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Post #1508789

Author
EddieDean
Parent topic
The Clone Wars: Refocused [COMPLETE]
Link to post in topic
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/1508789/action/topic#1508789
Date created
22-Oct-2022, 7:43 AM

RELEASED - S05E02 - THE SIEGE OF MANDALORE (v2.0)

  • RELEASE VERSION.
  • Our second episode of season five (the final season).
  • This one should be watched BEFORE Revenge of the Sith.
  • Comprising the original episode Old Friends Not Forgotten, with one extra scene from A Distant Echo (from the Bad Batch arc), and one scene from The Phantom Apprentice (which followed this one originally).
  • Running 34 minutes.
  • DOWNLOAD LINK is in the tracker spreadsheet, PM me for access.
  • Note: It’s recommended that you download this before watching, rather than streaming it directly from Google Drive.

This is the first episode of the arc, Old Friends Not Forgotten, but concluding on the opening scene from The Phantom Apprentice. The original ends on a cliffhanger as Ahsoka faces Maul - this version shows us that fight and Maul’s escape before concluding the episode (for a cleaner break when watching chronologically).

It also includes most of the Padmé scene from the Siege of Anaxes, as shown in A Distant Echo, part of the Bad Batch arc. On review, I decided that the Bad Batch arc doesn’t belong in TCW:R. (It’s just not that strong and distracts us from the important momentum toward this finale, so instead it should belong as an optional episode zero ‘flashback’ of the Bad Batch show… which you could always choose to watch here chronologically if you wanted to.) But the Padmé content belongs in this show, not the Bad Batch, so I wanted to preserve it. To that end, I’ve included it as the opening scene of this episode. (It doesn’t have any Anaxes references now, though if you wanted it to it’d still fit as what happened after that Bad Batch arc.) In the new context, the battle they’re talking about is this episode’s Yerbana fight, and Rex’s tension is regarding the Order 66 revelations (which’ll pay off in this arc) rather than Echo.

Noteworthy changes:

  • The episode is titled ‘The Siege of Mandalore’, really just to get that conflict’s name in the show.
  • The opening crawl is used to give us a little context on the state of the war immediately prior to its conclusion (including that we haven’t seen Dooku or Grievous in ages), to remind us of Rex’s knowledge of some of Order 66 (relevant in this arc but also to recontextualise Anakin’s opening worries about him), and to reference the ‘risky’ Yerbana strike (again to smooth over some dialogue in the new opening conversation).
  • We open on the siege staging ground from the Bad Batch episodes, but without an establishing shot. Used here it can either be that same one, just after that content, or if you like it’s another similar staging ground since, as I say in the opening crawl, every battlefield feels the same now.
  • We transition from the staging ground to a slightly truncated opening from the movie, skipping only the opening aerial combat (just to make the transition work) but keeping all of the bridge fight.
  • The episode then plays out exactly the same, until-
  • It transitions smoothly from Maul’s appearance into the opening fight against Maul from the second episode.
  • I close the new conclusion with the original episode’s dramatic musical trill, for consistency and to keep the new ending moment punctual.
  • New closing credits music and timing, shared with the second episode in this arc too. The music is a custom composition of a few opening and closing cues from this arc, so I’m glad to have been able to preserve them.