Fyraltari watches The Clone Wars (2008) for the first time

[Fyraltari]

Season 4, Episode 2: Gungan Attack

Spoiler: Recap

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The narrator wins understatement of the century by stating the mon calamari/Republicans were "caught unprepared" by the quarren/Separatist assault. Dooku is talking to the quarren leader and the Separatist commander (whose name is "Tamson" actually) and telling them not to underestimate Lee-char who may become a symbol for the calamari to rally behind, regardless of his lack of actual leadership. H then orders the prisoners to be sent to work camps including the women and children. I guess they mean the population of the capital city and not the entire Mon Calamari population of the planet, but it isn't clear. Dooku also sends special reinforcement for Tamson to hold in reserve just in case.

Deep in the caves below the city, Fisto report to Yoda and Windu that the heroes have lost contact with all other groups of clones or calamari soldiers. The communication breaks up and they can't tell wether Yoda said he was going to send or not send reinforcements their way. Skywalker wants to leave the planet. The prince is reluctant but finally agrees it is best to leave. Back at the Temple, it turns out they simply don't have another regiment of water-combat capable clones right now, so they'll need to turn to somebody else for help on this one. An underwater race with an army close enough to help. Kenobi and Yoda agree on Naboo and the gungans.

Padmé notices a lot of hostiles between them and their ship. "It's no problem, I just hope you're a fast swimmer. -Says the boy who grew up on a desert planet." That's a good point, when did Anakin learn to swim? Are there pool in the Jedi Temple, did Obi-Wan give him lessons? Firsto volunteers to create a distraction. Which he does by attacking a prioner convoy and stealing a their mini-subs (he sends it below to his allies). However, Tamson had foreseen this plan and the ship explodes as they arrive directly below it. Lee-char point out that they're too exposed and have to go back below. Anakin orders everybody to cling to some debris and let their weight carry them down. I wonder how much oxygen the air-breathers have left in their tanks. How long have they been down there again? Maybe their suits can somewhow evacuate the CO₂ and extract the O₂ from the surrounding water? Fisto and Skywalker banter for a bit, but they are interupted by the prince and Ackbar who want to split up. Ahsoka, Fisto and the clones go with the prince, Anakin, Ackbar and Padmé with Senator Tills. Ackbar says Lee-Char is their only hope. Fortunately the ship's debris pass throught the city without falling on any building.

Yoda calls the gungans and explains the situation. Looks like Boss Nass is no longer the king around there, dunno what happened to him. The new boss needs some thinking time to make a decision. Jar Jar, being opposed to thinking as a matter of principle, insists they go help Amidala immediately as she's helped them before. I mean, both time I can think of she had perfectly self-serving reasons, but hey, gift horses and all that. "Thinking time done." well that was quick. They agree. Just as Ahsoka's group is sitting down and contemplating their options, a convoy of prisoners en route for the work camps passes by. Fisto and Tano explains that these are to become slaves and that that is the future of both mon cala and quarrens should the separatist wins: "all slaves for Count Dooku." We went a long way from "He couldn't assassinate anyone. It's not in his character" haven't we?

Ahsoka tries to explain the virtues of patience and inspiring others to Lee-Char. Since he doesn't think he can do that if his people don't know he's alive, he sounds some horn he apparently had and makes a short speech to the prisoners telling them they won't stay in chains long. Anakin's group is still in the capital and he decides to destroy the interplanetary scanners to ensure the Separatists couldn't detect the reinforcements, should any come. So he destroys the building's support with nothing but the Force, making it collapse. I think that's the most impressive display of raw power we've seen from anyone in this show. In fact I don't think I've seen Anakin/Vader ever do something that big. when Tamson learns their radars are gone he immediately orders to prepare for an attack. While he goes looking for the prince and the Jedi. This and the arrival of the gungan laters point to the seppies not having a fleet orbiting the planet, which seems like an oversight. Come to think of it, what happened to the Republican fleet that brought Kit, Ahsoka and the clones there?

Republic ships arrive with the gungans who make a several-dozen-meter high dive into the water. Pretty tough people, those gungans. They rescue the Prince's group from the guards and Skywalker's from a bunch of Medusae. Jar Jar and Anakin are happy to see each other but Binks can't hear anything because of something I can't decipher through his speech pattern. Nevertheless, I am confident it is dumb. Lee-Char grabs a gun and leads the charge. The quarren leader tell Tamson they're overwhelmed and he wants to reatreat but the sharkman refuses, upon being informed of the positions of the two jedi groups, he concludes that the Prince must be in the one that's freeing the prisoners. wrong reasonning, but correct conclusion, remember kids, the fallacy fallacy is a fallacy for a reason! So he commits Dooku's reinforcements there. These turn out to be some of the spearatists squid-like space/waterships which he has rotate in order to create a whirlpool in the middle of the battlesfield. Why would that inconvienience the republicans more than you? Maybe because the aquadroids are heavier? I don't know.

Tamson launches himself at Lee-Char. Ahsoka intervenes but he distracts her with some aquadroids to resume the "fight" with the Prince. Kit Fisto intervenes and apparently sucker punches him so hard it unhinges his jaw, but losing his lightsaber in the process. He orders Ahsoka and the Prince to escape while he holds tamson off. Before he can actually fight him, though, he is surrounded by aquadroids. Some more squids try the same trick on Anakin's group. Ackbar and him attack the main squid. Skywalker saws one of its tentacle off, this sends it spinning into a bulding. Tills, Skywalker, Binks, Amidala, Fisto and Ackabar are captured. Tamson yell at his troops to find the Prince.Lee-Char wonders how to win the war. Ahsoka tells him she understand his fear but he mustn't make deicision out of it. They leave as he promises to unify mon cala again.

