TV Discussion TCW Eps as PT supplementary material

I love TCW. It brought lots of stories and characters all around the galaxy.

But I’m here to inquire about arcs or episodes of TCW that don’t have those. To use as aids.

Specifically I’m looking for two-three episodes to watch between AOTC and ROTS on my SW marathon this year. As supplementary material to address the crucial fault of the PT - no actual damn clone wars in these movies (only first and last battle) you barely feel there’s a war at all. I want to fit in a couple good episodes to show me and my guests that “hey remember this convoluted war breaking out, this is it, also order 66 is tragic because clones were good men at heart, also Anakin was an amazing war hero that’s why he’s so outraged cos he’s tired of not being trusted in ROTS”

So I guess my criteria are:
-immediately good and convincing for GA (limited time to convince adults and moody teen to watch a “kids show” even though I love even the not so good eps)
-main cast present - Obi and Anakin preferably, great portrayals of Anakin to show the different riff on the character and badass moments; Dooku/Palps dialogue and dynamic sorely needed too (many people don’t even notice Dooku reveal as Palps apprentice in AOTC lmao)
-relevance to PT characters and story beats - no complications with long in depth TCW-specific stories with no consequence for saga (no Mortis, no Nightsisters, no Maul), as I don’t want to screw up the pacing
-theme of clone wars front and center
-doesn’t take ages to watch - max 3 eps, four if all are amazing and lit af

So far my guesses:
1. Malevolence arc (middle or last ep) - shows what Sep and Rep ships look like, shows sep leaders as villains, uses Dooku a bit instead of him practically at the end and beginning of movies. Also neat ANH echo throughout.
2. Geonosis zombie hive mind thing arc - scary cool shows main heroes, familiar planet from AOTC

When the new episodes come out I’m all ears also.

Thanks!

 

The problem with the episodes you have selected is Ashoka. IMO they wouldn’t then flow into ROTS because she isn’t there.

I would go for the Order 66 arc from season 6. Starts with an epic battle, no Ashoka and it’s bridges AOTC and ROTS perfectly.


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The Umbara arc fits what you are talking about in the first paragraph perfectly and has a bit of foreshadowing for ROTS.

Granted there's not much Obi-Wan and no Dooku or Palps but if you were to follow them up with the Order 66 arc you would get some crucial Dooku/Sidious scenes while continuing the themes from Umbara that also carry over into ROTS.

 

Hey thanks, those are great suggestions.

Yes, Ahsoka is a sudden appearance for sure, but one I’m willing to take if the episodes are awesome and relevant

 

I would recommend the Obi-Wan undercover arc from season 4. It has an amazing story and sets up Anakin's distrust of the council very well. I also think you should definitely watch Innocents of Ryloth, it shows the war and that clones have their own personalities. Whether you watch Liberty on Ryloth after is up to you, but you could skip Storm Over Ryloth since they won't know Ahsoka. My only other suggestion would be Clone Cadets / Rookies / ARC Troopers, since it follows the personal story of a group of clones and also has a lot of Obi-Wan and Anakin in the last episode.

The above suggestions for Umbara arc or Order 66 arc are also quite good. You can't go wrong with any episodes that include Fives.

 

Guys this stuff sounds great. I’ve been browsing synopses of plots - are the Yoda/Sifo-Dyas Qui Gon episodes any good? They seem to add explanation to AOTC story and also to the ROTS ending...

Order 66 arc especially with character presence. Might have to give them a test watch to see what will work best.

 

The Mortis Trilogy actually goes deep into the prophecy of the chosen one, a concept repeatedly mentioned in the PT but not as in-depth but it's kinda divisive so I understand if you don't wanna see it.
- The Umbara arc definitively shows the most interesting depiction of war in the GFFA but it's mostly about clones, Anakin is only there at the beginning.
- Another 4 episodes: the Order 66 arc of season 6, really goes into the behind of the scenes of Order 66.
- Also the Yoda Arc/Dooku arcs of S6. It answers the mystery of Sifo-Dyas from AotC and also how Yoda knew about Qui-Gon Jinn and the secret of maintaining consciousness after death.
- If you want to know more about Anakin's fall: I recommend watching the Wookiee arc (season 3), the last arc of season 5, the Obi-Wan undercover arc of season 4 and the Clovis arc (season 6) which is a sequel to Senate Spy (season 2), which really focus on Anakin and Padme's relationship.

