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

I don't know why I keep posting here...

 

Now you're just asking me to respond

 

You cheer me up GG.

How are you enjoying the Droic arc btw?

 

"Not to mention the rest of THIS season's Maul arc"

--Does this mean that next season will have a Maul arc?
After sitting through Onderon and the Void, I can only hope.

 

darthcaedus1138 I don't watch TCW anymore. Very rarely, maybe 1 that I haven't seen.

 

But...but....we need you to watch it!

 

Watching cars drive down a street is more fun to watch than TCW.

 

Aw, GG, where's your sense of suspension? You just need to relax and turn on the "fun" and shut off the "logic" part of the mind and one can totally enjoy TCW!

 

After the episode ends:

 

Man I wish Paul Kemp was was more like this TCW writer. Then we'd know everything about this duology. Wait, sorry wrong topic,...

 

Ok, I asked them both, Friedman came back with...
@BFree63: @Halabrew @MattMichnovetz Not sure. I've heard conflicting reports. Maybe Cartoon Network has it posted somewhere on their site?

Sorry Seerow we may have to actually wait and see I'll see if Matt responds.

 

Thanks for asking for me. I'm expecting any of these guys to really know anything abut the scheduling. Christian Taylor probably wouldn't even know. Figured it was worth a shot.

 

Well I don't see them killing Maul just yet so I'm assuming we'll get Maul episodes next season.

 

I honestly believe that the Droid arc was completely resultant of the 2nd(ish) half of this season and next season's episodes. When you look at the season 5 trailer and take into consideration things Filoni and others have said this season about what's around the corner, there's no doubt in my mind that they wanted a buffer before they started laying on the intense stuff too thick so they threw together this junk and called it "experimental" and "really cool stuff" in order to sell it the only way they could.

Think about it:

Backgrounds -
- Abafar - a basically landscapeless planet where they really didn't need to do any big animation work. We have 1 whole episode that basically needed no background rendering. They even went with the idea that their tracks left no marks in the sand/salt!
- Seperatists' Dreadnought - Used multiple times over the series. Not much new work to be done.

Characters -
- D-Squad - other than Gascon, a group of Assets that are in their arsenal as droids and just needed new paint jobs. Plus, droids - especially Astromechs - have very few points of articulation, no fabric, no unique textures and no hair so the work there is far easier than other characters.
- Bad guys - the first episodes is just battle droids which I'm guessing many of the animators can do in their sleep at this point in the show. Eventually we do get Borkus (kinda) so he's one of the few new asset they had to create.
- Gregor - 2nd main character asset they had to create and he's only in about half of the episode.

Writing -
- Obviously, this is very subjective and since this isn't the discussion or grading thread for this episode, i won't go into my thoughts but I think the general consensus is that it was subpar.

Just in general, I think its obvious that this arc really had little effort put into it (despite what Filoni and crew says), and I think (and hope) that its because so much effort was focused on Mauldalore and the Ahsoka/Ventress stuff...and y'know what? if we had to endure 4 crappy droid episodes for 9 (or 6) amazing episodes, I'm okay with that!

 

Its possible that the arcs we are getting are meant to be a buffer for much more intense stuff coming. I think Brent Friedman said this in a recent Tweat that was posted here. I personally hope they don't decide to scrap future experimental episodes because of all the negative feedback. I like it when TCW tries to innovate and that's not to say I always enjoy the results. This time I really liked it.

I've felt suspicious about the episode shuffling for a long time. Maybe the truth is Clovis and the Maul arc before now just weren't ready to air. Perhaps that is why "Young Jedi" ended up being aired, maybe there is a missing arc that wasn't ready. I've wondered if what is actually going on is there is somehow a delay the folks working on this stuff are keeping hush-hush about or maybe CN's S&P gave 'em trouble because some of the stuff in these arcs crossed a line. It falls in line with my old suspicion on why it took until SWW to get any clips at all. Probably not, but... =b

 

Essentially they already had Gregor as well. Republic Commandos have already appeared, the only new aspects would be the paint on the armor and the beard on Gregor's face.

 

Exactly...Clones and Droids, even if they're "New Characters," It probably takes barely any effort on their part.

 

Season 5 feels like it'll be another Season 3: first half has some pretty good episodes but also some that are more or less okay, then the second half shows up and the season practically explodes with some epic and really good to great episodes.

 

I don't think that the Nightsisters or Mortis arcs were good at all, to be honest. Then again I'm in the minority for the first one but not the second, which is divisive. So, no I don't believe that the second half of S3 redeemed the poor beginning, just like I don't think Maul will redeem this season's disappointment.

 

I hate the first half of S3 so much.

Clone Cadets: A decent episode brought down by the intolerable 99. I hate 99 so much. Probably deserves a 7/10. (99 makes me want to give it a failing grade)
ARC Troopers: Bland action episode brought down by 99. Ventress couldn't even save this episode, they even cut her kiss. 5/10 at best, and that's ignoring 99 as best as I can.
Supply Lines: Jar Jar, awful politics and the otherwise solid action was ruined by Ima-Gun Di's unnecessary sacrifice in a terrible attempt at emulating 300. 3/10
Sphere of Influence: Uninteresting Ahsoka/Chuchi team up. Boring politics. 1/10
Corruption: Corruption. 1/10
The Academy: Not much better than Corruption. 1/10
The Assassin: I actually liked, maybe due to four painful episodes in a row. Liked the vision stuff. 7/10
Evil Plans: Cake needs fruit. Droid torture. 1/10
Hunt for Ziro: Adventurous approach, poor execution. 4/10
Heroes on Both Sides: More politics. Yawn. Ahsoka gets a love interest. 1/10
Pursuit of Peace: Zzzzzzzzzz, more politics. Repeated insistence that only Bail can deliver speech, but Padme ends up giving a terribly stupid speech anyway. 1/10

That's 32/110, a 2.9 average. Just wow.

Loved the Nightsisters arc, hated the Mortis arc, the Citadel arc had the potential to be truly awesome but was ruined by Ahsoka's presence and Piell's death, loved the two part finale.

S3 was so, so bad.

Disclaimer: All of the above is only my opinion.

 

I personally thought the Nighsister and Mortis arcs were great, but I never said anything about the second half redeeming the first half of S3 (which I don't think was that poor, there were some really good stuff in there). I just thought the two halves were quite different and I've got the feeling that S5 will be more or less similar in that aspect, seeing as it seems like the latter half will be more serious than the first.

 

Hmm... suspicious wording, but perhaps designed to mislead.