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 to the first episode of our Clone Watch series. I'm Daryl. With me today is my co -host, Nick. And the subject of our experiment, I've been our friend, Lauren, AKA Miss Game and Pie. Hello. Welcome, Lauren. Hello. Good to be here, y 'all. And welcome, Nick. Welcome back. We're finally getting this off the ground, Nick.
Speaker: um so After joining our RPG group, and I'm going to give a quick plug right now, a shout out for our sister gaming podcast, the How We Roll Gaming Podcast, link in the show notes. um And that gaming group's pretty heavy on the Star Wars RPG.
Speaker: we learned that Lauren had little exposure to Star Wars, especially the non -movie media. Is that right? Yeah, so I didn't really grow up watching Star Wars. To note, some of y 'all might recognize me from my Let's Plays. I've made like over 60 of them, although it's been a long time since I last made one. But my biggest exposure to Star Wars was ah LEGO Star Wars, the original trilogy for the GameCube.
Speaker: And I actually, I made a let's play of that game. And whenever I make let's plays of games, I do lots of research and practice runs, you know, really more of a Chugga Conroy sort of let's play rather than a Markiplier sort of let's play for any of y 'all who might know what that is. And ah Well, whenever I was making my Star Wars, my Lego Star Wars Let's Play, I was like, you know, I should probably have actually watched the movies so that whenever they're making references, I'll know what they're talking about. We'll be able to explain it. And so that's why I have watched the original trilogy. And that's also why I have ah basically only watched the original trilogy alongside Rogue One in theaters. i don't I don't know why that was the one movie that I ever watched in theaters, but it was. I went to my family with that one in particular.
Speaker: But so that that is essentially the entirety of my Star Wars experience, or at least my first -hand Star Wars experience, up until now anyway. And so then you came and sat down in our gaming group, and we're not only throwing group inside jokes around, we're throwing around deep cuts of Star Wars lore and... Of expanded universe lore that's not even canon anymore.
Speaker: also sequel lore and also casually joking about the old republic the high republic and and and how Jackson Jackson the green space rabbit is the best but and they brought that down Jackson the green space rabbit Uh, we, we will have to show you the mini next time we're playing. Exciting. And, and visits also brought in, brought in the space rabbit, technically Don Cannon, but yeah. And so now Nick has you watching Clone Wars, right? Oh yeah. So our Clone Watch series is going to follow your journey.
Speaker: through watching Clone Wars for the first time, and Nick and I are rewatching it. Nick, for the umpteen millionth time, I've never done a complete rewatch. I go back and i I'll bodily watch. Hey, I wanna watch this episode again. Oh no, I wanna watch this episode. I haven't watched it a whole lot. I've watched some parts of it more than others. Well, you retain more of the Clone Wars info than I do though.
Speaker: That's for sure. This is true. I don't know what it is. I grew up along with it. that That's probably a little more of it. i i I have the connection to it, but I didn't grow up with it. And so I remember big bullet points, but not as much of the... If I had to be honest, I'd say this would be by my third proper rewatch.
Speaker: Also, I'd like to note that Nick and I, we're the same age. ah I conceivably could have grown up with it. I just didn't ever watch any of this stuff. That's totally fair. That's totally fair. So Nick, how exactly are we watching Clone Wars? We are, and much to the say of probably the audience and specifically a certain member of this team.
Speaker: I don't know what you're talking about. We are, we are watching it in chronological order. Yeah. I hate you for that.
Speaker: Now, the side where people think Star Wars, the Clone Wars, and Wars by Lucasfilm now owned by Disney released out of order a lot of its episodes.
Speaker: or at least the first first two, three seasons? Yeah, it's... There's a confusing order, but once Disney Plus came, and all of this is on Disney Plus, they have released on StarWars .com an entire chronological view for you.
Speaker: And for for those unaware, and if a lot of and let's be honest, a lot of the people listening to this are fully aware. And and as I'm saying this, they're saying, yeah, we know, shut up. Not everybody is me. um But the original intent of the show was to be kind of an anthology jumping around the timeline of the Clone Wars. So it wasn't intended to be chronological from the beginning. It was intended to occasionally skip around and
Speaker: Okay, here's this thing that you saw before, but here's additional information about it when they would revisit an event. As as it grew, certain arcs developed and therefore you needed to watch certain episodes to understand these certain arcs that just so happened to come in later seasons then or later in the season that they're in starting coming around.
Speaker: And then you have the people like me who are there. I like to think I am media savvy and media literate, but you will occasionally get an episode that does take place earlier in the timeline later in the release order that you're like, wait a second. Isn't this guy dead? it's And it's someone who was watching as it came out.
Speaker: I had the same cognitive dissonance. Yeah, and I was watching as it came out too, yeah. I am going like, wait, we're invading this planet, but the movie had us on this planet. And wait, how are we back on this planet? No, that actually happened before any of this happened.
Speaker: and it's it's why I made the track of it's easy enough to keep track of but you know I and I understand why they did it and I understand why they changed approaches midstream once they started focusing in on a more core group of characters and following their narrative individual arcs narratives and stuff like that I understand all of that um but You know those excuse in my opinion how they did this I could understand why and I agree with you that this is really complicated. Yeah it's a pain to do in chronological order that's why I hate you. I'm kidding. But at the very least odd like before it is all in one place for you to view. Yep and we're not going to be going into a blow by blow of each episode you know
Speaker: Here's what happened here, here's what happened here, here's what happened here. That would turn us into a much longer form podcast than we are planning to be. But you know who knows, we might evolve like the Clone Wars series did too. We will see what time brings. Indeed. The main the main idea is we're going to, the fact that you're going to be able to watch all of this with us if you want to.
Speaker: I think we should put we'll be putting like episodes that we're looking at in the descriptions. So you can watch it right before. Exactly. And then if you so desire, if you so desire, if you've already watched it, then.
Speaker: come around and listen to both experienced voices and a fresh voice. Yes. and and somebody who Somebody whose mind is not poisoned by an obsessive interest within the series. That is poisoned by obsessive interest with other series. That was a personal attack.
Speaker: um But yeah, we we will definitely be you know, the descriptions will have the episodes and we will be, you'll be able to follow along. And what I'm really looking forward to is seeing what your first time viewer reactions are to everything. Oh, you'll be getting those. Awesome. And I'll be giving. As a Let's Fire, I am the best at reacting to things naturally. Right. And as two experienced
Speaker: Star Wars nerds. Can we get us called that? Call us that. Yeah. I'll accept that. I mean, it's not like my 10th anniversary Val renewal had me in Jedi robes or anything. Nice. It's true. That's beautiful. But yeah, I think we should start and we'll be starting actually with. We've got all that out of the way. So let's dive in. In this first episode, we're looking at volume one of the 2003 micro series we're looking at clone wars season two episode 16 cat and mouse season one episode 16 hidden enemy and the 2008 clone wars movie that was released in theaters and my son's first theater going star wars experience nice so first up
Speaker: What are your first impressions of Clone Wars as a whole? Well, so far it's been pretty cool. You know, one of the things is that Nick and I actually watched Star Wars episode two before this, because as previously noted, I watched the original trilogy and that was it. So I've never actually seen episodes one, two, and three, but we did watch episode two first. So, you know, that gave - And I do intend to have episode one be watched, but at a specific point in time.
Speaker: okay got like But yes, and so far I am definitely enjoying the the Clone Wars in within a general sense. Although I feel like it hasn't fully started yet because I know that Ahsoka is a major element within the series and we have just gotten to her with the movie. So I'm looking forward to, it feels like once she shows up, that's whenever things are really gonna get going essentially. And I have some comments along those lines when we get to the segment on the movie.
Speaker: Yeah, we'll get to that later. Yes, that that is coming up. So the micro series volume one. First up is um one of the micro series that is 20 episodes that made up the first two seasons.
Speaker: of a micro series that ran three minutes each on Cartoon Network. So the entire season of 20 episodes clocks in a little over an hour. And it is when wild. Oh yeah. Genndy Tardikovskiek, who did Samurai Jack, crammed a lot into that hour. It is beautiful. and he And it is, again, it's unlike the Clone Wars. It is a two day hit to the animation series, and it is. In his style, it is gorgeous. Oh, yeah, dynamic, fantastic sound design.
Speaker: but And he swigs for the fences with huge ideas and huge set pieces. The kind of thing that even in computer animation, you still got to pay for that rendering time. oh yeah Whereas in 2D animation, you can go it you can draw.
Speaker: Again, if anyone knows his work in Samurai Tech, he he brought his bull boar here. Oh, he certainly did.
Speaker: so There's a reason why he's a master of animation. over And it opens up with a montage of Jedi and clone troopers fighting battles in the Clone Wars as a Yoda voiceover kind of sets the stage, tells us what the Clone Wars are all about, who the involved parties are.
Speaker: um And early on yeah we have a scene with the Jedi in Palpatine's office and Palpatine is like, no, no, yeah you should put Anakin in charge of the space forces. And like, no, he's too inexperienced. Don't forget Palpatine's weird spider fingers. Oh, yes, of course.
Speaker: Yes, and he's like, no, no, you should. No, it's settled. All right. Yeah, i heard i I heard everything that you just said, and I ignored it. It's settled. Anakin's in charge of the space forces, and that side -eye that Yoda and Obi -Wan give him is just beautiful. Oh, yeah.
Speaker: And ah we we get an introduction of the concept of ARC Troopers, which are specialized clone troopers that - And they'll be employed later. And I actually have a couple things to say about that one. Oh, go for it. Yeah. So, you know, I noticed that, you know, the the elite clones, I'm guessing that we're talking about the part where they're the ground troops and they're invading the the the city. That's the section we're talking about now.
Speaker: yeah so i noticed that you know the elite clones they're very calm and collected as opposed to you know how you see the storm troopers in the original series essentially because very much so you know it's uh whenever looking at the storm troopers and the clone troopers they seem like they're designed to be counterparts to one another but the way that they behave is very different especially if they're the elite clones like these guys are well there's there's some interesting Thoughts to put into that as you go into the evolution of this storyline. Mm hmm. Well, whether you guys, like, you could clearly because I visited in our attack at the clones. Rewatts.
