Transcript
Speaker: Casual Nerdy is a podcast celebrating and discussing pop culture that we love. Movies, TVs, comics, books, games, you name it. Are you missed to talk about the good, what worked, and yeah, sometimes what didn't. All with an eye towards building up, not tearing down. Thanks for joining us.
Speaker: Welcome back to the next Casual Nerdy Clone Watch episode. As always, we've got me, I'm Darryl. And I'm Lauren. And I'm Nick. Yeah. Yeah, it's Nick. Nick. So if you've been listening, you know that we are going through the a rewatch or in Lauren's case, a first watch of Clone Wars. And because Nick is a horrible, evil person,
Speaker: We're doing it in chronological order, not release order. Indeed. You can find below the official Star Wars dot com listing of the chronological order.
Speaker: Yes, that will be linked in the show notes. Yeah. But we've got our next five episodes up. This time we have Dooku captured, Season 1, Episode 11. The Gungan General, Season 1, Episode 12. Jedi Crash, Season 1, Episode 13. Defenders of Peace, Season 1, Episode 14. and Trespass, Season 1, Episode 15. Even though we're watching in Chronological, these are actually in release order. Oh, boy! We have missed the point where they actually do start hitting that point. More and more. We we don't get fully there quite yet. No, not fully. Because around Season... halfway through Season 3, do we actually start getting longer arcs of that... actual Chronological order. Yeah, somewhere along in there.
Speaker: Alright and first up we have Dooku Captured. So season 1 episode 11 and the episode summary is, during their own attempt to kidnap Count Dooku, Anakin and Obi -Wan discover that the Sith Lord has already been captured by pirates. Hondo Inaka and his gang of pirates hold Dooku captive in their den on Florim and hold him for ransom. It's up to Anakin and Obi -Wan to see if the offer is too good to be true.
Speaker: Excellent. And we absolutely start in the middle of an unseen story. o The capture attempt in the newsroom is that we see in the newsreel footage in the opening is from the movie. And Anakin's captured? What? We do get to see a real good look at a, at the current time era spacesuit. Yes. As is one of the few times that we see Star Wars characters actually in spacesuits going into an outer, into actual open space. It has a sort of retro sort of, sort of class Gordon the Jetson style to it. Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, but but looks all kinds of cool stuff. And so, of course, this also means that this is ah basically our first Dooku confrontation in ah in the series. Yeah, in this particular series anyway. And that's that's pretty exciting. Yeah. And and so.
Speaker: Obi -Wan goes in, Obi -Wan is rescuing Anakin, and we immediately start off with some banter and - Your favorite part of the series, I believe. Yes, I la love yeah love me some banter. That's excellent. Lauren loves. Yeah, I do too. They're fantastic together. And folks, we're we're going up in the world. We have some clips.
Speaker: lets Let's listen to some banter. Oh boy. oh you this is how you thank me for rescuing you pounce on me from the ceiling kind of difficult without a light saber yeah i just Yeah. Yeah. That back and forth tells you...
Speaker: it's that they know each other. um And that's why we started with off -screen me re -sewing Lauren the Attack of the Clones to really sew the difference of the banter. Yeah, it gets a lot better in the series. it's what it's It's what I felt they were going for with the script. The script could easily have been read by the actors in the show, and I feel they could have hit those notes a bit better. I feel it's more directing. That's my personal opinion. Yeah, in this episode, Obi -Wan and Anakin, they are not in sync this episode, are they? Not at all. They are off kilter and that's immediately sewn when they confront Dooku. Mm hmm. Because we all remember how badly that went. Yeah. In Attack of the Clones. Right. Quite badly.
Speaker: And you what as they're they're doing all of this, you know the the Republic is attacking the ship to facilitate Anakin's rescue, right? yeah And Ahsoka has this line, let's try not to blow up the ship before they get off this time. This time? How often does that happen?
Speaker: either multiple Anakin and Obi -Wan mishaps, or specifically failed attempts to capture Count Dooku, where that's but that's also led to this mishap. But this does lead to one of my favorite sort of, I wouldn't call it a running gag, but Dooku having conveniently large ah escape escape slides.
Speaker: Yes. In any vessel that he has. You haven't seen it yet, but there's it will it will definitely show up. In any vessel or structure. But, you know, this makes me think... It's owned by him. It has escape slides. Yes. You know, this makes me think, you know, if if they're having such difficulties avoiding making the ships blow up, maybe the Separatist ships are just exceptionally badly designed.
Speaker: to the point where Asoka and her crew are actively trying to not completely destroy the ship, but because the ships are so badly designed, they are just highly combustible. ah Well, considering they're meant to be crewed solely by droids and not have human and are basically just printing these things off like like no other, it would make sense if they're cutting costs on like safety. Yeah.
Speaker: I mean, that the the droids they the droidids aren't unionized. they they can't They can't try to you know strike for better working conditions. The droids aren't part of the techno union? What? The techno union is just a fancy name. They need to make it sound like they're on the up and up. But they're also part of the corporate alliance, the trade federation, the commerce guild. You think those guys let unions form? No, definitely not.
Speaker: Of course not. But you know Star Wars isn't political at all. No, not at all. Star Wars is not political whatsoever, no. Don't go get your politics in my Star War.
Speaker: So yeah, I have something written here. Flying Saucer Spins? I don't remember what that means. Well, Hondo and his crew have traditional 50s sci -fi movie right saucers yes yes and i love that they're one of the more unique designs in star wars and that they somehow managed to take something so realistic in terms of like that's part of the popular zeitgeist of like and you think alien spacecraft it's always goes back to the flying saucer even though the original first description was more like
Speaker: like more like a crescent shape in terms of discretion yeah and even more popular ones are more like sort of like elongated like cylinders or triangles but they also managed to make it look like star wars yeah has like this sort of the way it's sort of weathered looking it's like it's like an older craft
Speaker: which makes sense. you Lucas was inspired by the old science fiction serials. So an old ship in this universe is going to be a flying saucer. Yeah. And this adds to a striking visual as well. It's like, I remember seeing they'd be like, whoa, we got some saucers here now. And this brings us to the introduction of Hondo. Oh boy. And, you know,
Speaker: I'd gotten so used to the Rebels' Captain Jack Sparrow take on Hondo that it was really easy to forget how sinister and thoughtful Hondo was when they first introduced him. He's still fun. He's always been fun, but he's also isn't above... He feels more like actual Jack Sparrow from the first movies. Yes.
Speaker: well the first movie specifically where he's dangerous pirate with a bit of witty bit witty a bit sassy has a bit of character to him but it's like the main character it there is orlando bloom's character there will and their partnership is less together it's like it's it's a it's a edge of the knife like you don't know if he's going to stab you in the back or you're going to make a joke
Speaker: And you don't know which is going to be worse. Oh, no. But you know that he but he's always considered to be sort of a dangerous character because of that ambiguity. He's he's a pirate.
Speaker: And so. They're now down and Anakin and Obi -Wan are bantering their way through an encounter with a gundark. Yeah, we've we've heard about gundarks before.
Speaker: Mm -hmm. Well, we saw a gun dark in the movie. Mm -hmm. But it's we get to see more of them. and Yeah. They mentioned before a lot in the lore and stuff like that. So it's good to see them more on screen. And so while they're while they're down there dealing with the gun dark, they're in kind of a caverny kind of place. And Obi -Wan's lightsaber isn't working right. It's kind of flickery and stuff. Mm -hmm.
Speaker: this. I mean a lot was made about this when it was confirmed and explicitly canonized in the acolyte, but could that maybe be cortosis? No. Lauren, this word may be like complete chipper, Steve. Yeah, I don't know what cortosis is. But to those who who've experienced the Star Wars expanded universe before knows that cortosis is one of the few materials that can actually not just resist, but possibly even sort out a lightsaber. Oh, okay. So yeah, it's, it's, it's very lightsaber resistant. it It's impervious to a lightsaber blade. So yeah you don't have a universal cutting tool when you take the light type of cortosis.
Speaker: and it's in and it's unrefined form, it can actually short it out. This is just making me think of that one that one material, Vantablack, that just absorbs all light effectively. In a way, yeah, that's a good way of thinking of it because it's a similar property. Lightsaber, light saver lightz or absorbing material.
