Star Wars: The Clone Wars 2x11 Lightsaber Lost

[JediKnightButler]

All in all a good episode. But after seeing countless advertisements for next week, I'm anxious to see the Mandalorians too.

According to the Star Wars Insider magazine, we'll be getting THREE episodes of the Mandalorians (3-part story arc). The first is entitled "The Duchess of Mandalore". It seems like we'll be getting some significant changes to canon in regards to the Mandalorians, as well as some more background for Obi-Wan.

 

[Hartzilla2007]

All in all a good episode. But after seeing countless advertisements for next week, I'm anxious to see the Mandalorians too.

According to the Star Wars Insider magazine, we'll be getting THREE episodes of the Mandalorians (3-part story arc). The first is entitled "The Duchess of Mandalore". It seems like we'll be getting some significant changes to canon in regards to the Mandalorians, as well as some more background for Obi-Wan.

So we're finally getting to the episodes that drove Karen Traviss off.

 

[nx1701g]

All in all a good episode. But after seeing countless advertisements for next week, I'm anxious to see the Mandalorians too.

According to the Star Wars Insider magazine, we'll be getting THREE episodes of the Mandalorians (3-part story arc). The first is entitled "The Duchess of Mandalore". It seems like we'll be getting some significant changes to canon in regards to the Mandalorians, as well as some more background for Obi-Wan.

So we're finally getting to the episodes that drove Karen Traviss off.

Pretty much yeah.

 

[MeanJoePhaser]

Canon... ha! I remember Boba Fett fighting in the clone wars was accepted waaay back when. Or that the Mandalorians were extinct, then they weren't, then they were, then some alien in the cantina played a pivotal role in something, everyone in Jabba's palace wanted to kill him, then I stopped reading Star Wars fiction.

 

[SeerSGB]

Canon... ha! I remember Boba Fett fighting in the clone wars was accepted waaay back when. Or that the Mandalorians were extinct, then they weren't, then they were, then some alien in the cantina played a pivotal role in something, everyone in Jabba's palace wanted to kill him, then I stopped reading Star Wars fiction.

Hell I can remember when bringing Fett back from the dead (Marvel Comics) was a big deal. And when the Mandos were called "super commandos"

 

[Christopher]

So we're finally getting to the episodes that drove Karen Traviss off.

Could you explain that for the uninitiated?

 

[SeerSGB]

So we're finally getting to the episodes that drove Karen Traviss off.

Could you explain that for the uninitiated?

Karen Traviss was famous/infamous for her take on Mandalorian culture in the Star Wars novels. Not to mention her run in with fans on messageboards (referring to people that didn't like her books as Talifans) and butting heads with other Star Wars writers and folks at Lucasfilm when they didn't like where she was taking canon in her books. When she found out her novels were going to be contradicted in Clone Wars, she got mad and quit writing Star Wars novels and made a massive huffy stomp off "I'm leaving" deal about it.

One of the big complaints, I've read, about her from other writers in the franchise was that she tended to ignore previous canon or books in a series just to do what SHE wanted with her Mando's characters-- which were turned to little more than Mary and Gary sues. Plush she absolutely hated the Jedi to the point that it bled into her stories and making her Jedi characters little different from the Sith.

I wasn't personally into any of the fights, so I don't know all the dirt. Here's a short version of things.

These debates broke out between Karen Traviss (sometimes alongside fellow Fandalorians) and the opposed fans she often referred to as "Talifans". The debates were usually held on online forums, eventually including StarWars.com. It is not entirely clear what exactly happened in all of these debates, particularly on StarWars.com, since many posts were deleted by moderators, and Traviss herself deleted the entire contents of her StarWars.com blog. Many of the posts were screen-shotted before their removal, but these screen-shots, while providing new insight into the incidents that occurred, may be showing aspects of the debates out of proper context.

The announcement on her blog

The canon is beyond my control, because that's the very nature of tie-in work. But that still left me with some personal choices I had to make. I could try to make the retcons. Or I could switch to different SW books that weren't affected by these changes. Or I could decide to call it a day - I had a great run, but I had an increasing amount of non-SW work to get on with that was more important to my business.
In the end, the only rational decision I could take was to make Imperial Commando #2 my last book for Star Wars. I'm sorry I had to do that, and it wasn't a decision I took lightly or even quickly, so bear with me while I explain.


