def

Rewatching the Clone Wars

What's the best episode?  

105 members have voted

  1. 1. In Season 1?

    • Ambush
      6
    • Rising Malevolence
      2
    • Shadow of Malevolence
      3
    • Destroy Malevolence
      1
    • Rookies
      30
    • Downfall of a Droid
      1
    • Duel of the Droids
      1
    • Bombad Jedi
      1
    • Cloak of Darkness
      3
    • Lair of Grievous
      20
    • Dooku Captured
      0
    • The Gungan General
      1
    • Jedi Crash
      0
    • Defenders of Peace
      1
    • Trespass
      6
    • The Hidden Enemy
      2
    • Blue Shadow Virus
      2
    • Mystery of a Thousand Moons
      0
    • Storm Over Ryloth
      3
    • Innocents of Ryloth
      6
    • Liberty on Ryloth
      6
    • Hostage Crisis
      11
  2. 2. In Season 2?

    • Holocron Heist
      2
    • Cargo of Doom
      5
    • Children of the Force
      0
    • Senate Spy
      2
    • Landing at Point Rain
      46
    • Weapons Factory
      1
    • Legacy of Terror
      0
    • Brain Invaders
      3
    • Grievous Intrigue
      7
    • The Deserter
      2
    • Lightsaber Lost
      4
    • The Mandalore Plot
      6
    • Voyage of Temptation
      1
    • Duchess of Mandalore
      1
    • Senate Murders
      1
    • Cat and Mouse
      3
    • Bounty Hunters
      7
    • The Zillo Beast
      4
    • The Zillo Beast Strikes Back
      2
    • Death Trap
      3
    • R2 Come Home
      2
    • Lethal Trackdown
      4


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Index courtesy of Oki Wan:

Season 1:

1 - Ambush

2 - Rising Malevolence

3 - Shadow of Malevolence

4 - Destroy Malevolence

5 - Rookies

6 - Downfall of a Droid

7 - Duel of the Droids

8 - Bombad Jedi

9 - Cloak of Darkness

10 - Lair of Grievous

11 - Dooku Captured

12 - The Gungan General

13 - Jedi Crash

14 - Defenders of Peace

15 - Trespass

16 - The Hidden Enemy

17 - Blue Shadow Virus

18 - Mystery of a Thousand Moons

19 - Storm Over Ryloth

20 - Innocents of Ryloth

21 - Liberty on Ryloth

22 - Hostage Crisis

Recap (Update)

Season 2:

1 - Holocron Heist

2 - Cargo of Doom

3 - Children of the Force

4 - Senate Spy

5 - Landing At Point Rain

6 - Weapons Factory

7 - Legacy of Terror

8 - Brain Invaders

9 - Grievous Intrigue

10 - The Deserter

11 - Lightsaber Lost

12 - The Mandalore Plot

13 - Voyage of Temptation

14 - Duchess of Mandalore

15 - Senate Murders

16 - Cat and Mouse

17 - Bounty Hunters

18 - The Zillo Beast

19 - The Zillo Beast Strikes Back

20 - Death Trap

21 - R2 Come Home

22 - Lethal Trackdown

gallery_101_23_908.jpg

I had an idea to do a summer blog about the Clone Wars season 1, which has now been finished for a few months. I want to review the episodes from a viewer's point of view, but also from a AFOL's point of view, as in what ships and characters appeared, and how they might relate to future sets.

I'm going to set a target of two episodes a week since this first post took two hours to compile, but I expect to manage 4-6 a week. If you notice any spelling/grammar/factual mistakes, please politely let me know.

Episode 1: Ambush

Jedi Master Yoda is on a secret mission to forge a treaty with the King of the strategic system of Toydaria when his ship is ambushed by Count Dooku. Yoda and three clone troopers must face off against Count Dooku's dreaded assassin Ventress and her massive droid army to prove the Jedi are strong enough to protect the king and his people from the forces of the war.

This was a good start to the series, an episode featuring a well known fan favorite, Yoda. The episode rehashes a few old situations from the films, such as the clone troopers doubting that such a little guy can be effective, though in this era of Star Wars, Yoda should be a living legend. The story is as so; Yoda's ship is shot down, and he and three clones must hold off a separatist army in order to convince the Toydarian king to declare his allegiance. When the action starts kicking in, it's quite well done. The animators had a good time with it, Yoda fluidly cuts through the battle droids and takes down some AATs and Droidekas. The major flaw with the episode (and perhaps the series) is the stupid battle droids, an issue that comes up again and again. They are stupid, and their jokes aren't funny at all. Before Yoda destroys one, it says "Oh no! I just got promoted." It can't be written off as "just for kids". So are Pixar movies, and they never resort to such groan-worthy 'jokes'. The episode is a solid, though not outstanding, start to the series. Rating 7/10

A number of ships appeared in this episode. AATs appear, as well as the Trade Federation Landing Ships that carry them. The AATs were made as part of the early 2009 sets, but I don't see the landing ships being made since the scale can never be matched. Perhaps as an UCS, but it's not enough of a 'classic' ship to get that treatment. It is the subject of a remarkable MOC by Rook though.

Landing Ship

landingcraft.jpg

A really interesting ship that appears is the Republic Frigate, which is basically the missing link between the Republic Cruiser and the Tantive. The colors have shifted from the red with white trim on the Republic Cruiser to white with red trim on the Frigate (red being the diplomatic color of the Star Wars universe), but the structure seems essentially the same. In the episode, numerous escape pods jettison from the ship. This would be an awesome set, but very unlikely since both the Republic Cruiser and the Tantive have been produced. It would be a beautiful MOC though.

