Full Series Missed or wasted opportunities in the show?

I thought there were many wasted opportunities in the show that could have rectified or added closure to the events that happened in the show or in the films.

Here are some for starters;

Padme and her homeworld's politics. — it would have been nice if they explained her people's culture a bit more and why they elected a fourteen year old to rule. Is it a power sharing policy to elect only royals to be king or queen, or can anyone be elected?

Anakin and Obi-Wan visiting the Lars on Tatooine to better explain why the former was able to find and meet with them in ROTS. — I thought for sure that after Anakin and Obi-Wan's last adventure there they would have stopped by at least once.

Jango Fett and his supposed lineage of being a Mandalorian, and maybe Death Watch reaching out to his son and making Boba Fett one of them. — Yeah, Almec said that Jango Fett wasn't a Mandalorian, but he also said there was no more Death Watch, either.

General Grievous's origins that explain who he is and where he came from. — It's odd that Kit Fisto didn't even recognize who the statues resembled in the good General's private hideout.

General Grievous's attack on one of Coruscant's power grids that caused a major blackout. — This would have made for a good storyline plot that would allow Grievous's forces to break into the prison complex that was holding the Seperatist leaders.

Count Dooku's hired team of bounty hunters actually fulfilling their mission and freeing the captured Seperatist Leaders. — I'm not even sure if they will address this issue in the sixth season, but here's hoping for it.

Darth Maul's explanation of how he survived and ended up on Lotho Minor. — Not even a hint of how he could have survived, or how he came to be exiled on a junk world a million light years away.

Asajj Ventress' fate. — Anakin had a good reason to kill her at the end, and what does he do instead? He believes this evil ***** who's been trying to kill him and his friends for the last three years and lets her go?

I'm sure there's more, but please discuss...

 

Maul got to Lotho Minor because at the bottom of that shaft on Naboo was a trash receptacle. This was then removed / emptied onto a garbage ship that departed Naboo and made for the garbage dump planet. Dumped the garbage, and Maul just fell out... with the rest of the garbage.

 

I like pointing out "What could have been"s with this show, but you've taken all the good ones. Though, I'll say that Kit Fisto not recognizing who or what Grievous can be chalked up to be clunky writing. Because even Ahsoka knew what a Kaleesh was.

 

Exploring Dooku's history as a Jedi and apprenticeship to Yoda.

Schism in the Jedi Order over the ethics of fighting as soldiers. The closest we got was Barriss, but I was hoping for something with characters less insane and violent (and more than one).

The CIS beginning construction on the Death Star

Further plans by Dooku to usurp Palpatine

CIS major victories

The Jedi NOT just disregarding Dooku every time he warns them that a Sith is manipulating the senate.

Savage should have just filled the role that Maul did, and Maul should never have been resurrected IMO.

Showing greater turmoil within the CIS in opposition to Dooku more so than Bonteri holding hands with Padme as an idealist. It should be pretty clear that the CIS senate is powerless if they keep passing legislature and Dooku and the CIS Council completely ignore it. I feel like there should have been a political power struggle between the CIS Council and Senate. With Dooku having to make political maneuvers just as Palpatine does, to stay in power.

Eeth Koth should have been killed in Grievous Intrigue, since he had no importance after that. And Agen Kolar and Stass Allie should have been introduced.

Every TV show and movie that passes without even explaining what the historical relationship of the Jedi and Sith has been is a missed opportunity, IMO. This seems like it's important to establish context for the entire PT-OT conflict, and yet the films and TV show don't explore this despite occupying higher positions on the continuity ladder.

 

Missed opportunities in TCW, eh? Hmmmm, I can draw a lot of ideas from this particular "wish list" thread, which includes many ideas that TCW hasn't yet tackled---and may never tackle.

First, some comments regarding a few of your ideas:

Meh, I can't see Death Watch reaching out to the son of their sworn enemy Jango Fett, who survived the bloodbath at Galidraan that they orchestrated in an attempt to wipe out the True Mandalorians.

Sufficient explanation was given in Lair of Grievous, I thought. Of course, it did change Grievous' backstory a bit, but the episode was still vague enough about it that the Visionaries stories can still be canon. I prefer that more tragic story of Grievous' past, how he was little more than a pawn for the Intergalactic Banking Clan and engineered to become the most notorious Jedi hunter in the galaxy during the Clone Wars. Had they elaborated more on the cyborg general's past, then they will threaten to wipe out that original backstory completely and replace it with the new one where he willingly underwent cybernetic modifications in order to kill Jedi.

