Full Series The Clone Wars- Episode 103: Shadow of Malevolence Discussion Thread (Spoilers Allowed)

It's probably a personal thing with regard to Ahsoka... but I also think there's something in the voice (a tone or something) that sounds off to me and so it makes the sassy attitude a little worse.

I'd like to see an episode where she doesn't say "Skyguy" or "Rtooie" and can go through a scene without complaining or telling Anakin that he's wrong.

I think it could be refreshing to see SW with the inclusion of a perspective from a young padawan... but not if said padawan is constantly complaining and/or injecting how she thinks she's smarter than her Master.

I like the inclusion of the character and what she could mean for young viewers. So I don't mean to be overly critical. I just think at this point that maybe the production staff haven't fully figured out how to use her and/or are over-doing the teenager thing a bit.

 

Again, I don't mind a little sass because it does contrast well with Anakin's broodiness, but it gets too much at times. Like every time she says a line she should have her hands on her hips and stuff. I mean I welcome it as a more human personality quirk like Luke's naivete and Han Solo's bravado but they shouldn't overdo it.

 

For me it was only in this episode that her attitude was sometimes distracting. And not so much distracting as...it just creates a difference in tone for the scenes. Her sassiness lightens scenes that otherwise would be that much more intense.


But again, it makes sense from a character perspective.

And for me, she's been just fine in the other episodes.

I would hate for Star Wars fans to blow this out of proportion and make it out to be worse than it really is.

 

I liked her when she was trying to get through to Anakin that most of his squadron was going to be killed going after Greivous's command bridge. You really believed the emotional connection they had.

 

This episode.. was pretty boring to me. It was mostly a space battle/mission, and it just felt 'bleh'. Ahsoka was kind of annoying, nothing new there. Not much to say about Plo Koon, he seems like a regular serious Jedi without much character. I was hoping at some point the characters would get out of the ships and on their feet, or Ventress would appear or something more interesting would happen. Guess I just don't care much for long space battles.. but oh well. Still look forward to more of the show.

 

Whatever.

Anyway, here's a short commentary where Dave talks about the work in designing the Malevolence which I do think is an awesome.


Shadow of Malevolence commentary

 

This was my favorite episode so far. This Malevolence act is rocking and I hope they do more arcs like this.

The first 1/3 was sweet. For the first time I really enjoyed Grevious and I think they finally found the right tone for him. That was sweet where he seemed to get some much pleasure out of killing the clones. Laughing and telling the droids he had a reputation to uphold. I LOVED when he whacked that droid pilot upside the head for blabbing on and on and then Dooku saying how the droids were expensive. LOL.

The flight scenes were amazing. Where they attacked the ship and then we had the cockpit POVs as they flew through the explosions and stuff. The art was again brillaint, especially in the nebula with the rays.

Anakin was likeable, Ahsoka was fine. The clones were the best I've seen them portrayed yet.

Can't wait for next week. Wish they would air 2 episodes a week.

 

Did anyone else notice that Matchstick called Ahsoka Sir before he was killed?

 

I don't see that big a difference. In the opening battle of ROTS he came off as a seasoned Jedi with his on take on things. Very much akin to the character we're seeing play out now. But once they land on Coruscant, the first thing he's confronted with is that his life of adventuring is about to take an abrupt turn due to his impending fatherhood. So he's dealing with the upheaval he sees coming due to having secretly pulled off a double life for so long. Then he learns that he can probably expect to lose Padme in the process.

So, the film really represents Anakin in a different space. Far less carefree and surrounded by Dark Side influence. He's still not totally lost in it since he does apologize and confess to Obi-wan that he realized some of his issues before the General left to destroy Grievous.

I think Ahsoka's portrayal is pretty spot on, and very Star Wars-y in feel. Lucas has stated something to the effect of when you have two characters together in a story, they always have to disagree with each other. Basic screenwriting says that conflict is inherently interesting. I don't think it would work as well having her fall into line with Anakin's thinking all the time. Kids have an inherent need to surpass their elders, its just part of growing up. She seems partly there to illustrate there are other points of view than Anakin sometimes considers. It's still his saga.

I don't really get a 3PO vibe from her, just because the nature of each character is so different. 3PO is an interpreter and leans toward cowardly. Ahsoka is an adventurer who knows far less fear, although she does (naturally) seem more easily frightened than her instructor. I guess in terms of her disagreeing with the pilot I can see a tendency to compare them.

I think Anakin and Ahsoka refer to Plo Koon as "Master Plo" for obvious reasons. But it does make you wonder what the Clones call him. On a second viewing I caught one addressing him as "Master Jedi".

Overall, there's been a lot more classic Willims music in the show than I was expecting. Not really a bad thing, tho! The wide angle "overhead" shot of the nebula is highly reminiscent of a similar shot from the first Hellboy movie.

 

Yeah, we dont want another Jar Jar!!!

