Rewatching the Clone Wars

[Corvus]

It was beautiful. The whole episode was a bit too dark overall, but that wreckage must have taken a heck of a long time to animate.

I agree. The scenery in this episode was my absolute favorite out of season 2. Well..there was Felucia... hrm. Anyway, I'm a sucker for this kind of semi-apocalyptic setup. The barely recognizable and twisted remnants of vehicles were great. Some spectacular visual effects.

Actually, Mace already knows that Boba is one of the people he's after, so it's right that he would think of him when he saw the helmet. The cadets who survived would have told him for sure that Boba was working with the bounty hunters. Also, the Death Watch incidents didn't necessarily happen directly before this episode, because Clone Wars episodes have a tendency to be aired out of order (A Hidden Enemy, Evil Plans, etc...). And I don't get why you thought this episode was so bad. There were certainly a lot worse episodes in this season (Lightsaber Lost, Senate Murders ) Also on a technical aspect, this episode was one of the best. There were lots of good views, and the animation was excellent. I also liked how Anakin and Mace were trapped the whole time, because it shows that Jedi aren't invincible like most episodes would lead us to believe.

An interesting point. We don't know when the Death Watch story takes place. However, it makes sense to assume that the Mando episodes take place before the Babby trilogy. All the prequels have been clearly labeled as such, but, I could be wrong. Also, Mace thinks about Jango a lot, as shown by some of the EU books, such as Shatterpoint. However, we don't know whether or not TCW team is paying any attention to this backstory.

It bugs me how the Death Watch looks exactly like Jango. In one of Filoni's interviews, he states that he didn't want to make Boba Fett overshadowed by other Mandalorians. This doesn't make any sense to me, seeing as the show labeled Jango "a common bounty hunter" and make a bunch of clones of him for the Death Watch (not the clones, but copies of his armor and blasters.)I wonder what the kids think of him now.

You're right, they do try to portray the Jedi as mortal, from time to time. Once in a while, the Jedi are helpless. The rest, they're destructive powerhouses.

[def]

Actually, Mace already knows that Boba is one of the people he's after, so it's right that he would think of him when he saw the helmet. The cadets who survived would have told him for sure that Boba was working with the bounty hunters.

Nope, that's not what happened. Watch the episode and see some blatant exposition in the last section where Mace tells the tale of when he killed Jango, explaining that's why he knows Babby did it. Which most certainly happened before the Mandalore episodes.

Also, the Death Watch incidents didn't necessarily happen directly before this episode, because Clone Wars episodes have a tendency to be aired out of order (A Hidden Enemy, Evil Plans, etc...).

What corvus wrote. And what I wrote.

And I don't get why you thought this episode was so bad. There were certainly a lot worse episodes in this season (Lightsaber Lost, Senate Murders )

Senate Murders was worse, Lightsaber Lost was slightly better. Lightsaber Lost had one of the better action sequences ever to appear in Star Wars history.

Also on a technical aspect, this episode was one of the best. There were lots of good views, and the animation was excellent.

Yup, as I gave credit to it.

I also liked how Anakin and Mace were trapped the whole time, because it shows that Jedi aren't invincible like most episodes would lead us to believe.

They don't come off as nearly invincible enough. Yoda can raise a submerged X-Wing when near the end of his life, but Anakin, the greatest Jedi ever, and Mace Windu can't lift some megablocking wreckage.

Sorry, but other than looking good, this episode was lame. Lots of possible cool handled poorly. To each their own.

[The Legonater]

Senate Murders was worse, Lightsaber Lost was slightly better. Lightsaber Lost had one of the better action sequences ever to appear in Star Wars history.

I agree, Senate Muders could have been so much better- in fact, iot had the potential of a sweet CSI type episode... but they ruined that. Lightsaber Lost did have that sweet chase, it's what makes the episode barable (Although I was somewhat amusewd by Banamu's rambling)

They don't come off as nearly invincible enough. Yoda can raise a submerged X-Wing when near the end of his life, but Anakin, the greatest Jedi ever, and Mace Windu can't lift some megablocking wreckage.

Agreed. This show makes Jedi look weak a lot. However, IMO, the original Clone Wars made them look too strong. they need to find a good balance, or it just looks tacky.

Sorry, but other than looking good, this episode was lame. Lots of possible cool handled poorly. To each their own.

Yeah. Episodes like this have so much potential, and the team just ruins them.

[Oky]

Kinda funny how they went from a Godzilla episode to a Lessie episode.

