Star Wars 1X06 Downfall of a Droid

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

What do you think of a new ending.

I, for one, didn't know it would be a cliffhanger.

The first act was amazing. Having the new droid be so incompetent all the time was pushing it. Unless they made that aspect funnier, I didn't like that part of the story.

 

[DarthPipes]

I enjoyed it. I'm glad Artoo got a story arc and Anakin's determination to find him drives the story nicely. His plan to defeat the Seperatists at Bothawui was pretty awesome too.

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

I'm glad to be looking forward to a Star Wars installment again.

 

[Mr Light]

Good episode. It's been a long two weeks. And I always love Artoo. Also loved Anakin's determination to retrieve Artoo and particularly when Obi pointed out that this would be against the Jedi Code. The IG-88 droids were a nice addition as well, it was nice how they were so agile and jumpy; actually a threat to Jedi for once.

I can only assume that R3 is a Seperatist traitor; I mean seriously that couldn't have been just incompetence.

Hey it's been six episodes now and we haven't gotten an Obi starring episode yet! He's my second favorite Jedi after Yoda!

 

[DarthPipes]

Good episode. It's been a long two weeks. And I always love Artoo. Also loved Anakin's determination to retrieve Artoo and particularly when Obi pointed out that this would be against the Jedi Code. The IG-88 droids were a nice addition as well, it was nice how they were so agile and jumpy; actually a threat to Jedi for once.

I can only assume that R3 is a Seperatist traitor; I mean seriously that couldn't have been just incompetence.

Hey it's been six episodes now and we haven't gotten an Obi starring episode yet! He's my second favorite Jedi after Yoda!

You're right we haven't seen much of Obi-Wan. I did read in an interview with Dave Filoni that we are getting an episode eventually that shows us a glimpse of Obi-Wan's past. I can't wait for that.

 

[nx1701g]

Spoiler: R3

Wookiepedia lists R3 as being a Separatist and includes images of R3 and R2 fighting in an upcoming episode.

 

[Christopher]

I can only assume that R3 is a Seperatist traitor; I mean seriously that couldn't have been just incompetence.

Oh, absolutely. By the climactic space battle, it became screamingly obvious that "Stubby" was engaged in deliberate sabotage; in fact, I find it thoroughly unbelievable that Anakin could be so dense that he couldn't see it. It's what Roger Ebert calls an "idiot story," a tale that can only occur if the characters are too dumb to figure out what's obvious to the audience.

I'm getting tired of General Grievous. I want to see other bad guys.

 

[Barbados Slim]

Yeah, where's Lady Ventress been?

Good episode though. I liked the fight with the IG-88s. Asoka didn't bug as much, she's most entertaining when she's in action.

 

[DarKush]

Does anyone know if there are any plans to bring Durge on the show? What about the Dark Jedi like Sora Bulq or Tol Skorr from the Republic comics? Even though I'm liking Grevious a little better than I did in ROTS, I can definitely understand the desire to see other villians.

 

[Mr Light]

One thing I thought was hilarious in this episode... it looked like 12 year old Ashoka was in command of the Republic Cruiser in Anakin's absence. I know she's a Jedi-in-training but where is Admiral Yularen?

I love Grievous a lot but I would like to see other villains. Other DARK SIDE villains mind you. Someone who can have a lightsaber duel with the Jedi.

 

[Christopher]

Can someone explain the purpose of a "restraining bolt?" Yes, I know it's the thing in ANH that was preventing R2 from playing Leia's message until Luke removed it, and a similar one somehow prevented 3PO from wandering off on his own when he was in the Lars' garage. But it's unclear exactly what the device does. It seems to limit a droid's actions but not prevent them from being mobile. Is it analogous to, say, a tranquilizer? Or more like a straitjacket? Does it merely limit their physical movement, or impede their mental function, or even inhibit their free will? The bolt here didn't prevent R2 from acting to remove the bolt and free himself, which kind of seems to defeat the purpose of the device.

And why is it necessary, except as an occasional plot device? I seem to recall that C3PO was switched off outright by one of the other characters at one point in TESB. So if droids have off switches, why the need for a restraining bolt, a device that only seems to slow them down somehow?

Is it a matter of convenience? Say, if you want to control a droid but not have it be just an inert lump of metal you have to carry around? So instead of shutting it down, you use one of these things to "restrain" it, whatever that means? I guess that makes sense, but just what functions are restrained, and to what degree? Has this been explored in any of the tie-in fiction?