 

I'd say the Ryloth arc where the troopers find the lost little girl. Shows the clones have souls and aren't just stormtroopers

 

#NERAMEANSBROTHER

 

I'd suggest doing at least five arcs and the beginning of the Clone Wars movie. That will be about a movie and a half. Even picking that many arcs is incredibly difficult. I can't pick only a couple episodes that fit all your your criteria. I will say if you want Dooku, the Assajj and Savage arc has my favorite portrayal of him. If those were included my suggestions would be different. Also, it's really hard to escape Ahsoka and so my suggestions take that into account trying to introduce her and showing her impact on Anakin and his relsrelation with the Jedi. I know this is not quite what you're asking for, bit I think it would be a good approach.

Start with the beginning of the Clone Wars movie. Stop as soon as the battle of Christophsis finishes, but before they recieve their mission to rescue Jabba's son. You may have to skip a little in the beginning to avoid mention of the mission. This allows you to begin by showing a large scale battle and Anakin and Obi-Wan's friendship. Also, since Ahsoka is hard to avoid, this allows you to introduce her.

Malevolence Arc: includes Greivous and Dooku. The Seperatists are threatening and we see Anakin's skill as a warrior. We see Ahsoka. Padme also plays a role. So this arc is very connected to the PT and is useful in that gap.

Mandalorian Arc: great portrayal of Anakin and Obi-Wan's relationship. It does a lot to expand on their friendship. It shows the political landscape during the conflict as well

Citadel Arc: a fun set of episodes. Includes Anakin and Obi-Wan. Good battle scenes, even though they're small scale. Also shows Anakin and Ahsoka's relationship which is important for understanding how her leaving affects him. Dooku is in the background and so the episodes feel connected to the PT.

Obi-Wan undercover: We see more of Anakin's relationship with Obi-Wan. Shows his mistrust for the Jedi. Connected to the overall conflict, but shows another side of it. Dooku is portrayed pretty well. This arc is very important in terms of character arcs.

Ahsoka's final arc: Shows how her leaving affects Anakin which furthers the rift between him and the council.

Doing these episodes will allow you to show the war in a variety of ways. It also allows you to expand on character relationships and provide Anakin with a character arc leading into ROTS. Episodes are added to fully communicating these things while minimizing confusion. With all of this you'd likely see enough of the clones to get an idea of their dostimcd personalities.

The Mon Cala and Geonosis arcs are also good. I left off the former because it doesn't expand on character relationships despite showing a cool battle. I left out the latter because we already see a battle at Geonosis and so new locations would probably be nice.

 

Those are excellent suggestions!

To be clear though, it’s not about avoiding anyone who is not in the movies - but about avoiding going too deep into binge watching Clone Wars mode. They’re excellent entertainment all on their own with just tonnes of good content and arcs, but I’m hoping for a bit of focus that makes the movies even better to watch.

As such, I have to ignore some excellent TCW (some of the best SW content ever) if they’re too much their own thing. I chose to ignore Undercover Obi Wan and all Maul stuff, which as we know are hugely entertaining, well written and executed episodes, yet take focus away from the movies (because they’re so good! They’re its own TCW thing worthy of watching as its own thing).

I’m also absolutely not against Ahsoka: a series of eps of her introduction, something in the middle, then her ousting from the Jedi (as one of you suggested) may be just excellent for feeling the movies more. Bearing those scenes in mind during Anakin’s lone ruminations would probably do a lot of good!

If I’m expanding the TCW content I may possibly (sob) sadly skip TPM...

I’m wondering if any of you has tried this?

 

I haven't done anything like that. I want to, but I'm trying not rewatch TCW until we're closer to season 7 and then I'll watch it along with the entire saga in preparation for EPIX.

