100 episodes, is up next. Just using those numbers alone, that’s more than 80 hours of Star Wars storytelling. What’s another six-plus hours of film?

4. The last trilogy wasn’t great.
Lucasfilm’s second Star Wars trilogy simply didn’t meet the mammoth expectations created by the first one. Another cycle of three films, done well, might give fanboys some closure. Although the second trilogy finished strong with the dark and dystopian Revenge of the Sith, the movie just couldn’t wash away the stain of Jar Jar Binks or Anakin and Padme’s roll in the hay. Third time’s a charm!

3. It’s for a good cause.
George Lucas has pledged a massive chunk of his prodigious estate to charity. Even haters have to admit that another three features would bring another three truckloads of cash to younglings worldwide. (If they won’t, maybe they should put half their money where their flapping gums are.)

2. Avatar needs the competition.
Star Wars gave birth to next-gen sci-fi cinema in 1977, and lorded over it for decades until James Cameron’s Avatar came along and pwned it last year. Now Cameron’s immersive 3-D experiment is the highest-grossing film of all time, as well as the benchmark for blockbuster sci-fi cinema’s new normal — and he’s got two sequels on the way. A new Star Wars trilogy raising the immersive 3-D stakes could bring the Oscar statues and street cred back to papa Lucas. That would perhaps please not just Star Wars loyalists, but also Academy voters who gave Cameron the gas face and hilariously awarded the Best Picture Oscar to his ex-wife’s underwhelming film The Hurt Locker.

1. Star Wars purists need a diaper change.
I saw Star Wars in the theater in 1977, just like a host of other fans around the world. But it’s exceedingly hard not to laugh when fandom loses its nut over the possibility of another film trilogy, or even the failed ambition of the last one. Lucas makes a busload of bank (for Skywalker Ranch and charity, remember) by making movies for every childhood, not just ours.

The fanboys and fangirls who are sad that Lucas might tread on their cherished memories of Han Solo’s hairy chest, or Luke Skywalker’s petulant whining about having to go to the Tosche Station to pick up some power converters, or whatever, need to step back into the timestream and grow up. Sure, Jar Jar Binks still sucks, and that will probably never change. (Why do you think Lucas had him sell out the Senate by proposing to give Palpatine unitary executive power?). But Lucas doesn’t suck, nor has he sold out our sacred childhood fantasies. He’s the one that built them, and another trilogy will remind us all of that inescapable truth.

—

Here's another thing.

Have any of you ever actually seen Star Wars in the theater? I've been lucky enough to have seen the prequels as well as Episode IV on the glorious big screen, and I have to say that no other film experience has ever topped that. Star Wars is truly an event that dominates and defines the moviegoing experience, and the chance to see something new from the Galaxy Far, Far Away on that screen is definitely worth allowing into our preciously-guarded Star Wars-loving hearts.

TCW - "Landing at Point Rain"

2009-11-04T20:00:00.069-06:00

This may be the single best ground battle in the entire Star Wars saga.
After the short few-minute setup scene, this entire episode is one gigantic, epic, and terrible war scene. Clones die right and left; gunfire and cannon blasts fly in all directions; even our Jedi heroes cannot emerge unscathed.

Each episode in this "Geonosis arc" has its own specific focus. This episode's focus is all-out war insanity.
It draws some definite parallels to other war stories, notably D-day—which is fitting, considering Star Wars's heavy WWII connections.

More than any other battle in Star Wars' TV and movie history, this feels like a real war. The directorial style makes the viewer feel there with the characters in the middle of this conflict. As the battle goes worse and worse for the Republic heroes, their desperation becomes practically palpable.

Other notable details go a long way in helping with the overall feel. The clones, more than ever before, seem to act like real soldiers. They truly seem mortal now, rather than just token characters in an animated series. In this instance, it's actually surprising when a clone doesn't die, rather than when he does. Also, they use flamethrowers.

It's rather remarkable that this episode actually makes you fear for a few of the characters' lives. Obi-Wan in particular has a rather awesome moment where he prepares to make his last stand, despite his hopeless odds.

This is definitely one of the standout episodes of the entire series thus far. Without a doubt, it's the one with the most jaw-dropping eye candy. If you're looking for an episode to show friends (and get them hooked on the show), this is the episode to go to.

TCW - "Senate Spy"

2009-10-16T20:00:00.021-05:00

This is the first episode of The Clone Wars where not a single shot is fired, nor a lightsaber ignited. There's literally no action to speak of. Instead, it's a highly tense romantic drama.

Unfortunately, this change of pace doesn't pay off. In a series where we expect a certain level of fun and excitement, an episode like this needed to be flat-out amazing in order to seem like anything other than a boring waste of time.

All in all, while this episode wasn't terrible, it was mostly a boring waste of time.

TCW - "Children of the Force"

2009-10-09T20:00:00.055-05:00

In this episode, we get the conclusion of this "Cad Bane trilogy," which, according to later episodes in Season 3, is apparently not a technical trilogy. It's complicated.

This is perhaps the first Clone Wars episode that actually feels like a Star Wars movie in terms of scope. A total of four planets (and a space station) are visited, making the entire story seem more epic. Each planet, of course, gets a mere few minutes of screentime, but it's something at least.

Cad Bane's capture in this episode finally puts an end to the three-episode-long repetitious plot cycle of Cad Bane (1) initiating a daring plan to capture an object/person of value, (2) tricking the Jedi, and (3) narrowly escaping the Jedi's grasp. Finally, here, he's captured. The score is still Bane: 3, Jedi: 1, but the Jedi are definitely making a comeback. That Force-torture scene, though... that was intense. It was definitely a morally-gray thing for the Jedi to do, but it still made for a powerful scene.

I have to question why they decided to use Mustafar in this episode. If it was used as a Sith/Separatist outpost here, why would Sidious use it again later? It doesn't really make sense. It raises too many questions, and doesn't give any reason why Mustafar should have been used here. Any other planet would have been just fine.

Lastly, that scene in Bane's space station was pretty awesome. The visual of red lasers crossing with blue and purple sabers in the dark was really great.

Overall, this was a pretty good episode. Nothing INCREDIBLE, but still pretty decent.

TCW - "Cargo of Doom"

2009-10-02T19:30:00.155-05:00

Well, this was certainly many levels of awesome. Right from the start, we see a nice big space battle. One thing that I noticed is that the Venator-class Star Destroyer Resolute completely obliterates all four of the Separatist Munificent-class Star Frigates. Apparently Separatist frigates are the space equivalent of battle droids: near-completely useless in every possible way.

Rewinding just a bit, though, there is a problem with this episode. At the end of "Holocron Heist," Anakin was on a mission to rescue Jedi Master Bolla Ropal, and Obi-Wan firmly stated that he would find Cad Bane while he was still on Coruscant. However, by the beginning of this episode, Bane has already escaped Coruscant, met up with a Separatist fleet, attacked Devaronia, kidnapped Ropal (and, by extension, the Kyber crystal), and was already in the middle of leaving Devaronia when Anakin finally caught up to him. How exactly did that happen, and why don't we get to see it? Those details seem rather important to leave out.

The next few scenes of the episode are really interesting. First, Yularen acts like a near-insubordinate jerk. It's definitely interesting, and I wonder how that character dynamic will develop in the future.

