I enjoyed it - beautiful CGI, great space battles, loved the space whales. Good fun all around.
Clone Wars 1x03 "Shadow of Malevolence" Grading Thread *SPOLIERS*
- Thread starter Johnny Rico
- Start date
Well, considering that Kamino is the sole provider of troops to the Republic, particularly during a time of war, it would make sense for them to be more actively involved in the war effort.
You know they had sooo many OT 'homage lines'; given that the characters look like Gerry Anderson marionettes, where was "Thunderbirds are GO!"?
The character design was inspired in part by Gerry Anderson's work.
I think the stylized characters are more effective than an attempt at photo realism would have been. Uncanny Valley, and all that...
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Yeah, this episode basically compounds the structural problems I had with the last two episodes. It's basically a series of escalating threats where the characters are in no real danger. Probably the only character in real danger is Asoka, and maybe even then it will be at the end of the series I imagine.
That said, it does *look* good at least. The younger you are, the cooler you probably think the action sequences look.
That said, it does *look* good at least. The younger you are, the cooler you probably think the action sequences look.
He's going to replace it with a CGI hoverfield.
Well, I finally got to see it, and I have to say I really enjoyed it. Cartoon Network showed it again an hour and a half later. Missed the first 3 minutes maybe, but saw the bulk of it. Battles were awesome, and I must be one of the few that's not quite so bothered by Ahsoka. I think she fills her role well enough. I actually like some of her comebacks. Artooey is annoying I'll admit, but what isn't with teens these days? It's easily tuned out. She does have some big ole eyeballs though.
I have to say I LOVE the Y-Wings in their original setup. They retro engineered those perfectly! I love seeing how those evolve into their eventual workhorse role.
I did notice one little nitpick with their attack on the weapon. It appeared to me that after Anakin orders the fighters to attack the starboard side they all swing around and attack the port side. Maybe they're just reversed in a galaxy far far away.
As for the isolationist Kamino, I figured they were forced out of their little shell after their role in the war was exposed. I think there are some expanded universe stories about seperatist attacks on Kamino and such, but and I can only presume that self preservation is their number one priority.
P.S. Gerry Anderson Stylization is a plus in my book as well. Works well for this cartoon format. It is certainly no worse than the Samurai Jack version we got earlier, and I LOVED that too once it grew on me.
I have to say I LOVE the Y-Wings in their original setup. They retro engineered those perfectly! I love seeing how those evolve into their eventual workhorse role.
I did notice one little nitpick with their attack on the weapon. It appeared to me that after Anakin orders the fighters to attack the starboard side they all swing around and attack the port side. Maybe they're just reversed in a galaxy far far away.
As for the isolationist Kamino, I figured they were forced out of their little shell after their role in the war was exposed. I think there are some expanded universe stories about seperatist attacks on Kamino and such, but and I can only presume that self preservation is their number one priority.
P.S. Gerry Anderson Stylization is a plus in my book as well. Works well for this cartoon format. It is certainly no worse than the Samurai Jack version we got earlier, and I LOVED that too once it grew on me.
You know they had sooo many OT 'homage lines'; given that the characters look like Gerry Anderson marionettes, where was "Thunderbirds are GO!"?
The character design was inspired in part by Gerry Anderson's work.
I think the stylized characters are more effective than an attempt at photo realism would have been. Uncanny Valley, and all that...
Please explain because I don't get the Uncanny Valley reference. why in teh world wouldn't realistically proportioned characters be better? I mean everything else is pretty proportioned in detailed, and by having them look like real people instead of messed up wooden puppets (Obi) or Potato heads (Palpatine) by having them be drawn fairly realistically..wouldn't that atually turn the attention to the drama on screen rather than to the designs which currently draw undue attentioon to tehmselves. I love this show, but I don't like the human designs. Akosha's head is too large, and all of that.
Take the 80's G.I. Joe cartoon. people today think teh animation sucks but I loved it because the drawings were good. The movement wan't always smooth, but at least they were proportioned and I could treat tehm in my mind like real people. these days, people have loooong skinny legs, curvesd awkward bodies... the animation might be smoother but the designs blow
I guess when he orders them to take out the starboard ion cannon, he means the weapon in relation to his craft and not the Malevolence's (his starbaord but their port).
Doesn't anyone else find it odd that everyone refers to Anakin as Master Skywalker? One of the issues in RotS was that he wasn't promoted to Master when he joins the Jedi Council.
You know they had sooo many OT 'homage lines'; given that the characters look like Gerry Anderson marionettes, where was "Thunderbirds are GO!"?
The character design was inspired in part by Gerry Anderson's work.
I think the stylized characters are more effective than an attempt at photo realism would have been. Uncanny Valley, and all that...
