Full Series For Discussion of Old TCW episodes...

Mother... Talzin maybe.

 

Talzin manifests now and again too and Daughter had to get her good looks from somewhere. LOL

 

Time to dust off this thread.

Padawan Lost

"Without humility, courage is a dangerous game". True, and The Most Dangerous Game reference.

I've mentioned it several times, but for those that don't know, I LOVE The Most Dangerous Game, so this duology obviously suits me.

Well, the episode itself opens with a droid formation marching off a ship. Damn, I just love it. Can't get enough. Wish the AOTC and ROTS continued with the way droids were portrayed in TPM. AOTC wasn't bad, it just didn't quite have the same spirit. The B2s from AOTC were wicked, though. ROTS' droid usage was horrible.

Just some cringe-worthy dialogue to set up the mission. This is right after the plan is already laid out.

Ahsoka: Going through the front gate won't be easy.
Anakin: You have it tougher going over that wall.
Ahsoka: You've taught me well, I can handle anything.
Anakin: Don't get cocky.

Just awful. It's not natural at all, it's like they're giving each other speeches instead of just talking. It's like someone else, a single person, was choosing their words for them, like someone was standing over them, holding them like action figures and doing their lines for them. Which is what it was, but not how it should be. Plus the ANH reference.

Felucia looks great. WHERE'S AAYLA? THAT'S HER PLANET. I WILL NEVER LET THIS GO.

Little crawly bugs everywhere adds excellent detail to the environment.

The opening reminds me of the start of every Rob Liefeld plot. There's an enemy base, let's attack it. No other details.

Plo does a Super Jump. BUT OMG MICRO-SERIES WAS SO OVERPOWERED.

"Where could she be?" ANH reference. Ugh.

I don't really like the Trandos speaking Basic, I'd prefer subtitles, but the Raptor sound effects are sweet and help make up for it. The Trandos' designs are actually really cool, all spiky and camo colored. All the other Trandos I'd seen before were basically a single color. Garnac in particular looks really cool. Great designs.

The jungle looks great, too. I don't often notice the art, so that means it had to be spectacular to stand out to me.

Wookiee pelts, Wampa hide on the throne. Very cool, very appropriate.

Though I like the idea fine as is, I am kinda disappointed the hunt wasn't more personal, like in The Most Dangerous Game, or Predator, or even Hunger Games. It might have been way more intense if the hunters were more like Zaroff or Kraven, instead of Sarah Palin shooting wolves from a helicopter. More on foot, tracking, using cunning, rather than using a gatling gun from a hoverpod.

Ahsoka's martial arts are handled better here than probably any other episode. They seem more realistic, like they're given the proper weight, and the physics just seem tighter. The Trandos size/strength probably had something to do with getting the weight right.

lol at the not so fast Kalifa death. Can't say it's ever made me feel anything.

lol, some of the Trandos sound like ghouls from Fallout. Pretty poor VA there.

Didn't quite enjoy it as much as I did last time. That might be because of the novelty, or because the last time I saw it TCW was coming off the Mortis arc and the Citadel arc, so something that didn't suck was probably like a breath of fresh air. Still good, though. 8/10

Wookiee Hunt

Starts out on the run, with a Trando chasing Ahsoka, sniffing and tasting the air. This is what I like, more animalistic, more natural, not too much tech or unfair advantage. The hunt should have honor to it or what's the point?

LOVE this Predator reference, one of my favorite scenes of the movie.


Ahsoka and the two Younglings both Super Jump. OMG SO OVERPOWERED IT'S RIDICULOUS. I CAN'T CONSIDER THIS CANON.

I'll just leave this here. I mean, it wouldn't be me if I didn't point it out.



Great show of Trando strength, tossing the younglings like dolls during the fight on the soon to be crashing ship holding Chewie.

There's a scattergun, very similar to the one from RC, but for someone reason the Trando doesn't pump it ever.

lol Chewie gets some epic Star Wars music (Binary Sunset? IDK this stuff) like he's the Chosen One or some ****.

lol Ahsoka knows Shyriiwook. Whatever. Not sure why one of the younglings couldn't fill that role.

lol at the Momong and the Convors.

Chewie just lifts a Trando on his shoulders and tosses him overboard. No ticket! Chewie grappling with Trandos was epic.

I love how dirty and dusty everything was. By the end Ahsoka and Younglings' face were covered in what looked like soot.

The last seven minutes were just great fun.

Fastball special! Well, sorta.


The final duel between Ahsoka and Garnac was excellent. It starts with Ahsoka's acrobatics, somersaulting all over, but Garnac has a hatchet and Ahsoka is unarmed so I think it's justified. Garnac gets his licks in, slamming around like he's swinging a baseball bat. Damn, Ahsoka and the Younglings should have had several broken bones by the end of this. Guess the Force cushions the impact. Ahsoka comes on out top with some well done Kung Fu, didn't look terrible like it usually does.

