NeverarGreat

And a happy new year!

I don’t think there’s necessarily a problem here, for once. It could be that the Jedi did have an ‘official’ age limit to begin the training, but clearly these rules are out the window after their almost total extinction. Yoda’s excuse about age still feels to me like a last-ditch grasp at straws.

We’ve finished Season 6 and are into Season 7 now.

The Inhibitor Chip episodes were pretty good, I liked the use of the sassy medical droid and the amount of intrigue. It’s just a shame that it makes the Jedi Order look even more incompetent than in the movies since now they know of the anti-Jedi defect in the clones.

We decided to watch the Clovis Arc even though we hadn’t seen his previous episodes. It’s a strangely adult-themed arc with brutal jealous violence, a financial plot, and melodrama galore. It’s not terribly relevant and Padme continues to be wasted potential.

The Lost One feels peculiar. On the one hand it’s nice to have answers to AOTC’s dropped plotline, but on the other hand…the Jedi now have answers to AOTC’s plotline. Again they seem totally incompetent for not putting two and two together that the clones are an anti-Jedi weapon. Points for the mysterious sandstorm opening.

To wrap up the show, Yoda goes on an excellent adventure which becomes sort of a bogus journey until he has to face the music. It’s nice to see the show experiment with grand philosophical questions about the nature of the Force and immortality, and some of the imagery is great. The masked beings are striking and it’s good to see Yoda realizing that he has a dark side that he’s been repressing. The Sith episode doesn’t make much sense to me, but at least it’s trying to wrap up the story in a somewhat hopeful way before ROTS.

…

So there’s another season.

The Bad Batch is fun.

That’s all. It just sort of ends. The drama of the bomb is diffused pretty quick and Trask feels like an afterthought. Echo’s torture is pretty dark for the show, which actually feels at odds with the lighthearted Rambo action.

Here’s to seeing how this final final season ends.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJH_RbnrGUs

Dunno if it was posted before, but a lovely Mando trailer.

RogueLeader said:

Oh shit, you’re right. In his TROS Ahch-To scenes, his right hand is concealed the whole time. Not sure what the deal was with that.

Obviously a symbol of his restraint in war, a true man of humility.

We’re officially through Season 5.

The Youngling arc was fun, though it always felt to me that the building of a lightsaber was the final test of a Jedi’s skill. I suppose for a militant Jedi Order the lightsaber would be even more fetishized, however, so that makes some sense. Hondo also feels like his character is whatever it needs to be for the plot. Still fun, but sloppy writing to have him attack a Jedi ship then have a sudden change of heart. The ancient droid is a nice addition, I hope he appears in the High Republic materials somewhere.

Maul is boring. Mandalore is boring. Sorry for everyone who likes them, but I just don’t care about these noble warrior stereotypes. I am really struggling to find something nice to say about these episodes. I liked how the Black Sun was taken care of. But everything else fell flat. Savage was never a character, the plan for the planetary takeover was childishly easy, and Maul decides not to kill Kenobi for…reasons? Palpatine decides not to kill Maul for…reasons?

The temple bombing arc was great. This is the first time Ventress has felt like a real character. I liked the decision to put almost no humans in the undercity, implying a racist stratification which is quite dark for a kid’s show, as well as the implication that the Jedi don’t even realize how little their employees are paid. I had always assumed that Ahsoka had left the Jedi of her own volition instead of being expelled, and that kind of happens, but I think it still would have been stronger had she decided to leave without the Jedi’s inquisition. Overall, still a great end to the season.

^My recommendation would be similar, except for replacing TROS with the Holiday Special.

Random thought: is the statement ‘It is the will of the Force’ the correct spelling, or would it be ‘It is the Whill of the Force?’

Well that was quite the rollercoaster.

Now that is stunning work!

jedi_bendu said:

JadedSkywalker said:

My opinion of the sequel trilogy changed,i sort of hated them until i saw the rise of skywalker, i’ve pretty much come to like them a lot.

This is an interesting one: I loved them until I saw The Rise of Skywalker! It’s weird how that one movie has retroactively influenced how I feel about the other two films. In the end I think they’re well-made movies, or at least TFA and TLJ are, but I don’t like the rehash of Empire vs Rebellion with Palpatine as the main villain. I need to read more Legends novels beyond the Thrawn trilogy but I already think I might take those instead.

