Full Series CW Grade the Episode: S05E03: Front Runners

4/10. The battle droids were almost unbearable, especially since we haven't seen that much slapstick in so long. The "good guys are good, bad guys are bad, m'kay?" thing got really old really quickly. It baffles me that the rebels were able to blow up the power plant with no consequences, from the CIS or the citizens of Onderon. The whole thing felt like a dynamic plot was put through a kiddie filter so that nothing controversial or complicated remained.

Really, the only things that made the episode bearable for me were the animation and the action. Hopefully the arc takes a major turn for the better this week.

 

That is the awesome voice of Kirk Thornton you're referring to.

 

Most certainly, Hideo Kuze and Jin

 

I voted 8/10 for this one.

I like the story arc so far and this episode definitely had more meat on the bones than "War on Two Fronts".

 

9/10 pretty good

Just kill Lux or get rid of him and me happy

 

7/10

Interesting story, the plot moved forward. if this isn't already a murphy's law of combat it ought to be:

As soon as you need to make a crucial shot, your weapon will need time to reload/cool off/recharge.

 

Haven't you heard, they are making a movie about him lol

 

I thought this was the movie. It sure as hell isn't paced like a 22 minute show.

 

We haven't really seen much restriction of freedom of the populace, have we? Increased security maybe, but so what?

Who says the errorists are any better suited for power? Or Sleepy the Old King?

 

It was okay, at best. 5 out of 10. Hopefully it'll get better in the next two so it enhances the first two.

 

There has to be a reason why the populous is so fearful and timid at first right? Granted thats to be expected when a droid gets sniped right in front of you. For all you know on lookers could assume you did it. King Rash seems like he has probably executed people before. They get over it like the flip of the switch. Its so weak and it just so happens they are won over by a show of force that destoryed infrustructure that is typicall essential to daily life in an advance society... so there ya go.

 

Good one. It felt like that. That is what happens when you give one writer so much time to develop such a simple story - he would stall and repeat stuff like on Umbara.

 

I've been too sick all week to post in the forums, but I wanted to at least offer my grade for the episode before this weekend's airing of the next installment.

6/10.

As opposed to my easy enjoyment of TCW's first two offerings this season, "Front Runners" was more of a grower. I recall sitting through the episode last Saturday morning and not feeling much more than I was simply watching events play out in front of me, with little to move the story along. I'm into the history and tactic of rebellion and guerilla warfare, so having TCW's version on display was certainly a joy, but I simply felt as though most of the episode could have been condensed into oneor possibly two acts.

The action was fairly well paced and sights were just as beautiful to behold as always, though attempting to shoe-horn in a sense of drama as we 'wait for a gun to recharge' was fairly 'meh.' It's the type of thing that can work, but here it came off as pretty hackneyed to me. I suppose it did offer Steela the chance to utter "you're all clear," though.

Oh, and didn't Ahsoka instruct the rebels that the driver of the CIS tanks were within the front hatch, while a commander up top controls the turret and the cannon? If so, then why does Saw drive the captured tank from up top? Little things like this should never get past the production's quality control efforts and they tend to drive me bonkers, if I allow it. Still, other little touches, such as the fantastic night vision gear sported by the rebels, are just fab!

As I said,aftyer a third watching, the episode has grown a bit on me, up from my original thoughts of scoring things a five, so who knows, by the completion of the arc, I may just look back again and see things in an even brighter light.

 

DLT'S RATING OF THIS EPISODE IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE LETTER "F."

F for...

Flop

Failure

Filler

Five out of Ten

 

Yeah, I sure hope things pick up tomorrow.

 

8/10.
The droids were too silly. The populace running about yelling "Free Onderon" was silly. Otherwise, a decent episode with some pretty good action scenes.

 

Ooops - forgot to vote.

6/10 - Loved the action. Sort of good character development with Saw and Steela. But... it was really boring. And mostly unbelievable. If we saw the people actually suffering under the rule of this new king and the droids, maybe it would be more interesting. As it is, the populace has less personality than the droids.

 

Went with a 6/10. A major improvement over the previous week's snoozer and it was nice to get some character development. I know the second episode's collection of significant glances was supposed to serve a similar purpose, but that felt more organic in this episode. The upped action was fun though the droid incompetence was rather over the top. The rebel interactions are actually kind of interesting, but the Separatist perspective just doesn't seem to be going anywhere. Not a bad episode, but far far from the series' best.

 

4/10
The best bit for me was seeing Okalin the Bivall aide. Hopefully the king will grow on me.

 

Pros:

The action was solid throughout, if predictable. The rebels at times showed better tactics than the clones and Jedi often do. Cool power plant splosion. Oh, and I noticed Ahsoka wasn't annoying the hell out of me. That's always a good thing.

Cons:
SMH at tearing droids' heads off. That's really starting to annoy me.
Ahsoka's blaster bolt deflection choreography was some of the stiffest I've seen.
Anakin's "always put purpose ahead of feelings" line just felt way out of character. It's not just that he doesn't act that way, it's that he would never say that, not even to Ahsoka.
Already getting tired of the rebel talk and exposition.

7/10

Average score for this episode was 6.56, a big drop off from "Revival". A total of 45 voters was also a big drop off from "Revival".

 

7/10

this episode was an improvement from episode 2. but was still way under average for the show as a whole.