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Clone Watch - Episode 25
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This time on Clone Watch, we revisit the D-Squad arc — famously a favorite of George Lucas. Daryl & Nick have their doubts. Did Lauren find more going on beneath the droid antics and desert detours? Tune in to find out.
00:00 Introduction
05:16 Secret Weapons
22:30 A Sunny Day in the Void
35:28 Missing in Action
45:20 Point of No Return
To follow along with your viewing, you can find the Clone Wars chronological viewing list at:
https://www.starwars.com/news/star-wars-the-clone-wars-chronological-episodeorder
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Transcript
Introduction to Casual Nerdity Podcast
00:00:10
Speaker
Casual Nerdity is a podcast celebrating and discussing the pop culture that we love. Movies, TVs, comics, books, games, you name it. Our aim is to talk about the good, what worked, and yeah, sometimes what didn't.
00:00:22
Speaker
All with an eye towards building up, not tearing down. Thanks for joining us.
Exploring Themes in Star Wars
00:00:29
Speaker
Welcome back to Casual Nerdity, everybody. As always, I'm Daryl. Nick. And I'm Lauren. And we are back with another episode of our Clone Watch series where we watch as a totalitarian fascist regime ah totally runs roughshod and takes over a republic and brings out the worst in its citizens. And are are we watching Clone Wars or are we watching the evening news?
00:01:03
Speaker
Not sure. that This one has more aliens, so I think this is the History Channel, actually. Okay. so And we've got the guy with the corkboard and everything. Yeah. yeah okay and with the hair the hair The hair guy. Yes, yes, the hair guy.
00:01:19
Speaker
So, nick is Nick the hair guy? Probably. Yeah. No, I don't i don't have enough hair for that. yeah but You're the one who's connecting everything together. Yeah.
00:01:31
Speaker
True. Nick's the guy. I'm the hair guy. you're You're the crazy conspiracy theory hair guy. I mean, typecasting.
00:01:43
Speaker
Again, it's like poetry. It's sort of, they rhyme. So...
Lauren's Introduction to Star Wars
00:01:48
Speaker
so For those of you just joining us, now that we are 25 episodes into our Clone Watch series, what we're doing with Clone Watch is, and every time we tell this, we describe what Clone Watch is, I try to condense it a little bit more. So, Lauren joined our roleplaying group, which very heavily plays the Star Wars roleplaying game.
00:02:15
Speaker
Yes. But Lauren had limited connection and exposure to Star Wars content. Primarily the original trilogy. So all of our inside jokes kind of went whoosh.
00:02:29
Speaker
and And so being a fan of animation, you know you said, hey, I kind of want to see... what this whole star Wars thing is about. I want to understand these jokes. And Nick started showing you, ah the clone Wars animated series after episodes one and two.
00:02:47
Speaker
And he's doing it in the most evil way possible in chronological order. then No, the most evil way. i mean, Nick, if it were the correct way, it wouldn't be how they released it.
00:03:03
Speaker
Well, Blaine, well, we can actually know, but, blame dave veloni instead of kathleen kennedy for once well i mean kathleen kennedy wasn't part of lucas film when clone wars was made so you cannot blame her as as he did as the original movies as he did with the original movies lucas did them out of out of order on purpose so the correct order is the order that they were released but we're watching them in chronological order And for those of you who want to watch along in chronological order, even though now with the exception of one episode that we're going to be getting to next time, everything is pretty much chronological now.
Viewing Guide for Clone Wars
00:03:43
Speaker
Yeah. But if you want to follow along, there's an official Star Wars response on the official Star Wars website. And there is a link in the show notes.
00:03:56
Speaker
Beautiful. This time around, you I'm really looking forward to talking about this arc. Not because it's a particular favorite of mine. i could take it or leave it myself.
00:04:07
Speaker
And not because I know it's one of Nick's least favorite arcs. But I think it might be right up your alley, Lauren. Same feeling. Yeah. so i was like I was more anticipating to see a new perspective on this arc as...
00:04:24
Speaker
I'll admit, it never was necessarily my favorite to revisit. But from the outside looking in, knowing the episodes and stories that you've connected to most, I looked at this arc and I was like, droids, check.
00:04:39
Speaker
Weirdness, check. Funky little alien dude, check. And that's right, everybody.
Focus on Droid Missions
00:04:46
Speaker
We're going to be talking about Secret Weapons, Season 5, Episode 10, A Sunny Day in the Void, Season 5, Episode 11, Missing in Action, Season 5, Episode 12, and Point of No Return, Season 5, Episode 13.
00:05:01
Speaker
Oh, and George Lucas said that it's one of his favorite arcs, or it is his favorite arc of the Clone Wars. So let's saddle up and roll out with D-Squad.
00:05:14
Speaker
Yeah! Secret Weapons, Season 5, Episode 10. R2-D2 is part of a special droid mission behind enemy lines. And this is how how I knew that, like, the minute you read that, I could see your eyes light up, Lauren. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. When I had that on the screen, it's like, what the episode, the the episode blurb. Yes.
00:05:37
Speaker
Yes. Yes, Grievous, there's a message detected, ah missent by General Grievous. However, it is encrypted.
00:05:50
Speaker
And so a group of droids is being sent to a Separatist ship to steal an encryption module. And I am going to steal Nick's Loremaster Thunder here just a little bit. my, it's time for Loremaster Daryl.
00:06:06
Speaker
take take take take Take the lead. Part of D-Squad is an astromech named QTKT. Now initially QT-KT was going to be the previously seen R2-KT.
00:06:24
Speaker
But with R2-D2 part of this story, they didn't want to possibly cause confusion by having two different droids called R2 in the group. in So with a slight visual and naming update, we get QT-KT.
00:06:41
Speaker
Now the original R2-KT that that We saw briefly in the Clone Wars movie and in the Ryloth arc, R2KT has a very touching background to her.
Symbolism and Community in Star Wars
00:06:53
Speaker
And I don't think we went over it in any of those earlier appearances because they were more background appearances. R2KT was named after Katie Johnson, the seven-year-old daughter of Albin Johnson, who is the founder of the 501st Legion Cosplay Group.
00:07:11
Speaker
At you seven years old, Katie was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer and received support and love from throughout the Star Wars fan community. Now, as her health declined and she was bedridden, she wished that she had a droid to watch over, like R2 was watching over Padme in Attack of the Clones.
00:07:34
Speaker
So the R2 Builders Association heard about that and they worked together to assemble a custom pink astromech that they they named R2KT. According to her father, Katie kept that droid by her bedside until her final days.
00:07:54
Speaker
Since then, they have released licensed R2KT action figures and other merchandise, keychains, things like that, and have sold them with proceeds going to the Make-A-Wish Foundation and the a Force for Change charity.