Speaker: Admittedly, I don't really know what Cortosis is supposed to look like, so maybe it doesn't look like Vantablack at all. But if I were to design something that was supposed to resist a lightsaber, I would probably make it entirely black. That gets into a fun discussion when we get to a certain arc, don't you think? Oh boy. ah Yes. Yes, quite possibly. Especially with the behind -the -scenes information. Yes. And um and you then, you not not to be all, well, actually,
Speaker: But since since it was explicitly canonized in the Acolyte, Cortosis is kind of coppery. Oh. Really? And it only has existed before being canonized. It was canonized on screen for the first time in the Acolyte. Right. So I have to unm actually you to say that it was first introduced in Rebel Dawn, and then also confirmed in in the Thrawn novels. Right.
Speaker: So, yeah, then then the monster, going back to what's actually happening in the scene, the monster gets rocked and rolled. Yes, it absolutely does. And real great display of their ability to use the force. and Just to touch briefly again on the lightsaber flick, I'm not sure how much of it is like, is it broken or is Obi -Wan just being really petty? Hmm.
Speaker: I mean, you maybe, maybe, you know, a little from column A, a little from column B. Mm -hmm. Because, you know, if if you can be petty with Anakin, sometimes don't you just really want to be? Especially if you're Obi -Wan. And you can if you survive, you can turn it around and do a teaching puppet. Yeah. See? I knew that you could do it because I had faith in you. Yeah. But you won. and Yeah. That's total Obi -Wan right there. So won and so forth.
Speaker: But we learned that Hondo's plan is to ransom Dooku off to the Separatists or the Republic, whomever's going to pay the most. And you know that might really be a good idea on Hondo's part if Palpatine weren't secretly in charge of both sides. Whoa, whoa, whoa. That might be a spoiler. Whoa.
Speaker: like five people who may be watching. i I literally saw a post on social media today from someone who said, I first watched Star Wars, the Star Wars movies in chronological order and the reveal that Palpatine was Darth Sidious and the Emperor blew my mind. Nice. What?
Speaker: what Yes, some someone said that they they watched Star Wars in episode one through nine order the first time that they watched Star Wars. And they totally did. Despite the... He hasn't seen three yet, but... I mean, you know, I generally know what happens in three. Yeah. right But it blew this person's mind.
Speaker: OK, that makes me want to think that he found it out in the last movie.
Speaker: And I think I know the line that would be out. We could talk about that later, but that's not hilarious if that's how it happened. Right. So yeah, ah as as Hondo ah captures Dooku, Dooku actually gets his saber swiped. And so that that just seems, I don't know, Dooku always felt up until now to be some sort of, I don't know, indomitable force. And so so just seeing this random you know pirate guy get the better on him just, ah I don't know, it it feels like it really,
Speaker: increases uh the pirate character's credibility hondo's credibility essentially like oh man hondo's got street cred man yeah he's maxed out his his stealth check check and then afterwards uh asoka shows up to save the day yeah i don't remember correctly correctly Well, she brings in the clones and they blow open the door because somehow in there. Rocking and rolling the monster that unleashed the pods of toxic gas. Hmm. Yeah. But the clowns will open the door and the circus there, but they're also like not at all appreciative of it. Mm hmm. Not at all. Not at all.
Speaker: Then let's see here. The emperor really didn't want to believe that Dooku was captured. You mean the good good the good the good chancellor Steve Palpatine? Uh -huh. Uh -huh. Yes, the good and noble chancellor. Yes, yes. the the The good and noble chancellor was like, no way. Dooku is an absolute final boss. There's no way some random pirate got him. It wouldn't be that stupid. Yeah.
Speaker: or would he? Dun, dun, dun! Either way, it's like, okay, we're gonna have to deal with this. But yeah, then then the pirate, whose name is never brought up in the episode, by the way, so my so my notes just have him down as the pirate. Really, ah he really wants to brag about his combat abilities to Obi -Wan and Anakin near the end of the episode. Yeah.
Speaker: and the Obi -Wan, Anakin, and the whole pirate group are sharing a drink and the pirates go and they they go to to poison Anakin and Obi -Wan's drinks and and total Princess Bride flashback here. yeah You know, I can clearly not choose the line in front of me. And the the the pirates all pass out. did The pirates pass out because... So what's next to them because they switch the drinks with them? Yeah.
Speaker: but sort lead into And I will say that your note on this is the best note on the class. Kind of a weird place to end the episode. Especially considering how we enter to the next one. which i Which I have notes about. Yep. That takes us into the next episode, The Gungan General, Season 1, Episode 12.
Speaker: Anakin and Obi -Wan have been duped and are being held for ransom along with Count Dooku by the Pirate Chief, Hondo Onaka, and his second -in -command, Turk Falso. While Anakin, Obi -Wan, and Dooku unsuccessfully attempt to escape, the Republic sends the ransom via a special envoy, including Representative Jar Jar Banks. Of course.
Speaker: When Falso tries to steal the ransom from his boss by shooting down the shuttle, the only survivors are a squad of clones and Jar Jar, who as the most senior officer alive has to take care of the mission. a It becomes a race against time as Jar Jar rushes to deliver the ransom to take custody of Dooku and save the Jedi. Now, interestingly enough, and you were just talking about this,
Speaker: Nick kind of mentioned it or the next note that we have here, but Hondo's name was never mentioned in the previous episode. Yep. He's not identified by name until the newsreel in this episode. It's like, how how how do you go with an entire episode introducing a new, relatively important character to the story and Not mention them by name. I couldn't even put his name down in my notes initially. and They even have have a prominent voice actor for him. Yeah, but bit this is, this is, um oh, i'm i'm and I'm drawing a blank on his name now. See him coming.
Speaker: Yes, Jim Cummings. I knew it was Jim, and I was blanking on the Cummings part. He is. Do you know who Jim Cummings is, Lauren? I don't. Do you know what major Disney character he voices? What major Disney character does he voice? I will give you a hint with two words. Uh -huh. Oh, bother. Oh, boy. It's it's Winnie DePoo. Yes. Nice. Like me, the guy.
Speaker: like That's a band that did in China. Yes. Yes. And well ah guess now we are too. yeah And apparently at conventions, he he will he will gladly say very off color things in the voice of Winnie the Pooh. Nice. You don't even have to use a fiver on that. but Yes, he he gladly does it.
Speaker: um But at the beginning of the episode, Obi -Wan and Anakin wake up after being drugged with their drinks, apparently. How did this happen? ah However, at the end of the previous episode, they'd switched out the spiked drinks, right? That is, in fact, the last thing that happens in the episode. So the show originally had webcomics that were posted on the official Star Wars website, which tied into the various episodes.
Speaker: In this case, the tie -in was essential story material explaining how Anakin and Obi -Wan were captured by the pirates because one of the pirates gassed the entire room.
Speaker: And it is really weird that they end the episode avoiding the poisoning only to get captured off -screen for the next episode. It's like you could have just, you could have just had them poisoned and just started this episode. And even weirder is there's no reason to make it one a webcomic, nor did they gain any monetary incentive to that. Webcomics were free.
Speaker: And you if nothing else, included in the newsreel, that it was a secret plot by when they were they're introducing Hondo Onaka to be like, but Hondo Onaka had a secret plot and gassed the entire room. But instead they made it a web comic that was barely like four or five pages, if at at least three if I remember correctly, but also it was free.
Speaker: So there was no even monetary incentive to do it. And there was nothing that said, hey, before this week's episode of Clone Wars, go to StarWars .com and read the webcomic. Oh yeah, there was no even mention of the webcomic. I didn't even know that until someone told me, like, when I was talking with them after that episode aired, it was like, that was weird. I didn't know it. Oh yeah, there's a webcomic. It's like, there's a webcomic? There's a webcomic.
Speaker: this like Wacky corporate synergy.
Speaker: Yeah. So, so we bring Jar Jar to what never physically published either. know Yeah, of course. So we bring Jar Jar into the episode and he sounds a little different this time around. And at first I was like, rewatching this. I'm like, this Jar Jar sounds weird.
Speaker: That's because he's not voiced by Ahmed Best, but by veteran voice actor Phil Lamar. Which she didn't even notice which i'm I'm not going to knock any Phil Lamar performance. He is an awesome voice actor.
Speaker: but did just and it and It's it' not crazy obvious, but there's just there's a slight difference in the pitch. It's a selection for me. yeah and it's like He puts the wrong emphasis on... i could I could read the lines in Ahmed Best, but I don't know how he got where he was like, these are the inflection points. This is where I need to put the hard consonants and the low consonants here.
