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Post by Gahmah Raan on Mar 10, 2014 13:32:17 GMT -8
Following the Season 5 finale, “The Wrong Jedi”, we learned that production on Star Wars: The Clone Wars would be winding down as Disney decided to focus their marketing on Original Trilogy and coming Sequel Trilogy. However, a preview given by Dave Filoni confirmed that we had not seen the last of the show yet, as they were already working on episodes for what would’ve been Season 6 and would be allowed to finish them. However, we had no idea when or how this “bonus content” would be shown. For all we knew, it certainly wouldn’t be shown aired at its original home on Cartoon Network (however, whether Toonami will be allowed the rights to air it remains to be seen). Now, about one year after the series was declared to be winding down, 13 episodes (actually 10, since three of them are actually unaired Season 5 episodes) from what would’ve been Season 6, dubbed “The Lost Missions”, was released exclusively on Netflix in the U.S. and Canada (although Germany got to see most of the episodes before we did on one of their own television networks). In the face of early persistent rumors that they would be AppleTv exclusive (which wasn’t already selling well to begin with), this proves that Disney isn’t really as stupid as some Star Wars fans on the internet think. Over a year ago, I did an episode-by-episode retrospective of the entire series on another forum that is now mostly abandoned and finished it within the span of 6 months. As a throwback to that time, I will be reviewing “The Lost Missions” the same way I reviewed those earlier episodes. And just a warning, these reviews contain spoilers that are VERY recent. For the sake of those who don't want to be spoiled and/or don't live in the U.S., Canada or Germany, I will place spoiler tags until the episodes have released internationally. Still, I would encourage you to watch the episodes on Netflix if you have it and live in the U.S. or Canada. The Lost MissionsProtocol 66 arc (Episode 6.1-6.4 “The Unknown”, “Conspiracy”, “Fugitive”, “Orders”)I would like to begin reviewing this arc by saying… “Good soldiers follow orders.” Wait. What? “Good soldiers follow orders.” Whatever. Onto the reviews… The Unknown – Surprise betrayal“The truth about yourself is the hardest to accept.” Republic and Separatist forces are fighting for control of a space station encircling the planet Ringo Vinda (think similar to the Kuat Drive Yards space station), so far with neither side gaining any ground for several rotations. Leading the Republic offensive is Anakin Skywalker and the 501st Legion, who have received aid from Jedi Masters and sisters Tiplee and Tiplar to break the stalemate.Tiplar’s the green one, Tiplee’s the red one. So they’re the Rule 63 alien versions of Mario and Luigi? As the Republic forces push through the space station, they deal with enemies such as commando droids and droidekas, employing tactics such as large riot shields and controlled throwing of droid-poppers into the droidekas’ shields. Once the resistance faced is eliminated, all the clone squads reunite in the communications center and discuss the second phase of their plan: taking the command center that is currently controlled by the notorious Separatist tactician, Admiral Trench.For those who need a memory refresh, Admiral Trench was a one-off villain in the Season 2 episode “Cat and Mouse” (chronologically-speaking, the first episode of the series) that supposedly died at the end of his first appearance when the bridge of his flagship was blown up by his own missiles being redirected at it. Apparently, he survived that and I welcome it, because he was a cool villain that I wished they didn’t kill off so soon. I don’t know how he survived that, but given the extent of the damage he’s received (a few scars and half his face and his left arms replaced with cybernetics) and what he survived (being caught in a large explosion and then possibly being exposed to the vacuum of space), it couldn’t have been pretty.As the Republic prepares for the next phase, 501st trooper Tup begins to feel funny. As he tries to clear thoughts, he focuses on Master Tiplar with out-of-character – and deadly – intensity.
Tup: “Jedi…”
But he snaps out of his confusion when ARC trooper Fives tells him to focus.
Later, the Republic begins their assault on the command center, with the cybernetically-reconstructed Trench ordering his droids to hold the line. As the Republic forces push forward, Tup begins to feel funny again and focuses on Tiplar as she’s taking down a dwarf spider droid. He takes off his helmet and whispers…
“Good soldiers follow orders.”
Driven by some mysterious compulsion, he sneaks up on Tiplar and coldly shoots her in the head at point-blank range.
Tiplee reacts with shock to the death of her sister while Fives tackles and subdues Tup. Unfortunately, this shocking turn of events gives the Separatists an advantage and forces the Republic to pull back when the droids unleash a squadron of droidekas backed by super battle droid rocket troopers (unlike the rocket droids shown in “Jedi Crash”, they have more visibly pronounced jetpacks this time) . As Anakin calls the retreat, he orders Fives to find out what caused Tup to snap.
Meanwhile, Admiral Trench was observing this surprise incident. He then orders his super tactical droid Kraken to contact Count Dooku so he can report his discovery.
Once in contact with the Count, Trench reports that a clone suddenly turned on one his Jedi generals in the middle of a battle that the Separatists were just about to lose. Dooku tries to dismiss it as just another traitor in the ranks (remember Sgt. Slick?) , but Trench knows there’s more to it than that. It seemed that this clone was entranced.
Having retreated back to the comm. center, the Jedi and clones try to find out what happened with Tup while they restrain him, but all he does is mutter “Good soldiers follow orders” over and over again before trying to kill Tiplee in vain, as she uses the Force to hold him back.
Meanwhile at his palace on Serenno, Count Dooku (AKA Darth Tyranus) contacts Darth Sidious to report that there’s been a hiccup in the Sith master plan, as this particular clone has started carrying out his hidden programming a little too early. Knowing the problems this could cause for them, Sidious orders Dooku to capture the clone so they can examine him so the Jedi won’t be able to learn about their plans so soon.Apparently, Dooku knows about Order 66. I guess Sidious told him about that just in case Anakin somehow got killed during the war. Another note, I was initially a little mixed about Tim Curry when I heard him as Chancellor Palpatine (that’s probably just because he doesn’t sound as much like Ian McDiarmid as Abercrombie did, and partially me missing Abercrombie), but he’s not bad at all when he’s in Sith Lord mode. Now I know why they chose him. Back at Ringo Vinda, Tup has been transferred to a medical facility on board a Republic cruiser and strapped to a recovery bed. When Fives tells Tup about what he did, he refuses to believe it and starts thrashing on his bed before the medical droid sedates him.
501st medic Kix is at a loss as to what’s wrong with Tup, as scans indicate he’s medically healthy. Captain Rex doesn’t believe he’s going through an emotional breakdown, while Fives wonders if it’s the result of a drug or virus. Tiplee then brings up some rumors about the Separatists developing an anti-clone virus. However, regardless of what’s happening to him, they’ll need to have him examined on Kamino to truly understand it, as they currently don’t have the means to do so on the cruiser. Tup is then restrained to hover-gurney and then loaded up onto a medical shuttle for transportation.
Tup: “Good soldiers follow orders.” Rex: “You are a good soldier, Tup.”
The shuttle then takes off from the Republic cruiser escorted by a flank of ARC-170 starfighters. However, before they can even make the jump to hyperspace, they are attacked by a Separatist raiding party consisting of a droid gunship and a few rocket SBDs.
A missile from the gunship clips the shuttle while the battle droids take out the ARC-170s by flying onto them and directly shooting the pilots through the cockpits. The gunship then fires a buzz droid missile at the shuttle. As the little gremlin-bots kill the pilot by exposing him to the vacuum of space (to make it even more unnerving, we see his helmet come off before he gets sucked out) , the rest of the shuttle’s crew dons some emergency breath masks while the rocket droids board the shuttle and the artificial gravity goes off.And now we know what's so damned scary about buzz droids. A low-gravity firefight ensues aboard the shuttle, but the crew gets slaughtered. The droids cut the straps on Tup’s gurney and place him in a shielded medical capsule for safe transportation.
Later, Anakin, Rex and Fives investigate the wreckage of the shuttle (and to add to the creepiness, we see a lot of bodies floating around) . Seeing evidence of buzz droid tampering and Tup being removed from his gurney, it’s clear to them that he’s part of some Separatist plot.
Later, Admiral Trench receives Tup and reports to Count Dooku of his capture. The Count then orders Trench to have Tup brought to him alive and intact, with Trench sending Kraken to oversee the delivery.
Following Tup’s faint tracking signal, Anakin, Rex and Fives fly their shuttle to the Separatist-held part of the Ringo Vinda space station. Docking on the underside of the space station near a hangar bay, they spacewalk towards it to see it filled with at least a hundred battle droids, a few vulture droids, tri-fighters, commando and super rocket droids guarding a shuttle that Kraken is loading Tup onto.
Rex: “This is stretching it even for you, sir.” Anakin: “Rex, you’re beginning to sound like Obi-Wan.”
Rather than fight the whole garrison, Fives has a better idea: Get out some grappling guns and board the shuttle after it takes off from the hangar.
Rex: “That’s why he’s the ARC trooper.”
After reeling their way onto the shuttle, the trio fights their way through the shuttle’s security force of both vanilla and commando droids. Once Kraken joins the fight, Anakin holds him down and tries to interrogate him as to why the Separatists are interested in Tup, but the tactical droid only responds that he’s programmed to resist intimidation and is promptly decapitated.
With the shuttle’s security eliminated, Anakin and the two clones find Tup, but he seems to be dying, making it all the more urgent to get him to Kamino.
After getting back to the cruiser, Tup is transferred aboard a medical frigate bound for Kamino with Rex accompanying. However, Fives also requests to come along, because Tup has been a close friend of his Umbara. Rex allows this, but under the condition that he stay by Tup’s side.Clearly, we’re entering some dark territory. This arc can only end so happily. On another note, that scene before they board the shuttle is pretty important too, because the friendly banter between Jedi general and clone troopers serves to make what’s to come all the more tragic. If there’s one criticism I have for this individual episode, it’s that Trench is only around for this part of the arc. I’ve got a hunch that the writers had more plans for him and would’ve had a bigger storyline for him later had the series not been cancelled. You don’t bring back a dead villain just for a small part in a bigger storyline unless you have other plans for him later down the line. But hey, I’m still glad they brought Trench back at all. Image Source, Concept Art, and Trivia: starwars.com/explore/the-clone-wars/ep601/Next time: Part 2- “Conspiracy” – things get less action-packed, but very intense story-wise. Until next time.... "Good soldiers follow orders..." So don't talk about spoilers without spoiler tags.
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Post by Gahmah Raan on Mar 11, 2014 19:03:35 GMT -8
Conspiracy – Mystery on Kamino “The wise benefit from a second opinion.” The medical frigate carrying Tup has finally made it to Tipoca City, Kamino. Meeting up with Kaminoan scientist Nala Se and a contingent of clones, Rex and Fives part ways with the unconscious Tup as they hand him over to the doctor. As Nala Se directs him to another chamber, Rex and Fives meet up with Jedi Master Shaak Ti once again.She hasn’t been in focus since the Season 3 premiere, so it’s nice having her in a prominent role again. However, Shaak Ti tells Fives that since he and Tup worked together a lot, she wants him to go under some medical evaluation just in case whatever caused Tup’s breakdown is contagious. Fives is reluctant to leave his friend’s side, but the Togruta Jedi Master assures him that Tup is in good hands since Nala Se is not only Kamino’s Chief Medical Scientist, but also one of the primary engineers of the cloning program. She also tells Rex that Anakin Skywalker has called him back to the front lines, cutting his visit short. As Rex departs, he wishes the best of luck for both Fives and Tup.So head medic is also one of the cloning engineers. That kinda has me worried… Later, as Nala Se performs her medical analysis on Tup, Fives observes from an adjacent room separated by a glass window. When Nala Se administers a stimshot for a “hyper-test”, Tup starts convulsing violently on the table he’s strapped to. Shaak Ti does not like the nature of these hyper-tests, but Nala Se insists that Tup’s reaction is normal. Fives is extremely worried about what Nala Se’s doing to him, but Shaak Ti dims out the window to keep him from seeing this.
However, the hyper-test, while questionable, does quickly provide some data: Tup has no signs of infection, and medically speaking, he’s perfectly healthy. Once Tup stops convulsing, he focuses on Shaak Ti and starts muttering parts of his mantra from earlier.
“Follow orders.” “Kill the Jedi.”
Shaak Ti is surprised by this, leading her to theorize that maybe the Separatists have brainwashed Tup, who is promptly sedated by the medical droids.
Back in the adjacent room, as Fives paces nervously with concern for his friend, the medical droid AZI-3 (Ben Diskin) reports that Tup’s medical procedure will be over quickly, as well as Fives’ examination. AZI quickly extracts a blood sample from the ARC trooper and quickly analyzing it, reports that he’s normal. Unfortunately, Fives is still not allowed to leave the observation room until they’ve figured out what caused Tup’s breakdown.
On the other side of the dimmed-out window, Shaak Ti and Nala Se have some disagreements over the cause of Tup’s condition. Shaak Ti believes what’s happening to Tup is psychological, while Nala Se insists that it’s a virus. AZI-3 also joins in and suggests that Phase 5 atomic scan would provide more answers since Phase 1 and 2 scans provided no answers. Nala Se tries to counter that as well, saying that the only way to examine him without damaging his brain tissue would be to euthanize him and then dissect his corpse.
Being a Jedi, Shaak Ti is appalled by this lack of regard for life. She pulls rank on Nala Se, claiming that the well-being of the clones is the responsibility of the Order, but the Kaminoan coldly counters that their genetic makeup is property of the Kaminoan government. However, out of respect for her clients, she decides to bring up the matter with Prime Minister Lama Su. Likewise, Shaak Ti decides to discuss it with the Jedi Council.When it comes to clone ethics, the only difference between TCW’s writers and Karen Traviss are how the majority of the Jedi Order is portrayed. Later in the observation room, AZ reports to Fives that “CT-5385’s” condition is getting worse. Fives takes offense to the droid referring to Tup by his CT-number (not hard to figure, especially after the Umbara arc), leading to a discussion on human psychology and the meaning of names. The idea of these nicknames alludes AZI-3 (and to make it more annoying for Fives, the droid’s full designation has about as many digits in it as Pi), and even more-so when Fives tells the droid his name since it actually derives from his CT-number.
AZI-3: “The difference is minimal.” Fives: “Not to me, and not to any other clone.”
In Prime Minister Lama Su’s office, Nala Se reveals that what’s happening to Tup is a result of clone protocol 66 activating prematurely. She advises that they kill Tup and then perform an autopsy to figure out what caused the inhibitor chip implanted in him to malfunction. Alarmed by this news, Lama Su decides to contact Lord Tyranus in a more private area of the city.
After the Kaminoans explain their situation to Tyranus, the hooded man agrees with Nala Se and orders Tup’s termination, but he wants them to send the inhibitor chip over to him for analysis so it stays a secret from the Jedi. According to him, the protocol and the chips were devised as a countermeasure for rogue Jedi, and the only other person to know about this was Jedi Master Sifo-Dyas, and that secret went to his grave with him.Obviously, the Kaminoans are in on the Sith plot, but how deep are they in on it? And how much of what Dooku is telling them is true? He may say Protocol 66 is a contingency order for rogue Jedi, but we know these chips are a form of brainwashing (Tup is not stupidly loyal like Dogma; back in the Umbara arc, he was opposed to Krell’s command from the start). When Tup’s chip malfunctioned, he killed Tiplar without any comprehensible motive other than “follow orders”, and he didn’t recall killing her after he came to his senses. Perhaps the chips make them think the Jedi have gone rogue as part of the brainwashing? Even if it does brainwash them to think that and the Kaminoans are assholes, I still think they’re being lied to in regards to its ultimate purpose. And they may not even know that "Tyranus" is Dooku and that he's a Sith Lord. Hell, the Jedi still don't know Dooku and Tyranus are the same guy. Meanwhile, Shaak Ti contacts the Jedi Council on Coruscant. She voices her concerns that Tup may have been brainwashed, noting from Skywalker’s field reports that Tup was reported missing for five days during the Ringo Vinda campaign – a timeframe where he might have received the brainwashing. She also voices her concerns with the Kaminoans’ plans.
Obi-Wan Kenobi is off put by the idea that the Kaminoans would treat him like a lab specimen, so he recommends that Shaak Ti have Tup brought to the Jedi Temple so he can be examined through the Force and in more caring hands, something Yoda agrees with as well.
Back on Kamino, Fives grows impatient being stuck in the observation chamber, believing that Tup would risk his own life to find a cure whatever’s affecting him. He decides to ignore protocol once again and to get past AZI-3, he presents the droid a protocol paradox: it is protocol that he follow orders, but it is also his duty to save the patient’s life at all costs. By following orders and doing nothing, he indirectly causes the patient to die. Once AZ sees his point, he sneaks over to Tup’s room with Fives to help him out.
They place Tup into the CT scanner for a Phase 5 scan, and closer analysis reveals what appears to be a brain tumor. However, for further analysis, AZI will need to perform a biopsy.
Unfotunately, when AZ accidentally knocks a surgical tool kit on the floor, Nala Se hears it from just outside the room. Realizing that someone may have heard it, Fives stays hidden before she enters the room. Angered that AZ decided to perform a brain scan without her authorization, the droid tries to explain to her why he did it without bringing up Fives’ involvement. He reveals the presence of the tumor, but Nala Se stubbornly denies that it’s a tumor, continues to insist that he’s infected with a virus and still plans to go through with euthanizing Tup.
Nala Se: “I’m afraid you’re just like this clone: defective.”Bitch, you just activated one of my personal trigger words. Confession time: I’ve got a “mental disorder”, and I absolutely despise the idea that any behavior or thought processes deviating from the norm is a “defect”. But same case as Pong Krell, I think they want us to hate her. As Fives and AZ sneak back to the adjacent observation room, the former is disgusted that the doctor plans to coldly dispose of Tup like a rat, especially when the newfound evidence was right in her face. He tells AZ to continue with the plan for the biopsy, but that they will give the results to Shaak Ti, because she once helped him when he was just a cadet in-training. (Excellent continuity nod, by the way) As part of the plan, he has AZ hack into the observation room’s security mainframe and trigger an intruder alert, interrupting Nala Se’s procedure just before she can put the syringe in Tup.
