Full Series The Clone Wars- Episode 106: Downfall of a Droid Discussion Thread (Spoilers Allowed)

Wasn't it kinda morbid when Anakin hit the dead clone with the Twilight?

In one episode he feels bad for them dieing, and in this one he just runs into a dead one with his ship.

 

I'm fairly certain that was a battle droid...

And anyway, about the music - it was the high point for me. I guess I don't mind change as much as some of you do, but I think it really added an interesting bit to the episode...some freshness, I suppose. I mean I love traditional Star Wars music as much as anyone here, but I also can appreciate a new spin on it.

 

Looks like a clone to me.

Edit: Opps, I was wrong it's a Battle Droid.

 

Did anyone else think this episode looked... different somehow than the others?

I don't know, something about the lighting and cinematography seemed different than the first few episodes. Not bad, just different. The music was definitely different , but something about the look was different to me too.

Also, I loved seeing a little bit of Anakin's darker side, almost to the point of intimidating Ahsoka.

 

i enjoyed the episode. the bothan reference was really cool - i hope that we get to see them soon. the space battles were awesome and anakin's genuine concern for r2-d2 was also pretty cool. it's stuff like this that make anakin a stronger character and that make his betrayal in rots all the more powerful. the rock soundtrack didn't bother me. this was also used in the movie. i was wondering when it would pop up again. it's different but i think it works. it moves fast just like the show. i don't want every episode to have this soundtrack but every once in a while is fine. really my only complaint was the completely out of place fart from the droid trader (whose name escapes me). star wars and fart jokes don't go together well at all. it's just dumb.

 

Maybe I wasn't paying enough attention, but I really only noticed the rock music on the salvage ship... I just assumed the guy was listening to some music himself. At least that's what I attributed it to and let it fade back into the background.

 

Some of my thoughts:

On the look: I too noticed that things seemed a bit different. Almost like there's a diffuse glow or blur in all non-space shots. (And of course there was clearly a color thing going on in the little scene when Anakin wakes up in the medical bay). I'm not sure if I like it, dislike it, or have no preference. But apparently it's a moot point as, according to the official site: "This was the second Clone Wars episode produced. Given that the first episode became part of the Clone Wars movie, this now represents the earliest animation that will be seen as part of the series."

On the music: Well, up until this episode I'd say the music in the series has stuck closer to classic SW than the Clone Wars film did. But this episode definitely departed from that, and was even more non-classic in places than the film was. As for how I feel about it...well, I liked the score for the film. I thought the occasional deviation from classic style was used well. The style of music really gelled with the planets the characters were on. But in this episode...I don't think I liked the score as much. One, the non-classic elements were techno/drum machine in nature, which for some reason seems less fitting than the electric guitar and ethnic stuff in the film. I'm thinking maybe the idea Kiner had was that since the episode deals with a missing droid, that droid-like techno-ish music would be appropriate. But, for me, since the setting was standard (star destroyers, Jedi starfighters, sep ships, space) the music felt a bit out of place. It came closest in the trandoshan's ship sequence. But on the whole, while I like the experimentation and am glad they're doing so, this one went a bit too far for my tastes. But, since this was the second episode produced, perhaps this is not a sign of things to come.

On Obi-Wan's attitude towards R2: I'm conflicted here. On the one hand, Kenobi's behavior here is not significantly different than his behavior with respect to droids in the films. In AotC, he makes the off-hand comment, "Well, if droids could think, there'd be none us of here, would there?" He also talks about how, "flying is for droids." In RotS he starts to make a crack about R2. And given Anakin's response, it seems Obi-Wan is known to make a loose-wire joke now and then. On the other hand, given how lovable a character R2 is, it kinda makes Kenobi into a jerk. And since Kenobi is my favorite character, I'm anti him being a jerk.

Plus I think about the times in the films when he doesn't seem to have as callous an attitude towards certain droids. In RotS when R4 is decapitated, he shows a little concern ("oh dear"). A few minutes later, after the almost R2 crack and Anakin's interruption, he backpeddles a bit ("Did I say anything? I didn't say anything.")...as though he at least sort of cares. Toward the end of the film, as he's boarding Padme's ship, he sort of pats 3P0, almost as if to say "Poor droid. It's been a sad day for all of us." And of course in ANH, upon seeing R2 he's friendly ("hello, my little friend").

So I don't know. Maybe the portrayal of Obi-Wan in this episode is a bit off. Or maybe something happens in the Clone Wars that makes him have a bit more respect for droids.


But there was plenty in the episode I like.

 

Rob Coleman directed the episode. I think it shows, as the direction was very good.

