Full Series Discuss/Regrade the Episode: S03E01: Clone Cadets

Episode 3.1!! Clone Cadets
Can Domino squad make the cut?



"A brother in arms is a brother for life."

Five headstrongclonesstruggle to complete their training onKamino. These cadets -- Hevy, Cutup, Droidbait,Fivesand Echo -- seem to be a "bad batch" and are unable to work as a team. AsShaak Tiand drill instructors Bric and El-Les debate the cadets' fate, the clones learn to work together and accept their destiny as soldiers.

http://starwars.com/explore/the-clone-wars/ep301/#!/about

Now that you'd rewatch the episode lets regrade it. Feel free to discuss as much as you like.

 

Shouldn't this be Episode 3.1

10/10, love this episode, actually love any episode that only focuses on the Clones, plus we get Fives and Echo

 

Yeah, fixed. Lover of any episode.

 

I'm going to copy what I remember the mods doing back in like 2011 when I got here. We'll rewatch as much of season 3 and 4 as possible, probably two a week.

 

OK. I'll say it. I don't care about the clones.

 

This was a great episode. Loved all of the clones. 99 is my favorite. That simulation they had to do was great.

 

I loved this episode, but I feel it's only part the story as Rookies and ARC Troopers followed it up. Sometimes I wish TCW had centered around Domino Squad instead of just Anakin/Obi-Wan/Ahsoka. Some aspects of the story were slightly cliche, such as the story of an underdog group becoming the best. But in the end, this was a solid episode that gave way to a great story with some of the best episodes of TCW coming from this group.

9/10

 

It was a pretty good episode, not a lot happened though, so I gave it a 7/10, but 'ARC Troopers' is gonna get a 10/10 from me. I really liked seeing Shaak Ti and Lama Su having major roles in the episode, and the training facility scenes were pretty cool.

 

I thought that Bric was a bit too much of a jerk given he's supposed to be training them (even trying to sabotage them due to bias and somehow everyone's cool with this) but even he shows a change. Everything else was pretty darn good. A bit bittersweet now given that all but one of them are dead.

 

I found this episode a bit boring, though it's mostly because I'm not one to care for the clones. That being said, it was well executed and I liked the nod to the EU with Shaak Ti being present on Kamino. 6/10

Nice idea to keep us sane throughout autumn and winter, Seerow

 

Shaak Ti.

 

I'll hold to my 8/10 for the fact that we got a decent character dynamic with a bunch of horribly underused characters.

 

I'm biased here because I love the clones (<------ Obviously). That said, this episode (and the next) were a strong start to what ended up being a rather week early season. I'm actually more partial to this episode than the one that follows it because of its character focus and the dynamic we get between not only Domino, but between characters like Shaak Ti and Lama Su. Plus, it made me a big fan of Cutup and that unique accent of his, making me realize with sadness that it's him who gets eaten by the eel in "Rookies". Anyway, great episode even if the Citadel simulation itself isn't the most impressive action set piece. 9/10

 

Easily a 10/10 and an amazing episode...... Where to begin. I love the clones, theyre awesome. Cutup, Fives, Echo, and of course Heavy were epic. 99 was amazing and Droidbait was cool too. I loved how Cutup was being a smartass to the jerk bounty hunter LOL.... I just really loved seeing the clones and seeing them interact, domino squad was so awesome and they have the best personalities. Sucks that we dont see them much in the show ......overall amazing episode. One flaw, however. It's REALLY hard in this episode to tell the clones apart since they all look the same (dont have their special haircuts yet or tattoos) Besides that this episode was flawless

 

When I grade an episode, I start with a 10 rating and deduct points for the negative. And truthfully, I don't really have much to deduct on this one.

To begin with, I really liked the follow up on the clones from Rookies, now known as Domino Squad. Their story of coming together and all as it was is, I'll admit, a bit of a cliche and a little cheesy. As Todd said, it's been done to death a thousand times, but not enough that it really pulls me out of the story so I'm only dropping half a point. The writers and Dee Baker especially continue to do well in their means of differentiating each of the troops, and after the first scene, it becomes easy to follow who's supposed to be who. 99 was also a very interesting addition to the series, especially in light of the subsequent ARC Troopers episode.

It was nice to finally see Shaak Ti joining the series, and I absolutely love both her voice and her design. The same with Lama Su. Both held very true to their established characterizations. Speaking of getting established EU points right, it was great to see the training sims in Tipoca, harkening back to both the Republic Commando game and novels, and Shaak Ti's role as Jedi liaison to Kamino, following up on her role from the Republic comics was also great nod. Her presence also explains what would otherwise be a contradiction: why a "defective" clone like 99 would have ever made it to that age is because Shaak Ti's not standing for the Kaminoans' callousness. We get the first appearance of ARC trooper Alpha's enhanced training program on screen, as well as the Cuy'val Dar in the form of Bric and El-Les―makes me feel like Alpha and the likes of Cort Davin are somewhere just off screen. Nolan North was a bit of a waste on El-Les, though.

Like I said, not much to deduct for. I like the look of the environments, the animation and models, the voice-acting, and everything that was in synch with the EU. Only half a point lost for a very predictable, cliched story, which I'm rounding down to a 9 out of 10.

 

Solid 8/10.

The brain-headed bounty hunter -1.
Predictable outcome -1.
Hard to differentiate the individual d-squad members at first -1.
Shaak Ti underused -1.
99 and Hevy +2.

 

I hated 99. He should have never existed. The Kaminoans are not supposed to tolerate defects.

 

That was originally a major issue I had with the episode as well. But then it was decided now that with the Jedi being directly involved in the affairs of Tipoca, someone like Shaak Ti isn't going to just let the Kaminoans recondition clones that didn't come up to spec. Works for me, since it's only after the war begins that the change in policy sets in.

 

But the Jedi didn't know about the clones until after most we're fully grown. 99 Would have been euthanized after gestation, 7-10 years earlier to Shaak being there.

 

I know, but at the same time, we don't really know what was up with 99. He had compound deformities, but he also looked older than he should have if we assume he was one of the first generation. In truth, he may have been one of the latest clones to be decanted, but growth acceleration is unstable and out of control, leading his development in skewed directions.

I mean, I was right there with you when I first watched the episode upon its original airing. Seriously. I was like no, there's no way Ko Sai or Orun Wa or any of them would have allowed that to happen. But with the addition of Shaak Ti and everything... I guess it works well enough not to be a story-breaker for me, even if a little good faith (bad faith?) has to be assumed on the part of 99's deformities.

 

Too cruel for my taste.... I'm glad the writers and producers of this show did not agree with you.

 

Is war not cruel?