00:08:12
Speaker
The droid that was made for Katie... has been used to visit children's hospitals and spread awareness of pediatric illness by attending Star Wars events. So they were very intent on bringing the droid honoring Katie into this, but they had to kind of make a second one in her honor to avoid confusion when talking to and naming the droids.
00:08:41
Speaker
Which is honestly kind of actually makes it even more special that there's her version and then there's the one that exists, but both of them are equally like ah in honor of her.
00:08:54
Speaker
Yeah. Yep. But I've just, I've always found that story super touching because yes, it is super popular and super visible.
00:09:05
Speaker
to see the wrong side of the Star Wars fandom these days. Because you have the the worst and most toxic elements that seem to have the loudest voice in the fandom right now. But there is some legitimate, like there is some, there's still good in the Star Wars fandom.
00:09:27
Speaker
Yep. And yeah we we occasionally joke and talk smack about the 501st, All in good fun because we have friends who are part of the 501st. And ah we make they're they're they're really skilled. They're really skilled. That's what they do.
00:09:43
Speaker
Yeah. Oh, they they are incredible. I i considered joining the 501st or the offshoot Rebel Legion. ah I looked at what the costuming requirements and specifics were, and I was like, o oh, this is some next level stuff.
00:10:01
Speaker
I'm out. like Cosplay is very... is a is very No matter what people say, like, cosplay is at can be entry-level. If you want... The five of us are professionals.
00:10:14
Speaker
Yes. Yeah, I mean... that yeah did that they they They will to accept you in there, but ah you will you will feel like, oh, if I'm not... You will feel like I need to up my game next time.
00:10:28
Speaker
i considered doing a costume of Galen Erso from Rogue One, Jyn's father. i was like, it's pretty simple outfit to do. And, you know, I like the symbol that he has on on the sleeves. and that I like the outfit. It'll work.
00:10:49
Speaker
But then I started looking at the criteria for if you are a named face character whose face is seen, If your eye color doesn't match, you have to use colored contacts or have a note from your eye doctor saying why you can't use colored contacts so that you match their eye color.
00:11:10
Speaker
like i'm like I'm like, this is next level. 501st members have appeared in a official Star Wars media because they needed additional characters in costume.
00:11:23
Speaker
Yeah, they they needed some additional stormtroopers in an episode of The Mandalorian more than they had costumes on hand nearby at Lucasfilm. And so Dave Filoni called up the local 501st chapter and they came out and they were on screen and... They were acknowledged at they were acknowledge at the official panel. they They took a picture of them on the set and Dave Filoni reminded them, hey...
00:11:52
Speaker
You know, in costume collecting circles, the big thing is if something is screen-worn, it's worth more. All of your suits of Stormtrooper armor are now screen-worn.
00:12:06
Speaker
And they all just kind of did a double take and like, you're right. Mm-hmm. But anyway, well back to the episode at hand. Yes, yes. So as we introduce the various droids that are part of the troop, there is one droid that is an outlier, a whack droid.
00:12:26
Speaker
And he's he's kind of a dork. yeah He doesn't really know what's going on. He recognizes that he's an outlier, but he's just happy to be here. He's kind of dork.
00:12:39
Speaker
And then meanwhile... very yeah He very much is, yeah. And meanwhile, as the group are starting to get briefed about what they're here for, there's the line, you are our secret weapon.
D-Squad's Humorous Mission
00:12:55
Speaker
Title drop! Said the thing! Yeah! Said the thing! Wait, does that make them some kind of ah suicide squad?
00:13:04
Speaker
No, none of them are gonna die. No. Well, let's not get ahead of ourselves. They're droids. They can't die. You take that back. They can only be disassembled horribly.
00:13:16
Speaker
At this point, enter Colonel Mieber Gascon, a little snail man. Yeah. Gascon, he goes over the details of the mission really fast.
00:13:27
Speaker
Yes, he does. And the astromechs, WAC doesn't get one, but the astromechs get super spiffy tech upgrades for the mission.
00:13:41
Speaker
yeah Very cute 007 types. R2 gets some souped up flight jets. QT, KT gets a super magnet that can pop out of her dome.
00:13:54
Speaker
U9C4 gets a really powerful laser cutter that he has to lock down to use or it'll throw him backwards. And M5BZ has his memory banks removed to make room for Gascon's command center.
00:14:14
Speaker
Yeah. So he gets lobotomized in a chair put in his head. Basically, yeah. And that's why I'm pretty sure Gascon is is there in the Death Star room. You just don't see him.
00:14:31
Speaker
but We kind of get shades of how Pong Krell back in the Umbara arc thought of the clone troopers when Gascon says M5 doesn't need or as as he's called throughout the arc BZ not M5. Yes. ah Doesn't need to be babied about the removal because he's just a droid.
00:14:54
Speaker
Hmm. Yeah. Something tells me, Lauren, that you might have something to say, considering the discussion we had about droids, sentience and rights a few episodes back. Yeah. You know, um I'm going to get into that a little bit later, probably around the end of episode two. But OK.
00:15:13
Speaker
Yeah. we we Yeah, that's fair. Examples of what's going to be happening. And so Wack, that pit droid pilot who wants to prove that he's more than just a pilot, as Gascon says, sets their stolen shuttle on a collision course for the Separatist ship, which instead of them just infiltrating, gets them captured.
00:15:40
Speaker
Yeah, the the thing is is that Wack and Gascon have a bit of tension between them, where Gascon is officially the leader of this group, but Wack really wants to be the leader himself, essentially. Yep. And also is sort of the driving force of a lot of the mishaps, but also of the minor successes. Yes.
00:16:03
Speaker
And now, on... They're captured and on their way to be interrogated, Gascon tells D-Squad to stay calm and play along. So, of course, R2 being R2 attacks their battle droid guards.
00:16:17
Speaker
Yeah! R2 violence! I mean, I can only... I keep you keep saying this and it means nothing to you. I can only imagine if it were Chopper.
00:16:29
Speaker
This would have been over, but there would have been no survivors. So yes, they they end up in at around a vault of some sort, and C4 is told to use his super powerful laser.
00:16:44
Speaker
But he does it wrong, because he doesn't lock himself in properly, so the knockback of the laser launches him into a wall, and he fires the laser all over the place, some messing up he yeah the whole thing.
00:16:56
Speaker
Unfortunately, this laser misuse ends up alerting the Super Battle Droid some shenanigans happening on their floor. However, he's a bit distracted at the moment, so he doesn't he doesn't really see this as a big issue yet.
00:17:12
Speaker
So they're they're trying to get into the vault where that encryption key is, and Gascon tells BZ to unlock it and gets him fried. Yep.
