Where shall I begin? Carnage of Krell, A Necessary Bond, The Gathering, Tippings Points, Revival, Revenge, Crisis on Naboo, A Sunny Day in the Void, A Friend in Need, Escape from Kadavo, The General, Witches of the Mist, Monster, Heroes on Both Sides, Hunt for Ziro, ARC Troopers, Cargo of Doom, Landing at Point Rain, The Mandalore Plot, Voyage of Temptation, Hostage Crisis, and Ambush. Of course, those are what I deem to be the best episodes of TCW right now. Anyone else have any differing opinions? Perhaps you thought that Mercy Mission is one of the best or that Prisoners was better than most people gave it credit for? Or that Hostage Crisis wasn't that good? Please, discuss.
I always thought Lair of Grievous was the best episode, because what could be better than my two favourite SW characters in an episode together fighting a couple of times?? I never thought is see them fighting, so that was great. My other favourite episodes would probably be Grievous Intrigue, ARC Troopers, Hunt for Ziro, Citadel Rescue, Carnage of Krell, The Box, Crisis on Naboo, Bounty, Revenge, Revival and A Necessary Bond. But there's just so many! I always like the episodes with Grievous and large ground battles.
Kept it to four per season: Ambush Cloak of Darkness Lair of Grievous The Hidden Enemy Cargo of Doom Children of the Force Landing at Point Rain Brain Invaders Nightsisters Witches of the Mist Overlords Padawan Lost Carnage of Krell Kidnapped Crisis on Naboo Brothers I don't think S5 has four episodes that I'd put on my all-time best list, though I am a big fan of Revival and the youngling arc (especially the first and third episodes).
Carnage of Krell, enough said. This episode is more than just lots of action and cool fight scenes. There is a tone of emotion from the near execution of Jesse and Fives to the unnecessary death of Waxer to the scene of Krell's own execution. Rex developed over the first three episodes of this arc and finally turned a corner here. Some of the best quotes of the series are from this episode. I'd put the entire Umbaran arc at the top of this list. Crisis of Naboo, is another top episode and a great ending to an arc that was a Xanatos gambit to for Palpatine to get Anakin and Dooku into the same room. More than action and cool fight, like Carnage it has some excellent emotional scenes. Don't get me wrong, the kidnap scene and capture of Cad Bane was awesome. But Obi-wan being torn up about faking his death and leaving Anakin to that pain was a show stealer. Anakin was left bewildered and distrustful of the Jedi Council with his faith in Obi-wan shaken. Its awesome. The Deserter, is my third pick for best episode. Its a classic and a beloved favorite of mine. Its the first episode that really calls the clones' humanity and indepedence into question. It introduces Cut Lawquane who is my favorite character in all of TCW. I love him even more than Rex. I love dads but more than that Cut has a tragic backstory he obviously feels a great deal of pain from. His backstory serves to underline the immorality of essentially using slaves created for no other purpose than to be slaughtered. It started the ball rolling on clone independence which is eventually picked back up in Umbara. He jumps at the chance to prove himself and defends his adopted family gallantly in the face of some really bad odds. The dinner table scene and later the scene while Rex and Cut are playing the game are two of my favorites in all the series. Obi-wan's battle to capture Grievous and failure which is a parallel story is also alot of fun to watch. Innocents of Ryloth, What a heart breaker? A lost little girl cowering in an ally hides from a pair of clone troopers. One of the two takes pity on the girl and a personal interest in her safety. He's sweet to her. He plays with her. He comforts her when she starts to cry in the shattered remains of her old bombed out home. She slowly melts the other trooper's heart and he to becomes friends with her. Its like watching two big powerful lions being sweet to a cub. Its profound and sad. I consider the shot of Waxer hugging Numa the most iconic in all of TCW. This episode is also one of Obi-wan's best in all the series. He shows his skill and wisdom in this one. Monster, Now here's something different. Ventress goes out, puts a bunch of men through grueling and deadly trials. She picks out the best of the bunch, takes him to Mother Talzin who puts him under a spell and orders him to crush his own brothers neck. Next thing you know the mindly monster is our terrorizing the galaxy. The scene where Savage attacks that Jedi fortress and kills two of them (particularly when the Padawan collapses dead) it one of the scarier ones in TCW. Rookies, More clones! I would venture to call this the biggest classic in the series. The first to really introduce the Rex. It also had the best Rex and Cody dynamic in the series. Watching Rex and Cody lead the inexperienced greenhorns of Domino Squad to take back Rishi Moonbase is a ton of fun. End with the most epic and honorable sacrifice in all the series. Total win!
