Rebels: "Always Two There Are" (Ep. 2.05)

"You're like a broken protocol droid!"

Ooh... A haunted house story! Well, you know, derelict space craft/station story. I don't remember them doing one of these before. Of course, Rebels hasn't done one of these before, but I don't remember one from Clone Wars, either. I think the closest we've had to the feel of the beginning of this episode is Luke's visit to Dagobah. If someone had said, "I feel like...," I wouldn't have been surprised. It was an appropriately creeping beginning for a visit to an abandoned Republic space station.

It's good to have Rex in the series; he's a good foil to Kanan. I hope he stays around for a while.

Mostly, though, the episode is about introducing us to the new Inquisitor. Excuse me, two Inquisitors. The image of the new Inquisitor from last episode is appropriately imposing, but, as it turns out, Fifth Brother is just the muscle; Seventh Sister is the real creep fest, here, and it works to introduce these two in this episode.

BUT!

The show has yet to tackle any of the more complex philosophical issues that Clone Wars often took on. Rebels has become more enjoyable as they've deepened the personal relationships, etc, but it hasn't really taken on any questions beyond the difference between good and evil. It seems like there will be a lot of that as Ezra has more individual contact with characters like the Inquisitors. So, yes, I'm liking Rebels more than I did, but it still lacks the depth and complexity of The Clone Wars. But more on that next time...

Clone Wars -- "The Disappeared: Part 1" (Ep. 6.8)

-- Without darkness, there cannot be light.

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[Well, actually, considering that we're into season six, now, probably no one new is going to sign up, BUT! Hop over to The Armchair Squid for his take on the current episode.]

Today's episode: Jar Jar Jones and the Temple of Doom!

Honestly, I'm not sure how I feel about this episode. On the one hand, we find out that Jar Jar has a love interest...
Yeah, I'm going to stop right there.
There is humor in it, though, in that Jar Jar goes off with Queen Julia for the night and Mace Windu spends the time freaking out about where Jar Jar has gone and what he could possibly be doing. That the queen is Jar Jar's girlfriend never enters Windu's mind. Inconceivable!

Anyway...

The dagoyan people don't like the Jedi despite their affinity for the Light Side of the Force. They hold the belief that the Jedi are kidnappers because of their practice of taking Force sensitive children to train at the Jedi Temple. And, well, we don't know that the Jedi are not really kidnappers of a sort. All we know is that they take young children to the Temple to be trained as Jedi and that that is common practice in the Republic. We don't know anything at all about how this is carried out or whether it's with consent or how often it might not be with consent or anything. And all of this is something that's mentioned, basically, in passing, but it's the most interesting question the episode brings up.

Well, that and why anyone, even Jar Jar's girlfriend, would trust Jar Jar to solve a mystery. You'd think that someone that close to Binks, in fact, would be the last one to trust Jar Jar to handle an important task completely alone.

Clone Wars -- "An Old Friend" (Ep. 6.5)

-- To love is to trust. To trust is to believe.

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[Well, actually, considering that we're into season six, now, probably no one new is going to sign up, BUT! Hop over to The Armchair Squid for his take on the current episode.]

Padme has proven to be a very difficult character for the writers of the Clone Wars series. Obviously, she's a character they felt obliged to include, but she doesn't have a place in the action of most of the series, so most of her appearances, like this one, have shoehorned her into stories where she didn't belong. That doesn't mean that some of those stories haven't been good, anyway, but my reaction always tends to be, "What? Why is Padme doing this? She's a senator!" But in this arc she's acting in the position of some kind of bank investigator. I mean, doesn't the Republic have people for this?

It would have been much more interesting if there had been some kind of ongoing political story line that involved her and her role as a senator. That would have made sense.

None of that is to see that this is not going to be a good and/or interesting arc, but I'm still having issues with Padme in a heist plot where she's the one breaking into the bank vault. Sort of.