The use of the AT-TE walkers as dropships was pretty clever, though I find it highly unlikely that Anakin's regular outfit is actually able to function as a spacesuit. Ahsoka's spacesuit, on the other hand, looks pretty great. I would actually prefer that she wear that suit in the future rather than her usual Togrutan tribe-child garb.

The torture-killing of a Jedi has been called "shocking" by some, but I honestly feel like it was shocking in fact only. It wasn't a terribly dramatic scene, perhaps because it dealt with an alien that had suction cups on his fingers.

The zero-gravity scene was amazing. Definitely one of the most original and striking action scenes in recent Star Wars memory. At one point, a clone stood upside-down on the ceiling and let loose with his Z-6 Rotary Cannon. Because gunning while on the ceiling is awesome.

The following scene with Ahsoka was pretty great. The shot of her centered in the hallway is really great-looking. Speaking of Ahsoka, her "space suit" costume was pretty great, and I hope that she gets to keep it in the future. Because seriously, she needs a better outfit.
I actually really like the fact that Ahsoka was able to take Cad Bane down with hand-to-hand combat, even if she did just get zapped later.

The hostage exchange scene didn't make a lot of sense. Why did Anakin unlock the crystal if he was just going to grab Ahsoka's lightsaber and attack Bane anyway? There was no advantage in giving Bane what he wanted before attacking. It really doesn't make any logical sense, and it bothers me.

Lastly, we see Cad Bane obviously escape in clone armor. This makes the third episode in a row where Cad Bane has managed to accomplish his goals and narrowly escape the Jedi. At this point, it's not cool anymore. It's just annoying.

In the end, this is a very fun episode, with a couple of major flaws.

TCW - "Holocron Heist"

2009-10-02T19:00:00.002-05:00

So here we are. Season 2 of The Clone Wars. It's pretty good thus far.

It starts off with one of the most epic battles we've seen yet, as the Republic forces retreat from Felucia. This is very cool for continuity's sake, as we later see in Revenge of the Sith that Felucia is still a battleground.

Seeing Plo Koon in a starfighter dogfight is a lot of fun, even if it only serves as exposition for the overall battle.
Considering how much work the production crew must have put into creating Felucia--all those giant fungi must have been hell to digitally craft--it seems odd that they would only use it in the first few minutes of one episode. I sense a return to this planet in the future.

The subplot involving Ahsoka's disobedience is a little puzzling, however. While she was initially resistant to her orders, she ultimately followed them. Anakin did the same thing in Attack of the Clones, yet he wasn't reprimanded in the slightest. (Maybe the Jedi Council figured that he'd been punished enough after having his arm cut off?) Why is Ahsoka punished so badly in this instance? Is it because this instance is only adding to the already-extensive list of her past acts of over-aggression?

Ahsoka's punishment scene was almost jarring, in a good way. The tone, voice acting, and animation all seemed perfectly genuine and personal, which isn't normal for this show. It's also great to see ANYTHING in this show that DOES NOT HAVE TO DO WITH BATTLE. Fighting is all well and good, but the nonstop action in The Clone Wars is sometimes too much. It's important to slow down and give the viewers a chance to get to know the characters in times of peace as well as in times of conflict.

The plot of Cad Bane and his Clawdite companion was pretty smart. It seemed highly plausible, and the fact that the Jedi were able to lose the battle while not seeming incompetent is a credit to the writing crew.

The Jedi Temple is a favorite thing of mine in Star Wars canon. I grew up reading about young Obi-Wan's adventures in the Jedi Apprentice book series, which included at least one story about an intruder in the temple. This story was delightfully nostalgic for me.

Seeing Jocasta Nu was cool, even if I have a severe dislike for the character. (I mean, seriously. She looks like a Sith Lord.)
Ahsoka's adventure in the Jedi Archives was fun. Normally we only get to see Ahsoka as a cocky brat, but here she's acting like a genuinely nice young girl.

The rest of the episode is relatively straightforward. In fact, that may be its only detriment: aside from the opening few minutes dealing with Ahsoka, the rest of the story is rather ho-hum. Bane is very nearly caught, but manages to sneakily escape with his prize.

There is one pretty awesome surprise at the end: a mention of the Kyber crystal.
Now, the Kyber crystal is somewhat of a holy grail in Star Wars lore. In early drafts of A New Hope, the Kyber crystal was a way of focusing the Force and amplifying a Jedi's power. In several later Star Wars novels and games, the "Kaiburr" crystal was described as multiplying a Jedi's power by a thousand times, and shards of the crystal could be used in lightsabers to multiply their power as well.
The crystal mentioned in this episode is certainly not the same "Kaiburr" crystal from the EU, but it's still an extremely important and powerful object: it contains a list of every known Force-sensitive child in the galaxy.
Awesome.

All in all, however, this episode is a little boring in hindsight. It's not bad by any means, and it's extremely well-made, but it serves more as a set-up for future episodes than a great story in its own right.

Jedi Funeral

2009-09-23T22:43:00.001-05:00

Everyone knows about the Jedi funeral pyre scenes in Return of the Jedi and The Phantom Menace. They're iconic and awesome. After my dad was cremated, my grandmother was upset until I reminded her that cremation is the Jedi custom. Then she got all excited.
Yes, that is how geeky we are.

Here's the thing: HOW HORRIFYING WOULD IT BE TO WATCH THE BODY OF SOMEONE YOU KNEW BURN UP?

Seriously. I mean, in The Phantom Menace, we only see the flames surround the edges of Qui-Gon's head. His right boot is starting to crumble, but otherwise he looks fine. Not long after the camera cuts away, however, the onlookers were probably staring at his sizzling, blackened flesh peeling slowly off his face. Eww.
Not to mention the smell...

Now, Vader was contained within his black armor. He probably cooked all nice and neatly inside there like chicken in an oven. But Qui-Gon? That's just nasty.

Clone Wars update

2009-09-17T22:25:00.002-05:00

It looks like Season 2 is going to be really great. From all the clips I've seen, the show looks better in every single respect.

Expanded Universe / The Karentraversy

2009-08-24T14:07:00.001-05:00

A recent issue has come up as of late. Karen Traviss, author of the Republic Commando series of expanded universe novels, has posted on her blog that she is leaving Star Wars writing behind. Apparently, the established "canon" of Star Wars has changed with the new stories being told in the Clone Wars TV series, and was forced to either write books that would introduce massive retcons to her already-established stories or simply walk away. She chose the latter.

This has caused some controversy--or, as The ForceCast's Jason Swank put it, "Karentraversy." If the canon of the Expanded Universe is being messed up, does that mean that the hundreds of Star Wars EU stories that have been written are no longer reliable sources of Star Wars information?