Per protocol, both Lama Su and Nala Se must head to a safe room for lockdown. With the alert buying them some time, AZI cuts a hole through the observation window between the rooms and they quickly extract the tumor from Tup’s brain. (We do get a gory discretion shot when AZ drills the hole in Tup’s skull, but for the shot of the tumor getting sucked into a contain, he actually do see some human blood on screen). Meanwhile, Shaak Ti realizes the intruder alert is a false alarm originating from the med bay and surmises that Fives is behind it. She and Nala Se rush to the med bay.
When Nala Se gets there, she demands that Fives hand over the tumor and when she tries to forcefully take it from him, he tries to kill her with the same drug she tried to inject in Tup, but is stopped when Shaak Ti enters and tells him to stand down.
However, Tup is now dying, and weakly tells Fives that he’s “free now” and that “the mission is over” with his last breath.
Tup: “You know the one... the mission, the one in our dreams. That never ends. The one in our dreams. Ah, brother, this is the end. Forget the mission. Ah, the nightmare. I'm... free."
Later, Shaak Ti and Nala Se contact Chancellor Palpatine on Coruscant to report Tup’s death. Shaak Ti recommends that his body be sent to the Jedi Temple for examination, but Palpatine suggests that he brought to the Grand Republic Medical Facility on the same planet. Nala Se concurs with this suggestion while Shaak Ti hesitantly agrees.If you don’t think things can get any more tragic from here, may I remind you we have two more parts left to this arc? With clone individualism being a running theme in this series, Order 66 was a topic that had to be tackled eventually, even if it does raise some more questions later (but going from experience and reading interviews, the team deliberately tries to raise questions). How could these clones, who've bonded with their Jedi generals within three years suddenly just turn on them with a simple order? And don't give me that "they're programmed to obey orders" crap. Since the first season, this series emphasized that clones are not organic battle droids. We've had a clone traitor and a deserter, but Season 4's Umbara arc was the ultimate lesson on clone individualism before this arc. From what we now understand, the clones are just as much of victims of Order 66 as the Jedi they kill. However, I doubt the stormtroopers are brainwashing victims too, because previews for Rebels indicate that the Jango clones would be replaced with human recruits and possibly clones from other gene donors (they would run out of Fett DNA eventually since the donor died, and some malformed clones were born as a result of attempting to thin the DNA). As for our medical droid AZI-3, let’s just say he’s the closest thing we have to comic relief character in this otherwise dark storyline. His brand of humor mostly stems from his lack of human understanding ("I've always wanted to have human emotions... but I don't."), which isn’t detracting at all in a dark story arc involving characters who are cultivated lifeforms. And his chemistry with Fives further reinforces the theme of clone individualism and what separates them from droids. However, I’ll have to discuss about him later and why some comic relief would be something to appreciate in a storyline as dark as this. On that note, this episode was quite a major revelation when it came to Order 66. There may not have been any action or fight scenes this episode, but it was the drama and exposition that moved this episode. Image Source, Concept Art and Trivia: starwars.com/explore/the-clone-wars/ep602/Next Time: Part 3 – Fugitive – Fives starts learning some things the pale long-necks don’t want him to.
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Post by Gahmah Raan on Mar 12, 2014 19:18:21 GMT -8
Fugitive – Renegade 5555 “When in doubt, go to the source.” Following Tup’s death, Fives has been placed under arrest. While he waits under guard in the observation room, Shaak Ti informs him that the brain tumor and all intelligence regarding Tup’s illness, including his cadaver, will be sent to the Grand Republic Medical Facility on Coruscant. Fives wishes to accompany the delivery, but she and Nala Se deny him, and he’s due for one more examination before being sent back to the 501st.
Going even further, Nala Se blames Fives for Tup’s death, an accusation that angers him enough to remind her that she was planning on killing Tup anyway. After she tells Fives to stand, Shaak Ti decides that Nala Se is out of order. The Jedi Master commands that the samples be brought to the Jedi Temple before being sent to the Chancellor. However, as Fives is escorted out of the room by some clone troopers and a Kaminoan scientist, he notices Nala Se’s medical droid sneakily switch the box containing the tumor with another one.Well, looks like Shaak Ti isn’t as easily willing to comply with Palpatine as it seemed at the end of the last episode. Further evidence as to why Fives’ looks up to her. As Fives is being escorted down a corridor, he sees AZI-3 passing by in the opposite direction similarly escorted. As Fives waves goodbye to the medical droid, AZ asks Fives if he’s being reprogrammed like he is, explaining that he heard Fives was scheduled to be mind-wiped and then placed on sanitation duty.
Fives does not take this revelation well and tackles his escorts over, fleeing the scene with AZ in tow. Security alarms then sound throughout the city.
Running back into the observation room, he retrieves the tumor from the sample box, confirming his suspicion that Nala Se’s trying to hide something from him and the Jedi.
They then rush to a hangar bay, and after knocking one of the pilots unconscious (And said pilot is in one of those Episode III pilot uniforms; You know, the ones with the open-faced TIE fighter pilot helmets?) , they steal a Kaminoan flight pod and speed away from Tipoca City just as Shaak Ti and a clone security team arrive on the scene. She promptly orders the security team to track the pod and bring Fives back alive.
However, Fives’ plan wasn’t actually to flee Kamino. He sets the pod an autopilot and jumps out along with AZI-3 into the ocean. His real plan was to use the pod as a diversion while he and AZ sneak back into Tipoca City to investigate the conspiracy.Meet the silliest-looking Transformer ever. To help get them back to the city faster (and decrease the chance of them dying from fatigue or drowning) , AZ reconfigures his chassis into a survival mode, specifically a miniature speeder bike.
Meanwhile, Nala Se contacts Tyranus again and informs him of a renegade clone stealing Tup’s inhibitor chip. This unusual behavior among clones deeply concerns Tyranus, but Nala Se chalks up Fives’ rebelliousness as a result of creative influence from working with the Jedi, and she assures him that this doesn’t mean Protocol 66 is compromised. Either way, he still wants her to find Fives and reclaim the chip.So it is the Jedi’s influence that has caused the clones to become more diverse personality-wise in this series and keep them from being mindlessly obedient meat-droids. Apparently obedience conditioning is no match for the influence of people that actually treat them with respect. But again, the obedience chips were the only way to properly explain Order 66 when the clones have been shown to be far from just mindless grunts that require commands to function. Sorry, shiny. Making it back to Tipoca City, Fives and AZ enter through a maintenance hatch on the underside. Once inside, they ambush another hapless clone trooper in a storeroom and Fives steals his armor for a disguise.
Once disguised, they visit the genetic records hall – where the Kaminoans keep tabs on the original DNA of every being they have ever cloned - to analyze Tup’s tumor. By comparing the tumor to original donor’s DNA, AZ can figure out if any incidents similar to Tup have happened before in any other clone or Jango Fett himself. However, scans turn up negative: the tumor does not match anything in Jango’s genes and is in fact, a foreign implant.
However, he then notices some Kaminoan scientists exiting the hall, a sign that Nala Se and Shaak Ti have caught onto his diversion and are now their way. Fives and AZ escape the hall through an emergency access hatch in the ceiling just as Shaak Ti, Nala Se and security arrive. Once in the hatch is closed, AZ welds it shut to keep the security from directly following them and the duo move through the city’s anti-flooding ductwork.
Safe from prying eyes for the time being, AZI-3 theorizes that the tumor is actually an organic construct made from cellular matter that was slipped into Tup’s brain at some point, but has no idea why it was placed in him. Fives worries that he may this type of organic chip in his brain too and requests that AZ remove it if he does. However, AZ cautions that because Tup died after his chip was removed, the procedure could be dangerous, but Fives is willing to risk it and trusts to AZ to successfully remove it without killing him since they know to be careful now.Brain surgery time… After the fugitive clone and droid make it to an unoccupied but sterile medical facility, AZ sedates Fives and begins the operation. As Shaak Ti and Nala Se continue searching for Fives, he eventually awakens from his surgery.No, he’s not going through chemo nor was he playing Battletoads. At least he’s still got the goatee. Now with his head shaven and a medical patch over where the hole was drilled in his head, Fives learns that AZ has successfully found and extracted the chip in his brain. Even further, there’s a significant difference between his and Tup’s chips: Fives’ sample is healthy and intact while the one from Tup is darkened and rotting, a sign that it had malfunctioned.
Now they know for sure that these chips are in all the clones. Sneaking through the training areas past some young clones at training terminals to get to the clone hatcheries, they try to blend in, but AZ tries a little too hard to “act normal.” (considering what his attempt to act normal sounded like, I can assume either Dave Filoni, Katie Lucas or Ben Diskin is a fan of Yu-Gi-Oh: The Abridged Series) AZI-3: “Tell me, was that normal?” Fives: “For you, AZ, yes.”
However, as the two make it out of the training room, the Kaminoan overseer reports their presence as suspicious. Nala Se gets the alert first and tries to act without getting Shaak Ti’s attention.
After arriving at the clone hatcheries, Fives and AZ start analyzing the gestating embryos. Their analysis reveals that all clone embryos past development stage three have inhibitor chips implanted in their brains.
Nala Se then enters the hatchery, but Fives quickly holds her at gunpoint and demands answers from her. She explains that the inhibitor chips are designed to suppress aggressive tendencies inherited from Jango Fett and that they were implanted by Master Sifo-Dyas’s order. Fives is shocked that a Jedi would allow this.
Later, Shaak Ti and the clone security detail arrive on the scene having followed Nala Se. She orders Fives to drop his blaster, but he shouts that he has evidence of a conspiracy going on against the clones – namely that what happened to Tup was the result of a malfunctioning inhibitor chip, and he demands that the chips be removed from the entire clone army to prevent the same thing from happening again.
Nala Se tells him he can’t prove the causality of his claim, as removing the chips would be dangerous and cause them to turn on the Jedi, but Fives already has his counterclaim: He already removed his own chip.
With his chip removed, Nala Se is clearly angered. She claims he is at risk must be quarantined, but Shaak Ti countermands her and defends Fives, allowing him to explain the situation to Chancellor Palpatine on Coruscant.
Fives thanks Shaak Ti for believing him, but she tells him that she’s not protecting him because she believes him, but because it’s the right thing to do when the Kaminoans are so insistent on treating clones like lab rats.You would wonder if “inhibitor” a truthfully accurate term for these chips, to the clones, Jedi and Kaminoans? Are the clones actually genetically modified to kill the Jedi and was turning off the chip how Order 66 worked? Considering that Fives removed his chip and didn’t try to kill Shaak Ti on sight afterward, it’s more apparent the chips are a brainwashing switch for the Sith and that Dooku is lying to the Kaminoans about their purpose. Besides, even without Expanded Universe material, Jango Fett was clearly not insane enough to need mental restraints. All throughout the Clone War, the Jedi have been unknowingly leading an army of sleeper agents that will try to kill them when triggered. As for AZI-3 and my discussion about the appreciation of a comic relief character in dark storyline, let me just say we are not seeing him again after this episode. Considering the topic the topic this arc explores, we know the chances of it having a happy ending. And let’s not forget that the Kaminoans were getting to ready to have him memory-wiped and reprogrammed just for trying to save Tup’s life against their orders. What are the chances that they did it to him anyway after this episode? Image Source, Concept Art and Trivia: starwars.com/explore/the-clone-wars/ep603/Next time: Final Part – Orders – Things get better and better for Fives… Wait, does sarcasm translate through text?
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Post by Gahmah Raan on Mar 13, 2014 20:44:49 GMT -8
In case you haven’t noticed, I’m placing spoiler tags for the sake of those not living in North America. Warning: If you’ve gotten attached to Fives over the course of the series, the following episode is going to hurt. Orders – The frame-up “The popular belief isn’t always the correct one.” And you’ll really hate Nala Se after this… As the shuttle approaches Coruscant, Fives is strapped to a table in the back. While Shaak Ti is pre-occupied with landing procedures and stuff, Nala Se sneakily injects Fives with an indeterminable substance, causing him to fall unconscious just as the shuttle settles on the Grand Republic Medical Facility’s landing pad.For those of you have seen Revenge of the Sith, you’ll recognize this building except from when it was not so sunny and a lava-burned amputee was brought here. After landing, Mas Amedda escorts the arrivals into the heart of the facility to Chancellor Palpatine and his Red Guards. (I’m sure you know what those guards’ presence means) No, there’s nothing ominous about this room at all. After arriving in that room, Fives awakens in front of Palpatine, who is most interested in his story about the inhibitor chips. Shaak Ti then hands both of the chip samples to him – the healthy one from Fives and the decomposed one from Tup. After accusing Nala Se of drugging him when she tries to explain the chips’ purpose, Fives explains his belief to Palpatine that the chips are part of an enemy plot, Separatist or otherwise. Palpatine then requests that both Nala Se and Shaak Ti leave the room so Fives can explain his suspicions “with fair treatment”.Well, you know how well that’s going to go… Just moments later, Shaak Ti and Nala Se hear sound of an incident inside the room. Inside they find some of the guards and medical droids knocked on the floor and Fives standing over Palpatine with a blaster rifle. Shaak Ti Force-pushes Fives away and rushes over to the Chancellor, who explains that Fives tried to kill him.
Fives then runs out of the chamber and Palpatine comes to the conclusion that Nala Se was correct: he has gone insane without his inhibitor chip. While Palpatine gives the chips back to Nala Se, Fives rushes out of the hospital while keeping ahead of Shaak Ti and the clone shocktroopers in pursuit.
Later in the Jedi Temple war room, Shaak Ti, along with Anakin Skywalker, Yoda, Mace Windu and Plo Koon examine the holographic recording of Fives’ escape from the hospital, with Ti briefing them on what happened and Mace explaining that the Chancellor has been transferred to his quarters in the Senate for safety and that an all-points bulletin has been issued for Fives to the planet’s clone security force and the Coruscant police.
However, Anakin finds it odd that they’ve decided not to involve the Jedi in this. With that, he’s determined to find out why Fives tried to assassinate Palpatine and since Fives was a member of the 501st Legion, he will most likely trust him and Captain Rex.
Meanwhile on the streets of Coruscant, Fives continues to evade security while at the same trying to shrug off whatever drug Nala Se put in him. He then boards a hover taxi that just stopped by and asks the Nimbanel cab driver (Stephen Stanton) to take him to 79’s, a leisure bar for clones. As the cab driver takes Fives to his destination, they intiate a conversation in which Fives brings up the conspiracy about the clones being turned on their friends and leaders against their will.
Jay Igno: “I’m a cab driver, pal. I hear stories like that all the time.”
Once they make it to 79’s, leaves departs without paying for the ride, just telling him to put it on the Republic’s tab while some drunk clone officers proceed to mock Igno. Annoyed with Fives not paying him, he leaves while the drunks throw bottles at his taxi. (I wonder if clones ever get NJP’d for getting drunk at the bar and they’d most likely get NJP’d for that stray bottle possibly hitting a pedestrian in the lower levels). Jay Igno: “Ah, your mother’s a droid!”
Sneaking into the group of drunk clones, he asks to borrow one of their hats to cover up the “5” tattoo next to his right temple. After entering the bar, he spots two of his buddies from the 501st, Jesse and Kix, and follows the latter into the refresher. (Now we know bathrooms exist in the Star Wars universe) After revealing his identity to him, Kix is surprised to find Fives and hear reports about him being infected with a virus and trying to assassinate the Chancellor. Fives explains that he’s been framed as part of a huge conspiracy – and that the only people he can safely explain to are General Skywalker and Captain Rex. Kix promises to contact Rex for him and Fives gives Kix a set of coordinates to give Rex for a rendezvous before he slips back into the crowds.
As he exits the refresher, Fives sneaks past the Coruscant Guard checking the all the clones in the bar for IDs and steals a speeder bike to travel to the Coruscant Underworld. However, a floating observation droid catches Fives taking off and follows him.
Later, after landing at a warehouse on Level 1325, the Nala Se’s drug starts to affect Fives even worse, making him incredibly groggy. At the same time, the observation droid that had been following him confirms his identity as Fives from the tattoo on his head and reports Fives’ location to Palpatine and Commander Fox.
Not long after, a police gunship piloted by Anakin and Rex lands at the same warehouse, following the lead Kix gave them. Once inside the darkened warehouse, the two ready their weapons while Anakin calls out to Fives.
In hiding, Fives asks the two to put down their weapons. Trusting their friend, they comply, only for Fives to trap them between a force field generator and separated from their weapons.
After insisting that he had no choice but to trap them, Fives explains that he’s uncovered a conspiracy in which clones are engineered with organic chips that allows someone else to control them, even to make them kill Jedi. Anakin and Rex ask for evidence, but knowing he has no physical evidence to show them, he’s only got his good intentions. Thanks to a combination of both desperation and the drugs making him both incoherent and paranoid to the point that he doesn’t think his close friends believe, Fives ends up coming off as just being insane.
Further explaining, Fives insists that Chancellor Palpatine is in on the conspiracy too, and that he told him so when he was in the medical facility. Anakin then tells him that this doesn’t excuse his assassination attempt and that the Chancellor couldn’t possibly cause such harm, but Fives tries to tell them that Palpatine is not a weak old man like he seems.
