Star Wars:The Clone Wars S3......so far

[Set Harth]

And as long as the series doesn't in some way completely contradict the films, then the more latitude it has to be its own creative force, the better.

Anakin and Grievous never meet in the series, for the express reason of not contradicting ROTS. And you know the writers would be chomping at the bit to do just that, if not for the restriction. I mean, that's an episode outline right there. "Anakin and Grievous meet".

Too late, it already has, in its depiction of Anakin.

Wouldn't it be great if TCW's depiction of Anakin was the same as his depiction in the first film sequence chronologically following TCW?

 

[Greylock Crescent]

And as long as the series doesn't in some way completely contradict the films,

Too late, it already has, in its depiction of Anakin. But even then you can kinda tilt your head and squint your eyes and decide that the PT simply wasn't complete and left out important scenes that more fully define Anakin as a heroic and likable guy, not a whiny, petulant punk. I'm willing to just go with whatever amendments Lucas chooses to make, as long as he keeps on doing the right kind of thing.

That's more or less what I was going for. Anakin's portrayals are different but they aren't mutually exclusive -- provided the audience is willing to make some certain "allowances" in artistic license. Unlike, say, making Anakin a Jedi Master and putting him on the Jedi Council, which would be irreconcilable with the films. Basically, I'd like to see TCW be as much of its own entity as possible. So as long as what we see in The Clone Wars can be reconciled with the films (even if it requires tilting my head and squinting), I'm okay with it.

 

[Admiral_Young]

^ I'm okay with this aspect of the series as well...I do think that it is attempting to distinguish it's self from the prequels to a certain extent but not in a detrimental or contradictory sense like Set Harth thinks we're saying.

 

[Mr Light]

How about Anakin and Grievous fight all the time, but at the end of every episode Anakin bumps his head and forgets and Grievous gets his circuits fried and his memory erased?

 

[Temis the Vorta]

That's more or less what I was going for. Anakin's portrayals are different but they aren't mutually exclusive -- provided the audience is willing to make some certain "allowances" in artistic license.

Yeah, that was the "squint and tilt your head" idea I was going for earlier. Lucas just chose the wrong scenes to show us in the PT and/or didn't include some vital scenes that would have "clarified" matters for us. I'll ignore my ungenerous suspicion that he did intend the whiny punk portrayal all along and is retconning madly now. It's a reply of Greedo Shot First, except in the right direction this time around.

How about Anakin and Grievous fight all the time, but at the end of every episode Anakin bumps his head and forgets and Grievous gets his circuits fried and his memory erased?

Anakin as Curly Howard?

 

[Mr Light]

New episode! Now this is the series I'm looking for, not like the first half of the season. Great opening battle. Something actually happened in the story too; Dooku turned on Ventress. And the introduction of a new faction. Good stuff. The four way battle between Dooku in his jammies and three invisible chicks was pretty damn cool too.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Still got 45 minutes till it starts here in Cali, but I'm very curious whether this is going to be a Ventress-centric episode and if so, how are they going to pull it off? Ditto for Sith-centric episodes which may be following.

TCW's biggest remaining weakness (after having solved the problems of Anakin's characterization and the underdeveloped/baffling political landscape) is the lack of development of the Good vs Evil fight which is the core of all Star Wars and something I think Lucas, the good little liberal, might be a bit scared of, hopefully his collaborators will encourage him to dive right in.

A related problem is the cardboard characterization of the Sith. How can you write a series of episodes that center on a cardboard prop? You can't, which is why I hope the idea here is to give Ventress, and maybe Dooku, and maybe even other Sith a bit more depth, with the ultimate goal of making Anakin's future story also more comprehensible and effective as drama.

 

[Christopher]

I didn't care for the battle, because I couldn't help noticing how the assassins were rather blatantly waiting their turn to attack Dooku one at a time instead of attacking him all at once. If two or more of them had ever swung their lightsabers at him simultaneously from different directions, he couldn't have escaped death. Sure, I know that cinematic swordfights are always unrealistic like that to drag them out; real swordfights typically last more like one blow. But it just seemed particularly blatant here.

Otherwise, an interesting new angle to explore. Except I wonder how it is that PalpaSidious could detect the "disturbance in the Force" caused by Ventress getting uppity but couldn't use the same Force sense to discern that she was still alive after the kaboom.

And will someone tell me why the front end of a Separatist flagship looks like the Great Gonzo?

 

[Mr. Adventure]

Decent action-packed episode here. I was a bit startled to see Ventress choke-hold Anakin and Obi-Wan!

I liked the "By your command." but that droid is no IL-series Lucifer.

That's more or less what I was going for. Anakin's portrayals are different but they aren't mutually exclusive -- provided the audience is willing to make some certain "allowances" in artistic license.

Maybe, but I watched AOTC recently and couldn't believe how awful Hayden was. I much prefer Clone Wars' Matt Lanter.

I didn't care for the battle, because I couldn't help noticing how the assassins were rather blatantly waiting their turn to attack Dooku one at a time instead of attacking him all at once.

Dooku was using short bursts of Force Freeze on them. Totally canon BTW.

And will someone tell me why the front end of a Separatist flagship looks like the Great Gonzo?

I've come to the conclusion that starship designers in the Star Wars universe are all insane. Geniuses but insane.

 

[DarthPipes]

Excellent start to the Brother of Maul storyline.

-Loved the dark visuals.

-Tremendous action. The opening space battle was impressive as was Ventress's throwdown with the Jedi. The Nightsister battle against Dooku was just as good.

-Had its humor as well. "She never looks good." I did kind of chuckle when the droid told Dooku "By your command." This ain't BSG guys.