About Mace figuring out that Boba was behind it... Well, there was no motive or any sign that Death Watch could be involved in this, and he knew that whoever was responsible was after him, so it's not all that implausible that he was able to piece it together once he saw Jango's helmet. The only question is how he knew so much about Boba. He does mention seeing him during the Battle of Geonosis, so maybe he read all the details about him in reports afterwards.

As for the power of the Jedi thing, yes, it does seem kinda lame that two of the most powerful Jedi out there weren't strong enough to free themselves, but on the other hand, they were weakened by the tons of metal that they were crushed under, and the wreckage of an entire Venator threatened to come down on them at any attempt to free themselves. That made it believable enough for me.

The final review of Season 2 is coming soon!

[XimenaPaulina]

As for the power of the Jedi thing, yes, it does seem kinda lame that two of the most powerful Jedi out there weren't strong enough to free themselves, but on the other hand, they were weakened by the tons of metal that they were crushed under, and the wreckage of an entire Venator threatened to come down on them at any attempt to free themselves. That made it believable enough for me.

Yeah, it's quite believable for me too. It would have been a different scenario if both jedi anticipated what would've have happened as they could have easily used the Force to prevent the ruble crushing into them (like what Anakin and Ahoka did in Point Rain).

[WhiteFang]

Finally I have a chance to read this topic of the first few pages since I just finished watching the Clone Wars Season 1 DVD.

I am a little slow on this especially since its very hard for me to stream online or even watch or mine local television, mainly because I am rarely at home. Nevertheless, I am glad to watch the entire Season 1 and thought of reading this. Personally, I try reading it in the past but I can't understand what is going on without watching it first. So, I am pleased to watch it and enjoy your insight and comments in this very much. Without dwelling too far into the rest of the pages, I only read stuff that is related to Season 1, especially after associating what are some of the Clone War sets all about.

Initally, I never understood what are the Pirate Tank, Freeco Speeder is all about and where the heck it comes from. Now, I clearly understood where and why.

[def]

Glad you liked it!

This thread has actually become more useful than I expected it to be when I started it. It's an easy way to see where the ships and minifigs come from, and to compare them to what's been produced. It needs an index though

[Supersonic]

You should maybe change your final verdict, as this episode is indeed a prequel.

This episode, more than others, reveals the convoluted chronology of stories from the first two seasons. The Season Two finale, "Lethal Trackdown," actually takes place before the Season One finale, "Hostage Crisis."

From Starwars.com about Assassin. So it's easier to believe that Windu doesn't think of the Death Watch.

I quite liked the episode - some nice action, amazing animation with the Venator. Of course, R2 beating up the Gundarks was silly, but I'd give it 7-8/10.

[def]

You should maybe change your final verdict, as this episode is indeed a prequel.

From Starwars.com about Assassin...

Sorry, but requiring Internet research to make sense of a cartoon is a minus, not a plus. Feel free to have your own score.

[Supersonic]

Of course it's stupid that the chronology is so hard to understand. Just wanted to point that out, IF you know it it really helps understand the episode.

[Oky]

Episode 22: Lethal Trackdown

Lethal trackdown! The young Boba Fett has taken the law into his own hands and made two attempts on the life of Mace Windu, the Jedi Master who killed his father. Boba's mentor, bounty hunter Aurra Sing, has taken three Republic officers hostage in an effort to force Windu to face Boba on their terms, a tactic that does not sit well with the young vigilante....

OK, so Mace Windu almost got killed by a kid and some bounty hunters, and what does he do about it? Nothing. Apparently he's too busy. That is, until he sees a video of Aurra executing Commander Ponds (Boba was too much of a baby to do it again), but he is still very injured, so Plo Koon and Ahsoka have to do it for him. They travel to the Coruscant underworld to snoop around for info on Boba & Co.'s whereabouts. Plo continues Master Sinube's task of teaching Ahsoka some patience, and soon enough, they find out where the bounty hunters are. Meanwhile Aurra and Boba visit Hondo Ohnaka and his Weequay pirates on Florum. There, Castas leaves the crew because he can't handle the danger anymore, but soon he gets shot by Aurra while talking to a friend about some "information that's worth something to the right people" (anybody know what that was all about?). Aurra asks Hondo for help, but having learned his lesson about messing with jedi, Hondo refuses.

And so, when Plo and Ahsoka arrive, Aurra and Boba face them alone. After Plo's attempt to convince Aurra to surrender fails, they fight, and Aurra is forced to leave without Boba. At this point, Baby Fett finally realizes that Aurra isn't exactly the best possible mother. Ahsoka chases Aurra to the Slave I and frees the hostages. When Aurra tries to escape in the Slave I, Ahsoka shows a great deal of competency in that she single-handedly downs the ship, leaving everyone to believe that Aurra is dead. The jedi take Boba and Bossk back to Coruscant where he finally meets Mace Windu (who miraculously seems to feel much better all of a sudden). Babby says that he realizes that he's been a bad boy, but that he doesn't forgive Windu. The jedi master replies with "Yeah, well, deal with it".