Speaker: it almost kind of read like he never wants a performance of Jar Jar oh no you see i didn't notice any of this because you have time and you do do reasonable things with that i do
Speaker: ah That's news to me. So anyway, ah then Jar Jar shenanigans happen with an elevator and nobody is putting up with it. Yeah, I just I love that clone gunner. He's like, no. know No, no, no. No, we're not playing the Jar Jar game. No. Except then he gets them all to get could get crashed. Although, so thinking thinking of the Jar Jar game,
Speaker: For a while, there was a series of... there It wasn't really an MMO. But it was called it was called Clone Wars Adventures, I believe. I very much think that I actually encountered your son for the first time on that. ah Entirely possible. I was big into that. cause i was I played it a little bit too. it's just like it was an It was for younger players,
Speaker: I kind of like Club play Penguin. Oh, OK. And most takes sort of this fun. A lot of it was just like. Guild based like role play rather than like actual engaging with the environment. Gotcha. But but my favorite game on there, I don't remember the the formal name for it.
Speaker: but it was basically chucking Jar Jar through the air and keep and keeping him aloft. Nice. It was a flappy bird. Oh, okay.
Speaker: there's like he uses ears like Dumbo and you gotta to keep him well and and you you could periodically you know basically use the force to boost him up again and you had to keep him from crashing in the ground or into any other objects gotcha that would would you know, obstacles in the air, or you know, sometimes he'd have to go under something or over something. But it was just the favorite because you just chucked Jar Jar as far and as long as you could. yeah At some point we'll get into like, I don't know how, you definitely don't know how much of the Jar Jar Gungan hatred has gone through this fandom, but we'll definitely get into it at some point. Oh yeah. yeah
Speaker: Although, you know, my my personal favorite Gungan redemption thing, it slight digression before we go in, is from Daniel Jose Older's novel Last Shot. Yeah, that's right. There's a moment where, you know, it it's set after the original trilogy and Han walks into some office somewhere and there's a Gungan receptionist, right? And Han, you know, sizes up the Gungan and walks up there and go, hey, yeah Misa name being Han Solo. And the Gungan's like, hold it. oh you're like clear How many Gungan's have you actually met?
Speaker: And I mean, actually met, and Hans starts saying, no, actually met. I'm gonna say, you're gonna say one, which means none. So you immediately walk in here and start with this misamisa nonsense. Oh no. Do you know how insulting that is? e And i I was listening to it on audiobook and I had to pause it Because I was dying laughing. Nice. I was reading it literally through down the book. It was just like, kicky I was reading it in bed, sort of kicking it like that. That was just hi hilarious. Yeah, I just, I loved it. It's a simple moment, but... And that made me a fan of Daniel Jose older. he Because that is both something that Han would do.
Speaker: And also hilarious that a Gungan would would be like, it's been 20 years we're in the galactic community. And bit between that and introducing an Ewok slicer, an Ewok hacker in the same book. Yeah. Give me all the Daniel Jose Older. Nice. Underrated, underrated novel in general. I mean, it's It's connected to the underrated solo. What's solo? Solo's great. Oh, OK. We'll get there. We'll probably watch solo. We'll get there. Eventually. um And so after the crash, Senator Carus, who is the the senior member of this this ransom party, dies in the crash. And they bury him and they mark the grave with his staff.
Speaker: which looks like the headpiece of the staff of Ra from Raiders of the Lost Ark. This also means that Jar Jar manslaughter has occurred. Yes, yes it does Jar Jar manslaughter. The Jar Jar curse has already taken its first life. And Jar Jar presses F to pay respects.
Speaker: Now, we then get just a nice aerial shot. and This is just a a random observation from me. I just love the look and the design of Hondo's base in this episode. Oh, yeah. and It very much fits that old school sort of like junk repurpose into like a sort of pseudo bazaar. It kind of does fit like that sort of Caribbean pirate nasa style. style Let's get it. It's definitely going for that like classic Caribbean pirate. it did Yeah. With the, with this a sci -fi setting. And again, that's, that's part of Star Wars. It takes pop culture and content and sort of reinterprets it into space instead of a sea port. It's a, it's on a desert world. Yeah.
Speaker: And so then we we cut to Anakin, Obi -Wan, and Dooku in a cell together and we have more banter. Don't you think our priority should be escape first, eat second?
Speaker: Do control your protege's insolence so I can concentrate.
Speaker: Anakin, what? Control your insolence. The count is concentrating. I love that. OK, and I remember watching this and being like, OK, I need I need the need to sitcom where all three of these guys are in the same apartment complex. They there's some excellent sass overall.
Speaker: in In this sitcom, Nick, are they all roommates? Are Obi -Wan and Anakin the roommates? And Dooku is the grumpy neighbor across the hall. It's basically Seinfeld, but Anakin and Obi -Wan are roommates.
Speaker: roommates. Dooku is Kramer, and Ahsoka is Elaine. Nice. so So let me ask, if you're saying this is like Seinfeld, it's going to be horrible and funny. Oh, no. Oh, ah that hurts.
Speaker: I mean, truth does sometimes. Anyway! Well, you see, here's the thing. This version of Seinfeld, it's LGBT Seinfeld, so it's better. Okay. I mean, anything's better than base Seinfeld. Yeah, yeah. ah I feel attacked and bullied.
Speaker: but
Speaker: um So, you... But I also have no means by which to attack you with. You win this round. of course I do because I'm because I have the high ground of being right Oh low blow low low low from the high ground even very very ah skilled technique to do that ah so I I know I kind of mentioned this about the last episode too but You know, the more comparison between Rebels' era Hondo and Clone Wars' era Hondo, Rebels' era Hondo is more fun because he's that the second movie and beyond Captain Jack Sparrow. He's a Jack Sparrow that we all sort of know and meme about. And again, there's elements of original Hondo and original Jack in those past things, but it's like,
Speaker: They are very distinct characters, but they do have the same route. Right. So Rebel's Hondo is more fun, but Clone Wars Hondo is a genuine threat. He still has the fun elements. He keeps that going into that. This is the guy who can actually capture Count Dooku.
Speaker: Right. And Obi -Wan and Anakin. He's got both the main protagonist and the main antagonist. Yep. In the same cell. Yep. He's making them work together for something. And they hate it. They hate every second of it. and So Jar Jar and the clones now, they're they're making their way to Hondo's base. And there's these acid geysers. And they they notice that there's you know some local animals around there that you know like they run from from the acid geysers. So the they have to hide in the crater of one of these acid geysers to avoid being caught.
Speaker: of Hondo society kind of go rogue. Right. Yes. And so the the clones are are kind of like, this is a stupid idea. And Jar Jar has paid attention to those animals habits. He's like, no, we watch when they start to leave from the crater, from the edge of the crater,
Speaker: We get out of here. eleven So Jar Jar actually does something effective and intelligent. And the tally that's two Jar Jar wins. No way. So we have a little more Jar Jar redemption here. And I feel like that's important for this episode in particular, considering how he got the leader of the group killed at the beginning of the episode.
Speaker: right that because he messed up his his uh roller coaster saved the harness he uh he needed to have some element of competence in this episode or else he would have just looked like completely the bad guy yeah basically and it would have been like how everyone's been characterizing for years and so that that one you know lieutenant of hondo's he he he's he's double crossing everybody oh yeah He's double -crossing every, he's trying to get the money for himself. He's trying to, he's double -crossing Hondo. He's telling Hondo, oh no, no, no, no, the Republic's double -crossing us. So we need to do it. And the ransom is in spice. Yeah, the ransom is in spice. This is also the first time we get to actually see spice. So this is basically to give you some context, if Nick didn't give you this context while you were watching it.
Speaker: hu Hondo has asked for and the Republic has agreed to pay the ransom in cocaine. Yeah, yeah. I know that I know that spice is cocaine. it's better know that This was a matter of contention as well.
Speaker: Yes, yes, because you know, i mean but when we first meet Han Solo in 1977, he is a spice Han is a drug smuggler. like that there's it's it's the it's how they explained it it's how it's always been interpreted only recently has it been so on me and then know this is is just the space co And I know that some writer in the past was writing about spice and apparently like some of the Star Wars higher ups were like, no, no, no, spice is literally just something to seize in your food. While the, while the person actually writing the thing was like, uh, it's pretty clearly supposed to be space cocaine. And so then they got, they, they contacted George Lucas, they contacted George Lucas himself and is like, Hey, what's the deal with spice? And he was just like, yeah, it's space cocaine. That's kind of obvious.
Speaker: Well, and and here's here's the thing, too. Think about this. At least by the time of the Empire, cocaine production has been federalized. Yeah. Because they send their prisoners, too. Yes, because you know the very first dialogue that we hear in the very first Star Wars movie, when Leia's ship is being attacked,
Speaker: Threepio is concerned that if they capture us they could send us to the spice mines of Kessel. yep So they could send us to harvest drugs for the government.
