Rewatching the Clone Wars

[XimenaPaulina]

I agree that the two new jedis, Adi Gallia and Eeth Koth, introduced in this episode was pretty boring to say the least - not as spectacular as badass fighters like the Kit Fistos and the Luminara Undulis of Season 1. So I wouldn't care if TLG passes these two of the minifig plans. The modified ambassadorial shuttle does look interesting if built in lego.

[spitfire]

Adi Gallia also featured in a PSX video game Jedi Power Battles, where she was my least favourite character because she was the weakest character. So it seems the screenwriter of CW has also played that game.

[Oky]

Episode 10: The Deserter

Fugitive! Though the Republic has won many decisive battles against the Separatist army in the Outer Rim, the Jedi have failed to capture the elusive General Grievous. After specifically targeting members of the Jedi Council, a trap was set. But following a fierce confrontation, the droid general managed to escape to the surface of the planet Saleucami. Now, the chase is on as General Kenobi leads a squadron of clone troopers and closes in on his desperate target....

Connecting directly to the last episode, this one is about Grievous trying to find a ride off the planet he crashed on and Obi tracking him down, while Rex meets a clone who deserted the Republic Army after the Battle of Geonosis. This has some interesting themes that were already touched upon in "Hidden Enemy"; about whether a clone's thoughts are his own or those of the ones who created him and if he can make his own decisions. This also raises questions about if clones do indeed have their own thoughts, how come most of them decided to kill their Jedi generals during Order 66 when they were the closest friends they ever had? Will a clone only disobey orders when it's about himself or his brothers? How much carnage can a clone take before he snaps? Things to meditate on.

That part of the episode was pretty good. The part with Grievous and Obi not so much. Grievous was even lamer than in the last episode. The only thing he did was boss Dumb and Dumber around, er, I mean Battle Droids, which was just redundant. His quick lightsaber duel with Obi at the end didn't make up for it at all, and he just gets away at the end again, rendering his presence in this episode pointless. The commando droids made an appearance too, but they weren't quite as cool as in the other episodes since they didn't manage to kill anybody. However, the fact that they almost killed Rex shows that even the toughest clone isn't invincible, which is good. Overall, it had enough action to satisfy the average viewer, along with some interesting themes, so it gets a 7/10 from me.

The only really new characters are Cut Lawquane, his hot pink Twilek wife (no pun intended), and their adorable kids. Cut is basically just a clone in civilian clothes, but the others would be great to have as figs!

There were some neat creatures too. Grievous could be seen riding a reek, one of the beasts that attacked Obi, Ani, and Padme in the Geonosis arena. Would be good to have, especially if it means a cheap way to get Grievous.

On Cut's farm, there were also some creatures called eopies. They are kinda cute, in a skinny baby elephant sort of way.

There weren't any new vehicles, but we did see yet more BARC speeders with a new paint job, and apparently they are capable of carrying at least one stretcher. A redesigned BARC speeder with stretcher attachment and wounded Rex fig would make a fine set!

Another thing that would make an interesting set would be Cut's homestead. It looks like a giant boot with windows, but locations are always welcome in the Lego Star Wars line. It could come with some eopies and commando droids, and maybe one of the BARC speeders mentioned above.

Lego Ships Appearing: AT-TE, Dropship, Separatist Shuttle

Lego Wishlist: Lawquane family, eopies, reek, BARC w/ stretcher, Lawquane homestead

[XimenaPaulina]

This is a pretty interesting episode since it deals more with the clones, specifically the so-called "Deserter" in Cut's character. I think the simplest answer to the questions posted by Oky above is that Cut is simply what you call the 'bad apple' in the whole bunch, like the clone who was a CIS spy in Season 1. Even the Kaminoan's cloning process ain't that perfect and these clones with more self-decision 'springs up once in a blue moon'.

There weren't any new vehicles, but we did see yet more BARC speeders with a new paint job, and apparently they are capable of carrying at least one stretcher. A redesigned BARC speeder with stretcher attachment and wounded Rex fig would make a fine set!

