Full Series The Clone Wars: Episode 220: Death Trap Discussion Thread (Spoilers Allowed)

I enjoyed this episode but it wasn't the best. I like how they are protraying Boba as not a ruthless character but as one that has inner conflict of what he is doing. The music I thought sounded a little more like Star Wars. Looking forward to seeing more of Boba.

One question I have is did they really have to use Anakin. Could they not have introduced a new Jedi. Maybe they just needed Anakin there to introduce R2 for the next show. Hopefully after this Mace and Anakin are sent to the Dug homeworld to show some continuity.

 

Weakest aspect of the episode was the silly way in which Boba kept sneaking off and rejoining the group without anybody noticing anything was amiss. Come on, not even the kid who was marching right beside him noticed that the long-haired new kid simply disappeared for long stretches of time?

It might have been better if he'd only done it once, or if another kid actually had noticed but Boba made up an excuse. Like they could have been walking along and the kid notices he's gone but doesn't say anything right away. Then Boba comes back and the other kid is relieved and so doesn't report it. And Boba can tell him something like he was excited and just wanted to have a look around on his own. The other kids knew something was different about Boba, his attitude and skills and he wasn't part of their regular group so that would be quite plausible that he would maybe go off on his own. Also, it could be an example of Boba using the clones' trust in each other and fraternal feelings against them, because he knows they'll cover for him rather than drop him in it by reporting him for wandering off alone, so long as they were convinced he wasn't up to no good.


I mean, Obi-Wan and Anakin can sense when an assassin droid has put those centipede bugs in Padme's room, but Mace can't sense a sentient being plotting revenge?

I think that it's notoriously difficult to sense 'intent' in someone else. If Mace was after a known bad guy or knew something was going on then he might have sensed more and been able to home in on a certain person. But if he just sees a clone kid amongst a group of clone kids, who aren't doing anything at the time then he's not going to sense much. And Boba could be quite disciplined in controlling his feelings. In a situation like in AOTC, the Jedi sensed the bugs when the danger they posed became acute, since the bugs acted on instinct and could not hide their actions or their intent. It seems like humans can much more easily hide their intent from a Jedi, so long as they keep cool and do not make themselves suspicious. It's like when Force-users don't sense each other even when they're close by, because they're not giving off any readable signals. But then in ANH for example, Vader senses Kenobi on the Death Star because of their connection, and because he intentionally seeks him out. Whereas Mace in this episode does not sense Boba because he has no reason to, and Boba is not giving anything away.

I would think that the writers have to be aware of the extent to which Jedi can sense things like that. Otherwise if they do it to much then you'll have the problem of them suddenly not being able to do it. I think it's better that they cannot usually sense much in the way of intent from enemies without any other information, but sometimes they can. If they could do it all the time then it would look strange when they suddenly could not.



I thought it was interesting to see the stun bolt used on screen again. As others have said you can tell it because of the ring-shape and the sound. Also, the trooper is still moving after being shot, and Boba switches the rifle to 'kill' before shooting up the control panel.

I think I might have heard another Wilhelm when those troopers get blown out into space as well.

 

"I'm just shocked that anyone would consider this the best episode of the series to date.

There's at least 10 episodes in this season I like better than this episode."

One of the things I liked about this episode is that a 20 minute live action series could easily have had the same script and direction as this one.

 

It's their opinion though, if they thought this was their favorite episode so be it.


Anyway what I liked most was Boba's code of honor. He had no quarrel at all with the clone troopers or anyone else and just wanted revenge on Mace Windu, by evidence of using a stun gun on the clone trooper in the reactor room and him wanting to spare the young clones lives instead of killing them.(which didn't happen anyway)

Aurra is definitely using Boba as a puppet, she's using him for sure.

 

I'm not saying no one can have that opinion, MY OPINION is that this was an intro episode and nothing more.

I'm just surprised anyone would rate it that high on their best of lists.

 

My two cents on the episode;

I agree with those that say it was little more than an introductory episode for the rest of the arc. It was, but it fulfilled that role very well; we've established Boba's relationship with Aurra and Bossk, his hatred/vendetta against Windu, a semi-antagonistic relationship between Anakin and Mace (anyone else get the impression from Windu's expressions in the background during Anakin's showing off that deep down, Anakin just bugs him?), how Admiral Killian and Commander Ponds are separated from everyone else to be taken hostage later, as well as Boba's skills and ingenuity.

Basically, despite the discouraging title for Episode 21, I think the foundations laid in this episode are going to pay off very nicely in the following episodes.

 

It didn't scale the heights of the Zillo Beast diptych, but I liked that episode a lot, barring two incidents of sloppy zero-effort writing ('Boba, is that you?' and 'Put these in my quarters, trooper') which I'm sorry to say betray an 'it's only a kids' show' attitude to quality control. It wouldn't have taken much to come up with sensible alternatives for conveying those plot-points.

Thought the whole concept was very clever, Boba himself was handled and voiced very well, and it was a kick to see Slave 1 and Bossk. The new admiral was fun, and the skeet-shooting sequence was excellent.

As to not using the Force, that's just plain wrong: Mace and Anakin use force-lifting creatively in the booby-trap and (great) hull-breach sequences. Mace actually pauses and looks back at Boba before heading to his quarters, obviously sensing something amiss, but he is clearly dog-tired and preoccupied - certainly his focus is not 'here and now, where it belongs'. Bear in mind also that the only 'force-sensing' that takes place in the movies is between masters and apprentices, and fathers and sons. Anakin and obi-Wan even fail to notice that Padme is carrying twins, fercripessakses.