And Hellboy himself, Ron Perlman, provided the voice of the trandoshan.

 

I agree that it looked different. I just read on the website's episode guide that it was the second episode produced, and that this is the earliest animation that will be seen in the series. That is interesting--this whole time I thought we were watching the series in production order.

Even aside from the lighting, the whole feel of the show was definitely different. The editing seemed very jumpy, like they were trying to cram as much movement as possible. They didn't want to waste a single frame. And then you have odd little bits, like the fast-motion spaceship chase and the music that everybody else has criticized. Definitely strange.

I liked the episode. It wasn't amazing, and there were some oddities, but I thought it was entertaining. I totally didn't expect a cliffhanger, though. I guess I haven't followed the episode guide closely enough--I thought next week we'd be seeing the Jar Jar episode. I was shocked when the show ended and Artoo was still with the scavenger.

 

There seems to be a cut scene with R2-D2 and a treadwell droid going by the Episode Guide.

 

I watch the show in standard definition.

This quote from the official site's episode guide:

- "Ugh. What's that smell?"
- "Trandoshan. That's Huttese for snuff and poodoo." - Ahsoka Tano and Anakin Skywalker.


I never heard.

Did anyone here see it in HD? If so, was this line in it?

 

What's a C14 droid that Gha Nachkt mentioned?

 

Hm... overall, an ok episode. I loved the fleet action at the beginning, along with Anakin very innovative tactics that turned the tide. Although don't much care for the abrupt shift in the war- I haven't minded Republic victories, but here, we just suddenly hear "Grevious is winning! The fleet at Bothawui is all that stands between him and control of the Outer Rim!" or something like that. If they had said something like the Malevolence had weakened the Republic's defenses so much that they were losing their Outer Rim foothold, maybe, but otherwise, it just still seems sudden to me. Oh well, it was still awesome to see those ships blown up. And not sure if that's Bothawui the planet, or just a planet in the Bothawui system. Oh yeah, the webcomic was referenced when Obi-wan mentioned that battle group lost at Falleen, referencing that planet Dooku conquered.

And honestly, I hated Ahsoka in this episode. I've never loved her, but I didn't hate her... at least not until this week. Tons of Ahsoka's perkiness, and her trying to force Anakin and R3 to be friends was very annoying. Not to mention that aside from Anakin's attachment to Artoo, all of Anakin's complaints were valid! If they had told R3 "No R3, don't blow up the ship!" or something like that, R3 probably would've blown up the ship. If this were an organic being, I could understand cutting some slack, but this is a droid, it isn't supposed to have this many deliberate flaws. Too bad Ahsoka's not bright enough to catch them and she probably just thinks Anakin is being grumpy, and Anakin's too distracted thinking about Artoo. Also didn't much care for some of the so-called humor in this episode.

I did like the music though. Very different from everything else Star Wars, but I liked it, it fit the frantic mood of the battle I thought, with how Grevious was advancing, and then Rex's troops came over the asteroids ready to blast the unshielded parts of the ships. Although it might just come down to everybody's own personal taste.

I didn't mind Obi-wan's attitude. In the RotS novel and movie, he's still doesn't really view Artoo as an equal. Although Obi-wan's never really treated droids as quite his equal. I don't think its quite enough to say Obi-wan's biased... but its more like Anakin just gets very attached to things, and that Anakin's more comfortable with machines and flying than Obi-wan ever was. True, by Episode IV he's more friendly, but right now they're in the middle of a war, so I don't mind Obi-wan's minor bias too much.

I do wonder about how often they wipe droid memories though. The way Obi-wan was talking, it sounds like after ever major battle or something they're supposed to give their droids memory wipes or something. But couldn't they just delete some files or something? While I know quite a few people just wipe their droid's memories regularly, have to break in a droid every few weeks is annoying too. Of course, with Anakin, its much more complicated than that, since Artoo's a gift from Padme, so Anakin's even more fond of Artoo than he normally would be about droids. And in response to an earlier post, I doubt Palpatine finds about Anakin's wedding this way- I think he said he found out through a Naboo priest in the RotS novel, and while he could be lying, Palpatine did come from Naboo too, so it seems quite likely he still has a lot of old contacts on the planet who let him know about Padme's wedding.

