Full Series Grade the Episode - 102 "Rising Malevolence"

Watching this episode again, how would you rate it?

Remember, unlike our Season 3 polls, please feel free to discuss the episode as much as you'd like in this thread. Did the episode seem any different than the first time you saw it?

Grade average (39 votes): 7.82

 

I'll watch tonight and get back to ya

 

7/10

It's a good episode on it's own, but there were many things I didn't like:

- Plo Koon able to be in space; (I know he is an alien, and I know it's not contradicting anything, but I still don't like the idea...)
- Droid humour terribly misplaced; (Specially because the scene where they open the escape pods was having a great atmosphere.)

 

Gave it a 7.

This is where I truly glimpsed how good this show could be. Compared to the movie and Ambush, this episode was much more "grown-up", with an oppressive environment, lives at stake, and even the battle droid humor came off as creepy instead of stupid.

It was not really perfect, though. The pacing was a little off, there was not really all that much to the episode, and Plo and the troopers stepping out into space so casually really bugged me.

 

I have to say that it came out even more stupid, because the situation was already creepy.

 

Dunno. For me it just seemed to highlight how heartless these automatons are, that they can crack silly jokes or hum a tune while sending clones to a gruesome death in the cold vacuum of space.

 

One issue with this one:

- How did they get out of the pod? Does it have an airlock? Seems doubtful for an escape pod. If it opened straight to space, all the air would have been sucked out and the trooper without armour too. Unless, of course, it does have an airlock.

However, this won't stop me from giving this a 10.

This is the episode that got me all excited for the series. I liked it even better than Ambush.

- The first episode that focuses entirely on a background character in a leading role!
- The only episode/arc so far that features a super-weapon
- The ion cannon super-weapon is really a great concept, and really threatening and scary
- This episode essentially features a Separatist victory, even though the rescue mission succeeds
- This episode therefore succeeds in painting the Separatists as a credible threat
- The pod-hunters are a fantastic concept. They're extra cool when you realize they can function as boarding ships too
- Aside from having droid teams that cut open the pods (joking and humming as they do their thing - very creepy), the pod-hunters can actually squash the escape pods
- The moment where they have to switch off all the power in order to remain unseen between all the debris as the huge warship flew right over them, reminded me of Das Boot and other submarine classics
- Huge red gas giant for a planet - could it be any cooler than that? Just the whole look of this episode, the high-contrast between the red of the planet and the black silhouettes of ships passing before it, was fantastic. Reminded me of Don Lawrence imagery from the 'Storm' albums
- The Twilight! Just seeing it fly by that planet isn't only an amazing sight, but I really love the design of this ship. The way the foils fold out as it flies out of the hangar... I really miss the Twilight
- Plo Koon comes across as a strong and wise leader, caring for his troopers. I thought he was very sympathetic. He taught the troopers the value of keeping the faith. Had they abandoned hope, they would have given up and never get rescued
- For once, we see a Jedi make good use of the Force... great move to 'launch' the trooper like that
- Nice to see Dooku and Grievous in the same room
- Nice reference to Leia sensing where Luke is in TESB, also makes sense with Ahsoka being close to Plo
- Even though I know the main characters can't die, I find myself worrying about their final escape every time I'm watching this episode. It must be something about the way that scene was shot, it is very exciting and very well done with the ion blast chasing them
- Still my all-time favourite episode in the series, the main reasons being the old-school classic Star Wars feel of this episode (which oddly enough is a relatively rare thing in the series), and the unique atmosphere and 'feel' of this episode that I can't really put a label on. Perhaps it's the fact that they're in desperate situations, just fighting for survival instead of kicking ass all over the place.

10/10

 

Maybe it has "magical airlock" based on some SW-technology
it was more confusing to have "all systems" shut down and still gravity inside Twilight remaining

Maybe Plo just don't know those things He is quite a super anyway jumping in the space with no protection- also clones breathe in space- even if their armor protects them from vacuum- they have no oxygen tanks- their armor cannot have much spare oxygen it would end very fast Clone jumps out to space "Yippeeee!! ugh.....(looses consciousness)"- they and Plo obviously have "magical" rebreathers somehow making oxygen out of nowhere- but that raises question why scubatroops and spacetroopers even need their oxygentanks in the first place though? .......

Too much physical plotholes even for a Star Wars story but it's nice episode not bad at all and at the time it was nice to see Plo he was new and fresh jedi and was nice to see him in action, old CW never had him in action.....

 

One of the bigger issues I had was Plo's "I can stay in space for a few minutes," but he was out of the pod in space for more than half the episode. The clones themselves, except Wolffe, were outside too, and their suits aren't spacesuits. Ahsoka was annoying, but not as much from the film. Her "cruiser crusher" nickname was just awful. Had some minor issues with the ion cannon (not the Malevolent one, just the weapon in general) because from what I understood that was the first time an ion cannon was a threat to anyone, but it's been around before the CW. However, this episode was probably the only decent episode in the Malevolence arc.

Oh, Humble, that's a Red Giant star, not planet.

