TV Discussion LACWAC Member Interviews (★☆★ SpecialOpsUnit & Fives_Says_No_To_Sixes ★☆★)

AkashKedavra_93

Definitely of the more 'normal', quieter nature and pretty far from a rebel or a troublemaker.

 

4. Nexumaster: Which character from the Star Wars saga do you connect with the most and why?

 

I hate to interrupt but I also remember that coming up and I would be very interested in hearing the story behind it, 07jonesj

 

AkashKedavra_93

Seriously, you ask some of the trickiest questions.

Hmm, after some consideration I think I'd say Luke Sywalker. Following his journey from a simple farmboy to a Jedi knight throughout the OT strengthens the connection to him and he is also generally nice, optimistic and thoughtful but has also his flaws, can complain and be short with others but never for a long time. There's also the fact that like him at the start of ANH, I'm also kind of stuck in a rut as of now and I wish to free myself from it and feel free (wait, that kinda sounds more like young Anakin in TPM).

Well, now I feel like I'm starting to ramble on here so I'll leave it there.

 

5. Nexumaster: If you could live in a place, fictional and/or real, what would it be and why? List your top five ideal locations.

 

AkashKedavra_93

Interesting question. Let's see what comes to mind right now (in no certain order of course):

1. Naboo - Just seems like a very good place to live; maybe near the lake?
2. Rivendell - Looks very nice and cozy. Possibly the best hotel in Middle-earth.
3. Japan - Seems nice and it would also be quite interesting.
4. Alderaan - If it wasn't gonna get blown up by the Death Star, it's a good choice; looks lovely.
5. Near the coast somewhere - To live by the sea would be pretty sweet.

 

I think Nexumaster belongs in a Miyazaki film.

 

Well, I'm a fan of his movies so you may be onto something there, Barriss_Coffee

 

CT-867-5309 ImNotAStarWarsFanboy I will tell that story, but not until Nexumaster's interview has reached it's end. I think it'd be a bit unfair to steal the limelight.

Nexumaster Perhaps a piece of Alderaan could hit the Japanese coast? That's three paradises in one!

You ever been to Japan or is it somewhere you'd like to visit in future?

 

I haven't been there, but I would definitely like to visit it at some point (there's not a lot of countries I would consider going to, but it's definitely one of them).

And a piece of Alderaan on the Japanese coast? That could be an hilarious photoshop piece.

 

6. Nexumaster: Describe your ideal profession in the Star Wars universe.

 

Seems like Nexumaster likes peaceful and beautiful places. Very nice choices...

Quite the opposite here.

 

AkashKedavra_93

I think I'd say something that involves spacefaring/going to other planets; maybe trader or smuggler? To have a non-human sidekick would be nice as well.

 

7. Nexumaster: Where are you in your studies? Do you have general ideas of where you want to go in terms of education.

 

You don't need to speak any for a basic tourist visit, especially to a big city. Tokyo is a big metropolitan international city, and, as in any such city, you can get along fine on English there.

Now out where I used to live...

 

Yeah, out where I stayed for a week it was muzukashi even with my crappy Japanese. Tokyo is an excellent destination for foreigners with no Japanese.

 

AkashKedavra_93

I've just recently finished the third and last class of a three term writings' course (each year a separate one so it's not immediately continous one after the other), which I chose to go through since I'm a good writer and I have definitely developed my skill some more now; I have finished the script for a fantasy book and an essay about something writing (both of which were the tasks). Right now I'm a bit unsure where to go next, but I have some good potential with my knowledge and skills.

(And I'd like to add that I wish there could be more media/film/SW/TCW-related questions in this interview like in the "good ol' days" of the thread; I don't feel too comfortable with personal questions like this one, if you excuse me).

 

@Nexumaster: No worries. 8. Name your top ten The Clone Wars episodes and why they are your favorites.