I knew BARC speeders are not limited to dark red colors, so my blue-colored speeder bike has basis after all. This is a set that TLG should seriously consider making since there isn't an accurate brickbuilt BARC speeder around and I'm pretty sure it would sell like hotcakes if ever they release one. I agree having Rex in one of these wanted smaller BARC speeder sets would be great, since he's still exclusive to the AT-TE set.

[Batman1]

Two characters debuted in this episode, the first is a Jedi of Darth Maul's species, Eeth Koth. Apparently he was in Attack of the Clones, but he obviously wasn't very noticeable. In this episode, he proves to be pretty useless. Kind of like Darth Maul

The second Jedi in the episode was marginally better, Adi Gallia. Again, it turns out she had a non-speaking, forgettable part in Attack of the Clones. She's not incompetent, but Anakin does all the heavy work, and the episode could easily have been done without her. She seems to be there to give the animators a change of pace.

I think the CW team did a poor job of Adi and Eeth however:

Anakin did not do any of the heavy work at all in this episode! We see Adi destroy 7 of the 10 commando droids on the bride of grievous' ship. We only see Anakin destroy 1. I would say without Adi those commando droids would have taken Anakin out as that was grievous' plan. He did not count on another Jedi being with Anakin. I also think Eeth Koth did quite a bit as with 1 clone trooper he destroyed 4 commando droids and could have held his own against grievous if it were not for the magna guards! The same happened when KIt FIsto fought grievous, he could handle grievous but not the magna guards at the same time.

I do think that the powers of the Jedi council members are poorly misrepresented in this series and I agree that they should develop their characters more like they have Kit and Luminara.

Thanks for reading,

Batman1±

[Oky]

I think the simplest answer to the questions posted by Oky above is that Cut is simply what you call the 'bad apple' in the whole bunch, like the clone who was a CIS spy in Season 1. Even the Kaminoan's cloning process ain't that perfect and these clones with more self-decision 'springs up once in a blue moon'.

Perhaps, but even Rex who is known to be a very dedicated clone admitted that he has had thoughts about deserting. That means that probably every clones ponders about that at some point.

Maybe these loyalty issues came to light later on in the war, so the Kaminoans worked this flaw out? Who knows.

I do think that the powers of the Jedi council members are poorly misrepresented in this series

Poorly misrepresented? How misrepresented would you like them to be?

[XimenaPaulina]

I do think that the powers of the Jedi council members are poorly misrepresented in this series and I agree that they should develop their characters more like they have Kit and Luminara.

I do agree with this one, and not only are the Jedi members 'poorly misrepresented' in the series, but so are the jedi members' powers/strength with the force. It has been pretty inconsistent from the movies to the cartoon series to these current CGI series. One perfect example: Mace Windu.

Mace Windu in the Movies = took some time and effort to defeat Jango; looked helpless together with the surviving jedi in the Geonosis arena

Mace Windu in the CW cartoon = killed hundreds of droids in a rather effortless badass way

Mace Windu in the current SW series = got trickedout by a measly bounty hunter (Bane) which easily escaped from him and Obi-wan

The question is, what really is the right 'level' of power/Force-strenght of the jedi? Is it like in the movies or cartoon or CGI series?

Sorry if this going a bit OT, just my 2 cents on the topic.

[The Legonater]

Hold on, are those kids have human half Twi'lek? That's logically impossible- it's been pre-established that humans and Twi'leks can't repruduce.

I agree the Jedi have been a little weakened. Sometimes they're good, sometimes not. Yoda in Ambush was the right level, but Gerivous was too much of a challenge for Fisto in Lair of gerivous. I guess it goes down to who directs it.

[XimenaPaulina]

Hold on, are those kids have human half Twi'lek? That's logically impossible- it's been pre-established that humans and Twi'leks can't repruduce.

I'm not so sure about this but I think it may be possible that Cut was not the biological father but just a foster father of those Twi'lek kids (presumably from a Twi'lek father in a previouos marriage of the wife).

I agree the Jedi have been a little weakened. Sometimes they're good, sometimes not. Yoda in Ambush was the right level, but Gerivous was too much of a challenge for Fisto in Lair of gerivous. I guess it goes down to who directs it.

