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

[Keltest]

In English, its not an overly common term, but the "head" of a river is the source of the river. Well, technically, its the point furthest from where it meets another body of water, but in practice thats the source.

Also, its fascinating to me how they have managed to turn 3PO so completely insufferable. In the Original Trilogy he at least had useful information between the translating (such as noticing when the Falcon's hyperdrive is broken), but they seem to have forgotten that he isnt overtly stupid in the series.

[Sapphire Guard]

I have no memory of this episode whatsoever.

[Fyraltari]

So was it king Munchochu who ordered the attack on the temple-thingie and had the seal moved? If so, why?

In English, its not an overly common term, but the "head" of a river is the source of the river. Well, technically, its the point furthest from where it meets another body of water, but in practice thats the source.

Thanks.

I have no memory of this episode whatsoever.

What is there to remember?

[AMX]

My memories of this one are thankfully vague, but ISTR getting the impression that the "attack" was really just a natural earthquake.

[Fyraltari]

My memories of this one are thankfully vague, but ISTR getting the impression that the "attack" was really just a natural earthquake.

No, the earthquakes were made by Orphne & Co, apparently in the hopes of shaking the seal back into place.

[Precure]

Order 666:

You have reached the post numbered 666

[Fyraltari]

Also, its fascinating to me how they have managed to turn 3PO so completely insufferable. In the Original Trilogy he at least had useful information between the translating (such as noticing when the Falcon's hyperdrive is broken), but they seem to have forgotten that he isnt overtly stupid in the series.

3PO's peak was fooling some stormtroopers into believing he and R2 were Imperials aboard the Death Star. It's all been downhill from there regardless of medium.

Order 666:

You have reached the post numbered 666

Wot?

[Mechalich]

It's apparently good news that the population of an entire planet has been reduced to less than that of my hometown.

Planetary population dynamics in Star Wars are kind of tricky. The territory controlled (even nominally) by the Empire (the largest territory ever claimed by a government) contained roughly 100 quadrillion (100,000,000,000,000,000) sapient organic beings (so not counting droids). This population was spread across 70 million star systems. So the mean planetary population was only 1.43 billion people. However, because upwards of half the Empire's population lived in the Core and a good chunk of the rest lived in the Colonies and Inner Rim, the median planetary population was very low. In huge portions of the galaxy the average planetary population was below 1 million.

There is a tendency to use 'planet' as a synonym for 'settlement' in Star Wars as a result, with lots of planets, especially those in the Outer Rim, being implied to have only one real settlement on the entire surface, usually clustered around the only spaceport location. This isn't actually that unreasonable, since a lot of planets are settled during periods of colonial rush where immigrants land a single colony ship, convert it into a starter city and then...no one else ever shows up because the planet doesn't have any real economic utility. So the population expands at a crawl (Star Wars populations are generally post demographic transition and expand very slowly) and doesn't spread out that much because all the essential resources like power generation and droid repair are concentrated in the one city.

[AMX]

No, the earthquakes were made by Orphne & Co, apparently in the hopes of shaking the seal back into place.

Yes, but what opened it in the first place?

The Secret Underground Poison-Breathing Civilisation (TM) think it was an attack, but the impression I got was that It Was All Just A Tragic Misunderstanding (TM).

[Peelee]

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

Case in point: The Iron Giant was for kids.

[Mechalich]

Case in point: The Iron Giant was for kids.

It's worth noting that, in terms of the US TV ratings system 'for kids' encompasses a wide range of different categories. Clone Wars was generally rated TV-PG, a higher rating than given to its successor Rebels, which was rated TV-Y7, and it is clear from even a casual perusal of the two shows that the amount of on-screen 'fantasy violence' considered acceptable between the two shows was very, very different due to the ratings requirements (Rebels often feels like it was restricted to no more than 2 people could be blasted per episode, which led to a lot of punching and kicking for takedowns).