Unfortunately, Commander Fox and the Coruscant Guard burst in on the scene and demand Fives to stand down. Fives desperately grabs one of Rex’s pistols, but Fox shoots him through the heart in self-defense before Fives can fire a shot. (And we get a lovely shot at the hole in his chest before he falls to the ground) Desperate to help their wounded friend, Anakin orders the shocktroopers to deactivate the shield. Once it’s disabled, Rex rushes to his brother in arms. With his dying breath, Fives tells Rex that the conspiracy is much bigger than anything they could’ve imagined.The last Domino… has fallen. And let me just tell you that the above summarization doesn’t do Fives’ death scene any justice. If you already saw this episode before reading this review, you know what I mean. By the way, you really shouldn’t hate Fox for this. Like Fives, he was just doing his duty: protecting the Republic, and police officers in real life have been known to shoot people trying to resist arrest in self-defense. Even if we didn’t see him in that circle of the Coruscant Guard around Fives, he most likely feels just as bad about this too. That’s two story arcs in a row that Fox has ended up unwittingly playing an antagonistic role. And now to twist the knife further… Back in the Chancellor’s office, Palpatine expresses his dismay to Yoda, Mace Windu, Shaak Ti and Anakin about Fives’ death. He also informs them that his personal doctors have performed autopsies on both Tup and Fives, and discovered something that Nala Se missed: a rare parasite from Ringo Vinda. He explains that they most likely got the infection from a canteen of water they shared during the campaign. As a precaution, they’ve started working on a vaccine for all clone troopers.And even further… Meanwhile at his palace on Serenno, Count Dooku communicates with Nala Se via hologram to inform her that he has received both inhibitor chips. Afterward, he contacts Darth Sidious to assure him that the Sith master plan remains undiscovered by the Jedi.Canon is a bitch, and karma is nerfshavit. On another note, I know the Kaminoans as a whole are being lied to about the inhibitor chips, but how deep is Nala Se into the Sith conspiracy? Considering she went so far as to drug Fives to make her claims seem true, I think she’s got some more sinister motives… Image Source, Concept Art and Trivia: starwars.com/explore/the-clone-wars/ep604/Overall:For starters… SWEET FORCE THIS STORY WAS GRIMDARK! No wonder Disney decided to have these episodes shown only on Netflix in North America (Germany may have different values since these episodes aired on television there). You don’t want to introduce a new generation of Star Wars fans with stuff this intense. (As for how I think the progression of Rebels is going to work, it may start off lighter-hearted compared to the later seasons of TCW, but similarly get darker as it progresses) We may have suspected Fives was doomed the moment he gained some insight into Order 66, but that didn’t make this story any less depressing. Not only was he the protagonist of this arc, Fives had a character arc lasting almost the entire series. We first saw him as a sterile inexperienced grunt in Season 1. In Season 3, we learned his original story and that of his original team, and then we got a sequel to the Season 1 story that saw go from grunt with some stripes to an elite ARC trooper. Over the course of his story, he watched the members of his original training batch die one by one until he became the sole survivor of that group. During the Umbara arc, he proved he was more than just a mindless drone in the face of an abusive and sadistic military officer turned traitor when he decided to take matters into his own hands to save as many lives as possible. He was doing his duty in trying to search for the truth, but was put down like a rabid animal just because some sinister higher-ups didn’t like him knowing it. For all it seems, Domino Squad’s story is a tragic one. But there’s hope. Just when it seemed the last Domino had fallen, one of the previous fallen got back up. According to a post-Lost Missions spoiler-dump, Echo survived that explosion in the Citadel arc, but he’s now a cyborg (taking the extent of his cybernetics into account, I can’t blame the rest of the rescue team at the time for thinking he was dead; I mean he got all his limbs blown off). If he learned the circumstances of Fives’ death, I don’t think he’d take it well. R.I.P. Fives (2008-2014). He shall not be named by his CT number. Aside from the end of the Fives, this arc put Order 66 in a much harsher light. With what he learned from these episodes, it’s just a tragedy for clones as it is for the Jedi. And let’s not get started on the clones that get killed by the Jedi in self-defense. Of the four story arcs we got for “The Lost Missions”, I’d say this is one of the strongest two. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’d like to turn Nala Se’s neckbone into a cooking spit… Next time: The return of Padme’s old flame and a hat-wearing badass that speaks deliberately-butchered French. Until next time… “Good soldiers follow orders.” So remember to use spoiler tags when discussing plot points.
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Post by Gahmah Raan on Mar 22, 2014 22:11:34 GMT -8
Rush Clovis arc (Episode 6.5-6.7 “An Old Friend”, “The Rise of Clovis”, “Crisis at the Heart”)Note: Although this arc was originally part of Season 5 (it was moved because it exceeded the 22-episode season cap), Leland Chee says that it’s chronologically part of Season 6. I guess it was kept this way because it had a little more continuity flexibility (such as not having Ahsoka Tano present or mentioned). However, you will be able to see signs that it was originally part of early Season 5, such as Yoda and Palpatine having their pre-“Revival” character models and Ian Abercrombie being Palpatine/Darth Sidious’s voice actor. An Old Friend – Banking Clan conspiracy “To love is to trust. To trust is to believe.” Welcome to Scipio, AKA Planet Switzerland. With the Clone Wars further intensifying, many innocents caught in the crossfire are being driven from their home planets. In another effort to secure aid for these inconvenienced by the war, Senator Padme Amidala has turned her attention to the Intergalactic Banking Clan on the planet Scipio. Scipio is a neutral world and makes transactions with both the Republic and the Separatists, and for it to continue operating, it must not become a battlefield. However, there is word of trouble brewing in the Banking Clan…For starters, we already know the Banking Clan has some involvement with the Separatist Alliance , as they’ve been supplying them with Munificent-class frigates (which we see a lot of throughout the series) and Hailfire droids (for those not as versed, they’re the droid tanks with large hoop-shaped wheels and fire lots of missiles). However, like the Trade Federation, “Heroes on Both Sides” and other politically oriented episodes insist these corporate groups supplying the Separatists are actually supposed to be neutral parties (despite their shady dealings), and the Separatist Council members are just their representatives for the Confederacy that more favorably support it. Like Nute Gunray for the Trade Federation, it’s probably just San Hill that represents the Banking Clan’s heavy involvement with the CIS, and that speculation may only have some merit on the fact that San Hill did not show up at all in this series (despite the new canon policy, it’s possible some elements of the micro-series may still be canon, such as San Hill maybe still being imprisoned at the time). The Separatists’ build-up isn’t quite as simplistic as before this series. But enough side-tracking with EU lore… After the Republic vessel Valorous flies past the snow-capped mountains of Scipio, it docks at the fortress containing the Main Vault of the Banking Clan. Once on the landing pad, Padme disembarks from the ship, along with her handmaiden Teckla Minnau and the Banking Clan delegate Nix Card, and are welcomed by one of the Clan leaders, Mak Plain. From a distance, however, the bounty hunter Embo – who is spying on the arrival – sends a probe droid to monitor the transaction. The Padme, Teckla and the Muuns leave the Senate guards outside as they enter through the massive doors of the Vault, with Embo’s probe sneaking in just as the door is closing.
In a large rotund chamber with five holographic display screens, Padme speaks with the Core Five, the main leaders of the Banking Clan. She tells Clu Lesser (Phil LaMarr; and it seems all Muuns have a somewhat nasally voice, possibly because of their noses) , the spokesman of the Five, that Supreme Chancellor Palpatine has sent her to secure a loan. Lesser is surprised that Padme would just travel to some planet to claim a bank loan and such, calls a special representative for this matter.
The door behind opens, and entering the chamber is a human and Padme’s old flame: Rush Clovis. Padme objects to his presence, as Clovis is a known Separatist. She refuses to continue the transaction unless Clovis is removed, and storms out of the chamber of the Five.
Later that night, Clovis sneaks in through the balcony of the guest quarters Padme and Teckla are staying in under the guise of shadow. With Teckla alerting Padme to Clovis sneaking up on her, she points her blaster at him. Demanding to know what he wants, Clovis asks for Padme’s help. Despite her initial reluctance – especially since the last time they met, Clovis was funding a Geonosian droid factory –, she decides to hear him out on the balcony. As the two speak and Embo spies on them from a distance, Clovis explains that he’s trying to expose some corruption in the Banking Clan and that they’re embezzling money, and he needs her help to pressure the Core Five into gaining access to the Vault.
Embo then starts sniping at the balcony, just narrowly missing them. The senators are unaware of who’s shooting at them, and the shots missing them are very conspicuous. After Clovis gets Padme out of the line of fire and Embo stops shooting at them and retreats, he points that this assassination attempt is proof that his life is in danger and that what his claims about the corruption are true. Afterward, he exits through the balcony onto a waiting hover sledge.
Some Muun security agents arrive on the scene a little too late, but are satisfied that Padme is safe. She then contacts Palpatine and tells him about what Clovis has revealed. Intrigued by what he has to reveal, the Chancellor also worries that the security of the Republic may be at risk as a result. As such, he advises her to trust her old friend and help him out to find the truth.
The next day, Padme returns to the Core Five and she accepts Clovis as her representative under the condition that she be allowed access to the vault to supervise the transaction. This worries the Core Five, as outsiders are not allowed into the vaults. Clovis further backs up her request, stating that the mysterious assassination attempt last night calls for some transparency on the Banking Clan’s part during the transaction. With that, the Core Five agree to her request and will allow them access the next morning.
Later at Clovis’s personal residence away from the fortress, he, Padme and Teckla go over the infiltration plan, which involves sabotaging the Vault’s power grid and then stealing the files from the Vault while the Core Five are lost in the dark (Demonstrated with holographic stick figures) . The next morning, they arrive at the Vault and the Muuns open it up, but only Padme’s allowed to enter. While she’s inside, Clovis hands Teckla a small explosive charge and she leaves the scene.
After making it to the Vault’s power grid, Teckla places the charge onto the generator. She doesn’t make it very far when she sees a targeting laser on her body. She worriedly looks around to find her attacker, but is unable to find Embo before he kills her with a single shot.Being a Naboo government official’s handmaidens has got to be one of the lousiest jobs to have in the galaxy, especially when playing decoy. Time for some more pretty explosions. However, Teckla’s bomb still goes off and overloads the grid, sending the Vault into complete darkness. As the Core Five start panicking about the darkness, Padme uses the opportunity to start looking for the files. The back-up generator is enough to keep the Vault’s mainframe running, but not enough to disengage the lockdown protocols. Once at the mainframe, she uses the data transfer device Clovis gave her to extract the hidden files he was looking for.
After getting out of the Vault, Padme and Clovis return to the former’s quarters to compare notes, confirming that what Clovis said is true: the vaults are empty and all the listed corporations are bankrupt.
However, Nix Card and several Muun guards enter the quarters to arrest Padme under charges of espionage. Clovis tries to defend her, but Padme doesn’t resist arrest and sneakily hands the files to him before being taken away.
A few days later, a Jedi T-6 shuttle under the command of Anakin Skywalker and R2-D2 lands at the Vault platform. The former is brought to Padme’s jail cell while she’s asleep (in a pose that should feel familiar to those of you who watched the Original Trilogy) and briefly mocks her for getting herself into yet another predicament. While she’s grateful to see her favorite Jedi Knight again, she’s also saddened by the confirmation of Teckla’s death. She then explains what she was doing, but Anakin gets really agitated when he hears Clovis’s name.Not hard to see why he’d be pissed at hearing about Clovis considering what happened in “Senate Spy” and his usually possessive nature towards those he cares about. Still, his comments to her about working with Clovis are rather harsh. But still willing to help Padme out for her sake only, he contacts Artoo to keep the shuttle ready in case they need a quick pick-up.
Later, the couple arrives at Clovis’s residence via hover sledge only to find it ransacked, with Embo’s probe droid watching them enter. Padme looks through the toppled over furniture, hoping to find the data she gave Clovis while Anakin is intent to assume the vandals already got to Clovis and leave him to fend for himself. However, Clovis emerges from the lower level of the chalet, happy to see Padme, but she tries to avoid his embrace while her secret husband’s present.
Before he can do anything though, Anakin demands Clovis to hand over the disc, but Clovis is not willing to hand over the disc to some random “pilot” that has a grudge against him and left him for dead on Cato Neimoidia last time they met. As they argue, Embo starts targeting Padme from outside.
Sensing the danger through the Force, Anakin suddenly tells Clovis and Padme to seek cover while he deflects the bowcaster shots. He covers their escape to the hover sledge while he continues deflecting shots. Embo’s pet anooba, Marrok also gives chase to them, but the sledge takes off. However, the sledge doesn’t fly very far when Embo shoots one of the engines and turns into... a non-hover sled.And if you thought the ways Embo’s used his hat before were both ridiculous and awesome, you haven’t seen anything yet… Hat-boarding: The 2018 Winter Olympics should be on Scipio. Or just have them in Switzerland again. As Marrok pursues them down the mountainside, so does Embo, using his own hat as a makeshift snowboard. As he chases them down, he resorts to tricks such as shooting down icicles to block the sledge’s path. Meanwhile, Anakin alerts Artoo to pick them up.
After a pursuit through branching pathways, Anakin stops Embo in his tracks with a Force push and before the trio can fly off a cliff to their deaths, they land on Artoo’s shuttle in the nick of time and take off from Scipio.
As he watches them flee and pulls out a holo-communicator, Marrok brings Embo his hat back like a Frisbee to be complimented in turn. He then contacts Darth Sidious to tell him that he was successful with his job, with the Sith Lord telling him that he’ll handle the rest.Yep, Embo was never really hired to kill Clovis. Just to scare him off of Scipio. On the surface, this arc comes off as just more boring political stuff, but the political stuff in this arc, as I’ll note later, will actually prove to be a little more significant in the long term. At the same time, Filoni knows politics aren’t everyone’s cup of tea, especially considering the general reception of the first half of Season 3, and that’s why we have distractions such as that awesome chase scene with Embo. The other distraction, which is actually more important, is the very rocky love triangle between Anakin, Rush and Padme. And we’ll be getting more into that in the next episode. This episode is just setting up something even bigger. Environment-wise, I like Scipio’s design. Aside from the Swiss Alps inspired look, I like the clockwork feel of the Vault. As for Embo, this is the only episode he’s in this season, but I’m glad he got a lot of focus here. Still, he’s as ambiguous as ever. He’s willing to take on some morally questionable contracts, but he’s shown not to be all that bad either. In his first appearance, we saw him working with Sugi and some other bounty hunters to protect farmers from Hondo’s pirates (and this was a band of hunters that went by a code of not breaking deals with contractors until the job is done). However, giving him a pet that he clearly shows some affection for (even for doing simple things like getting his hat even when it’s only a few feet away from him) adds a little more speculative depth to him. Also, he’s just even more badass by having an alien wolf as a battle pet. And looking at the concept art, I do wish we got to see his ship, the Guillotine, and in more detail than what the art shows. Image Source, Concept Art, and Trivia: starwars.com/explore/the-clone-wars/ep605/Part 2 – The Rise of Clovis – The REAL problems with secret marriages.
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Post by Gahmah Raan on Mar 24, 2014 20:47:08 GMT -8
Part 2 of 3 of the Clovis arc. The Rise of Clovis – Extreme relationship strains “Jealousy is the path to chaos.” In the rotunda of the Main Vault on Scipio, the Core Five of the Banking Clan and Nix Card bicker over who’s to blame for the exposure of their scandal. Card blames the Five for just allowing the situation, while they blame him for letting Rush Clovis escape from the planet with the Jedi. Clu Lesser tries to downplay damage, stating that the evidence Clovis has against them can’t be that damning and further investigation would have to be approved by someone of higher rank in the banks.
After the conference, Nix Card slips into a side room to personally contact Darth Sidious and reports to him of Rush Clovis’s escape with the evidence against the Clan. Sidious is pleased by this and assures the Muun that he will be protected from any incrimination.Between this and his contact with Embo in the previous episode, Sidious is apparently playing yet another one-man chess game. Meanwhile on Coruscant, Anakin’s shuttle settles down at the Senate landing platform to be greeted by Master Yoda and a contingent of Senate guards, and this escort has been requested at the behest of Chancellor Palpatine. As Yoda welcomes Clovis back to Coruscant, he warns him that some in the Senate do not trust him. Clovis isn’t surprised by this at all, and his only concern is to right his wrongdoings.
In the midst of several senators and Jedi in Palpatine’s office, Bail Organa accuses Clovis of his past crimes with the droid factory and such, but the senator of Scipio doesn’t make any excuses and just wants to focus on the issue at hand: the corruption in the Banking Clan. He only wants to expose those responsible for the embezzlements and return the Clan back to an impartial system of trade and commerce. Clovis presents his notes Palpatine, which show charts indicating corporate bank accounts have had large amounts of credits funneled out of them, while Padme presents the files she stole from the Vault to back up his claim.
With that, Palpatine assigns Padme to lead the investigation into the illegal accounts and to work closely with Rush Clovis. Anakin does not take this news well at all, and Yoda can clearly sense some tension in him.
As the audience leaves the office, Anakin stops Padme to talk with her. Out of both jealousy and concern that he may be endangering her again, Anakin demands that she not work with Clovis again, but Padme does not take demands well. She angrily insists that Anakin just trust her and decides to work with Clovis anyway.And this is the part where things get rocky… Meanwhile on Serenno, Darth Sidious contacts Count Dooku devising a plan to get Rush Clovis in charge of the Banking Clan, but the Count will need to make deal that will entrap the senator first.
