Full Series The Clone Wars- Episode 101: Ambush Discussion Thread (Spoilers Allowed)

I think both episodes will be on Space this Friday.

 

Yeah, I figured Yoda was controlling the blasters when the SBD said "I'm having a serious malfunction, get out of the way" or whatever.

 

I figured the droid just was too stupid to stop firing. Its not like battle droids are ever that intelligent.

On the Jedi and clone loyalty issue... those clones from Dark Lord, I don't think they personally heard of Order 66, did they? The local clone commander just ordered the team to set up to kill their Jedi general, then the clones messed up the ambush and let the Jedi escape until they could sort things out. Then again, with most other instances, clone troops just instantly obeyed when they heard "kill the Jedi!" from their local clone commanders, so it was nice to have at least one instance. Whether Ion Team knew about Order 66 is debatable, its probably listed under a lot of other general orders. And no, I'm pretty sure Order 66 isn't like some hypnotic command or something (unlike say Jango's reaction in that Tag and Binks comic), its simply another order, and when given by a legitimate superior (say Palpatine), the clones obey the order. Which is part of the whole point about why Palpatine set up the Clone Wars.

I don't know if Palpatine ever gave any clones direct controversial orders, and when the clones obeyed, that might set off alarm sells in Jedi heads. I'm not even sure whether the Chancellor's office has complete control over the clones yet, I vaguely remember a line or two in the RotS novelization that put the clones under Palpatine's control then, or something like that, implying that until then, the clones were mainly following Jedi generalss, but after that, the Chancellor was now their Commander in Chief... which led to Order 66 of course.

I am wondering if the cartoon ever reaches the end of the Clone Wars whether we'll see more hesitation on the clones' part or not though. Since Anakin's story at that point in time is well-documented, that won't be a mystery. Ahsoka hit it off pretty well with most of the clones in the movie, I think. Assuming she survives to the end of course (or she could simply graduate to Knight and then be off somewhere else away from Anakin when the Wars end).

 

It would be good to see if some of the troopers disobey Order 66 and let the Jedi go since it would probably reinforce the idea in kids' minds that good can overcome evil instead of just following it blindly. I never really was a fan of Order 66, I always grew up believing that the Jedi were systematically hunted down by Darth Vader over the years instead of virtually been wiped out en masse.

 

That would seem to be unnecessary, because:

Palpatine was already a legitimate superior. Superfluous over-justification of Order 66 can lead to trouble.

 

I really do think the voice of Anakin is the weakest link. It does no service to Anakin if he looks and sounds like wood.

Did anyone else think Assaj Ventress came off as incredibly naive? When Yoda schools her I was happy. Good scene but did Ventress really think that she'd win the bet? Did she actually think 100 droids would stop Yoda? I'm talking Yoda here. This was the first episode of TCW and I already think Ventress is coming off as one foolish dark sider. I wish she was a little more calculating. I'd like her smarter than Dooku in this series. But that won't happen.

 

I suppose that Ventress did come off as a little naive. It will be interesting to see how her character evolves over the course of the series, whether she learns from her mistake with underestimating Yoda. "Much to learn, you still have" Yoda tells her and I think it will be interesting to see if she takes that on-board.

That being said, her character had that good old Star Wars villainy that fits a 1/2 hour show well. I liked that she started the episode as charmingly arrogant but as the show progressed, started to lose her cool and give in to her anger.

Yoda was just class. I hope we see more Yoda themed episodes in the future.

 

She just like a villian to me, confident in the beginning but losing her composure as she realized she was losing, then resorting to an underhanded trick to try and regain the day...I thought she was portrayed well, but it just that Yoda totally outclassed her as others have said.

 

I'm a huge Ventress fan from the comics and I agree that Yoda episodes are great. It was a little strange that episode 1 in season 1 is without Anakin, Obi-wan, and Ahsoka. This was the only episode shown in Canada so it was the only episode we saw on TV. I would have switched Rising Malevolence with Ambush as a more appropriate premiere episode.

About Ventress, if I were her I'd be none too thrilled with my master who was an apprentice of Yoda. Dooku should have known Yoda would survive 100 droids. Obi-Wan could survive that. There are Jedi and then there is Yoda. Ventress wasn't expected to know how different Yoda was than an average Jedi but Dooku knows. Ventress could have justifiably felt she was set up by Dooku. Course the show is light in tone so the issue probably will never come up again.

 

I like seeing her pissed when hearing about Yoda taking down the droids.

The "Urkelbots" are probably going to get on my nerves but there looks likes it's going to be a new badass droid in the preview for upcoming eps.

 

Actually, Quest, the comic-con preview was for a future episode with Luminara and Ahsoka. The Yoda episode was first screened at the TV press tour.

I thought this episode was okay. There wasn't a whole lot going on... I really think this show could benefit from two plotlines that perhaps intersect or following two stories if two character go separate ways. That's sort of the basis for most successful cartoons and the SW movies in general.

My favorite scene was Yoda talking to the clones at the campfire. Least favorite was Ventress' escape, which we already saw Dooku do at the end of AOTC. So that was a lame get-away.

But Yoda was pretty badass and it was a good mix of the lightsaber swinging Yoda from the PT and the wise, mind over matter Yoda from the OT.