It is possible that, for various reasons such as an intention to utilize other time slots or to produce promotional material suitable for very young children to air at events, certain episodes of Clone Wars operated under a set of guidelines more suited to TV-Y7 rather than TV-PG. The various R2 and 3PO episodes seem like candidates for such a variation. The doesn't mean they can't be good - plenty of extremely kid friendly content is quite good, but it does mean they have to operate with reduced amounts of violence and considerably less narrative complexity.

If that was the case, I think that was a bad choice - most of the best arcs in the Clone Wars are the ones that go hardest in terms of the impact of 'giant, utterly pointless war' upon both participants and civilians - but I can see why they did it, especially given Lucas' mandates to do things like include Jar Jar. The part that's really disappointing is that it's very clear that the TV-PG or Teen ratings zone is capable of handling basically everything one needs to make great Star Wars material, but they deliberately restricted Rebels with the more kid-friendly rating and it really hurt that show.

[Sapphire Guard]

True, but silly and lighthearted is not the same as bad.

[Fyraltari]

Season 4, Episode 6: Nomad Droids

Spoiler: Recap

Show

I don't usually comment on the little quotes before the episodes because they're super vague, tangentially related to the episode and there's nothing I can really say about them, but this time they just straight-up quoted A New Hope.

The droids have been off-loaded to Master Gallia and the narration tells us they hope to avoid a separatist attack before they're back to safety. Does it count as tempting fate if the narration does it? Anyway, 3PO is telling the story of last episode to Amidala on the space-phone. He's eager to be back on coruscant and she wants him to organize some banquet coming up. And they're interrupted by an explosion. The seaparatists are attacking their ship and they're kicking the Republicans' ass so much that Gallia orders an evacuation just as she arrives on the command bridge. The droids stumble into a firefight in the corridors (hmm, this seems familair) and witness gallia dueling Grievous.

While looking for an escape pod, R2 leads his counterpart into the hangar where he straight-up steals a Y-wing, (even shoving away another astromech) and gets 3PO inside. That's a court-martial, right there. R2 shoots at the Seppies for a bit, but when the Republic's cruiser explodes he runs away towards a nearby planet. R2 manages to outmaneuver a pursuing vulture droid but they've taken to much damage and crash. R2 deems the ship fixable with the proper tools, but 3PO doesn't trust it.

They're spied on by local warriors who charge them aaaaand they're liliputians. The good ol' forced perspective trick; it's a classic. Their sticks are electrified so despite their size they knock the droids down and tie them up while waiting for their leader "the Big Hezu". Not even going to comment on the accent. 3PO isists they are friendly but the Big Hezu taught his people there are no such thing as friendly visitors, and they do whatever he says "for our own good." Including sending their children (the lucky ones) to fight his wars. Big Hezu hismelf shows up, and he's an obese man carried by servants accompanied by dancers and trumpettists. Hezu doesn't like R2 talking back but 3PO manages to calm him a bit. Hezu wants them off his planet this instant whether or not their ship is safe to fly. R2 gets uppitty again and 3PO decides to switch him off because he causes an "intergalactic incident". great the translator droid doesn't know what "intergalactic" means. As he says that 3PO slaps R2 which somehow unbalances him and he falls on Hezu crushing him into goo.

The local rejoice and work to repair the Y-Wing. Then they ask 3PO to stay as their leader. 3PO thinks that killing the previous boss is no basis for a system of government. So he asks for the three smartest, most intelligent, most understanding and most compassionate. Luckily all three happen to be present.
He says they should choose their leader from these three and asks who votes for whom. "Congratulations, you are now a democracy!" And the three starts arguing about who had the more votes and it devolves into a brawl. The droids just leave, accidently blowing all the locals off with their exhausts.

