Well, that’s a good place to summarise.
That’s me gone now through each of the episodes with the older character models to review them, which is also a bit of a turning point for the show’s overall focus. Due to the models changing, it’d be preferable to keep pre-change episodes on the pre-change side and vice versa, though I don’t think I should be beholden to that if it improves the story. I’d certainly like to get Nightsisters, which comes after the change, in as quickly as possible, so I might be encouraged to dump the good-but-not-important episodes on its other side, for example.
Importantly though: Guys, please feel free to challenge me on anything I’ve mentioned in this thread.
I’m fairly confident with a lot of these decisions, but I’m absolutely open to being convinced otherwise.
With that in mind, let’s look at the current categorisation, in rough chronological order by category.
VITAL ARCS
- Christophsis - for Ahsoka’s arrival (this’ll probably be packaged with Domino Squad)
- The first Mandalore arc - for actual Mandalorians and the state of Mandalore
IMPORTANT ARCS
- The Tartakovsky Muunilinst/Hypori Arc - for Ventress’ introduction and Anakin’s knighting
- The Domino Squad arc (probably packaged with Christophsis)
- The Holocron Crisis arc - for an early variety romp where Sidious is after force sensitive kids
- The Second Battle of Geonosis - great battle, good character growth, great fun
- The Second Mandalore arc - reveals Almec as corrupt but not particularly meaty for a Mando episode
DESIRABLE ARCS
- Tartakovsky’s Mon Cala, Dantooine, and Ilum arcs - not sure where to put these, but they’re good fun
- Cloak of Darkness - for some solo Ahsoka vs Ventress fun, Luminara lessons, and some shades of grey
- Bounty Hunters - some fun new characters, training of rebels, and a better Hondo intro
- The Deserter - for some good clone value
- The Boba Fett arc - for some good quality focus on the less vital characters
EXCLUDABLE ARCS/EPISODES (“SKIPPABLE”)
- The earlier Christophsis episodes - which don’t add to Ahsoka’s introduction
- The Malevolence arc - superweapon, a setting that looks bad, and a poor ending
- Lair of Grievous - slightly interesting, a bit more menace, but ultimately not much added value (best included elsewhere)
- Dooku Captured arc - introduces Hondo but is a bit too goofy and reliant on Jar Jar
- Jedi Crash arc - boring peaceful natives need rescuing in a plot that doesn’t do anything new
- Trespass - boring savage natives need respect in a plot that doesn’t do anything new
- Battle of Ryloth arc - The best of the excluded set, but the things it does are better elsewhere, and it’s a long arc for all that
- Zillo Beast - fun but unnecessary, and asks some weird questions
- Grievous Intrigue - A Jedi master gets captured and rescued with no change to the status quo
- Corruption - the first part of the second Mando arc, but one that’s not needed at all, and not fun
OBJECTIONABLE ARCS/EPISODES (NOT TO BE INCLUDED)
- The Huttlet elements of the original movie - Baby Jabba and the worst Ahsoka
- Downfall/Duel of the Droids - horrible graphics and a plot that makes all its characters seem smaller
- Bombad Jedi - Jar Jar-heavy story that’s high on goofiness
- Blue Shadow Virus arc - an absolute mess of an arc, the worst of the whole show
- Supply Lines / Ambush - unnecessary additions to the Ryloth arc that’re heavy on Toydarians and have silly plots. Some elements of Supply Lines may be salvageable.
- Sphere of Influence - George Lucas hunts down Greedo to save his daughter. Yuck.
- The Ziro the Hutt arc - Ziro’s really abrasive, and this cheapens the Hutts a lot