Star Wars with occasional sarcasm
Oh, Clone Wars, Clone Wars, Clone Wars. What am I going to do with you? Last week you dazzled us with one of the best episodes yet, and then this week we get… ‘Mercy Mission.’ But you know what would have been a real mission of mercy? Not letting this episode air! Hey-o! Try the veal, tip your waitress, you’ve been a great crowd.
Time to see what the rest of the galaxy thought of last week’s episode of Star Wars: The Clone Wars: ‘Shadow Warrior’. You probably already know how much I liked it from my review here on Club Jade. But what did other people think of the Grievous-skewering, Gungan-possessing, Anakin-zapping, something-spoilery-happens episode? Continue reading “The Clone Wars review round-up: shadowing ‘Shadow Warrior’”
‘Shadow Warrior’ is a fantastic episode of Star Wars: The Clone Wars – while only a half hour long, the story covered so much ground, and really captured the feel of Star Wars. It makes me wish that this storyline was spread out across two episodes, with the first half of the story (the Gungan plot) separate from the capture of Anakin and the prisoner exchange.
With the first story arc done, it’s time to see what the reviewers are saying about the start of Star Wars: The Clone Wars season four. Did people think that this story arc jumped the shark? Indeed not – It looks like most reviewers were swimmingly pleased with the Mon Cala war storyline.
Meanwhile, The HD Room checks in with Dave Filoni about what to expect this season.
And if you missed it, here’s our reviews of the individual episodes: ‘Water War’ – ‘Gungan Attack’ – ‘Prisoners’.
First, a bit of housekeeping: in the past, I’ve tried to keep these reviews mostly spoiler-free, so that a positive review might encourage new viewers to hop aboard. But let’s face it… we’re in the fourth season already. Either you’re watching the show or you’re not. And certain episodes – like, say, this one – are such mixed bags that the only way to properly discuss them is by tackling the major plot points. So, here we go. Spoilers abound. Continue reading “The Clone Wars review: ‘Prisoners’”
First look. Suvudu revealed the cover for Jeff Grubb’s Scourge today. Yet another generic musclebound dude with a lightsaber, ho-hum. But given it’s a book featuring an all-new character and Hutts, I’m clearly not the target market here. Still, let’s hope it looks better on the actual book.
Staffing. Editor Betsy Mitchell, who’s been with the Star Wars novels since their rebirth in the early 90’s at Bantam, is leaving Del Rey. New hire Frank Parisi is taking over Star Wars and other tie-ins.
Hey! We know that guy! Dan Wallace in the St. Petersburg Times.
Casting games. Suvudu has the ‘winners’ of their attempts to cast Heir to the Empire. The less I say the better.
Excerpts. A new one for Riptide.
Reviews. James reviews Jedi: The Dark Side #5 and Knight Errant: Deluge #2 at Big Shiny Robot.
Namesake corner. Still no Mara Jade tee from Her Universe, but at least you can grab a fan-made one.
When Gungans Attack! Not a FOX reality show, ‘Gungan Attack’ was the second half of the season premiere of Star Wars: The Clone Wars last week. And while Gungans show up to reinforce the beleaguered Mon Calamari and our heroes, Riff Tamson gets the upper hand on the Jedi and Prince Lee-Char and throws them in the spin cycle. Continue reading “The Clone Wars review: ‘Gungan Attack’”
“It’s an attack!” Captain Ackbar shouts when the Quarren and their Separatist allies assault the Mon Cal city. Not quite a trap, but Ackbar steals the show in the first half of the season four opener of Star Wars: The Clone Wars. ‘Water War’ sets the stage for this multi-part story with lots of exciting action as things deteriorate rapidly for Prince Lee-Char, the Jedi and Mon Calamari people.
Continue reading “The Clone Wars review: ‘Water War’”
Namesake corner. The Mara fan site Jade Crusades folded a few years back, but creator Mazzic has resurrected the site’s interviews with several authors and artists who shaped Mara, including Tim Zahn, Mike Stackpole and Drew Struzan.
The Jedi Path. With the standalone edition out now, Daniel Wallace reveals five steps to becoming a Jedi Knight. Meanwhile, here’s a review.
Knight Errant. Dave Marshall gives fans a glimpse of the series’ ships. I like how the giant hyperspace rings are an obvious precursor to to the smaller versions we saw in the prequels.
History. This is old news for many of us, but io9 has a nice post on how Star Wars saved comics.
Reviews. James is at it again over at Big Shiny Robot, giving his take on Invasion: Revelations #3, and The Old Republic: The Lost Suns #4.
With the Blu-rays out today, the Star Wars publicity machine has been out in full force this week, the shamelessness cumulating (…perhaps) with letting three Jawas and a Stormtrooper loose in New York City. Do they double as a sitcom pitch? (Can we get Humpy in on that?) Meanwhile, London got a giant lightsaber.
We’re hearing reports that some stores are not stocking huge amounts of the discs, so if you’re picking it up today, plan accordingly. (If not, Amazon’s still pricing the set at $79.99.)
But it’s really all about the Blu-rays themselves… And as they’ve made their way into more hands, the more reports we have of the inevitable tweaks that have been made to the movies. Screenrant hits the (so-far) major notes, while DVD Active takes a more detailed look at the original trilogy changes, comparing frames from several different releases.
We’ll likely see more reviews throughout the day (check back!) but Entertainment Weekly and The Toronto Sun got a jump on things Thursday evening. Today, we have reviews from Big Shiny Robot, IGN, and GeekDad.
But of course, we all know the best way to deal with George and co. tweaking the movies yet again: Make funnies. The most popular spoof making the rounds is probably George Lucas re-edits classic movies, and maybe it’s the hour, but I couldn’t help but crack up at Conan’s take. And, of course, no controversy is complete without a ridiculous video by Taiwan’s NMA World Edition.
But of course, eventually your rage will cool, and you just have to make your peace with the fact that George doesn’t care, George doesn’t give a shit, and make your peace with it. If not, well, there’s a t-shirt for that.
But enough of that emo bullshit. Got your copy yet?