"Star Wars: The Clone Wars" (television show) - season 1, episode 22 - Hostage Crisis - July 2023 review

"Star Wars:  The Clone Wars" (television show)

season 1, episode 22 - Hostage Crisis

"A secret shared is a trust formed."

 

That's not where I expected that sentence to go based on the first part. A secret shared is often a reason to kill the other person so that you're now the only one who knows the secret.

Hey, there's Cad Bane. Oh, he looks pretty bad ass. He and a bunch of his gang want to kidnap Republic senators, but why? Are they doing something for the Separatists?

Anakin wants Padme to go away on a holiday, but she says she has work to do. Anakin whines. Dude, this is not a good look for you. She's a senator. She actually works to help her people. She doesn't really get a holiday. And I'm surprised you do. In some weird attempt at show of trust, he hands her his lightsabre. Dude, you're a Jedi. You don't just go around handing your lightsabre to people, even if she is your wife.

Oh, so Cad Bane is wanting to trade the kidnapped senators for the release of Ziro the Hutt. Hmm, interesting. Does he have an ulterior motive, or was he hired by Ziro's people? And in true bad guy fashion, he goes back on his word about freeing the senators. They are rescued unharmed, but Bane escapes with Ziro.

thoughts on "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" television series so far

So now that we're at the end of season 1, I have to say that I'm a bit confused about some stuff. Several people had told me before I started the series that I didn't need to watch every episode, that I could just watch a list of episodes if I wanted to know about Ahsoka or this character or that character, and that there were episodes that were really tedious to get through. I didn't find that to be the case at all. I can't think of one episode that I felt like I had to slog through, though, yes, they're only 20-something minute episodes. But I've seen episodes of shows where 5 minutes in, I wanted to stop. I definitely found some episodes more engaging than others, but I never felt like I wanted to stop watching an episode.

I'm also surprised at having been told that it was a series geared much more toward kids. There are definitely very adult themes explored in these episodes, and not even on the sly like say, on "The Simpsons" or other shows where there's a top level that kids get but there's also a deeper level that the adults would understand but that the kids wouldn't catch at all. These adult themes are right out there, especially with regard to oppression and the murder of innocents, and most of all, the absolute disregard for the lives of the clone troopers in so many instances. I cringe every time someone says that the clones were made to be expendable, and they *know* it, or the several times when someone doesn't consider them expendable, and they're amazed to see / hear that.

From a quick browse of the descriptions of the first few episodes of season 2, it looks like it's Cad Bane heavy, so I'm looking forward to seeing the series progress. Let's go.

"Star Wars: The Clone Wars" (television show) - season 1, episode 21 - Liberty on Ryloth - July 2023 review

"Star Wars:  The Clone Wars" (television show)

season 1, episode 21 - Liberty on Ryloth

"Compromise is a virtue to be cultivated, not a weakness to be despised."

 

Oh, it's those walkers I like. A whole line of them. The one in front gets destroyed, so all the others behind it are stuck because it's blocking the narrow pathway. Who didn't see that coming?

Mace Force-pushes the walker over the side of the cliff, clearing the path. Yay! See, Mace knows how to use a Force-push! Be a Jedi like Mace.

Oooo, haven't seen those single-person walkers before. They're spry. I like them. I want one.

Mace says he needs to get help from Cham Syndulla, who leads the freedom fighters, to help him fight the Separatist army. Wait, Syndulla, I've heard of that name. I've heard of a Hera Syndulla, though I don't actually know who she is. I take it there will be some kind of connection?

As their last heinous act, the Separatists bomb the villages with civilians. How horrible.

Mace is up against the Separatist army, and he Force-pushes a whole group of battle droids and super battle droids and droideka. Not even just pushes them but pushes them enough to disable and destroy them. That's how you do it! Why don't the other Jedi do that? Why do they bother fighting them one-on-one with a lightsabre? Are they just not strong enough to do a proper Force-push? They're not bad-ass like Mace!

I liked this Mace-centric episode, even though it wasn't Samuel L. Jackson. More Mace!!!!

