TCW Episode The Clone Wars - Episode 5.3 - Front Runners - discussion thread

Five years' age difference is a problem? Really? I thought that was fairly common.

The issue with Steela and Lux is that Lux is underage.

The "interim King" also says something along the lines of "we can use this to your advantage." Of course, he is not in charge anymore and I would suspect he's killed @ the hands of the new Droid General to show that HE IS NOT TO BE MESSED WITH

Why do people assume that blowing the generator up will have the people on their side, they only blew the generator so they can destroy the droids easier and without them having to recharge

I would say it gives reassurance to some of the people that the rebels are capable of something

I thought Anakin's age; am I wrong?

At any rate, if Lux is 17, he's jail bait. And that would be the problem.

If he's 18, the only issue is the insertion of a love triangle anywhere in Star Wars. The bit of one in early ESB was bad enough.

Steela looks at least 22-26

Paedophilic rebels - as if this arc couldn't get any better!

You kidding? I was totally rooting for Leibacca.

Wook doesn't have a birthdate on Steela but it does have this:

Upon meeting the Jedi, Gerrera became acquainted with Tano, who was a close friend of Lux Bonteri, one of the co-leaders of the rebel forces. Although an adult, Gerrera had a silent crush on Bonteri. As a result, she reacted with barely veiled jealousy at Tano's closeness to Bonteri, and Tano in turn became painfully aware of Gerrera's attraction to Bonteri.

Lux's entry lists him as the same age as Ahsoka.

How do you define adult? I mean for all I know that could be 18 which is age to serve in the military.

Although what age constitutes adult varies across cultures, I'd assume they're keeping with typical Hollywood norms for adulthood and put Steela at 18, maybe 19 years old. And if Lux is supposed to be Ahsoka's age, then he'd be sixteen. Not the worst age gap. Kind of common, really.


Having just watched the episode, it's got me pretty divided. First off, the inside of Iziz continues to look excellent, and I like all of the world elements: the animals, the diverse range of models for the citizens, the market stalls, the speeders—all were great, and just everywhere in a way that made the city feel more real and lived in. I really liked the hit-and-run tactics in the beginning. The there, gone, "What the hell happened?!" vibe gave the rebels some definite points for effectiveness in my book. After that, though, is where things started to bother me. Truth be told, it's like every word that came out of Steela, Saw, and Lux's mouths bothered me. They don't seem to understand their place in things, or how public perception works. You're attacking in the middle of crowds with live ammunition; the people aren't afraid you're not tough enough, they're afraid of you and what you're doing. The dialogue doesn't really demonstrate any chemistry between them at all, either. Not even between the siblings, and not even when they were desperately trying to make me as a viewer feel that they did during the tank scene. It just really didn't connect.

Saw's method of gathering intel was amusing; the battledroid reaction...not so much. The tank-taking battle was cool, again, if a bit predictable. I'm again torn on the coolness of Steela sliding the EMP grenade under the droideka, and the wrongness of her going through the shield barehanded. Again, the hotwiring the tank after it had been burned out scene was trying too hard and failing, just because the dialogue didn't really flow right and was dueling cliches at that. Visually, the assault on the power generator was amazing. Conceptually, though... That was the power for the entire area, right? Not just the droid station? Aren't people going to be a little pissed when you shut down all of their power? I mean, they didn't seem to be immediately for whatever reason, but judging by the false-kind's comments, I could see that turning sharply—and realistically—against them in the coming episode. You can't harm the people you're supposed to be fighting for, especially in a climate where they're admitted afraid already. The false king looked interesting for what little time he had on screen, as did the old king. The appearance of the new droid commander at Dooku's side was a nice allusion to Maul's original appearance to the Neimoidians in The Phantom Menace.

Overall, Front Runners was definitely better than A War on Two Fronts, but the episode was at its strongest in the beginning and was definitely weakened once the narrative was forced to rely on Steela, Saw, and Lux for support. On the one hand, I enjoyed that Ahsoka's childish tendencies have been entirely absent from the arc, but it's disappointing to see her almost silent and in a support role to the weaker trio of characters. The action was good, but its utilization against the power generator was questionable. Hopefully The Soft War takes it up a notch in those regards.

