‘Hunt for Ziro’, last week’s episode of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, brought together a lot of great elements that Star Wars does well: adventure, romance, dance numbers, and the occasional surprise, and wrapped it up in a Hutt-sized package for the viewers. The Clone Wars introduction of EU favorite Quinlan Vos was almost a side note to the whole story. Hopefully he’ll get another time to really shine, as this episode was more an ensemble act with Cad Bane, Sy Snootles, Obi-wan Kenobi and the Hutts. Continue reading “The Clone Wars review: ‘Hunt for Ziro’”
As a main character, C-3PO doesn’t exactly scream excitement. Sure, he’ll sometimes scream, and yes, exciting things do happen to him, but it’s hard to imagine ol’ Goldenrod jumping into action. Or even just jumping, for that matter. What we do expect from Threepio is humor. After all, a prim and proper butler plopped into galactic warfare should be endlessly amusing — and it is, up to a point. But is it enough to sustain a whole episode? Continue reading “The Clone Wars review: ‘Evil Plans’”
Despite the title of ‘Assassin’, last week’s episode of Star Wars – The Clone Wars was really more about Ahsoka trying to stop a killer before she could strike. We also see more into Jedi ability to see visions of the future, and get an episode that passes the Bechdel test with flying colors. More importantly, this episode marks a change from the sluggish plots that we’ve been enduring for the past few weeks. Continue reading “The Clone Wars review: ‘Assassin’”
Let’s be honest: so far, this hasn’t been the best season of The Clone Wars. So when an episode exceeds my expectations, as this one did, I’m stuck wondering if it’s because the bar had been lowered in the first place. In retrospect, ‘The Academy’ is the best mystery that this show has ever done, but because the previous episode was so riddled with plot holes and inconsistencies, I wasn’t even sure that I was watching a mystery until the third act. Still, that third act was a doozy. Continue reading “The Clone Wars review: ‘The Academy’”
It’s the time of year when all the Star Wars ‘holiday books’ are released; leaving fans drooling and wondering which one they should put on their list. One that seems to have gotten lost in the promotional blitz is Star Wars Art: Visions.
Inspired by an idea George Lucas discussed with J. W. Rinzler, this book is a magnificent collection of art that should please everyone’s tastes.
Each artist was commissioned by Lucas to create their vision of Star Wars. What they come up with is a wondrous variety of art in styles from Renaissance to Pop and spanning many different aspects of the saga. Each piece is given its own page or pages on high quality paper. And this works well, as you’ll want to study many of them in detail.
I had reactions from laughter to sadness. And they’re each one interesting in their own style. At the end of the book are explanations of the work from many of the artists that add to the fascination of the book. It’s well worth the investment.
My only negative is that the binding doesn’t seem quite up to the task of holding the high quality paper. Only time will tell on that. But this is definitely a worthy coffee table book that you’ll review time and again.
Do you want to make people smile? Get The Jedi Path (Vault Edition) and tell them to push the button.
I brought this to my local Star Wars club meeting, yesterday, and people actually squealed with delight when the vault opened. And when they calmed down enough to do it again and listen to the sound effects? Delighted claps that made them look like five-year-olds on their birthdays.
Going beyond the coolness of the vault, the book itself is fantastic! It’s designed as an orientation manual/text book for younglings at the Jedi Temple that has been passed from master to apprentice in a line descending from Yoda to, belatedly, Luke. (And, yes, they explain how this happens.)
As with many textbooks, it’s filled with notes scribbled in the margins. And I think this is my favorite part. It represents a conversation through the ages. And Dan Wallace really captures each owner’s voice in these notes. Of particular amusement, however, are Darth Sidious’ notes after he captured the book in the Order 66 aftermath.
There are also tons of keepsakes inserted by its various owners that are hilarious. My only complaint would be a coin that keeps falling out of the book and rolling across the room; a particular source of amusement for my dogs. I suspect that will make it difficult to keep this collectible intact in the future.
As to the book itself? It’s a brilliant compilation of thirty-three years of Star Wars lore in a spackle job at a level not seen since Michael Stackpole’s I, Jedi untangled the Bantam Era. Contradictions are explained. Disparate details from several different authors are melded into a coherent theory. And it’s all in the style of textbook; along with some stunning illustrations.
I’m no Santa Maul, but I would definitely add this one to your holiday/birthday wish list.
It seems that for the past couple episodes, The Clone Wars really hasn’t lived up to the words in its name – mostly a lack of clones, and instead of wars, we’ve been focusing more on trade disputes and politicians. Last week’s episode, ‘Corruption’ continued this streak as Senator Amidala visits Duchess Satine on Mandalore and helps stamp out some black marketeers after a tainted product scandal. If this season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars is called “Secrets Revealed”, the only revelation here is that some Padmé-focused episodes work (like last season’s ‘Senate Spy’) and some don’t. Continue reading “The Clone Wars review: ‘Corruption’”
What’s the Star Wars equivalent of a Mary Sue? Is it Lama Su? Max Rebo Sue? How about Baron Papanoida? That’d be my answer, based on this most recent episode. Of course, Mr. Lucas has never been shy about putting himself in his own stories – “Luke” is a pretty clear play on “Lucas” – but it’s never been quite this blatant before. Not only is The Baron modeled on The Maker, but all of Papanoida’s family is based on the Lucas clan. And this hammy bit of casting turns ‘Sphere of Influence’ into one of the laziest episodes yet. Continue reading “The Clone Wars review: ‘Sphere of Influence’”
Continuing with this season’s tagline of “Secrets Revealed,” we get to see a little bit more of the bigger picture in ‘Supply Lines’, last week’s episode of Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Just like ‘Clone Cadets’, this episode is a prequel to a first season episode – this time, leading into the season one premiere, the Yoda-centric ‘Ambush’. What’s revealed here is: Jar Jar’s performing arts talent, how the Trade Federation is still part of the Republic, the Jedi with the most appropriate name in the galaxy, and a deeper look into Toydarian culture – and we get a good mixture of battles and diplomacy. Continue reading “The Clone Wars review: ‘Supply Lines’”
Everyone’s talking about the four-second deleted scene in ‘ARC Troopers,’ but nobody seems to be mentioning the other cut made by Cartoon Network. I speak, of course, about the fortune cookie, the little blue moral that pops up at the beginning of each episode. ‘ARC Troopers’ fortune cookie was apparently a casualty of airing two episodes back to back, and to be honest, I didn’t miss it a bit. In fact, its absence actually helped the episode. I was suddenly unsure of what lesson I was supposed to learn, which gave the proceedings just a little more mystery, a little more suspense. And, weird as this sounds, I found myself trying to figure out what the actual fortune cookie might be. I even wrote down a few guesses, starting with… Continue reading “The Clone Wars review: ‘ARC Troopers’”