Back on Coruscant, Anakin is tinkering with a severed tactical droid head in his Jedi Temple quarters (and his room really matches his interests) when Obi-Wan Kenobi enters to talk to him about his strong feelings for Senator Amidala. Anakin tries to dismiss it as him simply just not trusting Clovis, but Obi-Wan knows there’s more to it than that. Bringing up his feelings for Duchess Satine Kryze of Mandalore, he tries to relate what’s going on with Anakin and Padme. He reminds Anakin that these feelings are natural and they aren’t really forbidden from having them, but that they only really need to control said feelings. But either way, Anakin continues to insist that he and Padme are just friends.Although it’s been established that the Clovis arc is chronologically part of Season 6, you can find a sign that this was originally part of early Season 5 (aside from that display model of a prototype Jedi interceptor). The way Obi-Wan referred to Satine sounded present tense, as if Satine… hadn’t met Darth Maul yet. According to an interview, Filoni and team was aware of that too, but found a way for it to work chronologically. The relationship between Obi-Wan and Satine has always been to demonstrate how Obi-Wan deals with personal relationships compared to Anakin. If someone Anakin cared about were to bite the bullet, Anakin would obsess over it whereas Obi-Wan doesn’t brood over the past. This can even be seen in “The Lawless”, where he was saddened but didn’t flip out when Satine was murdered. Explanation’s a little flimsy (since it’s for an arc that got pushed forward chronologically due to Cartoon Network not letting them have more than 22 episodes per season and the TCW team’s desire to keep chronology straightforward in the later seasons), but it does make sense. Either way, it still does not detract from an otherwise strong scene. And even though Anakin tries to deny it, I still think Obi-Wan knows there’s more going on between him and Padme than “just being friends” (especially with a deleted scene from Revenge of the Sith), and that he just doesn’t want Anakin in trouble with the Order for it. No, that outfit isn’t suggesting anything at all. Later that night at Padme’s penthouse apartment, she and Rush Clovis return from an opera to continue their research into the banking crisis. From what Clovis has gathered, the Separatists are not paying interests on their loans, yet the Banking Clan is continuing to operate on supposedly non-existent funds to both sides of the war. After reminiscing about old times and talking about his past and how a human like him got into power in a mostly Muun-run organization, Clovis steps a little too close to Padme for her comfort and she tells him to stop.
Clovis realizes that her heart belongs to Skywalker judging from how they were talking to each other earlier, but when Padme’s attempts at denial become a bit more empathic, he sees as an opportunity to force a kiss on her. However, before he can do so…
Anakin barges in.Rush, I would start running. Right! Now!Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you Anakin Skywalker’s Piss List! • Being a slaver. • Killing or endangering his mother, astromech droid, former master and/or padawan. • Advancing on his wife. Apparently incensed, he Force chokes Clovis before throwing him across the room. With his lightsaber ignited he approaches Clovis despite Padme demanding him to stop. At Clovis’s goading to fight like a man, Anakin obliges and casts lightsaber aside to engage Clovis in a very brutal fistfight.By the way, nice detail with Clovis getting injured from trying to punch Anakin’s right arm. But considering all that metal under that glove, the beaten must have been a lot more brutal than what we saw. I can probably think of another reason why this arc didn’t get aired on Cartoon Network. Throughout the fight, Padme repeatedly insists that they stop fighting, but to no avail. It’s not until Clovis has been nearly beaten to death that Anakin stops and realizes he’s lost control of himself. Padme calls for Captain Typho and security, but Clovis claims to the Captain that an attacker infiltrated the apartment through the balcony and that he was lucky the Jedi was around to protect him, a claim which Anakin doesn’t deny.
Anakin tries to apologize to Padme, but she shrugs it off and wants him out of the room. He’s gone too far where she’s concerned.Repeatedly throughout the series, it’s been shown that Anakin can be a pretty scary guy when giving into his darker nature. But unlike the movies, it’s more disturbing here because Anakin has been shown to be genuinely good person most of the time, and it actually makes his fall to the Dark Side more tragic than the movies attempted to make it. In the Prequels, it happened very suddenly while in this series, it’s a slow gradual process. When he does carry out some of his darker but anger-induced actions, there’s always been an understandable reason behind them. When he was interrogating Poggle the Lesser in “Brain Invaders”, it’s because his padawan was in danger of a zombie worm outbreak. He went after “Rako Hardeen” because he thought he killed Obi-Wan. His beatdown of Clovis here, and by far his darkest portrayal in the series? Partially jealousy but partially wariness of Clovis since Padme got poisoned the last time she was around him. And that’s just a naming a few examples in this series. Are there any therapists in this galaxy? Later on Padme’s veranda, Anakin sits down thinking about what he just did when Padme just exits the room Clovis is being treated in. Anakin tries to apologize again, but she still refuses to accept his apology. In fact, she outright questions the nature of their secret marriage when it’s built upon so many lies and deceptions. She points that not only are they unable to do the things real couples do, no marriage could realistically take the strains their relationship has.
Padme Amidala: “This marriage is not a marriage if there isn’t any trust.”
Even further – and not feeling safe with him -, she decides that she and Anakin should keep some distance from each other for a while.Congratulations, Christian Taylor. You work with one of the most poorly-handled love stories in cinematic history, and what do you do? You decide to bring the part about them “living a lie” back with a vengeance, completely deconstruct their relationship and demonstrate just how screwed up it really is. All I can say is good job. Granted, we know they’ll have to reconcile eventually, ‘cause continuity says so and someone’s going to need to plant the Skywalker seeds, but this is definitely a sign that this show handles Anakin and Padme’s relationship a lot better within 22-minutes than the Prequels did. Besides, it’s nice to have Padme using common sense instead of crap like “To be angry is to be human” if her husband is showing signs of mental instability. In Padme’s bedroom where Clovis is recovering, the medical droid treating him reveals himself to be an agent of Count Dooku and presents a hologram of the Count. Clovis tells the Count that he’s close to finding evidence of illegal agreements between the Banking Clan and the CIS leadership and that he doesn’t need any help from him. But Dooku presents an alternative arrangement to Clovis: he will offer to make him the new head of the Banking Clan and give him the location of the embezzled funds so he can make his claim to the Senate.Looks like we’ve got a deal with the devil scenario brewing up. Acting on the information given to him, Clovis calls a hasty meeting in Palpatine’s office. A Muun representative reports that Scipio’s government has seized the illegal accounts and that the Core Five have been arrested. In an act of appreciation, the Confederacy has decided to endorse Clovis as the new head of the banks, which Palpatine decides to echo on the Republic’s behalf.
Clovis then brings his case before the Senate in the Grand Convocation Chamber, exposing the Banking Clan’s corruption and asking a nomination for him to now lead the headless organization. Some senators like Meena Tills of Mon Calamari and Mot-Not Rab question his integrity, but Clovis assures him that he will restore stability and neutrality back to the banks. The Muuns and Palpatine support Clovis, and by a majority vote, Clovis is appointed the new head of the InterGalactic Banking Clan.
As Palpatine leaves the Senate Chamber, he sees Anakin troubled. Anakin voices his distrust of Clovis, but Palpatine points that he doesn’t trust Clovis either. He explains that by putting him in the spotlight, this will hopefully expose Clovis’s true character.You’re quite the wily bastard, aren’t you, Palpy? Now what could he possibly gain from all this faction-playing over bank control? Like I said in the original retrospective, when Palpatine does anything in this series, it’s always something to do with the Sith plot. By the way, Tim Curry may have finally grown on me (I wonder if we’ll be hearing him again in Rebels), but it’s still nice hearing old Ian Abercrombie again for one more story arc two years after he’s passed away. Speaking of him, he also won an award for his portrayal in “The Lawlesss” at Behind The Voice Actors. It nice to someone got a voice-acting award posthumously. Image Source, Concept Art and Trivia: starwars.com/explore/the-clone-wars/ep606/Part 3 – Crisis at the Heart – The fall of Clovis and the Battle of Scipio.
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Post by Gahmah Raan on Mar 25, 2014 15:49:31 GMT -8
Final part of the Clovis arc. Crisis at the Heart – Downfall “Deceit is the weapon of greed.” A Republic diplomatic cruiser lands at the Main Vault on Scipio, and disembarking from it are Rush Clovis, Padme Amidala and a contingent of Coruscant Guard clone troopers led by Commander Thorn. At the landing pad, they are greeted by a Separatist delegation led by Bec Lawise. Clovis allows only a single Republic and Separatist representative into the Neutral Zone to witness the transfer of power while the clones and commando droids wait outside in separate garrisons.
In the main audience chamber of the Vault, five Muun judges give a guilty verdict to the Core Five on charges of embezzlement and sentences them to jail time with Rush Clovis then being appointed as their replacement under the guidance of the Muun government. However, Clovis restates his intentions – he does not wish to control the banks so much as restore order to them, something Padme, Lawise and the Muuns applaud. The former two hope this agreement will lead to a peaceful end to the war.
As Clovis settles into his new office atop the spire at the center of the fortress and tries to enjoy a scenic view of the Scipio mountains, he is interrupted by a sudden holo-transmission from Count Dooku. The new head of the banks thanks the Count for helping him achieve his position, but now Clovis claims no allegiance to either side.
However, Dooku feels he deserves compensation and decides to blackmail Clovis. Dooku tells him that if anyone found out that it was through him that he found the illegal banking accounts, he would lose the Republic’s support, and if he doesn’t give the Confederacy a pass on paying their loans and not increase the Republic’s interest rates, everything he’s worked hard for will burn.
Later, Clovis takes his place among four other Muuns in the newly formed Traxus Division. His first decree under the guise of stabilization is to increase the interest rates on the Republic’s loans while the Separatists don’t pay any at all. This shocks both Padme and Bec Lawise.
Meanwhile on Coruscant, there is outrage in the Senate over the recent action of the Banking Clan, and it only gets worse when Palpatine confirms the rumors that the Confederacy isn’t suffering any similar interest hikes. As Anakin Skywalker, Mace Windu and Yoda observe the political bickering, they wonder if something else is in the works as it’s far too early for Clovis to be abusing his power like this.
Back at Scipio, a Separatist fleet enters the system, and Count Dooku orders the super tactical droid Kraken (Yep, apparently he got rebuilt. Or this is just more proof of it originally being a Season 5 arc) to launch an attack on the Republic garrison as part of ruse to make it look like Clovis is favoring the Separatists.
At the Main Vault landing platform, Commander Thorn spots an incoming squad of Vulture droids and Hyena bombers. Noticing that they’re fresh out in the open, Thorn immediately contacts Senator Amidala to warn her of the Separatist attack. As Padme watches the chaos from her quarters in disbelief, the bombers destroy the gunships and diplomatic cruiser. (And we get a lovely shot of some clones being thrown around inside as the doomed ship falls off the platform.)
As Thorn wields his Z-6 rotary cannon “The Hammer” and other troopers fend off the fighters and bombers with rocket launchers, some droid gunships swoop in to drop some platoons of super battle droids, along with some commando droids, to overwhelm troopers. Thorn is the last one to be killed, but not without putting up a fight before being shot in the chest multiple times at point-blank range.Probably one of the most badass red shirts I’ve ever seen. On another note, is it just me or do clones wielding Z-6 miniguns tend to die heroically (Hevy and Hardcase being the previous notable examples)? Once the Republic garrison is eliminated, Count Dooku’s solar sailer touches down on the landing pad. Back at the Chancellor’s office on Coruscant, Anakin, Palpatine and Mas Amedda receive a report from Padme that the war has come to Scipio. Palpatine orders to evacuate the planet immediately, but she cannot as she’s trapped on the surface and the transmission ends when a commando droid grabs her by the arm. Palpatine then decides to call an emergency session in the Senate.
Back on Scipio, Padme is dragged into Rush Clovis’s office where Bec Lawise is already standing and not long after, Count Dooku enters the scene. He orders for Padme’s arrest and she responds by grabbing a battle droid’s blaster and attempting to shoot the Count, but instead, he uses the Force to make her shoot and kill Bec Lawise.Wow, Count. That’s pretty cruel even for you. Starting with Mina Bonteri, why does it seem like non-villainous Separatist characters always die? At this turn of events, Dooku declares the Confederacy in control of the banks and congratulates Clovis for his part. Padme is saddened that Clovis’s idealism was all a front, to which Clovis states he had no choice.
Meanwhile in the Republic Senate, Palpatine tells the assembly that Count Dooku and the Separatists have manipulated the good faith of the Republic and have used Clovis as a puppet to call for a takeover of Scipio. Many alarmist senators call for a Republic invasion in response lest their economic system be hijacked the Separatists. Following the will of the Senate, Palpatine carries out a “mercy mission” to Scipio led by Anakin Skywalker.
At the Republic staging ground, Anakin confers with Yoda and Mace before departing, with Yoda advising Anakin to let go of his selfishness if he is to see things clearly in this mission.
Back on Scipio, as Count Dooku leaves the Main Vault and heads for his solar sailer, he receives an update from Darth Sidious that the Republic forces on their way, and Dooku likewise informs him that his deception in making Clovis look like a Separatist was a success. Because of Clovis’s “treachery”, control of the banks will fall in control of the Supreme Chancellor.
The Republic taskforce then jumps out of hyperspace and immediately engages the Separatist fleet. While the fleets battle, Anakin, Captain Rex and a contingent of 501st troopers fly towards the planet’s surface in gunships with an escort of Z-95 Headhunters.
Back aboard the Separatist fleet’s lead dreadnought, Dooku orders Kraken to withdraw the fleet, and despite the tactical droid’s protests that their ground forces are still locked in combat, he abandons them and complies. On the planet’s surface, a Muun official informs Clovis of the Separatist fleet’s abandonment just as the Republic forces approach the Vault fortress. As the gunships shoot their way past Vulture and Hyena droids, Anakin disembarks from his gunship and fights his way towards Clovis’s office.
As Clovis watches the battle outside, he is distraught by what he has caused. Not only has he inadvertently brought war to Scipio and broken its neutrality, he now worries about his lasting legacy. As Padme tries to convince Clovis to turn himself in, Anakin arrives and cuts down the droids restraining Padme, but Clovis quickly holds her hostage and points a blaster to her head.
He tries to explain to both Padme and Anakin that Dooku was the one really behind this and tried to blackmail him, but his explanation is cut short when a shot-down Vulture droid from the battle outside crashes into the base of the spire and causes the office to tremble and tilt.
As the office spire begins to collapse, Anakin, Padme and Clovis slide towards a deadly fall to the fortress’s main level. Anakin tries to hold onto both Padme and Clovis - one with each hand – while he secures his footing, but he has trouble holding onto both of them. As such, Rush Clovis apologizes to Padme for everything he’s done, deliberately lets go and falls to his death.If there’s any complaints I do have for this scene, it’s that Padme’s reconciliation with Anakin happened too quickly, especially with how the previous episode deconstructed their marriage. I understand that it has to happen eventually, but if I were to make any revisions to this scene, I’d have Padme apologize for misjudging Anakin’s suspicions but still suggest that they continue keeping their distance until the whole incident boils over and leave us with the knowledge that they’ll get together again eventually, but it would have to be at least nine months before Revenge of the Sith until they’re on good terms again. Although granted, Anakin was keeping his cool during this scene and didn’t attempt to drop Clovis to his death on purpose out of spite. And Mon Mothma knows bad things are going to come of this. Back at the Senate after the Battle of Scipio, Nix Card officially scapegoats Rush Clovis for the corruption and the takeover of Scipio. In the interest of stability, he hands control of the Banking Clan over to the office of the Supreme Chancellor. Palpatine gladly takes on this new responsibility and asserts that the Republic and the banks are now stronger than ever.So Palpatine carried out this series of manipulations to gain control banks for himself… And poor Clovis. He tried to do something good, but by making a deal with Dooku, he ended up causing more harm, and after he died, he’s only remembered for bringing a war to his planet and blamed for the corruption he was trying to undo. Image Source, Concept Art and Trivia: starwars.com/explore/the-clone-wars/ep607/Overall:While I was glad to be seeing this arc after learning that it got it bumped up from Season 5, the political premise doesn’t sound all that exciting given the series’ previous experience with politics. Don’t get me wrong, politics are important to understanding how wars work, but not really the most exciting thing when it comes to Star Wars. However, this was an example of a political storyline done right. Not only did it have enough lasting distractions for those not that invested in politics, it’s politics connected into something bigger. While the big selling points of this arc were Embo getting a little more focus and the romantic relationship conflict, the Sith getting control of the Banking Clan is actually a lot more significant in the long-term. What long-term? It’s not like giving them the largest pool of money in the galaxy will give them enough funds to build a moon-sized satellite that can blow up planets- oh wait. By assimilating the banks, the Empire’s already been made. And in the context of the old EU, it makes some sense since the Banking Clan was the only piece of the CIS that didn’t get dissolved after the formation of the Empire and became part of it. Still, even though I enjoyed this arc, I found it to be the weakest storyline of “The Lost Missions”, and that’s saying something when the next two episodes have Mace Windu teamed up with Mr. Binks. Next Time: The Disappeared – The Odd Couple and the Temple of Doom
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Post by Gahmah Raan on Mar 26, 2014 22:01:57 GMT -8
Episode 6.8-6.9 “The Disappeared”You may be confused by how I labeled these two episodes. It’s because the episodes are simply titled “The Disappeared, Part I” and “The Disappeared, Part II”. So technically, it’s not a two-part story arc so much as a two-part episode. And you’re probably going to think I’m insane before or after this… Anyway, here we go: The most unexpected team-up in an Indiana Jones homage. The Disappeared, Part I – The unlikely couple “Without darkness there can be no light.” Normally a peaceful planet, the ancient world of Bardotta is now threatened. Its spiritual leaders have been mysteriously disappearing and its government is in danger of collapsing. Desperate, Queen Julia has contacted the Republic Senate with an odd request for aid for her planet.
In the Senate Chamber, a large hologram of the Bardottan Queen is presented asking for help. Before Chancellor Palpatine can recommend either Senator Padme Amidala of Naboo or Bail Organa of Alderaan as ambassadors, the Queen quickly turns them down, as she has someone specific in mind…Now who might that be….? Representative Jar Jar Binks.