If you were short on time skipping TPM is probably a good decision. I hate saying that because it's my favorite prequel and has a lot of awesome foreshadowing. However, with a ten year gap, a lot of the character development is lost. TCW is more important for character development in terms of preparing
for ROTS.

I kind of want to suggest reconsidering the Obi-Wan undercover arc. It's an important Anakin and Obi-Wan arc and deals with many character relationships from ROTS. But if you do skip it and are also skipping TPM, you could add the Admiral Trench and Kamino episodes. Both are standalones and so are shorter than the Obi-Wan arc. On their own they don't add much to the movies, but they are good Anakin and Obi-Wan episodes and show more battles. Or you can just include the Geonosis arc for good Obi-Wan, Anakin, and Ahsoka content.

I'm sorry if I'm throwing too many suggestions at you. I love TCW and so get excited about it and have a hard time picking episodes.

 

Hey I know how you feel - it’s an impossible task to choose, and I guess the choice of episodes itself gives a different vibe to the movies.

I’ve seen the Trench episode and it’s a great concise narrative. The Kamino ep I haven’t seen yet but it looks great also. Very nice quick choices to give it some flavor.

Geonosis is a cracking story because of the cool scary zombie motif and good Ahsoka presence plus Bariss/Luminara as female heroes.

So far the Malevolence arc introduces Dooku best while the Sifo Dyas episode shows Sidious/Dooku. I feel the movies don’t stress this enough and I need content that fleshes it out more.

In AOTC, Sidious is only revealed to the audience as Dooku’s Sith master as an afterthought and through all the action and events, viewers frequently just miss details like this. Especially after a 20min battle sequence!

 

I love the Kamino episode and it's a battle that makes sense for the war. It is tied to a couple other episodes but not part of an arc. If there's time the season on episode, I believe Rookies, may be good to include. In season three they made a prequel episode and then the Kamino one as a sequel.

The Syfo Dyas episode is a good, concise way to fill in gaps from AOTC. It doesn't do much for Sidious if I remember correctly. But it adds information for Dooku and the origin of the clone arme which is important. I'd only recommend it if you've included a few other episodes to fill in the war as this one doesn't show much about the conflict.

I'm going to edit my suggestion and replace the Obi-Wan arc with Trench, Kamino (maybe Rookies as well?), and the Syfo Dyas episode. This will add more war, and tie into AOTC better. You still have the Ahsoka arc to show Anakin's distrust for the council and so you don't lose much by giving up the Obi-Wan arc. You get an additional Greivous episode and so he doesn't suddenly appear. Also, there's more episodes to see Anakin and Obi-Wan interact. You do have an additional Assajj appearance which will make her role in the Ahsoka arc confusing. Still this would add a lot of depth to the PT and improve the transition between AOTC and ROTS. You'd have an episode before and after Anakin met Ahsoka and capture their story arc and showing how that leads into ROTS. Rather than disconnected episodes, this will provide unity to the narrative between films. In this sequence, the Mandalor arc could be replaced with the Geonosis arc depending on what you want to emphasize.

If you only want three episodes, I think the best route would be Trench, Kamino, and Syfo Dyas. You have a couple good battle scenes and Anakin and Obi-Wan work together in all three episodes. These aren't the best for showing their friendship or expand on Anakin's fall, but they show the war and do help you see more of Anakin's likeable side. There's an episode touching on a loose end from AOTC and helps explain the origin of the war. This isn't a perfect set of episodes to pick, but they'd provide a fun interlude before ROTS and add a little depth to the PT.

 

Hey that’s an absolutely excellent roster. I think I’ll go with that actually! Then, if my girlfriend, Dad or sister feel like more, I’ll work in maybe Geonosis or something (plenty to pick). We’ll see.

What do you think about just the episode “the wrong Jedi” aka the end of Ahsoka’s arc - is the little narrator background enough to get the gist of it and take in a really emotional episode?

