Full Series Grade the Episode - 315 "Overlords"

On a scale from 1 to 10, what score do you give this episode?

Please note this is NOT the episode discussion thread, so please limit the discussion to the grades and overall evaluation of the episode.

Grade average (68 votes): 8.58

 

Gave it a 9.

This episode has balls in terms of taking risks and going where none (of the other episodes) have gone before. It trumps every other episode in the sense that its message is about something bigger than the war, something really meaningful to the saga as a whole.

Fantastic visuals and designs all over, heavy use of symbolism, gargoyle and griffin, an ancient arena, a space monolith, a dynamic landscape; a new kind of Star Wars like we've never seen before.

Thought-provoking scenes in terms of the visions, one by one making me wonder about Ahsoka's future, Qui-Gon's discovery and Anakin's relation with Padme. Add to that Liam and Pernilla, and fantastic references to John Williams in the score.

And I think I have an E-crush on Daughter.

It's simply fascinating to watch and wonder about what it all means.

So far, the message(s) is (are) perfectly ambiguous and open to interpretation.

I might end up liking this episode less if its meaning will turn out to be something I find hard to stomach or hard to rhyme with the saga.

But for now, I think it's brilliant.

9/10

 

Well balanced 5- it was twisted combination of horrible stupidity and awesomeness- kinda like dark and light side of TCW combined

 

10 for me. For all the reasons Humble mentioned. Plus this episode sparked some wonderful reflections within myself and this community, with the richest discussions we've ever had. I think anyone who's been around the discussion thread is a little bit richer for it, and we have this episode to thank (as well as this great group of LACWACers).

I know some people think it's impossible to evaluate this episode before seeing the full picture of the entire trilogy, but I ask that for now we just grade it for what it is. How much you enjoyed or not.

 

Geez, poll was up for 20 minutes and someone had already graded it a '1'... I guess it's to be expected with this kind of episode. Still, I'd rather like to hear people's reasons.

Two 1's now? Oh dear...

 

Make that three, I just gave it a 1. It's definitely in my top 5 least interesting/entertaining episodes in TCW history.


I just have no interest in the story they were trying to tell. None. I was not entertained in the slightest because I simply didn't care. I never thought I would say this, but this episode was less interesting/entertaining than all the political episodes this season, and I have no interest in politics. To me, Overlords is now the worst episode this season so far, yanking that title away from Heroes On Both Sides.

 

Wow, it seems this will be the most polarized poll yet. How poetic.

 

The question is: will there be Balance in this poll?

 

The real question is, what is balance?

An average of 5? How do we get that average? With mostly fives, or with mostly tens and ones?

 

@Sinrebirth

Holy crap! Is that Xanatos, former Padawan of Qui-Gon Jinn according the Jedi Apprentice series, in your avatar??? NICE!!!




I can't decide between 9 and 10 so I'm waiting to read some more posts... If I'm grading this episode alone and ignoring the fact that something later in the arc could take away from it, I'm leaning towards 10. But still holding onto my vote for now.

 

Touché.

It seems like there are several ways to achieve 'balance'. No single road leads to Rome, but many!

 

10 as well. Probably should be a 9, but the fact that it was both exciting and thematically heavyweight is big news in SW and should be encouraged. Plus, even the haters have brought a good degree of awesome to the discussion, so it's even a success with them, from the point of view of the rest of getting something out of their dislike of it.

 

Gave it a 9, but should have been a 10 after seeing so many 1s. In my opinion, even the worst episode doesn't deserve a 1.

 

Agreed, but at least one of the people who rated it that said why. The other two...ugh.

 

I think it's perfectly alright if people want to rate whatever episode a 1. I just like to hear why. Thankfully, CT-lotsanumbarz explained, but I already happened to know his stance.

Gotta love lurkers.

 

10. Excellent, near-perfect episode. Some bad lines of dialogue were the only things that kept it from perfection.

If only all the episodes were made with such quality.

 

On one hand, this episode is VERY different, and without a card carrying villain, so that earns it a 3 at the very least. But I disliked how much this episode seemed to suffer from Messiah syndrome. The problem with any mention of Anakin as the chosen one is that it focuses more on the inevitability of him being the chosen one, rather than him earning that title by way of his own merit, thus logically reasoning that Anakin could be a puppy-kicking complete monster and yet still be the chosen one to a tradition that rejects such behavior. I don't know, I never liked the whole prophecy sub-plot, and generally dislike messiah characters, so I guess I really just want to see Anakin actually earn that title, rather than it be assumed by both character and story.

Anyway, this episode earned a 2, -1 for Messiah Syndrome.

 

Well he ends up earning it in the movies nonetheless. But I guess that doesn't count for the rating of this episode.

 

Sort of, but in a very myopic sense. It's still kind of a broken moral though. In the end, he only killed the emperor because his son was in danger, and even then, because of largely his actions. Never mind the fact that he put the galaxy under the heel of a brutal dictator and was responsible for the deaths of millions of people. In the end, they're just flesh and bone. Only his son matters. It's not a very pleasant nor a very moral message.

The idea of the Messianic Archetype would be one who acts benevolently towards people in general whenever possible, but with Anakin, we get the impression that his good side is only shown to those he cares about personally. Everyone else gets his arrogance, or else, his wrath. Yet the script for both the PT and this show paint him as Space Jesus.

 

Since the episode leaves open to interpretation whether the Father's interpretation of the prophecy is the interpretation or just a interpretation, I don't think the episode revolving around the Father's actions based on the prophecy should be rated so low for that one reason. The prophecy could still be utter crap, the Father is just one of many who buy into it.

 

10 for me. Even in my wildest dreams I never thought TCW could be this good.

It asks interesting questions, moves the larger story along with Anakin and Ahsoka, relates directly to the films and features some great cameos. Oh, and the score was outstanding.

I do think that initially Mortis looked too Pandora-ish. If they were going for the "floating islands" look, it would have seemed less obviously borrowed if they riffed on Roger Dean's style instead. But this is the most minor of gripes.

I recounted its plot to someone, and saying the whole thing out loud made it sound even stranger and more mythic than even watching it. It really is the cave scene from ESB "on steroids" (as someone else put it) and that's my favourite scene in the entire saga.

Even if it's not your sort of episode, purely on a technical level it deserves a 7 at least, IMHO (which is where its average rating is current sitting, funnily enough).

 

Yeah exactly, Roger Dean. People were going 'Avatar rip-off', but all it did was remind me of Roger Dean, who came decades before 'Avatar'. I think it's excellent, whether it was an actual reference or not.

[image=http://www.artistsuk.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/floatingislandspomposter-roger_dean.jpg]

 

Humble_Jedi: Yeah, that's the same painting I linked to above. That's the ABWH live cover, IIRC.

Here another one:

[image=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/6e/Yessongs_Awakening.jpg]

I do think Dean's art is more stylised than Mortis's design was, however. Mortis looked more photorealistic and therefore "Pandora-like".

 

Haha, your first link gives me a 403 error. We just happened to pick the same picture.