Later, the Jedi Council (by the way, we are also now introduced to Oppo Rancisis’ character model) discusses this baffling choice of delegate with Palpatine. The Chancellor is at a loss as to why Julia would pick Binks of all people and hopes that the Jedi will have some intervention. He even briefs them on the current situation with Bardotta: the disappearance of the Dagoyan Masters, Bardotta’s lead mystics.
According to Mace Windu, the Dagoyan Masters have an affinity to the Force, but unlike the Jedi and Sith, they only use it passively as seers and visionaries. Unfortunately, the Dagoyan Masters have developed an aversion to the Jedi Order after they indoctrinated a few young Bardottans, perceiving them as child abductors. Because of this, Julia has not requested the presence of a Jedi. Mace thinks this is a mistake, because not only does he have very little faith in Jar Jar, whatever is threatening Bardotta is a Force-related matter and needs Jedi intervention. By agreement of the Council, Mace decides to accompany the Gungan to Bardotta.Yep, both the Senate and the Jedi Order are just as baffled as the audience would be. Two others things of note: There are other groups of Force-using religions that use it in different ways. And then more controversial opinions on the Jedi Order, namely their habits of taking children in at a very young age. On a last note, we’re finally going to be seeing Mace Windu in the spotlight for the first time since Season 2, even if he’s sharing it with the Gungan. Still, even after reading the episode synopses beforehand, the idea of a super-serious Jedi Master being teamed up with one of the most polarizing characters in the franchise was just too interesting to turn down, and whether you love or hate Jar Jar, I knew some hilarity was going to ensue from just Mace being around him. And hilarity is already ensuing… Before long, a T-6 shuttle makes its way through the Bardottan mountains while Mace has to keep Jar Jar from touching any important systems. When Mace asks the clumsy Gungan why Queen Julia has chosen him as the Republic’s ambassador, Jar Jar explains that he and the Queen have known each other for a long time now.
Setting down at the Dagoyan Temple, they are met by dignitaries High Seneschals Peteen and Savatte as well as some Bardottan honor guards. They welcome Jar Jar but don’t take Mace’s presence coldly as he wasn’t invited, but Jar Jar vouches for him and per custom, Mace hands over his lightsaber for safekeeping.
The two delegates are then escorted into the royal audience chamber where the Bahk-tov Council presides, and at the head of the chamber is Queen Julia herself in the largest throne, but seven of the twelve thrones are conspicuously vacant.
The Queen questions Jar Jar as to why he brought a Jedi with him, but Jar Jar tries to brush it off by claiming that Mace is his humble servant.Even though the Queen assumed it first, this is admittedly kind of funny in ways that are also kinda wrong. First, Jar Jar is claiming Mace – a dark-skinned human – to be his servant, which would already unfortunately bring slavery to mind for some (And Mace’s expression to that claim just translates as “Oh no you didn’t!”). However, in addition to this just being a fabricated excuse to keep Mace present, this claim is coming from a character who’s already been accused of being a similar stereotype, which makes it funnier than it would be otherwise. I don’t know if this was intentional or not, but Mace’s reaction suggests it was. Julia accepts Mace’s presence, but asks for him to leave the chamber. Once the Jedi Master is escorted out of the chamber, the Queen worriedly tells Jar Jar that she forsees an ancient prophecy coming true since the Dagoyan Masters are disappearing. Should all of them disappear from the galaxy, darkness will consume it. Jar Jar is determined to stop this prophecy.
Julia then tells the rest of the Bahk-tov Council to leave the room and give her and Jar Jar some privacy.And now for the thing that totally came out of left field this episode… That awkward moment… when Jar Jar Binks has a girlfriend… and you don’t. I’m not going to ask how. Seriously, this is more unexpected than Ziro the Hutt being straight. And the idea of giving Jar Jar a girlfriend is just so out there that it’s brilliant. And it’s still a better love story than… well, that certain book series with sparkling vampires that’s already got the picking-on it deserves. After kissing, she invites Jar Jar to meditate with her.Meditate? You don’t mean… *gets slapped* Fine, I won’t give you any mental images you don’t want. A day later, Mace paces through the hallways of the royal apartments while he speaks with Yoda via hologram. According him, the Bardottans may admire Jar Jar because of his child-like innocence and naiveté. However, Mace senses a great disturbance in the Force, but it’s hard to pinpoint.
When he tries to enter the Queen’s quarters, the guards bar him entrance, and not even a Jedi mind trick will work on Dagoyan guards. When Mace leaves and turns around the corner, the guards try to follow him to see what he’s up to, only for him to give them the slip and make his way into the Queen’s apartment.
Inside the apartment, Jar Jar and Julia are practicing some Bardottan meditative exercises, and while they do so, she tells him that she has discovered a terrible secret through the waves of the Force. When the Dagoyan Masters began vanishing, she meditated to discover their whereabouts only to learn about a terrible plot. She called Jar Jar over because she doesn’t trust anyone else with the information she’s about to give, but before she can pass on the information, Mace Windu barges in.
She orders the guards to remove the Jedi from her room, but Jar Jar tells her he’ll handle it and escorts him out of the apartment. Shortly after, Mace demands an update from the Gungan since he’s been gone with her for a while. Jar Jar explains that he’s just been rekindling his relationship with the Queen last night since they hadn’t seen each other in a long time, but Mace worries that Jar Jar’s getting sidetracked and jeopardizing their mission. Jar Jar further explains that the Queen was just about to tell him everything when he interrupted and that’s only through the Queen’s affection for Binks that the Republic’s presence is tolerated on Bardotta. To ensure that he does learn everything, Mace hands Jar Jar a comlink and instructs him to keep him updated.
However, when Jar Jar returns to the apartment, he is shocked to find that “Queenie” has disappeared (But did you have to yell that at the top of your lungs?) . The guards are at a loss to her whereabouts too, as she was in a closed room and there’s only one way in. She just simply vanished like the other Dagoyan Masters. This calls for an emergency meeting of the Bahk-tov Council.
With the Council in session, High Seneschal Peteen declares that Julia’s disappearance that their dark prophecy is being fulfilled and if she does not return within three rotations, she will be gone forever and a new age of darkness will engulf the galaxy.
Mace attempts to speak, but is silenced by the Council when they declare him to be a harbinger of doom. But Jar Jar vouches for him again, telling them that Queen Julia has called him to help with the crisis. As such, Mace can only get answers through Jar Jar and lets the Gungan ask about the prophecy.
Savatte tells them that this prophecy came from the Frangawl cult, who worship the ancient Bardottan demon, Malmourral. The cult also has a shrine buried deep below the Dagoyan Temple, a place they consider cursed and none come back alive from.And now we’re in Temple of Doom territory. However, Mace and Jar Jar are daring enough to enter the shrine, and the Bahk-tov Council applauds them.
Later, Savatte leads the odd couple into the darkened, cobweb-filled temple catacombs, each of them holding a torch. As he leads, Savatte explains to the two offworlders that the Frangawl cult ruled Bardotta for much of its early history. They were warriors and barbarians, but they had a spirituality that gave them power. Once they get far enough, Savatte hands Mace Windu his lightsaber back, hoping that he won’t have to use it.
As the group approaches three altars set in the wall, Jar Jar notices a piece of Queen Julia’s headdress in a passageway. When the Gungan picks it up to examine it, he is ambushed by a figure wearing a large wooden tribal mask who blows some sparkling dust into his face. He tries to get the dust off, but then…Oh no! Meesa disappearin! Meesa disappearin! Jar Jar’s hands start to glow blue as he watches his own body slowly disappear. A heavy stone door blocks the corridor from Mace and Savatte, but the former uses the Force to open it again only to find Jar Jar gone without any trace except for his blown-out torch.
Mace orders Savatte to return to the temple to get help while he tries to find his unexpected partner.
Deeper below in a shrine filled with lava, the masked ambusher – a Frangawl cultist – carries the panicking but invisible Jar Jar Binks over his shoulder before shoving him into a metal cage. The cage is then suspended above the ground next to some other cages before Jar Jar becomes visible again when the powder wears off.
He is then face-to-face with an imprisoned Dagoyan Master, Joseph, along with other disappeared Dagoyan Masters. The Masters are in despair as they are to be sacrifices for the demon of war, Malmourral.
With the cages hanging over lava pits and a stone bridge consisting of a carved head of Malmourral crackling with unknown magic energies and an oily slide sloping down from the sacrificial altar to the mouth of Malmourral.
Jar Jar’s hope rises when Mace Windu tries to contact him via comlink. The Jedi Master tells him not to move so he can better track his signal, but things get complicated for the Gungan when a cultist pulls a lever that starts moving the cages, with one of the captive Dagoyan Masters being lowered towards a group of the cultists. The shaking of Jar Jar’s cage causes him to drop his comlink and then a cultist to smash it with his staff.
He then spots Queen Julia chained to another platform, who then wearily warns Jar Jar that the Frangawl cult’s plan is to steal the Force from within the Dagoyan Masters.
To begin the sacrificial ritual, the cult leader holds a shimmering green orb over his head before he pushes the recently-released Dagoyan Master down the oil slide and into crackling energy coming from Malmourral’s mouth. This energy rips the Force from the man’s body – killing him - and sends it into the green orb.For those of you who played the 2002 Clone Wars video game, this harvesting of the Living Force may remind you of the Dark Reaper. For an episode that’s an affectionate homage to Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom starring Jar Jar Binks, that’s surprisingly creepy. Then again, the sacrifice scene in that movie was also somewhat disturbing (if not moreso considering it led to the creation of the PG-13 movie rating) In the caves outside the sacrificial shrine, Mace senses this disturbance in the Force and follows it, finding the chamber not long after, just when they’re ready to sacrifice Jar Jar. Binks tries to protest that he’s not even a Force user, but the cult leader (who, according to the episode guide’s trivia section, is actually Peteen; a mirror to the Prime Minister of Pankot being a Thuggee) explains that because the Force is in all living things, the bumbling Gungan is just as good as any other sacrifice.
Before Jar Jar can get pushed down the slide to get his life force torn out, Mace barges into the scene and fights his way through several cultists. Jar Jar takes advantage of the distraction to steal a spear from one of the cultists next to him, and tries to fight back. But Jar Jar’s spear-wielding is more incidental than deliberate and not only does his spear get sliced to pieces, he gets knocked down the slide anyway.
Mace uses the Force to stop his descent before he can land in Malmourral’s mouth. When he tries to levitate the Gungan to the side, more cultists cause some distractions for him. He tosses one cultist into the lava (They wouldn’t put lava pits if they didn’t plan on any mooks falling in it, would they? And yes, he’s quickly disintegrated on contact.) when Jar Jar almost falls in before getting back himself.
Even though Mace is preoccupied with the cult’s warriors, Jar Jar is determined to rescue his beloved Julia. Mace assists him by Force throwing him up to her platform and with him out of the way, the Jedi Master whips out the purple blade and starts cutting down the cultists. When there’s only one of them left, he just scares him off by looking at him.Can you blame him? You’d be intimidated too if a guy who looked like Samuel L. Jackson was staring you down. Meanwhile, the cult leader unchains the weakened Julia from the altar and drags her and the Force containment orb out of the sacrificial chamber. Jar Jar pursues them into a narrow corridor, but he is too late. The cult leader gets into an escape shuttle (and a coolly designed one at that) with the queen and takes off away from the Bardottan mountain temple.
Later, the Bahk-tov Council reconvenes with its newly rescued members. Joseph proclaims that the Frangawl cult is active once again and if the Queen’s life-force is stolen, a dark age will come to the galaxy. But with Master Mace Windu’s help, Jar Jar Binks swears he will rescue the Queen, and the Council applauds.
Mace Windu: “Jar Jar, it may just be this planet, but I think you’re finally starting to make sense to me.”
Because it’s technically a two-part episode, I won’t be giving my final thoughts until I do the second-part. However, I will say that even though I’m not a big fan of Mr. Binks (even though I think this series has done some good things for him when compared to the movies), I think the team up of him and Mace Windu works well.
Image Source, Concept Art and Trivia: starwars.com/explore/the-clone-wars/ep608/
Next time: Part 2 – The adventure of the odd couple continues, and the coming of the Great Mother.
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Post by Gahmah Raan on Mar 27, 2014 19:47:37 GMT -8
Second and final part of "The Disappeared". The Disappeared, Part II – The Great Mother “Wisdom is born in fools as well as wise men.” Following the abduction of Queen Julia and the escape of the Frangawl cult leader, Jedi Master Mace Windu and Representative Jar Jar Binks depart from Bardotta in their shuttle to search for the Queen. As they begin the search, Jar Jar explains to Mace in detail what he saw of the Frangawl sacrificial ritual, namely the part about the one ill-fated Dagoyan Master getting his life-force harvested from him into a magic sphere and then his body getting “crispy-fried”. (Was his corpse charred/incinerated as a result of the ritual or was it just thrown in the lava after the harvesting?)
Mace wonders what the cult plans on doing with this harvested Living Force, because they don’t use the Force actively like the Jedi and Sith do. Instead, he senses a darker presence in the works. By sensing the Force containment sphere’s trail, he can find where the cult has fled with the Queen to.
Meanwhile, the Frangawl leader’s shuttle sets down in a city on the desert moon Zardossa Stix, and he is greeted back by more cultists of multiple species and genders. When the barely conscious Queen vainly attempts to call Jar Jar for help, the cult leader blows some sleep powder in her face.
An aide then informs the leader of another vision: the “Great Mother” has warned him that the Jedi know about the containment sphere and are now coming to the moon. Fearing that their plan has been discovered, the cult leader decides to make haste with transferring Queen Julia’s Living Force to the Great Mother.Some new things we’ve learned about this cult. First is that they’re multi-racial, as we see a Ming Po and a Zygerrian cultist. Second, aside from the escape shuttle, they have access to more advanced technology than “Part 1” suggested (“Part 1” mostly showed them using swords, spears and other bladed melee weapons; in this part, we see they also use blasters). Not long after, the Jedi shuttle lands in that same desert settlement, but before Jar Jar can rush out to save the Queen, Mace plays the straight man again and restrains him. He meditates through the Force to get a better idea of where to find the sphere, finding it in a crowded market place.
Mace Windu: “I see people, market, streets,…” Jar Jar Binks: *deadpan* “Yep. Meesa see that from here too…”
Now they can start rushing because they know where to find the cultists without getting lost in the town.
As the duo traverses through thickening crowds at the center of the city, Mace recognizes this area as the marketplace he saw in his vision. The Jedi Master Force jumps onto a tall building to get better view while Jar Jar searches at street level, but the latter has a little of bit of trouble when he’s swarmed by Gossam fruit vendors.
Ignoring the relatively diminutive vendors, Jar Jar spots the cult carrying Julia away. The Queen calls out to Jar Jar, and the Gungan likewise calls out to Mace. When Mace tries to pursue them, one of the cultists – a Zygerrian woman (looks like the TCW's acknowledging that they're not all slavers) carrying a tooka – throws the cat-like creature into a herd of domesticated eopie to startle them and have them distract Mace. Meanwhile, Jar Jar tries to pursue the group with Julia into an alleyway, only to be ambushed by other cultists. The eopie do little to slow Mace down, as he simply runs along their backs and arrives in time to beat up the cultists apprehending the Gungan.
While Mace brawls with those cultists, Jar Jar continues his pursuit of the leader and the Queen up a flight of stairs on a hillside, but faces resistance from a diminutive cultist manning a tripod-mounted heavy repeating blaster turret. Thankfully for Jar Jar, Mace takes out the gunner before he can get himself killed charging the gun in an attempt to be brave.
The cult leader makes his getaway with Julia on a rail-speeder, but to cover their escape, a Ming Po cultist releases two gundarks to attack the pursuers. An accidental misstep on Jar Jar’s part causes Mace to drop his lightsaber, and the large beasts’ trainer snatches the lightsaber with his whip before Mace can pick it up, leaving him to fight the gundarks unarmed. When Mace tries to Force pull the lightsaber out of the cultist’s hands, he maintains a strong grip on it and the gundarks just keep Mace preoccupied.
Seeing the trouble Mace is in (and probably trying to make up for his slight accident that got Mace into this predicament in the first place) , Jar Jar attacks the Ming Po cultist for the Jedi’s lightsaber. Jar Jar is able to knock the lightsaber out of the cultist’s hands, but even when the cultist tries to restrain him in a neck-bind, the Gungan simply uses his elongated tongue to grab the saber and spit it over to Mace. With his weapon back in hand, Mace easily kills one of the gundarks and the other is simply scared off (Awesome, but not quite as awesome as scaring someone off with the Samuel L. Jackson Stare) .
The Ming Po tries to flee, Jar Jar knocks him out with a punch to the face (Normally, you’d be expecting Mr. Binks to be on the receiving end of a Falcon Punch and not be the sender). Boy, what planet you from?! What ain’t no planet I ever heard of! Do they speak Basic in What?!
Mace then questions the Cultist, but gets no answers other than a cryptic message that the Shadow is coming, and the Great Mother will deal with the Jedi. With no more answers to milk from him, Mace uses the Force to knock him unconscious.
Mace Windu: “Time for you to go to sleep.”
After doing so, he catches up with Jar Jar, who reports that the cultists have escaped on a rail. After buying some animal mounts from a merchant in the form of a horse-like dalgo and an eopie, the odd couple races across the desert.
Meanwhile, the Frangawl cult arrives at a stone ziggurat built in honor of Malmourral with Queen Julia and strap her to a lens-like contraption at the top of the structure. The time for the Queen’s sacrifice is drawing near as the moons and stars surrounding Zardossa Stix align. When the Great Mother arrives soon, she will harvest the Queen’s essence and combine her powers with the Living Force to become unstoppable.