 

It's hard to say. I think the narrator provides enough of the broad strokes, but you'd miss so much of the buildup it would still be jarring. They'd probably see how much Ahsoka and Anakin cared about each other and how the situation hurt Anakin's relationship woth the council. But without any context, connecting with the story would be difficult. With the three episode set, you wouldn't need to worry about explaining Ahsoka since she's not in those.

 

What's most important to the overall story of the movies is Anakin. The essence of his story--loving, losing, and letting go (the theme at the heart of the PT)--is lost completely in the show without Ahsoka and Anakin. They're what matters to the show, the key way it was meant to connect to the movies.

Maybe the first episode of the movie, Wookie Hunt, and The Wrong Jedi? (If you're skipping Mortis--I think the episode with her death and resurrection matters, but don't see how you could use it without the other two.)

Not lore-heavy or big battle heavy (aside from what there is in the movie), but it does give you worldbuilding and action in a way where they serve the characters and the overall story.

I wouldn't skip TPM either; it adds to the worldbuilding and Anakin's character, as well as Padmé and Obi-Wan.

 

Okay so I test drove some episodes.

Sifo-Dyas is amazing. This is THE episode that should be essential viewing after AOTC, as well as THE episode to watch it if it must be the only one between the movies. Shows some clones, shows (sorely missing from movies) Dooku using his lightsaber like an actual Sabre and actually using the damn hilt like it’s designed. Establishes Dooku as Tyranus and talking to Sidious. Doesn’t have Ahsoka in case one is not getting into that.

Geonosis - lovely action. The black hawk down style first ep is great, but the 2nd ep with the padawans under rubble was I believe the first TCW ep I’d ever seen and it told me all I needed to knows about Anakin and Ahsoka, their dynamic and chemistry. Also recognizable planet from AOTC.

The Wrong Jedi - having seen previous caring of Anakin (and Luminara’s words about letting go) in my head still, this shows important drama with the Order and Anakin’s personal drama. Definitely the ROTS pregame. Not too much action but Bariss was shown before, and duel is super cool. Intro fills in well enough to get what’s going on, and there’s Padme! Showing off her senatiorial semi legal skillz!

Considering th Kamino ep for Grievous and more on clones.

I’ve also seen the Yoda trials episodes, great stuff but that’s for watching TCW on its own.

What do you guys think:
TPM->AOTC->Sifo->Geonosis 2nd ep->(maybe ARC troopers or something)->The Wrong Jedi->ROTS
It isn’t chronological but that’s okay, makes sense exposition-wise, no?

 

That sounds like a good set and order to watch them.

 

Sounds good.

 

Personally, if you just wanted some brief content between Eps II and III, I'd pick the 2003 Cartoon Network Clone Wars series (by Genndy Tartakovsky), instead of some episodes from the lengthy series by Davi Filloni.

In case you haven't seen it yet, you can see the whole thing here:

 

I did some TCW eps last year lead up to Last Jedi, I went with the TCW movie and then skipped wayyyy to the end for Ahsoka tano fugitive arc (also put in the Maul Lawless ep, his final episode on the series for now) and the last 3 Yoda episodes. basically the Ahsoka eps were to lead up to watching Twilight of the Apprentice on Rebels.

But, yah, if there's an essential in between-er for ep 2 and 3, I would go with the Ghosts of Mortis arc, only 3 eps, barely over an hour and has a lot of Chosen One mythology. Also the Lost One is also almost essential if you want Sifo-Dias.

 

Only 3 episodes? OOF. That's a tricky one.
The Mortis Arc gives a great overall theme for the Saga and ties in very well to TLJ's themes and such. Explains the weight on Anakin's shoulders.
Then again the Obi-wan dying Arc could be good, as someone mentioned before it could show Anakin's distrust in the council.
There's also the Clovis Arc in Season 6 which shows Anakin and Padme's relationship and the hint of Anakin's dark side, which is a good beat right after Episode II and the wedding.

I dunno man! I would go Mortis Arc personally just for the overall theme for Star Wars and the Force, but the other two are good suggestions too.