Obviously, in business, there are always multiple reasons behind any decision. Some of my influencing factors were business ones about contractual matters, but that's dull and of no interest to the customer. Let's stick to what concerns you, which is the story.



Rather than switch to vastly altered storylines in which many of the characters whose lives you've been following for the last five years wouldn't exist, or move across to other SW areas, I decided this was a natural point at which to make the break. I've never given up on anything easily, and I knew it would disappoint my readers, so you can rest assured that I spent a lot of time trying to find ways to make the canon work in the longer term. But it's a circle I can't square. Maybe someone else can, but I can't. My specialty - what companies hire me for - is to create substantial military/political series with long character arcs in an increasingly detailed world. That kind of product doesn't lend itself to quick fixes or radical changes mid-stream.

One of her more infamous comments online: ""Well, I haven't actually read any [Star Wars books] - started on a few, leafed through a few, but by and large, nada. Seriously. My inability to read is well known - I hate reading, and I can't absorb data from fiction."

Or

""I didn't know the first thing about SW when I was asked to write the books, and I could have just kept it at arm's length and still got paid, but I fell in love with it, and it gives me genuine plesasure. And that's important enough to me to pull the plug on everything that threatens to suck the fun out of it for me.""

 

[DarthPipes]

Beyond that, though, it was pretty good, although I have a hard time believing a) that Anakin would fail to notice Ahsoka was missing her lightsaber and b) that Ahsoka couldn't have just used Force telekinesis to snatch the saber back from Cassie.

A) It would be very hard not to notice that Ahsoka didn't have her lightsaber. Her not wearing a Jedi robe should make it pretty obvious. But Anakin is the kind of guy who gets blinded by his own agenda and concerns so I could buy it.

B) Totally agree here. At the beginning of ESB, Luke barely had any formal Jedi training, was injured and hanging upside down in an ice cave and he was able to summon his lightsaber to him. Yes, I know he's the hero of SW and Anakin's son but still...Ahsoka should be able to do this with ease.

I liked Karen Traviss's writing for the most part and enjoyed her take on Anakin/Vader. But I could not stand her anti-Jedi mindset. Give it a rest already!

 

[Christopher]

A) It would be very hard not to notice that Ahsoka didn't have her lightsaber. Her not wearing a Jedi robe should make it pretty obvious.

Her not wearing much of anything should make it pretty obvious.

But Anakin is the kind of guy who gets blinded by his own agenda and concerns so I could buy it.

Except that it seemed she was by his side for a considerable length of time, all the way from the bar back to the Jedi Temple. He would've had to be really preoccupied with something not to notice. And the guy's a trained warrior -- his survival depends on noticing the details of his surroundings. I can't believe he could be so preoccupied that he wouldn't notice something that was so close to him for such a significant length of time, especially when it's something as important as a lightsaber, something he's repeatedly lectured Ahsoka about.

I would assume that for a warrior it's a matter of reflex, essentially, to be aware of any weapons being carried by anyone nearby, friend or foe. By analogy, I'm a writer, and I notice written words everywhere; by reflex I read anything in my field of view. Words are my tools; I'm trained to be hyperaware of them. So I expect that a warrior or soldier would have a similar reflex for "reading" weapons in his or her vicinity, and with far more urgent motivation for doing so. I think Anakin would be more likely to overlook the absence of Ahsoka's tube top than the absence of her lightsaber.

 

[gblews]

I REALLY enjoy this show and I'm surprised by that as I thought I wasn't interested in Clone War stories.

My daughter and I get into it about this show all the time. She and her boyfriend hate it, the 'droids send them both up a wall. They are annoying but the other stuff usually ranges from good, to very good, to excellent.

I also like Ashoka. Allowing her Light Saber to be stolen seems very padawan-esque to me. But I did think she might come clean to Annikin. I probably don't know this show as well as many of you.

Liked the old Jedi too.