Speaker: yep
Speaker: But Star Wars isn't political kids. You see, here's the thing. Here's the thing. the the The Empire joined the war on drugs, but they were on the side of the drugs. Yes. Yes, they just wanted their cut. Yeah. Now, Jabba the Hutt's a criminal because he doesn't want to pay his taxes. So Jabba the Hutt is literally Al Capone. Yes. But in the expanded lore, too, though, what they've done is
Speaker: There's ah just like with pharmaceuticals, there are the bad drugs, there's the bad spice, and then there is legitimate medicinal spice. Some of which can come from the same original sources.
Speaker: yeah i was going to say Just as much as like, I have a friend who is a trained anesthesiologist. And I asked him about like, he told me what he worked with and he spent a specific drug that I won't say specifically on here. It is blur. But he did, I was asking about it. I was like, wait, isn't that the stuff that everyone's like scared about? I was like, yes, if you use it non -medicinely,
Speaker: That's bad. If you use it meticulously and it regulated the amounts, it's part of it's part of regular anesthesia. It's like, OK, that makes a lot more sense now. Yeah. Same route, different uses. Right. But so wep we've got we've got Hondo's lieutenant who's spinning all of this stuff to Hondo about how horribly wrong the deal is going.
Speaker: and how you know the Republic is double crossing them and all this. because he was like And and Dooku keep on escaping. Yeah. And so we we actually get a flash that Hondo may be a criminal. Hondo may be out you know for for his own bottom line. Hondo might actually be kind of honorable. A little bit.
Speaker: I mean, let's let's listen to him say it. i warn them didn't want torture anyone but now even in a galaxy at war you hope to find some on Nice. You know, I kind of had, you know, most of Clone Wars had filtered out of my mind by the time Hondo showed back up in Rebels.
Speaker: But with hindsight, that's the moment that I said, I kind of like this character. Mm -hmm. Same thing. I was like, and initially, I was like, OK, he's kind of Jack Sparrow -ish, but he hasn't reached that point that like in the movie you do, um at least in the first movie, you do find like, there's a heart in Jack Sparrow. Mm -hmm. Behind like the the crime and the madness and the silliness and the deviousness.
Speaker: It's someone that does abide by a code, maybe not a code that we can understand. But he has a code of honor. further
Speaker: And so, and that's respectable in anyone. Yeah. o of honor Regardless of what it is, if he's, it just depends on um what, where those limits are. In this case, we found out that he has a limit. It's like, I didn't want to have to do this, but now I have to do this. Yep.
Speaker: Yeah, look what you made me do. Oh no. Now, on top of the pirates causing trouble, there's battle droids. Of course there are. And so Jar Jar and the clones are having to evade them too. And Jar Jar calls the droids Bombad Clankins, which generates some confusion about what he means and it ultimately leads commander stone to realize and say oh yeah bomb bad clankers so nick i am not sure i'm trying to remember is this the first time that a clone starts referring to the battle droids as clankers now that does become an issue and i did this does prove to you that i do actually read the notes before that
Speaker: You don't contribute to them, but you read them. At least read them. And I write them today.
Speaker: And before this, way before this, you know, I've been thinking about it. I do believe due to the nature of the chronological rewatch, we've heard clankers of a hard R being said. Yeah, I'm pretty sure we have. In previous episodes. But are they from later in production order?
Speaker: But that's what I'm saying. Are they later in production or possibly? But this is a chronological re -watch, but also the fact that there's no 501st or Obi -Wan's Legion either here. These clones have no official designation.
Speaker: So it might be a cultural thing. So it might just be that that either this event happened and that started that. Or it has been part of them and that they're reinterpreting what Jar Jar is saying because Jar Jar is. This might be a thing that they got wrong in the act that they chose for Jar Jar here. Bombad means good. It's been both.
Speaker: It can be both, but more often... It's been both, because it can... Bombad can be bad. Bombad can also be good, just the same the same way that we say, you know, oh, you know I had some bad luck today. Or we say, Samuel L. Jackson is a bad... Shut your mouth. Well, I'm talking about Sam, not Shaft, but...
Speaker: There's also the element that because Jar Jar is saying it, they might just not be used to hearing Jar Jar saying words in general. So they just need to process what he says, regardless of what use, what terms he uses. And they may be taking like bomb as especially bad. Because again, the clones are trained are not given language classes. We'll get into that later.
Speaker: but they are known to speak galactic basic. And what Jar Jar is speaking is a sort of and culturally elaborated basic language.
Speaker: So that they they get into some into some fighting here and - I would call it more acrobatic shenanigans. Yes, or as Lauren has it called here in the notes, what do you have it called?
Speaker: jar jar plague yes sometimes jar jar seems dumb and clumsy but sometimes like on a hover tank here he seems to gleefully revel in chaos and destruction i mean he he was outright giggling with glee at some of the stuff that he was doing so yes part of it was destructive part of it is just like yeah that does sound like fun but it's like it's hard to tell that the distinction in between like where is this getting this enjoy as he sort of. Collides with with power lines and blast sub tanks. But you know, you can definitely see where some people came up with the whole jar, Darth Jar Jar fan theory. Mm hmm. And I'll get into that when we do the do the episode one we watch review. Yes, yes. Oh, I know about the Darth Jar Jar theory.
Speaker: and I could provide some evidence of these in movie, but I'm not necessarily yeah adherent to that, but it's definitely definitely something to discuss. I have seen some quite in -depth videos about it before, so I'm fairly familiar with this one. And it's just a fun concept to play around with as yeah as a what if. And it's actually been Yeah, that's not a there spoiler. There's a new Star Wars Lego special out on Disney Plus called Rebuild the Galaxy. Yeah. Everything gets switched around and part of the trailer. They have Darth Jar Jar. Nice. And they call it but but by that. There's no like subterfuse. Yes. and And it's Ahmed Best voicing him. And the line in the trailer, he has more lines in. It's that it's a four part miniseries, not just a special.
Speaker: Yeah, he has more lines throughout the the miniseries, but you know it there's a close -up on his face ominously lit by a red lightsaber blade is it Gonna hurt you Nice say acknowledge the meme and it's actually a really fun fun sort of special four -part special yeah Yeah, it's a lot of fun opens up some great possibilities for future storytelling to just completely go wild and not even risk messing with the canon because even with the LEGO specials, they're LEGO specials. Yeah. But people's like, so where does this fit in the canon? And some of them are
Speaker: questively canon elements. What the producers refer to them as is canon adjacent. Particularly one show, The Freemaker Adventures, they're like, it's canon adjacent. The way we see it, these events did happen just not necessarily the way we showed them. Like the i when I was at Star Wars Celebration 2019, they had like a the creators of the Freemaker Adventures came out and they were explaining like, okay, so what happened canonically? And that's where they repeated that idea that like the things that happened to show did happen, just not how you saw them.
Speaker: and then gave a sort of epilogue for where the characters are didn't necessarily give like a firm like completion point but did like explain like where they saw they would be and how canonically they would fit it yeah but they would say like that's how we discussed it and thought it through the ending. But again, like the idea is like what you saw in the free maker advances was not, it's basically like an interpretation of the actual events that are kinetics.
Speaker: And so they, everything, you know, finally gets wrapped up. And There's a great closing exchange with Hondo. But first, I want to bring up how Dooku Escapes is really cool. Oh, yeah. Go for it. Basically, Dooku's on his own and he's surrounded by pirates. And he decides he's done with playing the gentleman and just force jokes. A good chunk of people.
Speaker: Because he has been humiliated, had to spend time with Obi -Wan and Anakin. He had to be in a... in a in He had to be in Star Wars Midnight Run with Anakin and an Obi -Wan.
Speaker: And basically he's like, I am done here. I'm taking this ship and I'm going to kill everyone who's in front of me right now. with Yep. So for kids. Multiple strangulations by an ego is two handed for it.
Speaker: that's where He gets away. Yeah, he he gets away. But you know, things are left on the on pretty good terms with hondo yeah
Speaker: commander start the engines please so what now did i Are you going to arrest me? No. Anakin, release him. What? Captain, you have nothing we want. And since we're not prisoners anymore, you have no bargaining power. What? Yuzu was in bomb -bat trouble? Misa rescued you! No, Jar Jar, we weren't in any trouble. Let's leave on even terms.