It was also definitely a blue stun-bolt that Boba shot the trooper with. Imagine that - once the helmet comes off he's shooting at the face of his dead father. That's got to be hard. Consider also that those cadets can't be much more than 6 or 7 actual years old.

However, I have no idea why Anakin was in that episode, other than to allow him to meet Boba for the first time next week. Which I'm looking forward to!

 

Yeah but so far, Season 2 is way better than Season 1 and the movie. It is also way better than TPM and AOTC with Droids and Ewoks put together. I can't wait to see what they do in season 3

 

I wouldn't say that it's completely better than those two prequel films. The prequels were good, but some parts lagged a bit. I.e, dialogue, Jar Jar.

I actually enjoyed season one more than season two. Mainly because of the terrible US scheduling, and just certain season one episodes had great story lines, like Rookies. Season two had many story lines and things that felt out of story a lot; things that aren't to the Clone Wars. But, I agree with what you're saying about how season two is better than the TCW film. Anything can be better than that.

 

Very cool episode, it's a nice setup for this arc. I'm very curious about the upcoming ones. This should be an interesting season finale for sure!

I loved the stun gun! it was about time we saw it in action. Kinda cool that it was Boba using it on the clones though.

 

I can't wait for Boba to start blowing Clones away.

 

Quick question: Did Boba damage the pod himself, or was that just something that happened on its own. Also, are we to assume Boba called Aurra for help, or she just found them?

I'll give my opinion on the episode tomorrow. Right now, I have some Family Guy to watch!

 

It looked to me that he pressed a button in the pod and it damaged itself because the button was pressed prematurely.

I also don't see Boba killing any clones unless they get in his way. He could of easily killed that clone in the reactor room but he didn't. He won't kill unless he has too.

 

More like 10 years old. But then again, Boba's actually the same age as all the adult clones, and the clone youth brigade is really only 5 years old. Accelerated aging, like they say in AOTC.

Also, that one kid's greaser haircut reminded me of Butch and the Tunnel Snakes from Fallout 3. I'm just waiting until we see a clone with MY haircut, the Soap MacTavish mohawk.

 

Darn, Family Guy was a rerun...

Anyway, it seemed to me that Boba damaged the pod to get away from the other clones so he could be rescued with the smallest amount of witnesses. Here are my thoughts on the episode in no particular order:

-A clone cadet field trip? That's the making of a great plot...

-Loved the design on the clone gunner's armor!

-Killian's voice made me want to punch the computer screen. I couldn't understand half the things he said. The actor seemed to mumble through the beginning of every sentence. And why did he keep mispronouncing "Vanquor"?

-I also hated Daniel Logan's voice acting. He sounded wayyyyy to old and Boba didn't even have his signiture kiwi accent!

-Was it just me or did the leader of the cadets look really old and skinny?

-Did anyone else think the one kids' hair made him look like Jimmy Neutron?

-Aurra was awsome. That's all I have to say.

-I liked the scene where Boba saved the clone. The stun blast was also great. The explosion was awsome visually, too.

-The music in this episode was some of the best I've heard throughout the series. I especially liked the vocals when Boba leaves the cadets for dead. Very eerie.

-Mace's starfighter was sweet!

-I couldn't stand the way Mace was "miraculously" saved by the clone. This episode would have benefitted greatly if that scene made more sense.

-So Obi-Wan's giving Mace orders now?

-Yay Ponds! He better not die in the upcoming episodes!

Overall, this episode was a bit of a disappointment. Thank goodness for the great ending to make up for the mediocre beginning. So many of the things that happened were unbelievable, from Mace's Lucky (Get the reference?) getaway to the way the clone trooper gave the strange clone cadet his loaded blaster. I'd give the episode an 8/10.

 

I never said we did see stun bolts. I meant that blue laser blasts have been in AotC and RotS. If I remember correctly the blue blaster bolts are exclusive to Clone Troopers (with exceptions when it comes to vehicles) in the prequels.

 

That was a lot more damage due to reactor explosion effects than we saw from the Ventress sticky-bombs in "Cloak of Darkness"[TCW1]. Those crippled the ship but didn't make it blow chunks of itself away . . . indeed, I recall no apparent external damage to the Tranquility in that instance.

Also, what exactly is Boba's response to the question:

"Cadet 327: What reaction propels the main engines of this Jedi cruiser?"

The line after is spoken so fast I can't really make it out, so I wanted to get other input.

 

sorry, thought the stun blast was red but that was my mistake.

 

I'm not sure if Sing is using Boba or if they are teamed together. In the Boba Fett YA books he did pair up with her.

 

I still hate it when they call the Venator Star Destroyer, a "Jedi cruiser."

 

Killian's Scottish accent was cool.

The Clones' natural trust and care for a young Clone was cool.

But no one got Bossked.

 

I got so confused, I thought the little ship was called a Jedi Cruiser, so then I started thinking the Fettler Youth were on the Venator to begin with....

 

That was a Venator, if I remember correctly. Since the TCW film, they've kept calling it a "Jedi cruiser," which isn't good.

 

So what is the little red ship (same one as start of TPM) called?


On another note, I wonder if I'm getting fed up (again) with TCW. So many of these recent episodes, I doubt I'll rewatch until the DVD comes out.

Death Trap is one of those episodes. It's not that it's a terrible episode, but I have a feeling the next 2 will be much more entertaining and I won't really have any reason to rewatch this one.

 

The shuttle you saw was a Consular-class cruiser, but it was TCW's Charger c70 retrofit kind.

And I have to agree with what you say after, Garth. I can see the next two episodes will be fun to watch, and this Death Trap one was a slow, build up to them.