Spoiler: My thouhgts

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I am honestly surprised this is a three-parter. The gungan's arrival seemed like it would conclude the battle. As it turns out they didn't matter much. The villains' victory feels really unearned there. The gungans kinda disappeared when the squids started spinning despite dropping on the seppies by surprise and destroying the Medusae (1st place for "most useless Separatist secret weapon by the way). Especially since I have a hard time buying that Fisto couldn't fight his way out of his predicament. I get Tamson being a problem for Ahsoka last time since she had to protect the Prince ontop of being a Padawan and fighting in an unfamiliar environnment, but Kit Fisto? His lightsaber is right there, he could totally shove the droids away, get it back and turn Tamson into sushi before he has time to say "why did I decide to go to battle unarmed, again?"

Odd we had no mention of the murder of Lee-Char's father, but come on, we all know it was Tamson. Bet that "reveal" is what gets the quarren leader to change side. Turns out you can make Jar-Jar tolerable if you give him under four lines of dialog. Still not a welcome sight. Speaking of sights, man is this episode dark. All blacks and murky greens. Add an underwater storm to that and that final battle was neither easy or nice to look at.

Next up: Prisoners

[Sapphire Guard]

This is one of those arcs where 'why are the main characters here?' comes to mind. Gotta be more than one aquatic Jedi in the temple.

[Fyraltari]

This is one of those arcs where 'why are the main characters here?' comes to mind. Gotta be more than one aquatic Jedi in the temple.

Yeah I feel like this should have just been a Kit Fisto mission.

And we know of one other amphibian Jedi, a mon cala even. Fisto's former padawan who died fighting Grievous. Maybe it was just the two of them?

[Dargaron]

The Jedi Temple actually does have a pretty nice pool setup if the old Jedi Apprentice books are still valid. Obi-wan's best friend as a Padawan was a Mon Cala, and there was an action scene in Temple Under Siege where the enemy saboteur causes a turbolift running through the ceiling above the pool to derail, and it has to be evacuated via maintenance scaffolds. The climax of that book also hinges on the fact that lightsabers fizzle out if they come into contact with liquid water, since the final battle is a lightsaber duel in the temple's Water Purification Facility, and both sides try to entice the other into accidentally disarming themselves.

There's also a spiffy meditation garden where there's a bombing attempt on Yoda while he's walking over a river on a footbridge.

[Fyraltari]

Season 4, Episode 3: Prisoners

Spoiler: Recap

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Anakin, Kit, Jar Jar and Padmé are taken to prison, where Tamson greets them calling binks a "fumbling amphibian" which is odd coming from another amphibian. He has the two non-jedi hold by some sort of droid-cages and the two Jedi thrown into cages made of three electric eels bound together. I mean, points for creativity but I have the feeling they could just launch themselves through and get away even if it'd hurt a little.

Spoiler: Feels a bit like this

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when they refuse to tell where the Prince is, a quarren prods the eels who, in turn zap the prisoners.

Meanwhile, Ahsoka and Lee-Char are hiding from the separatists. The Prince wishes his father were there to unite with the quarrens (whose leader is called Nossor Ri). He says their two people had a difficult but respectful relationship until Tamson arrived. Urgh, more on that later. Lee-Char wants to lead the mon cala, clones and gungan united with the quarrens against the Separatists and he reckons he'll need Ackbar's help for that.
The Prince and the Padawan (good name for a Star Wars fairy tale?) have reached a prison camp. Was this a thing the mon cala already had? Else how did you know where to find it? They sneak in with a bunch of guards; They meet a bunch of prisoners who Lee-Char tells not to despair and Monk (a clone serving under Tano) takes them to Ackbar and Tills.

Tamson and Ri report to Dooku that the Jedi won't tell them where to find Lee-Char. Ri doesn't think that matters: now that they have won the quarren should take the lead and rebuild. The Sith rebukes him, saying that the quarren have sworn allegiance to the Separatists and a reveals that a bunch of karkarodon (Tamson's species) soldiers have arrived to garrison the planet. Also Dooku called Nossor "Senator Ri", was he a Senator in the Republic (I don't think he was the guy who told Padmé he only cared about his constituents) or has he just bee promoted to Senator in the separatist's own Senate? Tamson gets back to the prioners and tell them he doesn't personally care if the prince is found (he'd torture them either way) but Dooku insists, so he breaches Padmé's helmet, which slowly fills it with water.

Ackbar is wounded and doesn't believe they can fight anymore but Lee-cjhar explains to him his plan of allying with the quarrens. Ackbar refuses and accuses the quarrens of assassinating the previous king but Lee-Char is certain it was Tamson. I mean, mee too but for Doylist reasons. What makes him so sure? Lee-Char says he'll talk to Nossor Ri and Ackbar and Monk agree to marshall the mon cala and republicans respectively. Then a bunch of droids appear to arrest Lee-Char who uses this opportunity to demand a meeting with their superiors. No "take me to your leader", though.