 

Haha! Yes the Y-wing engines did look plenty long. The pictures didn't do them justice... here it really looked like a ANH Y-wing but with extra plating, which begs the question why lose the plating?

I noticed the "plunk droid." Nice touch.
Yes, they could have easily explained the small fighter compliment with a line such as something about avoiding their sensors. Oh well...

I agree with you about the droid humor and the over use of classic lines. I think the second time the BD saying I have a bad feeling... didn't seem as bad and I smirked a bit, but the "certain point of view" stuff at the end with Plo, Anakin and Ahsoka seems forced.

I hope they don't plan on using a classic trilogy line (or 2, 3, 4 o5 5!!) every week.

 

Good catch.

Got to point out that I love that in this episode Anakin is flying the latest and greatest technology (y-wings) and in ANH Luke and the rebellion are using POS technology left over from 20 some years earlier to take on the Empire. LOL.

 

I think the reason they lost the plating is that it just fell off. Like someone else said, by the time ANH rolls around it's decades-old technology, and they probably didn't bother to keep up maintenance on the plating. The Rebellion just wanted some bombers, and didn't care if they had all the plating or not.

 

In doing some research for a Y-wing Fic That I am writing to kind of be a precursor to the X-wings series I read that the Rebellion lost more Y-wings then any other fighter in thier arsenel. Basically due to its overwhelming numbers. They simply have so many that it is unreal not to expect significant losses as compared to other fighter types. So that means the Y-wings are going to be slowly growing. As for those who didn't like the space battles well I am afraid you can't have your Jedi loving saber duels all the time and sometimes the story has to be something more then enter Jedi: Enter Villian(Ventress, dooku, Grevious) Lightsaber duel begins end episode. Sounds kinda light on plot. Still would be exciting but after ten episodes people would be more like wow I wish we could see something else.

 

Well, since they are a rebellion, they really couldn't afford to have latest fighters.

 

Bring on the space battles more the merrier. Its great to see y-wings at their best we've only ever seen barely functional rebellion era before. This series is shaping up nicely.

 

Wow, took me forever to be able to sit down and actually post. I enjoyed this episode, but not as much as the previous two. I liked the whole traveling through the nebula which was something very new for Star Wars. I liked seeing the Kaminoans again and there being a medical treatment center for Clones to be taken to. But on the other hand, I know we couldn't have seen Anakin kill Grevious, but I think he was in the perfect position to which made it a bit akward to me. From what I could see, it would have been more advantageous to kill Grevious than to save some of the clones. Either way, enjoyable as always.

 

I think what they were trying to get at is that Anakin alone couldn't have destroyed the bridge - only Plo Koon and Anakin could have piloted that far, and the bridge would be too heavily armoured for a single Y-Wing to defeat it.

 

I agree. "If we lose even a single fighter, our mission might be put in jeopardy". (I'm sure that quote is wrong, but Plo says something to that effect.) They'd lost too many ships at that point, so there wasn't enough firepower to destroy the bridge. As a last-ditch effort to save the medical thingy, they overloaded the ION cannon. Makes sense enough to me.

 

Really enjoyed that, the Balmorra Run in particular was good fun, and for the very first time I found myself concerned about Clones, even wincing when Matchstick bought the farm. Just great to see the Y-wings in action, complete with turrets and plating - always my favourite SW starfighter.

I was really struck by the scene where Ani has to decide between sticking to his plan or doing the sensible thing - the wordless animation was the the best acting we've had from any of the five Anakin incarnations to date, and I thought that this sequence and his chat with the Kaminoan on the station worked well to link him to the pain-in-the-arse character we know from RotS. I'm really starting to feel that CW is going to give Anakin's story the depth that was so lacking in the Prequels, and actually give Luke a father he can be proud of. I can already see how losing Ahsoka (in whatever way that plays out - I doubt she dies) will push him towards the place he fins himself in in RotS, and also how his successes in leadership and mentoring will make him feel so resentful of not being called Master. There is still good in him, I can feel it.

Some things to fix in Post:
- Anakin tells his men they're going after the starboard Ion Cannon, and then attacks the port one.
- Prepping Plo's fighter includes painting it in his colours? Now that's service.
- Is it my imagination or do those Neebray manta-things have the same name as the flying fish on Rugosa? I'd like to see Adascorp weaponise those babies!

I still can't quite believe we get one of these every week!

 

Yes, I feel that way too. It will really add up to a lot of new SW content.

By the way, speaking of references back to the movies (especially the OT), here's another one that I don't think has been mentioned yet (sorry if it has): every time the Malevolence fires its Ion Cannon, a pair of battle droids inside it turn and shield themselves, like the dudes in the Death Star in ANH.

 

It will really add up to a lot of new SW content.

By the end of the first season, you'll have eight hours of new Star Wars (at 22 minutes an episode), something that previously took over a decade to accomplish.

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