Full Series The Clone Wars Theatrical Movie: REACTIONS Thread (Spoilers Allowed)

No, thank you guys. Thank you guys for making me feel like a kid again while I was in that theater Friday night. I actually giggled during the action set pieces because they were so epic and brutal and overall exciting to watch. I loved all the new Clone Troopers, Ziro, Rotta. Ahsoka, the double crossing Death Star droid, well basically everything you guys have added to the SW universe.

I am really excited to see where this series goes. Just looking at the bits in the preview materials on the official site, I realize that there is so much more meat to the Clone Wars, and am especially looking forward to seeing Grievous in particular.

 

I could see it getting way better. It sounds like there are some cool episodes on the horizon like some General Grievous origin stories. The theatrical release wasn't especially hard hitting story wise, but I think there are some stories floating around out there that will really expand the universe and make us think differently about the characters.

Take a look at any pilot, especially animated series. Most of them don't hit their stride right away. In fact, after a few seasons, the pilots often look really dated and out of place. Not saying that will happen here, but it could certainly get even more interesting than it already is.

 

Exactly.

And there's the strong possibility that the theatrical release was designed to be familiar both to hardcore SW fans AND the casual moviegoer - so including characters like Jabba the Hutt and planets like Tatooine made sense.

I'm suspecting the TCW staff felt compelled to please everybody, which doesn't always work.

 

What I'd like to know is did they really take 3 episodes and mash them into a feature? Or did they have so much fun making the show that they decided to go back and create a feature specifically for the theater?

Watching the movie it felt like it was meant for the theater, at least I never noticed the segmentation that would have indicated it was a 3 parter.

 

Yes, but if you watch the Episode One documentary "the beginning" he is giving a tour of the set to Steven Spielberg and they pass the battledroids and Lucas says they are the stormtroopers of the prequels and elaborates on their badassery. I think as the series went on Lucas decided to make them funnier, hence the creation of the deadlier Super Battle Droid in AOTC.

 

It was the first three episodes turned into a feature. They also removed certain parts and added a few extra parts, like transitional scenes, to make it flow better as a 1 1/2 movie.

 

They said they wanted the TV show to have the epic feel of the Saga.

 

I got the sense he meant overall. I could see the animation getting smoother, but I think he meant that the stories, the plots, the characters, the direction, ect. would get amped up.

 

could it really have been 3 episodes? I don't know exactly where that came from. Did lucasfilm ever say anything official to make people think that? Because, I don't think the timing works out for it to be 3 episodes strung together. Usually, a half hour episode of a tv show is between 22-24 minues, right? If that's so, 3 episodes would be between 1:06 and 1:12. The movie it self was roughly 1:35.

If anything, it would have to be 4 episodes strung together I would think. I don't know anything that much about it though.

 

HGilroy, thanks for stopping by. I am curious where the story will take Anakin and his apprentice's relationship. Since she was not in ROTS one must conclude she moves to a new master (being too young to be a Jedi by ROTS) or dies. Given Order 66 her fate seems grim, which makes for an odd twist to a story like TCW which is otherwise light-hearted and fun.

Likes:
What I would most compliment the directors and writers of TCW on is making it feel like a real war. I got the sense of a great intergalactic conflict, a short of WW2 in space, which is something I really wanted to see.

I'm also glad we got to see a lot of Dooku. Does anyone know if Christopher Lee is signed on for the show, or just for the movie?

Dislikes:
I was disappointed by a lack of Padme, although given the plot it did make sense.

I will say that I don't think the animation carried that well in a theater. I think it will be good on TV, but for a theatrical experience it seemed a bit lacking.

 

I'd also like to know if christoper lee and Sam Jackson are signed on for the tv show. If not, who is voicing them? The people that did them in the animated series were decent enough.

 

interesting

 

I'd like to see whole episodes or story arcs that don't even include Anakin or Obi-wan. I'd like to see them focus on characters like Kit Fisto and the rest of the jedi.

 

It's been confirmed they will. There's an episode early on that has Fisto and his padawan hunting Grevious to his lair and I personally saw 1/2 of an episode that was strictly Luminara and Ahsoka oriented at SDCC.

 

sounds exciting.

 

Wow, there's more negativity in here than I expected. Elsewhere, I've found much more like than dislike of TCW. There seem to be quite a few people here who are afraid to release their inner child. I, for one, loved it! It was great fun! Yes, the humor was corny/cheesy, but is that always a bad thing? That kind of humor has its place, and I think it added to the sheer delight of TCW. I basically had no expectations going in (and I purposefully avoided any speculations or spoilers), other than that it would be a lighthearted animated feature about parts of the SW galaxy. After the darkness of ROTS (as good as it was), it was time to inject something more light and airy into the SW saga. And, as others have said, TCW was supposed to be like a Saturday-morning cartoon series; it's not Episode 2.5 (how do you write that in Roman numerals?), nor was it ever intended to be.