Republic Frigate

RepFrig_multiview.jpg

Yoda's ship is shot down by two Munificent-class star frigates. These are amazing looking, and I would much rather see one of these in Lego than the Venator. They remind me somewhat of Admiral Ackbar's ships in Return of the Jedi

Munificent-class star frigate

Munificent_TCW.jpg

One other ship appears briefly, a Toydarian ship (Toydarians being the pig-nosed species that owned baby Anakin in Phantom Menace) It appears incredibly briefly, but has a great design. It's a three-legged insectoid ship. This is incredibly unlikely as a set, but it's pretty cool looking.

Toydarian ship

toydarianship.jpg

Asajj Ventress also uses one of Count Dooku's space eggs, and some Republic Gunships and a Venator turn up in the last 30 seconds.

Lego ships appearing: AAT, Republic Gunship, Venator

Lego wishlist: USC Munificent-class star frigate

Episode 2: Rising Malevolence

Creating panic throughout the galaxy, a devastating Separatist mystery weapon terrorizes the clone Starfleet. Anakin and Ahsoka race to save Jedi Master Plo Koon and his clone troopers in time. Jedi Master Plo Koon and his squad barely survive an attack from a mysterious Separatist warship called the Malevolence. Can they stay alive long enough for Anakin and Ahsoka to find them?

This episode was quite good, and is an example of what this series can do well; it takes a setting that would be handled in 5-10 minutes in the movies and blows it up to 20 minutes, and gets some stirring drama because of it. It also uses atypical pacing, putting the major action in the first few minutes, and letting the repercussions make up the meat of the show. Plo Koon and a fleet of three venators is taken out by General Grevious' new ship, the malevolence and its "secret weapon", the ion cannon, which neutralizes power in ships. Plo and three troopers remain in an escape pod, waiting to be hunted down amongst the flotsam by battle droids. Ahsoka and Anakin come in and try to track down any survivors. Plo Koon must be alive for Episode three, so of course he survives, but his interaction with the clones is really interesting. The clones are pessimistic about being rescued, feeling that clones are "meant to be expendable" by nature. Plo Koon assures them that in his mind, they aren't. This is one of the interesting sub-themes of the series, the nature of being a clone and their own free will, especially in light of the fact that it's known that they will turn on the jedi. The show makes a point of giving them haircuts to individualize them. It's not a deeply explored theme, but does get continued development in future episodes.

Clone haircuts

troopers.jpg

Other points of note are the battle droids are still not funny. They speak less here, but one is noted humming. Why would a robot ever hum? The sci-fi of the episode is solid, in my mind, except the behavior of the battle droids. There is a nice callback to Empire as Ahsoka senses Plo Koon a la Leia and Luke in Bespin City. Lastly, Artoo does his whoooooo thing and slides away as his ship accelerates, another movie callback.

All in all, a good episode, showing the series get its own personality, while grounding itself in the Star Wars universe. The episodes featuring characters like Plo Koon and Grevious were some of my favorites, since they fare best in animated form, and weren't heavily featured in the films. Rating 8/10

The main ship debuting here is the Malevolence. It's great. I'd love to see something like this in Lego form. If I remember correctly, it gets blown up, so I think it would have had to be made as part of the 2009 sets if it were to be made at all.

Malevolence

Malevolence.jpg

The battle droids have a mini crushing ship meant to hold onto escape pods while they break them open. This is an interesting ship, but would work as a MOC more than a set, since we've got enough battle droids!

Pod hunter

crusher.jpg

Lastly, the medic makes an appearance. I'd love a Lego medic, and sooner or later this guy should make an appearance. I think they only appeared in Empire previously.

Medic TB-2

medic.jpg

Lego ships appearing: Venator, the Twilight, V-19

Lego wishlist: Malevolence, TB-2, clones with hair

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Well it seems you put a lot of effort into this and it reads good. I myself am glad you have done these reviews of the episodes and if not I would not know things. One of which is that I had not idea their was a Republic Frigate, I would also love to see that as a lego set but as you said that would be unlikely. Another thing i missed was the tydorian ship. I know want to watch the episodes again. Luckily I saw an advert on sky movies saying theiron again soon but i missed the day. So if someone knows please tell me.

Their are two mistakes I think I think found and here they are. This one is describing the republic frigate and you put this (below) and I think it should be "shifted to red and white".

Quote:The colors have shifted from red to white (red being the diplomatic color of the Star Wars universe)

The other was after the clone haircuts you put this (below), I think it should say " Plo Koon as did Leia and Luke in Bespin City".

Quote:There is a nice callback to Empire as Ahsoka senses Plo Koon a la Leia and Luke in Bespin City.

Anyway great review of the episodes and I shall look forward to more.

Edited by Eskallon

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I would like more of the clonewars than your wishlist :P

What do you mean? Can you elaborate?

Well it seems you put a lot of effort into this and it reads good. I myself am glad you have done these reviews of the episodes and if not I would not know things. One of which is that I had not idea their was a Republic Frigate, I would also love to see that as a lego set but as you said that would be unlikely. Another thing i missed was the tydorian ship. I know want to watch the episodes again. Luckily I saw an advert on sky movies saying theiron again soon but i missed the day. So if someone knows please tell me.

Their are two mistakes I think I think found and here they are. This one is describing the republic frigate and you put this (below) and I think it should be "shifted to red and white".

Quote:The colors have shifted from red to white (red being the diplomatic color of the Star Wars universe)

The other was after the clone haircuts you put this (below), I think it should say " Plo Koon as did Leia and Luke in Bespin City".

Quote:There is a nice callback to Empire as Ahsoka senses Plo Koon a la Leia and Luke in Bespin City.

Anyway great review of the episodes and I shall look forward to more.

Regarding the frigate, I meant that the base color of the Republic Cruiser was red, and the Republic Frigate's base color is white, though it has a red tint. I'll look at the text to see if I can make that clearer.

