Full Series TCW Grade the Episode: S05E01: Revival

8/10 here. And wow, my first vote since my sporadic return. Now let's go to the tape!*

*Don't judge me for using such an ancient form of media. THE OT DID IT! D=

-First off, it's a real shame that they had no proper development for Adi Gallia. They had plenty of opportunities to transform exposition scenes into examples of character, and she didn't get anything.
-Just a slight shrug that Obi-Wan had just one council member as backup. But to be fair, it would make sense to some people and definitely the kids who can go "Well, it's two heroes and two villains!". I know that's what I did.
+That said? Very nicely directed, and barring the sacrifice of Adi, there were very few wasted moments. A lot went into showing where the characters stood and the consequences of those choices.
+Dialogue is nice and snappy, each character having their own voice. The plot is simple enough, but it's a nice adventure that ends on a foreboding note.
+I actually like where the brothers stand, practically inverted from one another. Maul, while the quietest of Palpatine's brood, is more Sith than Nightbrother, so his instincts are based on fear, ambition and power. Savage, by contrast, only had minor guidance in the ways of the Sith from Dooku, so he's not as touched by those doctrines. Instead, his choices are based on a sort of rough, primal brotherhood, uniting to survive, though that might also entail beating sense into his brother.
+Obi-Wan got a huge boost to his credibility in his formidable showing this ep, and the animation on his body language sells a lot of his feelings without overexplaining things. This is definitely the episode I'd recommend if someone wanted to see why he's considered the master of defense!
+Hondo has 'lines and moments to beat this season' so far. And that's when you consider Obi-Wan's incredible fight against the brothers. I love how in the space of the same episode, he can exhibit both respect ("They're too powerful for even you!") AND scorn ("They couldn't even beat Kenobi! How powerful can they be?!") for Obi-Wan and still seem completely sincere in each case.
+Small detail, but so lovingly put together that I felt it worthy of mention. The big fight showcased fighting styles which were, for the most part, distinct. Even when Obi-Wan took up a second lightsaber, I could see his style is elegant and defensive, very different from the chainsaw ferocity of Grievous or the swift assaults of Ventress. Plus, they even successfully showed the continuous assault on Poor Savage's leg. Man, that had to hurt. XD

 

2/10
This episode was surreal, and not all in a good way. Utter [snip]: Adi's needless, anti-climatic and stupid death; terrible establishment of context; terrible dubbing; obvious foreshadowing; far too much exposition; so bad it was funny script; inconsistent abilities; obvious plot conveniences; lack of explanation as to what this has to do with the Clone War and once again the newsreel was more interesting than the episode proper.
Seriously made me contemplate ending my SW fandom. I will never be able to truly convey just how much I hated this episode.

Mod Edit:
Pick a cleaner word next time. -Sx3

 

7/10
In my opinion, a very enjoyable episode aside from three specific points that lowered what may otherwise have been a perfect 10 rating. For one, the awful dubbing in of the alternate Palpatine line took me out of the scene as hard as if I'd been slapped. Minus 1. Secondly, the overhauling of further canon by killing off Adi Gallia prior to her pre-established death, and by a different character altogether. Minus 1. And finally, beyond the issues with canon, the lack of development on Adi's character in the show itself, specifically leading up to the episode wherein she was scheduled to die, left the emotional impact of the moment at a sad minimum. Were I not already a fan of her character from her numerous EU appearances, I doubt I would've cared whatsoever. Minus 1.

 

It's getting an 8 from me.

 

You could have given it a zero.

 

I gave it a 9/10, click this link for my wall-of-text to read why: http://boards.theforce.net/threads/...cussion-thread.50004056/page-31#post-50070444

 

Good episode. Gave it an 8. Took points away for Adi's death, but not because of how she was killed. I thought for sure this was the same character in ROTS. Took another point away for how the Sith were so easily defeated. I always assumed they would be a lot more powerful than this, but It does make sense to show that no Force User is that invincible.

All in all, it was a good episode, and it was good to see these Sith Lords in action again.

 

The character in ROTS is Adi Gallia's cousin Stass Allie

 

This episode was a great way to start the season 5 off strong obi-wan kicking butt, showing Darth maul is wanting more than just revenge and has something big plan. Loved all the parts with Hondo in it his lines were clever and funny also showed his got guts standing up against the grim brothers, also nice seeing green mist coming off from Savage's severed arm and darth Maul's robot leg as reminder of Talzin's magic. There very things that may I have not Iiked but were just minor things I give this episode an 9.75,but since there is only whole number and no digits I would round it off and give it an 10.

