Clone Wars For Discussion of Old TCW episodes...

For the sake of not derailing this thread, I'm going to assume you're being Sheldon Cooper and I'm going to drop the subject rather than argue with you.

I kinda figured it was because she was raised by Plo Koon, who was the padawan of Tyvokka. Plo got it from Tyvokka (well, I don't know if he could speak it... Kel-Dor vocal tracts may be as incombatible with Shyriwook as Wookie vocal tracts are with Basic, but hey...) and then passed it on to Ahsoka, when he was serving as her more-or-less surrogate father, from 3 up to 14 when she was apprenticed to Anakin.

Wait, what?

Did he say this in all seriousness? As in, not joking around?

I fail to comprehend how any human with a brain could watch the OT and not take from it that Han fully understands Chewbacca.

It's been a while since I saw the ep, and I can't remember: Did Chewie encounter Anakin during the ending?

If so, it raises the interesting continuity question: Did Vader remember Chewbacca when he met him on Cloud City?

Maybe, even to the Dark Lord of the Sith, Wookies All Look Same.

But he should sense it was the same guy in the force.

As I said I can't remember the ending exactly, so if they didn't meet it's likely moot. Although doubtless Ahsoka told him about Chewbacca, it would possibly be more forgettable than actually coming face to face with him and feeling his "force signature" as it were.

To save anakinfan time, I took this particular quote directly from the TCW Continuity thread from the Literature forum:

It's a secondhand source from 2011, so I have no clue whether this quote should be taken literally, or whether or not it was spoken out of context. I agree it's clear from the films that Han perfectly understands Chewie... So make of it what you will.

As many "too small galaxy" issues as I have with Ahsoka meeting Chewie, and with Yoda meeting him in ROTS, I think Vader not recognizing him on Bespin still works.

Now I have a confession to make:

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I have never seen the Umbara arc.

I'll take my TCW Shelf of Shame membership now.

Anyway...

Darkness on Umbara:

Good Obi-Wan/Anakin banter as always.

And the opening battle...yeah, "darkness on Umbara" indeed. Landscape reminds me of the elephant graveyard on The Lion King.

Nice change seeing the local militia fighting instead of the same old B1s.

I liked the exchange between Anakin and Rex about loyalty and how Rex "used to be" like Dogma.

And Krell shows up and proves himself to be Galactic ***hole of the Year right away. Who the hell made him a Jedi?

"The Supreme Chancellor wants you on Coruscant. He wouldn't say why." I didn't think Palpatine started pulling that **** until ROTS. Kind of a lame excuse to get Anakin out of the way so that Krell could be put in charge.

And damn...get 'em Rex.

Enjoyable. 9/10

The General:

"The path of ignorance is guided by fear." Love it. Very real world.

One nice thing about this arc? The Separatists are shown as a formidable enemy and aren't so easily defeated by the Republic.

Good discussion among the clones about whether Krell is bat**** ****ing nuts (yes) and trying to get the clones killed (yes again) and the difference between Anakin's fighting style "out in front" and Rex's "bringing up the rear".

More clones killed under Krell than any other general? Next you'll tell me Tatooine has sand.

The giant metal caterpillars. My son actually got upset. "There are so many of them and they can't be blasted!" Easier to watch than the Electrocuting ****ing Spiders in the last episode, but...yeah. Nice to see a genuine threat.

Seeing the clones saving their wounded was sad.

"My commander on Kamino said my growth acceleration chamber had a leak." LMAO.

Nice to see Hardcase and Co on their amusement park ride and winning the battle at the same time.

This was fun and suspenseful. 10/10

Plan of Dissent:

Ah, the clones having a "hello Captain Obvious" discussion about Krell not liking clones and not caring about loss of life. They are too kind really.

Dammit, Rex has a good plan and of course Krell shoots it down.

"Where is the honor in marching blindly to our deaths?" and "I cannot just follow orders when I know they are wrong!" Amen.

Oh ****, busted in the hangar.

"Who is this? What's your CT number?" And "that's gonna leave a mark." OT lines. Oh hell.

Nice to see the clones sneaking behind Krell's back and the reference to Anakin in TPM...nice one.

"I'm only doing this because I don't like him." "That's reason enough." LOL.

Ah, Rex trying to play diplomat. And busting Dogma before he could rat out the rogues.

Lots of "Oh ****" moments in this one. Well played, TCW.

Hardcase.

9/10

Carnage of Krell:

"Our actions define our legacy." Nice Dumbledore-esque quote there.

Damn, a fragile little ego we have, don't we, Krell?

Next scene--is it terrible that the first thing that came to mind had to do with stormtroopers' terrible aim?

"Clone!" "It's Captain." Get 'em Rex.

What the hell is that above ground sarlacc creature?

Interesting use of the yellow helmets, which I remember best from Order 66 scenes, on "enemy" clones.

And holy hell that friendly fire scene was sad.

Waxer???

