Full Series Grade Episode 6.01: The Unknown

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Grade the Season Six premiere episode: The Unknown. Have fun!​

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I voted 10/10. I loved the battle on Ringo Vinda, the plot, it was a good opening for this Order 66 arc and I was happy to see Trench once more.

 

A very tight and dark episode that makes maximum use of its 22 minutes. It deals directly with one of the most intriguing and horrifying elements of the Star Wars mythology in Order 66; reacquaints us with a memorable and legitimately dangerous Separatist officer in Admiral Trench; and reveals that Darth Sidious's grand plan -- while epic and impressive -- is not infallible. Combine that with the breathtaking visuals we've come to expect from this show and you've got a score of excellence: 9/10.

(Can't give it a full 10/10 because Katie Lucas, for all her gifts, still struggles with dialogue. Sidious was verbose, but clumsily so, and Dooku's "yes, sir" made me cringe. Sidious isn't a GAR captain or the manager at your local Office Depot. He's the Dark Lord of the Sith and Supreme Chancellor of the friggin' Republic. With such grandiose titles and offices, let's make the honorifics and salutations appropriately grand, shall we, folks?)

 

This was a great episode, with many dark undertones and a foreboding atmosphere. It all starts off as just another mission for Anakin and the 501st on the planet of Ringo Vinda (no sense of scale, TCW crew!). I liked the design of the two Jedi sisters, Tiplee and Tiplar. Things are shown to not quite be right when Tup starts behaving abnormally. Indeed, Tup seems to be entranced and executes Tiplar in cold blood. It was neat seeing Admiral Trench again as a cyborg, even though no explanation was given how he'd survived the events of Cat and Mouse. Fives, the last survivor of Domino Squad and a most empathetic ARC trooper, is the star of this arc but for the most part, he shares the spotlight with Anakin and Captain Rex. The episode did a good job of emphasizing the brotherhood between the clones of the 501st, and their genuine puzzlement at why Tup would suddenly murder a Jedi hinted the dark nature of Order 66. Indeed, after Count Dooku learns of the matter from Trench, he contacts Sidious with concerns that an "asset" of the Sith can compromise their plans. Tim Curry performs adequately as Sidious here, although he's no Ian Abercrombie (R.I.P.).

The episode really gets dark when Trench's forces attack the medical shuttle housing Tup in an attempt to bring the defective clone over to Dooku. The clone forces are brutally slaughtered, many of them getting spaced when SBD rocket troopers destroy the transparisteel windows of their craft. It's a sobering reminder that although the show has rarely showed any real Separatist victories, the CIS can be competent and win battles in order to drag the war out for three years. When GAR reinforcements arrive to investigate, we catch brief glimpses of dead clones floating in the open vacuum inside the damaged shuttle, and many can clearly be seen icing over. Katie Lucas once again doesn't disappoint with the dark nature of this arc. But the good guys win out in the end, thanks in part to Fives' clever suggestion of using grappling hooks to latch on to the shuttle where the Separatists hold Tup, and Rex's response of "he's the ARC trooper" emphasizes the sort of creative thinking Fives possesses that he'll show throughout the arc. Fives is depicted as a most empathetic clone trooper in this episode, and his development since the Umbara arc continued.

Overall, this was a very solid episode with plenty of action and the start of a mystery that would take the Jedi close to learning the actual truth about Order 66. I give this an 8.5/10.

 

9/10

Best action scenes of the arc (if not the entirety of season 6) and overall a very ominous introduction to a heavy mystery. Neat.

 

A very good start to the bonus content episodes, here. The concept of the battle centered around the ring-station is really cool, though the episode's realization of Ringo Vinda and the surrounding station is...inconsistent. From the inside, the ring feels truly massive: I like the sensation that the station itself was being carved up between Republic and CIS territory, and it was great to see the sheer number of models onscreen, clone and droid alike. However, as soon as we went outside, the visual scale became problematic, with the Venators existing side-by-side with the ring-station; even accounting for perspective variance, it's clear there's an issue here. As a long-time Transformers fan, though, questionable scaling is something I'm pretty used to ( ), so I only take off half a point. The battle itself was spectacular, and seeing clone troops using phalanx tactics was very cool, as was the striking depiction of Tup's break, assault, and lingering psychosis. It's hard not to feel bad for the guy, so well played creative team. Bringing back Trench was an...odd decision, I'd say, but with the sheer degree of cybernetics he's been outfitted with, it's at least somewhat realistic to the established Star Wars parameters.