And... that's it. No epic showdown between Boba and Mace; Boba is still a wuss; and the legendary Slave I is destroyed. WTF! This is not what we suffered through 3 episodes of winy Baby Fett for. The episode could have been much better if they would have just let Windu take care of business and have Boba grow up by the end of this three-parter. That said, the episode did have its moments. It had a decent amount of action, and the Coruscant underworld scene was very nice to see. Ahsoka was more mature and interesting in this episode, especially when she used the force to "tune in" to the thugs' conversations. Plo Koon was pretty cool too, even though he abused his powers to get a free ride. The whole deal with Castas was irritating though. Dragging him along for one and a half episodes just to have him be a demonstration of Aurra's coldbloodedness was kinda unnecessary in my opinion. Boba and Bossk will obviously break out of jail, and Filoni said that Hondo rebuilt the Slave I, so here is hoping that we'll see a real conclusion to this story arc one day. Overall, I'd say 7/10, simply because of the opportunities missed and all the wining going on.

There wasn't much new in this episode either; most of it was just reused characters and ships. One great exception is the Jedi Turbo Speeder. Not only does it have a name perfect for a Lego set, it would make a nice, sleek, swooshable model too!

Jedi Turbo Speeder

There was also a Coruscant version of the Mandalorian Transport. The only difference is that it has a taxi-style paint job and some animated ads on it. Not very exciting, but still more interesting than the boring all-grey Mandalorian style.

Coruscant Hover Taxi

The only really new characters were the thugs in the underworld club. Some neat characters that I wouldn't mind seeing as minfigs, although they aren't anything special.

Coruscant Thugs

The bartender of the underworld club was also neat, being of a four-armed and four-eyed species. We've had some four-armed minifigs before, so he shouldn't be too much of a stretch.

Tiggs Leo

There was another bartender at Hondo's place, an unidentified droid that already appeared in other episodes such as Duchess of Mandalore.

Also, we get to see Jedi in some more casual clothes, some sort of hospital robes. Not really the stuff great Lego sets are made of, but I thought it was interesting.

Lego Ships appearing: T6 Jedi Shuttle

Lego Wishlist: Jedi Turbo Speeder, Coruscant Hover Taxi, Tiggs Leo, and maybe some Coruscant thugs.

[XimenaPaulina]

I agree it lacked the epicness fit for a Season Finale, but it does have its moments - I love the Coruscant underground scene, nice jedi turbo speeder and my most favorite part of the episode - Ahsoka single-handedly downing the Slave I (that's the Super-Soka in me. ).

Now it's time to thank Oky, great job on the Season 2 reviews, your effort, along with def's, are very much appreciated by the SW fans here in EB. You may now take a break and prepare for the Season 3 reviews.

[Oky]

You're welcome!

It needs an index though

Here you go! Just quote this post in the first post.

Season 1:

1 - Ambush

2 - Rising Malevolence

3 - Shadow of Malevolence

4 - Destroy Malevolence

5 - Rookies

6 - Downfall of a Droid

7 - Duel of the Droids

8 - Bombad Jedi

9 - Cloak of Darkness

10 - Lair of Grievous

11 - Dooku Captured

12 - The Gungan General

13 - Jedi Crash

14 - Defenders of Peace

15 - Trespass

16 - The Hidden Enemy

17 - Blue Shadow Virus

18 - Mystery of a Thousand Moons

19 - Storm Over Ryloth

20 - Innocents of Ryloth

21 - Liberty on Ryloth

22 - Hostage Crisis

Recap (Update)

Season 2:

1 - Holocron Heist

2 - Cargo of Doom

3 - Children of the Force

4 - Senate Spy

5 - Landing At Point Rain

6 - Weapons Factory

7 - Legacy of Terror

8 - Brain Invaders

9 - Grievous Intrigue

10 - The Deserter

11 - Lightsaber Lost

12 - The Mandalore Plot

13 - Voyage of Temptation

14 - Duchess of Mandalore

15 - Senate Murders

16 - Cat and Mouse

17 - Bounty Hunters

18 - The Zillo Beast

19 - The Zillo Beast Strikes Back

20 - Death Trap

21 - R2 Come Home

22 - Lethal Trackdown

[The Legonater]

I don't see why everyone's down on the Slave 1 going down, Boba said himself in a book later one that the command chair was the only original part. Hondo fixing it, however, irratates me. He'll probably wind up getitng someone killed.

