Full Series The Clone Wars 7.09 - Old Friends Not Forgotten - Discussion Thread (Spoilers Allowed)

SOD was referenced in Rebels when Maul declared that he was "ripped from his mothers arms", which only makes complete sense if you have read the comic.

 

Not talking about Rebels but S7 of TCW referencing and plugging SoD into the finale. I read SoD last week, around midnight waiting for this very episode.

I put some thoughts here. https://boards.theforce.net/threads...clonewarssaved.50049909/page-30#post-56600105

 

Spoiler: SoD

Mace believing that the Sith are Dooku and Maul makes no sense whatsoever, as if the Jedi haven't been searching for Sidious and investigating

this whole time. I'm now glad SoD wasn't put in the show.

And if they thought that, it makes even less sense that they've apparently dropped the issue altogether.

 

@rumblewagon @ConservativeJedi321 Thank you. And no, when it comes to the comics, I'm not worried about spoilers. The movies, however, is a different ballgame. I've managed to be entirely spoiler free for each movie of the Disney era.

I thought Maul being taken by Sidious as a child was referenced in the Nightsisters arc in TCW?

 

Maul's past wasn't explicitly mentioned, just the fact that he still had living kinsmen on Dathomir. The EU later ran with the idea that he was given to Sidious by his mother Kycina, who wanted to spare him from the harsh life of a Nightbrother.

 

Yes, I just meant that they took the events of the comic into account when writing Rebels so they likely have a plan for it continuity-wise, even if its not clear at the moment.

What shadow said. The Nightsister arc only established that he was originally from Dathomir. Son of Dathomir established how he came to be Sidious's apprentice (Though Sidious himself and Talzin seem to disagree about some of the exact details), that detail does come from the comic.

 

I haven't gotten that far in my re-watch of TCW, so I couldn't remember.

 

That can't be right. Kast is a Maul supporter.

 

Sabine is 2 years old at the time of this battle. Not exactly a warrior right now. Because she'd be so young she would never remember Maul's rule with her own eyes which means she probably learned about it through her mother passing down the story. I'd be inclined to believe the Armourer fought in the battle maybe with Bo-Katan but's possible Favreau and Filoni want to reveal that character's history in the Mandalorian.

 

Maybe she is there, but unidentified. And we find out this fall?

 

That's what I meant. The Armourer was probably someone who saw Mandalore fall and helped lead the underground resistance. Maybe it's possible she took part in the Siege against Saxon's brother in Rebels or covered other territory. Again it's up for Dave and Jon to figure out and given Dave worked on both battles for Mandalore it's his call but I wouldn't be surprised as the Armourer gives off the impression she was born into the battle and saw it from the beginning.

 

I somehow read through the whole thread last week but forgot to add my own thoughts.

-The original "Lucasfilm Limited" Logo was probably the highlight of the whole episode to me. I know it sounds weird, the episode was really great, but that unexpected decision to pay homage to the beginning of Lucasfilm was just a brilliant decision. They even have that faint hint of blue coming in towards the edges of the screen. Incredible attention to detail.

-Sweet to see the bridge being an homage to the Golden Gate Bridge. Makes so much sense with the Presidio (Lucasfilm / ILM) looking over it. The battlefields of Naboo being inspired by the hills around Skywalker Ranch, the Redwoods are Endor, California's Star Wars vibe is ever increasing.

-I feel like Anakin's fearlessness was maybe pushed a little bit too far, taking away some of that sense of danger in the midst of battle. It's fun, though, so I guess that balances it out.

-The jetpack troopers getting uneasy about holding on to the piping underneath the bridge was hilarious.

-Anakin Force-pulling the tactical droid in was such a cool move.

-The mirroring of the Battle of Christophsis and Anakin and Ahsoka's fateful first meeting are very bittersweet.

-Wow, they're actually setting this episode around ROTS. Not sure how I feel about it, especially as a fan of the Genndy Tartakovsky show. Then again, it's like comparing apples and oranges. Both have excellent things going for them. Genndy's show was at the time (and to me still is) the offical, yet stylized story that unraveled in real time during AOTC and ROTS. Due to the TCW show's long history and the direct involvement with GL, my appreciation of Dave Filoni and his team, these final episodes do carry a lot of emotional weight, though. It set a lot of new, amazing concepts in motion. This is definitely a big deal. My head is spinning similarly as it did during the Yoda arc's final moments, when Yoda was witnessing the foreshadowing ROTS.

 

I actually enjoyed this one, much to my surprise. I still don't much like the characters, but I was happy to see them reunited for some reason.

There's still some nonsense that bugs me though, for instance, during the battle on the bridge, somebody yells "Take cover!" (which is the smart thing to do) and the clones go running right down the middle of the road. That's the exact opposite of taking cover and being smart. And we're supposed to accept these soldiers as highly competent elite veterans?

 

one of my favorite parts is Obi-Wan saving Cody's skin when he slices that blaster bolt. also i love when the 501st is taking the city, Cody is like to Obi-Wan "Please Dad, can we go have some fun too?"

 

I just popped in to say that the sequence of Ahsoka descending towards the surface by jumping on all kinds of ships and saving/killing people along the way is pure poetry.

Definitely one of the best SW scenes I have ever watched.