00:17:23
Speaker
The lock was booby-trapped. And BZ... Oh no, they killed BZ. Oh no! How dare they? oh no!
00:17:34
Speaker
but yes, ah at that point, Gascon kind of breaks down about how everything is going wrong, you know, with Wack messing up their entrance, and then R2 partaking in violence, and then c four you know, messing up the laser, and now BZ messing up the hacking.
00:17:53
Speaker
You know, ah QT is doing fine though. QT hadn't messed up all, but it turns out... She's doing great. she's doing great Yeah, yeah, QT is doing perfect. ah But then it turns out that Gascon, this is his first mission. He has historically just been a guy that reads maps.
00:18:14
Speaker
ah And so one of the reasons he knows why... yeah you You know, that that kind of reminds me that there was a character in... Did you ever read the Marvel's comic, The New Warriors?
00:18:26
Speaker
I did not. So there was a character who was introduced who... was a neighbor of one of the members of the team, Speedball.
00:18:37
Speaker
Yeah. And he discovered Speedball's secret identity. Mm-hmm. And he... Oh, don't you mean tennis? No. Not yet. not He basically blackmails Speedball into bringing him into the New Warriors headquarters... Because he wants to join the team.
00:18:58
Speaker
And they're like, you have no powers, you have no skills. and And he introduces himself to the team in this makeshift, put together from stuff at home, including literal long underwear and...
00:19:13
Speaker
an old style motorcycle helmet with side view mirrors on the sides. He introduces himself as hindsight lad.
00:19:25
Speaker
And his, his contribution to the team is after they go on a mission, he can tell them how they could have done it better by looking at the plan and planning it out in hindsight based upon what happened.
00:19:42
Speaker
then And that just that reminds me of Hindsight Lad. Gascon is Hindsight Lad. He looks at maps okay and tells people, hey, you could go here.
00:19:54
Speaker
yeah But yeah, well well, Gascon is completely breaking down over everything failing and being afraid that he's a complete failure. R2 just hacks the wall.
00:20:06
Speaker
He just does it. Just in the background. Yeah, because he's Yeah, because he's R2. he He just takes care of it. R2 is the main character in the story. Yes. R2 is like, um excuse me, I've been in five of these movies by now.
00:20:22
Speaker
Mm-hmm. I know what I'm doing. Yes. i have I have action figures and none of you don't do. yeah i i i know that I am good friends with this fella by the name of Anakin.
00:20:36
Speaker
He's kind of got main character energy. He's the chosen one. yes But yes, so the group moves forward, and it turns out that it's time for QT to do a thing, as a QT's magnet sucks up a bunch of floating mines in the air. And actually works this time!
00:20:54
Speaker
Somebody does their job properly! does! It's QT! Yeah, of course. Unfortunately, ah messing up the door did alert the super tactical droid enough to actually check in on things.
00:21:09
Speaker
And just as they're about to get the encryptor chip, the super tactical droid finds the group. And an action scene occurs. And critically, r two turns off the gravity.
00:21:22
Speaker
and a whole lot of things happen. It's big action scene. And ultimately, r two defeats the super tactical droid. And then yeah what's the ghost gravity e and yeah they get the encrypted ship.
00:21:35
Speaker
Yep, they get hold of the module, make their way out, they take BZ with them, intending to repair him on the shuttle, and start making their way back to the shuttle.
00:21:45
Speaker
And as they start making their way back, some battle droids end up intercepting them. But because they look down on Astromex so much, they just let the group pass by, thinking that there's no way that they could have possibly been the source of the problem.
00:22:02
Speaker
Yep, and by working together, the droids have earned Gascon's respect, at least for this episode. And he's gotten theirs, at least for episode. Yeah, yeah.
00:22:13
Speaker
Wow, that's a pretty solid arc. Very, very, very clear and that yeah really good, really good arc. Yeah, you know, because there's three more episodes. Clearly that's the end of the story. There's nothing more here.
00:22:25
Speaker
nothing more Nothing more to see except the next episode, A Sunny Day in the Void, Season 5, Episode 11. R2-D2 and his droid team land on a bizarre, desolate world.
00:22:40
Speaker
We start off with the droids repairing BZ. Yeah, they do it. There's this field of comets that are on a collision course with the shuttle. Mm-hmm. Yes, and Wack decides to leave the controls of the ship to let everybody know that there's a comet storm coming as it's going into the comet storm.
00:23:01
Speaker
Brilliant, but wackiness, hijinks. yeah wacky Oh, Yes. The power's knocked out, and the astromechs go out and do what they're made to do. They get the power and the engines back on.
00:23:16
Speaker
Yes, R2 fixes the ship, but another crash causes the droids to start falling off. And the group uses a series of connection wires to eventually get everyone back on board. And I can only imagine that during this entire time, R2 is just having some terrible PTSD flashbacks of his entire family getting annihilated at the start of episode one. He does manage to save all the other astromechs with him this time. Yes, he does manage to save the astromechs this time. He's redeemed himself.
00:23:46
Speaker
So they all get inside and they make an emergency landing on this mysterious, desolate planet. And very quickly, Gascon is back to looking down on droids.
00:23:58
Speaker
Yes, yes. Uh, Gascon- It was great to see that character development for a little bit. Yeah. Gascon decides that it's a better idea to stay on the ship, but R2 just takes the Encryptor chip and just leaves.
00:24:12
Speaker
And then everybody decides to follow him. And R2 is just going while Gascon tries to figure out the directions. Unfortunately, just going results in the group getting completely lost in the desert without any sense of direction, which Gascon realizes upon noticing that they can't see the sun and there's no tracks in the sand. that There is no visible identifying you know source of direction anywhere around them.
00:24:44
Speaker
Nope. And unfortunately, this leads to more droid racism, as he talks about how he's smarter because he learned things, or the being programmed things, and Wack points out that learning things is basically just being programmed.
00:25:01
Speaker
it's Yeah. Yeah, he's just doing his arc from the previous episode again. yep that The droids come across a crashed ship with its pilot skeleton.
00:25:13
Speaker
And fun fact, The skeleton resembles Jackson, the infamous green humanoid rabbit from the 70s Marvel Comics run that Lucas hates with a passion.
00:25:25
Speaker
Maybe that's why this is his favorite art, that there's the Jackson skeleton in it. Perhaps. That said, there's more arguing, and ultimately, the astromechs want R2 as a leader, much to the ah befuddlement of both Gascon and Wack, because remember, Wack wants to be the leader of the group. That's his that that's thats that's his character thing, apparently.
00:25:49
Speaker
It's kind like, do that it's like a theme. Both of them have, like, delusions grandeur. Yeah. Yep. Gascon sees a village off in the distance and runs off in that direction, and the droids are like,
00:26:03
Speaker
What is he doing? in his he's he's acting He's acting kind of loopy. Yeah. And that that village is a mirage. Yes, it it turns out to be like a a canister that he had water in previously that he threw away. Yes, it's his water canister that he drained and threw aside.