A la is okay English, check here it means "in the manner of".

If you have a good internet connection, you should be able to watch them online. I watched them as they came out, and now that some time's gone by, I can watch them with fresh eyes.

Thanks for the feedback and interest, I'll try to have a review of three and four in a few days :wink:

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Thanks for the review, def. I can't wait until the box set is released.

I would love to see a LEGO Federation landing craft, though it would be so out of proportion with other sets if it were to be reasonably priced.

Looking forward to reading the continuation.

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This is a nice topic you have going here, def. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of it.

My only wish is to see the episodes I missed last season. I've seen Rookies a dozen times now, but never saw the Ryloth episodes :sad:

Lastly, the medic makes an appearance. I'd love a Lego medic, and sooner or later this guy should make an appearance. I think they only appeared in Empire previously.

If I'm not mistaken, the medic droid was also shown at the end of Revenge of the Sith, at the birth of the twins. I could be wrong, though. I'm much more familiar with the OT.

As far as future CW LEGO sets, the only one I could see being made is a minifig scale Munificient frigate, similar to the Venator, Star Destroyer and soon to be released Tantive IV. None of the other capital ships are well enough known to warrant their own set, and the other vessels mentioned just don't get enough airtime to make them attractive as sets (as cool as some of them would be).

The Separatist Landing Ship is a bit different. It's seen plenty of screen time, both on the CW show and in the PT, so it's well recognized. Unfornutaely, it wouldn't scale well into minifig scale, and is probably too bland to generate much interest as an UCS scale set. I would think it would sell well as a MINI scale set, especially considering LEGO has started producing more of them in recent years.

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A really interesting ship that appears is the Republic Frigate, which is basically the missing link between the Republic Cruiser and the Tantive. The colors have shifted from the red with white trim on the Republic Cruiser to white with red trim on the Frigate (red being the diplomatic color of the Star Wars universe), but the structure seems essentially the same. In the episode, numerous escape pods jettison from the ship. This would be an awesome set, but very unlikely since both the Republic Cruiser and the Tantive have been produced. It would be a beautiful MOC though.

Its not missing link, its the same ship.

Republic cruiser = (small)Republic Frigate = Consular-class space cruiser

RED (Republic cruiser) = Civilian models of the Consular-class cruiser

RED-WHITE = The militarized Consular-class cruiser , having weapon batteries added and serving as small frigates in the Republic wartime Navy, paint job similar to the Venator-class Star Destroyers

Edited by Davor

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Fun topic, thanks for taking the time to do this!

If you notice any spelling/grammar/factual mistakes, please politely let me know.

Well, since you asked ...

So are Pixar movies, and they never resort to such grown worthy 'jokes'.

I think you meant "groan-worthy." :classic:

I've only just recently started watching the show (via iTunes with my son). We're only a couple of episodes in, but we're enjoying it so far. Well, except for those stupid *&%$-ing battle droids. Those things grate on my nerves. They remind me of the Genosis scene in "Attack of the Clones," when C3PO was making all those stupid puns and one-liners. My son is nine, and even he doesn't find them funny.

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Good reviews, and even though I agree with you in most points I thought I had to make a few comments:

Republic cruiser/frigate: I agree the militarized cruiser would make a great MOC, or rather makes, I remember seeing one on Brickshelf in a diorama, the ship crashed, stuck in the ground almost vertically. I can`t seem to find it now but if someone knows what I mean...

Battledroids: Well, what can I say, I never saw why they would be casually talking to one another, they are all controlled by the same central computer, they all have the same knowledge and personality. What also horrified me about TCW battledroids was their downright stupidity, in one episode droids were absolutely puzzled when grenades were thrown at them, they even picked them up, not likely for droids programmed solely for combat.

Individual clone haircuts: If they actually were individual... The same looks reappear over and over again, I remember at least three clones with the "parallel red stripes"-thing and also a few with the same tattoos in the exact same places.

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Thanks for input everyone. The first review has been tweaked just a little, and will be until absolutely perfect. Obviously, there will be some disagreements here and there, but this topic is meant to bring the episodes to our attention, not create a consensus :wink:

In the meantime, let's move on to the next two episodes.

Episode 3: Shadow of Malevolence

With the help of his Padawan Ahsoka and Jedi Master Plo Koon, Anakin utilizes new long-range Y-wing bombers to lead a bold strike on General Grievous' warship the Malevolence and its destructive weapon. As General Grievous uses the Malevolence to terrorize medical bases, the Jedi rush to defend Republic space. With help from his Padawan, Anakin leads a bold strike mission into enemy territory.

This is part two of the three part Malevolence series. As such, the episode is all about moving the parts into place. Having learned of the existence of the Malevolence, Anakin devises a plan to wage a frontal attack against the ship. It's aggressive and risky, but it just might work! Unfortunately, Anakin is probably the least interesting character in the series, and has no drama because he will always succeed. As well, his repartee with Ahsoka is not so sincere sounding, and his nickname for her, "Snips", doesn't make their relationship any more enduring. Anyway, Grievous begins to tackle medical transports, and moves towards a medical base to take out the wounded. This leads to an interesting setting, the medical base operated by a Kaminoan, who spends the episode doing an emergency evacuation. Anakin leads a fleet of 10 y-wings, with Plo Koon flying alongside with a hyperdrive ring on his starfighter. The episode spends some time with them piloting through a nebula to save time, but unlike the last episode, there is very little drama here, and the story is not being so well told as to make up for this. In the last five minutes, the y-wings fight some vulture droids, some expendable clones die, and they disable the cannon, but not the whole ship, while the venators arrive to set up the next episode. A watchable episode, but nothing special. Rating 7/10

This episode brings up an interesting question of scale for the TLG. Particularly, how could they ever really capture the feel of these ships. Answer: they can't. Here we see some tiny V-19s landing on a venator. The only way TLG could recreate this is to double the size of the current Venator set, then include a dozen mini V-19s. Not a bad idea, but I already can't afford it, and don't have space to display it.

v-19-venator.jpg

Meanwhile, we see the Malevolence towering over the venator warships (lower right). To make a y-wing attack sequence like the one in this episode, the y-wings would just be single stud sized on a ship the size of my bedroom. It's best to give up on that hope. Even in the show, there is a difficulty in portraying the scale.

malevolence-venator.jpg

I was happy to see the y-wings make an appearance. When I first watched this episode, I didn't make the connection that they were y-wings, since the shape is just different enough, but they jump out at me now. I'm not in love with this ship, but it's nice to see any Lego set in action.