All of that and the return of Clovis, Padme's ex who betrayed her and with whom Anakin has... issues. As we know, Anakin doesn't handle jealousy well. As my wife said, "Man, he's a real dick." Seriously, Anakin is the jealous boyfriend/husband no one wants to have.

Also, those banking clan dudes are just freaky looking.

Clone Wars -- "Point of No Return" (Ep. 5.12)

-- You must trust in others or success is impossible.

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Is it over yet? I'm so ready for it to be over. It's not me; it's you. You, Colonel Meebur Gascon, or the frog general, as I call him. I'm so ready for you to be out of my Clone Wars.

His name is a joke, by the way. I suppose I could have mentioned that earlier, but it doesn't make it any better. It means "braggart," basically. One who believes himself to be more (bigger) than he is, which is why he's small, to exaggerate the point. heh

On its own, this episode might not be so bad but, after three episode of Gascon, this one already starts with really low marks. Especially since it starts by making a point of Gascon's worst quality (yes, even worse than talking big all the time), that he never does the right thing unless he's forced to. He wants glory without the effort. So, when Gascon and droid company find themselves on a booby trapped ship heading toward a Republic security conference, Gascon's first impulse is to abandon ship and allow the bomb-laden vessel to travel on to its destination. It's only when he finds he cannot get off the ship that he decides he needs to do something about the fact that it's going to blow up.

Of course, it's R2-D2 who really does all the work and, yes, saves the day, but he couldn't save this story arc.

Clone Wars -- "Tipping Points" (Ep. 5.04)

-- Disobedience is a demand for change.

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[Well, actually, considering that we're into season five, now, probably no one new is going to sign up, BUT! Hop over to The Armchair Squid for his take on the current episode.]

The episode begins with a debate over the -- I want to say morality, but they're not really debating the morality of it. -- effectiveness of carrying attacks against the droids within the populated areas of the city. You know, on the one hand: It's war. On the other hand: Innocent civilians could be killed. This, then, is the debate over whether they are, in fact, a terrorist group as the illegitimate king has labeled the rebel band. I wish they had given this debate more than a few lines but at least they had it, right?

We also get more of the debate over how much involvement the Republic can officially have in the conflict on Onderon. To some extent, this reminds me of the doctors who would go to duels a couple hundred or more years ago but would turn their backs so that they could say they didn't see anything happen. It's ridiculous, but it's a thing that actually used to happen and things like this continue to happen, so I can't exactly say that the political game that the Jedi are playing here isn't really realistic. Maybe that's why it's infuriating: because it is realistic.

But we get an appearance by Hondo out of it, so how can I complain?

We also are introduced to some devastating new droid gunships. And, for some reason, a nod to Battlestar Galactica. Maybe that has happened before; I can't remember.

This episode, more than any of the others in this arc, gives us what is probably the most defining moment for Saw Gerrera. I'd say more, but it would spoil the ending. I will say that not only Saw regrets what happens, though. Pretty much the entire creative team was regretful of this one decision, especially considering Saw's transition into the live action world of Star Wars.

Clone Wars -- "The Soft War" (Ep. 5.3)

-- Struggles often begin and end with the truth.

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Political statements aside, there are times when the logic used for the story, just to make a point, is a little, shall we say, spotty. That being said, this is a good episode, and this is a good arc. If nothing else, it's a solid background for Saw Gerrera and who he becomes.

And, based on his behavior in this episode, it's possible to see how he ended being who he is in Rogue One, that being a man largely made up of machine parts.

The interesting part of this episode for me, right now, and probably not the real thrust of the episode, but, still, is that not choosing is in itself a choice. So... How about some background?

King Dendup needs to make a choice between the Republic and the Separatists, and he knows he needs to make a decision. The problem is that he really just wants to be left alone and doesn't want to take sides. So... he does nothing. To put it another way, he doesn't go vote. Because he chooses to not vote, the Separatists, because they don't respect other people and how those people choose to live, invade his planet, depose him, and put a pretender on his throne. Because, you see, not choosing is actually a choice and, when enough people don't go vote, it most often happens the greatest of evils prevails.

