Full Series Grade the Episode - 117 "Blue Shadow Virus"

As we see they operate on Naboo- could be that those droids Typho found were part of reinforcements recently landed there and before that there were no SBD:S with Vindi- Sidious happens to have contacts on Naboo so he can arrange communication and resupply for Nuvo Vindi as well as TF still operating there- while i agree not enough was revealed still it can make sense but as always if something has to be explained by viewers there is problem in the story....
Queenwhateverwashernameanyway should be revealed to be separatist traitor- she even had ridiculous accent.... is she naboo at all? And why she disappears so quickly before ROTS- how often they vote for a new leader?

And Alexrd next episode sucked Drol OMG that was even worse plothole than this lab Iego was not worth of seeing and demystification of angels- they also were damn ugly

 

And the laser web. Don't forget the laser web.

 

[image=http://techoffensive.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/shotweb.jpg]

 

Just replace Spidey with Drol and there you go, Mystery of a Thousand Moons in a nutshell.

I really don't buy how it's so difficult to fly through the lasers.

 

Wasn't impressive either. I'll save that for the next episode.

 

I give it a 4/10. It's not as bad as the Season 3 Mando episodes and Pursuit of Peace, but it's definitely one of the low points of the series.

 

BSV isn't the worst episode of TCW so far. But it comes extremely close! The concept of biological warfare in Star Wars is a good one and has plenty of opportunities to show off some scary and thought provoking elements of warfare, which we know TCW doesn't shy away from. So why we ended with an episode full of slapstick buffoonery and very little build up to the threat of the virus is beyond me.

-Some very mixed set design in this episode. The exterior shot of Theed and the wooded swamp were the first truly gorgeous sets used in TCW. But Naboo's rolling green fields and the starfighter hanger were terrible.

-Jar Jar had some of his most annoying scenes ever in this episode. Thankfully he wasn't the focus of this episode.

-Vindi was like Dr. Strangelove. But without Peter Sellers' charisma, the quotable dialogue or satirical context. What an awful creation that I would be glad to never see again.

-A bloody poor characterisation of Anakin in this episode. As someone else pointed out in this thread, his wife is being tortured in front of his eyes and he just submits. What he would have done in such a situation would be to tear everyone and everything in the room a new one, he's a reckless man with little patience. That's the cause of his eventual downfall. The episode would have been better with Obi-Wan in that scene, or having it completely removed altogether.

-A nice fight sequence saves this episode from completely plumbing the depths. The highlights being the forced entrance into the underground lab and Obi-Wan's improvised plan to assist Ahsoka against the droidekas.

3/10

 

I gave this the surprisingly high rating of 7. It definitely would have received a 6, which is the lowest rating on my scale other than a 1, since there's nothing special about it but there's a decent amount of more or less solid action. Sure, it has Jar Jar, but it doesn't have Jar Jar falling from the top of a tower and being miraculously saved by a vine, and it does have Jedi Knights, lightsaber action, and Clone Troopers to make up for it. So the thing that bumps it from 6 to 7 is the mad scientist character. I love the archetype they used, and as someone who is a real fan of the Flash Gordon serials that we all know inspired Star Wars in many ways, I can't help but see the obvious nod, right down to the German accent. And it isn't just the fact that they made him look and sound like a classic science-fiction villain from when the genre itself was still in its "youngling" stages, they gave him dialogue that built up that character and made it believable rather than a generic re-hash. He doesn't see the virus as a plague that was eliminated, but a living thing that was murdered, and those who are sentient are only "so-called" superior life-forms. He wasn't just bitter about something personal and seeking revenge on the Universe like many a fictional mad scientist, he just had a unique way of looking at things.

Two points on this: 1) but it's still okay that all the Imperial commander uniforms from the OT look based on Nazi uniforms? 2) what about him is "Nazi" other than the German accent (obviously not everyone with a German accent is a Nazi, a-hem...)?

 

Yes i think it's hypocrite to complain about stereotypes since OT is filled with stereotypes- nazis, gangsters, young hero, old wise wizard etc.

Vindi had something OT-like in him.....

 

2 more points:

1) They were using him for comic relief whereas they didn't for the Imperials in the OT.

2) They based him on one of the scientists/torturers.

The OT was clearly making a point the Imperials were VILLAINS. The stormtroopers were supposed to be scary (to a degree -- especially if you're watching the films as a kid). And they were certainly not entirely based on Germans. Just because a movie's got a repressive system of government with a powerful army doesn't automatically = space nazis.

 

they didn't? I always laugh to Tarkin i thought he was even a little bit comicrelief seriously he is so evil he makes me laugh but i still like him because SW is not serious business anyway....

I think Vindi is also clearly villain and his madness is scary- at least he was more scary IMO than any goofy stormtrooper since he had terrible poison and absolutely no sense- that kind of people are scary...
but opinions opinions.... no need to continue this since you are obviously not going to agree and neither am I......

 

^Agreed. Because if you think Tarkin's funny and Vindi's not, we're clearly not going to see eye to eye.