Y-Wing Starfighter

y-wings.jpg

Plo Koon's Starfighter makes an appearance, which is very similar to the 2007 Obi-Wan Jedi Starfighter with Hyperdrive Booster Ring set, and already the subject of a great MOC by DutchRebel. I would really enjoy this as a mid sized set, even if the ring is a repetitive build. The shape and detailing is slightly different, a pointy nosed starfighter rather than the fork-nosed variety, along the lines of Anakin and Ahsoka's Clone Wars sets.

Plo Koon's Starfighter

hyperdrive-ring.jpg

plo-koon.jpg

The new ship (for me) debuting in this episode was a transport ship. Nothing outstanding, and piloted by clones, but I wouldn't mind to have this in Lego.

Transport Ship

transport.jpg

One character appearing in this is a Kaminoan. I would love to have one of these in Lego. A Lego design appeared in the Lego Star Wars video game, but hasn't appeared as an actual figure. Maybe as an Attack of the Clones 20th anniversary mini-figure in 2022?

Kaminoan

Kaminoan.jpg

Lego ships appearing: Venators, V-19s, Y-Wings, Vulture Droids

Lego wishlist: Plo Koon's starfighter, Kaminoan

Episode 4: Destroy Malevolence

Padmé Amidala and C-3PO are taken hostage by General Grievous, leaving Anakin and Obi-Wan to save the Senator and complete the destruction of the Malevolence./Anakin and Obi-Wan chase down the Malevolence, hoping to destroy it before it can escape. But when Padmé and C-3PO are captured and held hostage aboard, the Jedi are forced to hatch a new plan.

This episode was not a favorite of mine, but I imagine it was for some fans. The episode is the first to have Padme, Anakin, and Obi Wan working together, as well as R2-D2 and C-3PO together. As the damaged Malevolence is being attacked by the Republic warships, Padme's cruiser appears out of nowhere based on misleading info from Chancellor Palpatine, aka Darth Sidious. Grievous captures Padme's ship, which causes Anakin to halt the attack. Always letting emotion control him, that boy is! Padme manages to escape into the labyrinthine Malevolence, and sets off a hunt for her by Grievous. Anakin and Obi Wan hop aboard the Twilight and manage to get into the Malevolence as well. They look for her. Meanwhile, it's a race against the clock as the battle droids try to repair the hyperdrive so the Malevolence can escape. This should be a set up for a great episode, but it's not. It's mostly just running around, lots of non-funny 'jokes' and incompetency by battle droids, and C-3PO also not being funny. There is a nice set piece on rail jets, kind of space freight trains running around the inside of the ship, with Anakin and Obi Wan using the force fluently as masters should (and rarely did in the movies). But, this is a ridiculously large ship, as mentioned in the review of the previous episode, so Anakin taking roughly two minutes to track down Padme, and later R2-D2 just running into C-3 PO walking around, who then bump into Anakin... well, if I was a story editor, I wouldn't allow it. Perhaps Anakin could sense Padme, but the rest was just coincidence... twice. The story seems to have been edited a lot in production (the Wookipedia page tells some of the changes) so probably this was just a constraint for time. In the end, the Malevolence is blown up, while Grievous happened to be off ship chasing the Twilight at the time, so in the end of this three part series, nothing changed. A big ship came out of nowhere, and then was taken out. Some jedis fought some separatists, and only minor clones and robots were casualties. Grievous has slight character development when he cuts off a transmission from Dooku, showing a non-unified front on the Separatist's side. So, as I said, this was not my favorite episode, it felt kind of pandering to a fanboy audience and a lot of almost good stuff. And I don't care for pandering. Rating: 6/10

Homage to the original trilogy in the final shot

homage.jpg

There wasn't a lot of new stuff to see in this episode, mostly just what was in the last two episodes. But, two potential Lego sets appeared. One was Padme's ship, which is called a Naboo Cruiser in the show, but I don't know what the technical name is. It's obviously related to the ship from Phantom Menace, but seems smaller, and has a fin on the back. It would be great if Lego made a shiny brick set, but I'm well aware that the costs would make it a low seller. It's a dream set though.

Padme's ship

naboocruiser.jpg

A third of the episode takes place on a rail jet in the Malevolence, which is a nicely designed freight train of sorts. It looks great, and I would love to see a fusion of Star Wars s-f style and trains. Since it's related to the Malevolence, a ship that is blown up this episode, it's unlikely, but something along these lines someday as part of a bigger set would really flesh out the Lego Star Wars universe.

Rail Jet

railjet.jpg

railjet3.jpg

Lastly, Grievous hops into his starfighter at the end of the episode. I like his ship more on screen than I do in Lego form (boring colors). But the proportion on the Lego set is just about perfect. Good job, Lego designers!

Grievous' Starfighter Souless One (left, followed by two Vulture Droids)

grevious.jpg

Lego ships appearing: Venators, Vulture Droids, the Twilight, Grievous' Starfighter

Lego wishlist: Padme's ship, rail jet

Next up: Rookies

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more stuff on my wishlist you got just three things i would like more :tongue:

Your eloquence is appreciated :wink:

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This is very cool. I can't wait for you to finish this up.