Destroy Malevolence Jedi Crash Mystery of a Thousand Moons Hostage Crisis Cargo of Doom Children of the Force Senate Spy Brain Invaders Duchess of Mandalore The Zillo Beast Strikes Back Evil Plans (*ducking for cover*) Padawan Lost Prisoners Shadow Warrior (*ducks again*) Deception Crisis on Naboo
Shadow Warrior is definitely not a personal favorite but I am a fan, so respect to @anakinfansince1983! And @Seerow reminds me I think I need The Deserter on my S2 list.
THE CLONE WARS EPISODE FOR ME... S1: Ambush Lair of Grievous Innocence of Ryloth Liberty on Ryloth S2: Legacy of Terror The Deserter Cat and Mouse The Zillo Beast S3: Clone Cadets Witches of the Mist The Citadel Counterattack S4: Water War Kidnapped Massacre Bounty And there is greatness in S5 too. S5: Revival Tipping Points A Necessary Bond Sunny Day in the Void Season one had the luck of being the first so every season after has to come and build on what S1 had left as an impact. If it was not for Rookies then we would not have Clone Cadets and the massive chunk of a mess called Umbara. Because with trying to re-explore and expand good stories from S1, one might just create something too massive for such a simple concept. But most of my favorites remain in Season one cause it was the best season and it had the best idea of what the show wanted and had to be. Maybe that is also due to the fact that Lucas was less involved and did not ruin the show. This season got me hooked and is still a reason I support the show. I can go on and on about how GENIUS it is and I can. A huge part that made S1 so fun were the villains and there were plenty of them from Ventress to Gunray, from Hondo to Lok Durd, from Nuvo Vindi to Wat Tambor...I love these guys so much and all of them really made an impact on me as a fan of the show (even if I loved Tambor and Gunray before that...) but still... Seeing what weak villains we got in S5 so far, S1 villains pure gold compared to characters like Savage or Kalani. Season two tried and succeded in many of the genre stories like horror and mystery with the stories on Geonosis and Malastare being the best of those attempts. Having mystic jedi elements, Zombies, aliens, big battles, mystery, love triangles, Godzillas, ship to ship battles, new Jedi... such things made the second season quite diverse. Much like the first season but more in the "exploration" department. We had great tributes to classic movies like Bounty Hunters and Cat and Mouse. In S2 the clone concept was explored further and better than in the much later fourth season. Anakin was in every arc but he did not feel phoned in and I liked him a lot. Season three had a lot of problems but had real gems from time to time like Clone Cadets and Hunt for Ziro and the Citadel arc. It also had a lot more things wrong with it like destroying basically an already built character just to get a "has been" Sith come back... and then you have Mortis which is basically the lowest of the lows. It sure was pretty with great cameos but it was really not needed since it was a topic done to death in the SW universe. In the end the Mortis arc was just a lame and long confirmation of what we have known for years - Anakin is the Chosen one but we do not need an hour and a half special for that. S3 also shined with many OT cameos that kinda took away the spotlight from the OCs and the good prequel characters. Arcs like the Citadel felt the most Star Wars-y and hit home hard... with appearances from favorites like Tarkin and Master Piell to keep things awesome. Season four is where things got really ugly. Like they did not in S3. The difference is that in S3, episodes like Evil Plans and Corruption were doomed from the concept but in S4 episodes that could have been genius were wasted for no reason. Episodes like Escape from Kadavo and Plan of Dissent and Deception could have been A+++++ episodes if not for wasting budget on stupid things like Shadow Warrior or Nomad Droids or Crisis on Naboo. Not going all out for those episode is where the TCW crew failed Escape from Kadavo and Plan of Dissent and Deception. The Kadavo episode was not the climax to that arc we deserved. Plan of Dissent was too much talking and not enough doing things, the space battle should have and could have been explored more with Jedi like Tiin and Barriss. Deception could have been the best episode of S4 full of cameos from baddies we love but instead it went with the "Copy and paste" route that ultimately made the episode look very bland. Now I just wait for a REAL prison break episode that is not part of a bad arc. UMBARA being just way overrated... and the Hardeen arc is not any Xanatos BS but just a pile of lame events that lead to an incredibly weak anticlimax. People whine about Season five but for me this season has hit home cause it has gone back to it's roots. The show is back to doing it what it did best - not be pretentious like Umbara but have fun and be entertaining. That is what Star Wars is about - having a fun and entertaining story, not "deep" and pointless messages. Episodes like Revival, Tipping Points, The Gathering, Bound for Rescue and A Necessary Bond are all what TCW should be. Especially the Young Jedi arc that unlike Umbara had something new and creative in each episode.
@Dan_Grievous_Tikkes_Fan I will resist the urge to write an equally massive wall-of-text about how each season compares to the others because I disagree so much, but I'll skip it since this isn't the right thread for it.
