-Although contrived, I'm glad they brought Padme into the mix. How she doesn't get suspcious of Palpatine after this is beyond me.
Yeah, that was kind of a dead giveaway. But I guess Palps can spin some line about his sources being compromised.
I think Palpatine is in the clear on this one since it was the Intergalactic Banking Clan (who are Separatists) who set the time and location of the meeting according to Palpatine's story. So the trap would be assumed by Padme to have been arranged by the IBC rather than Palpatine himself, who can say he thought it was a genuine peace overture.
Though of course that would have to assume that Palpatine doesn't have up-to-the-minute intel on prominent fleet battles (and their locations), and this certainly would be one of those.
And I didn't understand how the hyperdrive sabotage could send the ship flying into the moon in normal space. That looked more like something that would be done with the sublight drive.
The hyperdrive is linked directly to the navicomputer to avoid stars, planets, and other obstacles. Anakin actually sabotaged the navicomputer rather than the hyperdrive itself, probably by plotting a hyperspace jump point originating inside the moon and telling the computer that the moon wasn't there. So it was simply manuevering into position and crashed into the moon on the way before engaging the hyperdrive.
And speaking of hyperdrive, since when did Star Wars hyperspace look so much like Stargate hyperspace, a tunnel with blue clouds of light swooshing by? Is that something that was established in any of the films?
3:44 in (arrival at Alderaan):
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=cbRvYMUjtZ0
57 Seconds in (Battle of Endor):
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=TGMvadAFqLQ&feature=related
It's even parodied on Family Guy:
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=-lVlVbsWfZk
I'm enjoying this show a lot more than I thought I would. I'm not too big on the prequel trilogy, but I'm having fun watching The Clone Wars.
It looks like the next episode focuses more on a squad of clonetroopers than any of the main characters. It's great that they're using the show to branch out like that. I'm looking forward to it.
Yeah, I've thoroughly enjoyed the show so far. I wasn't expecting much after the film, because while it was alright, it wasn't anything terribly impressive. But the show has done a great job so far at making the characters compelling, the action exciting, using humor well for the most part (the battledroids notwithstanding), and building on the SW universe in a creative way.
The stylistic and design choices as far as ships and locations go has been superb and often quite creative. I loved the vertically docking ships at the medical station in the previous episode and the train system aboard the Malevolence. They seem to be using the 3-dimensional nature of space to good effect.
They've also done a great job of depicting the characters. Anakin is actually likable and believable as a leader for a change. Grievous comes off as someone to be feared and run away from like he was in the previous Clone Wars series. They've even developed the personality of the clones and made them less than expendable assets.