Some moments later, a ship arrives at the ziggurat. Emerging the boarding ramp following some green mist is the Great Mother: the Dathomir witch Mother Talzin.
Driven by images of Talzin, the Frangawl leader presents her with the Living Force containment orb. But since the Jedi is approaching the temple, they must begin the ritual immediately.
Talzin plans to use a set of solar lenses mounted atop a spire stretched out from the ziggurat and harness the power of the eclipsing sun. Using the energy of the sun to rip the Queen’s life-force out and focus it into the sphere. When she combines the Queen’s power with her own Nightsister magic, she will become more powerful than any Sith or Jedi.So, Talzin’s trying to achieve some godhood. And this story’s a combination of both Temple of Doom and Raiders of the Lost Ark. On another, if she says she’s not a natural Force user, what is Nightsister magic anyway? Is it related to the Force or is something different? It may just be a manifestation of the Dark Side that is called upon through rituals and witchcraft. (Magic forging, necromancy and voodoo dolls to name a few examples). It seems the term “natural Force user” may mean that she and the Nightsisters access the Force in ways that aren’t considered natural, and shouldn’t be accessed through. Considering the color of their magic is the exact same shade of green as that of the life-forces being extracted from people, this leads to some more disturbing ideas. I think I know why Nightsisters really kill their mates after a confirmed pregnancy aside from the institutionalized misandry. Meanwhile, Mace and Jar Jar have made it to the ziggurat. As they must walk through a henge of stone columns to get to the ziggurat, the columns light up and shape-shift into large humanoid guardians animated by unknown powers.
When the stone guardians try to crush the interlopers, Jar Jar jumps on top of one of them, causing them all to smash each other apart trying to turn him into paste. With the guardians and in an unusual act of brilliance, Jar Jar decides to take one of the guardians’ arm cannons and use it as a weapon in the next fight.Do I really to quote “Darths and Droids” on that? Frangawl cultist aide: “The Jedi has gotten past the stone guardians.” Mace Windu: “You mean the Jedi and the Gungan.”
As the solar lenses are close to aligning, Mace Windu meets face-to-face with Mother Talzin, who opens up by unleashing a stream of green lightning from her fingertips, forcing Mace and Jar Jar to duck for cover. While Jar Jar works on rescuing Queen Julia, Mace duels with Talzin, who summons a flaming green sword from the ether and crosses blades with the Jedi Master.
Using the arm cannon he acquired from the guardians, Jar Jar quickly scatters the cultists guarding Julia with one shot. He starts unfastening the Queen from the altar lens before the spire lenses completely align. Once Julia is free, the cult leader gets up and attacks Jar Jar. Before the lenses finish aligning, the Julia tackles Gungan out of the way, leaving only the cult leader to get caught in the ray of light, have his life-force ripped out and sent to the containment sphere.Can’t have an Indiana Jones homage without one of the villains dying an ironic death. However, the sphere falls off its podium and shatters, creating an explosion of bright light that engulfs the ziggurat (and for some reason, turns it from night to morning in the blink of an eye; maybe that’s the sun rising after the eclipse) .
When the smoke clears, Mace stands ready to continue his battle with Mother Talzin, but forlorn, the Nightsister looks at the shattered orb. She lets out a shriek as she evaporates into green mist.And I would’ve gotten away with too if it weren’t for you meddling Jedi and that stupid Gungan! In the end, Queen Julia is reunited with Jar Jar Binks, and she’s grateful for Mace Windu’s help, hoping this means a new beginning for both the Bardottans and the Jedi Order.Damn, Binks! That is the creepiest face I’ve ever seen you make! That’s screen-capturing for ya! And it ends with the group riding towards the sun in a scene mirroring the end of The Last Crusade. And for your information, no, Mother Talzin is not dead yet (and thus avoids the potential humiliation of being killed by Jar Jar; seriously, do you really think the writers would have a recurring like her killed off by a comic relief character?). In fact, the trivia section of the episode guide says we haven’t seen the last of her yet even though this is the last time we see her in this series. And according to a news post, she’ll have a part to play in Darth Maul: Son of Dathomir. Going back to what I previously discussed about Talzin, her puzzle has gotten even bigger. Considering she was set back by this loss, it seems she needs the Force to keep living, but we know she’s not dead yet. Or was she ever alive to begin with? Perhaps she’s trying to cheat death by harvesting the Force considering she teleports a lot using Nightsister magic. On another, it’s nice to see her again after she was absent in Season 5 despite her role and duel being brief, but even then we still don’t know what her endgame plans are yet, and none of the characters she’s aided and manipulated throughout the course of the series have gotten where they wanted to be. The Nightsisters have been all but annihilated, Asajj Ventress is now a bounty hunter, Savage Opress is dead and Darth Maul is now a prisoner of Darth Sidious. Have any of these events ruined her plans? I say highly unlikely. Image Source, Concept Art and Trivia: starwars.com/explore/the-clone-wars/ep609/Overall:Would I have chosen an episode staring Jar Jar Binks to be one of the last episodes of the series? Admittedly, no. I would have preferred not to see him at all in this series, even when this series would do good things for him. However, given the circumstances these episodes were released under, the team didn’t really plan on this story being one of the last episodes and if they knew they were making the last episodes, I don’t think they would have. But was this a good story line? Yes. In fact, I’d say this is the best Jar Jar-centric storyline in the series. (No, Season 4’s Mon Calamari arc does not count as Jar Jar-centric; he was just a side character in that) You may ask, how the hell do you make a good Jar Jar story? That’s easy: You pair him up with a straight man character to serve as an audience surrogate and put him in a short Indiana Jones homage. Mr. Binks has been paired with straight men before like C-3PO and Bail Organa to offset his wackiness, but Mace Windu is probably the best one since he’s so serious most of the time. And it was just good to see Mace in the spotlight again after a long time. In this story, Jar Jar actually manages to be pretty funny at points (such as snarking at Mace and punching a cultist). Not to mention the totally unexpected surprise of him having a girlfriend and proving himself to be somewhat heroic. Even with the unusually creepy element of having a religious cult that harvests the Force from people and it delved into certain aspects of the Force, this arc was mostly light-hearted fun, to the point that you’d think this two-parter was an anti-depressant for the team right after working on the manically-depressing Order 66 arc (kind of like how Gainax studios made FLCL after working on End of Evangelion, except less severe). And avoiding one weakness of Season 5’s D-Squad arc, they only kept it to two episodes. Even though this arc was unimportant in regards to other major storylines and aspects from this films, I still found it more enjoyable than the Clovis arc. And thus, I’ve lost all credibility for praising something with Jar Jar Binks involved. I have no regrets! And next time, we get to the other major attraction point of “The Lost Missions”. NEXT TIME – the Yoda arc – Part 1 – The Lost One – We play “Prequel patch-up, Prequel patch-up!” as we look into the case of a certain dead Jedi that got left hanging in the movies.
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Post by Gahmah Raan on Mar 29, 2014 0:16:57 GMT -8
Well boys and girls, here it is: the final story arc to be animated for this series. Only four episodes remain. Yoda arc (Episode 6.10-6.13 “The Lost One”, “Voices”, “Destiny”, “Sacrifice”)However, even though it directly precedes the rest of the episodes in this arc, the first part of this arc is a bit more standalone than the rest, and has little to do with Yoda. Rather, it has something to do with a certain dead man that was a loose end in the Prequels (not counting older Expanded Universe stories). The Lost One – The mystery of Sifo-Dyas “What is lost is often found.” I guess that particular mask’s for filtering out sand particles? A long-awaited truth is about to be discovered. Having received a distress signal at the Temple, the Jedi Council has sent Master Plo Koon to investigate the origin of this signal: a T-6 shuttle thought to have been lost and last in possession of a Jedi Master who was killed over a decade ago.
The Wolf Pack pushes their way through a visibility-lowering sandstorm on a desert moon both on foot and in vehicles. From inside a turbo tank, Plo Koon detects the crashed shuttle. Investigating the inside of the shuttle, Commander Wolffe confirms the shuttle’s serial number to be the one they were looking for. Moving into the cockpit, Plo also comes across a sand-filled but still-functional blue-bladed lightsaber lying on the floor. He then orders the troops to clear out and ready the wrecked shuttle for transport back to Coruscant.
Not long after, Plo contacts the Jedi Council and confirms that the shuttle and lightsaber belonged to the long-lost Jedi Master, Sifo-Dyas. Obi-Wan Kenobi then recounts Sifo-Dyas’s history: He was a member of the Jedi Council before the Naboo blockade, until the rest of the Council judged his ideas as too extreme. Sifo-Dyas foresaw a conflict coming and was convinced that the Republic needed to raise a new army since it hadn’t experienced any galaxy-wide wars for at least a thousand years. The Council rejected his ideas and apparently commissioned the Kaminoans to create the clone army in secret.
Continuing the analysis on Sifo-Dyas in the war room, Jedi librarian Madame Jocasta Nu prepares a briefing on the circumstances surrounding his death. Records indicate that he died on Felucia while during a failed attempt to end a war among the local Felucian tribes (By the way, these are the Felucians as we saw them in The Force Unleashed she’s talking about, not the diminutive farmers we saw in earlier episodes of this series, thus solidifying that both species are official canon, even though TFU isn’t anymore) . However, there’s no records on what happened to Sifo-Dyas’s body afterward and the entire incident has been sealed and classified by the office of the Supreme Chancellor. Thus, Master Yoda assigns Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker to investigate Felucia while he talks with Chancellor Palpatine.
Visiting Chancellor Palpatine, Yoda discusses the sealed records of Sifo-Dyas with him. However, Palpatine seemingly has no recollection of Sifo-Dyas’s name, but when Yoda gives him the specific timeframe disappearance, the Chancellor explains that he wasn’t even Supreme Chancellor yet and only a senator from Naboo when it happened. Instead, Palpatine recommends that Yoda talk with his predecessor, former Chancellor Valorum.
As Yoda departs from Palpatine’s office with his new lead, he receives a holographic update from Obi-Wan and Anakin. Despite some initial language troubles with the primitive Felucians, they confirmed that Sifo-Dyas was not alone when he came to the planet and that a second Jedi had accompanied him, but said Jedi’s identity cannot be confirmed. Unfortunately, their trail on Sifo-Dyas goes cold when Obi-Wan reveals that the Felucians cremated his body after his death. However, despite Palpatine giving Yoda “as much success as usual”, he decides to take advantage of the new lead.
Speaking with Valorum at the former Chancellor’s residence (and apparently, former Supreme Chancellors get security in the form of Senate commandos) , Yoda learns that Valorum assigned Sifo-Dyas on a secret mission to deal with the Pyke Syndicate, an unusually powerful part of the spice cartel. However, Sifo-Dyas was never able to complete this mission, as he was called upon by the Jedi Council to deal with the war on FeluciaYou may remember the Pykes as the group of armed drug dealers that have big pod-shaped heads but small faces and the only criminal organization to join Darth Maul’s Shadow Collective right off the bat whereas the Black Sun and Hutts attempted to resist. Being the only one of those three syndicates to be original to this series, the Pykes are actually getting some focus in this episode. Yoda then asks Valorum about the second Jedi accompanying Sifo-Dyas, but the former Chancellor knows nothing of a second Jedi. Instead, he tells him that his personal aide, Silman, accompanied Sifo-Dyas on his mission to deal with the Pykes and also to Felucia.
Meanwhile at his estate on Serenno, Count Dooku receives a transmission from his master, Darth Sidious. The Dark Lord of the Sith is furious and demands to know why the Jedi are even looking into the loose end that is Sifo-Dyas. He commands his apprentice to clean up this mess or else their master plan will be threatened. And to emphasize that he is dead serious about not screwing this up, Sidious Force chokes Dooku.And you thought “The Lawless” showed us how powerful he really is. To put it in perspective, Sidious just Force choked someone from about half-way across the galaxy through a hologram chat! (If the current version of the Essential Atlas has any merit on this, Coruscant is in the Core Worlds, while Serenno is in the Outer Rim territories) Be very afraid. Back at the Jedi Temple war room, Obi-Wan continues his report on Felucia based on the new facts given to him. The Felucians have no recollection of Silman. However, a look through the Republic’s records provides a single holographic image of Silman, who was wearing a necklace with the symbol of Valorum’s administration. So far, this mystery’s gotten even more complicated.
With that, the only lead they have left to visit was Sifo-Dyas’s mission to the Pyke homeworld of Oba Diah. Plo Koon notes that it’s probably no coincidence that the desert moon he found Sifo-Dyas’s shuttle on orbits the Pyke planet. As such, Yoda now instructs Anakin and Obi-Wan to investigate the Pykes on Oba Diah.
Not long after, the two Jedi land their shuttle at the base of the Pykes’ massive obsidian fortress set atop a mountain. After being escorted past several spice-impaired criminals, they meet with the syndicate’s leader, Lom Pyke, on his throne.I would assume that he and the other criminals were immediately released from prison after Darth Maul became Mandalore, and separated the syndicate from the Shadow Collective once Maul seemingly disappeared. And now, in addition to the spice stains on his lips and fingertips (making spice seem akin to cocaine), we actually see him smoking it (now making it seem like pot), not to mention he’s now wearing what seem to be drug-impairment goggles; and he continues the proud crime lord tradition of having alien girls in skimpy clothing lounging around his throne. The Pyke leader greets the Jedi with an insincere smile on his face and offers them some drinks (and it’s probably a good thing Anakin and Obi-Wan didn’t from those glasses at all even through Lom drank from his without problems; it may be safe for Pykes, but it may not be for humans) . When Obi-Wan mentions Sifo-Dyas to Lom, there is a flicker of recognition in his purple eyes, but the Pyke explains that his travel to Oba Diah was such a long time ago and claims to know nothing of the shuttle crash on the desert moon.
However, Obi-Wan spots the same necklace Silman was wearing in the holograph around Lom’s neck. Lom tries to draw attention away from the necklace, but Anakin loses his patience and uses the Force to yank the crest from Lom’s neck. Lom chuckles at their gutsiness and confirms that the man they are looking for is here on Oba Diah.
As he leads the Jedi through the depths of the Pykes’ dungeon to Silman’s cell, Lom explains the Pyke Syndicate’s involvement in the mystery of Sifo-Dyas. Over a decade ago, the Pykes were trying to gain a tactical advantage over other crime families, so they struck a deal with a powerful man named Tyranus. This man hired the syndicate to kill Sifo-Dyas, an order to which they carried out by shooting down his shuttle over Oba Diah’s moon. They inspected the wreckage of the shuttle and delivered Sifo-Dyas’s corpse to Tyranus as proof of their deal fulfilled.
However, the Pykes also found that Silman had survived the crash. Knowing that dealing with someone as powerful and unpredictable as Tyranus was risky, they secretly kept Silman locked away in their dungeons as “insurance”. Now, over a decade later, Lom is ready to hand this insurance in exchange for the Jedi pardoning the syndicate’s murder of Sifo-Dyas.
Anakin and Obi-Wan then enter the darkened cell to find an unkempt and starving man with vermin and lice crawling all over him.
This prisoner is none other than Silman, who has gone insane after being locked in captivity for the last decade (not unlike how we first saw Spider-Maul) , to the point that he asks for food so he can feed the maggots and not himself, saying they get angry when they’re not fed.
Meanwhile, Count Dooku’s solar sailer arrives at the Pyke fortress. The Pyke guards give him a cold reception.
Pyke enforcer: “You are no longer welcome here, Tyranus.”I’m sure you know what Mooks + Force user + Narrow bridge + Mountain fortress + Denying Tyranus equals. If not, I’ll spell it out: Pyke thugs being thrown to their deaths. Back in the cell, Obi-Wan continues trying to question Silman despite the deranged prisoner being more focused on feeding the maggots. However, in his own odd way, Silman explains that while the Pykes had betrayed Sifo-Dyas, they were not the ones ultimately responsible for his death. Someone else more powerful wanted him dead so he could steal his identity.
But before he can say anymore, Silman is strangled to death through the Force by Count Dooku, has tied up another loose end in the Sith plot.
Anakin Skywalker: “Dooku! For once, you actually came to do your own dirty work.” Count Dooku: “Sometimes, things are just that important.”
The three engage in a lightsaber duel that carries through the halls of the Pyke dungeon to an open landing platform.
Eventually, Lom shows up on the scene with a mob of Pyke enforcers to tell Dooku he no longer has business with them. At the same time, Lom blows the lid wide open on something the Jedi did not know until now: Count Dooku is Tyranus.
The Jedi and the Pykes temporarily team up to take down Tyranus. After Dooku Force pushes some of the Pykes down and the Jedi accidentally knock some more down in a group push directed at him, the Count kills Lom by stabbing him through the chest.
Dooku then makes a getaway by leaping off the platform onto passing freighter and as he does so, orders his solar sailer’s pilot droid to get ready to pick him up. Anakin chases Dooku onto the same freighter with a Force push-assisted jump. The duel goes on a little longer until Dooku slices the freighter’s upper engine and causes it to lose altitude. With Anakin hanging onto the doomed ship, the Count escapes.
Later, the Jedi Council discusses the alarming new discoveries on not only what happened to Sifo-Dyas, but the revelation that Count Dooku and Tyranus are one and the same. Remembering that Jango Fett also mentioned Tyranus being the one who hired him to be the clone template and putting two and two together, it’s apparent the Sith were involved in the creation of the clone army.You’re probably immediately wondering, if they knew, why didn’t they do anything about it? Let me just say it’s not as easy as it sounds. They can’t just suddenly refuse to stop using them in light of this revelation. Not only would the Jedi lose public confidence (especially with all the other controversy surrounding them in this time), they would lose the war. They’re dug too deep into the war to stop fighting now. Besides, Yoda and the Jedi still have faith in the clones, as they’ve fought alongside each other on multiple fronts, and the clones have saved their lives on multiple occasions.