But then the other thing to ask is "what is EU?" Does it include the film novelizations? After all, the novelizations of the original trilogy aren't completely accurate. What about the "official guides"? I'm not talking about the books that are very clearly based in the EU, such as The New Essential Chronology or The New Essential Guide to Characters; I mean the books such as The Visual Dictionary, which is marketed as an official visual guide to the established canon of the films. I read the Revenge of the Sith Visual Dictionary, and one passage directly referenced a story from the Jedi Apprentice series of young adult novels. Does that mean that the Visual Dictionary has upgraded that other EU story to G-canon level, or does it mean that the Visual Dictionary does not canon information? Or does it simply mean that only that one quote is incorrect, while the rest of the book may be treated as canon? It's just too complicated.
Until the 2008 Clone Wars series, Star Wars canon was unified. The New Essential Chronology had been published, and it told a story that seamlessly interwove all the Star Wars stories from the comics, novels, games, and films into a single, wonderful, millennia-spanning tale.

But now, with The Clone Wars apparently causing Karentraversy in canon, all of that may be threatened. Does this mean that all there is to the Star Wars universe is the films and the Clone Wars TV series? That's definitely not what Lucasfilm has been claiming for a very long time. In the Star Wars Insider Magazine, Starwars.com, and many other sources, Lucasfilm has used Expanded Universe material to answer questions from fans and inform them of Star Wars's continuity.

Now, I don't believe that the Karentraversy is going to ruin the Expanded Universe. I really doubt that anything extremely major is going to occur. However, in principle I'm rather upset. I don't want to see the Star Wars franchise thrown into chaos over what should be relatively minor issues.

The Clone Wars - Season 1 Retrospective

2009-04-19T01:31:00.025-05:00

So we've finally reached the end of Season 1; the 22 episodes are through.

All in all, there are mixed results. Some episodes really stand out, whilst others are instantly forgettable.

Ambush - 3/5
Good, but not amazing. Too many battle droid jokes.

Rising Malevolence - 4/5
A great, simple episode. Good introduction of Plo Koon.

Shadow of Malevolence - 4/5
A very fun space battle evocative of the Original Trilogy.

Destroy Malevolence - 3/5
Nice, but slightly anticlimactic.

Rookies - 4/5
Very cool, and surprisingly mature.

Downfall of a Droid - 3/5
A good episode, but not great.

Duel of the Droids - 4/5
A very good action episode. The droid bump-battle was hilarious.

Bombad Jedi - 2/5
Not a completely terrible episode, but not terribly great, either.

Cloak of Darkness - 5/5
Amazing characterization and fight choreography, with pervasive darkness.

Lair of Grievous - 3/5
Great intro for Kit Fisto, but not the best episode overall.

Dooku Captured - 2/5
Nothing special.

The Gungan General - 1/5
An insult to the viewers' intelligence.

Jedi Crash - 4/5
Extremely cool, and great characterization.

Defenders of Peace - 3/5
Decent, but not too great. A bit disappointing as the second part of its arc.

Trespass - 4/5
Absolutely great visual style with a good story to match.

The Hidden Enemy - 3/5
Interesting, but ultimately strange on multiple levels.

Blue Shadow Virus - 1/5
Terrible writing.

Mystery of a Thousand Moons - 2/5
Jumbled and convoluted.

Storm Over Ryloth - 4/5
A good tactical/space battle episode, with some great Ahsoka development thrown in.

Innocents of Ryloth - 5/5
Maybe not amazing, but a great episode in every sense.

Liberty on Ryloth - 4/5
A fun and slightly deep adventure.

Hostage Crisis - 4/5
Some great characterizations and maturity, yet also anticlimactic.

I have a few picks from the 22 episodes that I think particularly stand out, for very different reasons.

1: Rookies
This episode showed us that the show is willing to go to some rather dark places, showing literal self-sacrifice, on-screen death, and mild swearing. Hell yes.

2: Cloak of Darkness
Here we finally saw lightsaber battles that looked perfectly realistic, as well as editing that kept everything flowing wonderfully. Punctuated by the shockingly violent end of Argyus, this episode rivals "Rookies" in its darkness.

3: Jedi Crash
The opening battle scene in the skies is flat-out amazing, even if the rest of the episode isn't.

4: Trespass
The completely altered "snowy" visual style is entertaining just for the sheer novelty.

5: Innocents of Ryloth
A great episode that humanized the war, giving the viewer an emotional tie to the conflict.

6: Hostage Crisis
The Clone Wars without its hands tied. Great characterization and no-punches-pulled action. (Ziro does bring it down, however)

My review scores for this season average out to about 3.27 (OMG!), or 65%. The stories really were all over the place, with some being great stories worthy of the Star Wars name and others being trash.

The animation was really lacking in many of the early episodes, but got stunningly better in "Cloak of Darkness" and "Lair of Grievous."

The music seemed to be great in the first episode, with the classic John Williams theme for Yoda being used extremely well in "Ambush," but afterward the music became simply "good for a television series," and not anywhere near the level that real Star Wars music should be at. Perhaps if other episodes had had better music, they would have evoked stronger emotions, and ultimately been better.

Another complaint I have is with the "moral messages" that the writers seemed to be throwing into the show. In a 22-minute episode, there may not be enough time to really examine many of the moral messages that episodes like "Defenders of Peace" and "Liberty on Ryloth" attempted to tackle. I would much rather that political/ideological messages be left out of these 22-minute stories unless they are going to be treated with enough maturity and care as to fully utilize such a message. To date, no episodes have yet done that.

The sheer level of detail in the series, however, is astounding. The facial animations in particular are to be lauded, as they are extremely expressive, and rarely wooden.

All in all, I'm happy with Season 1 of The Clone Wars, but I still wish that it had been better. Perhaps my view is spoiled because of the incredible Clone Wars micro-series, which had all manner of depth, emotion, and poignancy despite the restrictions of its format. In comparing the two series, I think that I prefer the micro-series, as it had more emotional impact and character development (and utilized the John Williams music to a great degree).
However, this new series may, in fact, become much better in seasons to come; it's hard to tell. I feel like this series may be held back by the fact that it's controlled by George Lucas himself, who can come up with amazing ideas but not always make them work out in their final form.

Still, however, this season was a good start. Lots of feedback is being sent to Lucasfilm, and the series's director, Dave Filoni, definitely seems to be listening intently. At this point, it seems like the series will only get better.

TCW - "Hostage Crisis"

2009-03-20T20:00:00.004-05:00

This is by far the most violent episode of The Clone Wars thus far. We get on-screen neck breaks and an execution shot to the back. Fun. ^-^

On a lighter note, this may be the first time we've seen Anakin and Padmé's relationship not be completely awkward and creepy. It's true that Anakin's "romantic gesture" was a stupid, stupid thing to do, but hey, at least the dialogue didn't sound horrible. This scene made their relationship seem sweet, rather than forbidden and terrible as it was seen in the films.

Cade Bane's character is very original for Star Wars, and it's nice to have him here. He's not my favorite bounty hunter, but he's pretty cool nonetheless. The fact that he was rescuing ZIRO, of all people, however, was a little silly. Still, he'll be a great character to have around in Season 2, which actually brings me to my next point.

This episode seemed more like a preview of Season 2 than an actual episode. If it had not been the final episode in a season, I'd have no problem. However, the fact that this episode doesn't really have much of a resolution is problematic. Bane just walks in, grabs Ziro, and leaves. That's it. There's not much real emotional drama here like we just saw with the Ryloth trilogy. What we do have is very cool, but still rather disappointing. The only thing that's really won or lost in this episode is Ziro, and do we really care about him?

