Full Series Order 66 on TCW

Because the clone troopers should be uniform, you know, like clones. They should not be like normal soldiers. Otherwise what's the point of having a clone army? So they can be like every other army? Yay, FUN.

 

Sorry, but I feel that this was one of the overriding themes of the entire series. Just because they all shared a genetic template did not necessarily mean they were all identical. Even identical twins do not share the exact same personalities just because they have identical DNA. In my opinion, the show went out of its way to convey this. They had the clone in "Hidden Enemy" who felt the clones were being enslaved, the clones from Domino Squad all had different personalities in "Clone Cadets" and "Rookies", Cut Lawquane in "The Deserter", Rex's quote about them being men, not droids, in the Umbara arc. They weren't robots, they were people, and people's personalities are shaped by their experiences, not their programming. That being said, I do feel there is some form of "Manchurian Candidate" programming responsible for "Order 66", but that can be achieved through mass subliminal messaging during their training on Kamino.

 

Everything you said is absolutely true and it's all absolutely terrible, imo.

 

You're right in that the show's creators may have taken it too far (your point about action figures is most likely correct) but I feel it was also setting the stage for things to come. The "Order 66" arc from the BC is where we could see the culmination of this. I also think some clones could end up defecting from the army as a result of Order 66 with some possibly joining the fledgling rebellion in "Rebels" as well. There could also be a point made about them intentionally showing how flawed the logic was in the assumption that a clone army would be nothing more than a cookie cutter army of Jango Fetts.

 

Wouldn't Palpatine have had a hard time recruiting a volunteer army for a conflict that hadn't yet begun? Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought the Clone Wars didn't begin until the battle of Geonosis. Had the clone army not already been produced, the Jedi present would most likely have been slayed, along with Anakin, during this battle. The discovery of the secretly produced clone army is what led to the decision to allow the deployment of the Grand Army of the Republic. If Palpatine had gone around saying "Hey, you guys, I think we need to get an army together; you know, just in case" it might have aroused some suspicion.

 

The "Separatist Crisis" had been brewing for ten years by AOTC. This is somewhat similar to the obvious build up for war in the 30s heading into WW2.

The decision to create an army was being voted on before the clones were even discovered. It's why Padme was mad about leaving Coruscant, she wanted to be there when the Military Creation Act was voted on.

As for Geonosis, if you remove the clone army, it's hard to know what would happen. Would Obi-Wan even go to Geonosis? There's a million ways it could turn out.

 

If the '30s are analogous with the years preceding AotC, does Palpatine represent Neville Chamberlain?

"My good friends, for the second time in our history, a British Prime Minister has returned from Germany bringing peace with honour. I believe it is peace for our time. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Go home and get a nice quiet sleep."

"I will not let this Republic, which has stood for a thousand years, be split in two. My negotiations will not fail."



Was Chamberlain a megalomaniac wishful-autocrat as well as wildly incompetent in his efforts to appease Hitler?

 

My point is that Palpatine's master plan would not have worked without the creation of a secret army. A volunteer secret army is a bit of an oxymoron.

 

Tup: "Good soldiers follow orders..."

In this case, like QuangoFett once said, "The best soldiers follow orders they haven't been given yet."

 

I've mentioned before how I always found it interesting how Palpatine said "the time has come" to Cody before telling him to execute Order 66. It seems to hint at the possibility of some pre-existing knowledge on the part of the clones (at least the commanders) that this order would be coming sooner or later. That they were aware of its inevitability and that it was just a matter of time.

 

They might have been prepared and trained for it as a "just-in-case" thing. Don't you have to be ready for anything in the army?

Sent from my addictive smartphone using TapaTalk 2.

 

Well, "just in case" was exactly what it was at an official level... it was one of a series of contingency orders. So yes, they'd have to be ready for those. But saying "the time has come" really sounds like a veiled way of saying "the thing that we all knew was coming sooner or later is now here." Not saying that it's definitely the case that the clones were complicit in the plan, but it seems to hint at that at some level.

 

Even before I knew about the official GAR Contingency Orders, I always assumed "The time has come..." was simply Palpatine allowing himself to revel in his own satisfaction with the way things had turned out, a decade of planning culminating in the moment he was finally able to issue the order that would see the Jedi destroyed. The same sort of gloating he'd done—or would later do—in RotJ.

 

That's a really interesting idea and something I had never considered. The more I think about it however, the more I agree with you. Now I'm racking my brain about the "Order 66" scene from ROTS trying to remember if it only showed the commanders receiving the initial order from Sidious. Was that Commander Wolffe who receives the order and shoots down Plo Koon? If it's not I guess it's possible he doesn't survive TCW. Really interesting, thanks for the thought provoking comment! Maybe we'll find out more in the Bonus Content.

 

Rex could shape up to be an exception if done well. I think a 'defective' member of the 501st would be interesting to see because of how staunchly loyal they are, even by clone standards. TCW eluded to clones deserting the Clone War, either on purpose or on accident, and the difficulty they have denying their true nature or leaving their old life behind.

These stories are definitely leading up to some Stormtrooper defecting from the Empire, but still having struggles in that decision or maybe finding it hard to leave entirely. I think it's only going to be one clone or a very minute amount, because how few and far between Clone Wars defectors are. I hope that Rebels retains some of the wonderful grey morality of the Clone Wars, despite the villains being out in the open.

 

It would be ironic if Rebels has clones among the rebels but not among the Stormtroopers.

That reminds me of when I read somewhere that Tup might have overheard somebody saying, "Remember to order 66 pizzas for the party tonight."
Here's what I want to know: If the clones can be manchurian candidated, how in the world were they "too individualistic" for the Rebels-era Empire?

 

I don't mind clones deserting/ too individualistic /whatever, because out of millions of individuals there really should be outliers in any population. Even one that should be rather homogeneous overall.

First post FTW!