You also stated if we see any spelling errors to let you now, well I find one. You said ATT when it's actually AAT (Armored Assault Tank) :wink:

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I just watched "Destroy Malevolence" last night!

I agree with you -- it was a good concept, but poorly executed. The use of coincedence to move the plot along was downright lazy. They could have very easily thrown in some simple Jedi mumbo-jumbo about "I sense Padme nearby" and that would have been fine.

The battle droids continue to be the worst part of the show. I guess we're just not the target audience here. For whatever it's worth, my son thinks they're hilarious. I did like the scene where three battle droids spotted Anakin and Obi-Wan, and two of them opened fire before the third could tell them to stop. The Jedis easily reflected the laser blasts back at destroyed the first two. The third one muttered something like, "I knew that was a bad idea." Okay, that was a decent gag. Not great, but not terrible.

Unfortunately, Anakin is probably the least interesting character in the series, and has no drama because he will always succeed.

Totally agreed with this point. As a character, Anakin is dull, dull, dull. The prequel trilogy had the same problem -- we already KNOW his story arc, and we've known it for 30 years. Showing HOW he becomes Vader is simply not a compelling story. Well, it could have been interesting with a better writer, but under Lucas' direction, he's simply an arrogant, unlikable punk.

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I agree with you -- it was a good concept, but poorly executed.

I also agree that it was a great concept having the malevolence but it flopped :thumbdown: . First of all it should'nt have been destroyed at the begining of the series. First of all we're getting into a series that we don't know really what to expect, then we're introduced to this giant ship that's pretty much destroyed before you really knew much about it. Seriously how malevolant is it if they only talk about what it's been doing. Sure they show the remains of some vanators ,Plo koon's fleet getting destroyed, and some very small medical frigates but come on this is war! Things like that happen. Now what they should they should have done is drag the story across the series and destroyed it towards the end.

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Episode 5: Rookies

Clone forces rally! As the war escalates in the Outer Rim, the Jedi Knights are spread thinly across the galaxy. Many new clones are rushed into service to support their Jedi generals. Unfortunately, because of the relentless demands of battle, many young clones must join the struggle before their intensive training has been completed. These clones, manning a vital network of tracking stations, are all that stand between the Republic and invasion…

Hmmm... This episode doesn't suffer the problems I didn't like in the first few episodes. Unfortunately it does suffer different ones. The episode mostly takes place at an outpost that is part of a line of defense for the planet Kamino, where clones are produced. Taking out the Kamino clone factory would drastically hurt the Republic army, and establishes this planet as a battle ground. The outpost is being manned by "shinies", barely trained clone recruits. A sudden meteor shower occurs, but upon closer inspection, the meteorites are small landing ships containing commando droids, new entries to the the Star Wars universe. These droids are very cool. They speak somewhat like the regular battle droids, but they never say anything stupid, and are fast and effective. A platoon of droids overtakes the outpost, and a handful of shinies barely escape. The commando droids disable the emergency beacon, and are capable of impersonating clones 90% effectively. It's all undone by Clone Captain Rex and Clone Commander Cody. One of the weaknesses here is not being able to understand who any character is. There is a difference in armor painting, and Rex has a shaved head to make him stand out, but all the characters use the same 3-D model, so even watching this the third time, I was a bit confused. Anyway, Rex thinks quick on his feet, and upon arriving for a routine check on the outpost, encounters and survives the commandos. He's able to rendezvous with the remaining clone troopers, and gather them into an assault force. Anakin makes a crack to Obi Wan that "perhaps Cody is boring Rex with standard procedure and protocol." I suppose this is meant to help define the characters (and I'll see if that happens as these reviews occur) as Rex the outside the box one, Cody the square one. Regardless, they're both effective troopers. In the end, they manage to notify the Republic about the invasion force and save the day. The points here come from them featuring an enemy twice as smart as they've featured up to now, and that with the new characters, there is a little surprise in the turn of events. Ultimately though, when a character sacrifices themselves, it should have meaning, but I really don't remember any action that specifically that character had had before. It was just a bunch of clones shooting. So, a decent episode, but the characterization was muddy. Rating: 7/10

This episode was sprinkled with numerous space shots, of fleets floating in space. This is quite nice to see, and I'm enjoying doing this blog, since I've been noticing a lot of details that I missed the first time around. Here we see a fleet of venators, V-19s, and those beautiful Republic Frigates I noted in the first episode review.

Space is great.

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The commando droids mentioned in the main review were great. Highly flexible (like a droid we'll see in the sixth episode :wink: ) and effective, they seem to be a way for the animators to apologize for the battle droids in the episodes so far. Why weren't these made into Lego figures? No idea. I don't remember if they appear again, but if they appear a second time, I will be really annoyed that these droids never came up in 2009. (edit: they do :hmpf: ) One thing though, they would be much better to have slightly more flexibility than the current battle droids or super battle droids. These guys were enjoyable to see, even when they failed, because they didn't seem utterly incompetent.

Commando Droids

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The Republic Attack Shuttle appears, and it's nice to see, but as I wrote in my review of the Lego version, I think they should have made it a large size set. The Lego ship really doesn't match the proportion of the Star Wars universe one at all, and I think it would have been a phenomenal set. This is an example to how it could have been done. Seeing the troops walk out, you can imagine how good the set could have been.

Walking out the Attack Shuttle

attackshuttle.jpg

Lastly, here is a shot of Rex and Cody. These are feature characters in some Clone Wars sets, the AT-TE and Gunship that I own. I'm watching these episodes again, and hopefully I'll be able to get interested in these guys. I have an exclusive Cody and exclusive Rex Lego figure, but it just feels like an orange Clone and a blue Clone. Let's see if more seriously investing yourself in the show makes their subtly different shaded armor feel like something worth caring about. Do you remember what Rex's color is? What Cody's color is?