On a last note, it was really great to see Aurra Sing in action, since she's one of those characters that is only barely seen in the films, yet is cool enough to warrant much more. (being a fallen Jedi and all) She can and should become a much bigger character in future episodes.

All in all, this was really more of an epilogue or a preview than a finale. It was definitely a cool episode, but was more like the first act of Die Hard (where the villains take over) without the rest of the story (where John McClane strikes back).

TCW - "Liberty on Ryloth"

2009-03-13T20:00:00.003-05:00

They should have titled this episode "The Wrath of Mace Windu." Not a complaint; just an observation.

It's interesting to see how the different episodes of "The Ryloth Trilogy" each examine the Clone Wars from a different perspective. "Storm Over Ryloth" looked at the war from the military commanders' perspective, "Innocents of Ryloth" gave us a glimpse at the way the civilians see the war, and "Liberty on Ryloth" shows us the political side.

In this episode, we get to see the "Radical Revolutionary vs Pudgy Politician" conflict, and I'm not sure it entirely worked. It's nice that they're working in all of the important political detail in this show, but it doesn't always work. This episode really only gave us a glimpse at what was going on in Ryloth's political arena, but a longer story (filled with some good back-and-forth drama) would have served that angle better.

However, one thing that was shown surprisingly well was the cruelty of the Separatists.

They BOMBED a VILLAGE filled with women and children. Just as the Republic troops are talking about giving out food to the villagers, they turn around to see the entire village DEAD. It was an extremely well-done scene.

The Mace Windu action scenes were very cool; some of the best stuff seen on this show yet. His use of the shatterpoint technique against the glass was taken straight from the Star Wars novels, which I always appreciate.

Overall, this was a good episode, but not completely amazing.

TCW - "Innocents of Ryloth"

2009-03-06T20:00:00.004-06:00

This was a really great episode. I can't quite put my finger on why, but it just felt "nice." It gave the war a more personal feel without making it sappy or silly, which is quite an achievement.

The character of Numa could have been annoying, but she ultimately turned out to be lovable, much like the character Newt from Aliens (which Numa is based on).

It was really interesting to see the clones, Waxer and Boil, as they showed how clones deal with compassion in their own varying ways. It does a lot to humanize the clones, who have thus far been mostly shown only to be concerned with their soldier duty.

Just about every aspect of this episode is extremely well-done. There's honestly nothing wrong with it. "Innocents of Ryloth" really shows the humanity of the Clone Wars, and actually makes you care about what's going on. Because of that, it's one of the standout episodes thus far.

TCW - "Storm Over Ryloth"

2009-02-27T20:00:00.005-06:00

In this episode, we finally get some character development on Ahsoka. Rather than learning to be a Padawan, she is now learning to be a knight. She's given full command of a starfighter squadron, and, later, an entire battle.

It was actually kind of refreshing to see Ahsoka take a hit to her pride, and it was even better to see her finally take charge. It'll be interesting to see how she acts from here on out. I'm very glad this episode was made.

I love well-done space battles, and this was a great one. Ahsoka's Star Destroyer flank maneuver was straight out of Heir to the Empire, which I greatly appreciate. Seeing the actual military tactics behind a lot of these uber-cool battles is one of my favorite things to see, so I naturally enjoyed this episode's focus on command decision.

One of the greatest things about this episode is its straightforward and focused storytelling. In 22 minutes, there's no room to jump back and forth between separate arenas, as the Star Wars films are known for. These episodes must be succinct and to-the-point. "Storm Over Ryloth" is a great example of that.

Anakin's maneuver was a nice demonstration of his character: brash and reckless, yet skilled and effective. It's nice that we're getting these glimpses into Anakin's character that surpass the whiny toddler-of-a-man that we saw in the Prequel films.

All in all, this episode wasn't jaw-dropping, but it was still great.

TCW - "Mystery of a Thousand Moons"

2009-02-13T20:30:00.004-06:00

This episode was split between two different viewpoints: Padmé and Ahsoka's struggle to survive after they are infected with the Blue Shadow virus (*eye-roll*), and Anakin and Obi-Wan's quest to retrieve the cure for them.
While finding the cure for the virus is a good plot idea, it seemed strange to have Anakin and Obi-Wan's journey be so completely different from everything else that was going on. I'd rather have had this episode be completely dedicated to one plot or the other rather than have the two running concurrently.

Also, what was up with that kid?

Now, I by no means hate children, but I wanted to stab that little sad-excuse-for-a-person. He was nothing more than unnecessary and annoying.

On the plus side of things, we got to actually see something only vaguely mentioned in The Phantom Menace.

Anakin: "Are you an angel?"
Padme: "What?"
Anakin: "An angel. I hear the deep space pilots talk about them. They're the most beautiful creatures in the universe. They live on the moons of... Iego, I think."

And hey, as it turns out, this episode is partly set on Iego, planet of a thousand moons, where we see none other than...

An Angel.

Awesome. I'd always assumed that it was a throwaway line from TPM, but apparently Angels actually exist in the Star Wars galaxy. Very, very cool.

Another cool nod to the films was the moon's Death Star-like laser.

That's no space station... it's a moon. Wait, what?

However, aside from the Angels and Death Star guns, this episode has almost nothing going for it. The plot is all over the place and seemingly random, and Jar-Jar is still there, screwing up everything else on Naboo that actually had a chance of being good.

Side effects of Jar-Jar include paleness, cold sweats, and death.

TCW - "Blue Shadow Virus"

2009-02-13T20:00:00.003-06:00

Honestly, I think I hate this episode. It had a few highlights, but, overall, it felt like an insult to my intelligence.

The Good:

Seeing Naboo again, especially the starfighter hangar. That setting was a favorite of mine growing up, and it's nice to see it in a new story.
The lightsaber action. It seems to have progressed beyond the staleness of early episodes.
Ahsoka's Force-hover-thermal-detonator trick.

The Bad:

Jar-Jar and his looney-toon antics.
The villain's motivation. He claimed that he was "creating life" by reviving the Blue Shadow virus, but, as anyone who's gone through high school biology should know, VIRUSES ARE NOT ALIVE. At best, viruses are incredibly complicated poisons or intricately designed infectious materials; they are not living cells themselves, like bacteria. I don't think it's exactly nitpicking to point out that the main goal of a supposedly brilliant virologist contradicted the most basic fact about viruses.
What, Jedi can't catch tiny falling vials with the Force? They have to jump over and grab them all? Come to think of it, it'd probably be a better idea to use the Force to grab the vials, considering that Anakin's metal grip is more likely to accidentally crush one. Especially considering that just a few minutes prior to this scene we see Ahsoka (a PADAWAN) use the Force to maneuver small objects, it's ridiculous to suddenly have the Jedi MASTERS not be able to do the same thing on even lighter objects. That is absolutely shoddy writing, and it's inexcusable.

Aside from the fact that the episode is set on Naboo, I really don't see too many positives here. This may be as bad as "The Gungan General," and that was BAD.

TCW - "The Hidden Enemy"

2009-02-06T20:00:00.007-06:00

In this installment of TCW, we get two highly controversial things: a traitor clone and a prequel episode.

It turns out that this episode actually takes place before the Clone Wars movie. While I think it's great to show backstory, it was rather jarring to see this episode with absolutely no indication that it took place outside of the main timeline. It's something that I definitely don't like.