Separatists, Trump, Hitler. It's all the same thing. At least Dendup had the courage to own up to his mistake and say, "This was my fault."

Clone Wars -- "Gungan Attack" (Ep. 4.2)

-- Only through fire is a strong sword forged.

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Well... I still don't like Riff Tamson (the shark guy pictured above) as a villain. I don't remember having such distaste for him the first time I watched the series, but maybe I did and that's why I'm disliking him so much this time. Or, maybe, it's just that I'm not liking this arc much.

I suppose there was a call for this arc of episodes after the appearance of Kit Fisto fighting on Mon Calamari in the original series of Clone Wars shorts (2003). Admittedly, that was a pretty cool episode and seeing Fisto fighting underwater was a neat thing. But that was, what, five minutes or so, and sometimes that's all you need to have. There's not really much of Fisto in this arc, anyway. Not that he's not there, but the focus is mostly on Prince Lee-Char, and he hasn't grabbed me as a character. Which is, I suppose, the point, since this arc is about him learning to become a leader.

Yes, there are Gungans. It's not an issue and has nothing to do with my disenjoyment of these episodes. They're brought in as reinforcements after the Republic forces are defeated and forced to retreat into hiding at the end of "Water War" (the previous episode). It's nice to see them get their time as an underwater fighting force since we didn't get to see them fight in that manner in The Phantom Menace.

There's another episode in this arc, though, so you can probably imagine how it goes.

Oh, and the Separatists have another new droid thing inspired by an ocean creature, as if the jellyfish droid (which are still around) wasn't enough. This one is a big squid thing and is even worse than the jellyfish. It's a physics thing.

Speaking of which, and I understand this one intellectually, but I realized about halfway through the episode that everyone talks normally underwater in this arc. So, yeah, the humans have on underwater gear with helmets, so it makes sense that they would sound normal, but the Mon Cala, Quarren, Fisto, and Tamson all sound perfectly normal, as if they are in air, when they speak. I know they need the audience to understand, but what kid hasn't tried to talk under water at some point? Yes, that was another realization that niggled at me, like the Mon Cala women having breasts.


"Hope is something we cannot allow our enemy to possess."

Clone Wars -- "Water War" (Ep. 4.1)

-- When destiny calls, the chosen have no choice.

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"Water War" gives us our introduction to Ackbar, as a Captain rather than as an Admiral. I believe this is the first canon view of the Mon Cala homeworld, Mon Calamari. Mon Calamari is home to two sentient races: the Mon Cala and the Quarren. While the Mon Cala are peaceful-ish, the Quarren are... not so much. The two peoples, however, are mostly unified, right up until the death of the Mon Calamari king, who happens to have been one of the Mon Cala. The Separatists use the death to stir dissension between the two groups.

As a complete aside:
The Mon Cala are a lobster-based life form [the Quarren are squid-like]. Now, think about all of the lobsters you've ever seen and tell me, by sight, which are the males and which are the females. You can't, can you? (I'm not looking it up, but I think it's a size difference.) So we see our first female Mon Cala in this episode and she... well, she has breasts. Um, why? These people have exoskeletons; how exactly can you have breasts that way? Yes, it bothered me to notice this. It just did.
Aside over.

This episode also introduces us to Riff Tamson, a shark-like being from the planet Karkaris. He's the Separatist ambassador who is stirring up trouble. I'm annoyed by this character, also. We already have sentient lobsters and squids on Mon Calamari, and they felt the need to bring in a sentient shark from some other planet? And he's the bad guy. The whole thing just feels too cliche to me. Not in a "I hate this" way, but it's certainly noticeable. Like a crack in your windshield that you learn to ignore but know is there.