"Star Wars: The Clone Wars" (television show) - season 1, episode 20 - Innocents of Ryloth - July 2023 review

"Star Wars:  The Clone Wars" (television show)

season 1, episode 20 - Innocents of Ryloth

"The costs of war can never be truly accounted for."

 

Casualties. They mean casualties.

Obi-Wan and Mace Windu take ground forces to try to liberate the inhabitants of Ryloth. Yay, Mace!

That lead droid sounds like a cylon with slightly more personality and tone variation.

They need to take out the cannons so that the bigger ships can join the fight.

Two of the clone troopers find a young Twi'lek girl hiding in the rubble of a city. She's feisty.

Oh, there's that toy I never knew what it was that was for sale at the marketplace in Black Spire Outpost. It's the little girl's stuffie.

The Separatists release some beasts that they've made sure to starve so that they'll go after organics, posing no threat to the battle droids but would endanger the clones. They look like giant insects.

Obi-Wan does a sort of mind control over them and lures them into an alcove and then has the clones collapse an arch to trap the beasts inside. They then free the Twi'lek prisoners who rise up and turn on their droid captors.

And the clones who found the little girl find out the meaning of "nerra", that she's been calling them - "brother". Awwww.

"Star Wars: The Clone Wars" (television show) - season 1, episode 19 - Storm Over Ryloth - July 2023 review

"Star Wars:  The Clone Wars" (television show)

season 1, episode 19 - Storm Over Ryloth

"It is a rough road that leads to the heights of greatness."

 

The planet of Ryloth, which is apparently home to Twi'leks, has been taken over by Separatists, and Anakin and Ahsoka are to lead the way with gunships to make inroads so that Obi-Wan can go in with the battleships.

Ahsoka is nervous because it's her first time commanding the squadron who are tasked with the mission, but Anakin assures her that she will be fine. Things don't go well, though, as she disregards instructions from Admiral Yularen and from Anakin, and she doesn't instruct her squadron to retreat in time when additional Separatist ships arrive. Ahsoka ends up losing everyone in her squadron, and Admiral Yularen is hurt in an attack to the bridge. She's devastated at the results, and Anakin tries to get her back in the game. Anakin has a plan to crash a ship into the Separatist blockade and leaves a reluctant Ahsoka in charge of the Republic fleet.

"Star Wars: The Clone Wars" (television show) - season 1, episode 18 - Mystery of the Thousand Moons - July 2023 review

"Star Wars:  The Clone Wars" (television show)

season 1, episode 18 - Mystery of the Thousand Moons

"A single chance is a galaxy of hope."

 

Rabbit droid? What's this rabbit droid that shows up in the credits? Oh, it's a droid that looks like it's a rabbit, ears and everything. Uh oh, rabbit droid sets off one of the virus bombs. Bad rabbit!

The virus spreads throughout the lab but is currently contained in the lab, but both Padme and Ahsoka have been exposed. The antidote can be made from a root that can be found on a Separatist-controlled planet - off go Obi-Wan and Anakin again.

Obi-Wan and Anakin discover that a kid on said planet has reprogrammed a bunch of battle droids to perform lots of innocuous and non-deadly tasks. But the kid warns that Drol won't let anyone leave the planet. (Drol? That's "lord" spelled backwards. Is that supposed to be the joke?) None of them know what exactly Drol is, but some think it's a ghost, or that the planet is cursed.

Oh, the root they need is connected to some kind of venus fly trap creature. That's not good. But they manage to get some of the root.

They figure out that the planet is being protected by some kind of laser array, and that's what is destroying the ships of those trying to leave. R2 takes control of some vulture droids to take out the laser array.

So then they show that Padme and Ahsoka have been treated with the antidote made from the root, and they're being taken out and flown somewhere to get full medical attention. How did they get everyone out of the bunker without letting the virus out? That was the whole point of containing the virus and not letting anyone out, and not letting the battle droids break out, and Padme saying that no one should ever go into the bunker again to make sure the virus doesn't contaminate others on the planet. Does the virus dissipate after a while? Did they let it out and then just have enough antidote to give to everyone, and the virus doesn't spread into space or anything? Would have liked to have had that clarified.