However, it is evident that the Sith master plan is coming to fruition, and Yoda regretfully concludes they have no choice but to continue playing into the unseen Sith Lord’s game.So, either way, it’s win-win for Sidious. Still, I think they’d be a little more suspicious about the incident with Tup and Fives after this incident. Then again, that incident got covered up as them being infected by parasites and those two seemed clinically insane, and while they are aware of the “inhibitor” chips’ existence, they are unaware of what they’re actually made for. On another note, here’s my sequence of events for the case of Sifo-Dyas. • Sifo-Dyas foresees the upcoming war. Darth Sidious or Count Dooku sees him as a threat, so he has him eliminated, but not without taking advantage of him first. Sidious may or may not have broken the Rule of Two; if he did not, he may have just had Tyranus as an agent with a codename and not an apprentice at the time; if he did, he may have been a backup apprentice in grooming should Maul have failed; according to the Darth Plagueis novel, he’s already broken the Rule before by apprenticing Maul while still training under Plagueis, claiming him to just be a minion like Asajj Ventress was to Dooku at first; and he’s a self-serving sociopath who doesn’t give a crap about Sith tradition. Alternatively, Count Dooku may not be serving Sidious yet, but has already fallen to the Dark Side and is planning to become his apprentice, much like Pong Krell did during the Umbara arc. • Sifo-Dyas and Silman are sent to Oba Diah to deal with the Pyke Syndicate and arrive. • Sifo-Dyas and Silman are called back to Felucia to deal with the tribe wars. On the way out of the system, he is killed when his shuttle is shot down and crashed into Oba Diah’s moon. • The Pykes give Dooku and Sifo-Dyas’s corpse (and it’s still possible he may have used his blood in General Grievous’s cybernetic reconstruction). • Afterward (and the above possibility), Dooku comes to Felucia (thus solving the mystery of the second Jedi, and Dooku may have still officially been part of the Jedi Order at the time) and claims to the Felucians that Sifo-Dyas died during the tribe wars, thus covering up the true circumstances of his death. • Tyranus takes over Sifo-Dyas’s role on Kamino, possibly claiming to the Kaminoans that he’s a personal acquaintance of Sifo-Dyas asked by him to oversee the army’s creation. This led to things like him hiring Jango Fett to be the DNA donor and the construction of the “inhibitor” chips. This was a really important episode and a really good one, but there was so much in it, that it might have helped for it to be a little longer, because as I noted in the first bullet point of that sequence of events, there is a bit of a plot hole with the time Dooku eliminated Sifo-Dyas since Darth Maul was supposed to be Sidious’s apprentice before the events of The Phantom Menace. But given Palpatine’s self-serving nature, it wouldn’t be all that surprising to see him bending the Rule of Two to his own designs. On another note, it might’ve been impossible to do that without going into extended flashbacks or possibly revealing everything about the Sith plot to the Jedi. Image Source, Concept Art and Trivia: starwars.com/explore/the-clone-wars/ep610/#!/media/slideshow Next Time: Voices – Liam Neeson’s back again!
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Post by Gahmah Raan on Mar 29, 2014 19:29:52 GMT -8
Part 2 of the Yoda arc. Three episodes remain. Ghost Qui-Gon! Voices – The mystery of Force ghosts “Madness can sometimes be the path to truth.” I would like to ask. Just how much time does Liam Neeson have on his hands between film roles anyway? Following the revelation of the Sith’s involvement in the creation of the clone army, Yoda meditates in his quarters to search for answers, but his concentration is broken when he hears a familiar yet seemingly impossible voice: that of the long-dead Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn. Qui-Gon tells Yoda that he’s become part of the Living Force, and to prove what he’s saying is true, he burns out the candles and levitates everything in the room including Yoda.
Later, when the Jedi Council continues discussing the recent revelations involving the Sith plot, Yoda is clearly distracted. After the session is over, Mace Windu discusses his concerns about Yoda with Obi-Wan Kenobi in private. They sense great turmoil in the ancient Jedi Master and wonder if he’s reaching his limits.
Wandering through the training grounds in the Temple courtyard under the great tree, Anakin Skywalker finds Yoda in deep thought (also worth noting is that Anakin also briefly hears Qui-Gon’s voice, perhaps hinting at how he becomes a Force ghost himself later?) . Yoda asks Anakin to describe his encounter with Qui-Gon Jinn during his trip to Mortis.Well, it’s about time they brought up that arc again aside from the balance symbols found in the crystal cave on Ilum. And this is proof that arc was not a dream at all. Anakin assumes Qui-Gon’s appearance there was only an apparition formed from his memories, because current Jedi knowledge states that an individual cannot retain his or her identity after becoming one with the Force, but Yoda begins to wonder if this ancient tenet is still completely true.
After further meditation, Yoda addresses the Jedi Council on his encounter with Qui-Gon and asks them to meditate with him to see if they can hear his voice too. The entire Council gathers around Yoda (and we finally see how Oppo Rancisis sits in his seat with that serpentine lower body) and meditates with him for an entire day (all with an interesting visual effect showing the passage of time) . Dawn eventually rises when their meditation ends, but they have all heard nothing.
However, Ki-Adi-Mundi suggests a dark possibility: Yoda might actually be subject to manipulation from the Sith, a possibility Yoda actually considers and worries about.
Later, Yoda lies in a bed in the Jedi Temple medical ward, with sensors monitoring his condition. Jedi Doctor Rig Nema finds nothing with him, as he’s in great health for both his age and his species (although you might worry a little about accuracy since Yoda’s species is very rare; it doesn’t even have a known name) . However, Ki-Adi-Mundi goes back to the other possibility of Sith manipulation, theorizing that Yoda’s past connection to Count Dooku could make him vulnerable to distant attacks from the Sith, a notion Obi-Wan counteracts by pointing out that they all directly trained under Yoda at some point. In response, Doctor Nema suggests a deprivation ritual for Yoda, something that could be dangerous but could allow Yoda to clear his mind and find the source of the voice.
Anakin interrupts the discussion with word that Chancellor Palpatine would like to speak with Yoda for an emergency meeting. Mace goes in Yoda’s stead, leaving him to decide his own medical treatment. And Yoda decides to go for Nema’s recommendation.
Yoda is then submerged in a tank full of dark liquid (most likely not bacta or kolto) , where he will be put in a state of deep meditation while wearing an oxygen mask. For the next part of the ritual, Nema deliberately cuts off Yoda’s oxygen supply to bring him as close to death as possible, but that part of the ritual greatly worries Anakin and Obi-Wan.
In Yoda’s mind, Qui-Gon’s voice scolds him for taking the wrong path by endangering his health. In a vision of a swamp world, Qui-Gon implores Yoda to travel to Dagobah to complete the task that he couldn’t. Before the Jedi completely end the ritual to save Yoda from suffocating when his vital signs are critical, Qui-Gon warns Yoda to come alone and tell no one.
Yoda then awakens dazed in front of Anakin and Obi-Wan after being pulled out of the tank. While Yoda recuperates from his meditation ritual, Anakin, Obi-Wan, Nema, Ki-Adi-Mundi and Plo Koon confer with Mace Windu via hologram in a private room. Ki-Adi is skeptical of Yoda’s claim of having spoken with the dead and still worries about it being Sith manipulation. As a precaution, Mace orders Temple Guards to be placed in the medical bay.
Later, as Yoda recovers in bed under surveillance, he calls Anakin over to his side. With a mischievous grin on his face, Yoda apologizes in advance that Anakin’s going to get scapegoated and tells him he’ll need the help of a certain rule-bending Jedi to help him escape from his medical-room-turned-prison-cell if he is to escape.
Yoda: “Disobeying the Council, your expertise is.”
When Yoda leaves his bed, the faceless guards silently try to stop him on the way out, but the elderly Jedi Master he’s just going outside for some fresh air. Anakin covers for him, telling the guards he’s watching him.Most adorable Jedi starfighter ever. Anakin then quickly leads Yoda to the Jedi Temple hangar, where he tasks R2-D2 to take Yoda to his ship and get him out as fast as possible. Riding the astromech droid to his own modified Jedi starfighter, Yoda preps his tiny craft for take-off and blasts off from the Jedi Temple just as Mace Windu and Doctor Nema arrive on the scene.
Mace Windu: “What’s going on here? Where’s Master Yoda? What have you done?” Anakin Skywalker: “Hey. For once, none of this was my idea.”
Later, Yoda and Artoo arrive on the swamp world of Dagobah. After telling Artoo stay with the ship, Yoda moves through the dense bog and finds a place to sit and meditate. Not long after, the voice of Qui-Gon Jinn reaches out to Yoda and greets him.Starring Liam Neeson… as a swarm of Navis? The disembodied voice then advises to follow a swarm of fireflies that will serve as his guide. As he leads the way, Qui-Gon explains that Dagobah is one of the purest places in the galaxy, and allows for strong manifestations of the Living Force. Qui-Gon is one such manifestation, but he had not completed his training to the extent that he could appear to Yoda as more than a disembodied voice.
Yoda then asks if Qui-Gon can see the future, and if he knows who the mysterious Sith Lord is. However, Qui-Gon can only point him to a cave entrance under a tree. Inside the cave, Yoda is then immediately surrounded by a vision powered by the Dark Side.
He first sees images of Jedi fighting against clones, and others of Jedi being slain by a hooded Sith Lord. A face concealed by shadows cackles viciously and identifies himself as Sidious. The Sith Lord then invites Yoda to join him, as there’s no other way.Something interesting to note is that not everything in Yoda’s vision is entirely accurate with what we saw in Revenge of the Sith. The big battle between clones and Jedi didn’t happen (as evidenced by the Jedi present in that premonition), Kit Fisto being killed by Sidious is spot on, Mace being killed by Sidious is almost accurate except for the line muttered on electrocuting him (and possibly Anakin’s fall to the Dark Side), and how we see Shaak Ti’s death is shown as seen in a deleted scene. I’m guessing this is to support the notion that visions of the future are clouded by the Dark Side. Yoda rushes out of the cave and collapses in despair. The voice of Qui-Gon coaxes Yoda to get back up on his feet and tells him that what he saw in the cave was only a glimpse of the darkness to come.
Yoda wonders what hope there could be for the future if it’s that bleak, but Qui-Gon also reveals that he’s been tasked with guiding Yoda forward.
Yoda has been chosen, as Qui-Gon was chosen before him. He will learn to preserve his life Force so he can manifest his consciousness and continue communicating with the living even after death. Qui-Gon will guide Yoda to the origin-point of all life in the galaxy, where he will be trialed.
Yoda then returns to his starfighter where R2-D2 is waiting. As he takes off from Dagobah, he tells the little droid that they’re not going back to Coruscant yet and that his journey has just begun.So Qui-Gon really is Jesus! Not only does he look like him, he also came back from the dead to an extent. And if you thought this episode was amazingly trippy, wait ‘til the next part. Trust me; this arc is about as trippy as the Mortis trilogy. It’s even got the same writer. Image Source, Concept Art and Trivia: starwars.com/explore/the-clone-wars/ep611/#!/media/slideshow Next Time: Destiny – Master Yoda travels to the well-spring of life… and must face himself.
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Post by Gahmah Raan on Mar 30, 2014 20:47:48 GMT -8
Part 3 of the Yoda arc. Two episodes remain Destiny – Yoda’s trials “Death is just the beginning.” Now in the part of space Qui-Gon Jinn led him to, Yoda approaches a large, bright nebula. The radiation from the nebula blocks the scanners of Yoda’ starfighter, but the wise Jedi Master does not need technology to navigate his way through a cloud of ionized gas and can sense a planet inside it through the Force.
Bathed in blinding light as he flies into the nebula, R2-D2 is overwhelmed by the energy before shutting down and the fighter’s controls start moving on their own. Yoda surrenders control of his vessel to the draw of the Force and lets it guide him.Much like Yoda’s species, I don’t think George is letting any future authors name this planet. After the tiny ship passes by the barrier of light, Yoda finds a barren rocky planet at the heart of the nebula marked by geysers of spewing energy coming from the heart of the world.
Once the systems are back up and Yoda has control of his fighter again, he lands near one of the geysers and Artoo reactivates. The little droid hops out of the astromech socket to scan the area with his sensors. Yoda can sense that this world is strong in the Force, but Artoo – being a droid – can sense nothing.
Yoda realizes that where he’s going next, he’ll have to go alone. He leaves Artoo alone on the planet’s surface and hands the droid his lightsaber for safekeeping. He then boards his starfighter again and descends into the geyser.
The plasma coming from the geysers is like life itself and is shooting into the reaches of the galaxy. In the heart of the planet are several floating islands teeming with luminous plant life.
Landing his ship on one of the larger islands, Yoda can sense that life and by extension, the Force is everywhere. A woman’s voice then calls his attention.
A glowing sphere approaches him and transforms into a tall, floating, black-robed humanoid female wearing a white mask with a static expression that completely matches her personality: Serenity. The Force priestess explains that she has been awaiting Yoda’s arrival, and invites the elderly Jedi Master to follow her into the wilderness, with the plant life tilting out of the way for both of them.Meet the entire family. Not pictured is the mask of the joyful priestess. The priestess leads Yoda into a gathering room hidden inside a cave, where he meets her other four cousins, all completely identical except for their masks and respective personalities: Anger, Sadness, Joy and Confusion. Yoda tells the five priestesses that he has come to learn the “great gift” of manifesting life after death.
All the priestesses react to him in a way befitting their masks and personalities. The serene priestess then explains that since Yoda is destined to teach the one who will save the universe from a great imbalance, he is deserving of training. With that, the priestesses agree to begin his training, spin around him in a circle that looks like a constantly-changing face and bathe him in a blinding bright light.
Yoda then awakens lying on his back in the life-filled wilderness. Getting back up, the serene priestess explains that world he is on is the origin point of life – the homeworld of what the galaxy’s science calls midi-chlorians, what connects the Living Force to the Cosmic Force (or the Unifying Force as it’s been called in older stories) .Been chewing spice, have I? Because the Mushroom Kingdom, this is not. Serenity then guides Yoda along a trail of floating spores leading to a storm-shrouded island, a disturbance which he identifies as unconquered fear. She advises Yoda that, in order for him to preserve his identity after death, he must truly know himself and let go of that identity.
Yoda, as the Grand Master of the Jedi Order, is confident that he’s already conquered his personal fears and weaknesses, but the priestess isn’t so sure. Once Yoda makes it to the island, he enters deep into a darkened, burnt-out underbrush. He is stalked by what seems to be his shadow, until said shadow turns into a dark, red-eyed demented version of himself.A shadow, I am. The true self. The shadowy imp pounces Yoda like a feral animal (in fact, he acts like Gollum) , and two look-a-likes brawl with each other. The creature claims he grows stronger every passing day Yoda fights in the war. Yoda repeatedly denies that the creature is part of him, but it only gets stronger and stronger every time he does so.
Eventuallly, Yoda surrenders and recognizes the creature: it is his hubris, his inner darkness. He then pulls the creature towards him with the Force. He acknowledges that the creature is indeed part of him, but he will not let it control him, and disintegrates the creature with his bare hands.
Yoda: “My dark side, you are. Reject you, I do.”Yup. Yoda has a dark side. And that was an awesome finishing move right there. The serene priestess then appears on the scene to inform Yoda that he has passed the first test and conquered his hubris. His next trial is to face his temptations.
The other priestesses show up and then point Yoda to his next destination: the Valley of Extinction, which he must pass through without emotion or attachment.
When he gets there, the Valley transforms into an apocalyptic version of the halls of the Jedi Temple. He finds several dead Jedi lying on the floor, including Mace Windu and the youngling Petro. However, nearby is Ahsoka Tano, who is still alive but dying.
She explains that the Sith are responsible for this massacre, and that she was unprepared due to the Jedi Council expelling her from the Order. With her last words, she heartbreakingly asks if she’ll still be able to become one with the Force when she dies even after being cast out. Yoda collapses in anguish, blaming himself for not being strong enough to stop the Sith and for steering the Jedi Order the wrong way.What’s really notable about this scene is that I’ve NEVER seen Yoda react this emotionally before. Not even in the Expanded Universe. The most we’ve seen from him before this are simple expressions. And if his expression at the end of that episode wasn’t indication enough, he still feels guilty about what the Jedi Council did to Ahsoka in “The Wrong Jedi”. On another note, I wasn’t expecting to see Ahsoka at all in any form in “The Lost Missions”. Suddenly, the youngling Katooni, who is still alive and well, appears before Yoda. She offers him an escape from this hellishly depressing scenario and to guide him to a place where he will never know pain. Yoda takes her hand.
Yoda is now in the Temple courtyard in a more idyllic scenario. It is a beautiful day outside and Jedi, young and old have gathered. There is no war, only peace.
He finds Obi-Wan Kenobi having a conversation with Qui-Gon Jinn and Count Dooku. There is animosity and the Count is friendly. He was just recounting tales of Yoda’s exploits based on his apprenticeship with him, particularly of how he defeated a terentatek on Kashyyyk. He then invites Yoda to join him and the other Jedi in the courtyard around the tree.The Jedi in present in this scenario include Quinlan Vos, Saesee Tiin, Mace Windu, Ahsoka Tano, Gungi, Tera Sinube, Aayla Secura, Anakin Skywalker, Kit Fisto, Eeth Koth, Ganodi, Ran Deezy, Zatt, Byph, Tiplar, Ki-Adi-Mundi, Shaak Ti, Adi Gallia, Barriss Offee, Knox, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Qui-Gon Jinn, and Dooku. However, Yoda knows this scenario is all a deception. For starters, some of the Jedi present are either supposed to be dead (Qui-Gon Jinn, Adi Gallia, Tiplar, and Knox) or no longer part of the Order due to reasons related to the war (Ahsoka Tano, Barriss Offee and Count Dooku) . He then calls Dooku a traitor.
