Full Series TCW The Complete Season Four DVD/Blu-ray Thread

I was checking this out in the store yesterday and it's really the worst walking spoiler of all-time. Darth Maul is right on the freaking cover, and if you read the back it even tells you that it turns out he's not dead. Lame.

 

But that doubles at season 4's mainstay for promotion. Maul is back, bro! =b

 

Don't you give me that look...

 

Didn't they spoil that back in Season 3?

 

I recall DF trolling kids like they were crazy for thinking the guy who got cut in half was alive back at SWW two years ago.

 

I think Obi-Wan should have been on the cover instead of Maul.

 

If it's promotion, then it comes across as fairly desperate.

"Oh, sure, we have the Battle of Umbara, Rex pushed to the limit, Anakin's re-acquaintance with slavery, Obi-Wan undercover and the first cracks of the fissures seen in ROTS, Ahsoka reuniting with Lux, Ventress charting a new course...

"But forget all that. Why? 'Cause DARTH MAUL is AWESOME! And ALIVE!"

This is one of the reasons why Maul's return still has the potential to get up my spine. LFA sometimes seem to ignore much of what else is good about the series just so they can give precedence to Maul. S4 had a lot of great stuff in it, the bulk of it having nothing to do with Maul. If any character was appropriate for the S4 cover, it was either Obi-Wan or Rex. Revenge and the latter two thirds of Brothers were decent, but they had nothing on Umbara, Slavers and Hardeen.

It's disappointing that Savage has apparently been shoved to a side, his enigmatic origin story and moral ambiguity seemingly discarded, just so he can be written as Maul's dumb muscle. I'd be very disappointed if Satine and Vizsla were to get shafted the same way Savage seems to be headed. It would be very unfortunate if this "Wolverine publicity" for Maul filtered into the writing as well.

 

Yeah. Someone should've been punching him. It would have accurately reflected Obi-Wan's journey in Season 4.

 

Although I do think it's rather silly, Maul IS ridiculously badass in The Clone Wars.

I still expect Savage to turn on Maul. He wants them to be equals - to be brothers - rather than Master and Apprentice (I have no spoilers on the upcoming Maul arc so that's complete speculation!).

I'm honestly curious how they're going to tie together Satine, Vizsla and Maul's story arcs in 66 minutes. Good luck Clone Wars team!

 

Is it possible to bring Maul back and not seem desperate or riding a cash cow? Lets face it, the bringing Maul back thing at the end of the day was LAME. Last year I was on the side of, "lets give it a chance, maybe this will be cool, but still lame ass." crowd. I may not have been following the fandom for 20+ years but I've learned enough in 20+ years to know a publicity stunt when I see one. Now I've embraced him because he has turned out to be a cool villain. Its kinda sad it took Maul to give us a smart, effective villain, with some fleshed out damned motivation. How hard would it really have been to give us an entirely new character or to atleast have fleshed out somebody we already have running around?

TCW was used as one big commercial with Maul. That comes with the territory with any kids show. This is where someone will say, "Well Seerow, this is Star Wars, its above using shows as petty dumbass commercials." , I dunno about that. You tell me why Maul is the focal point for not one but two seasons? Set me straight or enlighten me with your wisdom, bro.

The Slave arc, Hardeen deserved way more hype than they got. Umbara got plenty, its just not the center piece of season 4. The Maul arc is which is the real reason he is on the cover and all the season 4 Blu-ray marketing is centered around him. He's still the center point of season 5. There has been very little hype for Young Jedi, Droid, Clovis, or the mysterious epic sounding season finale by comparison.

I loved the season 3 Nightsisters arc. I thought Savage was really cool. Poor guy plucked from his village and turned into a near mindless killer, that was good stuff. I stopped caring about him in "Brothers" when he was pretty much just walking around growling the entire time. I don't think he has entirely been pushed aside since Maul seems to care about him but Savage just isn't interesting anymore. I'll get to Satine and Vizsla soon enough.