Speaker: Hold, hold! Jedi! After everything, you're just going to walk away? We have no quarrel with you, and we seek no revenge. Indeed. Very honorable, Master Jedi. Oh, Captain, you will find that Count Dooku does not share our sense of honor, and he knows where you live. o who Like, is also both a great threat and also a really establishing moment for for the
Speaker: honorability of Ando. Yes. Yes. That will get more expounded upon and I feel is underrated in Rebels as they sort of see him as the flanderized. Honestly, he's a better version of the later Jack Sparrow than the actual later times. Jack Sparrow, in my opinion. I think Daryl will agree with me on that. Yes. um we We all know that you've In our in our gaming group, we all know that I love me some hondo, even though so do i and my my wife hates her some hondo. If I ever included in the game this season, she has every right to murder me on the spot. Yes, when when I when I ordered the hondo black series figure, and it was delivered, and I opened up box. And she's like, what's that? And she saw what it was. And I just got
Speaker: look I was pretty serious he was just gonna like immediately like divorce divorce ah but so you have no idea how much the depth of her hatred for that and I know do not i include that character again in fact the only good graces I got is I included her him as a character and she was able to kill him nice and he was actually so like That's the last you don't, you don't do that again. So that, that takes us in then to our next episode, Jedi crash, which is episode 13 of season one. A three part arc. Yes.
Speaker: When Anakin Skywalker is gravely injured in battle, Jedi General Aayla Secura must teach Ahsoka the Jedi philosophy of having no personal attachments, while they brave a hostile planet in search of medical help for the Jedi Knight. I would like to add to the description, and Ahsoka doesn't learn that at all. No. Of course not. Not at all.
Speaker: and we we open the episode and hey look it's Anakin doing something crazy and rash like jumping out of a of a lat in the upper atmosphere onto a super droid to get into the Venator that's in trouble. It's already like blowing up like we're in the middle of a heated battle Yes, and Anakin goes ship and droid surfing in the upper atmosphere. Speaking of being a heated battle, the fiery glow on the bottom of the cruiser is a pretty cool look to indicate that the battle is actually in atmosphere. yeah At the time is kind of new to Star Wars. A lot of classical Star Wars battles in the original trilogy and even in the
Speaker: in the prequel to Rosie, most of those so big battles happen in space. So seeing them in atmosphere, it's like really sort of sets the scale of the battles. Yes. And then there's there's a fun little exchange there. you know Are all Jedi so reckless? Just the good ones, which gives another indication that the war is rapidly changing the Jedi.
Speaker: you know the the The view of the Jedi, the actions of the Jedi are becoming a lot more brazen. Extreme. Ill -thoristic. Yes. Violent.
Speaker: And so yeah, as Ahsoka and Ayla, yeah, Ayla, go to try to help Anakin, they go through an environment that has some real Lion King vibes. Some real nice Savannah looking locations. Yeah. And since since you inquired about her name, allow me to nerd out for a moment. All right. A little background about Ayla Secura. They were looking for,
Speaker: for jedi to fill out crowd scenes and stuff for uh for you know like the battle of geonosis and and other battles in in episode three and so lucas starts flipping through um the then current star wars prequel era comic and comes across you know a a jedi you know alyssa cura it looks like she does in clone wars and in the movies and just
Speaker: It was like, her. Nice. And so I cannot remember what her position was. Amy Allen was an employee at Lucasfilm who got selected to you know be costumed up and painted up. I believe like a lot of the Jedi in at least the battle Deonosis scene were like kind of just like you it's it's you it's like not not like even like being like casting because there's no lines or anything it's like it's like you you are them and they're like me and that this is like carried off to the costuming room yeah yeah they they they did a lot of of those non -speaking jedi casting them with lucasfilm employees nice
Speaker: regardless of like rule or anything I'd also like to imagine that just like George Lucas was like in a golf cart it was like you you've been drafted into the Jedi Order well you know Lucas was like Lucas was just kind of I like the sexy blue Twilight Jedi so let's include her find someone who will play it and by it's fine to me this point and
Speaker: Although a nice benefit to that is that they could make a nice little cushy extra income on the convention circuit. present i met I met Amy Allen at a local convention and and got her autograph on an Aayla Secura picture. Nice. She was a a lovely individual. She's not playing the character here. No, she's not. No, she's not.
Speaker: but you know that thats That's the genesis of Aayla Secura existing. She was in the expanded universe because she was in a comic art and she she was in a comic book with another character that will get that has an even slightly more bizarre road and it yeah road to existing, but when that character shows up, we'll go over that. But I will say this, like, I think it's a good time to explain that George Lucas and the Expanded Universe is a very complicated thing. It's not complicated at all. He he believes that it is fan fiction and the only parts of it that count are what he put in the movies or the Clone Wars.
Speaker: The complicated part is that people think it's what he wanted. A lot of people. And they're completely disingenuous and should be ignored. The closest he came to participating in any of the Expanded Universe stuff is the novel's shifted publishers. And so the new publisher decided we want to kick off our publishing run by having this huge epic crossover series of novels that will take us five years to tell. It'll be like 19 or 20 books and we want to kick it off by killing one of the main characters o from the movies. And
Speaker: Because that's what they wanted to do, the story group and the editors for the publisher went to Lucas and said, okay, give us a short list of who it's okay to kill. And they selected a character from that list. Nice. And that was the end of it. Most of everything else was completely ignored by Lucas. And we'll get into more of that, especially once we get to a specific arc.
Speaker: Yeah, there's, there's a lot to talk about the relationship and also, but just to say in short, and especially to those who aren't in the Star Wars fandom, just say quick notice is like Lucas didn't really care for the expanded universe much. Yeah. And these,
Speaker: Like the Clone Wars miniseries that we watched a bit earlier and then we'll finish up later in this watch through. Yeah, he. He kind of ignored most of that and only took a bits and pieces.
Speaker: So when Ayla and Ahsoka find the village, we get another example of how not only are the Jedi changing, but people's perceptions of them are. Oh boy.
Speaker: What have you come here for? We are peacekeepers. We are Jedi from the Galactic Republic. Our ship clashed a few miles away and one of us is very badly injured. We need your help. Violence breeds violence. Jedi are no peacekeepers.
Speaker: We're fighting for freedom. And freedom and peace require fear and death?
Speaker: We colonized this system to find solace from your wretched war. We came here to find peace. You must leave. You will only destroy what small amount of peace is left in the galaxy. You will only bring the destruction of us. Regardless of the Clone Wars and our part in them, we still need your help. I'm afraid I must do what's best for my people. We cannot help you.
Speaker: o Yeah, it's like, no, you're trouble. Get out of here. Yeah. And it is interesting how he noted that they colonize the planet that they're on right now. Right. and Naturally, colonization typically does require violence of its own, which is definitely an interesting dynamic there, although I suspect that you're not supposed to think too hard about that particular element. More specifically, it's implied that they have not violently colonized is they are stated pacifist is more that they have found the world that has no other other indigenous species. no No other sentient life. yeah So therefore they have joined this world and yes they they are now its inhabitants but they have done nothing to to be violent towards and even have a
Speaker: and bad problem with the natural predators of this world. Mm hmm. As they're not evolved to be able to deal with that. Yes. But they're, it's implied there is no indigenous sentient beings that live on here. Yeah. So they're more, more effect as effective as it is the call of call this their equal parts of refugee. Yeah. Finding a world that they can live on, but not because they wanted to take this world, nor did they have to fight for it. Yeah, also, that it's a pretty cool species, so they like roll around and stuff. and They're cool, lemur -like aliens. Yeah. It reminds me of that old show on PBS, what was it? Zebulafu. Mm -hmm. Yep. Or you know if if they're lemurs, you know it it could be worse. i suppose that
Speaker: that their chief could declare himself king and say the that he likes to move it. move ah Yes. Yes. Also to note, their species is never mentioned in the episode. So in my notes, I just called them lemurs and lemur like aliens. Yes. but um delete Let me actually check this quickly.
Speaker: that that That is close to what they are officially called. They are Lerman. Lerman, yeah. So they're there're kind of an anagram of lemurs. Yep. Not even an anagram. They just sort of like cut off like half the word. ah But the the chief does relent and sends his son, who's a healer, off with Ahsoka and the clone to help Anakin. And Ayla stays behind.
Speaker: And then he has another you know philosophical discussion with Ayla about the role of the Jedi in this war. I am sure you are aware that the Jedi did not initiate the Clone Wars. Our only intention is to end it and restore peace to our galaxy.
Speaker: What difference does it make who started the war and who only wants to end it? No side is free of fault. It takes two to fight. But isn't liberty worth fighting for? But is it worth killing for? Fighting for something doesn't necessarily mean you have to destroy everything in your path. Only when you lay your arms down and pursue a course of non -violence can you make this claim to me that the Jedi are peacekeepers.