Both the droids and the ship are runnign out of power but there happens to be another planet nearby, so they land on that. It's apparently a "stellar remnant in its emerging stages of organic development", shouldn't it be a gaz giant, then? They start looking for a power source and stumble into some local hunters who capture them and take thme to their leader. Said leader is an obvious hologram surrounding by arcs of lightning. He asks what droids are and once he gets an answer he fries one of his men for having "thought" to bring the non-living things to him. 'Coz "no-one thiks here, but me."As 3PO points out he's a hologram (and gets called a blasphemer), R2 wanders off to a cliff side where he opens a door and finds several little droids like the one from Watto's shop in TPM. They're controlling the hologram. tHey don't want to help R2 and tell him to get his own organics to enslave. So R2 switches off the disguise and the hologram starts showing him and the head droid fighting. as the organics storm the droids hideout and shooting up everything (it turns out to be a crashed ship hidden inside of the cliff) R2 and 3PO wlk away as it explodes behinf them.

R2 can't follow since he's running very low on power. And 3PO himself only has 1.73% left. They sit down under a tree and both turn off in what would be a somber scene if we didn't all know they'll be fine. And they're found by weeqay pirates who just happen to pass by. The droids are recharged and taken to an inship arena (they're back in space) where a droid is beating another to death before cremating it. The pirates, however are spotted by gRievous' ship. The general has captured Gallia and decides to use the pirates as target practice. I would question the need for robots to practice, but these droids certainly do need it. 3PO and R2 are thrown into the arena and are saved by a hole being blasted in the hull near them. It has the usual physics-defying burst of wind that blows them out into space.

R2 uses his thrusters to bring them aboard Grievous's ship. Some B1s deem them pirate droids, R2 has to stop 3PO from stating they're Republic... Remember the time 3PO fooled some troopers into thinking they were Imperials? These were the days. The seppies send them to the incenerator room to be melted down for Grievous's war machine. Which one? He's got a lot of those. But just before they're melted away, the Republic arrives! Our two droids escape the incinerator room and stumble into Plo Koon just as he meets up with Gallia (yup, Grievous can't even keep his offscreen victories). along with Plo is Commander Wolf who reports that grievous has fled (figures) and his floored to recognize 3PO and R2. 3PO tells Koon they have been on quite an adventure. "Well, I'm certian Wolf would love to hear about it." and he walks away. Okay, I don't think the JEdi Code explictly forbids that, but it ought to. And the episode ends as 3PO starts telling their story to an exasperated Wolf.

Spoiler: My thoughts

Show

Next up: Darkness on Umbara. Hmm, I think I've heard people praise that arc. So I hope this is where this season gets good.

[Jasdoif]

Spoiler: My thoughts

Show

"Gulliver's Travels? And The Wizard of Oz? In space?"
"I panicked, it was the only thing superficially resembling a plot I could think of!"

[Taevyr]

Minor nitpick: I also used to be annoyed at the use of "intergalactic" in star wars, until I found out about the Rishi maze and the like: there are a few dwarf galaxies the main one has contact with, so "intergalactic" may actually be correct.

OTOH, I'm also fairly certain that in this case, it just sounded both sci-fi and overblown enough for C3PO to use

[Kantaki]

Spoiler

Show

3PO tells Koon they have been on quite an adventure. "Well, I'm certian Wolf would love to hear about it." and he walks away. Okay, I don't think the JEdi Code explictly forbids that, but it ought to. And the episode ends as 3PO starts telling their story to an exasperated Wolf.

New headcanon: The Clones followed Order 66 mostly because the Jedi kept pulling jerk moves like this.

[Fyraltari]

New headcanon: The Clones followed Order 66 mostly because the Jedi kept pulling jerk moves like this.

Ah, yes, I wanted to put in another "this is why the galaxy turned on you, guys" snippet, but I forgot.

[Peelee]

So I hope this is where this season gets good.

I'm going to reiterate my excitement for your eventual Avatar: The Last Airbender watch thread, if only for the "oh, so that's the one episode some people don't like" dichotomy.