00:26:22
Speaker
So they've been going in circles. Yep, yep, they sure have. Ultimately, R2-Chake takes charge and leaves with all of the astromechs, leaving Wack and Gascon behind to just lay on the ground. And Gascon is completely in despair, seeing no hope of leaving this desert.
00:26:43
Speaker
But Wack says giving up is not in my programming. and they sort come It's actually pretty good to see. Yeah, and Gascon even starts calling Wack Corporal.
00:26:56
Speaker
Yes. He gives him a battlefield promotion ten and starts calling him Corporal. And then a herd of birds stampedes towards the two of them.
00:27:07
Speaker
And they grab a hold and ride them to a village that has a watering hole outside where the astromechs are already waiting. Yep. And I'm going to say...
00:27:20
Speaker
This is definitely the weakest episode overall. is it drink it's It's the same arc that we had last time, but with a lot less self-sense. Yeah, you know, it's ah you know go going into the whole droid racism deal. you know get that that's whole got That's Gascon's whole thing.
00:27:40
Speaker
And specifically in these first two episodes, he learns that droids are capable and deserving of respect. And then he learns again that droids are capable and deserving of respect.
00:27:52
Speaker
And he's not really going to have to learn that in the next two episodes. Fortunately, he basically keeps that character development at this point. Wait, wait, wait. It's weird that he had to learn it twice. Yeah, it's weird that he had learn it. Yeah, no, this stanza doesn't work for a rhyme, unfortunately. It's too close together. But yeah, you know, it's just there's not a whole lot that happens.
00:28:18
Speaker
The aesthetics aren't very good because the whole point is that it's a featureless void. you there So there's not a whole lot to see. Not a whole lot happens. And it's just and the droids don't really get to do much in general. Just R2 is the most competent one here. Everybody loves R2. And that's great.
00:28:37
Speaker
But that's all that this episode really has. Honestly, it's probably one of the weakest individual episodes of the series, given its context. Honestly, I probably would agree. Again, I already had many issues with the arc, but I want to see your perspective. Like, yeah, this is a friendly week episode. Yeah.
00:29:02
Speaker
Yeah. yeah we've We've mentioned this concept before here recently. that as we look at the episode guides going into season five here and mostly in season four and coming up again in six and seven, that all of the arcs now seem to be prescribed to be four episode arcs. So it's kind of like in comics, and we've mentioned this before, writing for the trade.
00:29:35
Speaker
Yeah. Where every storyline has to be six issues, regardless of whether or not it's a six issue storyline. And so you have decompression and filler to get that six issue or four episode count yeah and you know honestly i think i think this happened in the previous episode where we were talking about the younglings arc and there was kind of a dud episode in there too that we we this this this storyline could have been three episodes now this one could have also been three episodes a lot more moving parts in terms of action sequences yeah yeah do at least help disguise the fact
00:30:18
Speaker
that the story was lacking. We didn't get an interesting, we got an interesting opening casting sequence, but like you said, once we got to the planet, the lack of like doing anything proactive and the sparse environment basically turned the story into like it's it pretty boring because there wasn't anything to do.
00:30:45
Speaker
You know, I think... and my part is my Yeah, yeah. Okay, yeah. well Oh, no, no. Go ahead. Go ahead. I think my biggest issue with these episodes so far is that Gascon is just the main character.
00:31:00
Speaker
Wack gets some characterization, but the astromechs don't really get substantial characterization for themselves. And I know that it's kind of hard to do.
00:31:11
Speaker
They're also the ones that are... progressing the story. So our main characters and their conflict is kind of the subplot Kind of. And i I know that characterizing the astromechs is going to be hard to do because they don't they're not very expressive and they don't speak English. You know you you can't understand what they're saying.
00:31:34
Speaker
But I feel like they have mean, there's a reason we don't have many clips so far. Yes. i I feel like they could have done more with them. I feel like they could have given the astromechs... At least collectively a character arc of some kind. For for a story arc that is collectively known as D-Squad, the Droid Squad, okay we only get one droid character, really.
00:32:00
Speaker
Basically, yeah. Part of me wonders is knowing that up through season five, season six, Lucas was heavily involved in Clone Wars, this episode, you know, A Sunny Day in the Void, for some reason, it seems to have, jokes about Jackson's skeleton aside, it seems to have Lucas's fingerprints all over it. It has his sort of stylistic tones. It has lot of ideas that are a bit more heady and bit more
00:32:40
Speaker
The setting is sparse. Honestly, like the the color palette is very much like it first film ever, TX-1138. And it just it just seems to me like this episode is one that's like, okay, let's let's do an arc about R2 and a squad of droids having to go on a mission.
Psychological Depth in the Droid Arc
00:33:02
Speaker
But one of the episodes, I want this really esoteric, lost in a void kind of psychological drama, which is, as you said, is hard to do with a group of droids, most of whom beep.
00:33:19
Speaker
Mm-hmm. Yes. And so i can i can see i can see hisk influence he but it was just not something that could be done with the tools and setup that he gave Filoni and company to work with.
00:33:42
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, basically. we We always make the reference that quite literally most episodes were Dave Lone is called to George's office and he spits out an idea. Mm-hmm.
00:33:55
Speaker
Yes, that's it. It's very much like George spat out an idea and they worked with what they had. Mm-hmm. At least that's my feeling. I have never read anywhere that that's what happened. Same here.
00:34:07
Speaker
again, I don't even think that I don't even recall because there usually was like an app that I might have to check back through the archives see if there's any sort of like YouTube video about that. If they usually have one.
00:34:22
Speaker
But yes, fortunately, since this is the weakest episode, that does mean that it's all uphill from here. Yes. Yes. And what what I find interesting, i'm I'm looking at the clock as we're recording, and I think that we have discussed our impressions of the story's genesis and its shortcomings already.
00:34:45
Speaker
More than we talked about the episode itself. Probably, Because not much happened in it for us to recap. It's kind of the problem. that There's a lot of sports analogy from me, of all people.
00:35:00
Speaker
Monday morning quarterbacking. About what, why? is this here? yeah is that There's more to discuss and analyze, ironically, because there's less...
00:35:14
Speaker
yeah You can see what they're trying to do and where they could improve more than you can see like what's actually been presented. Right. But then that takes us into our next episode, Missing in Action, Season 5, Episode 12.
00:35:32
Speaker
R2-D2 and his team find a clone commando suffering from amnesia. Mm-hmm. So the planet that they crashed on last episode is given a name in the newsreel, Abafar.