Speaker: the clones evolve into what we know is a Stormtrooper corner. Right. and the And not really a spoiler kind of thing, because it's not covered anywhere in Clone Wars. But, well, unless we start going into Bad Batch, are we going to make him watch Bad Batch, Nick? I'm pretty sure I'm going to take him through all of it. Someday, eventually, but we'll get we'll get there. but we'll We'll get there, and we will forget this conversation by then. um da've got We've got him. We've got a lot to get through to that. the By the time the stormtroopers come into play, they have transitioned from clones to enlistment. Right, yes. So rather rather than having a single template of soldier that
Speaker: that all has the same capabilities and all has the same mental faculties who will then mostly process the same training the same way to become these elite clone troopers and ARC troopers. Stormtroopers are like any other group of individuals thrown together, yeah given the same training. Some people are going to be better at it than others. Some are going to be more competent than others.
Speaker: Right. And none of the stormtrooper stormtroopers only have precise aim off camera. Of course, of course. Whereas clone troopers have precise aim on camera. Oh boy. So to note, another note that I put for this section was orb for hologram reconnaissance.
Speaker: yeah yes the photo orb. I saw it, it's like, it's an orb! The orb is here! ah And yeah you you might have heard us making this joke in game sessions, or me in particular. I know that time was at a premium because these episodes are only three minutes long. Right. Actually five, but roughly three point three and of four forty five seconds i I always get a laugh out of, you know, Obi Wan walking into the room with the ARC troopers ARC troopers you've been chosen for this mission because you're the best, you know what to do.
Speaker: and walking out. yeah ah Speaking of, ah i one note that I put here near the end of the segment, probably around where they were like strapping explosives to an energy cannon or something. It's like, not actually sure what the goal is for these clones, but they're cool because that's about whatever I realized. It's like, wait, what are they trying to do exactly?
Speaker: Again, that's the limitation of the format that was given. Yeah. And it is the fact that, uh, but we're able to see like how effective they are. Yeah. And again, like we didn't know what the objective was from the beginning and we see them strap up the gun with, with the explosives and then reach the top of the tower and they get the cool, the cool accent shot. Yeah.
Speaker: that' That's the entirety of the goal. That's the entirety, I imagine, the the sketch the scarce process was. And to note, we actually skipped over my very first note. oh was So you see, ah near near the end of this section, ah near or near the end of the micro series, Nick, you said that you don't like how R2 looks in the micro series.
Speaker: but my very first note that I made was R2 adorable.
Speaker: I'm coming and throwing hands instantly. I think R2 looks adorable in this series. It looks a little squishy. Yes. I love the squishy R2. So Dale, you're going to you're go have to break this tie. Is R2 adorable or too squishy? Well, i in order in...
Speaker: the interests of keeping the peace and not using sides. I will simply point out that Tartakovsky said that um one of his inspirations for some of the design of the micro series, in addition to his his own style, was the nelvana studios animated segment from the base and droids cartoon yes r2 video look a lot like they did in those projects nice and r2 was squishy in that as well yes so truce made so like it or not there's a reason for why there's precedent
Speaker: YR2 is like a little gummy bear. Yes. So then we we cut away to Mon Calamari and Kit Fisto and we discovered that Kit Fisto is ripped. Uh -huh, uh -huh. And he's awesome. Oh yeah.
Speaker: I read about Master Fisto doing some cool Aquaman nonsense. Yes. Yes. I mean, the the fans already kind of liked him after Attack of the Clones just because they love the big grin that he gave. who and And the dread. The dread. But this, I think, is where the kit Fisto love really started because he he did get to do all of that weird Aquaman craziness and i I really like the visual of his lightsaber boiling the water around the blade. I mentioned that early on and I'll get back to later in the second half of half about this discussion. Yeah one of my notes is also underwater lightsaber is bubbly and cool.
Speaker: And then I had told it's been a while since I've watched the micro series. I had totally forgotten that the whole Munalis thing was interspersed throughout the whole thing. yeah i seat That's actually the the sort of framing device. Yeah.
Speaker: for the main characters, Obi -Wan and Anakin, but the show does a good job, similar to how the actual Clone Wars will actually be like, no, no, here's our main characters and here's the side stories.
Speaker: And it's just in my mind, I guess it's because - It makes the galactic conflict look good. Yeah. And I guess it's because the episodes are so short that in my mind, I remember most of the Munalist episodes being together rather than interspersed throughout the whole thing. Yeah. But we get back to Munalist and then incomes, you know, just, you know,
Speaker: totally my man totally you know crazy ah craziness with dirge uh -huh dirge had been introduced in the comics around that time and then they brought him in here and honestly i really dig the stylization of his look in the micro series over the more realistic look that he had a bit too bulky This is like the right amount of slim, but huge. Yeah. And just the stylization really, really works for him. And you just, you just can't care. But I know a part of that you don't like. No, you don't. You think I don't like it just because I tried to subvert your expectations when you put us through a variation of this story in the RPG.
Speaker: I love the insanity of the jousting IG droids and clone troopers. I just wasn't going to give you the satisfaction of doing it.
Speaker: To those who haven't watched, there is a rather insane sequence where this massive bounty hunter has been decided to tainse the tide of the Battle of Moolith.
Speaker: mounts up on a speeder bike, and it's granted a glance. And then the scene pulls out to show that he's leading a legion of battle droids on motorbikes and flances. And they just. And they joust clone. travel for we We haven't we gotten to that yet.
Speaker: And I would thening a aorf and wrote down a single note for this section. It says, don't bring a gun to a lance fight.
Speaker: And this is where I have to say like, this is Star Wars. This is pure refined Star Wars. And if this were released today, the internet would say Star Wars is dead. It's always been dead.
Speaker: it's It's never been alive, but it's always lived on that one one rule. There's only one rule for Star Wars. Is it cool? Star Wars is perpetually rail grinding the border of life and death. Yes. On the rule of cool. And this is like, there's a bounty hunter, mercenary leading a legion of droids against a whole army.
Speaker: we with Lance's on speeder bikes. And it's beautiful. It is. It is like, as much as that sounds as like the dumbest idea ever. It doesn't matter. The presentation is what makes it work. It's cool. Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, my my only my only thing when you tried to run us through that in and the and that game session is I didn't want to give you the satisfaction of doing it. So I found ways around having to jousturge. Which is so weird, because I just wanted to eat you in the half of fucking room. But instead, i I threw explosives at him. Oh, explosives? Oh, well, that that makes everything work. Everything loses to explosives.
Speaker: So we'll get to that when we get to yeah the there. But now we have have the the main reason that I use the micro series to bring in and our test subject. Yes, yes. To introduce a vital character to the Clone Wars, it doesn't get a good introduction in the Exocials. Yes, I see written here, Asajj Ventress.
Speaker: yes i did not remember what her name was i just called her the cool dark side lady in my notes she too had been introduced in the comics and actually they came as a pair yeah yeah she both came in and she endured both entered into the comics at the same time gotcha because at the time the comics were also set in between episodes two and three and dark horse who had the license at the time had as free reign as Lucasfilm will allow. And access to designs, so they got those first. ah And so they got them on the page, put the characters on the proverbial playing board. It was this series, it was like their introduction and their main conception. Right.
Speaker: Um, and you she, she shows up in the micro series and is, is just an amazing arena battle. Oh yes. I love the arena battle. It was just drop rocks on most of my opposition.
Speaker: And yes, all of, I mentioned that all of them have, have Wikipedia pages. Yes. Yes. Yes. I, I specifically asked you about the purple and black robot with a bunch of arms. And I remember you gave, you gave that one's backstory and it's like, okay, I guess that it has a backstory. All right. And it it immediately died. and But now for, for better, well,
Speaker: Ventress's introduction to the main characters from the micro series, most people considered to be still canon, even when the micro series canonicity was questionable. And for better or for worse, it has been thrown out the window with the publication of the novel Brotherhood.
Speaker: Uh, yeah, doing some, uh, doing some Homestuck 2 dubiously canon silliness. but But for a long period of time, especially during when the Clone Wars came, none of that was contradicted. It's only recently not addicted. Yeah, the, the micro series was in that ri - Once the 3D CGI series began,
Speaker: The micro series was considered kind of not canon and not not canon. Yeah, do be still otherwise proven. But that was also the way with a lot of the pre Disney.
Speaker: expanded universe stuff. And a lot of like the ideas of Ventress's original origin story that was put in like both comics and works out in to make the micro series Ventress was taken into consideration and into the Clone Wars canon.
Speaker: But some of that will be massaged and changed. We'll get to that when we get to that. Right. there's a But for the most part, consider this your introduction to her as it was the same introduction to all of us. Right. right Because when we get to the Clone Wars, we don't get an introduction it to her. We just we we get her there and they know who she is. Oh, boy.
Speaker: but verify the new girl yeah yeah
Speaker: um So then we we come back to me analyst again oh wait real quick there was one other note about this section is Dooku's if you were really a Sith this would be over line I really liked that line oh yeah the just the the fight again the general is really great And the Dooku voice line, the Christopher Lee impression was really strong. Oh, yeah. Yeah. So we we kind of like they were dual was great. Oh, yes. Yes. Yeah. We cut back. we We cut back to Munalist and they're fighting dirt some more. Oh, yeah. They're fighting him in the command center and
Speaker: that's ah That's some Cronenberg level body horror. Oh, yeah. I've got a note i've got a note here that says, Mighty Morphin' Muscle Monster, Dersh.
Speaker: oh oh You got away with words.
Speaker: and And i I just, to this day, I i love you. Obi -Wan just exploding him from the inside, standing there you in the words of Ghostbusters 2, drippings with school. And like, OK, that's over now. Let's go. Yeah. Seems I've made a mess here.
Speaker: ah then Then we go to, this is without a doubt my absolute favorite two episodes of the micro series, Mace Windu and Dantooine.
Speaker: Oh, the Dantooine. Yes. The sort of preposterous scale and technology. Mace just outright fist fighting B2 battle droids. Sometimes just like they're a speed bag. Hey, wait a second. I think we skipped a section. kind of what we handed me ah Yeah, I think we skipped to the first space section with Anakin.
Speaker: Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. yeah So ah one of the things is that so this is where we see R4 for the first time, I think. And hurricanes are far yeah, and I remember talking to Nick and being like, oh, hey, R4, is R4 a character? And Nick was like, no, not not really. And so I wrote my notes, R4 should be a character.
Speaker: ah But also, I also noted that some the series starts with focusing on Anakin getting his own mission, but he doesn't actually get any focus until like halfway through the series or the the miniseries is over.
Speaker: which I found kind of interesting how it's like that very first scene, it sets up Anakin as like, you know, the main character, like, oh, man, there's going to be all this drama with him taking over things. And then he just becomes completely out of focus for like half of the thing for the first half of it. Again, that's mainly due to the the structure of the series. Yes. And the fact that, yeah, it's only five minute episodes. and It was given a short bit of time. So they got to get through.