Having a clone be a traitor was very... odd. While it makes sense that there'd be a bad clone made every now and then, what didn't make sense was the mixed moral message. Once again, I really wish that this series would stop attempting to insert moral messages in its narrative. It just doesn't work.

Oh well. The action scenes were nice.

TCW - "Trespass"

2009-01-30T20:00:00.003-06:00

This was a good episode of The Clone Wars. It certainly wasn't perfect, but the sheer novelty of it all was fun.

It almost seemed like an alternate-reality version of Hoth, with the Prequel-era characters appearing in ESB-esque outfits. The fact that the animators actually went out of their way to design completely new character models was impressive. I hope we get to see these new designs again in the series; it'd be a shame to have all that work go into only one episode.

The portrayal of the Talz was rather strange. While it was definitely cool to see an old Star Wars alien race given some development, the Talz' primitive nature seems to stand in contrast with their other appearances in Star Wars lore.
I felt as if--once again--the writers wanted to convey a much deeper moral message, but didn't do it quite right. This episode certainly did a better job than "Defenders of Peace," however.

I thoroughly enjoyed the fact that this episode was "heavier" than most, and that characters' lives were actually taken seriously. I hope that the series stays more this way, but, sadly, it likely won't.

"Trespass" is definitely one of the most memorable episodes of The Clone Wars thus far, even if it's not perfect.

TCW - "Defenders of Peace"

2009-01-23T20:00:00.009-06:00

This was a decent episode, but nothing amazing.

While it was great to see the three Jedi and two Clones fight together against the Separatist horde, it was also slightly silly. While it's true that the battle droids were ordered to destroy the Lurmen and likely not focused on the Jedi, it seemed ridiculous that the Jedi sliced through the droids without any difficulty.

The ideological conflict from the last episode was carried over into this episode, but entirely without satisfaction. It seemed as though the writers wanted to convey a certain message, but ultimately failed.

Still, however, this episode wasn't bad. It was definitely worth watching, if not particularly deserving of praise.

TCW - "Jedi Crash"

2009-01-21T17:19:00.013-06:00

"Jedi Crash" begins with the biggest and most chaotic ship battle we've seen yet on The Clone Wars. The art style is strong in this scene, contrasting the blue skies and the burning fires. Every bit of every shot screams "chaos!", and it's wonderful.

Aayla Secura's characterization was by far the most interesting aspect of this episode, however, as she was given a French accent (which, according to official sources, was at the request of GL himself). Her personality is also very different from most Jedi, as she is far less careful. One of my new favorite exchanges in the entire Star Wars universe came from this episode:

Admiral Yularen: Are all Jedi so reckless?
Aayla Secura: Just the good ones.

Aayla is smart, tough and commanding, yet still compassionate. She is brash and forceful for a Jedi, yet does not hold on to attachments as Anakin does. Still, however, she is shown to be using what appears to be lightsaber Form V--Anakin's style. Known for its philosophy of "peace through superior force," Form V (in both its Djem-So and Shien variations) is the most physical style, matched only in its aggression by Mace Windu's unique lightsaber form, VII (also known as Vapaad).
Simply put, Aayla is pretty awesome. Having her in an episode with Anakin and Ahsoka to form the Triple-A aggression team is probably a recipe for both disaster and awesomeness.

The plot of this episode was rather strange. Opening with a huge battle, the episode suddenly shifts to a gentler theme, with the crew of the downed Republic cruiser surviving on a primitive world. The episode seemed to be unusually tightly cut, with very abrupt changes happening very quickly. This unfortunately does hurt the overall flow of the episode, and is probably my biggest complaint. However, there are certain other elements in the episode that practically make up for it.

The biggest and most notable aspect of the episode is that it directly discusses Jedi attachment (with a great reference to Quinlan Vos of EU comic-book fame) as well as the contradicting role of Jedi as peacekeepers and war generals. Perhaps because of the fact that this discussion involved Aayla, it was somewhat reminiscent of DC Comics' portrayal of Wonder Woman and her confusing role as both an Ambassador of Peace and an Amazon Warrior. While DC Comics will likely never give any resolution to this dilemma, I am very interested to see if The Clone Wars will offer any sort of answer.

Another very cool aspect of this episode was the presence of Commander Bly, who later guns down and kills Aayla in Revenge of the Sith. He seems to mirror Aayla's maybe-tougher-than-needed attitude, perhaps further indicating that the clone commanders' personalities mirror the Jedi under whom they serve (Cody mirrors Obi-Wan's intellectual, laid back attitude, while Rex mirrors Anakin's more brash, combat-oriented philosophy).

As a last note, it's very refreshing to see Anakin do something selfless for a change, by sacrificing himself to push the others to safety. It makes his credibility as a hero of the Clone Wars much more believable, and adds much more depth than was seen in Revenge of the Sith.

"Jedi Crash" wasn't perfect, but had a number of great elements that elevate it to the upper tier of the episodes seen thus far.

TCW - "The Gungan General"

2009-01-10T00:26:00.008-06:00

I'm really starting to think that Jar-Jar should never be seen in The Clone Wars. He takes episodes that could have been interesting and makes them into mediocre nonsense (at best).

This episode's downfall wasn't all Jar-Jar's fault, though. There was a gaping plot hole that was beyond obvious. The Jedi had evaded a trap in the last episode, yet had somehow fallen into that same trap in the beginning of this one. What?!

"The Gungan General" was a very badly-written episode. All of the character decisions were nonsensical. From the cheesy, flat banter to the gaping plot holes, this may be the worst episode of The Clone Wars yet.

TCW - "Dooku Captured"

2009-01-02T23:45:00.008-06:00

The very title of this episode seemed rather suspect from the start. How in the stars can Dooku be captured, let alone by non-Jedi? The answers are somewhat lacking.

The story starts off with a rather shaky idea: Anakin Skywalker has allowed himself to be captured by Dooku and imprisoned on Dooku's ship, while Obi-Wan sneaks on board the ship later to rescue Anakin, so that they can both fight Dooku together.
There are many problems with that plan.

How do the Jedi know that Dooku wants Anakin alive? He certainly hasn't seemed to show any such mercy in their previous encounters.
Why did the Jedi have to go separately? If it's as easy to get on board Dooku's ship as Obi-Wan made it seem, then why couldn't Anakin simply have gone with Obi-Wan?
What was their goal, exactly? Did the Jedi want to capture Dooku? That would seem to contrast with their goal in Revenge of the Sith, where they only wanted to kill him and be done with it.

There's a cool moment where Dooku, while sliding down a (very conveniently-placed) escape shaft, fires lightning backwards over his shoulder at Anakin, which Anakin blocks with his lightsaber. It's cool to see lightning being used in a very specific fashion--like a weapon--rather than the seemingly random "LOOK AT MY POWER!!!" way that it's been used before in the films. The more weaponized, clever use of the Force is an apparent constant in TCW, and is always appreciated.

The Jedi/Dooku confrontation scene seemed rather odd, if only because of continuity. It seemed that the Dooku fight scene in Revenge of the Sith was the first time that Obi-Wan and Anakin had fought against Dooku together since the Battle of Geonosis, so this scene in "Dooku Captured" was a bit odd, considering that it was a very similar situation.