00:35:44
Speaker
And, well... I have never been to Tatooine, but if this place reminds you of it, R2, remind me never to go there.
00:35:57
Speaker
Same. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. To quote ah to quote a ah line from the sequel trilogy, it's like, no one's from nowhere.
00:36:08
Speaker
ah Yeah, this is pretty much nowhere. and Yep. Gascon finds a diner, goes in, because he's hungry, understandably. And he gets chased out of the diner.
00:36:22
Speaker
We don't serve your kind here. And literally has to dumpster dive for food. Yep. Meanwhile, the rest of D-Squad, you Wack is with him, but the rest of D-Squad, the astromechs are out there and, uh-oh, battle droids are in town.
00:36:38
Speaker
And then a human comes out from the kitchen to the diner and tosses some trash out, sees Gascon, and you offers to, hey, you you know that's garbage, right?
00:36:51
Speaker
that I can get you some food. And Gascon immediately identifies him as a clone. I mean, how could you not? Because he sounds like D. Bradley Baker doing Tamora Morrison impression.
00:37:03
Speaker
Yes. This clone doesn't seem to know what Gascon's talking about. Yeah. He doesn't even know what a clone is. He has no idea what's going on.
00:37:14
Speaker
And so the group leaves him be for now and tries to find a ship off the planet. And they do, in fact, find a shipyard. But it's guarded by a bunch of battle droids. D-Squad, needing some help, they follow Gregor to his apartment.
00:37:31
Speaker
And R2 projects a hologram of Captain Rex to try to shock him into recognition. Mm-hmm. It's kind of a cool scene, actually.
00:37:42
Speaker
Yeah! Yeah! And it's also so that we get to see a clone commandos again. okay Yep, and we get some interesting lore and technology information, something that I had totally forgotten about, and we probably want to remember for the next time we have clone troopers or a Clone Wars campaign in the RPG, but clones have an implant in their wrist that can be scanned to show their serial number and service record.
00:38:12
Speaker
Yes, and this is where they all learned that Gregor was once a commando. They learned about how he was part of a major battle that ended up in a terrible defeat, and his whole squad was destroyed, stranding him on this planet with amnesia.
Clone Gregor's Identity Crisis
00:38:29
Speaker
We then find out that the diner owner has all of Gregor's gear.
00:38:37
Speaker
Looking for this?
00:38:43
Speaker
My uniform. My equipment.
00:38:47
Speaker
All this time you knew who I was and didn't tell me? Why? don't care who you were. You're dishwasher now. And you owe me for saving you from your trash.
00:39:00
Speaker
Your life is mine, Gregor. You didn't save me. You turned me into a slave. I've worked in this dump taking orders from you when could have been fighting for the Republic.
00:39:11
Speaker
I want my life back. You want your freedom, Gregor? Take your gun from me. Show me you are a soldier. You see?
00:39:22
Speaker
You are no soldier. You are a dishwasher.
00:39:30
Speaker
And at that point, D-Squad steps in to fight for Gregor. And fine, fine, fine. But let's take a minute here to talk about how this diner owner treats Gregor as a disposable person that he's that he, as Gregor's quote-unquote owner, has quote-unquote programmed to do what he wants from him in Amnesia, just like the Republic at large sees the clones as disposable people who are equivalent to battle droids.
00:40:04
Speaker
Yes, yes, this is true. Personhood is ah is definitely a big theme about this one over here. Yep. It seems that the Separatists are here on Abafar to mine for Rhydonium.
00:40:18
Speaker
a that it did that It's fun that the fact that like clone commandos were introduced in the Republic Commando video game, and a big plot point is big red fuel but barrels that explode.
00:40:32
Speaker
Yes. And so we see Gregor and his armor, which is indeed modeled after the armor from the Republic Commando's video game. e They go in and they attack the separatists that are blocking the shuttle.
00:40:49
Speaker
Yes, and so we have some straightforward offense here, some action scenes in in this set. And notably, he's he's he's shooting some barrels to make some things explode, the classic video game red barrel explosion trope.
00:41:06
Speaker
But among the various battle droids that are here guarding these ships, there are the Bubble Boys!
00:41:17
Speaker
Yes, there are. oh yeah. You gotta to love it. Fittingly enough, kind of like you were both saying, given that Gregor is a clone command, a Republic commando, the action seems very video gamey.
00:41:35
Speaker
Mm-hmm. You know, the the way he moves getting into the... into the space port is very much like a video game level. I have to go up the wall and then across the wall. And then I have to go down here and across here and down here. Then up. It's very video gamey, very jumpy, very, whether that's was the intention or not, it at least comes across as I'd agree. Like it feels like I was, it feels like how you control the game
00:42:07
Speaker
game with the sort of float floaty moving around first person mechanics. with With the exploding barrels, I am almost certain that it is a direct reference to the video game. yeah. like but Oh yeah, it it's gotta be.
00:42:19
Speaker
e Gregor covers D-Squad's escape, and in Gascon's words, he's doing what a soldier does, sacrificing himself for the lives of others.
00:42:30
Speaker
As they get on the ship and are leaving, Gregor is pinned down and fights valiantly against a seemingly endless swarm of Separatist droids. The enemy keeps spawning, and he he just keeps he keeps fighting them off.
00:42:48
Speaker
You will be remembered, Captain Gregor. We will take your heroic story back to the Republic, and we will watch for your return. And Avengers Doomsday.
00:43:15
Speaker
But seriously, we we do see Gregor again in the future. Oh, neat. Now, kit presuming after we finish Clone Wars, if we go on to the next Star Wars animated thing, Nick will make us watch chronologically in which we will see Gregor's most recent appearances, but not the next time we actually saw him as the audience, which takes place further down the timeline.
00:43:45
Speaker
I see. And i I will say, this episode, it feels a little bit odd to be part of this story arc, because while Gregor is cool, this really feels like a really big tangent as far as the character arcs that we're following, because Gascon doesn't really have character arc in this episode. Wack doesn't really have a character on this episode. The droids don't really do much. Like, they help fight the restaurant guy, but that's about it. I mean, I guess R2 has the hologram, but they're not really in focus in this episode. It's really Gregor's episode. It's kind of like a Gregor story, and then he...
00:44:27
Speaker
Again, we don't know this. When you were watching this arc, when this was coming out, we all thought he was dead after this. Yeah. Yep. that The best that we could hope for would be that he would return in Avengers Doomsday.
00:44:44
Speaker
Oh goodness. And we didn't even know that Avengers existed. It's kind a weird oddball episode. Yeah, it's a little bit odd, is is all. it's um the The thing is is that after two... It was written for the trade.
00:45:02
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, basically. it It felt like they really only had one story that they wanted to tell with these droids. Maybe two as we're getting into the final episode. And they kind of had to fill the middle with random stuff at that point.