Speaker: Volume one was split into two halves, as I told you. The first, at the ending, was that first Anakin space battle. Yes. Where he encountered Ventress's fighter. And then I had to wait a year. A whole year. Yeah. We'll get to that part. They get to do they get to that.
Speaker: Yeah, they they kind of split up that the first half of volume one season one of volume one was Obi -Wan as the centerpiece. And then for season two of the micro series, the second half of volume one Anakin is the centerpiece. But also had a lot more cutaways. So it was a little bit more complicated, but Anakin had the heavier hitting right there. Really, once we get to the end of oh yeah why certainly.
Speaker: But yes, we have that awesome. Yes, on some starfighter battle. Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, and then and and then that's whenever we see Mace Windu on yeah and yeah two we yeah gentle the the same planet then in the original Star Wars Leia said No, that that that's where the rebel base is. Yeah. Yeah, it's there. Go there. Go there. one of my And we get to see one of my favorite, favorite weapons of mass destruction. The big stumpy thing? Yes. The seismic tank. One of my notes says that ah the seismic tank should have attacked by landing like a thwomp. Nick, I have a question.
Speaker: Why haven't we included the seismic tank in an RPG session? Why?
Speaker: That's a good question. And you know, it's still sort of canon because an issue of Marvel's Obi -Wan mini -scary from a couple of years ago references Mace Windu's fight on Dantooine. This is true. But it's not an issue of canon.
Speaker: I need to find a good place to it. I'm not supposed to throw a seismic tank. Naturally, naturally. Why not? You threw dirge and IG droids with lances on speeder brakes. We haven't finished that campaign, have we? No. I'm just saying. and I want a big as low seismic tank.
Speaker: Also to note, I'm sure that somebody is going to say that, no, the seismic tank can't attack like a thwomp because then that would result in the entire vehicle dropping at rapid speed and everybody inside would die. But, you know. But they're all battle droids. Yeah, yeah. So, you know, it doesn't matter if everybody inside would die. In fact, that would be optimal in case anybody tries to invade because then the tank attacking would also attack anybody living inside.
Speaker: Unfortunately, lawrences la Lauren has decided, has created the ultimate seismic tank. Yes. Yes. Super seismic tank. It's a thump from Mario, but really, really big.
Speaker: Lauren's googly eyes are vital to its optimal weapon, yes essentially. Yes, exactly. But yes, we get this unmitigated,
Speaker: a mace windu just dismantling droids with the force oh yes I love the part where he takes out all of the screws I said force dismantle is beautiful and this may be the the ultimate of every piece of Star Wars media with mace windu this may be the sweetest best most perfect And most worthy of Samuel L. Jackson, even though he did not voice this segment. Yes. For some reason I feel that he busted in to the animation office to be like, this is what we're going to do. You're going to make me the coolest, best, most powerful Jedi ever. And if not,
Speaker: I'm going to mess you up. I got to mess you up. I got a wallet. It it says BMF on it. not And I will slap review it unless you make this i mean the coolest, cleanest animation of me as a Jedi. I mean, I mean, Mace's lightsaber hilt is also genuinely inscribed with BMF on it.
Speaker: It is, legitimately. And him him death though cap him go him walking into the office like that is exactly how he got a purple lightsaber. Oh, yeah. like a one false saver I want a purple lightsaber. And Lucas is, well, um ah well but Jedi lightsaber colors are blue and green. I want purple, yeah but blue and green. I want to be able to tell in the crowd scenes from a distance that it's me. I want purple. And he said that in episode one, where he did not have a scene with his light scene. In episode two, it's like, I want a lightsaber style. that There's several lights. there I want my own.
Speaker: and
Speaker: so So what do we hit next? Oh, let's see here. Well, yeah, that's like the cave, the... hello Yeah. Well, it's one of the things is that ah seeing a jater a Jedi and a Padawan actually working together in sync for once. What? Yeah, it's craziness. We cannot have this. This is Star Wars. This is not allowed. Because, you know, in i've I had only ever seen episode two, so I'd really only seen Anakin and
Speaker: and Obi -Wan working together and they are not usually particularly in sync with one another. No they are not. But seeing these two defending all the cyber crystals was really cool because like oh that's what Jedi is supposed to be like when they're actually in sync with one another. no That's the order. No spoilers but hold on to that thought as we get deeper into the series fair to the sea series. They're very, they're very interesting characters.
Speaker: Yeah, that that was the only note that I had for this section, though. It was really fun. There's also the Chameleon Droids. Those are cool. Oh, yeah. Yeah, those those were pretty cool. And, you know, Yoda hopping around again.
Speaker: you know license stuff up we're getting to Yoda I didn't have a note about Yoda where um Yoda's ah dynamic with Padme is great yeah and also then I then I wrote as Yoda jumps out ah Yoda doing hot girl shit as he's going out and just absolutely slaughtering all the droids I hey Yeah, I could define it bad. Yeah. And then I also wrote ah Padme doing hot girl shit as ah she blows them all up. ah Yeah, I think that's like the second most popular figure of her in and that Jadakoski sort of cloak with the skin. It's the same skin.
Speaker: It's gonna dive out for the Geonosis. Oh yeah, the the way that she tricked the droids with like her cloak and then and then used C -3PO to actually do something for once. Yes, that was good. I like that. And still, that again, that's also Anthony Daniels.
Speaker: Because he consistently plays C -3PO whenever possible. and For some reason, he does not have any other things to do. So he's just like, Oh yeah, I'll just be free for you. Yeah.
Speaker: All right, what else do you have? What do you have next? Let's hear. So next is we're actually focusing on Anakin now, finally. This is where he's actually like becoming the main character from here on out, basically. What? and And I have one note for the space battle, and it goes, R4 dies? Yes, that's why he's not a character. No, we can't have R4 die. That was my favorite character.
Speaker: Oh, I have so I have I feel I you're you're gonna have so much pain. going forward you got Because gonna go for a bad time. um' I'm just gonna say this, you know, with the 3d animated series, Dave Filoni is up there in the pantheon with George RR Martin.
Speaker: and the Buffy creator who shall not be named. Oh, no. In terms of, you know, oh, you love these characters. Mm hmm. Watch me kill them. Oh, no. And it's never like, oh, it sometimes is like, oh, that's war. And so there's like, no, they're gonna suffer. Oh, yeah. And, you know, they're, it's kind of like,
Speaker: the joke that, you know, why is George RR Martin not on Twitter? He killed wall 142 characters. yeah Nice. It's like, you're gonna, you're gonna can't get a carry these fields. Oh, no, not our four. Our four is just the beginning, my friend. No.
Speaker: So that's just the beginning. But yes, also ah tons of about like 12 different clone troopers got got murked on as well. ah That's whatever those those are clone troopers. This is our four that we're talking about here. Oh, by the time we get halfway by the time we get halfway through, if that far the big series, you will not be saying yes, those are just clone troopers. I'm sure that's true. and If you see the projected arc I have have stopping us tomorrow.
Speaker: You know, he will be, he'll understand. Yes. But yeah, so let's see here. So after Anakin chases her, they go to the temple planet, the ancient temple planet, Yavin Fork is the planet that the rebel base is on in the original movie and Rogue One. Yeah. And she does some, uh, some alien versus predator sort of stuff to all the clone troopers that showed up.
Speaker: yes and except it's actually just predator really but you know yeah yes she she she is the predator and and anakin is arnold yes he even gets surplus for it yeah oh yeah yeah now i i want to say the the only note that i have for this sequence is I have remembered for all of the years since this aired that the rain slowly starting to fall, fizzling off their lightsaber blades. Oh, yeah. Has just always been amazing. That is one of the coolest decisions. Honestly, I would love to see that live. act Oh, yeah. Yes. Just. Yes, again, it's it's.
Speaker: a part of like Karthikovsky's sort of like lexicon, especially with his samurai that stuff like rain and effects on blades and like steam.
Speaker: And the way he depicts the steam is so both organic, but also stylistic. It's meant to be like a very foreboding And in fact, that's the end of that part. Oh yeah. Is meant to like ratchet up the tents. It is definitely his style. And I would love to see that, but I don't think it can be properly. If you did it realistically, it wouldn't look as stylistic. And as much as I understand the practicality.
Speaker: it would be harder to do now that they're doing so much of the lightsaber effects practically in camera rather than rotoscoping. And again, they they could still stack effects on it. But again, like the effect is way more effective in sort of a abstract. I would love to see and come back for an episode of Visions. The effect in live action would, the way it would come off in live action, I think, wouldn't be worth the man hours it would take to try to get close to. And even I'd say like, even I'd say distracting. Yeah. It's better that it,
Speaker: It should be and it's like, honestly, like, yeah honestly, I'd say like, if they ever do a business in season three days, uh, to explain business is an animated.
Speaker: storytelling of Star Wars non -canon made by multiple different artists. Multiple different animation studios across the world. I see. they They've done two seasons so far. Season one was all anime production houses. Cool.
Speaker: And then season two was multiple international production houses. There's one from France, I believe there was one from yeah Brazil. I think there was an Australian one as well. but yeah here If they did a season three of visits, like I would love to see Gandy come back. I believe they are and I believe because I believe they've said that they want to follow up season one's the ninth Jedi. Oh my we can't talk about that. that we we can't talk about yeah later Not yet. I'm here. Yeah.
Speaker: um so Oh, we we other we could do an in -between. Yeah, we we could do a Visions episode at some point. But yeah, one thing that I noted is that Ventress, she swapped out her original like blue and green lightsabers for red ones now that she's actually working with a Sith.
Speaker: And I thought that was really cool. And also I noted that there's that scene where they go into the temple, the dark temple, and then there's that blue versus red lighting as yeah from their lightsabers. That was such a cool moment. And then again, that's very much Tartakovsky's sensibilities. He's very much a cop. He's an artist about contract.
Speaker: And then near the end of the scene, there's that moment where the camera's pretty zoomed out as Anakin and Ventress are lightsaber fighting up a staircase. And originally, temple yeah yeah yeah because the scene was so zoomed out, I looked closely and saw that it looked like Anakin and Ventress were just repeating the same animation frames over and over and over again.
Speaker: and I thought that well you know it's pretty zoomed out so maybe that's you know just uh just a time -saving measure of their animations are repeating but then I noticed what motion Anakin was doing within that repeated animation and he's just slamming his lightsaber on her repeatedly like it yeah it looks ah extremely violent and it's like oh wait that's not a cost -cutting measure he's going ham on her He is going maximum aggro mode right now. And that really, that makes the next scene as it zooms back in. And he just, you know, he, geez, I forget the details of what he does exactly all of a sudden, but I just remember he goes aggro on her as things get extremely dramatic with the flashes to all of his mentors. And like, that was such a good scene.