 

9/10

A very good episode. Hondo and Obi-Wan had a good dynamic, and so did Maul and Savage. The latter was not promising much after S4, but this episode revived my interest in it.

The only downside was that Adi Gallia was underused and bland before she died... or did she? As many have pointed out, TCW is now being aired in chronological order, so Adi Gallia's presence at the council meeting in A War On Two Fronts means she's alive!

The reaction to her "death" was good, but she was still misused, IMO, simply being the squash court wall who Obi-Wan bounces his ideas off of, so I can't give this a 10.

 

A War on Two Fronts was supposed to be the Premier Episode and the episode takes place before Revival

 

I should have put a /jk in there.

 

Went with 6/10. Above average, but I wasn't all that impressed until Kenobi faced the brothers alone. Nice evolution from getting his behind kicked in "Revenge". Solid episode, but I didn't think it was great.

 

Koonfan - that's a little long for this thread


Jack - interesting that Palps and Yoda agreed with you they couldn't see what this had to do with the clone wars

 

I gave it a 10/10.

I really, really enjoyed this episode (obviously, according to my vote). I loved the atmosphere, the action, the weight and seriousness of it all. I love the way TCW has brought back Maul and look forward to seeing where this goes.

Oh, and Hondo was great!

 

8/10

Pro:
- Animation/special effects
- The action gets better and better: sublime fight scene choreography; loving that the Force is mightier than in the films (see Maul's manipulation of the Jedi shuttle)
- A more multifaceted Maul
- An intriguing development with the new Sith offshoots
- The end scene w/ Palpatine and the Jedi
- Hondo

Cons:
- Dialogue w/ the exception of Hondo and the end scene with Palpatine is still pretty lackluster
- The horrible dub at the end

 

3/10

Garbage episode that only furthers my point that bringing Maul back would be a disaster. Only good part was Hondo, because only he could read such awful dialogue and still make it entertaining. The rest is septic runoff.

 

9/10

As an Obi-Wan fan, I suppose it could have gone either way for me: write him poorly and my opinion is bound to reflect it, but in this case, I really enjoyed seeing the warrior Kenobi for the first time in a while. The episode was self-contained, action-packed and humorous enough to work as a strong opener (for me, it's right up there with the season 3 premier). I detest that so many were made to feel so poorly by the Adi Gallia issue (especially when it could have been avoided so easily) and I wish that these things would stop creeping into otherwise high quality offerings (and for what TCW aims to be, I feel Revival more than qualifies), but I won't dock the episode itself any points as in-universe, the story knows of no such boundaries (what I mean is that it's not the story's fault, per se, that the producers didn't care enough to avoid the issue). Maybe that's bull, but it's how I feel.

All that said, I've only ever given one episode a perfect 10/10 rating, and though I felt the remaining two episodes of the arc unfortunately failed to live up to the possibilities its opening offered, Overlords was the only episode to reach to the foundation of the most important aspect of the saga - the Force - and attempt to stretch our understanding of its nature and offer us the chance to examine it from a new point of view. It was that reaching, that taking a chance and striving for a new understanding that I feel put it over the top and it's in not taking any of these chances where I feel otherwise excellent episodes like our season five opener fail to realize their full potential.

 

*Sigh* everyone mostly said exactly what I was thinking, so I don't have much to add.

I gave it a 7/10. The episode was mostly riding on Hondo's witticisms and Obi-Wan's badassery.

But I like Adi Gallia, and if I'm to accept this as her "true" death, I would have liked something more dramatic. How she died was shocking, but there was no closure. Im-Gunna-Di or whateverhisnamewas had a more powerful death, if only because we knew he went out fighting for a reason. Adi's death was next to meaningless.

Also, I'm not quite sure if Maul losing to TCW's version of Jack Sparrow is a good thing or bad....

 

It saddens me to see my fellow EU fans accept Adi's stupid retcon so easily.

 

Wow, I'm so surprised all the people who liked Todd's comment are those who love TCW! /sarcasm

You guys actually enjoy our pain, don't you?

 

10/10. An episode executed to perfection!

 

9- Return of Hondo and new models for weequays, Obi-Wan was not beaten or whipped. Not boring or too complicated and there were no major plotholes or continuity issues except Adi's death of course.... but well.... it was expected after Even Piell.

 

9- Return of Hondo and new models for weequays, Obi-Wan was not beaten or whipped. Not boring or too complicated and there were no major plotholes or continuity issues except Adi's death of course.... but well.... it was expected after Even Piell.

Damn my stupid malfunctioning internet connection did this double post sorry....