[Mechalich]

I will say, Filoni and co. seem to have understood the variance in quality between their episodes, because the good, bad, and mediocre arcs are all pretty well mixed up in order so you never encounter a truly sustained run of dreck for 10+ episodes.

[Fyraltari]

"Gulliver's Travels? And The Wizard of Oz? In space?"
"I panicked, it was the only thing superficially resembling a plot I could think of!"

When they said they were gonna land on another planet after the one with the little people I thought "Oh this is Gulliver's Travels, so now we should have the very big people planet. Or another Cloud City. Or the horse people planet." But it wasn't. If the second one was The Wizard of Oz, shouldn't they have met a lion alien, a vegetal alien and a little girl with a dog alien on a golden road?

Minor nitpick: I also used to be annoyed at the use of "intergalactic" in star wars, until I found out about the Rishi maze and the like: there are a few dwarf galaxies the main one has contact with, so "intergalactic" may actually be correct.

OTOH, I'm also fairly certain that in this case, it just sounded both sci-fi and overblown enough for C3PO to use

I mean, they were on their way from the Mid Rim to Coruscant so, if they ended up in a satellite galaxy, I seriously question the abilities of the cruiser's pilot.

I'm going to reiterate my excitement for your eventual Avatar: The Last Airbender watch thread, if only for the "oh, so that's the one episode some people don't like" dichotomy.

The dichotomy of what and what?

I will say, Filoni and co. seem to have understood the variance in quality between their episodes, because the good, bad, and mediocre arcs are all pretty well mixed up in order so you never encounter a truly sustained run of dreck for 10+ episodes.

That might just be chance. It is quite unlikely to have a die roll a 1 ten times in a row as well.

[Peelee]

The dichotomy of what and what?

The large amount of dreck in TCW* to the small amount in A:TLA.

*To be fair here, Star Wars overall has a large amount of drek, lest I be unduly unkind to TCW. Still love the universe and will watch/read everything they put out, of course.

[Taevyr]

The large amount of dreck in TCW* to the small amount in A:TLA.

*To be fair here, Star Wars overall has a large amount of drek, lest I be unduly unkind to TCW. Still love the universe and will watch/read everything they put out, of course.

'Twas the beauty of the old Star Wars extended Universe: quite a few truly excellent stories, within an incoherent, inconsistent mess of (often) cheap plots and writers purposely retconning each other at times.

And now, Disney seems to be going the same route with their attempt to clean it all up.

[Jasdoif]

When they said they were gonna land on another planet after the one with the little people I thought "Oh this is Gulliver's Travels, so now we should have the very big people planet. Or another Cloud City. Or the horse people planet." But it wasn't. If the second one was The Wizard of Oz, shouldn't they have met a lion alien, a vegetal alien and a little girl with a dog alien on a golden road?

If they were adhering more strongly to the The Wizard of Oz, sure. The whole "pay no attention to who's running the giant intimidating projection" thing is the common super-condensed Wizard of Oz reference, though; in the much the same way as "look a society of small humanoids in wonder of the size of the protagonists" is the common super-condensed Gulliver's Travels reference.


Probably have C3PO stand in for the Tin Man, the Scarecrow and the Cowardly Lion; R2D2 would be Toto....If Adi Gallia was in an escape pod that crash-landed on the Wicked Witch of the East Hay-zu on the first planet the same planet, that'd be the cast right there!

[Fyraltari]

Season 4, Episode 7: Darkness on Umbara

Spoiler: Recap

Show

The Republic launched a lightning strike to take over the strategically situated system of Umbara who is inside a "ghost nebula" (the **** are those?) in the Expansion Region (that's in the Outer Rim? I think?). They've steamrolled the space fleet and are preparing for ground assault. Obi-Wan and Anakin are debriefing the 501st. Their target is the capital city. Kenobi will lead the main assault from the south with the help of Jedi Masters Krell and Ti (Tim?) as well as Cody and friends. While Skywalker and this lot come from the north to take out the ennemy reinforcements. Problem is, the locals joined the CIS of their own accord and will therefore fight the Republic, and they're heavily armed. Also with Skywalker is our old pal Fives on special assignment, which Rex is happy about. Just him, he's no longer part of any squad or unit apparently. Were him and Echo the only ARC Troopers of the entire 501st? Kenobi stresses one last time that Anakin's mission is crucial and they part ways.