The story itself is okay. Adequate. It's fairly standard in its setup with the Mon Cala siding with the Republic and the Quarren wanting to side with the Separatists. It, of course, leads to a great undersea battle between the clones and the Separatist droids. Right up until the introduction of the "invincible" jellyfish droids of the Separatists. [Yes, at that point, I found those annoying, too. I mean, why is that everything in this episode has to have some sea creature origin? There's actually no logical reason for the droids to look like jellyfish within the context of SWU itself. It's just there because of the arbitrary design scheme of the creators.]

Kit Fisto also makes an appearance, which is cool, except that he doesn't do much in this episode.

Don't get me wrong, it's a fine episode. Totally watchable. The stuff that annoyed me are not likely to annoy other people and have nothing to do with the story. Which is fine. Really.


"Today, you learned the hardest lesson a commander can learn: how to live to fight another day."

Clone Wars -- "Pursuit of Peace" (Ep. 3.11)

-- Truth can strike down the spectre of fear.

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Sticking with the political story line, we get to see the results of the banking deregulation from the previous episode. The Republic needs more clones, but can they afford it now that the interest rates have more than doubled. The banking clan goads Padme by telling her the Separatists seem to have no problem with the new steepened rate. But the interest alone on a loan of this nature could bankrupt the Republic.

To make matters worse, as the Republic invests more and more into the war, social services are failing due to lack of funds: education, health care, emergency services; you name it, it's suffering. Not to mention infrastructure maintenance.

And if you can't see the parallels being drawn here to what's been happening in the US due to the Cheney war... Hmm... Does Cheney remind anyone else of Palpatine? I'm sure Palpatine was responsible for shooting (force lightning-ing) at least one friend. Or acquaintance. Whatever you want to call it.

Anyway...

There's a vote going to the Senate to approve the new troops and the new loan, the one the Republic can't afford, and Padme and Organa are doing everything they can to stop it from going through, even in the face of violence from Dooku, who wants to drive the approval of the bill.

So... lots of politics... lots of action... What's not to like?
Unless, of course, The Phantom Menace was too deep for you.
No Jar Jar, though.

Clone Wars -- "Heroes on Both Sides" (Ep. 3.10)

-- Fear is a great motivator.

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Everyone remembers the financial crisis, right? And everyone remembers that the thing that enabled the financial crisis to happen was the deregulation of the banks, right? Well, this episode deals with deregulating the banks of the Republic in an effort to drive the war machine even farther. Basically, the Republic needs more money for more clones, but it's the corporations who are making money off of the war who are pushing for the deregulation. After all, it's all about the profits.

With that as the backdrop, we get our first real look at the people fighting on the side of the Separatists. Not the droids, the people, a point the episode highlights as Ahsoka meets the son of a man who was killed during a Republic attack. Before the war, the  boy had believed the Jedi were good; now, he's not so sure. After all, they were the leaders of the attack that lead to his father's death and, of course, the Separatist rhetoric is that the Jedi serve at the will of the corporations and are therefore as evil as the corporations.

What we really get to see, though, is how it's the same bad guys driving both sides of the conflict. The Trade Federation and the banking clans might be a part of the Republic Senate, but they take their orders from Count Dooku. And, of course, then there's Palpatine, the man pulling all of the strings.

In the end, the people fighting on both sides of the conflict, the normal people and the Jedi, are all good guys. They are all people who could have sat down and worked things out in a rational manner. They could have if, you know, there weren't other people who were making money off of the fighting.

The episode isn't quite all philosophy and politics, though that is what it mostly is. For a look behind the curtains, so to speak, this is definitely an episode worth watching.


"In this case, our business is violence."

Angels Unbound: Vehuel (a to z) and Clone Wars -- "Sphere of Influence" (Ep. 3.4)

Vehuel
Not all Angels are satisfied with their place in the order of Creation. Thus was the case with Vehuel, created as only a minor Guardian. He was never quite satisfied with that. After the fall of the Grigori, he took to hanging out with them on Earth, but as a woman, so as not to risk ending up being banished with them. He's on the fringes of Angel "society."