Long live the Ryloth arc.


Often imitated, rarely equalled.

You know, when they blew that generator.. they also knocked out power to civilians.. why are they so happy about that?

Anybody else hoping for the restoration of the House of Kira at the end?

I wonder. I think steela is the older sister of Saw. Their behaviour shows that. I think if Saw is something like 17-19. Than Steela is minimum 20 Years old.

For all we know they could be twins. God Knows Star Wars have a love of that.

Ashoka took the backseat because she is suppose to be observing not doing the thinking for them all the time.

On the Power Plant, I suppose that is why King Rush said he can use this.

with Lux.

common thing in the 50s with their car cinemas. 50s models Chevys had nice backseats.

better than A War on Two Fronts but I still prefer episodes from the Umbara arc which I'll be making comparisons to because I'm wondering whether 4 episodes is too much like I felt in the Umbara arc.

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Let me direct you to this image I made a while back.
Now that we have seen the palace.
We can see that The Gunships come and weed out the Rebels out of the city and maybe the Rebels rescue temporarily king Ramsis.
But all in all are driven away from the city after the clip we saw of the next episode with Steela attacking from the roofs.
Then after the job is done, the gunships report to King Rash's balcony that we in one of the pictures below.


After a chaotic skirmish in the end of the arc, King Rash is going to be captured and held hostage by the moustache general. Then Kiwanee will execute all since he is a droid and he does not care for organics but only to get the job done. Maybe they will do what was once a possible death for Osi Sobeck - execution by your own droids.

The King is the best part of the episode so far. He is such a delight to watch and his voice is perfect for the character.



I

That is the problem with this arc at times - they do not things through.

RYLOTH IS STILL THE BEST!!!

If Onderon had the same pacing as Ryloth and was cut down to 3 episode with A War On Two Fronts and Front Runners being merged together then we would have a better Onderon arc.

This episode was a bit iffy to me. It was good and served to show what the rebels intend to do. Ahsoka was virtually pointless here. Taking out the power... I would have thought that would have served to turn the people against the rebels but I'll reserve judgement on this episode until I can properly rate it as a whole arc. It's difficult to rate and have an opinion on an episode when its part of one larger story. If I had to pick out of parts 1 and 2 which was better, A War On Two Fronts for me wins.

The rebels blew up the power station! Everyone get your blaster rifles, so we can shoot those damn rebels in the head. Seriously life on Onderon looked pretty good until the rebels turned the streets into a battle ground and cut off power to the people. The only untoward thing the CIS has done on this planet is dispose the old king, which surely the solution to is assassinating the new king, who keeps standing conveniently on the balcony, if only the had a sniper... To make matters worse, the new king although depicted as a villain, hasn't actually done anything villainous.


Pros:
+I really like the Aesthetic of Izzis, it really gives a good Roman vibe.
+The kings robes also look very caesar-ish
+I like the fact the battles were a little more tactical than the normal two sides charging at each other.

Cons:
-Just a thought rebels but if you want to blend in don't wear matching grey body armour in public.
-Not to be out done Obi Wan's decided to wear the not to subtle Republic gauntlets, what a disguise
-Blue land-speeders everywhere
-Cutting the power will win us friends! On top of the obvious inconvenience, cutting the power could cause accidents and what about people in hospitals ect. ...
-I thought these guys were "beast masters" don't they have some beast equivalent of a tank they could use?
-Don't use droid poppers on the tank that will... Think before you act. Lucky Steela brought her iPod, with the new iTank-rebooter app.
-There are too many droid in the battle scenes, the droids would look like more of a threat if they were in smaller numbers.
-RIP Commando droids. Let us always remember them as what they were, not what they became.
-Why does Ahsoka need LAGs, she has the force
-Don't stare at fire with LAGs on Steela that not good for your eyes.
-Lux...a senator? Don't tell me this is hereditary now.
-Rex still in disguise when back on Coruscant (To a lesser extent Obi-wan and Anakin still wearing their robes.)
-Why is Anakin giving Ahsoka the jedi equivalent of the birds and the bees in front of everyone.