Let me shamelessly defend my fave jedi (), Fisto would have easily defeated GG if it were not for the Magna guards, (remember he has already disarmed 2 of GG's lightsabers in a matter of seconds). And knowing the personality of Fisto, he is not the type to force the issue even if he can.

[Oky]

The question is, what really is the right 'level' of power/Force-strenght of the jedi? Is it like in the movies or cartoon or CGI series?

Sorry if this going a bit OT, just my 2 cents on the topic.

I think in the cartoon, they intentionally amped up the force powers of all jedi for the sake of epicness, so I don't think it's much to go by. The movies are as always the primary reference, but since the CG series is canon as well, I guess it counts too. And in Windu's defense, he did know it was a trap, but I guess he just didn't know what to expect. Plus he took out a bunch of droids with ease in Liberty on Ryloth as well.

What does the OT have to do with any of this?

I'm not so sure about this but I think it may be possible that Cut was not the biological father but just a foster father of those Twi'lek kids (presumably from a Twi'lek father in a previouos marriage of the wife).

Yeah, that's what I'm assuming as well. There's no way Cut could establish a family with kids in 1-2 years. Unless the kids age as fast as him, but I think you need Kaminoan technology for that.

[prateek]

We already have eepoies from Ep. I sets.

[The Legonater]

We already have eepoies from Ep. I sets.

Uh.... no we don't. We have Kaadu, but no Eepoies.

[Forresto]

I did not like the grievous parts of these episodes at all. I anything ti should've just been the clone's story and the main character be Rex. THat part of the story was very very good, at least compared to the other part. I wonder how the wife will fell when he dies in eight years though? She was really hot...........Pink that is

[def]

Slow on the reviews! With Oki helping, I've gotten even slower Anyway, summers over, this is the half way point, so we should be able to knock out the rest before season 3 started, The Force permitting.

Episode 11: Lightsaber Lost

War creates opportunity for the criminal underworld! Ruthless mercenaries conspire with the Separatists to disrupt and exploit the unstable situation within the Republic.

Now, Anakin Skywalker and Ahsoka Tano descend into the treacherous gangster havens in an effort to find a corrupt and vile arms dealer who is buying weapons on the black market and selling them to the Republic's enemies...

Want an all-Ahsoka episode? You got it! There's some memorable stuff in this episode, some good action and a cool villain, but it's surrounded by lame heroes, lame dialogue, and more racist Star Wars accents. The story starts off at a brisk pace, with Ahsoka getting her light saber pick-pocketed on Coruscant. An old fogie Jedi helps her track it down on the black market, and the trail leads to an apartment with a corpse and a perturbed woman. The light saber-wielding killer is waiting in the bed room and leaps out the window when Ahsoka uncovers her. This leads to the meat of the episode, and what makes it worthwhile. Ahsoka and the killer, Cassie Cryar, have a largely wordless chase across the skyline of Coruscant that, in my opinion, surpasses the Coruscant chase scene in Attack of The Clones. At one point, Ahsoka lands on a massive telecreen showing Palpatine making a speech. She slowly slides down his face, into oncoming traffic. The director handled all the action pitch perfect.

The rest of the episode though, is paint by numbers. The old Jedi Sinube is there to teach the lesson of "Slow and steady..." He throws out old nuggets of knowledge like this:

Sinube: "You need to be more quiet."

Ahsoka: "Okay, okay."

Sinube: "Not quiet with your mouth, quiet with your mind."

Not great characterization, philosophy, or anything really. He is effective in what he does, but the slowness is overplayed, like when he rides a speeder bike s-l-o-w-l-y in high speed Coruscant traffic. Just dumb, really.

Anyway, lameness aside, the good stuff is great, and there were robot cops which I had never seen before, so I give it Rating: 6/10

The main new character, which is a pretty nice design, is Tera Sinube. A relatively new species of alien, and a funky haircut.

Master Sinube

The other new characters, Ione Marcy and Cassie Cryar, both get arrested in the episode, so we might not get to see them again. Ione's sideways eyelids are freaky and nice.