I agree Rex should have gotten the cover

 

This. I really like Maul's role in the series thus far and I'll have to see the Shadow Conspiracy arc to see how well his impact is handled. However, it is indeed unfortunate that a new character or an established character (whether original to TCW or not) was not considered worthy of all the plot drama that Maul is bringing. TCW isn't lacking in good antagonists. It has given us Vizsla, Savage, Krell, Hondo, Queen Miraj, Cad Bane and new takes on Boba Fett and Ventress. All of them have been smart and effective to varying degrees and all of them have been given believable motivations for their actions. Even some of the one-off CIS villains have been well-handled. The problem with them is with their lack of major long-term impact on and relevance to the series' plot. They show up for a single arc and then have no relevance until their re-appearance two or three years later.

That problem does not necessarily need Maul to rectify it. As you said, one of these established characters or a new original character could have done the job well enough. This isn't to dismiss the unique elements which Maul brings, though.

I absolutely disagree with the notion that Maul's two episodes at the end of S4 remotely resembled a centrepiece of S4. They were effectively a small epilogue leading into the next season. Every 3-4 episode arc was far more worthy of being considered the centrepiece of S4. In no way could Maul be considered the focal character of S4. He was this for S5 but not S4. If any character could be considered that, then Obi-Wan was for his major presence in three of the arcs. Rex was the one major character who went through the most change over the course of S4. This is why Maul's hogging of the S4 cover was unfortunate. It's definitely not the end of the world. If it sells more boxsets, then it's probably a net good thing.

Yes, someone will probably respond to you by saying that Star Wars should be above using its major releases as mere "commercials". They'd be right to do so. Why should media consumers (ie. all of us) just accept what they're given? That isn't even what happened here. Maul's return had the effect of bringing a bit more attention to TCW and the 3D re-release of TPM. It was primarily intended to help the film company distribute its core products, not toys or video games.

Bringing back dead characters almost always comes across as desperate. From a sceptic's perspective, Maul's return would seem to be an incredibly cheap trick to attempt a revival of an ailing series. It demonstrates a lack of confidence in the actual core story of TCW. If the company which produces it doesn't think it's world class, why should a sceptic bother with it? On the other hand, the dead character might have enough recognition to prompt a newcomer to give the series a chance.

Savage would be redeemed in my eyes if he broke free of both Maul's and Talzin's manipulations. It would be nicely ironic if Savage survived while Maul died in the next few episodes, though.

That's a debate for another thread.

 

Exactly, I sometimes forget to count Deathwatch when thinking of smart antagonists with motives because its been so long since they were used that way. Its only now we're about to get back to them. And guess what? Kinda ironic. We're now on season 5 which is where alot of shows would have already replaced the long villains. TCW can't just replace its real big bads. And perhaps this is basically what Maul is which again is why I've excepted him. I like all those villains you laundry listed.

I'm not disagreeing with you at all Q. I was joking with Tarkas about the stupid truth. If I were head of marketing or whoever the hell designs the Blu-ray sets. Rex would have been rocking a badass lenticular cover. Fives, Obi-wan, and Ventress would have been on the discs. There would have been a poster of all the 501st in an epic battle pose with each named for the kiddies. Funny how a few people on the internet once again make more sense (IMO). Maul is one and a half episodes. Umbara is the focal point to me. Slaver, Rako Hardeen, "A Friend in Need" and maybe even "Mercy Mission" and "Nomad Droids" had more going on for them than "Brothers" and "Revenge".

However I still think where LFL is concerned Maul is the focal point of season 4. He is the focal of both season 4 and 5 with something of a multi season arc playing out. He's on the cover to market TCW's current focal point and market the show itself which in turn marketed TPM 3D (That's a reality check you seem to be trying to give me, not enlightenment, bro, but you know that so I'll hold back a George Carlin quote. =b). As far back as this time last year the finale started to be hyped. It wouldn't surprise me if he swindles Obi-wan out of his cover this season.

-shrug- I don't know anyone who started watching TCW because of Maul. Any newbies on the forum want to chime in? I personally gave the series a chance because I was bored when I was a newcomer.

We'll get there.

 

Captain Tarpals should have been on the cover shoving a spear through Grievous. Sales would be booming, lol.

 

I watched the show from the beginning being that I eat Star Wars up, but I got a friend to start watching it by showing them Season 3's "Nightsisters Trilogy".

I don't know of many people who start watching a show because of what happens in the finale. In any show.