Speaker: No, no, no commentary clock. You got it. Oh, yeah, exactly. Mm hmm. Clap, clap. Yes, not it's me, the media analysis person. you know you You understood exactly what that was meant to me. Oh, yeah. Anakin was was going.
Speaker: full powered and striking down his enemy and disappointing his mentor figures. And I like to think that you know it's that the whole action sequence between him and Ventress had been building up his anger towards her, even from the beginning with him getting annoyed at the way that she was constantly evading him in their you know space battle.
Speaker: to the way that she had taken out everybody that had tried to help him to the whole isolation element and it's yeah and R4 dying as well naturally and it's like it really helps the build up to his anger to show that you know she had done a lot to really take him off over the that such a brief period of time essentially and the way he ends it it's just a primal roar of hate oh yeah yeah
Speaker: Yep, and yeah we he's he's once again flirting with the dark side. Flirting hell, he's French kissing the dark side. As he should be. We got the final part of volume one. We go to back to Moodleist and we get to see The Civistan Jedi. Yes. Yes, the Shistavan and Wolfman Jedi, which has i as I as I recall, it is actually he was voted. Yes, they vote. Yes, they in between seasons one and two, they put a vote online and said,
Speaker: And I told you about that. Pick a Jedi that you want to see. There was an Ithorian, a Shistavanan. I forget what all else. yeah there is yeah yeah Yeah, I can't remember the third one. but And the Shistavanan one, i on I voted for the Shistavanan, thank you, thank you, thank you. Very pleased that we won, very pleased that we won. Also, you partly because it's you cool character design and partly to to correct the Shistavanan Wolfman erasure from the Star Wars special edition.
Speaker: But Nick, didn't you say that the characters who didn't win ended up going on to get their own appearances, which had a lot more depth than this particular appearance? We'll get into that. Right. So it turns out that the winner was and kind kind of the loser in some respect. True, and but now still, you know.
Speaker: Laxivrak Erasure it was was yeah you given a little bit of justice. yeah cause you when they as you may or or rather here when When the original came out, the Cantina scene, they they'd blown the budget. yeah but They had some original masks, but to fill out the Cantina, they went into the costume department at Fox and they were pulling whatever they could.
Speaker: oh yeah And so they they pulled a wolf man mask and put it on somebody. yeah And yeah as with every Cantina character, he got an extensive backstory in the extended universe. He got full species was created around him.
Speaker: uh you know they at one point he was even piloting the mysterious y -wing that also survived the battle of the death star um and uh then when lucas went in and did the special edition he plastered over him with the cg alien oh And quite clearly if if we just sort of stumble into a Star Wars production, quite literally we could become
Speaker: cannon. Hey, i always how words hey galaxy's edge is cannon. So everyone who has visited galaxy's edge is a canon Star Wars character now. Oh, boy, maybe someday I'll be a canon Star Wars character. But here, in here's, here's the fun thing. So Um, some of the staff of fantasy flight games on a Star Wars RPG podcast have talked about the Lucasfilm licensing process. And part of that, of course, you know, is Lucasfilm reviews the artwork to approve it, which makes perfect sense, right? One of the things Lucasfilm looks for is shoelaces.
Speaker: If any of the artwork features shoelaces, it's rejected. huh Because shoelaces are not canon in Star Wars. But if Galaxy's Edge is canon, people go there wearing shoes with laces. So shoelaces are now canon. What are you talking about, Daryl? Don't you know that whenever you go there, everybody everybody's shoes have their shoelaces removed at the door?
Speaker: um the That's my hill and I'm go i'm not going to die on it, but I am going to plant a flag and go neener, neener. Also, no one wears the underwear in space. Oh, of course. It would strangle you. no that Lucas said that to Carrie Fisher during the filming of the original.
Speaker: and it's stupid she's like she's like can can can can i can i can i have a bra i'm kind of swinging free here and he's like no there's no underwear in space that's so dumb and sexist and also terrible what the hell man well you know and sidetrack side Side tangent here and then we'll let it that that same kind of thing happened with a Star Trek novel. Oh, yeah. There there was an author who one of my favorite authors Peter David. He has told stories. yeah He has told stories about there's a guy at Paramount licensing who was Gene Roddenberry's right hand.
Speaker: who was a nightmare for licensed authors to work with. And Peter had written a line in one of the books where Riker makes a you know makes a quip that he would rather walk border patrol along the Romulan neutral zone in his underwear than do something else. And the note came back, it has not been established that our characters wear underwear.
Speaker: And so he he changed the line to Reicher said that he would rather walk border patrol naked along the Romulan ocean and that went through. Well, okay then. Also, I think there's one scene that we haven't talked about yet. Go for it. It's General Grievous.
Speaker: Yes, that's what we get started talking about. And then then then I went down my rabbit hole. Yeah. but So yeah, I've got two notes about General Grievous. the Well, the scene in general. There's a lot of notes about Grievous that we can... but so i like you So what I've got here is, in all caps, with four exclamation points, Shaggy! Yes. And then and then immediately after... Oh, he's dead now, nevermind.
Speaker: yeah but yeah
Speaker: ah and so I have a joke to make, but I don't know if you know that. I only, but I did know about it, but I didn't want to make anyone know about it. What is it? I'll talk to you then. No. Okay. Okay. I'll talk to you in private.
Speaker: he's He's not going to make it. I think I know what it is, but he's not going to make it. All right. And then my second one here is, uh, as, uh, as General Grievous, he starts fighting. Uh, he does a Rob side special from Smash Bros. And it says Rob side special Grievous, which is beautiful because I don't know if either of y 'all play Smash Bros, but in the latest game, I know that because I have a friend that plays it and I didn't know what it was going to say. And I asked him like,
Speaker: What happened? It's like, oh, they did the Rob's. Rob's site is very broken in the latest game. So the fact that he uses it was, I said to him, a close rid of us, like, uh,
Speaker: what does that even mean? I just, again, we were just playing casual. It's like, Oh yeah. Yeah, he completely obliterated. That's like... Yeah, yeah. um You two know that I don't know how the place is. The fact that Grievous takes on four lightsaber users at the same time with that spinny move is like, yeah, yeah, that that's Rob's side special. that That's how it works in Smash. and There were like two masters, three knights.
Speaker: And so one of the things that that Tardikovsky had been tasked with was to introduce Grievous to set up episode three. His character was still in creative flux at this point. So the only thing he had was this was the closest to his characterization in that he had a character design. He had a character design and they knew that he had stolen lightsabers. Yeah. Stolen lightsabers and is described as a droid general and Jedi killer. Is he fully droid? I thought there was some biological element to him.
Speaker: Oh, he is a cyborg. OK. But but he commands the droid forces. Gotcha. Gotcha. He's a droid general in the sense that he is a general to the droids, not in the sense that he is a droid who is a general. Right. OK. Right. And so Tardikovsky gives us this scene where Grievous is frightening. Mm hmm. A fucking terrifying monster.
Speaker: And then Revenge of the Sith comes out and - Wait, he has it? Have you seen Revenge of the Sith? Nope. Just keep this in mind then. Oh, we haven't had our first grievous episodes yet. Nope. Nope. So just remember this presentation.
Speaker: And then keep it in mind when you start seeing Grievous in the Clone Wars series. right are For our next thing we show the behind the scenes Grievous footage with Lucas. That now how contextualized this.
Speaker: so do we have any more commentary on the micro, see on volume one of the micro series? I'm just gonna say that uh my head cannon is that Shaggy actually survives uh that encounter and runs away and finds a droid named uh Scooby Doo and goes on many adventures with that droid that that is my head cannon Shaggy is still out there even today. ah and It just so happens that he's wearing a red shirt now. but That's the only difference. I guess he always comes back. Yes. What? yeah It's not a Wookiee that he that pals around with? No, no, no. It's got to be Scooby Doo. Gotcha. it's It's like an R2 droid, but it's brown and with like some blue lining on it.
Speaker: Gotcha. He hastily changes the set of files on the 3D printer. yeah okay Because I'm not saying I have a 3D model of Shaggy. I'm not saying that at all. Yes. We have Two episodes and a - And a movie. barely A early movie. Yes. So - Next up then is the Clone Wars episode Cat and Mouse, which is season two, episode 16. And it looks like you have something to say about this, Daryl. I mean, I'm just going to say it that it watching in chronological order, this is my first watch in chronological order.
Speaker: And this doesn't really make for a good introductory episode. It doesn't. And it and it's it's kind of like how Fox aired the first episode of Firefly last.
Speaker: oh Aside from just It's part of season two, so obviously they've got one and a half seasons under their belt already. So it's expected that the audience knows who these characters are and what's going on. um And the animation quality is way better than season one. It's clear that the creatives behind the scenes knew that this wasn't a first episode, even if it is the one that
Speaker: takes place at the earliest point in time. yeah um So yeah with the original intent of a semi -anthology series, they obviously built in enough structure and context that honestly, I'm not seeing much benefit to watching chronologically. I know that there are people who love watching it chronologically because chronological, but someone watch Since I watched it, no escape from it. since i know why where we come Since I know how it came out and everything, it actually distracts from me watching this as the first one because I'm with, you know, i I know I said I like to think I'm media savvy, media literate. In the first episode of something, I expect to give me setup.
Speaker: Again, here's where, uh, where I come from. It's like, I'm coming from like, I'm giving someone who hasn't watched it. Yeah. In the same way in order ah that I don't have to go for the same issue that I went through. And also the fact that, yeah, this should have been how it should have been done. It should have been better done.
Speaker: This isn't right. I wouldn't say like chronological order is wrong, but better than being confused going. ahto I don't think it's wrong. I don't think the payoff of watching in chronological order is worth the effort that watching in chronological order requires. And I feel that we can disagree on that.
Speaker: You know, no, i'm I'm not saying that anybody has to has to agree with me or not. I'm just saying, given that that's not how it was originally delivered, it wasn't meant, intended, for want of a better term, to be watched this way. So I don't see as big a payoff as the people who prefer chronological do.
Speaker: I'm just going to note that I really like the spider guy. The spider guy is really... Admiral Trench? Yes. I really like how he plays like purely defensively because that kind of plays into him being a spider. He's he's very web -vibed with his strategy of trapping things that come into his web, but not really going out and on on the offensive, essentially.