Dooku darkens and his eyes turn red. A shadow is cast over the courtyard as the rest of the scenario and other Jedi disappear into the air. The Count ignites and tries to strike Yoda down, but Yoda does not try to defend himself, as he knows it isn’t real.Even if this was just a deception, this alternate future is an interesting one to think about. We not only see Jedi who are still part of the Order and who have been killed beforehand, but we also see exiles and traitors. This is not only what could have happened if the Sith had not returned and the Clone Wars didn’t happen, but a sign that Yoda really longs for happier times, and that the Jedi who died or left were still around. Really depressing when you think about it hard enough. With the illusion ended, Yoda awakens on the edge of the forest near a waterfall. The serene priestess congratulates him on conquering his temptations, but tells him he must spend his life learning what he wants to learn.
Yoda then asks the priestess to take off her mask, and she complies.
When she takes it off, she only reveals a mass of light before her robes and mask fall to the ground as if they were empty. Yoda realizes she was dead all this time, yet she was not.
The other four priestesses show up to direct Yoda on the next step of his training: he must travel to the ancient Sith homeworld of Moraband to face all that he fears and what haunts his soul. They similarly collapse on the ground after parting this information.
Yoda returns to his starfighter, flies back up to planet’s surface and reunites with R2-D2. He tells the little droid they have one more trip to make before going back to Coruscant, and sets course for Moraband.For your information, yes, Moraband is just another name for Korriban and not a total name retcon. With the trivia section for the next episode’s guide suggesting that it may have been known by different names in different time periods, it’s safe to assume both names are canon. Now for the reasoning behind the name change. It was called Korriban in the original scripts, but George Lucas preferred Moraband. Considering George likes meaningful names, Moraband may be derived from ‘moribund’, which is a synonym for dying (and goes along well with a Sith philosophy we’ll be introduced to in the next episode). I guess they decided to have both names be canon for different eras not only to avoid completely pissing off the online EU fanbase for once, but also to give the writers at BioWare less trouble. Even if you still don’t like it just because you think it’s a stupid name compared to Korriban, may I remind you this franchise already has plenty of stupid-sounding names? Well, once I heard of the possible name derivation, it just made it sound even cooler. Still, it may take a few years for me to get used to the name. As for the episode itself, it was a really good one and provided some very interesting alternate universe scenarios. It also bridged the gap between the personality of Yoda of in the Prequel Trilogy and how we saw him in The Empire Strikes Back. In the latter film, he told Luke wars don’t make one great despite the fact that he was a general in the Clone Wars. What he learns in this episode is what he would pass onto Luke while residing on Dagobah. And Yoda realized the Jedi were losing their way around the time of the war. Image Source, Concept Art and Trivia: starwars.com/explore/the-clone-wars/ep612/Next Time – Sacrifice – Yoda faces his final trials on the Sith tomb world in the series finale.
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Post by Gahmah Raan on Mar 31, 2014 13:56:30 GMT -8
Part 4 of the Yoda arc, and final episode of the series. Sacrifice – The final trial “Facing all that you fear will free you from yourself.” Welcome to Moraband, AKA Korriban. Pretty spot on with previous depictions so far. Yoda’s tiny starfighter arrives at the red planet of Moraband, an ancient Sith world abandoned after many wars tore it apart ages ago. He settles his ship down in the Valley of the Dark Lords, a collection of decrepit temples and tombs. Disembarking from the fighter, Yoda instructs R2-D2 to wait with the ship and instructs him to call the Jedi Temple if he does not return in three nights.
Arriving at the largest of the Sith temples, the sun begins to fall. As Yoda sits down to rest, a swarm of serpents group up to form an even larger serpent (a voice mix of both Corey Burton and Dee Bradley Baker) in front of him. The Jedi Master effortlessly defends himself when the serpent lunges at him, forcing the smaller snakes to scatter.
A circle of phantom Sith warriors (same voice mix as the snakes) then emerges around him. As they fly around him and attack him by slamming into him and causing Force repercussions, they warn him that there is nothing after death. However, this does nothing to Yoda, as he is neither afraid of them nor can they hurt him.So, the Sith don’t believe in any afterlife and are somewhat nihilistic. This actually explains a few things in regards to this series, the films and the Expanded Universe. Namely why several ancient Sith Lords like Ajunta Pall, Marka Ragnos and Freedon Nadd become ghosts when Jedi rarely do and why other Sith Lords just refuse to die after injuries that should have by all means killed them (Darth Sion, Darth Maul and later, Darth Vader). Aside from that, you know how the Sith and the Empire are one of the best known examples in popular culture of evil being cool? Well, I’ve got some news for you: They may dress awesomely and act badass, but their philosophy on life after death sucks. Meanwhile, Count Dooku senses something is wrong from his command ship. His super tactical droid then informs that Darth Sidious has ordered him back to Coruscant immediately.
Entering the largest Sith temple and using lightsaber to illuminate the way, Yoda comes across a tomb. A giant smoldering spectre of a Sith Lord then emerges from the sarcophagus before him: Darth Bane, founder of the Rule of Two (and voiced by none other than Mark Hamill; and yes, he got a design update, and I actually like this new design better than his original; you can find a more detailed version of this redesign without the burning effects in the episode guide’s concept art section) .
After explaining why he created the Rule of Two in the first place (classic Sith policy of “insert lightsaber in superior’s back to advance”) , Bane asks if Yoda’s he’s come to become his apprentice and challenges him to take his place. But Yoda resists, telling him that not only is he already dead, he’s only an illusion. Deprived of the power of fear and intimidation, the apparition of Bane dissipates and a path deeper into the temple is opened below the ancient Sith Lord’s sarcophagus. The voices of the five priestesses then call him down.And I got to say, picking Mark Hamill to voice Darth Bane works on so many levels. Not only did Mark play Luke Skywalker, the lead hero of the Original Trilogy, he also played the voices of several villains in western animation, such as the Joker and Fire Lord Ozai. So not only is he playing the opposite of Luke Skywalker by playing the founder of the current line of Sith, he’s combining two of the things he’s best known for. Meanwhile, Count Dooku’s solar sailer sets down inside a decrepit building in the industrial sector of Coruscant. The Count meets up with Master Sidious, who senses a great opportunity to strike a deadly blow at the Jedi Order.
Back on Moraband, Yoda enters a large chamber where the ancient Sith would sacrifice Jedi and meets up with the Priestesses. They warn him that the next trial coming up is not their doing this time – it is instead coming from the very darkness of this place and they have no control over it.
Back on Coruscant, Sidious leads Dooku to a sacrificial altar basin in the center of a ceremonial chamber filled with statues. Sidious knows that Yoda is on Moraband. He explains that through Dooku’s strong Force bond between him and Yoda, they can attack the Grand Master of the Jedi Order through a ripple in the Force.Well, Ki-Adi-Mundi may have been wrong about Yoda falling under the influence of the Sith, but he was definitely right about the Sith being able to exploit the master-apprentice bond. In front of the basin, Sidious pulls out a knife and cuts Dooku’s hand to allow a single drop of his blood to fall in the water-filled basin. He and Dooku then zap the water together with Force lightning while Sidious chants an ancient Sith incantation in Balc tongue. Sidious then dips his face towards the basin, wielding the power of a dark illusion and planning to lead Yoda into a trap.
Inside an execution chamber, Yoda sees appears to be a living but dying Sifo-Dyas chained by lightning shackles to stone pillars. He begs to be released, offering Yoda the Sith Lord’s identity and the secret to immortality. Seeing as he’s obviously corrupted by the Dark Side and already having learned about the Sith’s obsessive attachment to the physical realm, Yoda refuses the offer, seeing it as an illusion created to be a temptation by the Sith.
Sifo-Dyas then transforms into Darth Sidious and Yoda is surrounded by chains of energy.
Suddenly, Yoda awakens to find himself inside the hold of a Republic LAAT gunship with Anakin Skywalker, Captain Rex and several 501st Legion clone troopers. It appears that he’s in the middle of a mission. Anakin explains that a rogue shuttle got past Coruscant’s security grid and been tracked to the industrial sector, also known as The Works.
They believe Count Dooku was aboard the shuttle and en route to meet with Darth Sidious. Yoda orders the mission to proceed as they are on the verge of discovering the identity of the Sith Lord. They must not allow them to escape and defeat them once and for all.
Landing inside the tower inhabited by the Sith Lords, Yoda, Anakin and the clones file out. With Rex leading the charge, he spots the two Sith in front of the altar basin. They begin the attack with the clones running in guns blazing, but Count Dooku makes short work of the clones by zapping them with Force lightning.
Anakin then engages Dooku in a duel while Yoda challenges Sidious. Anakin wounds Dooku by slashing him in the knee and forces him down. Picking up Dooku’s dropped lightsaber, Anakin his both his and Dooku’s sabers to decapitate the Count.
Sidious then flees to catwalk extending from the tower, with Yoda giving chase. As the two masters clash blades, Anakin rushes out to aid Yoda, but is quickly knocked out by Sidious in a combination of Force grip and Force lightning. He then tries to zap Yoda, who blocks the lighting, and the discharge of energy rattles the catwalk.
Sidious then uses his lightsaber to cut the support beams of the catwalk, causing the structure collapse and Anakin’s unconscious body to slide towards its doom. Yoda halts his pursuit to catch Anakin with the Force while Sidious laughs at his predicament. He taunts to just let Anakin fall to his death and thwart all of the Sith’s plans, but Yoda refuses. Instead, he drops his defenses to focus on getting Anakin to safety while continuing to get zapped by Sidious, and does so successfully.
The catwalk he and Sidious are standing then slants down vertically. When Sidious attempts to climb upward, Yoda throws his lightsaber to cut the remaining support beams, sending both him and Sidious falling to their dooms. As the two old men grapple with each other as they fall, Yoda tries to get a good look at the face hidden under Sidious’s hood, but once he grabs at the hood, he finds the cloak empty and Sidious to have disappeared.
Sidious emerges from the sacrificial altar in frustration. The illusion has ended and he has failed to break Yoda’s spirit. The Sith will need more time to defeat the Jedi.
Meanwhile, Yoda reawakens in the Sith execution chamber. He is greeted back to the world of the living by the serene Priestess and is informed that he has passed the final test. However, his training is not over. She explains that Qui-Gon Jinn will commune with him and continue his training for the rest of his life. Through these studies, Yoda will achieve enlightenment, balance and spirit. As the Priestess begins to disappear in a flash of light, Yoda receives visions of the future, including the moment of his death and his last words.
“There is another Skywalker.”
Afterward, Yoda emerges from the temple on Moraband and reunites with R2-D2 once more. Their journey is over, and they return to Coruscant.
Soon after, Yoda is standing under the great tree in the Jedi Temple courtyard. Masters Mace Windu and Obi-Wan Kenobi approach him, so he can report to the Jedi Council. But Yoda cannot say much about his journey. He senses that the Clone War is about to end, but he knows victory over the Sith will not be had in the war. Another path lies ahead for the Jedi, a path unknown to the Sith.And the episode ends with a fading out shot of a bloomed flower on the tree, and the same credits music as the end of “The Wrong Jedi”. Overall:All I can is, wow! They saved the best for last. Not only was this the best episode of “The Lost Missions”, but one of the very best episodes of the entire series. Going from the initial previews in the trailer, it’s easy to fear that continuity would be violated on a massive scale, not just for the EU, but for the films. This episode proved us dead wrong. Not only was Moraband/Korriban true to its previous depictions (and Korriban still gets to keep its original name), this episode and the rest of this arc was very continuity heavy and finally resolved the issue of why only few Jedi to get to become Force ghosts. That battle we saw between Yoda and Sidious? It was only a battle of the minds, and Yoda didn’t get to know for sure that Palpatine is Sidious. Even though it wasn’t intended to be and there are still some loose ends to tie up, like “The Wrong Jedi”, this episode has enough potential to be a real series finale. However, it’s not just good finale for The Clone Wars, but also for the entire Prequel Trilogy era, especially as Disney is putting focus back on the Original Trilogy era and the Sequels. Image Source, Concept Art and Trivia: starwars.com/explore/the-clone-wars/ep613/ Final Thoughts on the SeasonIt may have been only half as long as a standard season of the series and there are still some loose ends to tie up, but I think “The Lost Missions” did a good enough job working within the limits the creative team was given. My favorite two storylines of this season would have to be the Order 66 and the Yoda arc. Even though they weren’t quite as awesome, the Rush Clovis and Disappeared arc were pretty entertaining too. Hell, the latter of those two was unexpectedly entertaining considering who one of the main protagonists in that arc was. If I were to rank this season among the others, I would say it’s my second favorite season between 4 (#1) and 5 (#3). It didn’t have any episodes that really disappointed me, but it was still short compared to other seasons. Closing thoughts on the series:This series came a very long way. It started with a poorly received (which I’ll admit, after watching it again, while not anywhere near as awesome as other parts of the series, gets more hate than it really deserves, but that’s a result of being a pilot arc promoted as a feature film) and while a lot better received than the movie, a first season that initially had a rough start (until the fifth episode “Rookies” showed that this series wasn’t aimed only at young kids), but it just got better and better with time, to the point that it actually started winning awards at the end of its lifespan. And yes, I know about the fans who complain about this show contradicting the EU. But I have a little rant for that. Some online Expanded Universe fans claim that this show completely disrespects the EU and defiles continuity. What do they know? I’d say using the EU as a toolbox and including some elements from it in this and making them canon is enough of a sign that Filoni and crew really are fans and have some respect for it, and it’s better than completely disregarding it (AKA not including anything from it at all). And what really defines a true fan of a franchise? Dave Filoni or George Lucas was willing to cast Simon Pegg as Dengar on this show BECAUSE he was a fan, despite his vitriol for the Prequels and the Special Editions. Hell, Dave Filoni was just a simple fan of the movies before working on this show (and probably before working on “Book One: Water” of Avatar: The Last Airbender), and one of the earliest of his hardcore fanboyism: dressing in a homemade Plo Koon – who was pretty much just a background character before getting an expanded role in the show – costume at a convention. And to play devil’s advocate, as cool as it would be to have it be 100% with the EU, it’s unrealistic. For starters, even though it got to the point that it was more unified than it was before in the pre-2000s, writers were still in conflict with how things and characters were interpreted. For instance, Karen Traviss already set the fanbase on fire by demonizing the Jedi and romanticizing the Mandalorians to the point of shoe-horning them into her parts of the Legacy of the Force series; I can understand if she was upset about The Clone Wars going against her depictions of Mandalorians, but to be honest, she seemed to be falling into the trap that most fan-fiction authors (and fans in general) fall into (she’s a paid author, she doesn’t have that excuse): developing a false sense of ownership over character groups she didn’t actually create; in this case, the clone troopers and Mandalorians. Getting away from Traviss, I’d like to point out that this is only a fraction of the EU. If they had to binge through all that, not only would their creative intellect be heavily restricted, they wouldn’t get any work done (it’s a very busy job, and they don’t have the time to make sure everything is accurate). However, I think I can understand why online EU fans develop an aversion to this show (and by extension, what Disney has to offer) whenever it contradicts older sidestories. With how dissatisfying the Prequels were to some people and how it seemed there wouldn’t be any more entries coming directly from Lucasfilm after they ended, it looked like the EU was the only thing to turn to for more satisfying stories. When Lucasfilm decided to make something new, it just meant that all those stories made by hired authors trying to make a buck or two off the franchise would be put on the backburner. Still, I think some online EU fans just have impossibly high standards and are a bunch of over-entitled “stop having fun” guys that think being overly cynical is cool, just like every other part of the internet. This is why I use sites like the official Star Wars site, Star Wars Underworld and Club Jade for my Star Wars news: They have cooler heads and think at least a little more optimistically. I’ll end the rant here. If you’re an EU fan wanting to get into this series, I’d suggest that, as Yoda would say, unlearn everything you have learned from previous EU stories and enjoy the show on its own merits, but don’t let that stop you from appreciating when they pull SOMETHING from the EU. But not getting the EU into the picture, I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it again: this series is what the Prequel Trilogy should have been like. In fact, after watching it all the way through, I can’t go back to watching the Prequels (I actually tried watching Revenge of the Sith again after going through the first five seasons, and it’s too weird hearing Super Battle Droids with high-pitched B1 voices after hearing them with more fitting deeper voices; comparing my experience with the 2003 microseries, I could still watch the Prequels after watching them). I would even go so far as to say that you can watch the Original Trilogy and substitute the Prequel Trilogy with this series and just put two and two together from there. And what’s even more amazing? This series is popular among Original Trilogy fans that disliked the Prequels, despite it being set in the same era and including elements from it. (At least those that did watch it if the results on both this and last year’s “This is Madness!” Star Wars character contest are any indication, but that may just simply be a case of preference for some; at the very least, Han Solo vs. Hondo Ohnaka wasn’t as one-sided as Boba Fett vs. Greedo) To close this off, this series may have a rough start, but I’d say it’s worth going through if the series just gets better over time. What the hell am I saying? Go watch the damn series on Netflix already if you have it! If don’t want to worry too much about the anachronism in the first two-and-a-half seasons, this guide should help you out. starwarsblog.starwars.com/2014/03/17/star-wars-the-clone-wars-chronological-episodeorder/And don’t worry, I do plan on reviewing the Darth Maul: Son of Dathomir comic book series when it comes out, issue by issue. It’s still part of this series.
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Post by X17Clones on Mar 31, 2014 19:26:46 GMT -8
This was awesome Gahmaah! Excellent really, can't believe you went through an entire series.
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