Speaking of Hondo, he played a really interesting charecter in this episode, what with the trying not to get involved. And the underground was lovely- I like how this season starts and ends there. Unfortunatyl, i saw the same add 30 times in there

This episode, like Kiel said, jsut didn't have the same punch to it that a season finally should have, kind of like Stargate SG-1s series finally. Hostage Crisis was a great finally, but this was just lame.

And though I don't remember Castas' conversation, theat Nautolan looked great! Does he have a name?

And thank you Def and Oky for these wonderful reviews. You guys did a great job this year, and here's to another one next year!

[Oky]

And though I don't remember Castas' conversation, theat Nautolan looked great! Does he have a name?

Yes, it's Fong Do. And yes, Hondo was great, as usual.

By the way, please spell-check before you post.

[def]

Here you go! Just quote this post in the first post.

Awesome work padewan

A big thanks to Oki for this season. Season one was a bit of a chore in the later episodes, and I wasn't confident I could make it through two alone. I knew him as one of the bigger Star Wars and animation fans on the board, so I enlisted his help. I actually feel a lot more confident about attempting season three, though we'd start a pinch earlier, if he's willing.

There's a bit more to update the thread with, so it won't go dormant just yet.

About the season finale, I thought the second half of the hour long was quite strong, I'd give it a 7 or maybe an 8. I enjoyed Hondo a heck of a lot in both his appearances this season. I liked him in season one, but the episodes were poor. Here, he was a very developed character. I forget the line when he saw Babby, something like, he's not mine, is he? He is very true to his character, searching for the best angle on any situation. The Coruscant underworld scene was beautiful, with the only drawback the repetition of characters from earlier in the series. You can see a certain budget limitation here, no time to flesh out the background. As for Ahsoka messing up the Slave I, fine with me. It's a ship, it can be rebuilt. I only took issue with the lame meeting of Mace and Babby at the end.

I can see how the writers felt that Babby in and of himself made this a season finale, but their writing of him as a sympathetic character fucks him up. He's the guy who sold Han Solo. Was that honorable? He even "learns a lesson" in the episode, like it was an after-school special. A poor choice. Maybe that's the limitations of a kids show. I'd rather Babby said all the things Aurra Sing said, rather than have her act as the devil on his shoulder. Make Babby the one being unnecessarily aggressive, the one without a moral or ethics compass, and I wouldn't call him Babby. But, that is most definitely a trade off of 30-something me watching a kids show.

All in all, it is respectable for a kids program. It doesn't quite transcend the medium, as Pixar does, but then again, Lucas consciously decided not to become part of Pixar when he had the chance at the beginning, so I know where his head is at. Good, but not great. Respectable.

LEGO on the other hand, is Pixar level, great. An interesting mix!

[Masked Builder]

The last one was interesting... I did like the Coruscant underworld part though. It was great to seem more of it.

[Supersonic]

I agree on the 7/10 score. Not bad, not exceptionally good either. I just wish season 3 could come up with episodes like this.

Thanks for the great reviews def and Oky Wan!

[commanderneyo]

Thanks for the great reviews Oky and Def

I can't wait to see your reviews for season 3

[Penitent Tangent]

I thought the final episode was actually really fantastic. The only thing that really let it down was the ending, considering it was the season finale, it was somewhat anti-climatic. Though it was interesting how they portrayed Boba Fett, I was expecting to see him as more of a straight up villain, instead he almost makes peace with the Jedi and Windu at the end. I'm not a huge Fett fanboy, but I'll be interested to see how they continue his story.

[Walter Kovacs]

I just wanted to thank def and Oky for reviewing all of the TCW episodes. I really do enjoy reading through the write-ups, even if it does remind me that I am way behind in watching them all.

I can't wait until we get to see Season 3 reviews. Hopefully it will be before Season 4 starts

[Lord Embo]

I can't wait until we get to see Season 3 reviews. Hopefully it will be before Season 4 starts

I think that they are going to wait until Season 3 ends before doing reviews. Besides, we don't know if there even will be a Series 4.

Lord Embo

[Darth Jar Jar]

I think that they are going to wait until Season 3 ends before doing reviews. Besides, we don't know if there even will be a Series 4.

Lord Embo

There is a season four they already have season 5 made

[def]

Personally, I just need a month of no cartoons. But, I'll start on Season 3 before it ends, I don't want it to lag sooo much the next round.

[Darth Jar Jar]

That jedi turbo speeder would make a fantastic set

Thanks Oky and Def for the reviews