I enjoyed the way the clones referred to each other directly as "brother," having grown fond of it in Republic Commando, and it was a nice nod to RepCom, Republic, and Tales to offer a CIS bio-weapon as the possible reason for Tup's attack. I also liked the way the 501st troopers were casually standing around the Venator hanger, and lingering half in/half out of their fighters prior to takeoff; it added a natural feel to the scene, as well as a sense of interest in the welfare of their comrade. I have to point out that I seriously hate Tim Curry Palpatine, however. The cold efficiency with which the droids assaulted the medshuttle was great, and I think I finally developed an appreciation for buzzdroids now, all these years after Revenge of the Sith. Seeing the dead troopers floating in the vacuum...good decision, and a powerfully grim sequence. Which reminds me, I quite liked all of the low-grav work in the episode. Very nice. Though the idea of "drag," even if I'm well aware that the Tac-droid hung a lampshade on it, was solidly dumb. Minor issues with dialogue, like this and others, force me to deduct another half a point from the over all score. The recovery assault was nice, as was Fives' continuing protectiveness of Tup. I know it's been mentioned how their close relationship seems to come out of nowhere, but unlike Ahsoka and Chuchi for instance, we did have Umbara as a spring board, and military kinship really can take form rapidly, so I like it.

Overall a very solid 9 out of 10 for the episode.

 

Great battle scene in the beginning. I love the design of the hallway - the shapes, the colors, everything feels very Star Wars and yet it's new. It's really cool to see clone troopers using shields like the Stormtroopers in early McQuarrie concept art.

I don't like the part where Rex tells Tup not to worry about the battle because they have experience in training...they have tons of actual battle experience so that seems like a really bizarre comment to me.

It would have been nice to learn something about their species, but nonetheless it is cool to see brand new species from the two new Jedi Knights in this episode. Their design is alien enough yet also looks like something they might have used in the old Marvel SW comics or maybe even the micro series. Although I have to add that after Seerow brought it to my attention I think it is odd that the Jedi let the sisters work as team on the battlefront. Jedi are supposed to be removed from their families and I definitely think emotions could get in the way when your partner general (which is a little ? to begin with) is your sibling. It seems strange that the Jedi would allow that.

I have no problems with them bring back Admiral Trench as campy as it may be just because that was the theme of the character to begin with - he was the guy who had to have been dead everyone was shocked was still alive (before Maul of course ). Great pulp science-fiction tradition, hat-tip Flash Gordon. His new half-cyborg design looks cool and is all the explanation you need. I think it's bizarre that they would bring him back for such a small role; when I first saw the trailer I expected him to be a fixture of the arc. Can't hold that against this episode though, he's good here.

HUGE fan of the scene where the surviving Jedi sister Force-chokes the clone and Anakin kind of moves her along. It shows that although Anakin has his weak moments when his particular buttons are pushed (see slaver arc or anytime Ahsoka is missing/captured or Clovis is involved) he also, even this late in this part of his life - his final days as a Jedi Knight - can still play the role of the good Jedi when he's not being pushed to the breaking point.

All space battle sequences are always greatly appreciated, no matter how brief! The super battle droids flying solo through space looked awesome, also reminding me of something they would have done in the old Marvel SW comics. (Anybody else remember the SUPER probe droid??)

Glad they're using buzz droids again. It shows that it wasn't random chance they were seen for the first at the end of S5, they were just a late development in the war.

Anakin says they went to "grave lengths" to capture Tup? Is that a saying? I'm familiar with great lengths...not sure grave lengths is a thing. What does a length being grave mean?

There are a couple moments that to me feel full-circle with TCW's first season. When the droids are hunting the clones in outer space it feels an awful lot like parts of Rising Malevolence. The scenes of Anakin and the clones in spacesuits trying to get inside a spaceship was a lot like Obi-Wan coming in a spacesuit to break out Anakin in the beginning of Dooku Captured.

When they're looking at the droid army in the ship and talking about what they're about to do it reminds me of Han Solo and the gang checking out the Stormtroopers on Endor.

"Rex, you're beginning to sound like Obi-Wan!" has had me laughing out loud multiple times.

Scenes of Anakin tearing through droids with his lightsaber and the Force still get me as psyched as they did when I first started watching this show!

I think this has some of the best looking fleets-in-space shots of the whole series, not in terms of how big the shots feel but how detailed and real they feel.

8/10