We haven't had a proper battle sequence since the Second Battle of Geonosis and, tell you what? I missed it. It's reminiscent of that too, but the ambiance is quite different as Umbara is a very poorly lit world (clue's in the name, really). I guess it's far away from its star? The cloudy weather isn't doing anybody any favour either and the dropships have to fly almost blind under anti-air fire and I think those are flying mines? They have some losses but do overall well. Anakin's group start dropping some good ol' chicken walkers to the battle field to clear out the landing site.
C'est le laridé du poulet. Dansez, dansez tant qu'vous l'pouvez...
the Umbarans (who look like humans in diving suits) have some weird cannons, who llok like some TIE variant that shoots bolts of lightning out of its wings. They can't stop the troops from landing though, and soon start a fighting retreat. This has some real Saving Private Ryan energy to it. Rew spotted a nearby ridge that Anakin elects to use as a staging area. You know, as soon as its cleared of hostiles. Anakin tells the clones to watch out for traps and one of them complains that he can't even see the enemy. "That's why they're called the Shadow People, Tough!" One clone, called Hardcase trips on a vine which, it turns out belong to a giant alien Venus fly-trap. The kind that can move and has a taste for human flesh. It eats a clone and tries to eat Fives too but he feeds it a grenade itself which handily solves the problem. He and Hardcase formally introduce each other. hardcase has a minigun, this is his distinctive sign.

Cut to the troops having a short rest in that ridge. Anakin wants them to get on the move soon. He tells a clone called Dogma to get some rest and Rex has to insist that was an order for dogma to oblige. Rex calls Dogma "wound tight but loyal." This remind Anakin of Rex. The clone thinks that may have been true "... back in the day." What, last year? What they don't know, though, is that they have some Umbarans left behind them and one of them drops a biomechnaical scorpion in the ridge. That thing is cool as ****. It shocks one unlucky sap and its master use the resulting mayhem as a distraction to attack. Anakin destroys the scorpion and Rex calls in an airstrike on their position. That they immediately evacuate, of course. As they wait for the bombers one clone (Fives?) asks Rex if he's sure the bombers are coming. He doesn't answer. Wait didn't you get a reply from whoever is in charge of the bombing? Isn't that standard protocol? I'm sure I have heard you guys go "Copy that!" a few times to confirm an order. Anyway, a couple of Y-bombers blow the ridge to smithereens with the locals in it.

Some time latter, a drops ship... drops a 2,5-meter tall, four-armed anthropomorphic frog: Master Krell. He's gere because the Jedi Council ordered Skywalker back to Coruscant on special request by Supreme Chancellor Palpatine. Hm... Krell doesn't know any more. Well besides that he is taking over the st in the meantime of course. I wonder if whatever Palpatine wants with Anakin will come into play in the next arc or if it's just an excuse to get Anakin away from this one's plot. Anakin introduces Rex as is first in command (don't you mean second? You're numero uno), the finest and most loyal trooper ever. There's an eeeeevil shot of Krell with sinister music as Skywalker leaves, so you know he's bad. Rex tells Krell he's honoured to serve with someone of his reputation. Krell finds it "interesting that [he's] able to recognize the value of honour. For a clone." The hell does that mean. He then has him stand at attention, tells him flattery won't be rewarded and that his command is effective because he does everything by the book. So, y'know, he's that kind of boss. You know the kind.