This is where I am as well. The ST had some promise until TROS decided to abandon it. I don’t hate the first two movies now, but only because I don’t treat TROS among my personal canon.

As far as my opinions changing over time, I’ve definitely grown to appreciate the original films more over the years as more and more ancillary movies and shows have been released. The originals feel more and more like a different genre, even considering the Mandalorian.

I dunno, Darth Vader is pretty evil-sounding. It makes more sense that Anakin changed his name at some point to something more sinister. The issue is that Darth became a title given to any goofball with a red lightsaber instead of a unique first name.

Yes, that’s definitely better. And though I think a bit of light bleed over the brightest part of the planet behind the ship might improve it, it’s certainly good either way.

No more complaints from me 😃

The problem is that the children are never given a choice, whereas a recruit clearly made a decision to join. Pretty sure no officer ever came up to them and said ‘anyone who wants to leave, here’s the door.’

Also, aren’t the First Order officers talking about stepping up raids to get more kids in TROS, something that is referenced to happen on Kimiji?

There doesn’t seem an easy way to go in either direction with this. On the one hand, cutting the child conscription makes the sequels even more reliant on OT concepts, while leaning into the child conscription only highlights Finn’s bizarre actions.

The final shot is perfect, wonderful work!

The first shot is improved but I noticed there’s a bit of wobble between planet and ship, perhaps the extending of the shot made it more obvious. Not a big deal either way. There’s also a bit of a ‘cutout’ look to the ship overlaying the planet here, maybe putting some light bleed from the planet around the edges of the ship would blend the elements more, especially since the sunlight glare on the planet now overlaps part of the ship. Some effect like this, though maybe not quite so dramatic:

George Lucas: When writing the movies, I tried to make sure that aliens and droids got killed, but not people.

Paul Duncan: A lot of stormtroopers died.

George Lucas: That’s right, but you didn’t know they were people. We did kill three humans and that was unfortunate. I was always bothered by it.

Paul Duncan: When was that?

George Lucas: On the Death Star, when Han and Luke go into the prison with Chewie to rescue Leia, they shoot three Imperial guys. The guards drew their guns and fired first, but it’s still a shame.

Paul Duncan: Really?

George Lucas: Yeah, we very consciously didn’t kill very many humans in those movies.

Paul Duncan: What about the stormtroopers? They look robotic, but they’re not.

George Lucas: How do you know what they are?

Paul Duncan: Did you have a different idea of what they were?

George Lucas: Yeah, they started out as clones. Once all the clones were killed, the Empire picked up recruits, like militia.

This is so strange to me. Are aliens and clones not people to George? Besides, what about everyone Luke blew up with the Death Star? I guess as long as we don’t see their faces, their death doesn’t count. And what about the good dozen Rebels gunned down by Stormtroopers in the first scene, or Captain Antilles who had his neck crushed, or crispy Owen and Beru…

Like, I don’t want to say this flippantly, but this seems like an artist in willful denial of the content of his art.

JackNapier said:

NeverarGreat said:

I like the idea of Jedi having families and children like normal people, especially since it makes their extermination by Vader a thousand times more tragic.

I actually never knew that this was a thing.

I only read of it in Children of the Jedi, an otherwise underwhelming book.

Most of the old Thrawn trilogy works for me (sans Luuke), and I really liked the inclusion of truly alien Celestial technology in Corellia’s Centerpoint Station for example. Really, the old EU had a lot of stock and unremarkable stories but was built on the foundations of a more interesting universe than the new EU.

I like the idea of Jedi having families and children like normal people, especially since it makes their extermination by Vader a thousand times more tragic.

Knight of Kalee said:

NeverarGreat said:

Knight of Kalee said:

Well it’s nice to hear you’ve already past the point where TCW took a decisive leap on quality, so prepare yourself for a treat. Seasons 3 onward feature some of the most nuanced, dark and overall well-written arcs.

We just watched the Darkness on Umbara arc, and it was pretty impressive, especially the first three episodes and most of the fourth. Not a huge fan of the one-note villiany at the end, but other than that it was rather astonishing considering the target demographic.

I concur with you that Krell’s turn could have been developed better, yet I still can’t forget how cold I felt after seeing the clones attack each other.

True, I really wasn’t expecting them to go that far.