The cave scene bothered me. It really seemed unnecessary, though it was cool to finally see a gundark.

I must say that I never liked the comic banter between Obi-Wan and Anakin. Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon had an amazing fight scene in the beginning of The Phantom Menace that was devoid of silly lines that would have otherwise ruined the seriousness and coolness of the situation. Revenge of the Sith, on the other hand, had an Obi-Wan/Anakin scene that was filled with cheesy, forced lines. If I never have to hear another line of not-so-witty banter, I'll be happy. Sadly, The Clone Wars seems to be following in Revenge of the Sith's tradition.

Dooku's capture made sense in that he really wouldn't be able to defeat 30-40 pirates, especially not without his lightsaber (and no rocks or ceilings to drop on them). However, it made the entire point of the episode rather unclear.

All in all, this episode was really very... "bleh."

The Jedi Order: Stagnant Philosophy

2008-12-18T22:10:00.004-06:00

It is my belief that by the time of The Phantom Menace (32 BBY), the Jedi order had become stagnant. They had been without a strong Dark Side enemy for a millennium, and were piling policies and personal limitations upon the "Jedi Code." In a sense, they were building up the Order more as a philosophical religion than an actual peacekeeping force.

Perhaps more important was the fact that they actually became a peacekeeping force. In previous time periods, the Jedi had been soldiers in war. It was in these times--such as the Sith War (approx. 4000 BBY, chronicled in Knights of the Old Republic) and the Yuuzhan Vong War (25-29 ABY)--that the Jedi Order did not have policies prohibiting romantic attachments. Luke Skywalker married Mara Jade in full knowledge of the Old Republic Jedi Order's stance on the issue. Luke remarked that--although he didn't understand how or why--being with Mara felt "right." Considering that Luke was the first of the Jedi after the Force had been brought back into balance--and the fact that he was the catalyst for the redemption of the Chosen One and the end of the Sith--his opinion should mean quite a bit.

In the period of time before the Clone Wars, the Jedi had become stale. With no great conflict to keep them tethered to the natural world, they simply lost touch with reality, becoming more ethereal philosophers than actual warriors. This is notable because the Jedi need to be warriors. After all, they can't keep the peace without fighting for it.
This lack of "fight" may be the problem. Obi-Wan states in Revenge of the Sith that "only a Sith deals in absolutes." This may or may not mean that Jedi do not believe in absolutes (which does not seem to be true, as they often speak of an absolute light and dark), but it most definitely means that they do not always act in absolutes. This may simply mean that they have mercy, and do not always deal out harsh punishment, but it is more likely that they do not actually have any concrete concepts for actions to be taken.

In essence, the Jedi had become lost in their own rampant idealism and religion, losing their common sense. It was only after the New Jedi Order began that the true Jedi way was accepted. Qui-Gon Jinn was truly the only "true" Jedi Knight seen in the Star Wars prequels, with the possible exception of pre-Dark Side Anakin.

Of course, the truth is that the KOTOR and NJO eras were filled with war and darkside conversions. Does that mean that the Jedi of the prequel films were correct in their overly restrictive philosophy? After all, if not for the Sith secretly lying in wait for a thousand years, perhaps the Jedi would not have fallen; it's not as if too many Jedi were actually turning to the Dark Side during that time.

However, it's my belief that the Star Wars galaxy simply must be at war. History in the Star Wars universe is cyclical; a neverending loop of light and dark struggling against one another. If the stars aren't at war, something's wrong.

TCW - "Lair of Grievous"

2008-12-13T01:20:00.010-06:00

This was a rather cool episode, though not without many flaws/boring bits.

This episode is a great example of how The Clone Wars is making each and every Jedi unique, and it's awesome to see. Kit Fisto had a pretty cool characterization, complete with an accent and a rare fighting style. His former apprentice, Nahdar Vebb, was especially interesting, since this is the first main-character Mon Calamari to grace the screen since Admiral Ackbar. Vebb fights with a more rigid and slightly awkward fighting style than that of other Jedi; perhaps this is a result of his Calamari physiology? It would seem so, and it fit very well.

I'm happy to see an episode where Grievous is an actual threat, however I am still slightly upset at the fact that the episode's plot still revolved around Grievous's patheticness, and Grievous still couldn't beat Fisto in the end without backup from hs magnaguards.

Still, though, it was a pretty amazing moment when Fisto grabbed a second saber and revealed that he knew Jar'Kai (the two-saber style).

This is easily the best example of the amazing animation present in TCW. While the early episodes of TCW had extremely stiff animations for the saber fights, this episode really shined as the best example thus far of fluidity and attention to detail. Fisto's head-tails and sabers moved in a dazzling show of circular motion that's not been seen on TCW before. It was perhaps one of the best moments of the series thus far, even though it lasted only a few seconds.

Unfortunately, this episode doesn't hold up as well when viewed as a whole. It's certainly got some great elements, but as an overall narrative it suffers. While the Jar'Kai moment was stellar, the rest of the episode wasn't as entertaining.

TCW - "Cloak of Darkness"

2008-12-05T20:32:00.012-06:00

This episode has raised the standard for The Clone Wars in nearly every possible way. "Cloak of Darkness" is (as its name suggests) dark, violent, and amazing.

The often-stiff animations of previous Clone Wars episodes are rarely seen in this episode. The lightsaber battles, often the weakest point of the series, are amazing here. Every strike of the saber is purposeful and well-animated, giving an ultra-stylized yet realistic feel. Without a doubt, the engine room saber fight is actually better than many of the battles seen in the Star Wars films.

Luminara Unduli's characterization was great. Yoda aside, she seems to be the only Jedi we've met thus far who is genuinely gentle. Her voice, movement, and dress all compliment her soft personality. However, she is also shown to be a great warrior. Her only real flaw is her blind belief in the superiority of the Jedi, which she eventually learns from.

One extremely notable thing about this episode is that it begins to show Ahsoka's darker side. She is most definitely the Padawan of Anakin Skywalker, as she uses force (and even fear) to accomplish her goals.

The character of Captain Argyus was very cool. His voice was excellently done by James Marsters (of Buffy and Smallville fame), and his characterization was great. His not-so-noble end was perhaps the most shocking thing seen in this show thus far, and perhaps even in all of American TV animation history. Argyus literally is stabbed through the chest and chokes on his own lung.

All in all, this episode stands as the pinnacle of storytelling in this series thus far. Its editing, animation, dialogue, and story are astounding to watch. There were very few moments in which I had to remind myself that this is a TV series with budget constraints. This may be the only episode of The Clone Wars that I can watch completely relaxed, without having to find fault.

If you watch any episode of this series, watch this one.

TCW - "Bombad Jedi"

2008-11-21T23:35:00.006-06:00

I didn't hate this episode. It just bored me.
It felt more like a "hey, let's make a Jar Jar episode, and prove that he's not all that bad!" story than anything else. Sort of pandering, actually.

So yeah. Not too high on it.

TCW - "Duel of the Droids"

2008-11-14T20:00:00.010-06:00

This episode was pretty cool. We got to see Ahsoka acting like the commander that she technically is, and Grievous wasn't a pansy. Yay.