The animation was okay, the planet they were on was very boring (the backgrounds) and the battle scenes all felt repetitive because of that. I think it would help the fights if each one took place in different looking arenas rather than looking like the same place again and again.

I really can't stand the stupidity of the battle droids. You can argue that since Phantom Menace and they were taken off of the main network or whatever they are sort of developing personalities on their own. But why they have to turn into idiots is beyond me. Though I will admit I was ROFL when that droid shouted "But I just got a promotion" as Yoda sliced him and threw him out of the tank. Still, I would rather have a more menacing enemy that a quick laugh here and there.

They are, however, on the right track with the interesting paint they are putting on the droids. It is almost like they are trying to copy what the clones are doing, which was a nice touch if that is the case.

I will say the opening quote that set the theme up worked okay and I loved the holonet news brief to kick off the episode. Very WW2 news of the world.

 

Get ready for more disappointment. We're going to see both heroes and villains resort to the "distract and escape" method, because we know for sure that certain characters have to live.

It's one of the limitations of doing a prequel-era show, particularly when ROTS has already been done!

But it's never bothered me; anyone who's read comic books knows that villains rarely die; they are either captured or flee, usually yelling something like "we'll meet again, Spider-Man!"


EDIT: Just wanted to point out I'm fairly impressed by the OS for once. They've got a mini-site for each episode, with a preview, brief synopsis, detailed synopsis, episode commentary, and sketches.

 

I noticed It's better than the American accents they adopted in CTCW (one of my few criticisms of that excellent series), but I can live with it. I guess I'll get used to it over 100 eps, won't I?
I figured the only reason they didn't/couldn't get Tem was that it would have worked out too expensive for all the episodes he'd be doing. It's not that LFL wouldn't have the money, it just may not have been in the budget.

The accent itself doesn't bother me, as exposure to outside influences will alter the clones accents anyway, it's more that come Episode III, all the ones we hear are Kiwi again. I could retcon and make in-universe justifications of course, but it's going to niggle me anyway so I won't bother

? Anyhow, onto the episode... EXCELLENT
I was grinning like an idiot at Yoda in the cave, beautiful sequence (although I don't get the bit with the crutch either. I see him slicing the rifle up, but don't notice him welding any of it back together. It'd be alright if he was making one for himself ).

? And while we're talking about the accent thing...

Anyone else thinking that Tom Kane turned the page and noticed he had one more word of his line left? The gap seems just a little too long there.

A little bit too much of the uppy-downy-voice in that line. It doesn't need that inflection, and it's one of the things that standup comedians do when they impersonate Yoda - badly*. Not that Tom Kane isn't brilliant the rest of the time, mind. He's done a fantastic job so far, and from what I've heard of Frank, he's not bothered about reprising his role at all.

? Droid humour... I'm on the fence, really. If they're going to be like that for the next 100 episodes, I may well have a hard time with it. Although I agree that they're a lot more menacing in the second episode. But at least the SBDs sound like the beefed-up-badboys they're meant to.

All in all, I love it. Knew I would, like

*in the same way that people think talking into an empty glass in a low voice will make them sound exactly like Vader. In the same way that people assume I'll find it hysterically funny because I'm a SW geek. Surely, if anything, I'll be more critical?

 

"In the Force, very different, each one of you are."

Should be "each one of you is."

 

LOL Yes, that was the other one.
In amongst accents and intonations, I forgot all about the grammar slip.

They'll take my card away...

 

Maybe Basic wasn't his first language?

 

Ugg... I know, but did they have to make it the exact same get-away/distraction!

And they have to do something else. Have to. It will get so old, so fast. Even the end of episode 102, how many times can Ventress and Grevious keep failing ad getting threatened without anything happening to them? That's why they need new villains who can be killed off or whatever.

Oh, by the way, did I catch Dooku call Ventress his apprentice in this episode? Um...isn't that not right according to Sith rules?

 

She's not his "Sith" apprentice, just his... well, apprentice/assassin.
Should the opportunity arise for Tyranus to seize power, he'd do so (in grand Sith tradition), and elevate Ventress to his Sith Apprentice. Of course, Sidious knows this as well. It's not like the Sith go around trusting each other

 

Which brings up another point.

Are the good guys going to win in every episode? If the war stretches out for several years, then in universe the CIS has to be getting a significant amount of victories (aided by Palpatine's scheme, no doubt). But will we see any of those victories in the show?

On the one hand, given that it's for the kids, you'd kind of think not. On the other hand, having the good guys loose every once in a while (but still survive to fight another day) could be good for children, as it reminds them that although not everything in life goes how we want it to, the trick is to have a positive outlook and keep on keeping on.

 

So far 100% of the episodes have involved Jedi and clones ejecting from ships in escape pods.

Let's just hope it's not in every episode. Even escape pods get played out after a while...

 

As an English teacher, this bothered me at first, too. Then I thought, "It's freakin' backwards-talking Yoda...I'm worried about his grammar?!!"

 

100 episodes....hmm, I can only hope they have enough original material to keep from using the same old standbys such as escape pods and dopey droid humor, but this is what we were exposed to in the SW universe so...

 

Actually, Anakin's knighthood was portrayed in the first chapter of Genndy's Clone Wars season 2. But I agree that I would like to see more of Grievous' origins. Maybe in flashback?

 

That would be cool...I would love to see something of Grievous' origins and perhaps Ventress' as well.