Blue Rex and Orange Cody

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cmdr_cody_front.jpgcapt_rex_front.jpg

Lego ships appearing: Republic Attack Shuttle, V-19, Venator

Lego wishlist: Commando Droids

Episode 6: Downfall of a Droid

After suffering a series of disastrous defeats at the hands of General Grievous, the Republic's foothold in the Outer Rim is in jeopardy.

Commissioned to protect the strategic world of Bothawui, Anakin Skywalker and his weary battle group are all that stands between the system and domination by the droid army....

This episode shows the program getting its footing. The directors and artists really did produce a high quality program, and it was just a matter of the stories producing compelling situations to make use of them. The story here is negligible, as it's the first half of a two parter, but the two major scenes are both interesting and riveting. To begin with, a small fleet of venators is encountered by Grievous and a large Separatist fleet. Grievous plans to get the upper hand by approaching through an asteroid belt, placing shields to the front of his fleet to deflect any asteroids, since he expects no attacks from behind. Anakin hatches a clever plan, which is unveiled rather than described, a great storytelling technique. As Grievous approaches and begins firing, a fleet of deployed AT-TEs is given the signal to fire. They were hiding on asteroids! Very smart scene, and once again, Grievous shows he's incompetent... something that needs to change if he's to be taken seriously as a villan. Anakin chases Grievous in his ship but is knocked off course by shrapnel. He is recovered onto a venator, but Artoo is left behind on his ship. It then turns out that he needs to be recovered because he has a Macguffin stuffed in him. This leads to the main plot of the two parter. Anakin is given a replacement droid, R3-S6. Taking the Twilight, Anakin, R3, and Ahsoka visit a salvage ship in the vicinity of his crash site. Anakin convinces the ship captain, Gha Nachkt, to let him take a look through his stock. Scenes of Anakin using the force to move boxes instead of walking around them are a great touch. Anakin hears Artoo's trademark chirp behind a door, and requests R3 to unlock it. The droid incompetently activates some Assassin Droids, leading to the second great scene of this episode, Anakin and Ahsoka fighting these droids. They are far more interesting than you'd think, remembering IG-88 stand still in Empire. They jump around in a way similar to Grievous, and have no real front or back, just the most effective way to shoot down their opponent. Really well done. Anakin leaves the ship empty handed, and it's revealed that Artoo was on the ship. Having returned to his fleet, Anakin is sent off to search for a listening post with R3. Leaving hyperspace, Anakin orders R3 to send a scan, but instead R3 sends a beacon. Grievous comes, and another less exciting space battle erupts. All in all, this is a busy, uneven episode, but it works as part one. The high quality of the scenes makes it worth watching. Rating: 7/10 (almost an 8 though)

Again, this episode brings up questions of scale. For as big as the Republic Gunship is, it is dwarfed by the Twilight. Here we can see the Twilight being loaded with some little Gunships in the background. How many times bigger is the Twilight? I'd say about four times, but that's off the top of my head. As a Lego ship, the Twilight is quite dull looking, and don't think it'd be any better blown up.

The Twilight

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The first major use of AT-TE in the show, and they look great, and the setting is totally unexpected. They make an amazing army, and it's hard to buy just one when you see them like this.

AT-TEs

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Anakin's Starfighter also makes a first appearance, and by comparing this to its Lego counterpart, I think TLG did a great job with its rendition.

Anakin's Starfighter

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From Mr.Mandalorian's reviewimg_0100.jpg

But, that isn't his whole ship! It needs a hyperdrive ring. The 2009 set would have been much better with the ring on it. That's a disappointment, TLG :cry_sad:

Anakin's Starfighter with Hyperdrive Ring

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One new ship makes its debut in this episode, the Vulture's Claw, the salvage ship. It's a reasonably interesting ship, and, like the rail jets in episode 4, would add a lot to the tone of the Star Wars Lego universe. It's nice to have stuff without guns sometimes.

The Vulture's Claw

scavenger.jpg

If the Vulture's Claw were made, it could come with pilot Gha Nachkt, and with assorted wreckage/droid parts, a la the sandcrawler. Unfortunately, they only appear in two episodes, so I'm not holding my breath.

Gha Nachkt

GhaNachkt.jpg

Another new addition is R3-S6. Basically, Artoo in gold. I would really like one of these. I have a few Artoos now, and it's a shame TLG didn't use the Anakin's Starfighter as a chance to produce a new droid. The more variety of droids done in Lego, the better.

R3-S6

R3S6.jpg

The last appearance of note this episode were the very excellent Assassin Droids. They looked and moved amazing, so I'm glad they made an assassin droid battle pack this year, but... the battle pack was just the old battle droids with new heads. I really wish TLG had done something with them. There was a great MOC here but the guy went and let the pics disappear :hmpf:Here's similar one of IG-88 he did that basically makes the droids look athletic. Something along these lines really would have excited Lego collectors.

Assassin Droids (IG-86)

assassin.jpg

From Whitefang's review

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Lego ships appearing: Republic Attack Shuttle, V-19, Venator, Anakin's Starfighter, the Twilight, Grievous' Starfighter, AT-TE, vulture droids

Lego wishlist: the Vulture Claw w/ Gha Nachkt and assassin droids, Anakin's Starfighter w/ Hyperdrive Ring,

R3-S6

Next: Dual of the Droids and everyone's favorite bumbling Gungan!

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The Commando Droids re-appear in the "Die Hard in space" episode and possibly one of the Ryloth Trilogy episodes.

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Good reviews again but I must disagree with you in one point: Grievous was not being incompetent.