Cassie

Ione

The episode had a bunch of underworld types and, unsurprisingly for Star Wars, they were aliens with ethnic accents. Hey, it's just a coincidence!

Sinube's black market connection was a quarren. Love those alien species, we need more!

And he then gets connected to the original pick-pocket, a relative of Cad Bane's assistant in the season one finale.

Bannamu

And, the design I liked most this episode were the cops! They remind me of bobbies. These are great.

Police Droids

Lego Ships Appearing: nothing!

Lego Wishlist: Tera Sinube, Ione Marcy, Cassie Cryar, more alien species, Coruscant Cops

[XimenaPaulina]

Want an all-Ahsoka episode? You got it!

Not really, but we were 'forced' to watch one. Seriously, I agree the only positive in this episode is the Coruscant skyline, the CW team really did a good job on the various elements - the places, city structures, diversity of characters/aliens, and vehicles. This has actually inspired me for my next MOC project.

Edited September 5, 2010 by KielDaMan

[def]

Not really, but we were 'forced' to watch one.

I was being sarcastic about it, but it's hard to get across on the Internet. But know whenever I crack out the "!", it's either awesome (robot bobbies!) or absolutely lame (All Ahsoka!)

Seriously, I agree the only positive in this episode is the Coruscant skyline, the CW team really did a good job on the various elements - the places, city structures, diversity of characters/aliens, and vehicles. This has actually inspired me for my next MOC project.

I've seen a some of your MOCs, so I'm enthusiastic to see you do something with Coruscant. Really, TLG has barely touched the place. We only have the Attack of the Clones speeders, and this year's Cad Bane set. I know LEGO rarely does full Star Wars playsets, and the ones they've done (Cloud City, Hoth, Endor, Home One) are all original trilogy (I suspect because more AFOLs buy big ticket sets, due to the price)... all the same, Coruscant is probably my favorite setting from the prequels and from Clone Wars. If there's a weakness to Coruscant, it's that it's somewhat generic sci-fi, something that could have appeared in Metropolis or Akira.

Anyway, long story short, Coruscant has little representation in LEGO, and I'd love to see the skilled builders here give it some love.

[XimenaPaulina]

I've seen a some of your MOCs, so I'm enthusiastic to see you do something with Coruscant. Really, TLG has barely touched the place. We only have the Attack of the Clones speeders, and this year's Cad Bane set. I know LEGO rarely does full Star Wars playsets, and the ones they've done (Cloud City, Hoth, Endor, Home One) are all original trilogy (I suspect because more AFOLs buy big ticket sets, due to the price)... all the same, Coruscant is probably my favorite setting from the prequels and from Clone Wars. If there's a weakness to Coruscant, it's that it's somewhat generic sci-fi, something that could have appeared in Metropolis or Akira.

Anyway, long story short, Coruscant has little representation in LEGO, and I'd love to see the skilled builders here give it some love.

You're right about that, Coruscant had very little representation in LEGO, not only in the official sets but even among MOCers. That's why I would like to try venturing on this line for a change. I'll probably do a couple, one is already in the works, and hopefully more MOCers will follow suit. I mean, there are a lot of LEGO build possibilities in Coruscant, and hopefully TLG will release more based on this in the near future.

[The Legonater]

I agree. I've done my entry to the Epic Sceane contest, and I tried to do a mini series (But gave up quickly) But other than that haven't done many Coruscant MOCs, and it appears niether have many others. It would be nice to see one from you, Kiel.

[Cusm]

I do agree with this one, and not only are the Jedi members 'poorly misrepresented' in the series, but so are the jedi members' powers/strength with the force. It has been pretty inconsistent from the movies to the cartoon series to these current CGI series. One perfect example: Mace Windu.

Mace Windu in the Movies = took some time and effort to defeat Jango; looked helpless together with the surviving jedi in the Geonosis arena

Mace Windu in the CW cartoon = killed hundreds of droids in a rather effortless badass way

Mace Windu in the current SW series = got trickedout by a measly bounty hunter (Bane) which easily escaped from him and Obi-wan

The question is, what really is the right 'level' of power/Force-strenght of the jedi? Is it like in the movies or cartoon or CGI series?