Back with the others Tamson accepts that the Jedi don't actually know where to find the Prince. Something that becomes irrelevant when he's told of the arrest and he has the Prince taken to the throne room. He wants Lee-Char to see him "in his rightful place, as ruler of this world." Nossor says that wasn't the deal he made with Dooku. And Tamson agrees: it was the deal he made. Skywalker tells Tamson he has to save Amidala. "No, I don't." Good line. Ri looks sad but leaves without doing anything. Kit and Anakin use the Force to push the water away from Padmé's helmet. That's a neat use of the Force, I like it. But it's temporary at best and an eel just bit anakin anyway. So Jar Jar spits at Padmé's helmet which seals her helmet. He calls it Gungan waterproofing and that's why they swim so good. ****'s sake.

Lee-Char and Ahsoka are taken to Tamson and Nossor Ri. Tamson is being a prick and calls Lee-Char's people his slaves. Lee-char says his people is both the mon cala and the quarren. He appeals to Nossor, saying the Separatists will just exploit them to no end. When Ri doesn't answer, Tamson mocks them both and call the quarrens gutless. Tamson then says he's having Lee-Char publicly executed. Anakin and Co are taken to the execution as are all the prisoners apparently. Ahsoka tells Anakin it's all part of the plan but it's out of their hands for now. "I'm not sure I like this plan after all." While Tamson is grandstanding, quarrens go through the prisoners distributing weapons and telling them they are with them. Just as teh Prince about to be killed, Ri launches himself at him and spreads an ink cloud to confuse the karkarodons. Lots of amphibian species showing abilities I didn't know they had today.

Everybody starts shooting and Ahsoka frees her colleagues (to my relief she does so by releasing the eels from their bonds rather than cutting them which would probably be easier but certainly less Jedi-like). Big battle scene, the good guy manage to crash the calmar ships. Tamson finally decides to use weapons: knife that he stabs people with and then they explode. Congratulations, you took the second most basic weapon there is (after the venerable club) and make it less effective by turning tit single use. Bravo. Tamson gloats to Lee-char about killing his father so the audience is sure, I guess. The Prince stabs him in the shoulder with one of his knives and then shoots it making him explode. At the first the camera turns away from the corpse but then we get a lovely shot of the karkarodon's severed head. Brutal. apparently he was the last separatist standing because everybody starts celebrating their victory.

Cut to Lee-Char's crowing. With Nossor Ri putting the crown on the new king's head and pledging the loyalty of the quarren to him while he pledges to serve all people of mon cala. Good, the quarren have learned never to question their mon cala overlords, it seems. Urgh.

Spoiler: My thoughts

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This wasn't a very good opening arc. It felt very padded (the entire second episode could be cut without losing anything of value) and crowded: three different Jedi plus Padmé plus Ackabr plus Jar JAr plus Senator Tills and the main character is Lee-Char is way too many people. Two episodes with just Kit Fisto Ackbar and Lee-Char would have made this work better, I think. I am also dispointed that given a whole additional dimension to have battles in the best they can come up with is people rushing at one other in a straight line while firing it. I want vehicles, artillery, more creative things!

Once again this episode is not very nice to look at with how dark it is. I know what they are going for (symbolism and all) but still it looks ugly and makes it like the Separatists just don't want to pay their electricity bills.

The second episode was entirely pointless. The gungans didn't amount to anything in the end. Even Jar Jar's one good thing (saving PAdmé) would have probably better spent by giving it to Nossor Ri to make is switching side later on more believable.

So that resolution... Oh boy. Well first of, the separatists suck at imperialism. The trick ts to concentrate all the power in the hands of your native allies to widen the gap between them and the other locals so that they couldn't turn against you in the future. That was already old hat when Caesar did it! By bringing in the karkarodons and acting like pricks the Separatists just gave the quarrens cause to turn agaisnt them and rally with the mon cala against the common ennemy. Of course, it's a children show, the unsubtle approach may be better.
But the real issue I have is: they're back to where they were in the beginning. Like why did the quarresn join in with the Separatists? Because they are always ruled by a mon cala king and they don't feel like, they can trust that system. I agree with that! They live with the mon cala but are obviously not equal to them. But this episode is all like "no they're wrong, it was all fine it was all Tamson that lied to them and tricked them. There are no real issues bewteen the species." What did Tamson go door to door and tol every quarren "hey did you know you're oppressed actually" and they all fell for it despite the situation being. just. fine. actually!? The mon cala will never abuse their dominant position against the quarren, just give them all the power and trust the king when he says he serves "all the people". Urghhhh, give me a break.
You know what would have been better? If Lee-Char had changed the staus quo at the end. taken some sort of action so that they don't end up in this situation one generation down the line. He could have abdicated the crown so they could hold elections or name Nossor Ri co-monarch or decreted that the crown would pass fromm the mon cala to the quarren and back every generation or something.

Next up: Shadow Warrior, hmm... Darth Maul?

[Keltest]

I dont have much to say about this arc. I dont think there was a good reason to have Anakin and Padme here other than for them to get captured later, and their captivity did nothing for the plot, since we know none of those characters are going to be killed or even debilitated.

[Mechalich]

I dont have much to say about this arc. I dont think there was a good reason to have Anakin and Padme here other than for them to get captured later, and their captivity did nothing for the plot, since we know none of those characters are going to be killed or even debilitated.