I think fans who go in with specific expectations or visions in their minds are bound to be disappointed, at least in part. That's a risk we take when seeing any movie, play, or other form of entertainment. That's why theatres don't offer "satisfaction or money back" guarantees. (Can you imagine if they did? Or if some harebrained theatre-goer tried to sue because he/she thought something was a waste of their valuable time? lol That person would get laughed out of court!) Yes, we give George Lucas our money, but that doesn't mean we own the franchise or get to decide what the various aspects should or should not be. Lucas and the others behind these projects can't read our minds; even if they could, it's impossible to please all of the people all of the time, so they might as well just do what they want. It's their baby. Sure, they don't make these things just for themselves and they want their projects to be at least moderately liked and successful, but if they're happy with them, then they don't need everyone's approval.

As for the complaints about Ahsoka, I agree with those who have said she's a spot-on teenage girl. And I got the impression that she recognized Anakin's roguishness right away and that it brought out some roguishness of her own that she'd been repressing at the Temple. And Anakin, as cocky as he is and as much as he's been referred to as The Chosen One, is smart enough to know that he's not perfect and that he can learn from a student (even though he'll only grudgingly admit that). Even Yoda, in AOTC, recognized that the very inexperienced younglings could bring valuable things to the table. I mean, it was so obvious that the Kamino data had to have been erased somehow, but Yoda's and Obi-Wan's minds were too clouded with confusion over how that could've happened. It's a good thing that Ahsoka felt free to speak her mind, because Anakin nearly doomed the mission because of his strong desire to keep every promise he makes. It fell to Ahsoka (and Rex) to return his focus to getting Rotta back to Jabba safe and sound.
Whoever it was who expressed confusion over why the fever was a big deal:
Fever is indicative of an infection; it's the body's way of fighting off that infection. And it was clear that whatever was causing Stinky's fever was life-threatening.

 

Bear in mind that we don't know what Ahsoka's backstory is yet. It could well be that being young-and-advanced is what she's got in common with Anakin, hence her assignment to him. It would certainly explain her stubbornness and cockiness. We know the Jedi ranks were thinning so the need for new knights was imperative at this time. Maybe Yoda has seen great advancements in Anakin since the start of the war. Who better to train and guide someone like Ahsoka than someone who's overcome (/overcoming) exactly the same tendencies? And like Yoda implied, sooner or later, Anakin will have to 'let go' of his padawan, one way or another, and that's just the lesson he needs (although with post-ep-3 hindsight, I'm not entirely sure he learned it ).

This is exactly how I thought of it, although the 3 plot-resolutions makes sense. We all know that a half-hour TV show is basically 20 minutes once you take out the titles, credits and adverts (even in the UK, now), so it made more sense to me for it to have been four episodes. Ah well, it's still 90+mins of SW

 

I'd also like to mention how much I enjoyed the character Ziro the Hutt. He's so ridiculously funny! He's not a Jabba clone; his environment is very different, and he fits in well with it. He's like a masked villain/thug/gangster/pimp/pothead/slacker/metrosexual. He reminds me somewhat of gay Greedo in the Blue Harvest episode of Family Guy. He also seems like he could've been transplanted from the seventies - perhaps disco music should've been playing in his palace.

 

Very pleasantly surprised. Much better than Episodes 1 & 2. The only thing I was a bit puzzled about was the fact that there appeared to be three Sith - whatever happened to the 'rule of two'? I'm sure this has been asked and answered a million times but throw me a bone huh?

 

I don't think they term Ventress as a Sith more like an apprentice or Dark Jedi. There was something about Dooku making sure he had an apprentice ready for when he took control from Sidious

 

Ventress is Dooku's assassin. They should have done a better job introducing her in the movie, but then Lucas doesn't really do that. He just sort of comes in in the middle of things - which is why I can't really see much of an Ahsoka backstory coming out of this series - at least not in the show itself.

I agree, it's a little confusing with Ventress because Sidious knows about her, making it harder for Dooku if he intends to take control from Sidious. Still, it's interesting that what Dooku says in TCW he is trying to do to Sidious he has done to him by Sidious (with Anakin's help, of course) in ROTS (and, ironically, Dooku dooesn't even see it coming b/c he's so focused himself on taking control from Sidious!).

But, yes, Lucas sort of wrote himself into the corner with the rule of two -- which I think makes sense for the prequel films, but it also makes it hard to come up with villains for prequel expanded work. And they are definetly going to need some new villains for the prequels, especially since Obi-wan and Anakin can't fight Grevious (don't meet him until ROTS) and they can't really fight Dooku together if you listen to what Obi-wan says to Anakin in ROTS - this time we will take him together, a reference to the end fight in AOTC where Anakin rushes in against Obi-wan's wishes. Seeing them fighting Ventress over and over will get old. She's no Vader after all.

 

Same theme coming up in Force Unleashed video game, new secret apprentice of the apprentice. Also, Palps was recruiting Anakin while he had Dooku. So maybe it is common for a Sith Lord to be prepping a replacement. After all, both Sith Lords know at some point they are going to try to kill each other.

 

Don't forget it all started back in ESB when Vader was trying to get Luke to join him so they could take over the galaxy and rule as father and son.

And apparently it's not just an offer to other Sith. Vader makes the same offer to Padme in ROTS. Padme as an evil galactic overlord? Now that I would like to see. I just know she has a mean streak!