Speaker: Yeah, I actually like how it's like sort of like a classical like, like submarine type story. yeah Yeah, I've got a note here that says submarine mode. Yeah, what what it's a submarine story. I totally didn't get that from the sonar pinks.
Speaker: All that was missing was someone speaking with the Sean Connery voice. ah Yeah, it's basically a hunt for red October. cover it And like, ah doesn't apparently the guy who does the narration for the intros to the episodes is relevant to this episode? Oh, yeah. Yeah. That's Admiral Yalar, and he'll be around for a while. OK. And that's also Tom Kane, who also voices Yoda on the series and a few other characters. Well, right well yeah, that that was everything that I wrote down about that episode. Yeah. we
Speaker: Um, my, my copy also is also the entirety of the episode is probably explain it like, Oh, no, Sif doesn't have, but have a, have a Coke and device as well. That's, that's literally the entirely of them. It's like, well, there is a thing is that small enough. sogan advice Well, we saw one in Phantom Menace too.
Speaker: Nothing.
Speaker: and Did well, that that was the only note I had. That's the only note Lauren had. Did you have anything else, Nick? No. OK, all right. I guess ah we're moving on to the next episode then. So and that next episode would be The Hidden Enemy, episode 16 of season one. So we're jumping back in the broadcast order.
Speaker: ah Again, it's, again, just going back to like, back to like, this, this broadcast order is nonsense. Where we have ah ah apparently a spy in the midst of Anakin and Obi -Wan's forces as they try to take the planet Christophsis.
Speaker: or
Speaker: There's an enemy. um bob well among o walk I really only had I really only had one note on this one. I had a couple there. There dar are you are completely allowed to like punch me, punch me for making this an obvious joke.
Speaker: I need to add something to our soundboard for future episodes. Well, you see, Nick, I'm the Let's Player here. You're making a gaming reference. I'm the one who's supposed to hit you.
Speaker: um Please, please, please, please. I'll give you the suplex, don't worry. oh But my my only note for this episode is a clone trooper named Chopper is collecting battle droid fingers. Does Dave Filoni have a thing for giving that name to psychos?
Speaker: Nice. but i had a yeah Oh, so hit us. Yeah. So let's hear it. The first thing that I wrote was a cool looking blue crystal towers, which I did not realize that those blue crystal towers would be so relevant for the oncoming episodes. Yes, other buildings. Yeah. Yeah. It's a it's a really cool set, you know, like a really cool environment. And it seems like they get a lot of use out of it in in the movie and such. Yeah.
Speaker: the It is a really awesome design that it takes advantage of the kinds of things that are easy to do and textures and such that you can convey with computer animation. Yes, certainly. So so you get effect that. A lot of the effects that Lucas poured so much money into the Clone Wars. Personal money.
Speaker: yeah It is like ridiculous how much money he poured into it. You will see an evolution in animation. Yes. so i mean season and I was about to mention that that evolution in style. Watch Anakin and Obi -Wan in particular as the series progresses and the animation technology improves.
Speaker: The reason they have the really cool armor collars and arm pieces was because the the texturing on trying to do the Jedi robes for the sleeves and around their necks looked bad. I see. And so they're like, well, let's give them some armor.
Speaker: And you know they they thought back to the fuller suit of clone armor that Obi -Wan wore in the micro series, like, let's do a variation of that. you know we can We can show more of the robes, um show more of the robes, but still you cover up what the technology doesn't let us do to our satisfaction with the technology and the budget that we have.
Speaker: Again, it's not as extreme, but think back on our MLP rewatch how to play the animation. Oh, yeah. Speaking of MLP, I actually have a note related to that coming up. So. like well It by Gleeps and Val.
Speaker: So yeah, ah the next thing that I had was clone on clone violence, which, you know, I expected that there would be some of that naturally. yeah Didn't expect to see it so early, really.
Speaker: Yeah, they say really early on started diving into the idea that now that they're out of the cloning facility environment and in the larger galaxy, their experiences are making them individuals. And we'll get into even more of that in the next part. I have more about that in my notes near the end of it, actually.
Speaker: so Yeah, the next thing that I have... I'm getting to see more about like Kamino before
Speaker: Oh yeah, actually the last note that I have skipping ahead is Clone Freedom Thematics is, you know, the whole reason why that guy betrayed his group, essentially. And I am skipping ahead here. I have more notes in the middle, but yeah, just... Oh yeah, you're not imagining anything. And although they don't start... Do you want to start with that first before we get to that end point?
Speaker: Well, I was going to say they they start leaning into into that more. You learn like ah we but we're we're talking about the clone on clone violence. So, you know, we can we can talk about, you know, the whole clone freedom thing. That's that's all directly related. The the other notes are more about the lightsaber fights and stuff. So, you know.
Speaker: yeah ah the they They'll lean into it as well as they don't lean into this next part quite as much. But I have a note ah about something like this when we get to the movie here in the next segment. But um had the Jedi are using child soldiers.
Speaker: But not just the Jedi are using child soldiers, not just in Padawans, but in the clones. The clones yeah are 10 years old. Even if they're physically mature, they're they're not that old. Yeah, they're child soldiers.
Speaker: And so yeah, that that is, while they don't often go into into that idea of very overtly, it's an undercurrent to the whole series. Is there a point within the series in general where that gets explored more explicitly, like maybe not in the animated series, but in something out there, I'm guessing.
Speaker: Where it really hit home for me, and this is the comment that I had about the movie, is the flashback episode of the Ahsoka series. Because the note that, I'll mention this when we get to the movie. Okay, well we'll get there when we get to the movie. All right. I'm gonna put a pin in that. So going to the more light savory stuff with the fight against Ventress, the first thing that I have is Book Attack, Twilight Sparkle and Patchouli Knowledge technique.
Speaker: because they're fighting in like a library or something. And I'm pretty sure they use the force on like some books to like, I don't remember the exact specifics of it, but yes, they they use the books to attack.
Speaker: All right, we're back. We had a little bit of a technical difficulty and probably lost some audio in there, but rather than trying to force the flow of the conversation back um after that interruption. What do the two of you say that we just dive ahead into the Clone Wars movie? All right, let's do it. My name's Zancaster for having a bad motivator. The Clone Wars movie, 2008.
Speaker: The first new Star Wars released to theaters in five years at that point. um For some people, some generations, my own son included, this was the first Star Wars that they saw in the theater.
Speaker: o um
Speaker: Nick, ye any any memories of the Clone Wars movie in the theater for you? a I went a week late in the release, mainly because I was still in school at the time. Naturally.
Speaker: but
Speaker: I remember being being optimistic. I've been following like as much as I could of the reduction going up into it, because i this is basically the soft pilot for the series. Yeah. Right. And they they spared no expense getting Samuel L. Jackson to come in this one time for Clone Wars. Mm -hmm. I got a pretty decent, we'll get to Future mace window episodes were pretty good replacement.
Speaker: um no watching Watching this for our show. I think it's the first time that I noticed that the Republic space station in the opening is actually configured for ships to approach from multiple planes, not just a single artificial horizon. And I was like, Oh, that's cool. Yeah. It's only like the second time we've seen that in Star Wars. And then actually appears later on, but we'll get to that. That appears in the malevolent are with the medical station. Yes.
Speaker: Well, it was, it's also in the opening of the movie in the, in the newsreel. Yes. Which that threw me the first time I saw it. Yeah. I was, you know, I, I'm sitting in a thing. Again, i that I, that is a memory that I had. Cause I went in completely blind. I'm too like, I avoided all spoilers or anything. I heard some negative reviews, some positive reviews.
Speaker: Yeah, I was like, when I went in there and I was like, they bought the Star Wars, the Clone Wars logo. I was like, OK, opening crawl and then boom, we get the format that we now know as the newsreel opening with Admiral Yularen. Yeah, which is actually kind of fun and fits with the flavor of the movie and the whole series. Mm hmm.
Speaker: But yeah, expecting that going into a theater for the first time as a long -term Star Wars fan, ah jarring. Yeah, you're like, what the huh? But not something is different now. I don't know whether that was more jarring or seeing the Warner Brothers animation logo in front of a Star Wars movie. I forget if that was in front of the of the Disney Plus. This isn't I don't think it was.
Speaker: Yeah, I don't know. I don't remember. i I don't remember either, but I remember sitting there in in the theater like, where' where's where's the Fox fanfare? I need the Fox fanfare. Nope, not this time. It was a very different type of Star Wars movie. Yes, it was. Yes, yes, certainly.
Speaker: So we we get introduced to to the whole scenario, the whole setup of the Clone Wars. For those of you who for some reason are watching this animated Star Wars movie without having seen any of the other movies and without knowing what Attack of the Clones brought to the table, we get brought up to speed in a newsreel style. Like I said, that In context, it works, I think, in sight better than the crawl. for Yeah, probably. and Especially since Lucas based the original Star Wars and most of the stars around classical World War II aesthetics. And at the time, like that's how you would get the news. and yeah and front like Quite literally, it's in trailers. Trailers would be at the end of movies at the time.
Speaker: Yeah, they're called trailers. But beforehand, you would get a newsreel, especially during the war. And it would tell you what's going on. It would show footage from the front. Because TV wasn't even a big thing at the time. Yeah, it wasn't even a thing in the 40s.
Speaker: the It existed. It wasn't, it wasn't. not an a Yeah. More people had radios and more people saw movies and they saw television programs. Right. Yep. So radio and news reels are how, how the news got out and newspapers.
Speaker: So, uh, so yeah, at this point, uh, I do have a ah note about the adventure ahead where yeah I know that it's ah it's a Jabba ally attempt. And that seems pretty interesting to me because historically, you know, I'm familiar with the original trilogy and he's really only a villain in that context. So it's interesting seeing ah our heroes try to ally with him.
Speaker: and creates a different dynamic in a way. And the reasoning for it is interesting in that they they basically need to use the Hut's highways. we need a We need access through your territory to fight the war. Yeah. Which further shows how the Republic was never as large of a government as the Galactic Empire was. Even at its height,
Speaker: of its power. Quite literally a large section of space was controlled by gangsters. Yeah. Like openly controlled by organized crime. What did they have to actively negotiate to go through their trade routes?
Speaker: and so it does And it also definitely set up a dynamic that
Speaker: Okay, who on their bingo card had Jabba has a cute little baby and is is Gaga for his his little punky muffin? but Definitely not me. Honestly, no, especially because and in in the old expanded universe, now known as Legends, Jabba actively had children.