Speaker: So he's putting it out there. He's like, no, as long as you fight, you're not keeping the peace. yeah I don't I don't care that you didn't start this war. You're part of the war. Yeah. And as much as I'm not a huge fan of. This expanded universe period of the use on wrong war stuff. But it does remind me of one statement that a character made that The Jedi wield lightsabers, a blade that is entirely Ed's, as a weapon of peace.
Speaker: Yes. Yeah. It... It... I may not agree with that character and that context, but I can agree with the sentiment. It's like, yeah. The Jedi's weapon is entirely just a... It's... It's just a pure blade.
Speaker: Yeah. Yes, it could be used to defend, but just as equally can it be used to attack. And it's also mostly uncounterable. You know, I think a good point to note here is that, well,
Speaker: This episode generally seems to agree with the Lerman. The series as a whole, particularly the franchise as a whole, I don't think it really does because the series is literally called Star Wars. It's about wars.
Speaker: And it's designed to make wars look cool, essentially. like it's there there's There's a bit of a contrast here where it's recognizing war is a bad thing, but also, war is a cool thing as well. There's you know there's conflicting elements here. And I think this exists throughout the franchise. I'm totally wrong with you right now. and Because, well, you have a you're right.
Speaker: You're right, laura Lauren, right now. the You're right. But your opinion will be challenged. Oh, it will be challenged. will be Oh boy. it'll be So as they're off going to help Anakin, they run into a big beastie.
Speaker: And the of course, you know, Ahsoka and the clone, theirre their initial reaction is to be like well blow it out of existence. Yeah. It is especially disturbing for Ahsoka. She's a youngling. She's a child soldier as much as the clones can be argued as child soldiers. Yes. At the very least, she's been trained to be
Speaker: a peacekeeper, a potential diplomat, someone that's going to... and you can see the influence of her training. Yes. Where she's immediately going to violence against a creature that is just existing. Yeah, it's just, it's out there in the wilderness, it's hungry. It's just being.
Speaker: And so the literal train from birth soldier makes more sense than a. Trained. Peacekeeper, a defender of life. Yes. But of course, influences being used is seen influenced by. I have no idea we have we haven't seen anyone in this episode who is hot -headed and jumping and impulsive and jumping. Got themselves hurt. Yeah, nobody. Nobody at all. But of course, thanks to their Lerman friend, they end up tying the monster up instead of blasting it, tying in with the themes of the episode. Which, you know, that... Quite literally. Mm -hmm. Yeah. And, you know, that kind of reminds me, you know, You've probably heard me mention this, how different franchise, but you know, I am not terribly fond of current mass media representations of Wonder Woman, where she's a sword wielding hack and slash barbarian
Speaker: you killer badass. Yeah. I prefer her as someone who is so dedicated to peace that yes she's willing to fight with it but she's equipped with tools of defense, restraint, and truth. Mm -hmm. Again. Not stabby stabby sword. Again, I have no problem with the stabby stabby sword but only if that is and she even acknowledges the fact that That is the only path to solve this problem. Because he's exhausted all options. And with a heavy heart, he has to do it. And he's not proud of it. To solve the issue, she must end someone's life. She would learn not to do it. Stabby Sword Wonder Woman is really more of a Justice Lords Wonder Woman.
Speaker: Yeah, we yeah we haven't we haven't seen the last part of your scenario there, Nick, in like 20 years. I know. But that' that that's why I haven't really supported a lot of Wonder Woman representation as much as I like the characters.
Speaker: Honestly, I even if have a problem for fighting just mythological monsters because a lot of mythological monsters in Greek mythology are That's a whole separate debate. But you are like themselves cursed. Mm -hmm So not necessarily all of their own design like yeah There's a whole separate discussion that yes, yeah, you could bring me in for like your teen time that Teen Titans reread. Yeah. Maybe. Or you know who knows? you know we We might dip into some of the George Perez Wonder Woman run, too. Perhaps so. Or that could be part of the main casual nerdy. Yep. So we we end with Anakin being patched up, and Ayla and Ahsoka presume that Colonel Yularen is looking for them.
Speaker: I wonder what happens next. i wonder ah What happens next is Season 1, Episode 14, Defenders of Peace. So while the Jedi combat a new Separatist weapon, the pacifist Lerman must decide whether they will lay down to the oppressive Separatists or fight with Anakin, Ahsoka, and Jedi General Aayla Secura.
Speaker: yep So, one just like we were talking about with Hondo, the Lerman were never identified by name in the previous episode. Which is why I had to call them lemurs in my notes.
Speaker: And, but this, this kind of thing has a long history in Star Wars where the names of characters, ships, species, you name it are not mentioned on screen and then just kind of accepted into use through cultural osmosis. See Ewoks. This is like literally a whole series of like scholastic books that were like the essential guides. It was like, okay, that's what this is named. That's what this does. Like,
Speaker: and It's basically just like set photos of like just like data and stuff like that. And even the role playing game of the 80s from Western end games helped codify and name things. Yes. But yes, starting up on the actual episode itself, Anakin is still down as the group needs to escape a droid ship arriving on the scene. Yes. And then I want to know what the frack is up with Anakin being the voice of reason.
Speaker: and saying, if the Lehrman want to remain neutral, we can't force them into the war. Maybe he's. He must have hit his head in these injuries. He's he's still under the painkillers because last back to and if you want to even clip it, like his his conversation with Padip May on the boo where he says like, maybe we should have a dictatorship.
Speaker: yeah Well, you know, now that the thinking about it, Anakin already has his own issues with the Jedi way, the way that the Jedi operates. So maybe he's somewhat sympathetic to others who might not want to follow what the Jedi's expectations are to some extent. yeah if We were in the same podcast. We'd be like looking at each other right now. Yes. Yes. There's going to be a lot to talk about.
Speaker: We're going to be talking a lot about Anakin and a lot of these episodes. Undoubtedly. um yeah But you know, essentially, Anakin being the voice of reason in regards to, you know, they they don't want to do what we the Jedi want to do. That seems in character for him to be the voice of reason under these particular circumstances.
Speaker: And so then were we're introduced to the Separatist general, Lockdird, who is played by George Takei. Oh my. Oh my. Oh my. Oh, we were on the same wavelength, all of us. Yep. Well, I mean, it's only become his catchphrase ever since he uttered it once spontaneously on the Howard Stern show. Yep.
Speaker: I'm pretty sure like most people consider him like, like, like a Pokemon. That's all he just says. ah No, my, although the favorite thing that I've ever heard George Takei say is target that explosion and fire. Oh, nice. so That's a good one too. Yeah.
Speaker: Um, but so, so the separatists come rolling into the Lehrman village and, and lock dirt is just, you know, complete mustache twirling villain and just, you know, ransack the village, just ransack it. ah Yeah. And it's like, just the most cartoon is virtually, there's just knocking stuff over, not even taking stuff. Yeah. They're, they're just, they're just, you know, messing stuff up to mess stuff up. Uh, and then.
Speaker: you know After they leave, ah the the Chief and his son have a little heart to heart. At least the Jedi escaped. Yes, but they nearly brought harm to our entire village. But now, thanks to you, we're safe to grovel before every petty tyrant who enters our system. You would mock our very way of life? I have just ensured we will have peace.
Speaker: Yes, but for the moment and at what price? Are you not concerned about the Jedi at all? I have no quarrel with the Jedi, but we cannot help them without being drawn into their war. Yeah, it's like a whole little little exchange there between the two of them and very interesting. It's very much the same as basically saying like you're mistaking peace with quiet. Yes, it's like.
Speaker: Yes, we're safe now. We've just accepted a light bullying. How much more do we have to like walk back? We're not being accepted here. We're just acquiescing to the more powerful force. we're We're not being accepted. We're not even being tolerated. We're just saying like you're here and stronger.
Speaker: You're in charge and we're not going to question it. Yeah. How much until that's us in the ground? So the the clones in Ahsoka can't even fathom why the villagers wouldn't want to fight, especially after what's just happened. yeah And Ahsoka is like, you know, they, they lack courage.
Speaker: And Ayla, you know, the more seasoned Jedi who has more of the traditional training says sometimes it takes courage to stand by your convictions. So it's another example of how the clones who were literally bred to fight and the younger generation of Jedi pressed into nonstop combat has kids see everything through the lens of fighting while those with a broader scope of experiences see other aspects of the galaxy. Yes. And the most interesting part is like, and this may be it, took a lot of people to realize like Ahsoka's a child soldier until they actually had a live action version of her at this time period.