00:45:17
Speaker
Which takes us to the final episode of the arc.
Suspense on the Venator Ship
00:45:22
Speaker
Point of No Return, Season 5, Episode 13, R2-D2, must stop the destruction of a Republic conference.
00:45:32
Speaker
The squad shuttle lands on an orbiting venator. Wow, that was convenient. And that was very convenient that was there. Yeah. It was very convenient. Well, i mean, that's where Gregor came from.
00:45:44
Speaker
that It must have been on the other side of the planet from where the comets were. ah clearly. On the planet, has no sun and ah no clouds. and ah Yeah, but no no this all makes sense.
00:45:57
Speaker
Yeah. But they land on that venator, and it seems eerily quiet and deserted. Yes, Wack has a bad feeling about this. Oh, oh that's that's the thing. yeah that's the thing They get to the bridge and Cascon goes to hand over ah the encryption key to one of the Officer's on the bridge and it passes right through his hand because the entire crew appears to be holograms. And then the ship jumps into hyperspace.
00:46:28
Speaker
It sure does. And they look further onto the bridge and, uh-oh, battle droids part two. Yes, and R2 partakes in violence and takes out the B1s.
00:46:39
Speaker
And once again, this episode would stop right here if it was Chopper. Because Chopper would just destroy the ship right now. Ha ha. I mean, canonically, Lauren, Chopper has the highest body count of any Star Wars rebel character or you know good guy, and then barring Luke Skywalker.
00:47:05
Speaker
Should y'all just show me the the chopper thing at this point? no, no. It's a whole series. It's a whole series of chopper. Well, should i should I just watch it outside of order and just, you know, go go go see the chopper thing at this point?
00:47:19
Speaker
No, no, no. We'll get there. We're going to get there. So, Daryl, Nick cares so much about the continuity and i don't really care about that. So should I just watch the chopper thing? Yeah. as When we're done with Clone Wars, if you want more Star Wars, we'll just skip straight to Rebels.
00:47:33
Speaker
Okay. yeah yeah Honestly, I'd be fine with that. I'd be perfectly fine that. I mean, independently of this series, should just watch the Chopper thing just on my own time? i it's it it's it's It's spread out throughout the four seasons of television. Four seasons.
00:47:51
Speaker
Oh, okay. Yeah. Yeah, it's four seasons of television. um it If we do watch it, we're going to have to watch It really It is very good. We'll have to watch those shorts beforehand, though, Nick.
00:48:05
Speaker
Oh yeah, obviously. that thats that's the That's prologue. But ah back to Clone Wars rather than Rebels. this they discover that the separatists have effectively turned this entire capital ship into a gigantic bomb by loading it down with rhodonium.
00:48:25
Speaker
And, you know, speaking of going completely out of chronology, the easiest way to solve this would have been to just call in Saw Gerrera and let him huff all of that rhodonium.
00:48:39
Speaker
Now, Lauren, that doesn't mean anything to you yet, But like like won because i I do not see Lauren enjoying enjoying Andor. Andor. Oh, yeah. So in Andor, we find out that part of the reason Saw Gerrera was so loopy in Rogue One is is that he has spent years huffing starship fuel. He's been huffing rhodonium.
00:49:06
Speaker
I see. Like, right from the tap. Hmm. You know how he had that close bond with Stila, his sister?
00:49:17
Speaker
Yeah. He calls the Rhydonium his sister. Ah, I see. And Rhydonium. Crazy. He's crazy. Well, all right then.
00:49:30
Speaker
and And that is the most recent addition to Saw's lore that we have gotten. That he huffs redonium. And to explain why he's so crazy.
00:49:41
Speaker
and i mean, there's multiple reasons for him to be crazy, but that's like, oh... No, no, it's not enough that that he lost his sister, he has imposter syndrome, that he's a zealot. He's fighting an endless war against the most powerful galactic government ever created.
00:50:02
Speaker
None of that is enough to explain why he's crazy. He also huffs gasoline. He also huffs jet fuel. Just right from the tap to the point where everyone's like, no, no, you're crazy. That'll kill you. It's like, no, it hasn't yet.
00:50:19
Speaker
R2 on board. He finds an LEP droid, one of the little bunny droids. Yeah. Who, who turns out to be a survivor from the Republic crew. And it leads the squad back to their own shuttle where,
00:50:35
Speaker
Where they find a bunch of other droids who've escaped the Separatists that are hiding. Yes, yes. Gonk droids are most of them are of the remaining crew. And also another droid that ah was not very functional throughout the most of the rest of this episode. A Treadwell droid. Yeah, that was it. Which is fire, my favorite robot of all time, WALL-E.
00:50:58
Speaker
Yeah. it is a It is known as like the inspiration for Wally. It just yess made him smaller. And now we find out that the ship is en route to a military conference at Corita, one of the Republic military training planets.
00:51:18
Speaker
Yes. But then a buzz droid has been spying on them all, and R2, once again being r two flies off after him, trying to fry him with his little with his little and electric And this is appearance of a buzz droid in the Clone Wars.
00:51:37
Speaker
Yeah. Unfortunately, it's a trap! He said the thing! yeah Gascon says it, he said the thing.
00:51:47
Speaker
All of the droids are swarmed by buzz droids, and BZ defeats them by going all Ripley, and opening the airlock and sucking them all out, not just into space, but into hyperspace. And he sucked out with them.
00:52:11
Speaker
BZ dies again! Again, it's like poetry. It's sort of, they rhyme. those pictures also Also, keep in mind, that this is the droid that had all of its memory banks removed. So, BZ probably wasn't actually destroyed. It's just floating around in hyperspace now with no memory of anything. Well, see, here's the thing. Clone Wars, and nothing that you have seen in Star Wars so far, has really gone into much in hyperspace. and you You see this a little bit more in Rebels.
00:52:45
Speaker
Yeah, if something doesn't have a hyperdrive, when it falls out of a ship in hyperspace, it gets sucked out into real space very violently.
00:52:57
Speaker
and then But it's not going to collide with it because it's in space. It may not collide. That's a good thing about hyperspace. Luckily, there's certain rules to prevent it from, like, violently collapsing and hitting a planet at, like, Mach a billion.
00:53:15
Speaker
okay because you Because that happens in the High Republic. There's a whole hyperspace disaster because of that. you But luckily, they don that doesn't happen anymore. But everything that does fall out of hyperspace is, like... and Ships are very, very lucky if they're not torn apart.
00:53:34
Speaker
when they fall out of hyperspace, something the size of a droid, unfortunately it doesn't stand much chance. Well, you know what? I choose to believe that BZ is still out there and completely clueless.