Even though it was season 4 by this point, there's very much a sense that the production team still didn't trust themselves to run a whole arc without at least some major PT characters involved. In particular, I feel like throughout the series there was some kind of internal mandate to push screentime for Padme whenever it was even remotely possible, generally to the series' detriment. I mean, Catherine Taber's Padme is vastly superior to Natalie Portman's Padme, but her character still has limited function unless specific political circumstances arise. Further, while TCW's constant use of Anakin really helped to flesh out his character and ultimately helps to justify his actions in RotS, the use of Padme in TCW failed to accomplish anything along those lines.

[Jasdoif]

So that resolution... Oh boy. Well first of, the separatists suck at imperialism. The trick ts to concentrate all the power in the hands of your native allies to widen the gap between them and the other locals so that they couldn't turn against you in the future. That was already old hat when Caesar did it! By bringing in the karkarodons and acting like pricks the Separatists just gave the quarrens cause to turn agaisnt them and rally with the mon cala against the common ennemy. Of course, it's a children show, the unsubtle approach may be better.
But the real issue I have is: they're back to where they were in the beginning. Like why did the quarresn join in with the Separatists? Because they are always ruled by a mon cala king and they don't feel like, they can trust that system. I agree with that! They live with the mon cala but are obviously not equal to them. But this episode is all like "no they're wrong, it was all fine it was all Tamson that lied to them and tricked them. There are no real issues bewteen the species." What did Tamson go door to door and tol every quarren "hey did you know you're oppressed actually" and they all fell for it despite the situation being. just. fine. actually!? The mon cala will never abuse their dominant position against the quarren, just give them all the power and trust the king when he says he serves "all the people". Urghhhh, give me a break.
You know what would have been better? If Lee-Char had changed the staus quo at the end. taken some sort of action so that they don't end up in this situation one generation down the line. He could have abdicated the crown so they could hold elections or name Nossor Ri co-monarch or decreted that the crown would pass fromm the mon cala to the quarren and back every generation or something.

To be (somewhat) fair, "the people who offered to free us only wanted to enslave us for themselves" could have been made into a good point, if the three-parter hadn't been wasted on padding and/or combat....

Even though it was season 4 by this point, there's very much a sense that the production team still didn't trust themselves to run a whole arc without at least some major PT characters involved.

Yeah, they wouldn't show that sort of confidence (and the corresponding talent behind it) until the next season.

[Keltest]

What the arc really needed is to demonstrate what the Quarran get out of the deal, IMO. They want self determination, but their leader was also close friends with the Mon Cala king, so they cant have been that much worse off or ignored.

[Fyraltari]

To be (somewhat) fair, "the people who offered to free us only wanted to enslave us for themselves" could have been made into a good point, if the three-parter hadn't been wasted on padding and/or combat....

What the arc really needed is to demonstrate what the Quarran get out of the deal, IMO. They want self determination, but their leader was also close friends with the Mon Cala king, so they cant have been that much worse off or ignored.

It would have been a good occasion to show that the Republics had flaws and to make a nuanced point about violent/reformist reactions to injustices.

Yeah, they wouldn't show that sort of confidence (and the corresponding talent behind it) until the next season.

The season after which the show got cancelled the first time around, yes?

[Jasdoif]

The season after which the show got cancelled the first time around, yes?

Yes. I would, however, be remiss not to mention what I recently discovered: the show's air time was also moved for the season, from prime-time on Friday to early morning on Saturday. Historically (for broadcast television, anyway), this type of move was done to produce dropping audience ratings (due to smaller television audience numbers at the time slot) to cite when cancelling a show; it was likely doomed before the first episode of the season aired.

[Kornaki]

Maybe that's why they felt so good about doing off the wall plots, since they knew the show was doomed anyway.

[Mechalich]

Maybe that's why they felt so good about doing off the wall plots, since they knew the show was doomed anyway.

No, because they were continually working on significantly more content at the time, some of which became Season 6 and later portions of Season 7 (the Bad Batch arc most notably) while other material was converted into other media (such as the novel Dark Disciple).

The cancellation was rather a result of the acquisition of Star Wars by Disney from Lucasfilm and the various complications regarding ongoing projects surrounding that. Notably, the same team - production, animation, even voice talent, the works - that produced TCW moved over almost whole cloth into the production of Rebels almost immediately.

[Jasdoif]

It would have been a good occasion to show that the Republics had flaws and to make a nuanced point about violent/reformist reactions to injustices.

Been thinking about this...while true, three things come to mind:

• As I believe you've noted before, the show's target audience is young enough that "nuance" is almost certainly going to be wasted on their attention to detail.
• The whole overarching theme of the Clone Wars period, basically, is that the Republic is rotting on the inside while the Confederacy is rotten on the outside; most instances of the external conflict between them boils down to "Confederacy bad, so Republic good" even before it gets exaggerated to cartoonish levels for the...cartoon.
• To really bring home the point about injustice, you'd ideally show the state of affairs with Lee-Char's father before he was assassinated, to establish that there's more to it than simply who the ruler happens to be. Instead, the show does its usual "in medias res with narrated preamble" thing and thus opens onto the council conflict, which frames the Quarrens' primary objection as Lee-Char's general inexperience (due to his relatively-obvious age); with the comments about the governmental arrangement relegated to what are effectively offscreen hecklers. And that primary objection is addressed throughout the three episodes, as Lee-Char learns and pushes himself to dispel the doubts.