I'm not sure I've ever been so pissed off at a character in this show as I am at Krell for that whole genocidal setup.

Dogma, what the hell are you smoking???

It also seems that Rex should have contacted Anakin and Obi-Wan and told them what happened instead of trying to take on Krell himself.

"Hey Ugly, come and get me!" And ah, the above ground sarlacc...nice work.

Oh damn...Krell joined Dooku? At least that explains a lot.

Hmmm..."too dangerous to be kept alive"?

OK, Rex, shoot him so he'll STFU. Thank you.

The clones musing over what happens to them after the war ends was both sad and interesting.

9/10

I waited way too long to watch this arc. It was awesome, what all of TCW should have been.

They should have had arty trained on the top of that tower when they went to confront Krell. Then when he started massacring clones (prior to jumping out of the tower) they could just have taken him down fast by vaping the entire top of the structure. When in doubt, use superior firepower.

Finishing off the disc...

Kidnapped:

I like Kiros but really, the "peaceful planet/no weapons/can't fight back/don't want war here" theme is getting really, really old.

"Peaceful occupation." Dry that up and fertilize all the greenery there.

Like: the tandem speeders, the male Togrutas, Rex's dialogue.

Anakin's tantrum against the Zygerrians seems really out of place at first hearing, and would have made more sense against Hutts. Are Zygerrians the only slavers in the galaxy or just the best known? Seems a way to shoehorn a conversation with Ahsoka about Anakin's past, particularly without prior knowledge about the Zygerrian slave empire.

Obi-Wan getting the **** beaten out of him by the Zygerrian was just...smh. Use the Force dude.

You all know how I feel about Ahsoka but this was actually a decent episode with her. She and Anakin were a team and she didn't outdo all the other characters. Seemed more like season one again in that regard.

Hmmm...Yoda's comment about slavery and the rise of the Sith.

6/10

That was my problem with most of season 4 @anakinfansince1983 about Obi-Wan getting the stuffing beat out of him.

The genius of the slave arc is that in one fell swoop it managed to make the issue at hand "personal" for both Anakin and Ahsoka.

Anakin because of his history as a slave and his resultant berserk-button hatred of slavery and slavers, and Ahsoka because it's specifically her own species / people that got hauled off into slavery.

I loved how incredibly dark it became. Darker than I would have thought possible for a supposed "kids show" on the Cartoon Network. That overseer dropping a whole bunch of Togruta to their doom simply to prove a point to Obi-Wan...

The hopeless, forlorn, resigned look in the faces and body posture of the Togruta standing on the trapdoors beforehand... it almost telegraphs that these people are about to be murdered, and they know what's coming... and then just like that, Wham! Wham! Wham! Wham! Down they go. It was a moment of genuine shock. I was like they actually went there! They just showed that!

I just about clapped when Rex impaled him at the end. "I'm no Jedi." Effin' right on!

One nitpick that annoyed me as a sci-fan: When they turned up on approach to Zygerria (this planet is attracting a lot of high-class scum) one of the more in-your-face examples of the space-is-an-ocean / 2D-space trope got shoved in my face. Thousands of ships coming in from all over, but all approaching the planet from the same direction and vertically aligned with each other. I mean it happens throughout star wars but it was particularly egregious here.

I started wondering if all male Togruta have the forward-pointing horns and the shorter Lekku...

Then again it could just be something that varies from individual to individual. The montral/lekku differences could even be indicative of different ethnicities within the Togruta species as a whole.

But that was the point. He was deliberately refraining from the Force to draw out the fight. And he probably was using it to lessen his injuries, which would otherwise be quite severe from the pounding he got. Darts D'Nar was a big guy.

If you want to see the difference when the Force is brought back in play, consider that during Darts' attempted escape, while Anakin was dealing with that tentacle monster in the hold, Ahsoka went up to the cockpit to tackle him alone. She popped up behind him and he wheeled to face her, and then we cut back to Anakin for a few more seconds while he jettisons the creature. Then we're back in the cockpit, in time to see D'nar on his back with Ahsoka holding him at lightsaber point. Hence, there is the implication that within those few seconds, Ahsoka, who was using the Force, delivered a very rapid curbstomp - to the same guy who five minutes earlier was making a punching bag out of the man once described as "As powerful as Master Windu". You can read that two ways - either Ahsoka is getting depicted as overpowered, or it's a representation of just what a difference it makes when a Jedi switches on the Force, vs not using it.

I agree, although, the action on Kiros in Kidnapped actually contains one of the technically dumber Anakin moments. As highlighted by this guy's mashup:

Anakin Skywalker fails at EOD forever

Watch that vid two or three times and try not to laugh...

Ugh, I was thinking it was a better Ahsoka episode until you pointed that out.

It just seemed gratuitous to me. I remember some discussion closer to the time about how this was Filoni's way of responding to Obi-Wan fans: "Oh, you want more Obi-Wan? I'll give you more Obi-Wan--but he's going to get the **** beaten out of him on a regular basis."