Clone Wars

-- A child stolen is a hope lost.

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I think this episode is really about politics. Of course, it doesn't look like that on the surface. It looks like an episode dealing with a kidnapping. But, really, at least to me, the episode is about how the Trade Federation can continue to do bad stuff and retain their status. "Bad stuff" includes dealing with the Separatists, which they do right alongside dealing with the Republic by claiming neutrality. In a world where economic sanctions and bans are a part of the way politics works, I sometimes find this puzzling. Then I remember Saudi Arabia and how we buy oil from them.

Anyway...

Baron Papanoida's daughters are kidnapped in an effort to coerce him to bring Pantora into the Separatist movement. Rather than comply, Papanoida, along with Ahsoka, takes matters into his own hands.

I'm more interested in the politics involved than the rescue attempts.

Fun fact: Baron Papanoida was first seen in Revenge of the Sith played by George Lucas himself.

"I still can't believe they let you teach."

Clone Wars -- Season Two

Season two of The Clone Wars does a great job of expanding the stories from season one. Although the series does bounce around a bit, since it's giving us glimpses of so many characters, we get a good sense of the progression of the war. All is not well with the Republic.

One of the things season two does is to give us a glimpse of the universe beyond the Republic and beyond the Separatists. There are a lot of bounty hunters in season two. And some pirates. Fun stuff. Oh, and one raging monster.

My favorite story of the season is the Mandalore arc. I think that trilogy of episodes is a must watch for any Star Wars fan. There's just too much important background for Obi-Wan. Definitely the first two, at least. You can find my reviews of those episodes here, here, and here.

This season also deals a lot with the philosophical issues around cloning. Or around the clones themselves. What makes an individual? What is just a copy?
Definitely check out this episode.

I did, also, have an episode I wasn't all that fond of, but I don't now remember which one it was, and I'm not going to read back through all of my reviews to figure it out. If it doesn't stand out enough for me to remember which one it was, it couldn't have been that bad, right?

Season two really doesn't require that you've seen season one to watch it. Neither do most of the story arcs. With that in mind, I would suggest picking out an arc that sounds interesting and just sit down and watch it.

Clone Wars -- "The Zillo Beast" (Ep. 2.18)

-- Choose what is right, not what is easy.

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A good question to ask about the Clone Wars is why the Republic doesn't use EMP devices against the droids. The truth is that they do, sometimes, use those kinds of things. There are some kind of EMP grenades that are used in some episodes, but I have to assume that, in general, the droids have some kind of shielding against EM pulses. Whatever they have, it wasn't enough to guard them against the giant electro-proton bomb the Republic used to wipe out an entire Separatist army in this episode.

The bomb also uncovered an ancient zillo beast...

You know, I'm not even going to try to describe the zillo beast other than to say that this is the Star Wars version of Godzilla, though the two creatures don't look anything alike. Also, the zillo beast has lightsaber-proof scales. Okay, fine. Here's a picture:

So, yeah, plenty of rampaging beast action.

But the core of the story is the conflict between killing or saving the zillo beast. The dugs, whose planet the zillo occupies, want to destroy it. They don't care that it's possibly the last of its kind. Mace Windu wants to save it and relocate it. However, the Republic needs a treaty with the dugs to help in the war, and the dugs withhold their signatures from the deal until the Jedi help to destroy the beast. Palpatine, of course, plays politics with the situation, claiming that the treaty is more important than saving the beast.

It's a good episode, the first of two dealing with the zillo beast. I kept expecting that something would turn up later in the series in relation to this stuff, but I'm not remembering any return to creature at the moment. Maybe if the series had been allowed to keep going? It's hard to say, though, since there were still four seasons in which something could have come up again with the zillo.