 

[DarthPipes]

A) It would be very hard not to notice that Ahsoka didn't have her lightsaber. Her not wearing a Jedi robe should make it pretty obvious.

Her not wearing much of anything should make it pretty obvious.

But Anakin is the kind of guy who gets blinded by his own agenda and concerns so I could buy it.

Except that it seemed she was by his side for a considerable length of time, all the way from the bar back to the Jedi Temple. He would've had to be really preoccupied with something not to notice. And the guy's a trained warrior -- his survival depends on noticing the details of his surroundings. I can't believe he could be so preoccupied that he wouldn't notice something that was so close to him for such a significant length of time, especially when it's something as important as a lightsaber, something he's repeatedly lectured Ahsoka about.

I would assume that for a warrior it's a matter of reflex, essentially, to be aware of any weapons being carried by anyone nearby, friend or foe. By analogy, I'm a writer, and I notice written words everywhere; by reflex I read anything in my field of view. Words are my tools; I'm trained to be hyperaware of them. So I expect that a warrior or soldier would have a similar reflex for "reading" weapons in his or her vicinity, and with far more urgent motivation for doing so. I think Anakin would be more likely to overlook the absence of Ahsoka's tube top than the absence of her lightsaber.

This is true about Ahsoka. I can only think about what the lowlifes in the slum districts mistaked her for.

Anakin was guarding his prisoner although considering how easily he caught him, maybe he really didn't need to be guarding him that closely.

I agree though...not noticing Ahsoka's lightsaber missing is a weak point.

 

[JediKnightButler]

One thing that I thought was kind of funny about Ashoka losing her lightsaber was the running joke throughout the prequels (and even in the TV series) about Anakin being chastised about repeatedly losing/not having his lightsaber. Maybe that is why Anakin (if he noticed she didn't have it) didn't give her a hard time about it. Ashoka really did go through some rather extraordinary lengths to get her lightsaber back whereas I'm not sure Anakin would've worried about it quite so much and would've just gotten another one. Ashoka's response to the loss of her lightsaber-as a Padawan- seemed very believable, however.

 

[Hermiod]

I can forgive Ahsoka losing her lightsabre, it's not like she asked for it to be stolen, but calling an honoured elder Jedi "gramps" was disrespectful.

Anakin should give her a clip 'round the ear for that one.

 

[exodus]

I'm wondering in the elder Jedi was some type of homage to Jim Henson's "Dark Crystal"? He looked similar to the Mystics.

 

[nx1701g]

I can forgive Ahsoka losing her lightsabre, it's not like she asked for it to be stolen, but calling an honoured elder Jedi "gramps" was disrespectful.

Anakin should give her a clip 'round the ear for that one.

Anakin doing that would be like the pot calling the kettle black.

 

[jep316]

When Ahsoka said her master will kill her for losing her lightsaber I couldn't help wondering if that could be foreshadowing on Ahsoka's ultimate fate.

 

[Hermiod]

I can forgive Ahsoka losing her lightsabre, it's not like she asked for it to be stolen, but calling an honoured elder Jedi "gramps" was disrespectful.

Anakin should give her a clip 'round the ear for that one.

Anakin doing that would be like the pot calling the kettle black.

True, but much of a Jedi's training consists of do as I say, not as I do.

 

[C.E. Evans]

b) Ahsoka's still a padawan would be my guess. Her Force-control skills may not be that good yet, especially against a moving target.

But she was able to yank that pipe out of its fittings from dozens of meters away.

I think it's one thing to stop and Force-pull a stationary object, but harder to do the same with a fast-moving target (especially when you're moving as well). It may require greater focus/concentration than Ahsoka had at the moment.

On the train, Cassie was much closer to Ahsoka and was holding the saber still against her hostages' necks. It seems to me that would've been easier by comparison. Okay, at that point maybe Ahsoka didn't want to risk slipping and killing the hostages, but still, it seems inconsistent.

There's also the issue of Ahsoka still being young and not being as experienced as full-fledged Jedi to consider.

 

[Mr Light]

As cool as it would be, I really doubt they'll ever show Anakin killed Ashoka on this children's show. I don't even know if they would have the stones to turn her dark, really. She's supposed to the idol for young female viewers right?