Excellent summary. It is a story in of itself. And again there is little I would add that would make it more cinematic. Reflective of an older cinema time perhaps, but it's presentation makes good use of the animated format. Not a single frame is wasted.
Clone Wars can be a bit of a mixed bag, though it does improve as the series progresses. Rebels is a truly excellent show from start to finish.
Different strokes. I love the simplicity of it, the honesty in the emotions, the tragedy of Maul's very existence. The fact that Kenobi so thoroughly understands Maul that he can defeat him, utterly, before the battle even begins. And the converse, that Maul will NEVER be able to understand Kenobi or the peace, and power, that he has found and is, therefore, doomed. The fight is already over before the swords are drawn, so not only is there no need to draw it out with an elaborate fight, but the single stroke kill only serves to further drive home the point that Kenobi has grown completely beyond Maul. He's on an entirely different plane of power and thinking. It's a cruel way to put it, but in that moment Kenobi may as well be stepping on an ant, for all the chance Maul had. Maul is a thing of the past, and the future and the hope that lies within is the only thing that truly matters.
No bullshit; they have some of the best Star Wars stories and moments in any medium. Wildly inconsistent though overall, but that's what happens when you take big creative swings at something; it doesn't always land. But when it does . . . let's just say that it's been over a decade and I'm still trying to fully parse the metaphors and allegories and whatever the hell else happened in the Mortis arc. Bit if a time investment if one is starting fresh though. TCW weighs in at around 130 episodes (even if one were to skip some of the less essential arcs and episodes you're still looking at around two thirds that number) while Rebels is about 75 episodes IIRC. 'Resistance' you can basically ignore or leave to last. Not a bad show per-see, but somewhat of a squandered opportunity and having to tie directly into the ST didn't do it any favours. At just two seasons it barely got a chance to really stretch it's legs. On the positive side, it does have the best married couple in all of Star Wars in the form of Flix and Orka. 'Tales of the Jedi' is short, sweet and can be gotten though in a single sitting . . . but should probably be saved until one has seen Clone Wars first for a few reasons. Bad Batch being a direct follow-on from TCW can be watched either right after that, or after Rebels. Probably best the latter for reasons I'd rather not spoil. I will say this though; if you have any intention of watching the live action 'Ahsoka' show, it may be rewarding to try and get caught up on TCW & Rebels before it comes out. Without saying too much; it looks like there's going to be a fair number of connections.
I'll second your statement. Spot on. I'll add that not only has Kenobi outgrown Maul but sadly Maul has degenerated. He's not even Maul from the movies or the Clone Wars. You can see that Kenobi feels sorry for him. The most merciful thing at that moment is to end his suffering. There was no need for a long drawn out fight. Maul was outclassed before the swords were drawn as you say. I do confess I was taken aback first time I saw it since it was so short. I was expecting an epic battle like the movies but it made sense. They were just not on the same playing field at all.
I just can't get into the animated shows, especially Clone Wars. I hate the animation style and the voice acting and from what i'v seen the stories are also not that interesting. And i'm certainly not watching 100+ episodes to see if at some point my opinion changes, seeing animated Jar Jar was shock enough.
I know you mean The Clone Wars, but there's also an animated series called just Clone Wars. Not canon though.
If that's the case, I don't see the point for any second duel between them in the first place. Then again, I've always thought it was a mistake to bring Maul back from the dead in "The Clone Wars". His return is one of the reasons why I don't hold that series in such high regard.
Well they did give Maul an interesting arc in The Clone Wars...and allowed Palpatine to have a lightsaber fight were he is obviously having a good time playing with his opponents with no risk of being found out by any Jedi.
I was never fond of most of the SW animated series--largely due to the same problem suffered by SW comics: trying to create "biggest ever" / "darkest ever" / "all important" conflicts and sub-plots to fit within the film plots, which--in the grand scheme of things--means nothing other than being glorified (and unnecessary) filler for a film series that did not need ancillary productions to tell its story. Some might argue "yeah, but it was fun", and yes, some novelization passages have added a new view to some film scenes, but again, it--like the cartoons--were not necessary to create a fill-in-the-blank / "picture" the movies were capable of painting, especially in the case of the OT. He was the only "badass" character from TPM, and was the subject of much merchandising, so....yeah, a bisected man with what one can assume were numerous damaged organs could survive...I guess... That did not work out for 99% of Voyager or Enterprise.
Will point out again, that bringing Maul back was a request by George, but the how and why was left up to the show's writers. So don't go blaming it on Filoni. https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Maw_(Dark_Jedi)
Yes, that was who I was thinking of. Super annoying foe in the battle too. That whole spinning attack was just aggravating. And, yes, I know Maul's return was Lucas' request. My larger thing, and perhaps my controversial way of going about Star Wars, is that if it happened before, even in another medium, then it is acceptable to me in a show or film or book. To me, Star Wars is about "How creative can we get, what can we do with characters, how they can have adventures, etc?" Maul comes back? Well, I'm not happy about it, but he was used well so there we go.
Given that you're dealing with an alien, you can always handwave that alien biology had something to do with it and yadda yadda.
Pure Dark Side Rage. "The Dark Side is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be unnatural." Maul surviving is one such pathway. Riva surviving being gutted twice is another. Though we also see that gut shot victims can be saved without the Dark Side. Fenic was saved by Boba Fett via Mod Parlor and cybernetics. And she's been shot probably a day before given how slow Bantha seem to be. Qui-Gon, being one with the Living Force, probably let himself go.