Speaker: and rolled over and killed them like as soon as they were born he would just roll over and just so more so
Speaker: And so we we set up that storyline, because there's multiple storylines weaving through this. Yes, and which sets up the entirety of the of this series. Right. And then we we cut to our heroes, Obi -Wan and Anakin, still on Christophsis. Yeah, the planet that we've been setting up for the past several episodes in our chronological reading. Right, which yeah when when we go see the movie, it's the very first thing. So yeah, that's the very first thing we ever see. And which vexed me my entire time watching me and like, are we continually going back there? That that threw me too. um And so we, we have you we are watching in chronological view, done by Star Wars ah .com. We have, we're gonna have a playlist by them in the description. Yep.
Speaker: But actual watching through on Disney Plus is release order. And that's very confusing. And yes, Darryl, I know you hate me for it. Then we have we have an envoy come from the Jedi Council, Anakin, you know, teasing Obi -Wan about, well, you know, it's about time you've got a new padawan and And it was better you than me, because no way could I ever have a Padawan. And off the shuttle the world's introduction to Ahsoka Tano. And the world hated Ahsoka Tano. But you know, she' those people she shows up with a message for Obi -Wan's help, as all good Star Wars characters do.
Speaker: This is true. But also, Lawrence, I don't know if you ever saw Sogetano as a character design, but what was your first ah opinion upon seeing her step off the ship? I mean, I'm already familiar with the character in like a general sense. So like that just ah there there she is. There's the character that's going to be important for like the rest of the series. Looking forward to seeing what's going on with her.
Speaker: Like it didn't, it wasn't, because I'm already familiar with the character, generally speaking, it wasn't exactly, it wasn't exactly a introduction to her. Yeah, she's roughly around like in terms of, of the fan of the fandom and pop culture, roughly around like 12, 15 years now. So images have been around for for over a decade. yeah Yeah. Yeah. Just like most Star Wars important characters, you can't you can't avoid not knowing and yeah seeing them. So more importantly, like we'll get into when you first hear her and see her accent would be more interesting. Yeah. Yeah. And I mean, you know, all of them and you know of their pedigree. But yeah, just like what Daryl was saying, there was a lot of skepticism going forward. Yeah.
Speaker: And so what was that skepticism about anyway? Well, for the most part, at its mildest, and and this was me just after the movie, the way she was written was kind of annoying. Yeah.
Speaker: R2E sky guy, it's like, okay, we're, we're going cutesy. I understand this is a kid's cartoon. Do we have to go that cutesy? And I came from a, from a, from a more, I'd say a more moderate, like Anakin is, doesn't have a padawan. You think they would mention that in Star Wars episode three, which had already come out. Well,
Speaker: My immediate reaction to that is, oh, yeah, we're gonna see this kid die by the time I ended this series. I was on that, I was like, that was my one thing that was like, okay,
Speaker: this child is going to die and that's gonna help contribute to Anakin's fall to the dark side in episode three. but's like But like, That's my way of getting around that because but even then I still found it all that not a mention word and.
Speaker: Nothing. So she's going to die and it's going to be so horrible that Anakin never, ever, ever wants to mention her again. i My critique was moderate and like I agreed with that sentiment mainly because see, by all means came from came purely from whole cloth. There's nothing to set her up and there's no confirmation that she exists.
Speaker: afterwards. No, it must be a part of because Lucas is involved in everything. So it must be a part of why he falls as I therefore doesn't talk about it. Now you see, I was personally kind of in the opposite direction from both of y 'all. Because like, I had heard coming into the movie that Ahsoka starts off like really annoying, but then she gets better later.
Speaker: But my time with her in the movie, I felt like she was pretty great overall. Like, yeah, she acts like a kid, but like that's clearly the point. She's clearly supposed to be new to this. She is not taking this as seriously as the other characters because that that's her characterization. That's the point. And I think that it creates something that it creates her own unique dynamic with the rest of the cast that isn't covered by anyone else. And I think that it makes you a worthwhile addition overall.
Speaker: And hearing that from you while I was watching made me reevaluate because usually when I've done my previous Clone Wars rewatches, I skip the movie. I just never felt that had that impact on me. I thought it was fine. I thought it was good. yeah The animation could be better better. And it does get way better. but it's like But seeing it through your lens and how you were seeing Ahsoka Tano and how her sort of cuteness was... Yeah, she was bringing in a sort of and different energy that the rest of the cast didn't. and Whereas some of us who you had some preconceived notions of how things should play out, we saw that as a bug. It was a feature for you. Yeah, basically. That's the point of the character. in out
Speaker: I'll likely, in future rewatches, post this this this podcast. I'll include the Clone Wars, because now I can view it from a different perspective than I had. That that is an awesome perspective, coming right on the heels of us literally talking about the whole child soldier concept. It's not one that I had taken into consideration with this movie. So I thank you for that. Yeah.
Speaker: So we're able to add in our thoughts bring in your thoughts as well. like That's the point of this podcast. We're coming in with, we're all three different types of Star Wars fans. Totally, totally. I think that another element that helps her characterization is the fact that she wants to become more experienced. Like she shows a little bit of an ego element whenever she talks to one of the soldiers and she's like, oh, well, since I'm a Jedi, technically I outrank you.
Speaker: But also at the same time, that's kind of like the only time that that really happens because otherwise she is consistently trying to learn to be better. She's trying to get that experience. She's giving a sweetie experience. And also one of the of the mo ah the movie Rex, where he says, in my time, experience outranks everything. Yeah. And she's going for it. She's going for that experience. So he wants that experience. so he gets she She's like, she's being arrogant and like, I'm a Jedi, so you love me, but I want to learn. It's like, well, you got to learn by experiencing it. She isn't upset about that. She's like, yeah, no. She's like, that's the assignment. Yeah. And another thing to consider thinking more and more about your perspective of seeing Ahsoka for the first time, mentally,
Speaker: she understands the situation that she's going into. She understands, oh, this is a war. I'm going into a combat zone. But she's not prepared for it. And I think this kind of... I think it's explained to you, Lawrence, that the Jedi at this time are not prepared for war. They're peacekeepers thrust into high command. Right.
Speaker: And one thing, this kind of kind of breaks the rules that we've laid down for ourselves for for this Clone Watch. But what really drove home that home for me, yeah characters are are animated in a stylized manner all the time. What really hit home for me was the flashback episode of the Ahsoka live action series. And they had Ariana Greenblatt in as a live action for the Clone Wars Ahsoka. Because that's the first time we ever see live acts in Clone Troopers, because all of them in both Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith are entirely CZI constructs. Yeah. But that's why people people complained about the Clone Armor not
Speaker: looking right because well they actually made armor for people to wear. Yeah. When there is not made. Seeing a flesh and blood child Ariana Greenblatt as Ahsoka roughly around this period just really hit home. oh Oh, yeah, she was a kid when all of this started. ah we're done yet And we're not talking, you know, late teen and, you know, as someone who I.
Speaker: I read comics, I watch cartoons, I watch Star Wars. yeah and you know i'm used to you know My -time favorite comic is New Teen Titans. you know keep Keep an eye out for a future series on this podcast of rereading New Teen Titans.
Speaker: ah bloging ours but um You know, it's one thing to see drawings, whether they're static or animated of quote unquote teenagers yeah fighting crime and putting their lives on the line and whatnot. But seeing that flesh and blood kid Ahsoka, it's like, oh,
Speaker: yeah she was a kid yeah this is the first time i've gone back and watched this early of clone wars since seeing that and it stuck out at me more i mean that definitely makes sense i'm more close i'm again more close in age so i understand like yeah the clone wars is a stylized show and just like comic books and other medias animated so you stylize but I know what a teenager looks like. I was one not too long ago. Too terribly long ago. When this so came out, I was becoming one. So I was like, yeah. She's a child soldier. You heard it, ladies and gentlemen. Nick just called me old. Oh, no.
Speaker: Well, I am also admitted I am now old too. ah You're not old until you're like 90.
Speaker: Now, I see here, Lauren, that you have a note that you wanted to talk about a visual element here. Yes, yes. So basically, whenever Ahsoka shows up, ah it's it's not too long after that, that the droids set up like this really giant force field. And I really like the color contrast with the force field because a lot of the planet Its aesthetics are very blue and sort of like a cyan sort of color, but in the force field is a massive red. And I mean, that that's a major color contrast within the series in general is blue, green versus red. And there's also a big part of Star Wars in general is rely on like, but like, obviously the, the first lightsaber battles between Obi -Wan and Darth Vader.
Speaker: will be one of a blue lightsaber made of red. So it's always been a big color contrast between sides. It's always been a major effect. But yeah, right. Especially here, it is... It it looks so good, especially whenever Ahsoka and Anakin are like infiltrating the shield, and so they're hiding under something as the shield moves over them, and just seeing everything go from that bluish -green color to the red color It looks great. Again, like and as I've mentioned before in our Watts crew, some of the weaknesses of early the early seasons is their lighting problem, but not in this movie. This movie does the lighting really well. yes that ah Especially at the moment you're talking about how like the red envelops their characters and we're able to get an awkward shot that keeps the blue instead. Absolutely.
Speaker: And part of the whole scenario that those shields are brought into brings us to what will become a tradition and running gag almost throughout the co Clone Wars. We get our first instance of Obi -Wan and Anakin committing war crimes. Oh boy! With Obi -Wan's false surrender. Yes, and I love i love how smug he is.
Speaker: during those negotiations. And the reason is that like, we can, yes, we can view it from our external view as war crimes, but this movie actually includes that there is a doctrine of proper war etiquette, a pseudo Geneva convention. Though we don't go into every detail about it. We don't even get any excerpts.
Speaker: beyond Obi -Wan wanting his tea immaculate to be prepared. Yes. But it implies that there is a doctrine for war. And he and if it's based at all on our human Geneva conventions, Obi -Wan's bringing like seven of them. yeah yeah These doctrines are basically like the Prime Directive in Star Trek.
Speaker: They are brought up when they're about to be thrown out the window. Yep. But unlike the Pride Directive where it's like, let's see this sort of a pseudo heroic act. This is, I honestly see as part of like the part of the prequels and the Clone Wars show in that the Jedi are high on own supply. They're so arrogant. They're in their own power.
Speaker: From my point of view, the Jedi are evil. Right. but We'll get to that. we get you may You may even feel that at the end. Oh, boy. Yes. Where do we get a a couple of seasons down the line? Don't get ahead of yourself. Yeah. We'll get there. You never dream you know meme, but the he might not be entirely wrong.