Nice lightsaber combat, although I think they overplayed Ahsoka's strength again when she slashed that droid who almost shot Anakin and Anakin didn't seem aware of it. Although at least Anakin quickly dealt with the other droid. And I liked the sorta subtle homages to the classic movies, with that eye thing, just like at Jabba's palace, as well as how Ahsoka got those droid cruisers to crash into each other when she shot between them. I almost wish we could've seen Anakin singlehandedly take on all the droid starfighters- Grevious was actually somewhat competent this time, with how he approached through the

 

Did Assoka fight Grievous in this episode or is that next week?
How was it? I don't get it until Sunday(Of course, there's always YouTube... ).

 

That's in the next episode.

 

Although don't much care for the abrupt shift in the war- I haven't minded Republic victories, but here, we just suddenly hear "Grevious is winning! The fleet at Bothawui is all that stands between him and control of the Outer Rim!" or something like that. If they had said something like the Malevolence had weakened the Republic's defenses so much that they were losing their Outer Rim foothold, maybe, but otherwise, it just still seems sudden to me.

I know what you mean, but it's really a symptom of the broadcast order being different from the production order. This used to be episode #2, and at the time, well, there had yet to be a Malevolence.

ph

 

Ah, thank you for that, nice to hear tidbits like that, makes a bit more sense, along with how the animation seemed a bit... different. Wonder why they sthuffled around the episodes- or maybe the Malevolence arc episodes wer just ready sooner? Oh well, its not that important. Its still a great series, its just... too much Ahsoka damages how much I can enjoy an episode, but that's just me, and I guess maybe it goes over well with the younger viewers. And its still better than Episode I Jar-Jar by far. And all the fleet shots are just so awesome. Still wish I could get CN in HD- oh well, the Blu-ray version will come... eventually.

 

I agree it seems jam packed full of stuff but I really liked this episode. Even though we know R2 survives I was still worried as to how Ahsoka was going to get him back and what would happen to R2 in the mean time. The music I liked. It was more reminiscent of the Clone Wars movie but I enjoyed the movie soundtrack as well so. . . Good episode.

Edit: I didn't find anything wrong with Ahsoka in this episode. In fact this was the first episode since the movie where she and Anakin got a lot of screen time together. I didn't find Ahsoka to be overly perky. She was trying to help Anakin by giving him a new droid but because she did not, and still does not, understand the importance of R2 to Anakin there was a disconnect. But that disconnect is no different from Obi-wan not really caring when R2 was lost. I actually liked that she did care how Anakin felt after losing R2 and tried to help him even though she didn't understand all the reasons why R2 is important to Anakin.

What I don't understand is why Ahsoka as a Jedi Padawan shouldn't have some skills. She's not a Jedi Knight but she shouldn't be useless in a fight. She does know how to use a lightsaber and she is in the middle of a war studying and training under Anakin, a Jedi who is more than capable in a fight. If she couldn't at least defend herself with some skill and was completely useless I'd be questioning why she was even there to begin with.

bran

 

Ditto.

 

Yeah, the animation and music were definitely different in this episode, but as the official site says it is the second episode produced whereas Rookies, for example, was the fourteenth.

 

Yeah, the techno music did seem out of place for SW, but like some others, I just assumed the droid trader was playing it since it seemed it only played in his quarters.

 

Two words: Airborne assault.

 

I found this episode refreshing, happy and stable Anikan has been weirding me out. So it was refreshing to see the emotional and borderline psychotic, that the films and much of the previous Clone Wars media depicted him as.

 

I'd say this was a bittersweet episode, more sweet than bitter though. The non-symphony music was pretty cool the first time it appeared, but on board of the ship it was just a bit too much. It's nice to see that Clone Wars keeps breaking some of the old Star Wars cliques though, it's some much needed refreshment from seeing the opening crawl and hearing the Imperial March in every Star Wars media, don't get me wrong, John Williams is awesome, and his music is part of what made the movies great, but it's nice to see something new for a change.

I was expecting more R2 in this episode, a little disappointed there, still I am getting used to Ashoka, she is still a bit tweeny, but I'm starting to think maybe she was not such a bad idea after all. Hopefully he will be featured more in the next episode. Also nice to see some darkside Anakin, and a more criticizing Obi-Wan.

 

That explains why this episode had a feel similar to that of the movie, with the annoying Ashoka, the awful music and the animation. Judging by Rookies they seem to have taken all the critiscisms of the movie onboard. Hopefully after next week we can get back to the more classical Star Wars music and the dumbed-down Ashoka.
Otherwise this episode was pretty good. I loved the IG droids and thought R3 was quite funny. I'm dissapointed thought that the R2 - Tredwell interaction was cut out, hopefully it will be on the DVD. Looking forward to R2 kicking some ass next week. Next week's episode looks pretty cool, I wonder how Ashoka is going to fare against Grievous.