Sorry if this going a bit OT, just my 2 cents on the topic.

I have just started watching CW on Cartoon Network; and I am really anoid with how inept the Jedi appear in the series. Cad Bane is the badest MF in the entire SW Galaxy. Why did Darth Sidious not take him as his apprentace? He can top anyone and Sidious might be the only one that could top him. I am sorry but Mace Windu was head of the Jedi Council, Obi Wan is another Jedi Master, not to mention Yoda and the rest all had dealings with Bane and none of them can top him?

And to the comment about the order 66 and the clones, I always thought it was a deep program in each clone that would be triggered with the order and they would act like a slepper agent, ie The Manchurian Candidate. But I wounder how it would affect the clones close to the Jedi afterwards.

[The Legonater]

I have just started watching CW on Cartoon Network; and I am really anoid with how inept the Jedi appear in the series. Cad Bane is the badest MF in the entire SW Galaxy. Why did Darth Sidious not take him as his apprentace? He can top anyone and Sidious might be the only one that could top him. I am sorry but Mace Windu was head of the Jedi Council, Obi Wan is another Jedi Master, not to mention Yoda and the rest all had dealings with Bane and none of them can top him?

And to the comment about the order 66 and the clones, I always thought it was a deep program in each clone that would be triggered with the order and they would act like a slepper agent, ie The Manchurian Candidate. But I wounder how it would affect the clones close to the Jedi afterwards.

Uh... Sideos didn't take Bane because Bane doesn't have the force. I would've thought that painfully obvious. And that's not at all how Order 66 works. it's a contingcy order, a worst-possible sceanario precaution. The clones know if these get ordered then it;s serious, and act as such. And since the clones has an excellent memory, they never forget it.

[prateek]

Gah! This episode make me more mad that Lego hasn't made any Quarrens yet!

[Cusm]

Uh... Sideos didn't take Bane because Bane doesn't have the force. I would've thought that painfully obvious. And that's not at all how Order 66 works. it's a contingcy order, a worst-possible sceanario precaution. The clones know if these get ordered then it;s serious, and act as such. And since the clones has an excellent memory, they never forget it.

I was being sarcastic about Bane, but the series does have him being way more successful than just about the entire Jedi Council, sometimes it can be a bit much.

Where did you get that Order 66 was just a worst case scenario order? I have not watched all of CW and if this is touched on I really want to see that episode as that is some of the most interesting part of the series for me so far - the movie tie ins.

[XimenaPaulina]

Gah! This episode make me more mad that Lego hasn't made any Quarrens yet!

It's simply because there hasn't been a prominent Quarren character in the series, they all seem to be just background aliens (in the CW CGI/cartoon series, and OT/PT movies). Maybe we could see one in lego form if they will create a main Quarren character which plays an important role in the series.

[Forresto]

It was a good episode but it could have been much better. Everything about Coruscant is really great (loved Palpatine's speech on the giant flying billboard.) and they've done a really great job on it. This is personally how I would have had it go though:

Have the main character be Lt. Tan Divo (from Senate murders. I liked him a lot since he's very different from the rest of the main cast) and maybe a new jedi trying to find a stolen lightsaber. Everything else could have been pretty much the same as the rest of the episode was good. I also really want to see a couple of those police droids to go with my Senate Commandos.

[Oky]

Yeah, I liked Palpy's speach too, it plays very nicely into ROTS.

Have the main character be Lt. Tan Divo (from Senate murders. I liked him a lot since he's very different from the rest of the main cast) and maybe a new jedi trying to find a stolen lightsaber.

What? Having Tan Divo be the main character would totally defeat the whole point of this episode about a young padawan learning from a wise, old master. And why make up a new jedi when we have good ol' Ahsoka to show us how irresponsible she is.

Don't get me wrong, I like Divo too, but he just wouldn't fit into this episode, especially not as the main character.

But I agree, we totally need droid bobby minifigs!

Edited September 9, 2010 by Oky Wan Kenobi