Full Series The Clone Wars: Episode 414: A Friend In Need Discussion Thread

Dude, search for images of ANYTHING on google. Anyway it was just a bit of humour(humor) hence the smilie. I was just talking about the whole interspecies relationship thing, which was a topic a while back.

And CGI is hot!!!! Lightning from FF13!!!!!

 

No thanks

 

What i disliked about this Ashoka and Lux romance, is not the whole interspecies thing (though i do admit it is kinda creepy, has Lux always had a thing for alien women, maybe if Ashoka ditches him he would go for a wookie next), it is because it feels FORCED and RUSHED. This is the 2nd time they have met...and they are already kissing...and doing that whole cliche putting hands on glass thing. Perhaps i wouldn't mind if they met several times before this, but it just seems rushed to me.

Also what i disliked about this episode is that that Mandalorian Woman should have played more of an important role. She was voiced by that BSG chick after all.

Now im sure this would NEVER happen, but i was kinda hoping that this episode would drop just this once the TCW formula at the beginning of hearing that lame wannabe WW2 style narrator.

Instead....BSG STYLE.

starting with.....

Previously on star wars the clone wars (voiced by Ashoka or someone else)

We then get scenes from that previous episode in which Lux and his mother were in. Which show the connection between that one, and this new one.

Then the episode starts, and while in it. We get the ACTUAL opening of this episode, with cool epic music, showing space battles/action, the vulture droids of course replace the cylon raiders, and finally a bunch of drum beats, and a flash of a few scenes from "A Friend in Need".

Man...i really hope someone would make an epic BSG/TCW mash up. If done right, it would look great.

 

Tuned into this episode because of hearing there'd be Death Watch, Satine and Lux, my favorite little Seppie. I have a soft spot for Lux as his voice actor, Jason Spisak, does the voice of the deliciously evil Vulpes Inculta in Fallout New Vegas.

Satine didn't even speak. Boo!

I find myself enjoying the chemistry between Lux and Ahsoka. As I enjoy Lux's naivety. It's refreshing. And the more I watch Ahsoka, the more I like her, which is a stark contrast to how I felt about her in season one. She's growing up and it's showing.

Man, oh man, that Death Watch. Talk about scary. All of them. Not a decent one in the bunch. Love it. Sure, they're all a bunch of cruel bad-asses for the hell of it, but that's what make them fun. They truely just don't give a flip about anything but their ultimate goal.

And that "never let the weak tell you what to do" line made me cackle like Palpatine, lol. So damn evil! I love it!

All in all, I thought the episode was pretty enjoyable compared to that very blah slave arc that just finished.

 

If nothing else we finally learned Ahsoka is NOT a lesbian. The folks on Deviantart won't be happy about that.

 

Technically, she could still be Bisexual.

 

I don't think TCW is really making out interspecies relationships to be normal. Its given us two examples I can think of and I wouldn't call the individuals involved normal.

Example #1: We have a clone deserter and his twi'lik wife who greets people with a shotgun.

Example #2 We have a young Jedi Padawan and a teenager boy who was recently orphaned after being the sheltered child of a politician who probably doesn't know his own ass from a hole in the ground yet.

Similarly both Ahsoka and Cut had their own versions of sheltered and disciplined upbringings and probably never had much chance to experience the opposite sex of their species. So I can see where they would be more likely than the average person in the GFFA to gain strong feelings for someone who is another humanoid species. In Cut's case Suu probably created his new life for him.

Far as having kids go hybridization is more complicated. Hybrids between similar species are pretty common in the real animal kingdom. The moral and the genetic issues are much more complex than can they make babies. I'm not expert on the EU but it doesn't sound real realistic about the subject either.

 

Whatever. After this episode, they'll probably turn her into a bondage fetishist.

 

So basically, Ahsoka (with Padme's permission) pretty much single handedly destroyed peace negotiations to end a galaxy-wide war.

While Palpatine and Dooku were probably happy, I have my doubts that other members of the Senate and the Jedi Order were as happy. Add to the fact that Ahsoka pretty much let Lux escape after what he'd done and you really wish these episodes had some actual fallout once in a while.

 

I don't really think its shying away from it either. In addition to the examples you gave we've seen stuff like Ziro & Sy as well as hints at Hondo and Aurra Sing as well.

 

True, we haven't had a normal couple on TCW but Ziro and Sly then Hondo and Aurra aren't normal examples of the GFFA's population either. Atleast far as I can tell.

 

By normal population you mean just normal human population right?

 

Vizla received that scar from Dooku. He was punished by his "master" like every low-life scum. He also clearly had every ounce of his heart on revenge.
In other words:
Dooku: "Vizla, I find your lack of obedience disturbing."
Vizla: "Well, I find your lack of support for our cause to be worthless. If you can't help us, then this alliance is finished!"
Dooku: (turns around and slashes him in the face) "If you care to carry out your cause, you will do no such thing!"
Vizla: "....."
Dooku: "Do you understand?!"
Vizla: ".....yes count (while holding his hand over his face)."
Dooku: "Good, now get out of my sight!"
^This may not have happended in context but a conversation like this is definitely what happened. Dooku is unscathed. Vizla wasn't and now he wants revenge because he knows he can't kill Dooku head-on by himself. He had to back down when he did.