Speaker: About that, about that. Yeah. I mean, there's a whole storyline coming about the Jedi are coming to get your kids. Oh, yeah. And I don't just mean in the acolyte. Yeah. Anyway, anyway, so, so Ahsoka and Anakin are like doing the simplest thing in the world.
Speaker: to get through an expanding shield, get under something and stay stationary. Yeah. Their metal gear is all like it. Oh, yeah. they're They're absolutely doing a metal gear right there. And it's like, oh, yeah, you know, that'll that'll work. Yeah. It's like, that that's too easy. ah So something must go horribly wrong. Yes. And then as they're trying to destroy the shield generator, they activate soda can trap droids? That was a very strange design. we And also we never see them again. Well, why do they look like soda cans? I think they're supposed to look like lobster traps. That's what I would call them. It's still weird. Also they're like buried in the ground like mines. Yeah. It was very silly, but at the same time,
Speaker: It did show Ahsoka's inexperience quite well, as well as the fact that then they were able to take out the droids as well. So it's like, you know, we... yeah was a phone in accident Oh yeah, yeah. Very very fun action sequence. and And it also, you know, leads to, you know, one of one of my favorite lines from all of Clone Wars, which is, Skywalker's in trouble. You know the drill. which is pure gold. Yes, yes, it is pure gold. It's like what we've seen quite a few episodes so far, not to spoil, but Lawrence really likes the banter between these. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, they're great. They're beautiful.
Speaker: And this line also reminds me of a line from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Dawn's in trouble. Must be Tuesday when the show aired on Tuesday nights. Nice. We'll get to that in. Are you going to plug that one, too? What would I be plugging yet another sub -series that we plan on doing? Oh, boy. Don't know what you're talking about. Such a mystery. Such a mystery.
Speaker: It's not like we have plans for the show or anything. No, definitely no plans. No. It's off the cuff. Fingers off the cuff. Yes, we we we wing everything. ah Yep, totally.
Speaker: No, it's hard because I'm winging it. Oh, yeah. I know. I know. The next note that we have down here made you incredibly, incredibly happy, Lauren. Yes. Yes. So basically the the very important thing to know is that our four is back, baby. Yeah. Well, you can and our four is back. Yes. Could you be more excited? I don't know if he can. I don't know. I don't know.
Speaker: But yes, R4 is, in fact, in the movie. There there he is. He doesn't do a whole lot, but he's there. He's mentioned. He's on screen. He's there. It's a Leonardo DiCaprio meme where it's like, yeah, yeah. I see him. Yep.
Speaker: So ah yeah, so Darryl, it looks like you also have something to say about the the next scene that's going to be happening. Yeah, so yeah we we go through some shenanigans, you know, trying to to rescue Jabba's Punky Muffin. Yep. We do get a great sort of display of like clone forces landing on a planet. And also seeing for the first time the ATPs actually climbing up a mountain. Yeah.
Speaker: that they actually are all terrain. Oh yeah. That's really cool. It's also seeing, seeing Ahsoka standing on like the literal front of a tank. It's just sort of. Yeah. And then she's deflecting the, the lasers and that's the, yeah, that's really cool. Yeah. just Very, very, very cool action sequence. Oh yeah. yeah No, no, no, no, no. It's just an awesome action sequence. It's just like, just like, again, viewers at home, we're hoping you're watching, but yeah.
Speaker: It's awesome. Oh, yeah. But so to to get out of the situation. Anakin and Ahsoka conveniently find a a. Busted up. Janky freighter that they take that you know becomes um known as Twilight. and Unfortunately, Lawrence is not the Twilight Sparkle. I keep her. No.
Speaker: And I really, really thought the way they introduced it and the way things were going, that the Twilight was going to be a bigger thing than it had ended up being in the series. But it does explain a Frolay line from A New Hope. maybe In A New Hope, I'll go and No one says to Luke Skywalker and that your father was a spice trader. He was a navigator on a fight spice freighter. Yeah. The Twilight is a spice freighter. Hmm.
Speaker: Well, what do you know? So it's. It's all part of that classic, like from a certain point of view. Mm hmm. It's true.
Speaker: But yeah, thinking about, uh, thinking about the, I guess we skipped over the, the scene where they're actually trying to rescue the baby. Uh, I wasn't entirely sure where, but yeah. So basically like whenever, whenever they rescue the baby and they're, uh, they're trying to escape the planet, essentially. Ahsoka and Anakin just have a lot of really great moments during that scene. I feel like where it shows, he shows that he cares about her and respects her, you know?
Speaker: Yeah, it does establish that they are becoming master and Padawan. They're becoming a team. he He has changed his tune so quickly from the beginning where he says he would not want to Padawan. And you know he was like, I don't want to be his Padawan. I want to be Obi -Wan's Padawan. Yeah.
Speaker: but get very Yoda can cognate this one. Yoda's wise. He knows that. Oh, yeah. And Yoda also just likes trolling the members of the Skywalker family. Naturally, naturally. I mean, it's also the tradition that he has by the time of Empire Strikes Back. Oh, goodness. I fear what he's going to do with the Rey. Oh, no.
Speaker: Well, you see, she's only found Skywalker family. Yeah. yeah So he would probably like her. thank you But if the if he finds a moment, he'll come down and he'll be like.
Speaker: Mess up, you did that. So, yeah, there's also an interesting note about how the the clones are I guess the way that the show treats the clones can be variable depending on what episode it is and what clone it is, but generally the clones are not treated as expendable comic relief, but the droids definitely are. I have a note here about droid abuse and how there they' we're're we're very much supposed to take joy in their destruction and torment in a way that is not the case for
Speaker: most other things in the series in general. yeah the theyre the loan they like I will say that like in terms of that, like the second closest is Stormtroopers post in the Disney era. But even then, that's also kind of suited meant to be in the original trilogy. Yeah. Like there is that that there's just way more content for Clone Wars.
Speaker: So therefore, that is way more front and center, but yeah, the bad guys are clowned on a lot. yeah and And the droids have begun their rapid descent down a slippery slope into comic relief.
Speaker: which created it it's fun yeah but honestly i'm a fan of it i like it i see yeah you know and i and i actually in a future episode will discuss what i feel is my head canada why that happened you know i feel like there there are enough droid variants to vant so the point that the basic bog standard droid can be comic relief because if you need something that's actually a threat there's like There's other droids that exist that are and threatening, essentially. But also, the threat is never like one droid. It's the fact that they can field hundreds of them. So that even even a Jedi Master can't fight ah alone thousands of droids, realistically. It's it's numbers oh birds over that. So it's it's a numbers game then. So even if they are, like
Speaker: dirt stupid and hilarious at times it's it's more of the fact that yeah they they can be stupid and dumb but if you dump out a hundred thousand of them and have like a 400 person clone garrison with one jedi like yeah that's a that's a loose situation but yeah i guess just i i bring up droid abuse because it feels like the series is not usually mean -spirited, but it feels like it might be a little bit mean -spirited towards these characters in particular. They're also the bad guys. Yeah, they are the bad guys, definitely. It is uniquely targeted towards the droids more than anything else. I will say that if you are picking up on something that has been brought up as well, droid abuse is a thing in Star Wars. Yeah.
Speaker: It is very much a thing, and depending on depending on the story that you're watching, listening to, reading, what have you, you just kind of have to say like, okay, don't pay attention to the fact that droids are largely sentient, but and how they're treated by most of the characters.
Speaker: And I've been explained about how droids, to you in a future video, we'll talk about that. Yeah. About how droids are, droids have regular memory wiped, so they don't get that pesky issue of sentience. Oh boy. Yeah, also I didn't put a note about this, but I heard that the baby was really annoying in the movie.
Speaker: but ah um actually watching it, no, the baby is fine. but like yeah the baby The baby was a baby. Yeah, like it it's even it's more subject than a character. I remember reading it in in a newspaper. that's That's how old this movie was and how old I am. I read a newspaper yeah review. I was like, the baby is annoying. It's like, well, that's just babies. yeah Have you not seen a baby? it is like of Babies in movies. This is like not the most annoying baby. Yeah, not not really. It doesn't do a whole lot annoying stuff In fact, I think that it creates an interesting motivation factor whenever it ends up being sick And so they have that creates a time crunch for them to you know Get off it and be able to heal it. It's not like like that That's an interesting source of tension. There's worse babies. It is like it's just there and that's
Speaker: the character it's like and and the baby's part of the plot yeah the baby is sick and needs needs to get home and get well indeed it's also part of a major major factor of this galactic war going on yeah kind of a big deal it's not just a baby does the two baby annoying things. Yes, but not as much as it could have. And honestly, the more important factor is like, okay, we have to cure the baby and we have to bring it back to his crime lord son so that we can facilitate an easier win to the war. Yes. With the enemy is actively trying to sabotage. Yep. The enemy is actively trying to sabotage and is telling Java
Speaker: No, they took him and then they're going to kill him. Mm hmm. So, yeah, the the baby isn't a problem at all. And I know it's fine. Anyone that puts it in there, it's like, no, that's that's a crucial plot point. But if you were like, well, what's the character of the baby? It's a baby. It doesn't need a character. And they in all of this, we also get our Clone Wars introduction to Ventress. Yes, and she does a cool tu cloak toss. She does. She does. She she did that and that in the pre previous hit at enemies. But it... And Obi -Wan is still so stunned by it again. Yeah. Well, and I... without, you know, giving too much away because we'll get there.
Speaker: they They end up doing a lot of of good, interesting stuff and some heavy lifting with Ventress. And with 2020 hindsight, you can almost kind of see it starting here. Ooh, exciting. But that's also the reason why we did the old Three Clone Wars to give you the original backstory and you're interested because, yeah, this movie was the introduction and like, oh.
Speaker: Yeah, does' it doesn't really introduce the character, ah like what what her deal is, necessarily. And even in when we did Chronological Seek showed up and hated anybody, it's like... Hello? Yeah, she uses books to attack!
Speaker: i mean yeah one Books are excellent weapons. Yeah, I don't I don't think we we actually got to that part of that episode. ah Yeah, she uses books to attack and ah you know, Twilight Sparkle and naturally knowledge would be ah dying from such a terrible, terrible usage of a book.
Speaker: Well maybe we should be more angry at Anakin and the other one because they just sliced him with light shavers. Yeah. but so And then, but since since a this movie is basically the introduction to the whole series, we have to put all of our main characters on the board somewhere. Yeah. We have to bring them all in. We have to give them something to do. So, oh wait, here's Padme. We have to give Padme a storyline.
