Star Wars with occasional sarcasm
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’”
The Her Universe booth at Celebration V. Photo by popculturegeek @ Flickr.
Attention male Star Wars fans around the world! I say this from the bottom of my heart because us nerd girls, we love you (I should know, I have my own nerd boy). We know that you mean well and sometimes what comes out of your mouths or through the keyboard is not necessarily what you mean to say, but rather can become a bit of a mess in translation and that’s okay. Lately, it’s not. Let me tell you why. Continue reading “Back off, guys: It’s our turn”
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’”
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’”
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’”
Obi-Wan and Anakin are still stuck on Lanteeb, a planet far in the Outer Rim and of seeming little consequence. The Lanteebans pose no apparent strategic value to the Republic or Separatists; it’s an attitude that grossly misjudges the efforts of captured scientist Bant’ena Fhernan. She’s been hired to construct a virus to end all viruses, a massive biological weapon that will sway the war in Dooku’s favor, but getting materials for it isn’t easy. The key ingredient, damotite, lays deep within the sinuous mines of Lanteeb and Separatist overseer Lok Durd rides the locals hard with threats of drastic food and water rationing if his unreasonable quota and timetable aren’t met.
Against all impossibilities, the Lanteeban’s work furiously every day, risking damotite poisoning to please Durd. When Anakin and Obi-Wan crash their vehicle and end up stranded in the mining city responsible for churning out the dangerous material, the two are welcomed only as long as the villagers don’t know they’re Jedi. Naturally, an invading droid army and a failing shield barrier that forces the pair to use the Force for self preservation were probably unavoidable inevitabilities. Continue reading “Review: Karen Miller’s Clone Wars Gambit: Siege“
Throughout this entire second season of The Clone Wars, I’ve only had one constant complaint: the portrayal of R2-D2. Right from the start, R2 would just pop into stories for no reason, appearing out of nowhere whenever the heroes needed help. And now we know the reason. He’s Lassie! That’s right, everyone’s favorite astromech – the droid with a mission, the original “size matters not,” the guy who repairs hyperdrives while swearing at C-3PO – is pretty much a collie with gadgets. (Note to self: pitch “Gadget Collie” as a 6-episode limited series for the Disney Channel.) Continue reading “The Clone Wars reviews: ‘R2 Come Home’ and ‘Lethal Trackdown’”
When The Clone Wars started, who would have thought that it would become a non-stop homage to classic films? This season has seen tributes to Notorious, The Longest Day, a couple of Kurosawas, Aliens, Agatha Christie mysteries, and I’m sure some others that I missed. And of course, last week was all about Godzilla, and I fully expected this week’s installment to be more of the same (in a good way). But Dave Filoni tipped his fedora to another movie monster instead — and unlike Peter Jackson, the Clone Wars crew did it right. Continue reading “The Clone Wars review: ‘The Zillo Beast Strikes Back’”
Did you notice that I added an exclamation point to the title? That’s because ‘The Zillo Beast,’ while not perfect, is easy to get excited about. It’s the first Clone Wars episode that I seriously wished I could see in a movie theater – and that’s including the theatrical pilot. This is impressive, exciting, big-screen material, and if I was looking to get quoted, I’d call it “Monstrously Entertaining,” or “The Beast is Best,” or perhaps “A Smashingly Good Time!” Thankfully, I’m above some trivialities. Continue reading “The Clone Wars review: ‘The Zillo Beast!’”
Both Stooge and James have skipped out on us are on vacation, so this week our Clone Wars review is a guest post from The Broox. Enjoy! -D
‘Bounty Hunters’ takes the tried and true approach of opening the episode with our heroes bickering like an old married couple before quickly throwing them into danger.
Obi-Wan, Anakin and Ahsoka drop out of hyperspace above Felucia in order to investigate the disappearance of a medical station. Thanks to the omnipresent, propaganda style voice over the audience is aware that the dastardly Separatists have destroyed the station before our heroes’ arrival. Furthermore, the Separatists left some Vulture Droids behind to dispatch anyone who would come to investigate. Continue reading “The Clone Wars review: ‘Bounty Hunters’”