Don't get me wrong, with three episodes' worth of time I think this could have been written to reasonably accommodate both Lee-Char's growth and the state of the planet's governance (I mean, the "main characters guide secondary character through their character development to end a nascent war" thing was done much better in Trespass, and that was a single episode); but I can see why this arc might have gone the way it did. (Why it took so long to get through, I'm not so sure about)

[Fyraltari]

Been thinking about this...while true, three things come to mind:

• As I believe you've noted before, the show's target audience is young enough that "nuance" is almost certainly going to be wasted on their attention to detail.
• The whole overarching theme of the Clone Wars period, basically, is that the Republic is rotting on the inside while the Confederacy is rotten on the outside; most instances of the external conflict between them boils down to "Confederacy bad, so Republic good" even before it gets exaggerated to cartoonish levels for the...cartoon.
• To really bring home the point about injustice, you'd ideally show the state of affairs with Lee-Char's father before he was assassinated, to establish that there's more to it than simply who the ruler happens to be. Instead, the show does its usual "in medias res with narrated preamble" thing and thus opens onto the council conflict, which frames the Quarrens' primary objection as Lee-Char's general inexperience (due to his relatively-obvious age); with the comments about the governmental arrangement relegated to what are effectively offscreen hecklers. And that primary objection is addressed throughout the three episodes, as Lee-Char learns and pushes himself to dispel the doubts.

Don't get me wrong, with three episodes' worth of time I think this could have been written to reasonably accommodate both Lee-Char's growth and the state of the planet's governance (I mean, the "main characters guide secondary character through their character development to end a nascent war" thing was done much better in Trespass, and that was a single episode); but I can see why this arc might have gone the way it did. (Why it took so long to get through, I'm not so sure about)

I disagree with your first point. Subtlety is often missed by the young, but nuance, as long as it's clearly shown works. For the rest, yeah, a major rewrite would have been necessary, but that would be more feature than bug, in my opinion.

Season 4, Episode 4: Shadow Warrior

Spoiler: Recap

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The war exacerbates tensions on Naboo and people are worried the gungans will join the Separatists, so Padmé and Anakin are sent to make that not happen. Come on, we just did that plot! They meat with everybody's favourite character, Jar Jar Binks. *Big sigh* The gungan leader, Boss Lyoni (What happened to Nass?) has given "muy fiery speeches" and is calling for a march on Theed because he blames the Naboo for "everything". Both Padmé and Binks immediately state that it's not true. Isn't it though? (Okay, probably not everything.)

Indeed, as they arrive, Lyoni is adressing a huge crowd of at least seven people with the most obvious monotone voice ever. As everybody leaves Lyoni, Anakin eyes an advisor of his who has a bone in his nose, is all hunched over and has sinister music about him so you know he's the bad guy. Padmé starts pleading with him but he rebukes her. Thankfully the two humans immediately spots that he sounds like he's under someone's influence. Or just under the influence, maybe. Skywalker Force-pulls his glowing necklace which frees his mind. It was given to him by Minister Rish Lu, who has ancient gungan mystical powers the episode will never explain.

Lu is confering with Dooku, and we can see that his eyelids bulge out to make him fleshy eyebrows even though his eyes are on stalks. Repulsive. They're just recapping their plan of a joint gungan/Separatist attack on Theed in case either of them forgot, I guess. Lyoni decides to confront him alone which Anakin agress to because he's a dumbass, I guess. Lu tries to control Lyoni again and when the humans intervene he sicks a couple commando droids on them. In the confusion, Lu stabs Lyoni and escapes.

Lyoni is taken to the hospital, where I'm pretty sure the nurse is a reused model of Peppi from a couple seasons ago. He's not in danger but he's unconscious and hasn't called off the attack yet (so not march in the sense of "protest, heh?). Jar Jar puts on Lyoni's hat of office for no reason and the others realize they look suspiciously alike (indeed, two episodes ago I though Lyoni was a surprisingly competent Jar Jar until Jar Jar intervened). So they decide a little identity theft should get the army to stand down. Just hope that nurse in the background doesn't tell anyone.

Lu tells the army Lyoni is dead and to honour his last command they will march on Theed. The soldiers start chanting "Death to the Naboo!" Pretty quick. Jar Jar makes a bad speech and officially cancel the attack. He also orders Rish Lu arrested, but he escapes with Skywalker in tow. And just at that moment a Separatist barge comes in and demands that Lyoni talks with their general about the cancelled attack. How do they already know? And Jar Jar is taken to an office (inside the transport ship?) where he meets Grievous. The general apparently doesn't know that Lyony isn't actually allied with them. Did Dooku not tell him or did he not pay attention to the briefing? Also some "cring comedy". Great. When Grievous says he's going to attack the Naboo regardless, Jar Jar tells the gungan general who was with him to go do the thing.

Said general then leaves and calls Padmé to tell her what's happening. She tells him to capture Grievous. What's her plan to deal with the Separatist army? Use the fact that the droids still think they're allies and tell the droid commander to shut the entire army down.


...


















THIS ACTUALLY WORKS!

Greivous finally figures out he's not actually talking to Boss Lyoni, but in the time it takes for him to posture, Binks manages to leave the room. Grievous follows him and his surrounded by the entire gungan army. who proceeds to attack him by group of two or threes rather than just charge him; The generals end up dueling with the. entire. freaking. army. spectating. until Grievous stabs his opponent. "How does it feel to die? - Not die, sacrifice." and he rams his spear inside Grievous' torso while Binks and the others lob those purple balls of ligthning they have at him. Okay so two things: First, we have found a dumber gungan than Jar Jar. Congratulations. second: how did Grievous survive? He's been empaled through his remaining organs and his circuits fried. he really ought to be dead.