By "buttons", I meant the lights that were blinking when the jetpack exploded. They were like buttons (or could have been buttons). When I was talking about the buttons and the explosion, I meant that the reason TCW team gave Vizla's jetpack buttons was so they could show them beeping and blinking when the jetpack was about to explode. If the jetpack wasn't going to explode, then there would be no reason to design his jetpack with buttons.
The episode's trivia section on the os says that those bunny ears are blasters. Whether they work or not, its still a fairly stupid addition to a helmet....

 

I watched this episode again, and I'm saying it right now: This episode is worse than Nomad Droids. At least that piece of garbage had an overarching goal to the episode, namely that the droids needed to find a way home. What is the goal of this episode?

Is it about the Peace Talks? No, because that is thrown out the window the minute they leave Mandalore. Is it about tracking down Dooku with the aid of the Death Watch? No, because again, as soon as that dialogue is out of the way, it changes again. Is it about the Death Watch preying on small settlements, thus needing a Jedi to investigate? No, because that was never addressed, and the villagers were only introduced in the third act to serve as the Death Watch's Moral Event Horizon. Is it about Ahsoka and Lux's romance? Considering it is vying with all the other elements of the episode, it can't be the focus either.

Absolutely nothing here amounts to anything. Nothing but blatant fanservice by bringing back the Death Watch and setting up another classic Lucas Romance that is just as stilted as the Prequels. There is no focus, no end goal, just a bunch of scenes that would fit better into their own episodes cobbled together and planted in the middle of a mediocre season. Filler of the worst kind. No substance, no goal, nothing but an animation reel to show off how far their detailing has come since Season 1.

 

So is it fan service every time they bring back a previously established character? Some of the critique is spot-on, but to critique them for bringing back Death Watch and saying it's just to please the fans is specious.

Rumble had a good point about the voice acting, particularly for Ahsoka, it felt off the first half of the episode.

 

If the Death Watch were the focus of the episode, then there would be a reason to include them. But they are just a single element competing against all the other elements, and together, they don't mesh as much as they keep trying to push each other out of the limelight.

What is the purpose of making such a big deal over Katie Sackoff voicing a character if she has all of three lines, and a few grunts? They're drawing far too much attention to a facet that cannot carry the episode on its own. And then Dave toys with us, saying that the Death Watch will come back in season 5. That pretty much means this is all we will see of them this season. Whoop dee freakin' do.

 

Heh, my ignorance is probably showing. Ziro is a Hutt, Hondo is a Pirate, and Aurra is a Bounty Hunter. I would kinda expect stuff like that. I figure the average person in the Star Wars universe whatever they are, are not pirates, bounty hunter, lounge singers, Jedi, and senators' kids. The show certainly isn't shying away from interspecies relationships but I don't think its the show's intention to show its normal. Sure the show goes risque and maybe they didn't think that one through but I'm going to give TCW the benefit of the doubt. The show simply is never gonna follow Joe the accountant or Bob the electrician, or Lana the Senate help desk technician who probably would be married to another member of the same species.

 

I'm gonna completely disagree with this. Vizsla never seemed to be Dooku's bitch at all from this, they obviously got into some sort of fight and Dooku probably tried to kill him. He wants nothing to do with the Separatists and wants Dooku dead, which for a guy like this is justified I guess.

The bald thing I'll skip because that's just a dumb complaint.

Really complaining about the jetpack? They all had upgraded arsenals. Instead of every Mando warrior looking the same except Vizsla, they all looked different and had different insignias. I think it's awesome how the crew updated their designs to look more lethal and dangerous.

I'll give you that, I did like that too.

It was to individualize him even more, I'm not a big fan of them but we really don't know if they're blasters either.

They definitely took him to another direction, he seems more desperate which led to him being more insane and power thirty. I'm sure the strains of leading this group and how small they've gotten is getting to him. I'm sure he thought this would of gone different and Mandalore would be under his control now. The falling out with Dooku probably started this.

I like what Jon did to his voice, he sounded more desperate and more insane. He wasn't as calm as he was in Season 2, things are getting to him.

 

Oh I agree, it seemed like a poorly organized episode, I just disagree that including DW was fan service. They took what was a great S2 arc and have completely wasted it for 2 seasons. I love the concept of DW and it is nice to have villains that aren't droids, movie characters we know can't die, or stock Dark Jedi.

 

Another reason why I believe this was a fan fic-y episode.

 

I don't see how that makes it fanfic-y episode.

Hell, Chewie is base of off Lucas dog, the name "Anakin" comes from a friend of George Lucas, for Christ sake, Luke comes from well George Lucas!

10% of writing is inspiration, so it really shouldn't be a shocker Dave used something in his life for the bases of a character.

 

Yup. Sounds like another lame excuse to me.

 

Except this isn't the first time we've seen this in TCW and it can get annoying. If it doesn't affect canon, I could care less.

That is not a "lame excuse," Gamek, that is my opinion.

 

He has a point, this episode has parts like a bad fanfiction. From the cliched "fake-couple-develops-feelings subplot" to the "Deathwatch eats a baby" moral ambiguity. Nothing is really developed besides Deathwatch getting the hologram tracking device (which I'm not even going to get started on) and having plans to get started on making preparations for beginning a plan to possibly looking for a way to find Dooku...NEXT SEASON.

Do you hear that? That's the sound of a thousand poorly edited Lux/Ahsoka pop music videos being submitted to Youtube this very moment.