Some time latter, Fives complains that Krell's being a jerk, but Rex tells him the boss's the boss so just take it until Skywalker's back. Then some bioluminsecent flying mantas show up. The clones immediately start firing at them. Cautious, but rude, maybe they're just native wildlife? They miss anyway and the mantas start grabbing an throwin clones around. Krell makes short work of them. Wait, he's fighting with two double lightsabers? One the one hand, awesome but on the second hand, if that's why they gave him two set of arms, why is he only using his upper ones?

Some time latter, a clone (Dogma?) tells Rex that they've been keepig up the pace for twelve hours without rest and maybe he could have a word with the general about that? Wait, Obi-Wan said his troops would be "twelve clicks" from Anakin's and since they're going to the capital from opposite side they must be headed towards one another. Click means kilometer, right? How the **** did they not meet up if they've been walking fro twelve hours straight? Are they going in circles? Rex suggests another ridge on which to make camp, but Krell isn't willing to stop the forced march, as he berates Rex for questionning his strategy (continuously refers to him as CT-7567, too) and insists that the importance of the mission is such they can't afford rest. Also I think he means "tactic" not "strategy".

Later yet, they've reached a road and Rex reports that they are ready for the planned surgical strike on the city's defenses. Krell, however, decided on a full-frontal assault along the main route. Rex questions this, as they don't know what defenses they are up against. Krell just insists that they march straight to the capital with no stops or retreat, regardless of the resistance. As the vanguard progresses, the clones aren't exactly thrilled with the new "walk directly into the line of fire" plan Krell cooked up (I imagine that the fact he is no longer leading from the front doesn't help with that). Well Hardcase is pretty stoked, which seems to be typical, and another clone (Dogma probably) thinks they should have more trust in their general. Fives just thinks this plan is reckless. Rex agrees but, the general's word is final and this "isn't time for a debate." You guys don't get to experience much of that democracy you are fighting for, do you?

And the road is mined, because of course it is. Don't worry, though, Fives's got a flashlight that highlits the tiles (in the road?) that are trapped. How convienient! Aaaaand, thay're taking artillery fire. Supported by a bunch of local soldiers coming at them from all angles since, as one clone puts it, they're completely exposed. Well, at least Hardcase's having fun. Since they're getting slaughtered, Rex orders a retreat, hoping that, in pursuing them, their ennemy will come out of cover so they can be shot better. This seems to work and I think one Umbaran even stepped on one of their own mines. Oops. Krell, watching this from afar, calls them feeble-minded and sends in some more troopers to the rescue. The Umabarans call it a day and leave.

Krell is pissed at Rex, though and says his failure has compromised the entire operation. This is the final straw for Fives who asks if Krell will "fail" to recognize Rex saving the platoon. Krell, calling him ARC-5555 (does he know the serial number of every clone in his command or what?) draws his blade on him and orders him to stand down. Rex retorts that he followed his plan, even though he thought it flawed and that men, not clones, men! have died for it. And he has as much of a duty to obey Krell as to protect his underlings. Krell recognizes Rex's tenacity, admits his command is much more difficult than Anakin's, but it has proven effective in these dangerous times and that Rex's loyalty to his men is to be commended and that his men seem to admire it which is important in a commander. So his opinion has been noted. Fives sums this up as "I think he almost compliemented you." Not quite. Although this is carefully worded to sound compliment-adjacing he's actually pretty masterfully danced around actually admitting to wrongdoing or praising Rex. Dud should go into politics.

Aaaaaand, they're getting shot at some more. end of the episode.

Spoiler: My thoughts

Show

Aaaah, back to the good stuff. Like I said, the beginning of this reminds me of the Geonosis arc's first episode, which is always good. It's nice to have some war in our Star Wars. The second half, however is an entire beast entirely. Cards on the table, I had watched some clips of this show before I started this thread and I think I recognize Krell as some sort of secret sith* from them. So I guess he's being such a knobhead because he wants the Republic to lose this battle but he's being subtle about it? Kinda wonder how he got his reputation, though?