 

[TheBrew]

I think a restraining bolt restricts the droids from performing extraneous actions not allowed by their master. Artoo had to get his removed because Owen never authorized him to play the message. When Luke accidently played the fragment, Artoo had the idea to trick him to take it off so that he could go after Kenobi.

So I guess it inhibits free will to answer your question.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

I really enjoyed the sequence with the "IG-88" assassin droids (and R2's flushing of one).

Did anyone think the robot fighter ships were a Galactica homage?

Christopher, here's the "official" entry on restraining bolts.
http://starwars.com/databank/technology/restrainingbolt/index.html
(also you can watch episodes online there which is cool...)

 

[nx1701g]

Here's what Wookiepedia has to say:

A restraining bolt, also known as a restraining separator bolt, was a small device that could be attached to most droids used to ensure their obedience. More specifically, when fitted with a restraining bolt, droids could not leave the area designated by their owner, and were forced to obey commands given from a small remote device (such as "COME" and "STOP"). When activated, the restraining bolt turned off a droid's motor impulse without actually shutting down the droid. Restraining bolts had to be secured to specific locations on the droid.

Restraining bolts could also be used to shut down a droid, and power it back up again. This could be used to force a restart when there was an error in the droid's memory. The shut down could be accomplished with a switch on the bolt, or through the use of a caller. Kell Tainer helped Myn Donos restart his droid Shiner using this method after Empion mines had disabled the squadron.

The astromech droid R2-D2 tricked his new owner Luke Skywalker into removing his restraining bolt, so that he could leave the Lars Homestead and seek out Obi-Wan Kenobi. R2-D2 and C-3PO were also fitted with restraining bolts during the Bakuran Crisis. The assassin/protocol droid HK-47 also had a restraining bolt so that he could not leave the droid shop until he was purchased and collected. Whistler, Corran Horn's R2 unit, had a unique mechanism which shifted control points internally, allowing the astromech to avoid being controlled by restraining bolts at all.

 

[TheBrew]

Hey, I was pretty close. Not sure if I should be happy or not...

 

[Mr Light]

Another interesting bit about the episode. The alien on the scavenger ship was a Transhandoan (right?) which is Bossk's species. But where they've always been portrayed as 7 ft tall hunters, this guy was squat and fat and misshapen. While I was disappointed not to see a CGI Bossk-like guy it was nice to see an abnormal Trannie. And it would also explain why this guy is a scavenger and not a hunter.

 

[Johnny Rico]

Another interesting bit about the episode. The alien on the scavenger ship was a Transhandoan (right?) which is Bossk's species. But where they've always been portrayed as 7 ft tall hunters, this guy was squat and fat and misshapen. While I was disappointed not to see a CGI Bossk-like guy it was nice to see an abnormal Trannie. And it would also explain why this guy is a scavenger and not a hunter.

Yeah, besides the cinematic quality of the space battle sequences, I'm thrilled that this series is attempting to show us more of the Star Wars universe that we haven't seen before (outside of the comics). From the Trandoshan scavenger ship and the IG assassin droids here to the Dactarian homeworld of the premier episode.

If the live-action series is anywhere near this incorporative with backwater Star Wars locales and characters/races, then Star Wars may well reclaim its pre-prequel fame of King of Sci-Fi. (Star Trek not withstanding, of course.)

I just hope that whenever this series gets its DVD release that they present it in its proper aspect ratio of 2.40:1 rather than 1.78:1. I thought 4:3 "foolscreen" was bad...I never thought we'd get 16:9 "foolscreen".

 

[DarthPipes]

Another interesting bit about the episode. The alien on the scavenger ship was a Transhandoan (right?) which is Bossk's species. But where they've always been portrayed as 7 ft tall hunters, this guy was squat and fat and misshapen. While I was disappointed not to see a CGI Bossk-like guy it was nice to see an abnormal Trannie. And it would also explain why this guy is a scavenger and not a hunter.

This is discussed on the official site's commentary of the episode. Filoni said he didn't want every member of a species to be the same. Just like humans are tall, short, fat, skinny...he wanted the Transdoshans to be the same way too.

I like too the look at never-before-seen SW locales and species. Next week we get to actually see the Bothan homeworld. Not to mention the reference to Falleen in the beginning.

 

[firehawk12]

So, this episode sort of shows the whole problem with the concept of the series for me. Because it's stuck in prequel mode, we know that Greivous will always get away and that R2 won't be in any real danger.

I think the show is better last week when pretty much none of the "main" characters were involved.

 

[nx1701g]

^ I do have to agree. Like the R2 cliffhanger - we know he survives and somehow gets back to Anakin. The only real mystery is what'll happen to Anakin's Padawan.