Star Wars The Clone Wars Season Five News and Discussion

[JD]

I forgot about that. Now, that you guys bring it up, I do remember that scene bothering me too.

[Locutus of Bored]

I think part of the reason why it bugged me is that here you essentially had a clone who was a Jason Bourne type character, where you could explore the nature of his organization from someone who was both an insider and (now) an outsider, and can touch on themes such as whether the ends justify the means and who are the real good guys and bad guys and so forth, or whether such a distinction really has meaning. Obviously that's kind of heavy stuff for a 22-minute animated kid's show, but it has tackled those issues before with the episodes featuring the Seperatists who had legitimate grievances against the Republic.

Apart from the problem of minimizing slavery when it's done by the people who you are ostensibly supposed to be rooting for, it just felt like a missed opportunity to explore something more meaningful instead of just having Gregor regain his memory and then instantly be all gung ho to go back to being cannon fodder for the Republic again. And it also could coincide with the droid's own treatment by Gascon and others. Many of them are clearly sentient beings who are treated as disposable tools by their masters.

What's the point in doing these multiple-episode arcs if they're not going to get into some more thought provoking or hard-hitting themes? It's just felt like three or four disconnected mini-missions so far except for the involvement of the same core characters (who are mostly annoying).

[Hartzilla2007]

Well the droid arc is finally over, and hey Kenobi and Skywalker finally showed up again. Also it was nice of them to explain why a Republic Star Destroyer was loitering around the planet and why it would let a ship from there just land on it.

[Christopher]

Hartzilla2007 wrote:

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Also it was nice of them to explain why a Republic Star Destroyer was loitering around the planet and why it would let a ship from there just land on it.

That was established last week. The shuttle that D-Squad took up to the star destroyer was the one that the droids on the planet were loading with the explosive fuel. Presumably it was meant to be bringing the last shipment of explosives aboard and thus was expected, though I have to wonder why the Separatist forces didn't bother to meet it when it arrived.

The main benefit of this episode was that Artoo got to play a more central role than he has in most of the arc. Other than that, the main benefit is that it's finally over. Hopefully this is the last we'll see of Gascon and D-Squad.

[trekkier]

Anakin? Obi-wan? Who are those characters? We havent seen more than 2 minutes of them in the whole season!

[Enterprise is Great]

Finally it's over. I have to say that the Droid arc was the worst arc of the series so far. Gascon and his droid frenemy were just beyond annoying. And until this episode R2-D2 did almost nothing. Finally he got to play hero. If you're going to do a droid arc why not make Artoo the main star? Why some dopey alien and a dopey droid as the central characters?

[billcosby]

Wow, is this series fucked for good now? Nearly this entire season has been a train wreck. I know it's aimed at kids and all but I was just thinking as a kid, I think I'd be insulted with Gaston as a character in contrast to the previous offerings and scope of character depth.

Luckily I was able to get through both latest shows in one sitting, which made the Gaston pill easier to swallow. It seemed for a moment there that the plot thread with the (re)activation of slave Gregor was going to save this 4-story arc. The excessive and pedantic exposition by Gaston throughout both of these episodes was unbearable. He spelled out everything constantly I wondered if he was going to ask us to stand up and count things a la Dora the Explorer.

Would kids have enjoyed this? I know it's the general goal at Lucasfilm here but: parents, am I right in assuming that kids found Gaston amusing?

For a moment... I thought maybe (hoped) he'd died in the explosion.

[Ayelbourne]

Mr. Adventure wrote:

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I do think this arc could've stood to be smaller. Picking up again after the long gap just makes it feel even longer.

Most of the arcs are too long for the actual amount of content they offer.
I'm really getting tired of the protagonists getting stranded or captured every second episode, just so the developers can squeeze in one or two more episodes.

[Mr Light]

I just realized, this arc would have been infinitely better if Threepio were in it. Why in the world they decided to make this into 4 episodes is beyond me. It might've been ok as a two parter. I liked it at the beginning, but this was just ridiculous.

And I can't believe Artoo survived that huge HUGE explosion. That was so lame. At the very least they should have totally destroyed his body but salvaged his hard drive and put it into a new chassis.

[Stephen!]

They must really like Mustafar. It's back again for the next arc.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSOe7MzFs2w

[lennier1]

Stephen! wrote:

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They must really like Mustafar. It's back again for the next arc.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSOe7MzFs2w

It had such a huge effect in the movie because it was quite different from the usual fare, but showing it every other week simply turns it into yet another episode backdrop.

[Christopher]

Mr Light wrote:

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I just realized, this arc would have been infinitely better if Threepio were in it.

That would've been an improvement, but it's hard to justify a Senator's personal protocol droid being sent on a strictly military mission. Although I guess they could've arranged some mixup where Threepio ended up getting caught on their ship by mistake when it launched.

Why in the world they decided to make this into 4 episodes is beyond me.

Every arc this season has been a 4-parter. Even the seemingly standalone season premiere was actually a bumped-up part 1 of an arc that resumes next week. I guess the 4-part arcs last season such as the Umbara arc and the Obi-Wan undercover arc were well enough received that they decided to do the whole season that way. Or maybe they're "writing for the trade" -- doing 4-part arcs that can be released on home video as movie-length stories.

And I can't believe Artoo survived that huge HUGE explosion. That was so lame. At the very least they should have totally destroyed his body but salvaged his hard drive and put it into a new chassis.

I thought that was what they were going to do with the droid that was lost in hyperspace, the one Gascon had been riding around in. They made a big deal in part 1 about how that droid's memory was being removed to make room for Gascon's cockpit. I figured that would be a Chekhov's Gun and that the payoff would be that the droid's personality survived and could be placed in a new body. Instead, they just forgot about it.

[Ayelbourne]

Christopher wrote:

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Even the seemingly standalone season premiere was actually a bumped-up part 1 of an arc that resumes next week.

Ah, I was wondering why the female Jedi who got killed by Maul was alive again in the next arc. This explains it.

[Enterprise is Great]

[QUOTE=Christopher;7528783]

Mr Light wrote:

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Every arc this season has been a 4-parter. Even the seemingly standalone season premiere was actually a bumped-up part 1 of an arc that resumes next week. I guess the 4-part arcs last season such as the Umbara arc and the Obi-Wan undercover arc were well enough received that they decided to do the whole season that way. Or maybe they're "writing for the trade" -- doing 4-part arcs that can be released on home video as movie-length stories.

It's happening already. Just last week they released a DVD of all 4 Darth Maul episodes from last season cut together as a movie called Star Wars The Clone Wars: Darth Maul Returns.

[JD]

I thought this last one was a slight improvement over the rest of the arc. I don't know if I would say it was good, but it wasn't as bad as the others.
I think I enjoyed the clip more than I did any of the last 4 episodes.