In a hurry. Great episode, loved it. 10/10

Off to Thanksgiving dinner. Happy Thanksgiving everybody.

 

Just a thought, but maybe you could ask the Mods to start a new thread so that you could copy your reviews across and have them all together in one place or alternatively it would be nice to have an index on page 1 linked to each review.

 

lol, maybe. I don't think my reviews really need their own thread. Indexing is an interesting idea, though it would probably be a rather massive index and a lot of work for Mods.

What I do, when I want to find something in this thread, is just use the search function. I use the search function all the time, it actually works really well now. It was useless on the old IGN boards. You can put in the title of the episode as a key word, or you can search by user, or both, you can search a specific episode from a specific user. Make sure to check the "search this thread only" box and you're good to go.

 

Thanks for providing the info for this newbie 'cause my original suggestion had nothing to do with the fact that I'm a lazy so-and-so who didn't want to crawl through 47 pages of posts to look for your reviews.

 

Don't get your hopes up too high, they're mostly incoherent rants about rather trivial things.

Water War

"When destiny calls, the chosen have no choice."

Ugh, amirite anakinfansince1983 ?

The narration: "Aggressive, squid-like Quarren" and "peaceful neighbor Mon Calamari". That's a fair introduction, I like how both sentient species designs were based on animals, but only one is described as like an animal. In case you wondering THAT WAS SARCASM.

Narration: "Senator Amidala and her Jedi bodyguard..." It's been said, why Padme and Anakin? Doesn't make much sense.

The opening political meeting is just a bunch of cliche rabble, "Down with Mon Cala! Power to the Quarren!" Who talks like this? It just sounds awful. This is how TCW does all politics.

The transportation tubes are just cool.

Since they're heavily featured, I'll point out that I LOVE the Trident-class assault ship. Even though it has an obvious aquatic design, I like it even better when it's out of water, especially in space.

A subtle little character trait: Riff is almost constantly moving, he almost never stops swimming. You know, like a shark.

I like the aqua droids a lot, having their feet turn into propellers was neat. I just love a lot of the designs for this arc.

Anakin wants to take the Prince to a safer place. Doesn't quite sound like Anakin, does it? This is where having a different character might have worked out better.

BLASTERS! There's just mass blaster fire everywhere, it was great. You know, like in a war. The armed mini-subs was a nice addition.

MORE BLASTERS. Blaster bolts everywhere. Reminded me of red vs blue in GI JOE.

See what I mean? It was just so big! PEW PEW PEW.

Riff is just brutal. Love it.

I won't do anything more than mention Anakin infamously forgetting how to use the Force to snatch his helmet, which results in this tiresome banter. I think it was Togruta (the LACWAC reg) who reminded me how the banter gets tiresome.

Ahsoka: You called for backup?
Anakin (coughing): I had it...*cough*...under control, Snips.
Ahsoka: I knew you'd say that.

Couldn't Anakin just say thanks and get a nod in return? Something nice? Does it have to be all banter all the time?


lol looks like Riff is just swimming alongside, not noticing....


Riff bashing into the tube was GRRRRRREAT! Loved the thumping. Has anybody got a GIF of Riff OM NOM NOMing through the glass? I'd love to see one.

The hydroid medusas were very cool. They had a strange, somber yet threatening mood going for them.

We got a Fisto smile for the Fisto fans.

Near the end, the Prince seems to start a conversation with "Thanks to you, Padawan Tano..." just completely out of nowhere.

The whole episode, the whole arc was just very brutal. I mean, floating corpses everywhere.


TL DR It's pretty thin, but there's just a ton of action, blaster bolts everywhere, people getting thrashed by a shark....it was faster and more intense. The designs are just fantastic all around.

I feel about the same as I did when it first aired, so I'll just copy/paste from the grade thread.

There's lots more that could be said, about Ackbar's terrible VA, the Prince's worthlessness, etc....but this post is long enough.

I guess I'll give it another 8/10.

Mods I'm splitting this up into three posts, one for each episode.

 

Riff Tamson was definitely the highlight of the arc for me. Probably the most vicious character to ever appear on the show.

 

Gungan Attack

Dooku wants da wimmin and da chilren to work as slaves. Oh, TCW. What have you done to this character?

Anakin is just ready to bail on the whole deal, just cut and run. Again, isn't that a little OOC? I mean, being underwater could be affecting his confidence. Or they could have just used a different character.

Ackbar claims Lee-Char is their only hope, and Ahsoka is reassuring.

Bah it's so dark and low quality. I'm sure you can guess why. Anyway, she puts her hand on his shoulder. She's so warm and compassionate.

Anakin crushes a huge support structure with the Force, taking down the enemy's sensor building. OMG SO OP. /not canon

I kinda thought one of the aqua droids sounded like an Elcor from Mass Effect. Ha.

If you want a sense of how Rebels will be...

Riff: To find that meddling Prince and his Jedi friends!

