Friday, October 2, 2009

TCW - "Cargo of Doom"



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.

No comments: