"Star Wars: The Clone Wars" (television show)
My journey has now taken me to a road not previously taken - "The Clone Wars" animated television show. I know almost nothing from the series, though I've heard some of the characters mentioned over the years.
I welcome your comments on each episode, but I ask that you not include any comments that reference anything that happens in later episodes of this series or in any of the other animated series. I would like to try to avoid "spoilers", if possible, for a show that's been out for many years. Thanks for understanding.
season 1, episode 1 - Ambush
"Great leaders inspire greatness in others."
It took me until the third episode to
realize that each episode begins with a fortune-cookie-style pithy
saying.
In the war between the Republic and the Separatists, Yoda has
a meeting with the king of the Toydarians to enlist their help to allow the
Republic to build a base on Toydaria. But Ventress and Dooku intervene and
pitch the case for the Toydarians to align with the Separatists instead,
proposing a challenge for the battle droids to capture Yoda, a challenge which
Yoda accepts, the outcome of which will decide which side the Toydarians will
align with.
"supreme leader Ventress"? That's what a battle droid called
her. I don't think I've heard the title before. Isn't Snoke also a supreme
leader?
The Separatist vehicles can't make it into the foliage, so
the battle droids have to enter on foot. That seems pretty lame that they can't
cut through it, but then, that's Yoda's plan.
The clone troopers feel outnumbered by the battle droids, but
Yoda says that's not a problem because they're smarter. Make 10 men feel
like 100, right, Cassian?
Yoda gets the battle droids to shoot each other by flipping
from one to another. So the battle droid programming is so dumb that there's no
instruction not to shoot each other, some kind of safety protocol kind of like a
variation on Asimov's three laws?
Yoda picks up a super battle droid, turns it around, and has
it shoot the other battle droids. He can move the droid with the Force, but he
can also control the firing mechanism? That seems odd. Once the droid realizes
it’s shooting its own fellow droids, wouldn’t it just stop shooting?
Then Yoda force-pushes the rest of the droids. So if it's
that easy, why not do that in the first place? Yes, I'm still and will continue
to be obsessed with the rules for Force pushing.
Uh oh, then the droideka arrive.
Yoda can tell each of the clone troopers apart because they
each have a different Force energy, and he knows what focus each of them have.
He recognizes them as individuals. Which the clone troopers are not used to, it
appears. Tiny stab to the heart.
A clone trooper uses their last rocket shot to take out a
mountain side, crashing rocks down on the droideka. Smash.
When the battle droids fail to capture Yoda, Dooku and
Ventress go back on their deal and intend to kill the king, but Yoda saves him,
cementing the alliance between the Toydarians and the Republic, with the king
agreeing to let the Republic build their base. So now the Separatives have lost
Jabba and the Toydarians in the same way, by being deceptive and traitorous.
Honor among thieves. Ventress escapes.
I really like the Republic clone transports. I don't think I
bought any of those toys. I wish I had. They kind of remind me of a bus with
their handhold to make sure you don't fall out since there are no walls on the
sides.