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Full Series Discuss/Regrade the Episode: S03E06: The Academy

Discussion in 'Star Wars TV- Completed Shows' started by Seerow, Apr 17, 2013.

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Please regrade this episode and post some thoughts about why you feel this episode deserves this...

  1. 10/10

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  2. 9/10

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  3. 8/10

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  4. 7/10

    0 vote(s)
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  5. 6/10

    8.3%
  6. 5/10

    33.3%
  7. 4/10

    25.0%
  8. 3/10

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  9. 2/10

    16.7%
  10. 1/10

    16.7%
  1. Seerow

    Seerow Manager Emeritus star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Jun 7, 2011
    Episode 3.6!! The Academy
    Ahsoka is lucky she wasn't a substitute teacher for one of my classes in High School. Holy torture...


    [​IMG]
    "Those who enforce the law must obey it"


    Ahsoka is assigned to teach a class at a leadership academy onMandalore. Soon after she arrives, Duchess Satine's zealous nephew -- Korkie -- and his classmates uncover a nefarious plot. Prime MinisterAlmec is revealed to be an active part of the black market conspiracy on Mandalore, and he attempts to permanently silence Duchess Satine and the cadets before they expose his corruption. Ahsoka and the cadets defeat Almec before he can succeed


    Now that you've rewatch the episode lets regrade it. Feel free to discuss as much as you like
     
  2. Garrett Atkins

    Garrett Atkins Jedi Knight star 4

    Registered:
    Feb 11, 2013
  3. anakinfansince1983

    anakinfansince1983 Skywalker Saga/LFL/YJCC Manager star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Mar 4, 2011
    2/10

    Long review here .

    One point for Korkie, and for the fact that Satine's spinal cord hasn't completely fizzled out yet.

    Otherwise this was a "let's all bow down to Her Holy Snippiness" episode.
     
    CT-867-5309 likes this.
  4. swcolts1277

    swcolts1277 Jedi Master star 2

    Registered:
    Jan 5, 2013
    2/10 Worst episode of the show. There is absolutely nothing I like about this episode. Its friggin Scooby-Doo in space. Which was ironic because a promo for one of the Scooby Doo tv movies ran (literally ran) across the screen when this episode first aired.

    Only decent part was when Ahsoka kicks the Mando guards butts.
     
  5. Circular Logic

    Circular Logic Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Mar 3, 2013
    Now that this episode has relevance in the greater scheme of the overarching TCW plot thanks to Shades of Reason and The Lawless, I decided this episode was worth a rewatch. While certainly better than the snoozefest that was Corruption, The Academy suffers from many of the same flaws that make it largely uninspiring. Although this time, at least the premise of corruption in the government was more at the forefront, and there was more action.

    A 14 or 15 year-old Ahsoka being able to teach the cadets about governmental corruption made me roll my eyes a bit. Plus, the chase scene at the warehouse was so unsuspenseful and poorly acted. Not to mention, after beating up the guards and escaping, Ahsoka should have realized they would likely report back to Almec that the Jedi had attacked them, and thus realized that Almec would not fall for her plan to bring in the cadets to the prison holding Satine. Yeah, she didn't think it through any more thoroughly than Korkie and the gang did... Also, the cadets did not seem the least bit traumatized to see the dead guards in Satine's office; Korkie merely has a moment of remorse for his aunt. Guess they're all just mooks, as expendable as the GAR clones. Perhaps as Mandalorians, they're trained to be more accepting of death, who knows? The action sequences were solid, though, and this brought the overall score up a little bit, as well as that sleazy Almec getting his comeuppance.

    One more thing to note: if Ahsoka had a means to identify a shadowed individual underneath a hood from Soniee's simple holo-recording, imagine what this technology could have done for those wishing to identify Darth Sidious from a holo-projector. I'm thinking about the discovery of a Sidious-Gunray conversation from the latter's captured mechno-chair in Labyrinth of Evil (although it might have just been an audio recording, I don't quite remember). That could have had the potential to sabotage Palpatine's Grand Plan!

    Anyways, I decided to give this episode a 5/10. Mediocre in every way, and probably one of my bottom 20 episodes.
     
    The Shadow Emperor likes this.
  6. Mia Mesharad

    Mia Mesharad Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Sep 2, 2012
    Like Corruption, The Academy is certainly not the finest episode Season 3 had to offer. The premise strains credulity, and the juvenile handling of what is, in truth, a rather serious subject, is nothing but disappointing.

    First we have the idea that, out of the entire Jedi Order, it should be Ahsoka of all people tasked with lecturing school children on the dangers of corruption. It's not Ahsoka I have a problem with, per se, or even a Padawan, but the general concept of a fourteen year old being the one entrusted with this. Getting passed the cultural dissonance of a Jedi being invited to take part in Mandalorian educational practices―which I loved that Almec called out, by the way―what does someone so young truly know about corruption other than "It's bad, don't do it"? This would have been an excellent opportunity for an older, wiser Jedi character to be introduced, an aged Gandalf or Altair figure to impart some semblance of actual experience on the subject. But no, old people are boring and kids can't relate to them so...we get Ahsoka. Minus 1.