 

Yeah, as I said before, the whole space thing was a big problem for this episode. Normal clone troopers armor shouldn't be able to withstand the vacuum of space without some modifications. And the whole "Plo's an alien, so he can do whatever we want him to do" is a very poor argument. It would pretty much solve everything if they had used a few moments to show Plo and the troopers doing some jury-rigging to their equipment, adding some hoses here and there, bolting panels to certain areas and other techno-fluff and THEN stepping bravely into vacuum.

 

He says: "I can withstand the pressure for a brief time..."

Besides, he wasn't out there for too long. I checked it, it was like 5 minutes in the episode. Now even if that wasn't real time and it was 'in reality' 10 minutes, it's still a brief time. *shrug*

You mean that's actually a Red Dwarf? EVEN COOLER!

 

Them all hanging outside the pod just relaxing there was very odd. If they went back in instead of hanging around outside the pod, it would have been fine or at least better. Their only objection to go outside was to destroy the battle droids and their pod hunters anyway.

 

Gave it a 9 just like Ambush, for exactly the same reason. I think this is a great episode with good action plus some more thought-provoking content, but I had to withhold the 10 because I don't think it's quite on par with the episodes from this season that will be getting that rating for me. Great, great episode though.

 

I gave it a 9/10. Good opening to one of the best arcs of the first season. The Malevolence was a fun take on the superweapon concept. The only thing I drop it down for was a couple of nitpicky things.

This line: "That's one big cruiser crusher!"

The Venators "sinking" in outer space after they got hit by the ion cannon.

Just how long were the clones waiting? I think it says their suits have enough oxygen for one hour in vacuum. Either the Twilight was really close, or we have another case of cross galaxy hyperspace taking mere minutes.

Even if Plo Koon has an alien biology, his skin is exposed to vacuum, and they are directly beside a giant star. He should have died of radiation and been cooked to a crisp.

 

7/10. Destroy Malevolence was the first good episode of the series for me, and Rookies the first excelent episode.

 

I think you might have forgotten to actually vote, cause those two 7s up there are mine and Alexrd's. Or it might just be that the system is slow today.

 

10. The great aspects of Ambush were carried over with less droid humor and a (mostly) tolerable Ahsoka.

 

I gave it an 8/10.

Droid humor of course brought it down along with the whole surviving is space although I can buy that with Plo Koon being an alien and maybe trooper armer can withstand the vacuum of space for a little bit. Remember they were pretty weak and had to have medical attention right afterwards.

I forgot this episode showed GG as a ruthless killer and that in the intro he had to have had several victories before his defeat in a later episode so I think that was good. This episode showed that this didn't have to fallow the basic rules of a kids show, some pretty terrify things with the clones being sucked to space. Also the end scene showing them escaping the ray just felt like star wars.

Didn't realize how important this episode was to introducing us to the relationship between Ahsoka and Plo and I think the series will continue to reflect on this like they did in Lethal Trackdown and the last few episodes of season 3.

 

Stormtrooper armour has long been described as providing protection from a vacuum, but only for a limited time. So there is no reason why clone armour should be different. There would still be a need for specialised space and underwater troops though for when they do proper missions in those environments.

 

Yes, I can buy clones being in space for a while. Not Plo, though.

 

8/10.

Are people voting correctly? Mine is the only 8/10 up there.


For once, I thought they more or less nailed the droid humor, particularly with the hunter droids' "there they go!" and the humming. Grievous was relatively ruthless in this episode and that's good to see.

Plo Koon was awesome and kinda reminded me of OT-version Ben Kenobi. Wolffe Pack was awesome.

We even got to see some actual INSTRUCTION from Anakin to Ahsoka, Master to Padawan.

I don't know if I'm getting all teary-eyed and reminiscent or what, but these early episodes are really impressing me right now.


Only docks are for still a little too much droid humor, Ahsoka's nicknames, and the vacuum issue. Also, I agree with Tarkus, I can't rank this up there quite as high as the episodes I give 9s and 10s to.

Still, great episode.

 

G_M, I get what your saying about the "Season One Nostalgia" factor. Honestly, I find myself more drawn to early-Season 1 episodes more than mostly anything from Season 3. I think part of the reason is that the early episodes have that swashbuckling, light Star Wars feel. And while recent episodes have polished up the droid humor and Ahsoka annoyance factors, they've also taken away the adventure that made the S1 and early S2 episodes so great to watch. The recent Senate and Force episodes are simply too heavy for a show of this nature, and aside from isolated strokes of genius like the Mandalore trilogy they tend to either end up falling on their face or just being "meh."

If these "blast from the past" polls have led me to discover anything, it's that the creators of the show need to stop focusing on telling bigger, heavier stories with big consequences and instead focus on the facets that define the SW saga as a whole. If all that makes any sense, that is.

 

I agree with those sentiments. But it's not nostalgia. Not for me.

I felt the same way the first time I saw these episodes. I tried to describe it at the end of my commentary above... it's that classic Star Wars adventure feeling, and the atmosphere of losing from the bad guys, being in a bad predicament in some gloomy environment. Fighting for survival against impossible odds, not just kicking droid ass all over the place.

In fact the 'feel' and atmosphere of the episode is so great that it makes me overlook the logical problems with ease.

 

I gave it an 8. It was an alright episode. Decent story and the in space fight scene was pretty cool.

 

10
The start of my favorite mulit-episode arc of Season 1.