Ahsoka seems to be getting less and less annoying. She's obviously immature and brash, but more capable than she once was. It was cool to see her actually giving orders to the troopers, rather than just following someone else's lead. Evidently she's taken on a lot of Anakin's traits, which is really cool.

The action in this episode was really great. It was cool to see the Jedi-leading-small-team-of-soldiers-into-enemy-territory style of action, one of my favorite action scene types (and not seen since The Phantom Menace).

The "bumper-battle" between the astro droids was awesome and hilarious at the same time. Somewhere in the recesses of my mind, I always wanted to see R2 droids try to fight each other by bumping into one another. Now my dreams have been realized. Thank you, Lucasfilm.

TCW - "Downfall of a Droid"

2008-11-07T20:00:00.002-06:00

This was a surprisingly interesting episode. Its premise is simple: R2-D2 has gone missing in space, and Anakin must find him before Grievous manages to capture the little droid and tear out the precious data stored inside.

I have to say that, as an EU fan, I'm slightly disappointed that the opening scene of the episode was set in space over Bothawui, yet we didn't get to see any Bothans. Oh well. That was still one heck of a space battle. The AT-TE maneuver was the best tactical maneuver I've seen yet in TCW, and made the episode much more enjoyable.

The fight scene between "Team Skywalker" (as I call them) and the IG assassin droids was pretty cool. The techno-style music seemed nice, if perhaps not completely "right."
All in all, this was a decent episode that wasn't completely great, but still good.

TCW - "Rookies"

2008-10-24T22:04:00.009-05:00

Wow.
Wow.
WOW.

I had assumed that the show would stick to the usual kids' show content limits of having extremely mild language (nothing above a "darn" or "heck"), and no on-screen deaths.
I did NOT expect this episode to have three highly violent on-screen deaths, blaster shots to the face, and a trooper's exclamation of "What the HELL was that?!?"
In all honesty, I'm slightly sad that they're taking this route, as it means that my little six-year-old brother probably won't be able to watch the show anymore. At the same time, however, I'm excited to know that actual depth will be seen in the show, and that death will not be ignored in a story about war.
There were some stiff animations here, but I'm not sure you can fault the animation team for that this early in the season's production. Still, however, some of the scenes came across as extremely cheesy when they didn't need to. Perhaps the director felt the need to balance darkness with comedy?

In any case, this is still a great episode, and should definitely be one to hook people into the series.

TCW - Malevolence Arc

2008-10-20T21:38:00.007-05:00

This was a very cool story arc. It felt very Trilogy-esque in its focus on the struggle to defeat an enemy superweapon, which was nice. It could have been too familiar, but fortunately the story was just different enough to not be a simple rehash. They tread a dangerous line, however. They can pander to our Classic Trilogy nostalgia all they want, but having a rehash of a Prequel plot isn't going to get them any points.

The first episode was probably the most interesting, as we got to see Plo Koon, and hey! he turned out to be really cool. We also got a little background for Ahsoka that was directly linked to Plo, so that worked out for character development on two characters in a short time.

Ahsoka was definitely tolerable and perhaps even likable in this arc. She even had some insight into Anakin's overly ambitious character.

Anakin's impulsiveness was also an issue in every episode of this arc, and the consequences of his brash actions in Part 2 were an especially good storytelling choice.

The excellent space battle in Part 2 was defintely the high point of the arc. The other two episodes weren't bad by any stretch of the imagination, but they certainly weren't stellar.
As a complete story, "Rising Malevolence," "Shadow of Malevolence" and "Destroy Malevolence" all get a 4 out of 5.

TCW - "Destroy Malevolence"

2008-10-18T20:14:00.006-05:00

In this week's episode, Obi-Wan and Anakin board a heavily damaged Separatist warship in an attempt to rescue a Republic governmental official, with the surrounding space battle causing the ship to crash. Sound familiar? *COUGHREVENGEOFTHESITHCOUGH* Yeah, that's what I thought.

I'm honestly not sure what to say about this episode, hence my review being three days late.
While it was nice to see some more lightsaber action, there wasn't really a "wow" moment. There was plenty of action, but nothing amazing. Furthermore, it was very anticlimatic. After all that fighting and chasing, the Malevolence [SPOILERS!!] goes down in a small explosion off in the distance.

Some high points:

Anakin's force-push on Padme to protect her from the droids
The train system on board the Malevolence
Obi-wan's force-push on the destroyer droid

Some low points:

The droids are completely useless
The dialogue wasn't the best
The Malevolence's whimper-of-an-explosion

I did like seeing Padme not being annoying for the first time since The Phantom Menace. Also, we do need more lightsaber battles in The Clone Wars, so it's good to see them here. It looks like there were in fact a lot of duels between heroes throughout the wars, rather than only in the events of the films.
This is a nice idea, but I do think that it detracts from the power and meaning of the battles in Revenge of the Sith. While some of the dialogue between Grievous and the jedi seemed to hint that perhaps they had fought many times before, the duel with Dooku seemed very much like a "Part 2" of the duel from Attack of the Clones, and that Obi-Wan and Anakin hadn't met Dooku since the Battle of Geonosis.

This episode certainly wasn't bad, but wasn't all that amazing. It might have worked better to have Padme's rescue happen last episode, rather than after the Malevolence was already essentially beaten. Oh well. As part of a three-part story arc, I can give "Destroy Malevolence" a three out of five.

TCW - "Shadow of Malevolence"

2008-10-16T21:44:00.009-05:00

This was a great episode.

It felt more like the original trilogy than any scene in ANY of the prequels. I'll admit that the episode didn't really hook me until the space mantas. At Plo's mention of the "Nebray Mantas," I expected a swarm of ten-foot mantas to come flying through the nebula, knocking into the starfighters. What I didn't expect was a swarm of ten-HUNDRED-foot mantas that completely dwarfed the tiny fighters of Shadow Squadron. It was highly reminiscent of the moment in ESB where the space slug nearly swallows the Millennium Falcon. Definitely an "oh wow!" moment. Furthermore, it felt like a truly original moment, rather than simply a repeat of what was already in the films.

Shadow Squadron was great. I loved the early versions of the Y-Wing starfighters, and the lines of dialogue that echoed the Battle of Yavin in A New Hope.
"Deflectors on, double front!"
"Watch out for those towers!"
"Shadow Twelve standing by."

Some may complain at the constant repeats of dialogue and plotlines, but honestly, that's what Star Wars is. History in the Star Wars galaxy is cyclical. How many times have we heard "I've got a bad feeling about this," or seen a someone fire a torpedo into a space station's main reactor?
That's one of the things that makes the saga great: its sense of nostalgia.

On a note of originality, I really enjoyed seeing realistic consequences for Anakin's actions, and his guilt over the deaths of half his squadron.

That "disk-explosion" had to be one of the coolest explosions I've ever seen in the Star Wars saga. It was highly satisfying, and representative of the entire episode:
Great.

TCW - "Rising Malevolence"

2008-10-16T15:53:00.006-05:00

Plo Koon.
Up until now, I never really thought of him as much of anything beyond a strange background character. However, by only his first appearance in The Clone Wars, he's already one of my favorite Jedi. One interesting thing to note is his voice. He speaks through a breathing mask, which logically means that he should have either a static-laden voice or a muffled one. Surprisingly, he has neither. His voice is grand, drama-laden, and surprisingly clear. It sounded odd at first, but now I'm quite satisfied with his voice, and wouldn't have it any other way (well, maybe a little more electronic crackle).