The Prince sounds off some sort of Horn of Gondor and tries to inspire his captured people, but his voice is so WEAK I had to laugh.

The Gungans come to the rescue (sorta) and it's pretty cool.

I mean, it was nice to see Jar Jar's comment about the Gungans having a grand army sorta confirmed.

The boomas were a very smart solution to the hydroid medusas. Very nice problem solving by TCW.

Uh, not much more to say, I probably said it all when it aired, so I'll just leave you with a possible girlfriend for Jar Jar.

Start your shipping.

This episode was slower and less intense than Water War and the characters and plot just don't make up for it. I'll give it what I gave it the first time around.

7/10

 

No,why? It looks fine on my calibrated HDTV.

 

Prisoners

Narrator: Prince Lee-Char has gone into hiding with Padawan Ahsoka Tano as his only protector.


So warm. So comforting.

This is why I try not to pay attention to the recap.

I'll admit it now, I was running out of steam here. Not that it was bad, I was just losing my enthusiasm, maybe getting a little tired.

Fisto: Eels. Very dangerous.

Raiders reference. I didn't like it the first time, and I didn't like it here. It was just painfully contrived.

Riff: Now, tell me. Where is Prince Lee-ChaAAARRRRRRRRRAARRRRRR *roar*

Is there a reason he broke into a roar there? Cool it with that.

I thought it was really neat that the aqua droids used some sort of ping sonar.

Yeah, the spit. Don't care.

Plenty of Gungans and Quarren just getting blasted by droids point blank. So brutal.

Loved this pov:

Cool robot stuff. Hey, droids do have pretty sophisticated vision! Except when they don't. Plus, Ackbar face palm.

I'm just getting lazy so MORE BLASTERS!

I think a remix of the main Star Wars theme was running during this action. Not sure. Don't know which themes are which. Definitely one of the main ones, though.

The Trident goes crashing through the ranks, it was cool. Woulda been cooler if they let it squish some dudes with it's tentacles. Why it has viewports that are so easy to break, IDK.

Check out this sexy Mon Calamari:

Hawt.

Riff turns people into chum with his knife bombs. Awesome.

Jaws ending. Lee-Char basically winks at us.

Smile you son of a *****! I wasn't really paying attention at this point.

Uh, there's all kinds of bad I could say, but I'll skip most of it. The entire story is about Lee-Char, which sucks because he's so uninspiring.

Last time I gave this episode a 9. I still think it's good, but **** that score. 8/10

I actually had a bit of fun going through the original episode discussion threads, looking at all the jokes and speculation. Classic LACWAC and people were actually getting along (mostly), though most didn't seem to enjoy this arc too much, certainly not as much as I did.

Seerow had it nailed early with the happy ending. Wouldn't it have shocked the hell out of us if the Confederacy won, Lee-Char was eaten by Riff, and the Mon Cala were totally beaten into submission? After how brutal this arc was in depicting violence, having the good guys lose would have left a lasting memory.

I still think they should put a laser on Riff's head at some point. I remember hoping for a Kevin Costner/Waterworld reference.

BC's idea of Fisto doing a rendition of "Under the Sea" is still hilarious.

Coulda used some Biff Tannen references. Riff shoulda used some variation on "Two McFly's with the same gun!" before he died, maybe "Two Mon Cal Kings with the same knife!"

/lazy review

 

Yeah, you're right. For me the first part of this arc was the best and the last was the worst. Maybe I got tired too. Weirdly, I had just popped this disc in before you posted your reviews which is how I've been adding my two cents.

 

Weird I got quoted. I don't remember what I said when I reviewed the Jaws Arc. Its not the best or the worst arc IMO. TCW has done worse. The water tornado, the shots of the fleet arriving the the Gungans then deploying, and Fisto's' little 4 second fight with Tamson was cool. Speaking of him, I like sharks so I just like Riff Tamson. I like that he was biting things in half besides being an otherwise sentient being. Who the hell needs anything else where you have a jaw pressure of 4.000psi? I love how he mindlessly tried to just bite his way through that tube to get to Ahsoka and the prince. I remember some cool remix of some John Williams themes with cool bass.

 

CT, I'd almost forgotten how great your TCW episode reviews are.

 

Whoever wrote Water War, please learn what "Squadron" means. Thank you.

 

I found the entire Mon Cal arc eminently forgettable. Possibly the most forgettable arc in all of TCW other than the S5 droid arc.

Offhand I remember the shark guy savagely mauling (ha! there's an in joke if ever there was one) people to death, Anakin being tortured, Anakin in a massive display of Force power bringing down a communications mast, the Prince being referred to as a "pathetic little fish", the Gungan army showing up but being largely ineffectual, and the Jaws-homage death of shark guy.

Oh, and Admiral Akbar was in it. Before he was an admiral.

 

As if that's the biggest problem with it.

 

Ahsoka: "Blue Squadron standing by"
Random clone: "Red Squadron standing by"
Me:

 

Oi vey!