He was caught by surprise by the Jedi not being incompetent for once.

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Good reviews again but I must disagree with you in one point: Grievous was not being incompetent.

He was caught by surprise by the Jedi not being incompetent for once.

While his strategy was sound, up to this point, Grievous has yet to be competent. He has a fantastic episode coming up that I don't want to spoil, but he is pretty bumbling up to this point.

He's my favorite thing about Episode 3, so I'd love to give him credit where credit is due. Grievous was the only Hasbro figure I bought in the he last eight years... I want him to be interesting...

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Good reviews again but I must disagree with you in one point: Grievous was not being incompetent.

He was caught by surprise by the Jedi not being incompetent for once.

So he was caught by surprise in every episode he's been in?

According to Episode III, Grievous has been pwning the Jedi "at every turn", yet according to the Clone Wars, they've been easily fending him off. The one episode where he didn't come across as a total joke was the one with Kit Fisto, and even then, he didn't exactly do a good job. So far this has been one of my only complaints with the series, and I'm guessing it's why they've decided to focus on other new villians in the second series.

Anyway, these are great summaries, looking forward to seeing more.

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Its only the EU novels/comics and the original animated series that grevious was competent.

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The blog is looking fantastic so far def, and I would agree with the majority of your comments.

However, in Rookies (there isn't actually an episode title on the episodes I see on CN in the Uk) I believe that it is far more interesting to see how the clones cope without a Jedi in any way. The guards (shinies) at the outpost don't really have enough time to display their characteristics but we do see a bit more of Rex and Cody's attitudes. They should have at least taken down some of the commando droids by a grenade, or something other than just blasting them all. Only one or two droids were actually destroyed by means other than blasters. It wasn't really an nimpressive sacrifice when Heavy, as I think he was called blew up the bomb next to him, but he was wounded and may have dies anyway, so why not?

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Episode 7: Dual of the Droids

Missing in action! Anakin Skywalker's heroic droid navigator R2-D2 was lost in battle. When a desperate search fails to locate Artoo, Anakin is forced to take on a new navigator, R3-S6.

Now the Jedi embark on a dangerous new mission, to find a secret enemy listening post. Meanwhile, R2-D2 has fallen into the hands of a vile droid smuggler and is on his way to General Grievous who will surely plunder the Republic's secrets hidden within him....

This is the second of two parts, but I don't think you need to have seen the first to enjoy it. This episode makes the most of its lead characters, Ahsoka, Anakin, Artoo, and to a lesser extent, Rex. While searching for a Separatist listening post, Anakin receives a distress signal from Artoo, and decides to follow that lead... to the listening post. Convenient, but no worse than anything else in Star Wars, and better than a lot of lucky Star Wars scenarios (did you hear the one about Darth Vader building C-3PO? :hmpf: ). Defying Master Kenobi's orders, Anakin organizes a guerrilla raid on the listening post. Things start off well, but it turns out the R3 droid Anakin has (see the review for episode 6) is ... a spy! Actually, this was quite an interesting twist, and though it fits well within the Star Wars universe where droids are people-like, I wasn't expecting a traitorous robot. At the same time, Artoo is slowly dismantled by Gha Nahkt (again, see the review for episode 6) until the macguffin in him is discovered.

The action splits off in three ways at this point, with Anakin off to track Artoo and rescue him from some Magnaguards. Ahsoka and Rex and some no-name clones encounter Grievous, and Ahsoka tries to distract Grievous to give the remaining clones escape time. The fight between Anakin and the Magnaguards is well enough, but Ahsoka, running away from and then being stalked down by Grievous in a battle droid storeroom is quite exciting. As mentioned in previous reviews, Grievous has been fairly incompetent up till now, and it's in this episode that it seems like he can do things. He stabs Gha Nachkt from behind, and I suppose it's in face to face combat that he's most effective, and not as a general. Grievous coldly tracks Ahsoka down, and the dark lighting of the scene adds a lot to the mood of it. If not for Rex' bombs being set off, Grievous would have decapitated Ahsoka, it seems.

Given the chance, Ahsoka skitters off, and it all leads to a rendezvous in a hanger, where the clones, Anakin, and Ahsoka have to fend off a small army of vulture droids in close quarters, as well as some other battle droids. Artoo helps save the day, all the people who need to live escape, the ones who are expendable go down with the ship. And Artoo gets to have a face to face (panel to panel?) showdown with the conniving gold R3. Artoo's confrontation on the outer shell is a good end to a good episode. Good stuff overall. Rating: 8/10

The setting for this episode, the listening post, General Grievous' Battle Sphere is really cool, but I won't expect it as a set at all, since Anakin succeeded in destroying it :cry_sad:

Skytop Station

7battlesphere.jpg

This battle sphere does have a lot of Lego possibilities though, it has great looking technicians at the helm.

7droid.jpg

It also has this droid torture table that is used to dismantle R2-D2. I suppose it would be a little morbid for a Lego set, but I'd love a full-on Grievous at Skytop Station set.

7droidtable.jpg

The set would come with a busted up R2-D2 :laugh:

7dismantled.jpg

Another appearance in this episode was the MagnaGuards. They were done quite well as Lego figures, no complaints there.

MagnaGuards

7magnaguard.jpg

magnaguard_front.jpg

Though they don't get flown, the hanger scene features a number of MagnaGuard fighters, and they too seem to be done right by TLG, right down to the proportions.

Porax-38 Starfighter

7magnaguardship.jpg

From Dark Sword Ragnarok's review

lego001.jpg

Lastly, the vulture droids get to have a lot of action in the hanger, and are very cool to see in close quarters. It seems from this image that the hyena droid last year was closer in size to their actual mini-fig proportion. This image would be an easy MOD.