Speaker: She basically saves the day. She she introduces us to Jabba's Truman Capote inspired uncle, zero. you people You beat me to the reference, but you're right. It's it's always like, honestly, like I've seen a lot of Truman Capote Capote the impressions like this one is like heavy. It's there's no nuance to it.
Speaker: Now, I remember in my initial viewing, you know, just being completely thrown off by, wait, the hut sounds like what? yeah
Speaker: um But, you know, they the that introduced us, you know, this set the stage for later a less you know traditional bombastic hut representations elsewhere, too. um yeah Yeah, it's interesting. It's like, wow, they're wearing this on the sleeve, clearly. I didn't sell you anyone, but I could sell you a Truman Capote impression and an actual
Speaker: footage of Drew McConaughey, you'd be like, you you'd think this guy was doing an exact impression. Nice. um But yeah, so we bring Padme into the story. We kind of tie everything all together. Kind of loosely, because it's it's not it's not truly tightly woven, but it's all connected. Yeah. Wait, that's an MCU phrase. Oh, no.
Speaker: Kevin Feige is going to come in and get you. Also, back on Tatooine, as Anakin and Ahsoka split up so that Ahsoka can get the baby and Anakin ends up fighting Dooku, Anakin uses the sand to his advantage. He hates sand. I love that. He doesn't like sand. Especially because you just came off of Attack of the Clones with an off podcast.
Speaker: Yeah, but it's just like he knows how terrible the sand is so he will inflict that terror upon his opponents. Yes. Why he's the most hated opponent? Because yes. Do go with them. They're ops, as the kids say.
Speaker: And that that pretty much brings us to the end of the movie. What what did you think of your first viewing ever of the 2008 Clone Wars movie. I enjoyed it. I thought it was a good movie. I'd heard mixed things about it before, but now I'd say it this was a great time. I feel like it introduces Ahsoka well. I feel like it introduces the series as a whole very well. You know, I feel like everything that this movie was trying to accomplish, I feel like it succeeded in that regard. Yeah, that this was
Speaker: Because it was designed this way, it's much more of an introduction to the series. It gives us multiple locations all across the galaxy. familiar ones It gives us a clearer set up of characters and the plots and the themes in the state and And it gives stuff that requires more explanation, but makes you interested in like, like who is this? What's going on? Yeah.
Speaker: And basically it you gives all of the major characters something to do so that you know, okay, this is this character that I'm gonna be following in the series and this is kind of what their deal is. yeah And so this is - It was focused around Anakin and Ahsoka, because that's That's the heart, that's that's the big thing that we they needed to sell us on.
Speaker: yeah i will sorry Yeah. I will say that I'm surprised that no one has ever followed up on Rata the Hutt. It seems like Jabba's little punky muffin could have been a natural for, if nothing else, the Book of Boba Fett. Yeah. heres He appears one more time in like season three. But once. There's never any actual, you know, follow up on the character in nothing, you nothing in the old EU nor in the Disney canon. That's weird. Yeah. And, you know, with the book of Boba Fett, part of the whole thing is, you know, Boba Fett and coming in and taking jobs. Don't spoil that. because i was just kinna a good yeah but It's him taking Java's empire.
Speaker: And yeah where where where's Rada? Yeah, it's a mystery. I bet he's on a hut sized little Vespa somewhere. It's a secret to everyone. And also that show, I cannot understand your first answer, because that show was also helped created by Dave Filoni, who also was a huge part of this movie and the Clone Wars going forward and a lot of Disney characters going forward. And the fact that one of his creations, and he's notorious. We'll get into that later for not letting his creations die. Ooh, I see. he He cannot kill his darlings. So it's weird that he's left this particular character floating in the wind.
Speaker: Despite having, could have some significance at some point. Yeah. Theoretically. Theoretically. I was just saying that there's a lot of potential there. Well, I mean, you know, if nothing else, it's leaving things clear for the GMs over on the order 66. podcasts to do stuff and with him in their fractured Republic setting that they're working on these days. Nice. Or those actually close to the home in the Star Wars role playing group. I mean, you'll you'll have to fight me because in the first campaign I ran in this system six, seven, eight years ago, whenever it was, Rada was a recurring NPC from my group. Nice. It's also a done.
Speaker: Uh, okay. Wait, no, Dawn? No, I want to do pistols at dusk.
Speaker: Because i know I know what you will be consuming during the day. I want the advantage. Nice. Wait, coin flips at Dawn. All right. Doesn't matter if I'm... Doesn't matter if I'm a sewer drug. I think I'm going to coin flip. Yes. I can't even flip a coin.
Speaker: ah a fair um But yeah, sake on yain' out here ah yeah I had yeah the the basic setup that I had is the my my PC group that I was running through there was based on Naboo and Jabba had gotten recent holdings on Naboo and it was time for Rotta to start learning the family business. So Jabba put him in charge of those holdings.
Speaker: And, uh, he, he was actually, you know, he, he wasn't, I won't say he was necessarily friendly to the PCs, but he was not adversarial. I mean, I do have Frata in a campaign time. I'm not sure if we're going to ever run. It's going to be like a small campaign. Like I might, I think I might run it online for like the idea.
Speaker: for the official Star Wars RPG discord. Oh, OK. People interested on that. Not that I just need to. It's going to be so it's going to be small. It's going to be like four, maybe five. Oh, cool. But like, I have an idea for. For that character, but but yes, so.
Speaker: final thoughts on final thoughts on this your first experiences with the clown wars well this first session has been pretty slow going for the most part just because it's a lot of introductory stuff we haven't really gotten to the series proper for the most part but it's still been very good overall and uh Naturally, at this point, Nick and I have actually watched over a season of content ahead of time. But ah we've... We're nowhere near half. Yeah. But so like we i can and understanding the future, you know this is a slow start, but it picks up very quickly after this. And you know I think this has been a lot of fun. It's been very good. And I'm looking forward to to the next parts, essentially.
Speaker: And also, also you're coming from a unique perspective is that I came in this as well, a huge Star Wars fan. I consumed EU content and same with like the Daryl. Yeah. Yeah. I was, i I was there at the beginning. And I was, I i just consumed as quickly as possible, but You admit that you have little you know of the original trilogy. Yeah. And you've seen the prequel trilogy, possibly. I've seen one of the prequel trilogy movies. We watched with you. But by getting involved in our gaming group, we have we have dragged you.
Speaker: Probably, it doesn't seem like it's kicking and screaming. No, I'm fine. Yeah. Yeah. we We've... you're just like We're way down in the rabbit hole. Come on down here with us. The thing is, is that a lot of the series that I'm a fan of consists of like Herbie, Sonic, and Mega Man. And those are all very like science fiction -y stories, but they're also very fantastical stories in their own right. So none of them... are exactly like Star Wars by any stretch of the imagination, but they all fall within the same broad genre of science fantasy media. with This is very much up my alley. And the best part is the fact that you are someone that's like willing to like, okay, here's this world. and let me You like, and tell me what's going on. What's the details?
Speaker: You're very laissez -faire about it. Yeah, pretty much. not Not everything needs an explanation. it's It's fine if some things are just weird or unexplained or unknown, even by characters in universe. Like you you like you're in the alien campaign now and you admit you haven't watched an alien movie. Yeah, yeah, yeah, basically. You know, I'm i'm willing to go with the flow.
Speaker: And that that's great. that's That's honestly how most people should approach any media, really. like Ideally. There's a lot of people that like to try to gatekeep fandoms and stuff like that. Like, you gotta be this type of fan to be a Star Wars fan. Oh, yeah. No, I'm glad that you you still came in here. I've gotten into Star Wars and it's like,
Speaker: Sat here with me, Daryl, Robert, Robert, Betsy, and even Stephanie Zentai. Here it's like, Radelof, like, but what sounds to you like Esoteric Bolter? It sounds like we've lost our minds, is what it sounds like. Oh, I assure you, I can unleash a plethora of Esoteric nonsense upon the world if we start talking about, you know, video games that I enjoy, but that's really my That's what the let's plays are for. You're also... you just you're I see you looking at us and like nodding along. You're taking in some information that's yeah relevant to the stuff while we're making jokes and obscure references. You're taking some of it in and yeah it you are quite understandably just smiling and nodding. Basically, yeah.
Speaker: now is right That's fine. I guess that's what the whole Star Wars role -playing group is about. I don't care your Star Wars literacy. I'm not gatekeeping anyone. Yeah. I want to share the Star Wars knowledge spread around. Totally. It's around, like everyone know. like And I look forward to telling more Star Wars lore before the Disney canon. And the ease of but these the Disney canon is the fact that, well, it's all on one app.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah. And you I'm sure that someday I'll end up telling you about the deep and intricate Kirby war. And you will feel very civil in that regard. Maybe you'll run some sort of like Kirby themed RPG game. That would be neat. And I'll be a player. The future is, as Yoda says, always the most in the future is. Indeed.
Speaker: So maybe one day, like but again, like I'm showing the consideration rate in that all all fans should do. Yeah, yeah. If you're excited, if you want ah to join in, you want to become a fan of something, just dive in. Don't let a hater say, like can you join? No. oh Part of that future that's in motion, Nick, tell us what we're what is coming up next. Ooh.
Speaker: Well, for the next part of our Clone Wars watch. Mm -hmm. We actually have that ready. Oh boy.
Speaker: Episode two is going to be starting with season three, episode one, Clone Cadets. Mm -hmm. Season three, episode three, Supply Lines. Season one, episode one, Ambulance.
Speaker: Season one, episode two, rising malevolence. Season one, and episode three, shadow of malevolence. Season one, episode four, destroy malevolence. And ending that episode will be season one, episode five, rookies. That's the Nathan Fillion episode, right? Yes, he's in there. Nice. No, no, he's not.
Speaker: so I'm just making a joke about his current TV show and and and and it landed like a lead balloon. did I my apologies to everyone. Oh, no. But yes, and we'll have a whole lot of interesting stuff. We're going to have some clone episodes. We're going to have the start of a two part arc, a three part arc.
Speaker: And so that we can add some historical well real world things that we can actually talk about as well. Yay. Right on. Well, in the meantime, we would like to thank all of you listening for letting us ramble on for a little over two hours about the Clone Wars. We hope you enjoyed. We hope but that you will be joining us next time. ah You can also check out our sister podcast, How We Roll Gaming, that is devoted to all things tabletop and RPGs. You can... star wars yeah Yes, yes, yes. ah You can find information about this podcast and a few articles here and there written by ah by ourselves and other other friends of ours who are into nerdy stuff at casualnerdy .com. And we hope to see you all back here next time.
Speaker: See y 'all then. See ya and thanks for listening.