This epsidoe is rather well paced althought the plant-monster felt a bit filler-ish. It's very dark too, but unlike the first arc of this season, it's more night-lighting than murky waters and the glowing flora and fauna creates some interestign ambiances. MAkes it reather hard to tell the clones apart though.


The Umbarans can't breath their own atmosphere (Fives even breaks one's helmet once to underline the point) but the humans and Krell can? That's blatantly unfair! I remember Umbarans form KotOR II where some served as Visquis's Praetorian Guard. They had environment suits there too, but I think the implication was that their world had been super-irradiated and they had evolved into needing that amount of radiation to survive hence why they needs the suits in environments the other races found livable.

It's pretty obvious in this episode how unwilling the creators are to have the Jedi slash human-like characters to bits. For once the ennemy isn't droids or disgusting bug-creatures and coincidetally the Jedi don't feel like fighting in mêlée today?

Now let's all picture Dee Bradley Baker in the record booth making all the "go, go, go!" and various yells all the clones did in this episode. The man has earned his paycheck, for sure!

*Sounds like a foe for Spider-muun!

Next up: The General.

[Jasdoif]

....in the Expansion Region (that's in the Outer Rim? I think?)

No, the Expansion Region is between the Inner Rim and Mid Rim. I assume the name is somehow related to how the Colonies region is between the Core Worlds and the Inner Rim; like they kept naming the edge of then-known space no one wanted to settle "rim" and continually renamed the rims each time they added one....

Kenobi will lead the main assault from the south with the help of Jedi Masters Krell and Ti (Tim?) as well as Cody and friends.

I think I heard Tiin. On the other hand, Fives did use a grenade on an enemy found naughty in his eyes that snuffed it....

Cards on the table, I had watched some clips of this show before I started this thread and I think I recognize Krell as some sort of secret sith* from them....

You might recognize his species from Dex, the guy who owned the diner in Attack of the Clones who told Obi-Wan about Kamino from the dart.

[Mechalich]

That's blatantly unfair! I remember Umbarans form KotOR II where some served as Visquis's Praetorian Guard. They had environment suits there too, but I think the implication was that their world had been super-irradiated and they had evolved into needing that amount of radiation to survive hence why they needs the suits in environments the other races found livable.

That's the Ubese, the same species as the bounty hunter Leia cosplayed as during ROTJ. Umbarans are a different species, the one Sly Moore, the bald chick occasionally seen standing behind Palpatine, belongs to (which brings of the point that one of Palpatine's most important advisors is from a species that sided with the Separatists, mmm, implications...)

Now let's all picture Dee Bradley Baker in the record booth making all the "go, go, go!" and various yells all the clones did in this episode. The man has earned his paycheck, for sure!

I really hope he was being paid hourly or something so that his paycheck actually reflected how much clone each episode of Clone Wars contained.

No, the Expansion Region is between the Inner Rim and Mid Rim. I assume the name is somehow related to how the Colonies region is between the Core Worlds and the Inner Rim; like they kept naming the edge of then-known space no one wanted to settle "rim" and continually renamed the rims each time they added one....

The Expansion Region is so-named because it was originally settled under a policy of deliberate expansion by corporations in order to acquire the raw materials necessary for further development of the Core and Colonies, and even though that was something like 15,000 years in the past, portions of the region are still developmentally depressed as a consequence.

[Peelee]

It's pretty obvious in this episode how unwilling the creators are to have the Jedi slash human-like characters to bits. For once the ennemy isn't droids or disgusting bug-creatures and coincidetally the Jedi don't feel like fighting in mêlée today?

The network, not the creators. They enforce insane rules on shows - eg, in Batman TAS, among the various pages upon pages of "remove this" the show runners got from Fox, child endangerment was banned. Fox also demanded they put in Robin at one point - a child who encounters danger with Batman. They had to age him up to make the demands work (which really worked out well for the character, but still).

In Star Wars, almost certainly similar rules lead to things like

Spoiler: very minor spoilers for other shows.