Agreed that they should have resolved the story of the captured Separatist leaders like Poggle the Lesser and Wat Tambor. Alas, with TCW cancelled it seems unlikely that they will ever get to resolving it during the show's remaining run (unless, by some miracle, this is addressed in the Order 66 arc or other arc). If not in the show, then hopefully their escape will be resolved in some way in the EU, in a novel or comic.

Like Darth Valkyrus said, this has already been explained, in the comic The Sith Hunters.

Asajj Ventress' fate need not be resolved in TCW. In fact, I'm hopeful that she will show up in Rebels, and that she'll have plenty of opportunity to appear in future stories.

Okay, onto more missed opportunities in TCW.

Foremost, I think is the need to cover at least some part of the Outer Rim Sieges that took place several months before the start of RotS. It would allow for a smoother transition from TCW to RotS, as Anakin and Obi-Wan have spent months away from Coruscant on a prolonged mission fighting the CIS in the Outer Rim. There would have also been more opportunities to introduce other Jedi Council Members that appeared in RotS, but have yet to be seen in TCW: Oppo Rancisis, Stass Allie, and Agen Kolar. They could have also spent more episodes on each individual Council Member like they did with more of the individual Jedi in Season 1 (Luminara, Aayla Secura, Kit Fisto). I would have loved to see more Shaak Ti action, for example, and more than just a glimpse of Coleman Kcaj. At least it seems likely that we will be getting an appearance form Oppo, based on a facial sculpt having been created for him. Eeth Koth's fate is another elephant in the room that needs resolution, since we know he'll be replaced by Kolar on the Council.

Other more minor things they could have incorporated include more Republic Commando appearances, like Delta Squad shown in the episode Witches of the Mist. On the flip side, we should see more of the CIS and the planets and races under their umbrella; for example, the Xi Charrians, a hive minded species responsible for creating the Vulture droids in their image. Of course, talk of the CIS leads to talk about the Separatist Council, which was woefully underused during the run of the series' first five seasons. We only got to see a fraction of the CIS leaders, and have yet to see San Hill, Shu Mai, Passel Argente, Rogwa Wodrata, Po Nudo, and of course (as Dan_Grievous_Tikkes_Fan would say), Tikkes. I believe that the Clovis arc may well introduce Hill to the series, so here's hoping. Nevertheless, there were opportunities to show an individual Separatist leader in many of the Republic vs. CIS episodes, opportunities that were sadly wasted. Tikkes could well have shown up in the Mon Calamari/Dac arc but he was cut. Then there were Dooku's Dark Acolytes which really didn't show up at all outside of Ventress. They could really have added a different wrinkle to the show, and given more variety to the lightsaber conflicts. Instead of Anakin vs. Dooku #315 or Obi-Wan vs. Grievous #235 or Ventress versus either of the two, they could have switched things up and given us another Dark Sider under the employ of Dooku, duking it out with other Jedi characters. Really, the show should IMO have focused more episodes on the "other side" of the war like in Heroes on Both Sides, but they largely failed in that regard, opting instead to almost always focus on the heroics of the Jedi and the GAR, when not focusing on other villains like Ventress, Savage, and Maul.

So yes, considering how we have so much EU about the Republic side, TCW missed an opportunity to give us more on the side of the CIS, and they really should have focused one-off episodes (at least) on side Jedi seen in the films to give a greater emphasis on the vast scope of the war, instead of always focusing on the Big Three like they essentially did by TCW's final two seasons.

Instead of wasting arcs on relatively pointless droid adventures with WAC and Gascon (SMH), they could have taken the time to actually address these issues and craft stories that truly enrich the legend of the Clone Wars.

 

I had a couple in mind before I read the first post, but you more or less covered every one, DARTHVENGERDARTHSEAR.

I guess there are a few other things I had expected to see, even little things, that never happened.

Take Glee Anselm, for instance. Fisto's home planet. It's mentioned quite a bit in Children of the Force and makes an appearance as an advertisement in several episodes. I had assumed we'd eventually get to see it, but alas, no. Maybe Rebels?

