Notes: Clone Wars - S1, E1: Ambush

 Overall, this is a really boring bomb of a pilot. Pilots are meant to capture interest, but there's very little of interest here, unless you love fight scenes. And I don't. 

 

We begin in media-res, where Yoda is trying to meet with a Toydarian royal to negotiate joining the Republic. Ventress invites herself to the proceedings and encourages the Toydarian to join the Separatists instead.

 

There's nothing wrong with that plot, and it well could have been interesting, except for one, fatal flaw: The Toydarians always lean toward the republic. There's never a sense of them having any interest in the Separatists, and Yoda and his clone troopers, who are sent on a ridiculous mission to try to beat up a bunch of battle droids, never seem to struggle.

 

(Yoda, it must be said, is unbearably smug toward the clone troopers. Still not a fan.) 

 

The only interesting parts of the episode were, to me, the relationship between Dooku and Ventress and the relationship between Dooku and Yoda. Dooku definitively is Ventress' master, and she seems loyal to a fault with him, willing to kill for him. That's alluring, from a fic perspective. Dooku expresses his regrets that he can't meet Yoda in person, which is a bit fascinating - does he want to fight Yoda again? Or does he long for what he has lost? 

Notes - Star Wars: The Clone Wars, S1, E2: Rising Malevolence

This episode was a lot better, thanks to its larger focus and actual (gasp!) conflict.

Gotta love how this opens with a lot of Empire-esque Star Destroyers. Heh. Slow-but-subtle change from the Republic to the Empire, but it's there. The Empire's medical droids are also blatantly the same as the Republics, which means they've probably been using the same droids for 20+ years. Dooku's ship being called the Menace is somewhat ironic, and, like Vader's ship, I wonder if Sideous named it. 

Anakin's character in this is interest. Anakin is criticized as being always ready for a fight by Plo Kloon, and the Jedi Council bashing Anakin for his padawan's mistakes is awkwardly shitty. For being their chosen one you get the sense that they don't like him, and I can't blame him for being shitty at them in return. Ahsoka being told to shut up and not challenge her elders is equally shitty. What is the Jedi Order's viewpoint on creative thinking? I'm guessing not very high. I'm not a fan of the Jedi, and this isn't doing much to change my feeling.

 

Plo Kloon, however, I like. He is a bad ass, if an odd choice of character to base an episode on. Still, he's pretty amazing in this, and the "we're just clones, sir, meant to be expendable"/"Not to me," really helps prove not all Jedi are jerks. It's also interesting how his tenderness with Anakin and Ahsoka is a lot better than the Jedi Council's rather "don't do anything stupid you guys" thinking. 

 

I like the relationship between Ahsoka and Anakin. However, Anakin's choice of teaching his padawan how to get around the Council's reach is...vaguely troubling. Or perhaps it should be, if the Council weren't consistently shown to be pretty shitty. 
 

I loVE Anakin and Palpatine's relationship, and Palpatine manipulating him by  exagerating the Council's anger. A+ Palpin, never change. 

Notes - Star Wars Clone Wars, S1, E3: Shadow of Malevelence

Alright, now I can see why people like this show a lot. I feel like it's really hitting a firmer stride now, mostly because it actually remembers to have a plot around the fight scenes.

The show is starting to get a lot more interesting. The slide of the Republic into the Empire is really quite on display here. For all the talk of how the Jedi are a pure and noble order meant to help people, there was surprising hesitance in them last episode in searching for their wounded. Here, they're trying to repel attacks on medical targets, and Ahsoka is particularly outraged about this. "Only Grevious would sink so low." Hm.

Palpatine's continued lack of fucks given for HIS OWN PEOPLE is, as always, delightful. He really could care less about what happens to Naboo as long as one of the sides he's playing against one another win. One gets the sense that he does not give even one/tenth of a single fuck. He is, as always, glorious. 

Speaking of Sith,  the way they talk of Anakin as a Commander here - "Minimum casualties, maximum results" is so very Vader. So is leading by example. This is a rather good episode that explores Anakin's role as a Jedi and as a military commander. His Outer-Rim upbringing gives him an advantage in knowing smuggling routes, too. One wonders how many bounty hunters and slavers must have been terrified of him. 

Grevious is rather rage-y here. There's an interesting interaction between him and Dooku where Dooku chastises him for breaking a battle droid, saying the Jedi don't  treat their clones so harshly. It's an interesting argument since it very much implies Dooku sees the Clones analogous to droids. That's a bit blurrier in Star Wars, where it's quite clear that droids have personalities and well, a sort of humanity to them, but it's still comparing them to machines. Grevious snaps back that caring is a weakness. Vader Parrellelll #9503, I see. 

Of the Jedi, Ahsoka remains my favorite. 

Looks like the fourth episode features Padme, so it will, no doubt, be my favorite of the episodes so far, if only for her wardrobe.