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Ezra in Rebels having a laser slingshot instead of a gun (that was as stupid as it sounds), and then eventually a gun that could only stun and did not look like a gun, Omega* in Bad Batch having a laser bow and arrow (that is as stupid as it sounds), and the rest of the titular batch almost exclusively ever firing at their enemies with stun bolts. Because mod forbid the evil Galactic Empire have anyone get shot and die.


*yes, I know, that was only once and I wouldn't be surprised if they had to heavily argue their case for it to boot.

[Keltest]

The network, not the creators. They enforce insane rules on shows - eg, in Batman TAS, among the various pages upon pages of "remove this" the show runners got from Fox, child endangerment was banned. Fox also demanded they put in Robin at one point - a child who encounters danger with Batman. They had to age him up to make the demands work (which really worked out well for the character, but still).

In Star Wars, almost certainly similar rules lead to things like

Spoiler: very minor spoilers for other shows.

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Ezra in Rebels having a laser slingshot instead of a gun (that was as stupid as it sounds), and then eventually a gun that could only stun and did not look like a gun, Omega* in Bad Batch having a laser bow and arrow (that is as stupid as it sounds), and the rest of the titular batch almost exclusively ever firing at their enemies with stun bolts. Because mod forbid the evil Galactic Empire have anyone get shot and die.


*yes, I know, that was only once and I wouldn't be surprised if they had to heavily argue their case for it to boot.

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Im a little skeptical about those examples actually. In Rebels, we see the non-Ezra cast outright use blasters, so even if we cant have Omega doing it (which is plausible), the Batch using stunners is almost certainly a deliberate decision. Especially since they also set a guy on fire at one point that leaves a permanent and really gross burn scar on his head. And Ezra upgrading from his slingshot to a proper blaster is also treated as a plot point demonstrating his growing ruthlessness and violent streak. So while they may have been mandates from Disney, i think its just as plausible theyre deliberate design decisions to show, for example, the Batch's reluctance to kill their brothers intentionally.

[Peelee]

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Im a little skeptical about those examples actually. In Rebels, we see the non-Ezra cast outright use blasters, so even if we cant have Omega doing it (which is plausible), the Batch using stunners is almost certainly a deliberate decision. Especially since they also set a guy on fire at one point that leaves a permanent and really gross burn scar on his head. And Ezra upgrading from his slingshot to a proper blaster is also treated as a plot point demonstrating his growing ruthlessness and violent streak. So while they may have been mandates from Disney, i think its just as plausible theyre deliberate design decisions to show, for example, the Batch's reluctance to kill their brothers intentionally.

Spoiler: Rebels

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The non-Ezea cast are not children. Ezra, a child, does not use a blaster because he is a child. Further, when he upgraded his slingshot to a "proper" blaster, it still only stuns. It is not at all showing growing ruthlessness or a violent streak, I legit have no idea where you got that from.

ETA: I also, interestingly, have a real-life example that we could discuss over PM if you wish - it's nothing objectionable, I just don't want to discuss it on open forums for reasons that would be apparent.

[Keltest]

Spoiler: Rebels

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The non-Ezea cast are not children. Ezra, a child, does not use a blaster because he is a child. Further, when he upgraded his slingshot to a "proper" blaster, it still only stuns. It is not at all showing growing ruthlessness or a violent streak, I legit have no idea where you got that from.

ETA: I also, interestingly, have a real-life example that we could discuss over PM if you wish - it's nothing objectionable, I just don't want to discuss it on open forums for reasons that would be apparent.

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You must have missed the later seasons. Ezra's stunner/saber gets destroyed, so he gets a proper blaster that shoots red/orange (im colorblind) bolts like stormtrooper blasters and builds himself a new, separate lightsaber. He also overtly and explicitly gets called out on how ruthless and pragmatic he has become, due to the influence of a Sith holocron. Its a big plot point.