Speaker: Because I mean that that's what I mean. I knew she was a child soldier. I knew her age. I had that concept, but that really drove it home for me. Yeah, the art style can obscure the age. And again, it's meant to be that way, but it's like when you actually put it to like an actual. Lower AIDS teenager into that scenario is like, oh, that's a kid.
Speaker: That's a kid and this is a intergalactic war. Yep.
Speaker: And instead of being in math class, she is out not just fighting him. She's being trained by space monsters for the teacher to like be centered and calm and like peacekeeping. now she's It's commanding armies.
Speaker: yeah She's not only fighting in a war, she is commanding soldiers in a war. She's commanding other child soldiers yep in a war. It was only advanced is the fact that they were bred for war. It's all kinds of messed up when you put it together.
Speaker: and yeah And it took that long to see like, see the actual live acts in Ahsoka, which we'll get to eventually. But I remember seeing like, like, it didn't hit me until I saw it was like, it Yeah. yeah yep Leading. Leading fire squadrons.
Speaker: So. We then see that the separatists have a new weapon, the defoliator. Yes. Which is horrifying. It destroys organic matter but leaves machines unharmed which kind of makes sense since most of the separatist militaries made up of droids and the republic is mostly organics. And then Durd specifically chose to test the defoliator here because it's inhabited and the lerman won't put up a fight and i note here that um a weapon that destroys life but not droids
Speaker: could have been a number of things, like it could have been a chemical weapon, it could have been a bio weapon, but it's it's really just a fancy explosion. It does act as a counterpoint to the ion grenades from a couple episodes ago, yeah but ah this is really just like an inverted ion grenade because they're both just explosions that just so happen to only target the enemy faction. It feels like, you know, their counterpart to the ion grenade should have been something a bit more specifically targeted towards organic, something that feels like it could only affect organics. You know what I mean? Yes, but even then it's still like an effective, this is more of an artillery piece. Yeah. Rather than like a grenade. We'll get to something more grenade -like later on. Wink, wink, nuts, nuts. And, you know, instead of being, you know, a chemical or bio weapon, it does allow them to
Speaker: to focus and contained a little bit more. It's not like, okay, well, the the chemicals are still hanging out in the atmosphere. So this place is useless to our own organics as well. Yeah. Yeah. Also think about it. This is a test, but I'd imagine the, the folio would make a lot more sense in like a city base. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Where it's like, okay, instead of going building by building,
Speaker: Just fire the defoliator. The defoliator will not damage the buildings. the damage the interest tra there It will kill everything in there.
Speaker: And if you have troops already inside, then they can easily take those positions. Yeah. Single weapon. But again, it's still a devastating indiscriminate weapon of mass destruction. Yeah, yeah. I'm just noting that, you know, as a specific anti -biological life weapon, ah making it an explosion feels like it's, I don't know, missing a bit of an aesthetic element that could potentially have to differentiate itself from most other weapons in the series. That is a fair point. Fair point. point
Speaker: But I would say that the only major is that it's a concentrated artillery piece. Yes. So at least it has a longer reach than most weapons. So then we have another interesting, interesting bit. Where are they off to now? They must be going back to the Lerman village. There's nothing else in that direction.
Speaker: Those villagers won't stand a chance. First, we'll take out the George communication station. Then after we get a shuttle, we'll go back and help the Lerman. But Tewak Ka said he doesn't need our help. There's a difference between pulling inno innocents into a war and leaving them to extinction.
Speaker: That's that's something I've always had an issue with. like Is that a is that a difference without a distinction? Well, I mean,
Speaker: you I do get where Anakin's coming from. He's like, yeah we're we're not making them fight, but are we going to just stand by and let the separatists kill them? but I mean, there's there's respecting their wishes and leaving them alone, and then there's letting them be massacred. Yeah. but I can see how there's a difference of added distinction there. It's like, we're going to interfere because others are interfering. On behalf of those who cannot fight back against those interfering. But are you not just saying that you're going to interfere on their behalf? Because you know that they can't stand up against this? It's very much is like the similar issues with like the Star Trek Prime Directive. Yes. It's like, where does the limit go? And again I think that's the point, especially since it's Anakin saying
Speaker: And it's Anakin, again, kind of being the voice of reason, and Ahsoka is very much being, well, they made their beds, they can lie in them. That would be the Jedi yeah night before the war, but Anakin is of the opinion of like, no, the Jedi should do more. Yeah. The Republic should do more. And that's kind of the slippery slope that we're going down.
Speaker: Meanwhile, Ahsoka is also coming at that from having you been learning from Anakin where she's just like, well, they're ungrateful jerks, let them die. Yeah. but is Which is what I was saying. Going back to you know making another Star Trek reference, the beginning of Star Trek VI when you find out the Klingon homeworld is on the verge of extinction and Spock's like,
Speaker: Jim, they're dying, and Kirk's like, let them die. No. Again, I could see how both of them are coming from it, but it's like, I feel that like, again, this goes back to that scene on the boo in Attack of the Closet. Anakin may play laissez -fairer things, but honestly, he wants more intervention. He wants to project And Anakin wants an iron fist around the galaxy. Yep. And he's basically saying this is like, yeah, they have their autonomy. They have their right to say it what they're going to do. But we're here and we have the power to do something. And he's saying that both as someone that's willing to be a defender of peace, but also recognizing that he has the power to stop this and he won't let any
Speaker: He doesn't feel that he should be constrained by someone else. So that that leads into another scene demonstrating that extremism, even in regards to pacifism, can be harmful. The Lerman chief is unwilling to even mount any kind of defense, even if it's putting up barriers. It doesn't involve fighting the separatists. He's unwilling to mount any kind of defense. Because he sees that as a way of attacking without attacking. Yes. It's conflict. And that's true pacifism too. It's all degrees like, I will not defend. I will not count. I will exist. It does sound self -defeating in that description. And we as the audience know what is at stake.
Speaker: And we know that... Well, and we've seen what the weapon does by this point. So we know that following the chief's lead is going to get the Lerman killed. So we... Speaking of Star Trek,
Speaker: it's appropriate that we keep coming back to Star Trek examples since the villain is George Takei. So they the the Jedi and the clones get some shields up and we find out that shields work against the defoliator. Shields deflect that energy.
Speaker: Which makes sense because, again, it's only against biological defense. Yes. So therefore, a shield have a physical defense that is not biological. And also the effect of those flames reaching up sort of halfway through the shields is really intimidating. Yes. And really cool looking.
Speaker: And so, of course, a fight breaks out as ah the the droids are trying to destroy the shields that they can make the weapon work. Well, of course, a fight breaks out because, as you said a few moments ago, this is Star Wars. Yes, there are, in fact, wars and they are supposed to be cool and a thing that the audience wants to happen.
Speaker: And there are clones in these wars. So I guess you could call it a Star Wars, the Clone Wars. No way. But there aren't just clones today because the Lerman fight back. Or at least the young ones do. Yes. And as they start turning into Rolybons. And we have kind of a parallel there. The young Jedi are becoming more aggressive like Ahsoka.
Speaker: the young Lerman go against the extreme pacifism and fight back.
Speaker: and um you Those young Lerman join in the defense and of course the day is saved. and The chief agrees that the village owes the Jedi their thanks, but at what cost? As part of the message,
Speaker: of both parts of the story, what's the unseen cost of war? And the best way of showing that is how a feather class star destroyer is like entering into orbit. Yeah. Implying this is now a territory now. Yeah. This will be a military base. we We are the Republic. We will protect you. Oh, they sure will.
Speaker: And it's like, it's again, like the fact that it's shown from below classically, that's how the first Star Destroyer in all of Fixin' in A New Hope was shown from below to imply its size and what it is, the, Imperial, Imperial machine. And we're seeing the start of that. How much will you sacrifice for peace, for safety?
Speaker: what does that look
Speaker: all questions that go onanswed star wars doesn't have politics in all no not totally no none none zero percent politics zero none zilch especially in this last episode yep which is trespass season one episode 15 while investigating the disappearance of a clone security force anakin and obi -wan get caught in the middle of an escalating conflict between the furry territorial inhabitants of a desolate ice world and the greedy representatives of a nearby moon oh boy that do battle against their greatest enemy furries no not the furries so they're they're they're aside i need i need to show you when i can nick the latest issue of uncanny x -men has night crawler saying that he appreciates the furry community oh nice
Speaker: Um, so this is the first appearance of Senator Tucci and Lauren, she is going to be more important later. Okay. This isn't her first appearance. I was actually in Revenge of the Sith. Well, chronologically, you're right. yeah So you um actually made back. seat Oh man.