The plot itself was rather interesting. The idea of a secret weapon was a rather interesting idea, especially considering that it was an ion cannon. Of course, technically it's more of an ion web, shot through a death star power core. It doesn't seem entirely true to Star Wars tech continuity, but it's a great plotline.
I love the way that the story is stretched over an arc. It only makes sense that such a big plot wouldn't simply be over in a single episode. Unfortunately, this makes the ending of this episode rather abrupt with no strong resolution. Still, though, it's an entertaining episode, and better than the last one.

TCW - "Ambush"

2008-10-15T22:40:00.008-05:00

This episode was pretty good.

Not amazing, but still pretty good, with many great moments that outnumbered the glaringly bad ones.

The battle droids were never more annoying than they are here. The "everybody STOP" scene was cringe-inducing. However, the characterization of the clones is very, very cool. They seem to strike the perfect balance of being clones, yet still having some small sense of self.
Yoda's character was near-perfect. He acted like the Empire Strikes Back Yoda that we all love, rather than the rubber jumping frog from the prequels.

The action was slightly silly, but good for the most part.

Perhaps the best part, however, was the music. Yoda's Theme (arguably one of the best musical pieces in the entire saga) permeated the episode, as it should. It's ridiculous how the theme was almost never used in the prequel films, and the fact that it exists here is absolutely wonderful.

All-in-all, This episode wasn't amazing, but still fun and definitely worth watching.

The Clone Wars TV Series

2008-10-15T21:40:00.000-05:00

At this point in time, the first three episodes of The Clone Wars have aired. As you can see from my last post, I did not enjoy the Clone Wars film.
This series, however, is the complete opposite.

I love the TV series.

I honestly think that it feels more like the original trilogy than the prequel films do.
Yes, the battle droid jokes can get annoying, but I've actually found them genuinely funny (with some notable exceptions).
The series adds so much more than was already there; already we see new vehicles and weapons for the clones, as well as devlopments on characters that were only present in the background. Plo Koon was once just an ugly-looking Jedi Master that was shot down by his own clones in Revenge of the Sith, but now he's a really interesting character that is very entertaining to watch.

The music in the series is fantastic. It actually follows the original trilogy's example and uses the main themes. If Yoda's doing something cool, "Yoda's Theme" had better be playing. And in the very first episode, here it is.

Rather than talking more here, let's get into the actual episode-by-episode reviews themselves.

The Clone Wars Movie

2008-10-15T21:36:00.001-05:00

Star Wars: The Clone Wars is not a "movie." Originally, it was intended to be the first several episodes of the upcoming TV series of the same name. However, due to various reasons, these episodes were edited together into a "movie," and released in theaters.
God help us all.

One thing that is immediately obvious is the fact that The Clone Wars is very kid-oriented. Instead of the dramatic Star Wars logo and the opening crawl sequence, the film begins with the Clone Wars logo, and has no crawl. Instead, what would have been the text of the crawl is actually the spoken dialogue of a narrator. It sounds somewhat like the narrator of the old WWII propaganda movies, and works on some level. However, I honestly hate the fact that Lucasfilm feels the need to talk down to me. I could have read the opening crawls just fine when I was four years old, and I don't need it to be read to me now. Just let me read it for myself and let my imagination do the work.

This "movie" does not have spectacular animation by film standards. In fact, visually, it's rather sub-par compared to virtually any other CG animated movie in theaters. However, for a TV series, it will be easily one of the most visually stunning shows on TV, if not the most. To quote IGN.com, the characters are rendered with a style reminiscent of "hand-painted maquettes". It's a very interesting style, though in motion much of it seems strange. George Lucas apparently told the animators to make the motions of the characters stiffer and more exaggerated, rather than smooth and lifelike. This is an interesting move, though it doesn't always pay off. Many of the character movements just look awkward or illogical, rather than stylistically interesting. The battle scenes are spectacular to be sure, but they lack a certain style. They don't have the sharp style and pacing of the previous animated Clone Wars series, and aren't realistic enough to be anywhere near as good as what was seen in the live-action films. What's left is something in-between that isn't as good as either, and falls short of nearly every mark.

The two main flaws of the film are the dialogue and the pacing. Throughout the film, there is no pause. The entire movie is one quick sequence after another, filled with poorly-written and acted dialogue. This may not be the fault of the voice actors, however, as the animation for the film was done at least a year ago, and the voice actors may have had to lip-sync to the animation, causing the lines to sound odd or ill-timed. Additionally, the "squeezing" of the already-made episodes into a film under two hours may have left the editors with nothing left to do but make every shot in the film as short as possible. I honestly cannot describe how fast the film moves. It's like watching a schizophrenic on caffeine (my apologies to any schizophrenics whom I just mentally compared to this film. You're much better than that).
There is no room for drama or a quiet moment. The film just keeps on running, never taking a break. This makes the action scenes seem no more exciting than the [very few] non-action scenes, and the dialogue less and less important. Rather than allowing for the dialogue to have any timing or depth, the film abruptly jams lines together, making it seem as though the movie's editors were having Mountain Dew pumped into their veins.

Please understand; I love Star Wars. I own at least three dozen Star Wars novels, not counting my many guidebooks, my favorite of which is titled Jedi vs Sith: The Essential Guide to The Force. I own at least fifteen Star Wars video games, and there are very few who dare to challenge me at Star Wars Trivial Pursuit. Heck, I even own a Master Replicas Force FX Luke Skywalker Episode IV Electronic Lightsaber.

She's my baby. ^-^

I literally do not understand how anyone could not like Star Wars; it's a completely alien concept to my mind. I love everything that makes up the universe of The Clone Wars. Despite this, I can't simply accept Clone Wars as a film. The upcoming TV series will probably succeed where the movie failed, but that's not good enough. Clone Wars is one of the most poorly-executed films that I have seen in recent memory. It's worse than Tomb Raider 2, The Mummy 3, and Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie. I feel as if George Lucas himself has tortured me for two painful hours of my life.

They didn't even ask me any questions...

Do yourself a MASSIVE favor and DO NOT SEE THIS FILM. It's not worth your time or your childrens'. Instead of paying for a movie ticket, go buy an action figure from the movie; you'll have more fun with that.

Ratings Guide

2008-10-15T21:09:00.003-05:00

Terrible. Watch if you must, but don't expect to enjoy it.

Sadly, more bad than good.

Worth watching and generally good, but not amazing.

Good or Great.

Satisfying at the least, if not perfect. Highly entertaining and a must-see.

The Homestead

2008-10-15T19:03:00.000-05:00

When I was six years old, my parents deemed me old enough to watch the original Star Wars trilogy for the first time. I became instantly enthralled with the adventures of Luke Skywalker and the battles of the Galactic Civil War.
Thirteen years later, Star Wars still holds my interest.

This blog is where I'll be posting my thoughts on the Star Wars saga, including mini-reviews of each episode of The Clone Wars as they air.

Enjoy. ^-^