Oh, this episode also gives us Mace saying, "I have a bad feeling about this." I think it's the only time we hear that from him. It's a good moment.

Clone Wars -- "Liberty on Ryloth" (Ep. 1.21)

-- Compromise is a virtue to be cultivated, not a weakness to be despised.

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This episode wraps up the Ryloth story line and has some pretty impressive action in it by Mace Windu. I think Windu gets overlooked a lot because, mostly, in the movies all he does is sit in a chair and talk. Sure, he went toe to toe with the Emperor, but I think people also underestimate how powerful Palpatine was supposed to be. Actually, he beat the Emperor -- something Yoda failed to do decisively -- and, if not for Anakin getting involved, could have put an end to the Sith right there in Palpatine's chambers. Mace Windu did, though, develop Vaapad, the seventh form of lightsaber combat, a dangerous form only he mastered.

All of that to say that we, the audience, forget just what a badass Windu was supposed to be because we don't get to see him being all badass in the movies. However, the animated series shows off his power to great effect, and it's great to see in this episode.

But the episode isn't about Windu. It's about whether you accept help from a force which might occupy your country as soon as they help you get rid of the force occupying your country. Have you ever read the book The King, the Mice, and the Cheese?

I loved that book when I was a kid. The king loves his cheese, but he has a mouse problem. To get rid of the mice, he brings in cats, which he then can't get rid of, so he brings in dogs... Eventually, he brings in elephants -- to get ride of the lions, maybe? I don't quite remember -- and can't get rid of them, either, so he brings the mice back. This is kind of the question in this episode. Do you stay with the enemy you know, or do you bring in another that could be potentially worse?

The Separatists are starving the twi'leks and destroying and stealing their cultural heritage. But is it worth it to bring in the Republic forces (an issue caused by rival political factions on Ryloth) to drive out the Separatists if they are just going to stick around?

Sounds like an issue we've seen a lot of in recent years.

It's an interesting episode. Not as compelling on a character level as the last couple, but it's a good question to look at and fit in well with this trilogy of episodes.

Clone Wars -- "Blue Shadow Virus" (Ep. 1.17)

-- Fear is a disease; hope is its only cure.

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This is another one-shot episode. I want to like it, but I don't quite, I think. The villain, Dr. Nuvo Vindi, is too cliche, too Nazi mad scientist. He even defends the right of life for a virus, the most deadly virus the galaxy has ever known.

And, fine, I get that. It's an interesting philosophical question. What right do we as humans have to try to eradicate diseases, which are also living things? But I don't think anyone is going to say that any living thing doesn't have the right to try to defend itself against things that are trying to kill it and a disease, by default, is attacking the host. So, yeah, I find the argument that a killer virus has just as much right to life as humans to be a little... weak. To say the least.

The threat is one of biological warfare. Dr. Vindi, working for the Separatists, wants to release a virus that could, potentially, wipe out all life in the galaxy. Of course, it wouldn't affect droids, so the droid army would be able to advantage of the chaos of a plague and defeat the Republic while they tried to halt the spread of the virus. From that perspective, I can't say it's a bad plan. And it mirrors the efforts of certain groups in our world to weaponize diseases for use in war.

Beyond that layer, though, it's just another rescue mission. Padme and Jar Jar, because they go off on their own, get captured by Vindi. Since Anakin's along, the focus is on rescuing Padme even though he knows the stakes are much higher. So we do get to see that some more, that Anakin's attachment to Padme is something that interferes with who he is as a Jedi. It's good development. But I do think I'm ready for them to lay off of the rescue missions for a little while, especially ones that involve Padme getting caught because she goes off like Lois Lane in pursuit of a story knowing that Superman will rescue her.

Okay, well, it's a fine episode. Taken on its own, it's an especially fine episode. Jar Jar is fine. Everything is fine. For the season, though, I don't think this one is particularly strong in comparison to some of the other stories.