 

AkashKedavra_93

All right, seems like it's episode compilation time; some episodes will inevitably, and regretfully, not make into the top ten even though they deserve spots on it (when someone thoroughly enjoys a show, it can be pretty hard listing the top favorites episodes and also to leave out any). Anyway, in no particular order, there's the following episodes:

1. Wookiee Hunt - This episode works so well, both as the second part of a duology and the season finale. Like it's prequel Padawan Lost, it has great animation, some very nice action and concluded the story with a bang. Ahsoka gets one of her moments to shine as she had to step up and use her best leadership skills to lead her small group in an attempt at getting off the moon they are trapped on; it's very good character development for her. Th tclimactic showdown on the floating fortress was pretty awesome and that last scene with Anakin being reunited with Ahsoka is also great and them walking away while Yoda watched them was done really well and was just a really good end scene without being over-the-top.

2. Padawan Lost - Perhaps not as good as it's sequel, but still a really good episode. The nighttime Felucia battle in the first part of the episode was great and it set up the main plot with Ahsoka's abduction really well; there were some great animation in this one , some good action and chase scenes and a lot of Trandoshans doing what they do best: hunting other beings (I loved that they weren't with the Separatists since it made this duology unique; usually the villains are connected to the Seppies but not here). The side stuff with Anakin trying his best to locate Ahsoka was a good addition and shows just how attached he has become to his padawan.

3. Grievous Intrigue - Just a really great action-packed episode; here we have an intense rescue mission where Obi-Wan along with Anakin and Adi Gallia go after Grievous who have kidnapped Eeth Koth and what follows is a lot of lightsaber action and mayhem, all taking place on a pair of ships. Even though there's no real clones vs. droid battles, the episode really shouts 'The Clone Wars' to me; it never gets boring and remains one of the more or less simple, yet also one of the most rewatchable, episodes of the entire series.

4. The Deserter - In this episode, we have Aang and his friends coming across an old firebending master and.... sorry, wrong series. Anyhow, it seems like greats comes in twos since in this continuation of what happened in Grievous Intrigue, there's a solid plot with the chase after Grievous while in a subplot (which then sort of becomes the main plot) Captain Rex gets injured and stays at a farm owned by the clone trooper deserter named Cut. Another great episode which also gets very interesting with Cut and his backstory and the way he comes into conflict with Rex added a lot to the story; this plot is what makes the episode tick with the dialogue between Rex and Cut, but the Grievous story is not bad either and there was some really good action as well (the "zombie" commando droids attacking Cut's farmhouse was a great sequence).

5. Massacre - I really enjoyed the Nighsister episodes of the series and this one is probably the best one ; here they get to show what they can do in battle and their opponents are Grievous and his droid army, who are portrayed at their most deadly and effective (Grievous in particular was a menace here and actually won in the end; that's... pretty unique in this show); the introduction (and end of) of the ancient Nightsister old Daka and the addition of the undead Nightsister army were interesting and I liked the aspect of Mother Talzin torturing Dooku with a voodoo(ku) doll. Mainly, it's an Asajj Ventress episode and here, she loses everything dear to her with the deaths of the Nightsisters and the disapperance of Talzin and she is left alone, stumbling around in the forest (you actually feel for her, despite the fact that she's far from a nice person). This also triggers the next phase of her journey, which continues in another great episode.

6. Bounty - Ventress becomes a bounty hunter and joins a team of hunters led by Boba Fett on their new mission in this episode. Ventress is developed a lot more as a character here (and gets to be a real badass chick) and the story where she follows the team of bounty hunters on their mission is a great one, leading to one of the most impressive fight scenes on the show: a long fight on a speeding train. Not only do we get see an older Boba and Bossk in the team, but Dengar also appears and two new bounty hunters appear; C-21 Highsinger and Latts Razzi (both cool characters with great designs). Loved the scene at the cantina at the start where Ventress casually kills one of the hunters, whose place she ends up taking, and her little chat with Bossk and Latts and it's only continued goodness after that (I'm also a fan of the design of the "villains" and the big reveal of what the cargo the hunters protects is was a great twist). This episode has sort of grown onto me more and more and now it's one of my faves.

7. The Zillo Beast Strikes Back - First off, the Zillo Beast story clicked really well with me, the first episode being inspired by Godzilla and the second one of King Kong, and it was just so freakin' enjoyable (I didn't think they could do a huge monster story this well in the Star Wars setting). I think the second episode is the stronger one and defines the beast as more of a sentient being than just an animal and I love the aspect of it pretty much seeing through Palpatine's disguise and developing an hatred for the man. The sequence of it breaking out of it's captivity and rampaging through Coruscant, climbing buildings was a great reference to Godzilla/King Kong and lot of fun and there was a lot of other nice moments, like another one of Anakin's improvised rescues. The climactic scene with the Zillo getting killed was, as I said before, quite emotional and I felt sad that it had to go; if only Mace could have gotten his wish through and had the beast be relocated to another planet.