00:53:48
Speaker
And we're recording. If believe Avengers Doomsday. In Avengers Doomsday.
00:54:01
Speaker
Yes, dear listeners, we are going to milk this bit until December.
00:54:10
Speaker
We are going to milk this bit, and you are going to hate... You you probably already hate it but Oh no! But it still amuses us. Yes.
00:54:21
Speaker
And it will make a great drinking game. ah For water. For water. for one If any other liquid there, you'll die. But the the ship comes out of hyperspace at the conference station. And in between griping about not liking having to attend strategy conferences, Anakin banters with Obi-Wan, but also notices that, hey, that ship's coming in a little too fast. It makes sense because he did this before in the Ryloth arc. It's like, wait a minute.
00:54:57
Speaker
Mm-hmm. They stole idea. Yeah. Meanwhile, R2 is on the ship, and he's been told to thattan to ah to deal with the bomb, but unfortunately, the super tactical droid running this operation is there in the room, and so R2 fights another super tactical droid and takes him out.
00:55:21
Speaker
Takes him out and detonates the bomb, and... no No sarcasm here. It is a very spectacular looking explosion. It is a wonderful, beautiful piece of animation.
00:55:35
Speaker
Oh yes, it's excellent. In general, like the Rhydonium explosion, similarly on the previous episode, was great. But seeing this must and the ship itself, like how it breaks apart, great enemies.
00:55:48
Speaker
And so Gascon reports that R2 was on board when the ship
Conclusion and Reflections on the Arc
00:55:53
Speaker
blew. And Anakin... immediately orders orders salvage teams to search. And they find R2, who's kind of blasted apart, but he's repaired.
00:56:06
Speaker
And... Anakin would have gone full dark side if R2 went down in this episode. oh yeah Yeah, that would have been it.
00:56:17
Speaker
yep And that, you know, that that that's that's pretty much it. That's the arc. That's it. That's the arc. yeah gascon gets ah gas Gascon gets the recognition that he wanted. he He's going to help build the Death Star. He's in the Death Star steps are start meeting room.
00:56:36
Speaker
Also, the droid crew. he He becomes the leader of and of a droid crew. that That's his thing. that That's what happens. Wack's there, too. he Yeah, Wack is also there. They they keep working together.
00:56:48
Speaker
yep and now It's not quite the same D-Squad as we saw here, but There is another D-Squad that shows up during the comics Dark dr Droids event from a couple of years ago that was set in between Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.
00:57:07
Speaker
Nice. But the D-Squad in that, they they did a sub-miniseries called D-Squad outside of the main Dark Droids miniseries. And it was like R2, Chopper, um...
00:57:25
Speaker
IG-88. IG-88. Forlom. Excuse me, I've been pronouncing it wrong, apparently, according to all of the comics. Forlom. Yes, forlom. You fill a steam.
00:57:39
Speaker
Triple Zero and BT-1 from the Dr. Aphra comics. A pair of wonderfully psychotic murder droids. Yes.
00:57:49
Speaker
Well, I guess they're nice. And i I think at least on one of the variant covers, QTKT was there. Nice. QTKT does show up again in, I believe, Resistance? Yeah, Resistance. Another enemy.
00:58:07
Speaker
But yeah, that that's D-Squad. Mm-hmm. It's, uh... Honestly, I want to hear your ultimate, like, con conclusion about the arc, because I find it a bit inconsistent, and... It should have been two episodes.
00:58:24
Speaker
it It should have just been two episodes. It should have been the first episode and the last episode. They should have completely skipped going onto the planet. They should have just... They should have done the initial mission and then gone onto the wrong ship afterwards. Because that would be one consistent character arc, where in the first episode we see Gascon... learned to respect the droids, and in the second episode, he would have truly become their leader, because that's that's really but the big thing about Gascon in the fourth episode. We didn't really cover it that much, but Gascon learns how to actually become more of an active leader in that episode. He's the one who gives the eulogy for BZ. He's the one that, you know, leads everybody in figuring out how to get off the ship and determines, you know... it would what You're right. It would feel a lot more...
00:59:13
Speaker
impactful in this if it was a two episode one part one part two and and because he's he's he's also the one who when r2 is going to detonate the the ship he's like no we're not leaving anybody behind and we we have to go get r2 Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. So there You know, Wack also goes through a character arc where he's got his own delusions of grandeur, and he he grows throughout the episode as well. And that losing losing the middle two episodes...
00:59:51
Speaker
You know, the the only things that you lose from that are Gascon and Wack bonding more in the second episode. ah And I guess the Rhydonium setup, that they foreshadowed the of Gregor.
01:00:07
Speaker
Well, Gregor isn't relevant to any of the other episodes. He isn't, but yeah, it's like, that's the only, honestly, you could, theoretically, if you had to make it three episodes,
01:00:20
Speaker
Just combine the first the the the middle two together into one episode. But the big thing here is that the middle two episodes don't impact the greater storyline. They don't impact the greater characters. Gregor is cool, and he should have an episode where he exists, but it didn't need to be part of this storyline. It's completely irrelevant to you. It didn't need to be a D-Arc episode. They're not, droids aren't relevant to him.
01:00:49
Speaker
i can kind of understand why they want why they wanted to put his introduction into an ark outside of say an anekin and and rex arcrk because if you have anekin and especially wreckx find him you're covering Not exactly the same ground, but similar ground to the episode with Cut.
01:01:20
Speaker
Yeah, did would do with the desert. Yeah, you're covering similar ground. But arguably there's something... could see an episode there.
01:01:32
Speaker
At the same time, if it is a Rex episode, the way he's reintroduced further down the line in terms of release order makes more sense.
01:01:45
Speaker
And I could see rewriting it. There'd be a much more... If you remove the D-Arc stuff from the Gregor episode, you have a lot more leeway to make more interesting stuff to talk about clone stuff.
01:02:02
Speaker
or Or you, since it is a D-Squad arc, you lean more heavily into the ways that the Republic treats the clone troopers... are really similar to the way droids are treated.
01:02:17
Speaker
They could have done that. In fact, they're... They're organic droids. There's an element where Gascon needs to learn to respect the droids, but when it comes to the clones, it seems like he already respects the clones, which could have been... It could have been an interesting dichotomy there of why does he respect one group but not respect the other? That could have been something to explore. Especially considering the diner owner is treating Gregor basically how a service droid would be.
01:02:52
Speaker
good but then also the diner doesn't respect Gascon at all and doesn't serve droids either yeah there is a story arc that could have like made that all fit together in an interesting way but it honestly they could have turned that into two episodes couple that with the bit from a Sunny Day in the Void where Wack is telling him well your training is like being programmed <unk>
01:03:23
Speaker
you You combine all of those ideas together and expand on them and let them play off of one another, let them cook, let them simmer in in all of those seasonings, but they didn't.