    I really don't like the idea of the Royal Academy of Government, taking away the "special" kids in order to be taught to be politicians. Career politicians are already a significant problem in today's world, there's really no need to start them off any sooner. Besides, the makings of good leaders aren't things that can really be taught, either. But moving along... With Corruption essentially wrapping up the poisoning plot with the warehouse shootout, Academy loses even the semblance of urgency the previous episode had. There's no real need to get to the bottom of the smuggling "problem" here: the New Mandalorians are still very much in need of food, Satine's still too narrow-minded to import food from the clan-owned farms or from offworld sources other than Republic benefactors, and what's coming by smuggler seems to be the only thing that's keeping everything from falling completely apart. With the Moogans and their tea out of the game, what're the odds that the Gotals are going to start poisoning the cakes or something? For all of that, minus 1 and a half.

    Why is the front board of a classroom in a school on Mandalore using Aurebesh letters instead of Mando'a runes? The cops' Buirk'alor-class speeders have "POLICE" written on them in Mando'a, as do several personal datapads...but not the classroom board? They really are trying to strip away their culture... [face_sigh] -0.5 The kids aren't particularly engaging at all, the episode failed to give me any reason to become attached to them, or root for their success. They just sort of...existed. Not that I expect Satine to ever do anything logical, but her general dismissal of the kids was also quite facepalm-worthy as an audience member who knew exactly where that was going to lead. And so it was that the children must save the day in a world of useless adults. I feel like I've seen this before...oh, right, every mediocre kid show ever. Minus 1. The ability to not only high-res a hologram, but actually turn it and somehow record something that couldn't actually be seen was nothing short of a story stopper for me. I literally could not believe they just pulled that out of their asses. If that was possible, how did the Neimoidians never think to analyze the holo of the mysterious Darth Sidious and attempt to discover his identity for leverage, let alone a hundred other various similar scenarios? Definite minus 1 for that nonsense.

    Satine being shock-tortured was, for me, more amusing than distressing. I really can't express how much I hate this character with words, they just don't convey the sheer depth. But the decision to make Almec a stereotypical, shallow villain was awful. Absolutely awful. While his actions were indeed illegal, he was the only person in this New Mandalorian collective of idiots and sheep to realize that Satine is leading her people to their own demise and had the temerity to stand up and do something about it. He's dealing with smugglers because Satine had deemed them smugglers; with half a brain in her head, they could just be merchant importers. He's acting in secret because being intelligent seems to be a crime in her regime, and helping the people in any way the Republic doesn't rubber stamp first is obviously doing it wrong. But Satine's good and going against Satine is obviously bad, and that's just the way things are, so Almec's got to fail and go to jail. :rolleyes: Taking away only one point for this idiocy is generosity on a scale the episode doesn't deserve, but -1 it is.

    What points The Academy do get to keep are for the amusement of watching the utterly ridiculous New Mandalorians continuing to fail as a faction on their road to their imminent demise, and the relevance the otherwise skippable episode gains from the later Shades of Reason and The Lawless. The scenery wasn't too bad, but certainly not as enjoyable as Corruption's new locales, and there's undeniably something clever about characters that have the presence of mind to not only resist a mind trick, but use it to manipulate the user. Overall, however, these few saving graces were not enough to make a good episode out of this pile of nonsense, and The Academy gets a mere 4 out of 10 from me.
     
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  7. Darth_Foo

    Darth_Foo Force Ghost star 4

    Registered:
    Feb 24, 2003
    1/10
    Had to force (no pun intended) to even finish this episode. It makes me ashamed to say I'm a fan of the series. However, still not the "Worst Episode Ever" (to be said like the Comic Book Guy from Simpsons) but damn near close
     
  8. Seerow

    Seerow Manager Emeritus star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Jun 7, 2011
    Yeah this is another mediocre episode I don't tend to rewatch. I have to hand it to the TCW crew for dragging this one and Corruption into importance which make them a little better. Its actual is pretty interesting to watch Satine's fall pan out over all the Mandalorian arc. She is a really tragic character. She and Almec are the best parts of the episode. The fight at the end was also kinda cool and Rex got a cameo which gets an instant +1 from me. Unfortunately all of the academy students are annoying as hell. Combine that with Ahsoka and a really dumbed downed plot with a MacGuffin thrown in and its pretty lame. 4/10
     
  9. KED12345

    KED12345 Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Sep 10, 2012
    These first episodes of Season 3 were dreadfully forgettable.
     
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  10. Orrelios

    Orrelios Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Feb 21, 2005
    One of the weakest episodes of the series. While it was nice to see Mandalore once again, Korkie and the other students didn't work that well at all as the main characters and Ahsoka wasn't that good of a character here, but the fight against the guards at the end was pretty good and I do actually kind of like Almec (he's definitely grown onto me as a character and is quite entertaining as the antagonist in this one). Both this episode and the previous one (Corruption), with Satine not being that popular anymore and the likes of Almec turning to corruption, also ties in pretty well with the Mauldalore arc in season 5.

    5/10
     
  11. Deputy Rick Grimes

    Deputy Rick Grimes Jedi Grand Master star 6

    Registered:
    Sep 3, 2012
    Don't even remember the episode
     
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  12. Dan_Grievous_Tikkes_Fan

    Dan_Grievous_Tikkes_Fan Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Sep 3, 2012
    One thing I could give this episode is that it gave us Almec - for me he is one of the characters can get such a great TCW and EU development. Given the chaos on Mandalore, TCW could give us a Mando version of Game of Thrones... with key players Bo-Katan, Almec, Korkie and Boba Fett.
     
  13. Darth_Zandalor

    Darth_Zandalor Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Aug 2, 2009

    The scream onwards is my summation.