Meanwhile, Dooku is hiding inside Rish Lu's secret lab, one of these giant hindu-like statues the Naboo have, that looks nothing like a lab. was this operation really so So important they needed both Dooku AND Grievous on the field? Somehow, he heard about Grievous's situation and is telling Sidious who orders him to capture Skywalker and exchange the prisoners because Grievous his critical to his plans for the Clone War. I would have thought he was replaceable, myself. "How can you be certain the Republic will trade the Grievous for Skywalker?" Dude, you are talking to the supreme Chancellor of the Republic, here. He just says he has no doubt Amidala will agree. Dooku orders Lu (who's been driving for a long while) to lure Skywalker to him.

He does so. Dooku kills Lu after calling him a fool. Also he calls Skywalker "young master" and that really pisses me off, he'd be the last person in the galaxy to give him undue respect. Anakin asks him why he brought the war to Naboo. Dooku replies that the war started there years ago and that the Sith control everything. Did no one tell Anakin Darth Maul was a Sith? Also, no the war didn't start there in TPM, the events of that movie were largely irrelevant. Also, why would Dooku care about that? Also that doesn't answer the question. They fight. Anakin does better than you'd expect, but Dooku has magnaguards with him and the Jedi Knight is overwhelmed. still the count is noticeably out of breath.

Back with the gungans, Lyoni comes to just as Dooku calls with Anakin's phone. He lays down his terms and gives Amidala one hour to think it over. She hesitates but Jar Jar and Lyoni convince her to go through with it. They meet with an inexplicable second separatist fleet. Also the Naboo Queen is here for some reason. Grievous was locked in with special cuffs (don't they know that's the Separatist world!?), some kind of shperical force-fields that surround his head and hans and are bound together. A tad silly. Skywalker in dragged on the ground and exchanged for Grievous. One droid is courteous enough to toss in his lightsaber as well. Lyoni and the queen congratulate Bink for stopping a Naboo/gungan war for the second time.

Spoiler: My thoughts

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So who was the Shadow warrior? Rish Lu? Grievous? Dooku? Anakin? Jar Jar?
this episode is really weird. It starts as a retread of the very previous arc but worse and with Jar Jar and then two-thirds in switches gears with the two captures. I thought "okay maybe this is a weird beginning to a rescue mission arc, they'll have to save Anakin next episode" but nope, it's settled immediately.

This is a new low for the Separatists, Grievous especially, really going to have a hard time taking him seriously next time this show will try presenting him as a threat. Also after three seasons of having Skywalker and Grievous dance around each other to not invalidate their first meeting in ROTS, I guess they just gave up on that? Cause Grievous definitely did get a good look at Anakin at the end, there.

Please, no more Jar Jar episodes.

Next up: Mercy Mission

[Sapphire Guard]

Dooku showing up in person on Naboo will never not be stupid.

[Mechalich]

I've always wondered if there was some kind of mandate for a certain number of Jar-Jar episodes in the series, because he sure seems to show up with distressing regularity and even when other characters manage to route their stories around him semi-successfully his very presence cripples episodes and whole arcs. Then again, Filoni seems to have a fondness for periodic 'kiddie' episodes that aren't really connected to anything and really crank up the cheese meter (Rebels has a couple of these each season, usually featuring droid characters). I think maybe there was an occasional need to pump out an episode in a hurry and someone's dumb idea that they'd been pushing for ages finally got approved when that happened.

[Fyraltari]

Dooku showing up in person on Naboo will never not be stupid.

He does it again?

I've always wondered if there was some kind of mandate for a certain number of Jar-Jar episodes in the series, because he sure seems to show up with distressing regularity and even when other characters manage to route their stories around him semi-successfully his very presence cripples episodes and whole arcs. Then again, Filoni seems to have a fondness for periodic 'kiddie' episodes that aren't really connected to anything and really crank up the cheese meter (Rebels has a couple of these each season, usually featuring droid characters). I think maybe there was an occasional need to pump out an episode in a hurry and someone's dumb idea that they'd been pushing for ages finally got approved when that happened.

Are there many more Jar Jar episodes? Because, I've had more than enough "meessa", "youssa" and "bombad" for a lifetime.

[Mechalich]

Are there many more Jar Jar episodes? Because, I've had more than enough "meessa", "youssa" and "bombad" for a lifetime.

I believe the only remaining Jar Jar appearances are two episodes in Season 6, which, if I recall correctly, was the Jar Jar affiliated plot that sucked the least (and, funny coincidence, the Wookieepedia page regarding those episodes suggests there was a pro-Jar Jar mandate from Lucas himself, so that's a mystery solved).

[Fyraltari]

I believe the only remaining Jar Jar appearances are two episodes in Season 6, which, if I recall correctly, was the Jar Jar affiliated plot that sucked the least (and, funny coincidence, the Wookieepedia page regarding those episodes suggests there was a pro-Jar Jar mandate from Lucas himself, so that's a mystery solved).

*Angrily shakes fist at the Sky*

Luuucaaaaaaasssss!