 

Everything and anything Ashoka does is pure poetry. Hands down, my favorite character in the Star Wars universe. I may sound like a giddy teenager here, but I'm not, I'm a 51 year old, whose SW world/Universe revolves around Solo/RO/ANH/TESB and The Mandalorian as the pinnacle of SW perfection.....but I'm a sucker for great characterization and story arcs......and that does not get better than what they have done with Ahsoka. She is just fantastic.

Maul was and still remains to this day, one of the best things about the PT too, and to see him and Ahsoka going at it in a brilliant lightsaber batter and edge of your seat dialogue was amazing.

 

I've watched this episode a lot since it came out and I'm still blown away by it.
The opening battle on Yabama (forgive me if I spelt that incorrectly) is just incredible. The music, the visuals, the subtle yet revealing characterisations just really sell this as a battle of the Clone Wars and the characters of Anakin & Obi-Wan are just on point. Its been a bugbear of mine that this kind of action/characterisation wasn't seen throughout the clone wars series as a whole, yet I'm glad we got to see it here at least.
Its twinged with even more sadness when you consider that this episode is the last we see of Anakin before ROTS begins and that Ahsoka will not speak to the pre-Darth Vader again after this episode. And that is certainly something I think Filoni and all who worked on this episode did really well at, with Ahsoka back so briefly in both Anakin & Obi-Wan's lives it was really well done and the characterisation was. beautiful. The music certainly played on the tragic and sad knowledge that we have of what will later occur.
I think also considering I struggled to like Ahsoka from when the clone wars series started, and as I've watched more of the episodes recently she has really grown on me as a character, it was great to see her appearing as the Jedi she was denied the chance of being (by the Council I meant and their stupidity at the end of season five).
Certainly this episode and those following have really sparkled coming as they do to close the series.

 

Taking a bit of a retrospective here, but this episode was BY FAR my favorite of Season 7 and the single best viewing experience I've had of any form of entertainment since, well, Season 5 of The Clone Wars and "The Lawless."

Featuring the best intro and opening narration of the entire series:





How can you not get chills when you hear Tom Kane boom "Outer Rim under siege!" And then followed in quick succession by the shots of Plo Koon and Aayla Secura on those planets. Chill-inducing.

Possibly my favorite moment from the episode along with the opening intro and narration:



It's pure Star Wars, and pure Clone Wars, but with the cinematography quality of a live-action feature film.

And then when we get the money tie-in moment:



Followed by the subsequent siege that we had heard so much about:



The whole episode is a wild joy ride from start to finish. I've seen it 10+ times at this point and yet I still get ridiculously excited when I hit the play button. Bravo, Dave.

 

It was a great opener to the 4 episode arc. But it’s not even close to as good as Shattered and Phantom Apprentice, IMO. Those are in a different league.

 

There really are no wrong answers when picking a favorite for this arc.

 

In my head canon the planet Yerbana they were on at the start is the planet they were on in the micro series just prior to being called to Nelvaan (looks similar), then they return from Nelvaan to help out Cody win the last battle before returning to their Star Destroyer.

All just about kinda works.

 

There’s one thing I wanna bring about regarding this episode that Lucas purists seem to be angry or a bit titillated about and think is an example of Filoni pushing an anti-Jedi agenda when that’s not true.

In the scene when Obi-Wan tries to justify saving Coruscant and the Republic from Grievous to Ahsoka as more important than Mandalore, they say Ahsoka was wrong to do that. But, in a way, she’s not necessarily wrong. Why? Well that is because there’s one line those Lucas purists/fans don’t pay attention to in that scene. It’s when Ahsoka says “I understand that, as usual, you’re playing politics.” And, that’s before she says “This is why the people [underneath Coruscant and in other sects of the galaxy] have lost faith in the Jedi. I had, too, until I was reminded of what the Order truly means to people who really need us.” And, she’s not wrong. Even going back to Season 2, the finale arc of Season 5, and the last two arcs of Season 6, even before the Ahsoka Underworld arc before this episode, you have to see, and some Luvas purists don’t see this, that the Jedi have ultimately become so political in the Prequels, even before The Phantom Menace per Filoni in a post-Season 6 interview with IGN (http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/03...back-at-season-6-and-the-shows-final-episodes), that because they serve the Republic and ultimately Palpatine (without realizing he’s the Sith Lord they’re looking for until Revenge of the Sith), they’ve become compromised and if, in that S5 finale arc, the Council chooses to stand with Ahsoka, the Republic will accuse them of playing politics. And, they ultimately do what makes Ahsoka think they played politics with her. And, this was something Filoni talked about more in Star Wars Insider #140 when discussing Season 5 as a whole. It’s not that Filoni sees the Jedi as bad, he even said that in a post-Season 5 interview with IGN (https://www.ign.com/articles/2013/0...ctor-dave-filonis-season-5-wrap-up-discussion), it’s just that he’s speaking about what the Jedi in a storytelling perspective have gotten into being drawn into the Clone Wars for so long that it ultimately destroyed them and their image. So, it’s not Filoni’s anti-Jedi agenda against George Lucas, it’s more Filoni continuing what Lucas and him worked on regarding the depiction of the Jedi in the era of the Prequels.