Club Jade

For last week’s episode of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, it seems from the reader comments to our review that ‘The Mandalore Plot’ is really ‘We Demand-more Plot’ or more something. Here’s what other online reviewers have to say:

• The Star Wars Prequel Appreciation Society picks up on the Obi-wan/Satine rawr moments, and points out that Vizsla comes from the Cobra school of villainy.
• Television Zombies gives it 4 out of 5 sabers, liking sort of flirty Obi-wan, and makes a BSG reference but doesn’t acknowledge the EU revision.
• TheForce.net liked having all the new elements: new world, new conflict, new characters, and especially the dynamic between Satine and Obi-wan, but has some nitpicks about the Duchess, and discusses a lot of Mando continuity issues.
• MTV Movies Blog’s reviewer called it an “entertaining piece of fiction” that brought a smile to his face, even with the heavy changes to the EU.
• Dauntless Media gives it a B, liking the exceptional visuals, but feeling the plot a bit questionable and poorly paced.
• Big Shiny Robot liked it but found the ending lacking, and points out the EU shockwaves – prompting a reader to leave an rambling comment.
• Pendragon’s Post points out the coolness of seeing Mandos in action but also picks up on the racial disparity between the Fetts and the ‘Plot’ Mandos.

We’ll see how Obi-wan and the woman he once loved fare in the continuing storyline, in tonight’s ‘Voyage of Temptation,’ when Anakin learns that his mentor has a love life. On the official site, series writer Henry Gilroy looks at Obi-Wan, Satine, Jedi romance, and differing ideals. Meanwhile, Dave Filoni talks to the Insider about bringing in the Mandalorians. Seriously, shouldn’t ‘Voyage of Temptation’ that be the title of a FOX or VH1 reality show on a cruise ship?

Yoda once told Luke Skywalker that you have to unlearn what you have learned. Certainly true in order to enjoy last week’s episode of The Clone Wars, ‘The Mandalore Plot’. Even knowing it was coming from Karen Traviss’ departure from the EU last summer, the modern history of the Mandalorian people took an abrupt revision. My first viewing of the episode left me focusing more on picking out what had been kept and tossed from previous continuity than on the actual story. But after letting it all go, I watched it again to see what was actually there. (more…)

Ahsoka has finally come into her own.  Not as a Jedi, mind you – she actually seems to be getting less mature as time goes on, no doubt due to prolonged exposure to a Skywalker.  But in terms of her status as a character, ‘Lightsaber Lost’ marks a definite turning point: it’s the first episode where she’s really on her own, with the action following her the entire time and not cutting away to any of the “classic” movie characters.  Yes, Jocasta Nu puts in a cameo, but she’s hardly one of our regular heroes.  Anakin also makes an appeareance for the first minute or so, but after that, he ducks out for good.  But is it for good?  Ahsoka, without Anakin for support and/or moral confusion, turns out to be a mixed bag. (more…)

While ‘Grievous Intrigue’ threw in a lot of action without much plot, ‘The Deserter’ combines story, character, and action to make a stronger episode. While Republic searches for a crash-landed Grievous, an injured Rex comes across something that forces him to rethink his life: a farmer and father, who happens to be a clone deserter. (more…)

The second episode of Star Wars: The Clone Wars last week, ‘The Deserter’, about Rex’s discovery of a clone deserter-turned-father while Obi-wan and Cody try to apprehend a crash-landed Grievous, turned out to give the fans something to enjoy:

• TheForce.Net thought ‘The Deserter’ truly shined, with its philosophical debate, domestic scenes, and zombie-like feel to the final battle at the farmhouse.
• Pendragon’s Post calls it solid, and likes getting into the psychology of clones.
• IGN gives it an 8, but wishes that the Grievous/Obi-wan plot had been lessened, as well as the cuteness of those Twi’lek kids.
• Big Shiny Robot loved the final battle at the farmhouse, being reminded of the end of L.A. Confidential, and can’t get enough of those commando droids.
• Galactic Binder sees a “well executed storyline” and looks at Rex’s growth as he sees different notions of bravery.
• Broken Frontier thinks ‘Grievous Intrigue’ to be more entertaining, but ‘The Deserter’ to end up as one of the better dialogue-focused episodes.

Check back in a few for my review!

General Grievous finally makes his Star Wars: The Clone Wars season 2 grand entrance after lurking in the shadows last fall. In the first season, Grievous mostly came out as a mustache-twirling villain whose sinister plots would be undone by the Jedi and the ineptitude of his own droids, and the hacking cyborg would escape at the last second to try another dastardly plot. In ‘Grievous Intrigue’ he again shows his ability to cook up a caper, but this time, we see a glimmer of purpose behind the mask. (more…)

‘Brain Invaders.’  Just say it to yourself a few times.  Brain Invaders, Brain Invaders, Brain Invaders.  Those two words remind me of so much… arcade games, Star Trek II, dewy summer morns relaxing at Grandma’s farm.  Alas, the title is never seen on-screen, nor spoken within the episode.  Still, we have it here, on the internet, and in the future, on DVD menus.  It is enough. (more…)

With a title like ‘Legacy of Terror’, you could expect almost anything that could inspire a fright, and yet while there’s the horror of the walking dead in an underground labyrinth and Ceti eel-inspired mind control, the Jedi protagonists act without fear, defusing the tension in this episode of Star Wars: The Clone Wars. (more…)

So we’re sticking around Geonosis for a while, huh?  I suppose it makes sense.  Season 1 included a little virus-fueled trip to Naboo, and now that we’re in Season 2, it’s time to mine those Attack of the Clones locales.  At this rate, the Ewoks will show up in Season 6, in what will be billed as their triumphant return to animation.  Yub nub, Cartoon Network.  Yub nub. (more…)

After the political intrigue of ‘Senate Spy’, ‘Landing at Point Rain’ put both the clones and the war back into The Clone Wars. This episode serves as the opening chapter in a Geonosis-based story arc much in the same way that the invasion of the beaches of Normandy starts off Saving Private Ryan – lots of dirt and death. Could the episode title be an oblique reference to the Spielberg movie? (more…)