Knight of Kalee said:

Well it’s nice to hear you’ve already past the point where TCW took a decisive leap on quality, so prepare yourself for a treat. Seasons 3 onward feature some of the most nuanced, dark and overall well-written arcs.

We just watched the Darkness on Umbara arc, and it was pretty impressive, especially the first three episodes and most of the fourth. Not a huge fan of the one-note villiany at the end, but other than that it was rather astonishing considering the target demographic.

I felt that first shot too, I think it might be that it’s a bit too short. Right as we focus on the planet it’s gone. I don’t know how much can be done about that though.

I’m watching this series for the first time with my girlfriend (on her suggestion) but watching only these suggested episodes for brevity. We’re almost through season 3 and I wanted to give a couple of thoughts.

We are pleasantly surprised at the quality of the episodes overall. Granted neither of us had high expectations, but we’re enjoying the humor of the droids and the fast pace of the episodes. Even a lesser episode is better for not wasting too much time.

The animation is good and keeps getting better, and I definitely like it more than Rebels. In fact there’s a slightly more mature tone in Clone Wars than in Rebels, which is welcome.

As for the bad, well, it’s still a kid’s show and suffers all the pitfalls of a Saturday morning cartoon. The plots can be repetitive, the action can become tedious, and the morals are often blunt and simplistic. Where the show tries to become more nuanced (so far, we’re only through the Mortis Arc), it merely becomes muddled and confusing.

The heroes an villains of the show suffer from aggressive plot armor syndrome, and lightsaber battles are becoming mere light shows. Consider, for contrast, the lightsaber encounters of the original trilogy: most of the scenes involving a lightsaber end with dismemberment or death. Granted there’s only so much you can do with a kid’s show, but every time a lightsaber is sheathed unbloodied, its power and danger is diminished, and this ethos of indestructible characters has carried over to the Mandalorian.

The overall impression I get going into Season 4 of this show is that the Clone Wars are a game - in every sense of the word. Although surrounded by death and battling for the soul of the Republic, none of our main characters seem to truly care about the damage inflicted or are truly affected by it. Each episode opens with a glib moral presumably relating to the content of the episode, followed by the announcer setting the stage. It would make sense as a sort of in-universe Republic propaganda, but it’s not nearly clear enough on this point if so. Whereas another show aimed at kids might show smaller moments between battles to illustrate moral points while keeping the battles themselves as backdrop, Clone Wars often weaves the morality tales directly into the battles, regardless of its effect on the seriousness of the situation. Even episodes without the focus on the Jedi have this issue.

ARC Troopers is a good example of this problem. Here’s the moral:

“Fighting a war tests a soldier’s skills, defending his home tests a soldier’s heart.”

That might as well be the moral of the show. The Clone Wars are often merely an exercise in the ability to deal cold destruction. There’s some kind of sense to this, given that the enemies are machines, but many battles suffer clone and civilian casualties, which often go unmarked. In subsequent shows this moral still seems to be in effect, with Stormtroopers and Rebels being the cannon fodder. Troops rarely flee battle, and only retreat under huge losses. Mourning consists of a brief downturned mouth and eyes.

But okay, it’s a kid’s show. It’s not supposed to show realistic mayhem and horror, right? Indeed, but this show ends up sanitizing and idealizing the process of war to the point that it feels truly alien. There’s no shame in avoiding the grim realities of war in a kid’s show to focus on small moments and the mobilization that happens behind the front lines. That is the Clone Wars kid’s show that I keep wanting to see, and episodes like Heroes on Both Sides feel like a breath of fresh air amid the endless spinning lightsabers and blaster fire.

Here’s to hoping the later seasons move in this direction.

poppasketti said:

Hey everyone,

I finally had a little free time and was able to make an effort to add Coruscant into the board room meeting scene!

https://vimeo.com/494722697
pw: fanedit

The new FX shots are at :06, 1:23, and 1:25. There’s no audio because the clip I had to work from didn’t have audio, but I can add that later!

Nice work!

I did notice an oddity though in the final two shots. On the right hand side of the frame the planet’s smaller city ‘rings’ are properly oval so close to the horizon line, but the left hand side rings are almost circular where they should also be oval.

Though if I wasn’t looking for problems I probably wouldn’t have noticed it. 😉