Vulture Droid

7vulturedroids3.jpg

Lego ships appearing: The Twilight, Anakin's Starfighter, Magnaguard Starfighter, General Grievous' Starfighter, Vulture Droid

Lego wishlist: Deluxe Skytop Playset, with hanger, droid dissection table, Grievous, R3-S6, and maybe even Gha Nachkt

Episode 8: Bombad Jedi

The Clone War threatens the unity of the Republic! As battles rage across the galaxy, more worlds succumb to the seductive lure of the Separatists and leave the Republic.

On a vital mission of peace, Senator Padmé Amidala journeys to the Outer Rim world of Rodia, desperate to ensure its loyalty remains to the Republic....

I enter this review with some trepidation. This episode features no Jedi, and instead focuses on the most hated character in the Star Wars universe, Jar Jar Binks. I don't loathe the character as some do, but his heroics have bothered me (specifically the last half hour of The Phantom Menace). Seeing characters repeatedly win through accident every time is pretty tiresome, and after all these years (in Star Wars time as well as real time), Jar Jar is still useless. To illustrate this point, in the first minute of the episode, Jar Jar trips and knocks Padme's ship off course. Ha ha!

Anyway, the central plot is solid enough, Padme is going to Rodia (aka Greedo planet) to do diplomatic dealings with an old family friend, Onaonda Farr. It's quickly revealed that he has sold out to separatists in hopes of getting food and protection for his planet, which he feels has been left behind by the Republic, so at least it's a noble sell out. Padme is captured, and it's up to Jar Jar and, to a lesser extent, C-3PO to save the day. After Jar Jar bumbles his way through a droid army and, in a new appearance, a crab droid, Jar Jar smashes up Padme's ship. It's good to see Jar Jar's bumbling have at least one negative repercussion. Among the ship wreckage, Jar Jar finds a Jedi cloak... Looks like Anakin has been sneaking on ship :wink: For whatever reason, Jar Jar puts it on. This coincides with the arrival of separatist Nute Gunray in his shuttle (and voiced by Spongebob Squarepants and onetime Abraham Lincoln Tom Kenny). Gunray orders 'the jedi' captured, but Jar Jar escapes ... by accident. Jar Jar works to save Padme, while at the same time Padme saves herself. Farr ultimately turns things back on Nute when he realizes the separatists don't share his morals. Things are quite hectic and fast moving; Padme's captured, then she's not, Jar Jar's rescuing, then he's being rescued, Nute's in control, then he is not. By the episode's end, Nute is in the Republic's custody, while his ship is at the bottom of a Rodian swamp.

Overall, when judging a Jar Jar episode, one has to consider that the writers are trying to make a silk purse from, well, Jar Jar. They are contractually obligated to use the character, and they kept true to Lucas' "vision" of the character, while also letting him be competent here and there, making him that much more tolerable. Combined with Padme's acute acknowledgment that he's a pain, it makes the whole thing more acceptable. That plus the good use of new characters and ships made this a decent episode. Rating: 7/10

Padme's ship turns up again. I haven't found out exactly what type of ship it is, but those Naboo people have shiny taste in ships. [edit-I have found out what it is!]

H-Type Nubian Yacht

8padme.jpg

One thing I noticed was Jar Jar made a funny joke, or at least a funny joke was made using Jar Jar. When Jar Jar smashes Padme's ship, he does a spit take. No words, just a quick close up of him bugging out. The pacing of this shot was excellent, a one second freeze frame. It reminded me of an old Chuck Jone's cartoon. Not entirely suitable for a Star Wars show, but well done.

Senator Binks

8jarjar.jpg

Onaconda Farr makes his debut, and he really was done justice in his mini-fig appearance. I would have rather he came with his assistant in the Lego 8036 set, but in this episode, he spends an equal amount of time with battle droids, so they were a fair choice. Two Rodians would have been better though.

Onaconda Farr

8OnacondaFarr.jpg

From my reivew

img_2380.jpg

Another making an appearance here is the separatist shuttle which I just reviewed recently. This ship looked very very similar to the Lego ship. The scale is a bit off thogh. Nute walks out the ship, so the Lego ship would have to be about 2.5 times bigger to be to scale, but the shape and proportions seem to be dead on. Good job TLG!

Separatist Shuttle

8separatist.jpg

From my review

img_2387.jpg

Lastly, Jar Jar takes on a crab droid. This is a really cool design. I don't know that I have what it takes to MOC such an organic looking droid, but this would be very very nice done in Lego.

Crab Droid

8crabdroid.jpg

Lego ships appearing: Separatist Shuttle, Vulture Droid

Lego wishlist: Crab Droid, H-type Nubian Yacht

Getting near to the end of the first half of the season, the quality of the episodes is stronger, and I hope to give some more 8 ratings, some 9s and maybe even a 10. There's probably one or two 6s also, if I remember correctly. Anyway, next time: Asajj Ventress, and the Lair of Grievous... Good stuff, good stuff :wink:

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This is a nice blog :thumbup:. I'd have to say Rookies is one of the best episodes. Mainly due to the Commando Droids. I think TCW should have a snippet in an episode explaining what happened to the Battledroids after episode I. I loved the OOMs in TPM, but then they became Jar Jar's replacement from AOTC onward. So I would like to see an intelligent OOM-Series on the show at some point.I was also disappointed by Grievous in the first season being incompetent. Hopefully he learns a bit more in coming episodes to make him a more of a villain. Regarding "Bombad Jedi", I hope that there won't be many more Jar Jar based episodes. I'm okay with him appearing as long as he has more of a supporting role, rather than a major player. I would, however, enjoy seeing some of the gungans from TPM like Captain Tarpaals, Boss Nass, or some new intelligent gungans. Also after hearing that Filoni wanted to include Panaka in the Shadow Virus, I hope to see him as well.

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