"Star Wars: The Clone Wars" (television show) - season 1, episode 17 - Blue Shadow Virus - July 2023 review

"Star Wars:  The Clone Wars" (television show)

season 1, episode 17 - Blue Shadow Virus

"Fear is a disease; hope is its only cure."

 

Back on Naboo, they discover some Separatist droids, and Padme asks the Republic to send Jedi to help - Obi-Wan and Anakin in particular.

There is some kind of Separatist secret lab on Naboo. The only evidence is that downriver, the water is contaminated and is killing livestock.

As they're investigating the location of the secret lab, Padme and Jar Jar are captured.

The Blue Shadow Virus was something from before, that had only thrived in water, but some doctor / mad scientist has made an airborne version of it, and he wants to release it to the galaxy at large. They didn't explain why the doctor did that. Is he just a mad scientist? When Padme mentioned that the virus had been eradicated, he said it had been murdered. That's certainly a telling perspective. Doesn't he realize that the virus is going to kill him too?

"Star Wars: The Clone Wars" (television show) - season 1, episode 16 - The Hidden Enemy - July 2023 review

"Star Wars:  The Clone Wars" (television show)

season 1, episode 16 - The Hidden Enemy

"Truth enlightens the mind, but won't always bring happiness to your heart."

 

That's a long way of saying "The truth hurts."

Yet another planet under siege by the Separatists, and they ask the Republic / Jedi for help. Off go Obi-Wan and Anakin. What are all of the other Jedi doing?

They're ambushed by battle droids, who knew they were setting up for their attack plan. Someone's a spy and is giving intel to the Separatists. Obi-Wan and Anakin make their way to the Separatist headquarters on the planet - oh, hi, Ventress.

The traitor is not who we've been led to believe. Section head Slick says that none of his guys could possibly be the traitor. He's right, because *he* is the traitor. He wanted freedom and to no longer be a slave to the Republic. Hmm, the first rumblings of clone uprising. But why couldn't he just leave? There's nothing physically binding them there, right? Or was he trying to undermine the Republic overall?

"Star Wars: The Clone Wars" (television show) - season 1, episode 15 - Trespass - July 2023 review

"Star Wars:  The Clone Wars" (television show)

season 1, episode 15 - Trespass

"Arrogance diminishes wisdom."

 

The clone troopers on yet another remote planet have gone silent, so Obi-Wan and Anakin are dispatched to check it out. And it's freezing there, even more than on Hoth, it looks like.

Pantora is the neighboring planet, and their leader claims "ownership" and sovereignty over the frozen uninhabited planet. He also bulldozes over and bullies the Pantoran senator.

Oh, the planet is not so much uninhabited - the Talz live there.

Obi-Wan and Anakin arrange for the Talz to agree to meet a delegation, including the Pantoran leader and senator. The leader is a complete jerk and re-iterates his claim to the planet, whereas the Talz just want to be left alone.

The clone troopers are trying to stay out of it, but they've been tasked with protecting the leader, who gets them involved in a conflict with the Talz. Folks die on both sides in a fight that never should have happened. The blame for the deaths of Talz and clones alike rests solely and squarely on the leader. The leader is ultimately killed himself, and the senator uses that to negotiate a peace with the Talz.

I don't really care that much that the leader was killed. I don't forgive him for all the deaths he was responsible for that should never have happened.

"Star Wars: The Clone Wars" (television show) - season 1, episode 14 - Defenders of Peace - July 2023 review

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"Star Wars:  The Clone Wars" (television show)

season 1, episode 14 - Defenders of Peace

"When surrounded by war, one must eventually choose a side."

 

The pacifict group leader is adamant about not wanting to choose war and that he and his people would rather die. Well, here's their chance, because a Separatist ship approaches and lands on the planet.