Speaker: And you're the one who insisted on chronological rewatch. And I have no... And I sleep very well at night. I have no regrets. R2 and C -3PO, they're together! Yay! I love it! It's great! And also the snow outfits! They're cool! They get alternate outfits for the characters for the snow biome. And we for the clones, the first appearance of of Snow Clone Armor.
Speaker: And Anakin's jacket, by nature of him having darker Jedi robes, kind of looks like Han's cold weather gear. um empires are expect yes yeah um And there's there's a nice little animation moment here um as yeah the hood of Obi -Wan's cold weather coat starts to blow off and he pulls it back into into place. That's not the kind of thing that's often put into animation. ah know Especially in this era of of the Clone Wars, it's pretty much like it was kind of like based on the behind the scenes, it was kind of like stuck pieces for like gear and equipment. So it was interesting to see them actually play with that.
Speaker: and so they They're looking at hollow footage of what happened at this base, and they see footage of a big monster attacking the Republic outpost. There's no blaster marks. There's no destroyed droids. Senator Chuchi knows something up, but Chairman Chi Cho, I swear these names sound like J .K. Rowling made them up. Oh no. but chairman they They would have been a bit more on the nose.
Speaker: um insists that it's Separatist. It has to be the Separatist or at least some horrible enemy of Pantora that's responsible and he wants them eliminated. But I want to say his design is very British? Yes. Specifically a specific type of British. But yes, notably we see that there are clone heads that are piked, but there's also droid heads that are piked.
Speaker: implying that, uh, no, this is some third mysterious group. Right. And, um. Who's against both. Right. And you, Anakin kind of, you know, needles Obi -Wan. He's like, well, just say something and Obi -Wan says, just shut up.
Speaker: It's less banter -y and more of an I'm tired of this vibe to Obi -Wan, or from Obi -Wan. Yeah. um and they They do discover a track to find the mysterious group. Right, and that's when they find that it's the towels. But it does lead to one of my favorite sort of like sort of explanations or sort of things like wait this is a frozen world how what are they burning in the in the pit it's like they're burning something o but it it's when obi -wan you know tries communicating that's the explanation that the the that the the show creators are like they're burning something yeah
Speaker: it's like But there's no trees or anything. but They're burning something. And it's when Obi -Wan tries communicating with them that Anakin's like, well, say something. And Obi -Wan says, I'm done with you right now. Let me focus on the job at hand. um So then he tries communicating with them verbally. Then Anakin just tries drawing these crude pictures.
Speaker: And they They go back and they fill it in. Oh, so I'd like to note, I really like the Tals designs because I like their little snout things that they've got going on. It's, I don't know, it's cute. I want to say it's a cute design element. And I like their eyes and their fuzzy bodies. It's just, it's a really cool design. I like it a lot. And they are from the original trilogy. They are one of the alien designs in the... Cantina.
Speaker: So they are, this isn't the new design, but it does really translate very well into the Arts at the Clone Wars. Yeah, yes. And they they go back, they they fill in Chicho and Senator Chuchi about it all. And Chicho is, he's a fracking colonizer. o yeah You can replace every single word he said with that song from with the song from Pocahontas about savages. Oh yeah. Better even heal them. And he uses every tool in the book to dismiss the Tal's. Pantora was here first. No, they weren't. They savagely attacked. No, the Republic base just got caught in the middle of the Tal's defending themselves from the Separatists.
Speaker: The Tal's aren't sentient but unthinking creatures and thus not under the jurisdiction of the Jedi or the Senate. No, if the Jedi were able to communicate with them, that no that's in doubt and they are under the Senate's purview.
Speaker: and Choochie's very open to the possibility that they're intelligent, sentient, and deserving of their own rights. Hmm, I wonder if that might come into play with her character later on. Perhaps in another series, even. Mysterious. Exciting.
Speaker: um and Chicho just wants to attack the towels. and yeah They're gonna meet with the towels. And he's like, wipe them out. He basically is the same guy from the Pocahontas Disney movie. Yeah, and I noted that this guy is just maximum aggro. He is going all in on the - He was already, he was like, okay, it's the Separatist. Now it's someone else, all right, they're gonna die. a Like he wants blood.
Speaker: yeah he came he He woke up and was like, violence? Yeah, I'm just gonna chug a whole like gallon of violence right now. i' yeah I don't know or care who, I just want the violence. And so naturally, violence happens and ah well, on on the good side of the towels, laser gets defeated by Lance once again. And it's like, oh yeah, back.
Speaker: It all comes back around there all to the... to the jousting scene. Mm -hmm. Yep. It's even on bikes. So Chicho's dying words insist on no peace with the towels, but it's just too bad for him that the Pantoran Council declared him out of order and instructed Chicho to gushik. But I would say it looks like that is the most petty thing i've ever seen for a villain i kind of respect is like it's not even like a vansby it's like kill them all yeah and so then everyone said that if he died of like dysentery so juchi does does go in then and she negotiates the piece
Speaker: To die for one's people is a great sacrifice. To live for one's people, an even greater sacrifice. ch chara more big shouff um chali you be choy I choose to live for my people. What do you choose?
Speaker: me chaach so new challenge
Speaker: he chooses to live as well we will leave auto -plutonium to the watchful eyes of the tiles from this day forth and recognize your sovereignty as a free and equal people
Speaker: And so, you know, and hey, 3PO got to do what 3PO is, you know, actually kind of designed to do. Yeah, 3PO gets to do something in this episode. He gets to do the thing he's built to do. He's a he's a protocol droid, built for translation and negotiation, and he... We get to actually see that! He does the thing! Instead of being a... a little, tiny droid boy!
Speaker: Actually, now the thing about R2 is in this episode too, but does he do anything in this episode? Not really. Honestly, that's actually more concern in the fact that C4PO gets to do stakes in an episode that R2's in it. After seeing Chuchi negotiate this piece, Anakin says to her, most and most impressive. Yes. And I see what you did there, Clone Rose. I see what you did there.
Speaker: yeah yeah He's got to say the line. He's got to say all the lines. And Obi -Wan tells her then to make the peace last, to not only end this war, but every other. That will end the franchise, Obi -Wan. Yeah. Yeah, we got some major anti -war messaging. But the series, going back to it again, it's called Star Wars.
Speaker: so i know point. It's meant to feel like, yeah, there's a way to end wars, but is there? Can you truly end war? The franchise is in a little bit of conflict against itself on a fundamental level here.
Speaker: But, I mean, it won't be the first time, won't be the last. Nope. And that brings us to the end of of this group of episodes. so your first time through what do you think Lauren you know ah this was a pretty cool set of episodes you know what once again there there's there's a lot of anti -war here which I do fundamentally agree with and I think that you know obviously the writers are anti -war in this regard at least and also the so series of most war films a lot of war films not all yeah an equal amount amount
Speaker: that are like pro war and propaganda but it's just as many war films that are like no war sucks and war media as a whole I feel is a lot more like no no this is bad yes but there there is always the contradiction where war is bad but also we want this to be really cool so war is also very cool as well which you know i mean i'm not going to blame a series for wanting to be cool naturally there there is obviously cool stuff here and i appreciate the cool stuff but it does as an dichotomy yeah it it creates a bit of a mixed messaging element
Speaker: The fact that it's a fix of the war does kind of massage it a bit. Because when you romanticize real war, that becomes a big problem.
Speaker: The Call of Duty series in particular runs into these issues where they want to make war not just cool, but fun as well for gameplay purposes. but They also want to say something. I think in terms of like video games, only one video game that I've ever played that's war -based is like Spec Ops the Line. It was like actually like, no, no. Here's war.
Speaker: fun gameplay but the story is like no no you're the bad guy yeah you're the bad guy and you do horrible things and there's no good ending but of course uh before all of these anti -war episodes we had uh captain jack sparrow show up and those were some pretty cool episodes as well And yes if you like that guy, he's gonna be back for a while. Oh boy. Yep, he comes back a few times here and if we move on to Rebels when we reach that point in the timeline and you're watching.
Speaker: then uh then yeah he he shows up some there you could even meet him in disney world yes oh boy you can go to galaxy's edge and and have an animatronic hondo assign you to fly the millennium falcon nice but yeah overall an excellent set of episodes i'd say yeah uh definitely anything else you want to say or does anyone else want to say anything else before we call this no I think we're ready to wrap this one up put a bow on it and call it done sounds like a plan okay ah well this is this is Nick and Lauren and Daryl and we thank you all for listening and
Speaker: We hope you will join us again next time for the next group of episodes. Indeed. Catch you later. Goodbye.
