Full Series Official "The Clone Wars" Series Discussion Thread (Spoilers Allowed)

Y'know, I thought I was getting a Talzin-esque vibe from the shaman lady when I first saw the episode, but it wasn't until my rewatch earlier today that I made the connection.

 

I'm more or less satisfied with how George and Dave portray Grievous as a warrior.

At the end of the day, Grievous's "ostensible" role is as a military commander and tactician. That is where he should have been depicted as a nigh-unstoppable juggernaut.

 

Unfortunately not a lot of communication was done between Lucas and the collaborators of the micro-series because Grievous wasn't supposed to be like that at all.

 

If you've had a long run of threatening villains, it can be funny to have a rather incompetent villain just to show how awesome/badass the protagonists are... but you don't have them be one of your series main antagonists.

It contributes to a lack of tension.

Grievous was occasionally done well. Even as early as Duel of the Droids, it showcased a Grievous who was able to mow through clone troopers and had Ahsoka constantly on the run and fighting for her life. He almost killed Rex and Ahsoka in a matter of a couple of seconds.

 

Actually they did consult Lucas about Grievous, but he kept changing his mind about the character being a dangerous Jedi-killer or the cliche villain who runs away.

 

Wow, what a surprise. Not.

 

Yeah -- anyone remember the old web-documentaries they used to air on the OS prior to ROTS? They used to make a huge deal about GG being some sort of uber-powerful villain, something we haven't seen before, yadda yadda. There was one in particular concerning the design of GG, with Lucas standing around the art department commenting on the concept designs. It's been a while and I can't find it on youtube, but I definitely remember he was looking for something more on the "scary" side than the quasi-comic villain we ended up with. He was looking for something robotic and cold. What we ended up with was something robotic that had a cold.

EDIT: Here it is!



"...As long as it's scary" -- HA!

 

Okay maybe my phrasing wasn't correct when I suggested people had missed anything about Grievous' character. My main point was my belief that he was simply a pawn in Sidious' overall plan. From an entertainment standpoint yes, he was disappointing. But if you think about what his role in the grand scheme of things was, it didn't matter if he won or lost., as long as he didn't accidentally kill Anakin. Now winning or losing was one thing, staying alive was another. His name was feared by those in the line of fire throughout the conflict, so Sidious didn't want him to die. Maybe he was instructed by Dooku to flee if he felt his life was in danger. Remember how important his death was to the Jedi when it came to ending the conflict. I definitely agree with your thoughts on the micro series Grievous, he was much more menacing.

 

Another issue for Grievous was that even though he was meant to be the proto-type for Vader, he was able to skitter up and down walls and survive in space vaccum, basically do things Vader could not do

 

The chase/fight scene with him and Obi-wan was the most boring/bland/cgi and unentertaining things I have seen, completed with one of Obi-wans classic stupid makes no sense one liners to boot.

 

IMHO Grievous was always at his most intimidating when he was helicoptering his lightsabers. Something that nobody else could do, but he could, due to his droid arms with unlimited 360 degree wrist rotation. When he did that the lightsabers actually started producing a different kind of sound from normal... almost like a circular saw blade cutting through something. Very menacing.

He ruined his intimidation factor every time he opened his mouth and started talking though.

He also tended to fight stupidly to allow heroes to not die. For example if he had four sabers out and his opponent had one, he'd walk forward doing the high speed quad helicopter thing and looking all badass but then in battle he would do moronic things like swing all four sabers at once down on his enemy's single saber, instead of just blocking or holding away theirs with one of his while sticking them with the other three. A certain amount of it can be explained away by their possession of Force-precognition (vs Greivous' Forcelessness) but when it's four sabers vs one and the fight goes on for more than a few seconds, in a confined space like a starship corridor, it starts straining credulity a little that they are stayin alive.

 

I don't see it as an issue.

Grievous is able to do these things because he's even more machine than Vader, but as a consequence of that (if not literally in-universe, then from a symbolic perspective) he has completely sacrificed his humanity, his ability to feel the Force, which is how Kenobi and the other Jedi are able to defeat him. Yes, I am aware that Grievous was never Force-sensitive.

Vader's cyborg enhancements are less impressive than Grievous', but Vader retained his trump card, his ability to feel the Force.

If cyborg enhancements are a balancing act, trying to get the best of both worlds, then Grievous is an example of going too far and losing something more important in the process.

YMMV

 

I don't remember that part about Cody discussing Obi-Wan's lightsaber in the film; are you sure it's not in the EU somewhere?

Regarding Grevious: I feel like I'm one of the few who love him in his cartoonishly evil ROTS incarnation. I don't know, something about how over-the-top and bumbling he is seems to fit so haphazardly-and yet somehow so perfectly-into the grand space opera of Star Wars. Also, I've always liked the tonal contrast between Grevious's cheesy serial antics and Anakin's dark fall in Revenge Of The Sith. However, I completely see other peoples point of view, especially if you were introduced to the character from the Genndy series.

 

It's in the ROTS novel.

 

Never could stand the micro-series. I enjoyed the stylized look Genndy brought to the series, but found the characters and stories severely lacking. One of the main problems I had with the micro-series, even at the time, was the villains were not particularly villainous and poorly fleshed out, with the exception of Dooku. The side villains, like Grievous, Ventress and Durge were nothing more than level bosses from video games who had to be overcome to move on to the next adventure. Durge and Grievous in particular became very tiresome as uber-bosses who were next to impossible to vanquish.

I far prefer the "legend in his own mind" version of GG presented in RoTS and TCW. He's still dangerous, but ultimately he's weak when compared to flesh and blood baddies like Dooku. Grievous is nothing more than a tool in Sidious' mechinations and Dooku's personal pawn. And frankly I love Anakin's disdain for Dooku at the beginning of RoTS with the line, "You're shorter than I imagined." There's a subtle bit of irony as Anakin basically mocks what he will become at the end of the film.


Yancy

 

Ventress had something to prove in the micro-series. Dooku on the other hand, I don't remember really doing much.

 

Found Ventress, duelled her twice, duels Grievous once, welcomed the Quarrens into the CIS etc.

 

Yeah, but he's not doing anything different as a character, pretty much just being a Sith Lord.. Don't get me wrong, I like him more in the micro-series than in TCW, but he doesn't have much dimension to him in either series, which is a pity.

 

One of the best moments in the micro-series had Dooku:

Ventress: You are a foolish old man who knows nothing of the dark side!
Dooku: *chuckles* Indeed.
*Ventress charges against him with her lightsabers but he swiftly turns around and zaps her with Force lightning*