I'm going to second Heroes on Both Sides. It was a bold, and ultimately good move to humanize the Separatists and show that there are principled and decent people among them. Brain Invaders a close second. Anakin goes dark. Real dark. And very believably.
Destroy Malevolence Downfall of a Droid Duel of the Droids Bombad Jedi Hostage Crisis Holocron Heist Cargo of Doom Children of the Force Revival A Nessecary Bond I haven't watched really much of S3 and S4.
I say watch all of season 3, 4, and 5 not just the ones that typically get high marks. One of the ones I consider a dud may turn out to be another's favorite and as the show get more linear and more episodes we once though were pretty stand alone become part of a larger story arc knowing all the episodes will pay off. Its alot of fun, IMO.
You are not missing out much. S3 really went south with S4 being right behind it with fail after fail. Umbara?! LOL
I watched Umbara arc for the first time the other day. I've always been intrigued by the praise it gets. I would say its one of the better Clone-centered stories but not an outstanding arc. It was nothing special to me, but then I prefer episodes which have Obi-Wan as the main protagonist. My best episode list is probably very bias taking that into account For me: Season 1 Tresspass The Hidden Enemy Ryloth arc Season 2 Practically all of it, apart from the Zillo Beast arc. Season 3 Nightsisters arc Mortis arc Citadel arc Padawan Lost arc Season 4 Slavery arc A Friend in Need Massacre Bounty Revenge Season 5 Revival A War on Two Fronts Tipping Points Young Jedi arc (All the ones I've listed as arcs, I think are the best, it was just easier to list them that way )
YAY! Finally somebody who agrees kinda with me on Umbara. It is not as genius as people say. Nice lists... Especially Season Four.
I like every episode but i'll just post the ones that are awesome and that i really loved Season 1 Ambush The Malovolence Arc Rookies Trespass The Hidden Enemy The Ryloth Arc Season 2 The Geonosis Arc Grievous Intrigue The Deserter The Mandalore Arc Cat and Mouse The Boba Fett Arc Season 3 Clone Cadets ARC Troopers Mortis Arc The Citadel Arc Padawan Lost Wookie Hunt Season 4 The Umbara Arc Slaves of the Republic Arc Rako Hardeen Arc Massacre Brothers Revenge Season 5 Revival The Onderon Arc Young Jedi Arc will update when S5 ends
Season 1 Jedi Crash Season 2 Landing at Point Rain Weapons Factory Legacy of Terror Brain Invaders The Deserter Voyage of Temptation Senate Murders Bounty Hunters Season 3 Clone Cadets ARC Troopers Supply Lines Hunt for Ziro Heroes on Both Sides Pursuit of Peace Nightsisters Monster Witches of the Mist Overlords Altar of Mortis Ghosts of Mortis Padawan Lost Wookie Hunt Season 4 Darkness on Umbara The General Plan of Dissent Kidnapped Slaves of the Republic Escape from Kadavo A Friend in Need Deception Friends and Enemies The Box Massacre Bounty Brothers Season 5 The Gathering A Test of Strength Bound for Rescue A Necessary Bond
I tend to see a lof of people praising it and it sure does deserve the praise. It is really underrated these days.
I second that. I found the arc to be far too repetitive and was very disappointed that they only shoved this one aspect of the Umbara-campaign, especially when every episode revolved around the same problem. Anyway, my favourite episodes are: S1: "Ambush" "Rising Malevolence" "Trespass" "The Hidden Enemy" "Innocents of Ryloth" "Liberty on Ryloth" S2: "Landing at Point Rain" "Legacy of Terror" "Grievous Intrigue" Mandalore arc "Death Trap" S3 : "Nightsisters" Citadel arc "Padawan Lost" S4: "Carnage of Krell" Slavery arc "Bounty" S5: "Revival" "The Gathering"
It was bound to happen one day that someone agreed with you on Umbara (TBH, I'm not a huge fan of the Hardeen arc either...I know that's a popular one around here!) Voyage of Temptation is probably one of my most watched episodes...! I can't find a bad word to say about it! Actually it would be interesting to read what people's thoughts were on it when it first aired....
The entire Obi-Wan/Mandalore trilogy put me to sleep and played a big part in my taking a break from the show.
"Voyage of Temptation: is alot of fun but looking back on that arc "Duchess of Mandalore" has become my favorite in that one. Its got the best interplay between Obi-wan and Satine the entire arc. Its a fairly suspenseful episode with that chase. That deathwatch sniper and his fight with Obi-wan, that guy is actually on my favorite characters list and fairly high up there, what a awesome badass that dude was. I really feel for Satine trying so desperately to stick to here beliefs while the senate just tries to go above her on matters concerning her own planet.