01:03:35
Speaker
They didn't do that. yeah that's not That's not the story arc that we got. And with with the with the episodes the way that they are, going from episode one to episode four is almost effortless.
01:03:47
Speaker
you didn't you didn't You didn't need episodes two and three. the Episodes two and three have material that could be explored if you almost entirely removed episode two in general and just expanded episode three into two episodes, but that's ah that's not what we got.
01:04:03
Speaker
That's not what's happening here. can even kind of see that where you do act and i can even kind of see that where you you you do one act of episode two with the material from a sunny day in the void.
01:04:21
Speaker
yeah to know you so You just need need the, the Gascon and whack moment together. Yeah. Yeah. You you do ah a single act of a sunny day in the void. You get into town and you end part two with, you know Gregor suiting up, ready to help them.
01:04:41
Speaker
or not not even necessarily suiting up. I think suiting up is is the third episode. I think you you end episode two on the reveal that he's you know that he is a clone, that he was a commando, and then he says, yeah, I'll help you, and that's the end of the episode.
01:04:59
Speaker
And halfway through, he gets his he gets halfway. he We still end on the same arc of him defending everyone, so midway through the episode, that's when we get the suit up.
01:05:10
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. the The third episode is about him rediscovering who he was and, you know, getting his stuff back and, you know, exploring the way that the restaurant owner treats hit the droids, Gascon, and Gregor and how Gregor responds to the differences between the droids and Gregor. And, you know, just, you know, exploring the dynamics there is what in what is what episode three is. Well, we really know what Star Wars is a about. we We should, they should hire us to do a Star War.
01:05:44
Speaker
Mm-hmm. So, you know, ultimately... It'll all be like Andor. Yeah. Oh, no. But this these series of episodes, they're dealing with droids, which I like. They've got a weird planet, which I'm into. You got a weird alien, which is cool.
01:06:00
Speaker
ah But unfortunately, they're not exploring these things in very effective ways. It's all the stuff that I like, but without the sauce. They don't have the sauce in there.
01:06:12
Speaker
your Your reaction to this is what kind of like what I have always said about seasons one and two, and frankly three, of Star Trek Picard.
01:06:24
Speaker
It doesn't even add up to the sum of its parts. Yeah, not not really. It was almost there. They almost got it. Honestly, I was hoping i was hoping that maybe it just wasn't my my tempo, my flavor. I wanted to see what you saw. and it turns out you saw similar to what I saw.
01:06:46
Speaker
Yeah, and like I said at the top, this this is one that I could take or leave. I don't rush back to revisit it. I had honestly totally forgotten that Gregor was introduced in part three.
01:07:01
Speaker
And again, Gregor is a beloved character. It's Gregor. and Lots of people love Gregor. maybe And here's the here's the funny thing.
01:07:11
Speaker
Lots of people love Gregor to the point that when he showed back up in Rebels, which is the next place he shows up, you know, had you not to be ah all... Spoilers.
01:07:22
Speaker
But people were like, it's Gregor! This was the only other time anyone had seen Gregor. yeah is This is the first one. And by all means, there's no reason to think he survives. And even when he does so up again, canonically in another Star Wars story before Rebels, we have no idea how he survived that explosion.
01:07:44
Speaker
a I want to say that the badge bat the Bad Batch actually is like, we thought you were dead. Nope. Nope. And that's it. That's it. That's it.
01:07:56
Speaker
Well, okay. Yeah, yeah i feel I think that's it for my thoughts on these episodes. But I will say, I do have one final question for you, Lauren. Oh, yeah? At the end of this arc, then does Gascon get the C word pass?
01:08:15
Speaker
No. No, he doesn't. He's going to have to work a lot harder for that. Understood.
01:08:22
Speaker
But yeah, I really don't have any additional thoughts to add. It's fine. Yeah. The animation's great. There's some good moments, some fun action sequences, but ultimately the story is thin. i'm Very thin.
01:08:41
Speaker
Yep. Despite it having some interesting areas where you could actually like have some depth to it, it it does come up startlingly thin.
01:08:52
Speaker
That's, that's D squad. yeah Which is not going to be the state of next, our next arc. The, the next two arcs for that matter, which for we need to get, we, we need to, uh,
01:09:07
Speaker
Rope Betsy in for both of the next ones. Cause I know she's going to want to be a lot ah to say about these arts. Yes. We, we, we have mentioned before that in our show notes, each of us has different color coded stuff and, but,
01:09:22
Speaker
Betsy's is green, we're going to have lots of walls of green. Yes, I suppose this was this was my episode before Betsy takes over the show.
01:09:35
Speaker
but you're you we're not were We're not kidding. that These next two ones are going to be pretty heavy heavy with some interesting stuff. Oh boy.
01:09:46
Speaker
Yep. But i I was kind of hoping that you would enjoy this one a little bit more. Same here. but was so going I was also going off of memory. It's literally been years since I've watched this arc. And I was just like, droids and weirdness and and Gascon. This is right up Loren's alley. smart this i thought i was like That was literally my thought. was like,
01:10:12
Speaker
okay This may not be my favorite arc, but maybe it maybe Lauren can see something that I'm not seeing. And unfortunately, though, we we were aligned in our thought processes.
01:10:25
Speaker
Yeah. so Sorry for disappointing everyone. It turned out. it's its just now we It's like it turns out we were we thought we were seeing things that you wouldn't see that maybe you would see. But no, we were all seeing the same thing. Yep. So so that's it. that That's D-Squad. We're going to close the books on D-Squad now. Yep. D-Squad is over.
01:10:50
Speaker
And we want to just thank you all for joining us for another episode of Casual Nerdity and Clone Watch. So be sure to follow us on socials, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, Blue Sky, and ah Twitter X. We're Casual Nerdity.
01:11:11
Speaker
We're Casual Nerdity, all one word on all of those except Blue Sky, which we are at casualnerdity.com on Blue Sky. You can support the show by ordering a shirt from our merch store at store.casualnerdity.com.
01:11:28
Speaker
You can also help the podcast get a larger reach by giving us a wonderful awesome super great review on your podcast platform of choice or if you're listening if you're listening through youtube do all of those cliched youtube things like like the driving uh yep we we just want to get all of those algorithms working right to Get more ears on the show.
01:11:57
Speaker
yeah Thanks again. Join us next time when we're going to have lots to say because a certain pair of horny brothers, I mean horned brothers, yeah will return. And we're not talking about returning in Avengers Doomsday.
01:12:16
Speaker
Nope. So until then, ah we thank you for listening and we will see you next time. bye Bye.
01:12:28
Speaker
This has been casual nerdity. We hope you've enjoyed your time with us and forward to having you back.