And a Separatist general disembarks. Yeah, no mistaking that voice, it's George Takei. He declares that the planet is now under the "protection" of the Separatists. Speaking to Dooku, the general says that he picked this planet because it had inhabitants who could be used as test subjects. Oh, that's great. The general's new weapon destroys all organic matter but leaves droids intact. They test the weapon out first on a patch of sprawling foliage, after tossing two battle droids in there. Everything is wiped away but the battle droids are fine. Now, they want to test this out on the inhabitants.

There's one point where one of the clones - I don't know if it was Rex or Bligh - fell down and was in danger of getting eradicated by the weapon, but Secura went out of her way to save him. I was glad to see that, that she didn't think he was expendable just because he was a clone.

They steal one of the Separatist shuttles and go to the inhabitants to try to save them, but the leader refuses their help.

It's an interesting dilemma but definitely not one that hasn't been addressed many times elsewhere. You can try to stay out of conflict, but if the conflict is big enough, you eventually have to choose a side, and if you wait too long, you may no longer have a choice of sides. You can't reason with people who won't be reasonable, and not fighting back sometimes just gets you killed. (This whole topic made me think of Billy Jack, who was a character in a few movies back in the 70s. I was a big fan of those movies, and there was a whole side that advocated for pacifism in the face of any and all bullying and violence. Eventually, someone had to fight back.) I mean, at least the leader was willing to follow his beliefs through to the end, prefering to die than to compromising his beliefs, but younger members of the tribe did not agree and joined in to help the Jedi by disabling battle droids.

They steal and use shield generators so that the anti-organic weapon can't be used against them, and they would fare better in hand-to-hand combat. So instead of fighting them one at a time, why not Force push groups of them? Better yet, why not Force push a couple of battle droids to take out groups of other battle droids? Seems like that would be more efficient. Yep, I'm still fixated on Force push.

After the shields are disabled and everyone is in danger again, Anakin manages to destroy the anti-organic weapon. Some of the inhabitants help to disable some of the droids before Ahsoka dispenses with the droids.

"Star Wars: The Clone Wars" (television show) - season 1, episode 13 - Jedi Crash - July 2023 review

"Star Wars:  The Clone Wars" (television show)

season 1, episode 13 - Jedi Crash

"Greed and fear of loss are the roots that lead to the tree of evil."

 

Umm, you're talking about Anakin's descent to the Dark Side, right? No. Not yet? OK.

Anakin and Ahsoka are sent to help out Jedi General Aayla Secura in her battle with Separatist troops.

Those droids can just fly through the air and land on the Republic ships? Well, that's concerning. Droid in charge tells a battle droid to destroy the entire ship, but when the battle droid protests that many of their own droids are still on it, supervisor droid doesn't care. Because droids are expendable. Like clones...

Anakin saves the group by Force pushing them to safety and then closing the blast door (that was really cool), but then he gets the brunt of an explosion that severely injures him. Ahsoka and Secura go back in to retrieve him.

Their escape ship tries to dock with the bigger ship, but somehow, the hyperdrive is engaged and can't be disengaged, so rather than rip the bigger ship apart, the escape ship separates from the bigger ship before it's forced into hyperspace. Hmmm, ram one ship into another by going into hyperspace. I feel like that gets used in a later film by a Vice Admiral...

Their hyperdrive route is supposed to take them directly into a star, but they manage to disable it in time to avoid it and crash land on a planet instead. So many planets in the Outer Rim.

Those giant four-legged eagle things are scary. Awww, it kills two of the clone troopers. Secura, Ahsoka, a badly-injured Anakin and two troopers are left alive. They encounter the inhabitants of the planet, who are pacificists and came to this planet to get away from the Republic / Separatist conflict. The leader wants nothing to do with them, but when Ahsoka begs for their help for Anakin, the leader can't say no and sends his son, Wag Too, the healer, to help Anakin.

Cute that Wag Too and his people travel by rolling like the droideka.

As Rex is guarding hurt Anakin, the eagle-things attack. They manage to kill a few of them before Ahsoka and the gang arrive. Wag Too doesn't want to kill the creature and instead ties up its feet to neutralize it.