[McNum]

*Angrily shakes fist at the Sky*

Luuucaaaaaaasssss!

I honestly enjoyed those episodes in season 6. Like they finally figured out what to do with Jar Jar to make him work.

Spoiler: Season 6

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A Jar Jar Binks and Mace Windu buddy cop adventure! Think about those two playing off each other.

[Sapphire Guard]

You've got to expect the occasional episode aimed at kids in, y'know, a kids show.

[Fyraltari]

You've got to expect the occasional episode aimed at kids in, y'know, a kids show.

"It's for kids" is no excuse for poor quality. Quite the opposite.

[Jasdoif]

I disagree with your first point. Subtlety is often missed by the young, but nuance, as long as it's clearly shown works.

In general, yes. However the show has not inspired much confidence in its ability or willingness to be less direct with something important. Like with Tamson spelling out that he has his own deal with Dooku and that he already finds the Quarrens to be more slaves than the Mon Calamari. (Compare "I am altering the deal. Pray I don't alter it further").

this episode is really weird. It starts as a retread of the very previous arc but worse and with Jar Jar and then two-thirds in switches gears with the two captures. I thought "okay maybe this is a weird beginning to a rescue mission arc, they'll have to save Anakin next episode" but nope, it's settled immediately.

Does anyone else get the impression this was originally two episodes, that were (c)rushed together after the previous arc stole got a third episode?

Dooku showing up in person on Naboo will never not be stupid.

He does it again?

Spoiler: Later this season

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Yes. It's much more sensical there, but that's a low bar.

Because, I've had more than enough "meessa", "youssa" and "bombad" for a lifetime.

Supply Lines is probably the best of the Jar-Jar episodes; Jar-Jar the idiot savant with an extremely specific skillset is much more tolerable than Jar-Jar the idiot who lucks his way through everything. A show with a wildly different tone/setting could possibly make better use of a Jar-Jar-like character....

You've got to expect the occasional episode aimed at kids in, y'know, a kids show.

"It's for kids" is no excuse for poor quality. Quite the opposite.

Indeed; see, for example, the (original) Teen Titans animated series. Also, doesn't being a kids show mean all/most of the episodes are aimed at kids?

[Sapphire Guard]

Is it bad quality, though, or is it just lighthearted and silly? My impression of Jar Jar is that he's doing exactly what the writers want him to do, not that it's some kind of failure.

I cannot confirm or deny Dooku, but honestly there's no way he should be here at all. I mean, what if he's caught? Trolling Anakin is not a good enough reason.

[Fyraltari]

Is it bad quality, though, or is it just lighthearted and silly? My impression of Jar Jar is that he's doing exactly what the writers want him to do, not that it's some kind of failure.

Phantom Menace is 22 years old. The children it was targeted at are adults now. Do you know any of them who remember Jar Jar fondly? Because I don't. Yet people remember Pingu fondly, or a lot of other stuff they watched when they were children that was actually good.

What's Jar Jar's deal? He talks weirdly and acts wacky and that's it. There's nothing here but an accent and slapstick*, it may make you laugh once, but that's it. Comedy is an art, a difficult one, you've got to understand your audience and what makes them tick to subvert it. Just going "woo, look at the wacky accidents!" with no depth or effort isn't good enough. If comedy were food, Jar Jar would be bland, flavorless, unfullfilling junk food.

*And I'm being generous here by calling that slapstick.

[Lord Vukodlak]

I think with Jar Jar, the producers wanted to see. "Can we save this character" Clone Wars series Anakin is way better then movie Anakin. And Ahsoka was hated but people came to lover her. Lucas basically cut him from Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith. Maul went from a one note near mute bad-guy to a tragic Shakespearean villain.

Personally I thought Jar-Jar should have appeared in Rebels, but a far grimmer character who doesn't talk because as the story says the Empire cut out his tongue.(he actually cut it off himself.)

Phantom Menace is 22 years old. The children it was targeted at are adults now. Do you know any of them who remember Jar Jar fondly? Because I don't. Yet people remember Pingu fondly, or a lot of other stuff they watched when they were children that was actually good.

I know children TODAY who like Jar Jar.... god have mercy upon us all.

[dancrilis]

Phantom Menace is 22 years old. The children it was targeted at are adults now. Do you know any of them who remember Jar Jar fondly? Because I don't. Yet people remember Pingu fondly, or a lot of other stuff they watched when they were children that was actually good.

What's Jar Jar's deal? He talks weirdly and acts wacky and that's it. There's nothing here but an accent and slapstick*, it may make you laugh once, but that's it. Comedy is an art, a difficult one, you've got to understand your audience and what makes them tick to subvert it. Just going "woo, look at the wacky accidents!" with no depth or effort isn't good enough. If comedy were food, Jar Jar would be bland, flavorless, unfullfilling junk food.

*And I'm being generous here by calling that slapstick.

As one of the people who I believe on the first page warned you to simply avoid Jar-Jar episodes I will say ... C-3PO in the original series is not that much better (still better) but fans of the original series give him a pass (sortof), it is possible (albeit unlikely) that the people who were children when Jar-Jar was released hate him because they were taught to hate rather then that he was so actively annoying.

I would be very dubious about the above but it might be a fair arguement.

[Sapphire Guard]

I dunno, I've never done a straw poll of people feel about Jar Jar. I would suggest that thinking about how (some) adults feel about him is not the best way to judge something aimed at kids.