Please explain because I don't get the Uncanny Valley reference. why in teh world wouldn't realistically proportioned characters be better? I mean everything else is pretty proportioned in detailed, and by having them look like real people instead of messed up wooden puppets (Obi) or Potato heads (Palpatine) by having them be drawn fairly realistically..wouldn't that atually turn the attention to the drama on screen rather than to the designs which currently draw undue attentioon to tehmselves. I love this show, but I don't like the human designs. Akosha's head is too large, and all of that.
Take the 80's G.I. Joe cartoon. people today think teh animation sucks but I loved it because the drawings were good. The movement wan't always smooth, but at least they were proportioned and I could treat tehm in my mind like real people. these days, people have loooong skinny legs, curvesd awkward bodies... the animation might be smoother but the designs blow
The basic idea is that the closer you get to a realistic representation of a human being the more a viewer thinks it's a fake. Creating a truly human looking representation would be overcoming the valley.
Just think about how animated static objects and even animals look "real" but human beings always look off. The eyes are usually dead and the skin does not diffuse light properly, giving off a plastic shine. For whatever reason, we are just innately better at picking out fake human beings.
Illustration of the Uncanny Valley principle: the highly caricatured humans in The Incredibles are more believable than the photorealistic humans in Beowulf or any other Zemeckis performance-capture film. (Of course, that's also an illustration of the superiority of hand animation over performance capture, but that's another discussion.)
Besides, if you want characters who look like real human beings, by far the simplest way to do that is to get real human beings and point a camera at them. It's a waste of the potential of CGI to use it only for recreating something that already exists. After the initial flirtation with photorealism, animators using CGI are increasingly seeking to explore the broader potential of the medium to go beyond reality, to become more stylized and artistically imaginative.
Maybe it's because I watch plenty of 2D animation, which is usually highly stylized these days, but it took me only moments to get used to the character design style of this show. I think the character movements are a little stiff, the expressions fairly limited, but I have no problem with the designs.
Besides, if you want characters who look like real human beings, by far the simplest way to do that is to get real human beings and point a camera at them. It's a waste of the potential of CGI to use it only for recreating something that already exists. After the initial flirtation with photorealism, animators using CGI are increasingly seeking to explore the broader potential of the medium to go beyond reality, to become more stylized and artistically imaginative.
Maybe it's because I watch plenty of 2D animation, which is usually highly stylized these days, but it took me only moments to get used to the character design style of this show. I think the character movements are a little stiff, the expressions fairly limited, but I have no problem with the designs.
I'm not asking for humans that look so real I can't tell they are fake. I would like, however, people that are not stylized so tehy look goofy. I just want them in proportion. No big, crapy looking heads, tally lanky bodies all of that.
Jedi are always referred to as "Master" even when they aren't actually Jedi Masters. Anakin was called "Master Skywalker" a few times in Attack of the Clones, as I recall.
Changing proportions is integral to stylization. Look at Batman in B:TAS. His chin's as large as the whole rest of his head. That and the other Timm designs looked extremely goofy to me when I first saw still images of them. But I got used to them very quickly once I saw the actual show.
As much as I hate to admit it, this episode was pretty good. Of course this is when compared to the other prequel mess.
Still the major problem is that since I know that everyone (except maybe that small retarded kid Jedi) will survive, no episode is really all that exciting.
Still the major problem is that since I know that everyone (except maybe that small retarded kid Jedi) will survive, no episode is really all that exciting.
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I find that an odd attitude. On most shows, you almost always know the regulars will survive, because they're under contract. On most animated shows, you know the regulars will survive, because you aren't allowed to have death in American kids' shows. (Of course Lucas has the clout to get around that, but even in SWTCW, the violence is greatly toned down and the deaths kept mostly offscreen, with all the casualties being clones and droids. As much as the show personalizes the clones, they still probably count as "not really people" by the bizarre standards of network censors.) So I don't understand the idea that the interest level of a show is solely contingent on whether you're going to see somebody die.
Than why stylize them? Why not make nthem resemble real-life proportioned people.
People still talk fodly of the 80's G.I. Joe cartoon, and the 80's Transformers cartoon. They talk about the stories, not about the character design. Why? Because the character designs were in proportion and they didn't stick out.
Ask Picasso. Cartooning is an art form, and realism is only one style of art.
That's a total non sequitur. People talk about the stories in Batman:TAS and the other Timmverse shows; in The Simpsons and Futurama; in Akira and Ghost in the Shell; in Avatar: The Last Airbender; in The Incredibles and Wall-E; and in countless other works of animation that employ stylized character designs. There's no reason why an animated show can't be artistically distinctive as well as having strong stories. It's not a choice of one or the other; good animated shows or films are impressive in both respects.
Besides, you want to cite Transformers as an example of proper proportions??? I don't think so.
I just wish Ahsoka didn't look like a Bratz doll.