 

So you think Vindi is funny but you hate him because he is funny .... maybe you have some sense there.... but i cannot see why bad guy couldn't be funny at the same time as he is scary- i've always though Vader is funny- not even to mention Palpatine- but being funny is not necessarily same as being harmless..... many real bad guys in history were "funny" while what they did was not funny at all..... I see no reason why Vindi wouldn't be scary because he is funny... but you were not watching this as kid anymore so can you really compare him to OT-character you thought were scary?

About Tarkin and Vindi i think they both are funny (more funny than Jar Jar) and i like both- damn i wanna see episode with both of them

 

No no no, there's a difference between a character being put in for comedic relief, and that character being funny. Vindi is not funny even though that's what he was put in to do.

 

Correct me if i'm wrong but isn't "funniness" one of those point of view things? .....

But i don't find Star Wars to be very SRS business anyway I'm ok with comicreliefs still don't hate droidhumour either..... and i think Vindi was funny- but he was also scary at same time since he had terrible poison and anyone with terrible poison is scary- no matter what accent he has ..... at least IU but OOU Tarkin is just funny guy blowing up worlds- certainly he is scary IU as well....

I don't really see this clear difference and i'm the one not having problem with Vindi.....

One can say entire SW with aliens and laserswords is totally laughable but where does this borderline of "ridiculousness " go is totally depending on out own opinion and there's no sense to debate about that....

you don't like Vindi he is too ridiculous for you ok- you've made yourselves very very clear- still i don't share this opinion- i agree that he is comicrelief also (what is really intentional by makers so if i would disagree i would be wrong) - but i don't have any problem with bad guy and comic relief combination like you......

Maybe Tarkin is not meant to be comicrelief in OT but he is so evil he makes me laugh- Cushing's performance is such a stereotype of the "evil officer" while Vindi is "Mad scientist"
yet neither of them is totally ridiculous i can watch them both without laughing- both are evil and dangerous in-universe and it's enough to me not to ruin the story- i can take them seriously also....

Emperor however is bit comicrelief- i think Lucas actually laughts at him in ROTS-commentary and says he is so funny when he is evil (i can be wrong it may've been someone else than him)

 

I find it weird that some of you got the impression that he was there for comic relief, I didn't get that at all. If anything, he was a bit disturbing. And @Barriss on your first point I didn't see him as comic relief and on the second I'd like to see exactly what you're referring to.

 

I'm referring to the Dr. Strangelove/Nazi stereotype, which was originally intended as dark humor. In TCW, the original intent's gone, but they're still using the Nazi doctor.

 

Once again, other than the the German accent, which does not make one a Nazi, I'm not seeing what could have made him seem like a Nazi. Any mad scientist with a German accent must be a Nazi? It's true that the archetype they were using was from an era when most on-screen villains had German accents because World War II was going on, but that doesn't make any old school mad scientist character with a German accent automatically a Nazi.

 

Some truly disturbed, utterly-insane psychopaths can be quite charming and disarmingly hilarious. That's what makes them so disturbing and dangerous. The Joker from the Batman movie (Nicholson or Ledger - take your pick) is a great examples of this.
Dr. Vindi's idea that a virus was murdered by humans seems quite insane and laughable, but it is a different perspective that shows the depths of his madness. From the virus's perspective, Dr. Vindi makes perfect sense.

 

I'm getting the impression a few/lot of people here aren't aware Vindi is a "homage" to something (or at least completely based off, down to the eyeglass regalia and little odd mannerisms). He's based off Dr. Strangelove, from the very famous old movie by the same name. Tarkas, take a look at that movie if you get the chance and you'll then know what I'm referring to. It's an old movie, so most kids watching TCW won't get the reference and just think he's any old "mad scientist," but it's a classic (Stanley Kubrick!). IIRC you said you liked history in another thread, so you might like it.

Somebody got what I meant by comic relief! ( Well, maybe he's more "comic" than "relief" ). The Joker is a great example to compare him to.

 

You call the Joker comic relief?

Dr Strangelove you say? How much CGI is in it? What? None? Pfft, not interested.

 

^I don't think homages are necessarily bad- since entire Star Wars is full of homages even the original movies- Flash Gordon, Star Trek.....too many to mention really all from middleaged sagas to old times pirate movies with Errol Flynn and all- not even to mention classic scifi like Dune or those i mentioned earlier and those Kurosawa classics that suddenly are not allowed to inspire SW-stories.....
I liked Bounty Hunters really- and Zillo Beast was not horrible either while didn't like it much.... Vindi was obviously homage to something- Strangelove is familiar name but don't really know better.... it still doesn't make it any worse- he still suits SW IMO and he is only in two eps so please stop whining about him- us who like him haven't seen him nearly enough.....

 

Well that is true. But it was directed by Stanley Kubrick (the "2001 Space Odyssey" director), which has to count for something!

I didn't say homages were bad -- I'm saying this one was out of place.

And seriously Swash, why do you get so miffed all the time whenever someone says something you disagree with? Or is Vindi just a sore subject?

 

Shame. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb is easily one of the greatest movies ever made. Of course it doesn't have semi-trucks and jet-fighters turning into robots, so there goes the attention span factor.