But the hate for him seems to be mostly a meme. There's never any specific fault or failing people can point to, just that they don't like him.

Spoiler: series overall

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Clone Wars Anakin is a much flatter character, he's a generic action hero that occasionally has flashes of random violence (complete with a riff from the Imperial March in case you miss it)

[Fyraltari]

Season 4, Episode 5: Mercy Mission

Spoiler: Recap

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A planet called Aleen (however that's spelled) has suffered terrible earthaquakes. The whole planet apparently. And a Jedi transport that doesn't have any Jedi on-board is redirected to bring humanitarian relief to the people there. So, did this army convoy just happen to be carrying all these supplies? The clone leader commander Wolf (I think he shows up with Rex in Rebels?) reports to Padmé and Yoda that theeir sensors have picked up thousands of survivors. It's apparently good news that the population of an entire planet has been reduced to less than that of my hometown. Wolf's orders is to do what he can, but to get back to the war quickly.

3PO and R2 are there despite neither of their owners being in the astronomical neighbourhood. 3PO gets bullied by clones who call him "Shiny". Does it make sense to call a droid that? The dropships are greeted by a local mounted on a flying beastie. "Great, it's gonna be one of those planets." One of which planets? the ones where the people are glad to see you?

Wolf meets the local king who doesn't speak Basic, so C-3PO can justify his existence. King Manchucho welcomes them to their disaster. Well, he's taking it in high spirits. The king tells his people that the clones will save them and feed their stomachs and that the gods below will know peace once more. I'm a tad disapointed this wasn't foreshadowing for the locals trying to eat/sacrifice the clones. The meeting is interrupted by an aftershock earthquake that the natives mistakenly believe 3PO stopped when he told them to stay calm.

First priority is to repair the local "mainframe computer" thanks to the users' manual R2 has with him. So a handful of clones, D2 and some alynna are sent over there. The clones blast their way through rubble and get inside the computer building. Whose ceiling is high enought to accomodate them despite the native population being about 80cm tall. tHey get to work and are interrupted by another quake.

Meanwhile Wolf is expaling to Manchucho where they'll set up the hospital and community kitchen. But the king thinks that first "Peace must be restored" by going inside/under, 3PO isn't sure what he means. Wolf is confused and 3PO theorizes that maybe their culture forbids eating in public. Yes, this the Way. When Manchucho just randomly starts praying, Wolf's patience runs short and he storms off. The clones with R2 are recalled to help with the work and 3PO repjoins his counterpart. The alynnas with R2 immediately insist they show them something. R2 just abnadons his work I guess?

They take them to a hole in the ground half-covered with a golden disk. Then a quake happens and the droids fall in because we've got to get the plot moving, you see the Force wills it. One of the locals go fetch some help while the droids look around the tunnels. Some purple fireflies fly by 3PO just before he spots daylight (actually some bioluùinescent flora in a big cave). The king tries to explain to wolf what happened to his translator, but well, they don't have the translator with them. The fireflies swarm 3PO for a while making him panic and his yelling wakes what I can only-describe as a burned-up ent. The ents want the droids to get lost. Also they're angry that the surface-dwellers destroyed the peace. They reveal they're causing the quakes to keep out the surface air which is poisonnous to them. However that works. "The quakes have caused many to die, that is why we are here to help. -How? -However we can." Okay, htat's a good line. The ents tell them to see Orphne who will know what to do.

The aleena gather around the hole and starts chanting at it. The droids are puzzled by the ents' assertion and find the fireflies again, who lead them to another cave where they coalesce into a frog/flower lady. Who immediately tries to eat 3PO. Rude. She explains that the aleena and the subterranean people live apart and that the air is filtered by the soil which makes it non-deadly to her people. But the aleena attacked the underground-dwellers' most sacred site and breached the divide. The quakes were apparently attempts to seal that breach. Bit lof an overkill, no? 3PO offers to seal the breach. Orphne just answers that they will if it is their destiny and bull**** like that because the plot isn't dense enough for a whole 22 minutes you see she is a wise trickster-like mentor figure, I guess. Then she adds: "You can run, but cannot walk. You have a mouth, but cannot talk. You have a head, but never weep. You have a bed, but never sleep. Ask yourself who are you?" Okay, most of these are one-to-one translations to French, but rivers have "heads" in English? And then she teleports out.

3PO asks R2 to replay the riddle because I dunno. While he's confused, R2 runs over the symbols of the ground for fire and soil and stops on water which he sprinkles with cleaning fluid. This activates it. And the floor starts glowing. 3PO thinks he solved the riddle and they are yeeted into a big flower on the ceiling. They land just next to the praying alynnas. said aleenas suddenly start coughing and passing out from the vapors coming out of the hole despite being fine before. 3PO understands that the locals can't seal the breach because of that air. They push the seal over the hole and save the planet. Yes, that two-meter wide hole was causing the whole planet to be in danger. It's a bit like when you're five and you imagine that the ocean has a sinkhole like your bathtub. The aleenas cheer. Some clone show up and reprimand them for slacking off on the computer repairs. Cut to the Republicans leaving. Manchichu thanks 3PO and a child hugs R2. C-3PO starts to tell R2 how he's gonna tell everybody of their heroics and the clones can't wait ot get rid of them.

Spoiler: My thoughts

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Well, that was a thing that happened.

Next up: Nomad Droids. Let me guess, More R2 and 3PO.