"Star Wars: The Clone Wars" (television show) - season 1, episode 12 - The Gungan General - July 2023 review

"Star Wars:  The Clone Wars" (television show)

season 1, episode 12 - The Gungan General

"Fail with honor rather than succeed by fraud."

 

Switching the spiked drinks doesn't seem to have helped Obi-Wan and Anakin because they find themselves trapped in a cell with Dooku, all three tied together.

Pirates being who they are, some of Hondo's underlings plan to double-cross him by intercepting the Republic ship coming with the spice as payment. They manage to get the Republic ship to crash, but while the senator dies, Representative Jar Jar and the clone troopers survive.

When I first saw Hondo's ship and the smaller transport ships, they all looked like just the saucer section of the Enterprise-D. Weird.

Obi-Wan mind influences their guard to unlock their cell and then leave. Works on the weak-minded.

When the traitors come to get the spice, they also attack Jar Jar and the troopers. He says they should hide in the crater, and if they watch the beasties, they'll know when it's about to blow, so they know when to get out. Smart!

Hey, that's not Ahmed Best. Sometimes it sounds like him, but other times, definitely not.

How are they supposed to catch up to the traitors? By riding the beasties, of course. I'd figured that out, but I find it a little hard to believe that the beasties are faster than the speeders.

Dooku escapes. Again. Hondo is dumb-founded that Obi-Wan and the Republic are just going to leave, with no repercussions to him and his crew, despite what they did to and were going to do to Obi-Wan and Anakin. But Obi-Wan warns that Dooku is not as forgiving, and he knows what planet Hondo and his crew are on. Time to pack up and find a new planet, boys.

"Star Wars: The Clone Wars" (television show) - season 1, episode 11 - Dooku Captured - July 2023 review

"Star Wars:  The Clone Wars" (television show)

season 1, episode 11 - Dooku Captured

"The winding path to peace is always a worthy one, regardless of how many turns it takes."

 

OK, that "fortune cookie saying" was really cheesy.

Anakin went looking for Dooku, but then he went radio-silent, so Obi-Wan went looking for him. The Separatist ship is a trap for Anakin to be captured - Obi-Wan told him not to bring his lightsabre. That should be a clue, right? A Jedi should always have their lightsabre with them?

Oh, that chute escape looks like a fun ride. Dooku escapes. I feel like Dooku and Ventress and Grievous are always escaping.

But now they're all crashed on a planet.

Obi-Wan and Anakin are wandering around inside caves looking for Dooku, but he traps them inside instead.

Hondo Ohnaka! Wow! Fans of this show must have lost their minds when they saw him "in real life" at Smugglers Run in Black Spire Outpost. Nice that they got Jim Cummings to voice him on the ride too.

He's head of a pirate group here. Much more menacing here than on the ride, obviously.

Obi-Wan and Anakin are attacked by some creature (gundark) in the cave, and they lament that they don't have lightsabres to defend themselves. Dudes, you're Jedi. You have abilities. Force push it to keep it away from you or into a wall. Throw rocks at it or something. And then they do in fact throw giant rocks at it. See? That's what Jedi do, throw rocks.

Hondo agrees to take Dooku to the nearest inhabited planet, which happens to be where Hondo's base is. And Hondo knows who Dooku is, and his henchman are enough to outnumber and contain Dooku, while Hondo takes his lightsabre and decides who and how much to ransom him for.

Ahsoka and her team rescue Obi-Wan and Anakin but they brush it off. Dudes, just say thank you.

Hondo first offers Dooku to the Republic because he figures they won't just send gunships to attack and then take Dooku back, like he expects the Separatists would. Obi-Wan and Anakin are tasked with going to Hondo (unarmed - without lightsabres again?) and making sure that he does indeed have Dooku before the Republic agrees to pay the ransom. Wait, the Republic agrees to pay the ransom in spice? Isn't spice basically a drug? That would be like paying ransom in cocaine or meth. I get that's what Hondo wants but that just seems weird for the Republic to agree to.

It all goes well until Hondo *insists* on a celebration reception. Of course, their drinks are spiked, but they manage to switch their spiked drinks with others.