-Ventress backstory from the Republic comics is pretty much intact and that's cool.

-New character development for Dooku. He didn't want to kill Ventress and Ventress seemed to hesitate when having a chance to strike him down. A new shade for both of them.


-Loved the design of Dathomir.

 

[Gepard]

-Loved the design of Dathomir.

Another nice touch: the head Nightsister's design is based on an unused Sith concept from Episode 1, from before they decided on Darth Maul as Sidious's apprentice.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

^ oh lord, I had forgotten all about the "Sith Witch", that is cool

 

[Admiral_Young]

So far an excellent start to the second half of the season and I think it will only get more interesting from here. I agree with the visuals and tone were great.

 

[Xavier_Storma]

The episode looked great and added something that was missing to an extend in the show: Focus on the bad guys...
It is because of the evil guys STAR WARS got so popular in the first place: Starting with Vader, then Boba Fett, Jabba the Hutt to Palpatine. Heroes are only as good as their enemies, and luckily STAR WARS has some of the best villains working together!

I liked the new Obi-Wan mesh... looked like ROTS.

 

[Christopher]

I liked the "By your command." but that droid is no IL-series Lucifer.

Considering the voice treatment on that model of droid, I'm sure the analogy was to the Centurions, not the ILs. The Centurions are the ones most known for saying "By your command" -- not only in the original series, but in a memorable scene in one of the final Caprica episodes that aired this week.

Dooku was using short bursts of Force Freeze on them. Totally canon BTW.

I'm not sure whether it's a joke or an error that your link there connects to your own post.

And will someone tell me why the front end of a Separatist flagship looks like the Great Gonzo?

I've come to the conclusion that starship designers in the Star Wars universe are all insane. Geniuses but insane.

While we're on the subject, the dual bridge modules of the Republic's proto-Star-Destroyer ships look kinda like Jar-Jar's eyestalks.

 

[JD]

I really enjoyed this episode, lots of great action, we got to see Ventress's past which matches up to the stuff we've gotten in the past, only with the new Nightsister angle, and we got a new faction of Force uses thrown into the mix, which is always a good to me.
It's been a while since I read The Courtship of Princess Leia, so I don't remember the Nightsisters that well, but I'm pretty sure they were very different. Which is pretty much in line with how they've been treating the EU content throughout the show. It seems like they're kind of approaching like when people adapt a book or comic, taking the name and concept, but putting their own twist on it, which is fine with me. I never expect to see exact transfers from the EU anyways.

 

[Greylock Crescent]

Excellent episode this week. Loved the depth they added to Ventress. They still could (and should) add more depth to Dooku. But the episode itself was wonderfully epic. And not for the first time I found myself thinking that this is exactly the kind of storytelling that should have been part of the films. Great stuff.

 

[Psylent1]

Otherwise, an interesting new angle to explore. Except I wonder how it is that PalpaSidious could detect the "disturbance in the Force" caused by Ventress getting uppity but couldn't use the same Force sense to discern that she was still alive after the kaboom.

The "disturbance" was probably a quick vision of Ventress attacking Dooku, and thus a self-fulfilling prophecy.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

I liked the "By your command." but that droid is no IL-series Lucifer.

Considering the voice treatment on that model of droid, I'm sure the analogy was to the Centurions, not the ILs. The Centurions are the ones most known for saying "By your command" -- not only in the original series, but in a memorable scene in one of the final Caprica episodes that aired this week.

It felt more like interaction with Lucifer than a random Centurion in my mind.

Dooku was using short bursts of Force Freeze on them. Totally canon BTW.

I'm not sure whether it's a joke or an error that your link there connects to your own post.[/quote]

Yeah, just a silly joke, corroborating my statement with another...which just happened to be my own statement. (Though that isn't really ins't what canon is so probably makes a bad joke even worse )

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Loved the depth they added to Ventress.

Weeeelll...they added that depth with an eyedropper...but hey, it's a step in the right direction!

Until and unless Ventress becomes a fully fledged or even partially fledged character, it's going to be hard to become emotionally invested in her quest for vengeance (especially since we know she can't kill Dooku anyway). The problem is, I still don't know who she is, really. Her personality seems interchangeable with Dooku's. That's a problem with Star Wars baddies' overall. They are just cardboard props who want power (if Sith or aspiring Sith) or money (everyone else). A good character should have behavior and goals that are distinct from every other character in a story. That's how a character becomes more than just a prop.

Compare this plotline to, say, a DS9 story arc where Dukat decides to get vengeance against Weyoun (or vice versa for that matter). That would be hysterical fun, because both are well delineated personalities, in no way interchangeable, with unique ways of behaving and even speaking, and very different goals in life. The story would have to be specific to those characters, and would be quite different depending on which character was the one seeking revenge.

Star Wars still has a ways to go before they start having DS9-level villains who can steal the show from the heroes.

OTOH, Ventress is an impressive badass, isn't she? Took on Obi-Wan and Anakin, while injured! You go, girl! Also, I suspect that there's a larger agenda at work here, possibly leading to the greater delineation of Sith characters and the Dark Side that this series desperately needs. So I'll be patient and wait to see what the next two episodes deliver. It's hard for a story to get anywhere in half an hour, minus the necessary lightsaber/space battles, minus the toy ads.

I've never heard of the Nightsisters before. If they are Force users, then that makes a certain amount of sense. Why should everyone have to be shoehorned into Jedi or Sith roles? And they also defy the idea of simplistic good or evil. They don't seem nice, necessarily, but they do have a lot of loyalty towards each other, the way they immediately jumped on Ventress' vengeance bandwagon without any quibble about whether it was their fight.