8. The Zillo Beast - Gotta include the first part too since it set everything up so well and was a great episode on it's own. The battle stuff at the start of the episode was pretty great and the part with the proton bomb dropped on the vast droid army being the spark that awakened the beast was pretty cool (love the Godzilla angle of the story) and I definitely liked how they kept the creature itself mysterious and the reveal was pretty great. The backstory about the Zillo Beasts using to be a big problem on Malastare and their near extinction at the hands of the Dugs was a good touch (to have this episode be set on Malastare and showing the Dugs was another aspect that made me a fan of it) and the climax, with the beast being driven out of the pit and starting it's rampage before getting blasted by the stun cannons until it collapses in a coma was a great sequence.

9. Carnage Of Krell - The whole Umbara arc is one of the strongest arcs on the show as I've said and the final episode of it definitely takes the cake as one of the most dark and complex episodes. I really, really like the plot twist about it turning out that Krell is a darksider and played the clone troopers against each other and the episode turns quite dramatic and quite violent with Krell going Rambo on the clones, killing them and tossing them around like a madman. The last scenes with Krell being captured and Rex being forced to execute him before the Umbarans come and will free him is an incredibly tense scene which ends quite unexpectedly and then also with an comment from Rex that can be thought of. This episode is overall great stuff and definitely one of those episodes that stand out the most.

10. Innocents Of Ryloth - The Ryloth trilogy is an overall great story but I'd say the middle part is the best one. Not only is there a really good plot about Obi-Wan leading an attempt at rescuing the Rylot civilians held hostage by the Separatists, more exactly the tactical droid TX-20, but then there's that darn subplot with clone troopers Waxer and Boil helping the Twi'lek child Numa who follows them on their mission and which leads to some sweet and some touching moments; it's just a great story which shows the humanity of the clone troopers and it all leads to the great bit at the end when one of the two clones asks Obi-Wan what the word Numa called the two of them several times means and the Jedi answers. There's also a great sequence where Obi and Numa are held at point blank range by the tactical droid who then gets swarmed by the Twi'leks who rips him to pieces. This rather early episode also showed the show's real potential to have some really heartfelt stories among all the action.

 

@Nexumaster: 9. If you could take an arc and rewrite it, which arc would it be, why, and what changes would you make?

 

AkashKedavra_93

I think I'd say the Shadow Conspiracy/Mauldalore arc in Season 5; it was great and all but the last episode came off as rushed and it felt like they crammed two episodes into one. I would keep the first three episodes the same but split the last one into two. It would mostly be the same as the episode is now, but with a slower pace and a bit more dialogue and most importantly; no full-scale battle between the Mando factions or Palpatine/Darth Sidious until the next and final episode, which would have the epic finale with more of the battle shown and more room for the duel between Sidious and the Maul brothers, yet not giving Obi-Wan & Bo-Katan too little room; perhaps adding some dialogue between them as wel (they had a pretty interesting dynamic).

Also, I'd have more of a complete ending where we see where Maul (now under the control of Sidious) ends up for the time being, a scene with the reinstated prime minister Almec (seriously, it's like they forgot about him) addressing the worried people of Mandalore while the fighting goes on, Obi-Wan arriving back on Coruscant to report to the Council and the Republic preparing to move in on Mandalore; all this would definitely improve the arc and make it feel more complete. I know that most think it's great as it is and many probably think that my choice is odd, but I'm one of the few who think it was rushed towards the end and needed an extra episode.

 

10. Nexumaster: Rank the seasons of The Clone Wars and explain why you ranked them the way you did.

 

Yes! I never thought much about Almec in Season 2 and 3, but that Season 5 scene where Satine finds herself nextdoor to him was hilariously ironic. I had expected to see him do more in the arc -- maybe sort of be that type of lower-tier villain that gets away scot-free in the end (I think there's a TV trope for that but I have no idea what it would be called...). As it is, he just sort of disappeared from the plot.