And we saw in Lawless that Obi-Wan can draw a situation out just by talking. I'd rather wish Obi-Wan would STFU than watch him get his ass kicked.

LMAO that's a hilarious video by @Dan_Grievous_Tikkes_Fan...I admit that was at the back of my mind when I first saw the scene, but ya know, plot armor took the suspense away! Wonder why Ahsoka is still alive if she was right next to Anakin though, but still, great scene splicing!

Aweee.. Thanks for the nice shout out...

I am wondering about making more of these dumb moment videos. Would somebody want more making fun of scenes like that?!

Yesss, most definitely. Add some for Season 5!

One more thing, in the way of easter eggs / shoutouts: Darts' slave ship is named the Tecora.

In real life, the Tecora was a Spanish slave ship that was involved in the Amistad incident. It took on slaves at Lomboko (in present day Sierra Leone) and transported them to Havana, Cuba. They were subsequently sold on and transferred to La Amistad, and thus entered history.

Will dooo.. Nice to get feedback like this!

Yeah, the Umbara arc is pretty great, but I disagree that all of the series should have been like it; it would have gotten boring with it being all dark storylines & clone vs. seppie action, at least in my opinion.

I've half a mind to try my hand at an AMV myself.

I have all the eps in itunes, maybe see if I can throw something together in pinnacle studio...

I'm thinking of making it very clone-centric. The song in my head for it is Die MF Die by Dope, but it might end up being something else.

The major inspiration I've got in my head is this video:

Finishing up the slaver arc...

Slaves of the Republic:

Again, I wish we would have gotten more information on Zygerria from somewhere--the EU, the films, the show itself--before this arc. It would have added some impact, as opposed to telling us now that they are the biggest slavers in the galaxy.

LOL at Anakin insisting that Ahsoka play the slave and her smart-mouthing back at him.

Waaaay out of character for Anakin to be able to watch that Twi'lek slave mistreated without going completely ape****, much less staying in his role-play mode. And the lines he gives the Queen? This is not the same man who was so obsessed with one woman that he joined the Sith in order to prevent her death, nor is he the same man who gave us the awkward cringe-worthy lines used to impress that woman in AOTC.

The look on Anakin's face when that Twi'lek jumped was good, but still, the Anakin I know, would have had more reaction, and would have knocked the **** out of the Queen when she gave that "slavery" speech.

And of course, Obi-Wan gets the **** beaten out of him again. I see what you did there, Filoni.

"Swing that whip, or die beside him." "Well those are some lousy options." Nice to see Anakin channeling his inner Solo there. And preceding his son in the R2 "give me my light saber" salute.

OK, seriously? Electrocution is getting old.

The sky prison cells are unique but...oh hell.

The Queen guessing that Anakin was a slave was just stupid. Her wanting to make him her ***** is hilarious though.

3/10

Electrocution is about the only torture technique they can show in a supposed "kids show" because it's not really graphic.

Can you imagine if they showed someone employing The Burning on a prisoner in TCW?

This was one of those eps where I thought it seemed like the Jedi suddenly forgot how to use their powers. Massive nerfage.

Obi-Wan being so helpless in that foundry was the worst. He could have just choked those overseers or telekinetically thrown them into the molten steel, he certainly had justification for it when they started beating slaves to death in front of him.

A nice little moment that instantly turned stupid was when that Zygerian came to leer at Ahsoka in her cliff-edge cage. He drops a horrible comment that lets you know exactly what kind of slavery he has in mind for her, to which she simply raises a hand and makes him experience the full power of the Force... except, not quite. She almost hurls him to his death, but pulls her punch, allowing him to climb back up and start torturing her. Should have just chucked him off the edge. Or levitated him out over the void and let him scream and soil his pants, till he handed the control for that collar over to her.

Anakin and the Queen riding that thing seemed like an Avatar ripoff. Or an Avatar homage. You decide I guess.

Escape from Kadavo:

Ah, we open by beating up Obi-Wan again. Typical. So is the combined Ten Commandments/Mustafar reference.

OK, WTF is Sidious upset with the Queen for?

Oh, Anakin with the Queen's guards...LMAO.

The Queen wanting to **** Anakin so badly that she can't see straight is also hilarious. Her obsession with making Obi-Wan miserable, not so much.

Anakin rescuing Ahsoka from the sky prison was great until she started with sensing a disturbance in the Force.

"Count Dooku, my powers have doubled since the last time you electrocuted me, which I believe was two days ago."

Ah, Anakin saved the Queen. Her wanting to **** him had its advantages I see, even if she does believe in slavery.

Dude, who the hell called Plo?

Nice sky battle here.

Electrified walls? Seriously???

"A Jedi won't kill an unarmed man." "I'm no Jedi." Ah, Rex, you handsome bald specimen of awesome.

And they're back on Coruscant. "Ahsoka is the real hero." Anakin, I love you, but...shut the **** up. How about acknowledging your former Master for getting the **** beaten out of him for your cause?

4/10