And I know Filoni didn't want to overuse them, but the Republic Commandos could have used at least one more cameo. Just one kick-ass scene. It would have thrilled the RC fans, and it would have been awesome even on its own terms, since the RCs are genuinely butt-kicking awesome even if you aren't familiar with who they are.

Also, Mar Tuuk. WTF. Awesome villain who literally walks off stage in the first act of TCW with an obvious "you haven't seen the last of me" vibe, and is never seen nor heard from again. Major wasted potential.

Oh, and on the subject of wasted characters -- Boil's reaction to Waxer's demise. There was never any closure between those two.

I'll probably think of more... these were just the first off the top of my head that DVDS didn't mention.

 

Owen and Obi-Wan's relationship could've been contributed to.

Ahsoka had time to change gradually instead of an abrupt transformation.

Mortis wasn't followed up or mentioned (and it's not a kind of experience that wouldn't be, like it or not).

We could've used more episodes about other Jedi/ clones, instead of characters like Gascon, Steela, Teckla, and the mini-me Jedi.

No explanation of Talzin's motives.

No real explanation of how Maul survived.

Barriss didn't have to be ignored for so long.

 

The show in question seems to be TCW, so I added a Clone Wars tag.

 

I was referring to the show. Most people wouldn't buy the comics, or anything they would have to read, for that matter.

TaradosGon

Yes, that would have been interesting, too. And finding out who his second master was might explain why he became an extremist afterwards. Dooku's background wasn't even touched upon. Another big waste.

 

The biggest missed opportunity in this show was Anakin vs Maul

 

Ever since they introduced Tarkin I was expecting/hoping to see an episode--or just one scene, really--where we'd see Tarkin and Dooku together, in an homage to the classic Hammer horror movies. I mean, jeesh; Lee and Cushing, together again--obvious, much? But alas, no such scene. Shame, damn shame.

 

Don't stop there man -- Anakin vs Maul vs Dooku! All the darths -- in one scene. Maybe throw in Sids to boot.

 

Dooku vs Windu is another missed opportunity. I can't believe they've never met on the show. This could have been a chance to delve into both of their pasts.

 

This, ultimately, is the biggest travesty, in my opinion.
I guess we'll have to seetle for Obsession.

 

Never even thought of that - fantastic idea!

 

I don't really see a lack of exposition alone as a missed opportunity, and I find it strange that some can't handle the idea that there IS an explanation for this or that, but that you simply haven't seen it because it wasn't interesting enough to fit into a 22-minute show. For instance, when I saw RotJ, I didn't wonder where Leia got her Boushh disguise from. However, some good ideas here about story possibilities. Those are just harder to fight for, because they had lots of those...

I mean, there's the idea that certain arcs could have been replaced to make room for other stuff, but it's tricky to know what will be good before you've seen it. I don't even think of the droid arc as a total failure; I think TCW probably would've been lacking if they hadn't at least attempted some episodes focusing on the place of droids and how they're regarded by organics, and I think they also needed to correct some weird attitudes they had about it before (early in the show, some Jedi had acted like they were killing living things while they were killing battle droids).

So, I guess the point is, there'll always be missed opportunities.

 

Here's one that has been mentioned by a few people in this forum and I would agree:

When Palpatine is captured in Crisis on Naboo, we the audience shouldn't have seen the bounty hunter Twazzi switch hologram devices with Palpatine, it should have been revealed later when Anakin asked is the chancellor alright.

 

Indeed.

 

Another waste was the attack on Kamino, when the Seperatists could have destroyed the clone production. Instead, we see another CIS defeat.

 

Well, there were clones in ROTS, so...

 

Yeah, I know that. They were an older batch of clones, no doubt. I'm not saying all the clones should be dead before ROTS. What I'm saying is that there should be a distinction made between the PT and the OT, and that the clones that were created had only fought and died during this period. Thus making the storm troopers a bunch of conscripts and volunteers.

 

This sounds like a topic better suited to Rebels, the succession of clone troopers of the Jango Fett template with clones of other templates and later conscripts/volunteers. I believe all the clones fighting for the Republic during the Clone Wars were Fett clones. We don't get a transition until after the war is over.

 

I thought the degradation of genetic material was one of the main IU reasons for not seeing the Fett clones in the OT..

On the flip side, even without Kamino, they still had the Spaarti clones, though they are only supposed to be known about by Palpatine and possibly a few others.

 

The history of the Sith could have been elaborated on, especially concerning their rule from a thousand years ago.