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Clone Wars Series (2003) Part 1
272 Plays3 years ago
In this episode, Fraser (Satsunami) and Andrew (Greenshield) dive back to the year 2003 to discuss the first part of the iconic Clone Wars series created by Genndy Tartakovsky. From the valiant heroes of the Republic to the sinister villains of the Separatists, the duo discuss how the show was instrumental in sparking interest in what would become known as the Clone Wars.
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Transcript
Introduction and Guest Appearance
00:00:05
Speaker
Welcome to Chatsunami.
00:00:17
Speaker
Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of Chat Tsunami. I'm Sat Tsunami and joining me today is a very good friend of mine. You may have heard his voice in the channel before. We have done a couple of quite memorable co-streams together. From Warzone to Pokemon Emerald, I'm of course talking about my very good friend Andrew. You may also know as GreenShield95 on Twitch. Hello Andrew. Welcome to Chat Tsunami.
00:00:45
Speaker
Hi everyone, thanks for having me to chat to Nami. It's always good to be on Twitch and to make my podcast debut. Glad you pointed that out, that this is your first episode. It has been long overdue to have you on chat to Nami. I have done that, but no, thank you so much for agreeing to come on and not being scared of from the other end.
00:01:05
Speaker
I'm looking forward to it. So yeah, as you can see by the title today, we are both going to be talking about a very special, that would be right to say, Wanda, a very special show to both you and I. I think so. Yeah, it's something we both bonded over.
00:01:21
Speaker
very early on in our our friendship and something that we we reference uh still i must be eight eight years on it's a bad habit that we're trying to kick i swear yeah first the style yeah first the star wars references and then yeah the sun situation so this will come next that's for sure
00:01:42
Speaker
But, yeah, today we are going to be talking about the very first part of the, I would say, widely acclaimed show, so we're talking about- Cult classic. Cult classic, yeah. That's probably a
Star Wars: Clone Wars Overview
00:01:57
Speaker
better word for it. Yeah, today we're going to be talking about the show Star Wars The Clone Wars, and this time- Not the just Clone Wars. Oh, is it just Clone Wars?
00:02:08
Speaker
That's how you distinguish between the two, because the new one is the Clone Wars, and this one is just Star Wars, Clone Wars, and then sometimes it's done as bracket 2003. Well, it's the Clone Wars to our hearts, because it's infinitely cooler than the other one. I won't correct you again if you're
00:02:27
Speaker
refer to as the Clone Wars because that's how I often refer to it as well but I thought just before it I thought I'd get there before the commentary. Oh yeah absolutely, a little behind on us in the comments. Yeah as you can see we are going to be talking about the Clone Wars 2003 and we're going to be specifically we're going to be focusing on the first part of it so this is a series made by a quite famous animator Gendy Tarakovsky who
00:02:56
Speaker
you may have heard the name attached to other Cartoon Network titles such as Dex of the laboratory and most famously Samurai Jack which I know you have a long history with. Yeah as long as my history with this the show we're talking about today I've watched Samurai Jack or throughout my childhood and
00:03:16
Speaker
and I absolutely loved it, loved the creator, loved his animation style, and so I was very excited to work on a project like this. No, it's a very good TV show though.
Themes and Character Exploration
00:03:27
Speaker
So before we get into Roll of the Meat about kind of dissecting this amazing show, how did you get into the show initially when you were younger? As I'm sure many did at the time,
00:03:40
Speaker
I was a child and I found it on Cartoon Network. I don't think I was the biggest Star Wars fan prior to this. I had watched certainly bits of the original, but my main kind of experience with Star Wars was the Phantom Menace and then Attack of the Clones. Growing up in that time,
00:04:02
Speaker
I didn't know any difference. I didn't know that there was a level of disdain towards those properties. I thought there was just awesome Star Wars, cool Star Wars fighting kind of stuff. And the originals were a lot slower and a lot less fights. And so to young Green Shield, I viewed them very differently. And I thought that the originals, the prequels were much more interesting.
00:04:26
Speaker
And so when there was a cartoon series that kind of explored that even further I was very excited and I tuned in regularly on Cartoon Network to watch it. I think I was in the same boat because I think it was probably when I got into Star Wars I got into the original films and then of course when we were younger the prequels had come out and that was kind of a domino effect of
00:04:48
Speaker
you know watching the kind of cool lightsaber fights and things like that and the Phantom Menace then going to the not as widely regarded I think even back then for kids like the Clone Wars or sorry Attack of the Clones wasn't as popular a film
00:05:04
Speaker
Again, I wasn't aware of that at the time. I thought everyone loved it and I adored Attack of the Clones at that age. I remember being very surprised when I heard years later the hatred towards the prequels and I was like, what do you mean? I thought everyone loved them.
00:05:23
Speaker
Now I was just gonna say I have to admit when I was younger like there was always kind of a niggling feeling in the back of my head when I watched Attack of the Clones thinking this isn't as good as the other ones like I still enjoyed it but I remember getting it in DVD and then just skipping to the action scenes so I would skip to like the Jango Fett scene, skip over the love dialogue when I was younger, then go to you know Geonosis and the clones attacking and everything and then I'd be like what a great film!
00:05:51
Speaker
So I would skip out the sand talk or the Tatooine stuff. I did as a child remember being quite bored during certain scenes. I remember even during the Assassin scene at the very start of Attack of the Clones, which is arguably one of the more interesting scenes in it. I remember being really bored at the time watching that.
00:06:10
Speaker
Yeah, just the whole whole thing with with like the clone army and the and like the the amount of Jedi's of fighting and you had Yoda doing flips which looking looking back here, but like oh It does like make Yoda seem a bit different to how he was truly portrayed and so those there's some criticism there but at the time I only I had I
00:06:34
Speaker
so not roasted in glasses because that's suggested nostalgia but at the time I thought it was incredible and yeah and I think that that's what leads us on to the the cartoon series when it came out. Yeah because we're just talking
Storytelling Formats and Impact
00:06:48
Speaker
about this and before we came on where it was about three years wasn't it between Attack of the Cones and Revenge of the Sith
00:06:56
Speaker
Yeah, I hadn't realized until just today, or I must have done at some point, that there was a three-year gap between the second and third film in the prequels. And so the only real content you were getting in those three years was this Clone Wars cartoon series, which then introduced you to characters who you would then meet in the next film, like a certain villain that we'll inevitably talk about later on in this episode.
00:07:26
Speaker
and yeah there was that kind of vacuum between waiting for the you know like just getting over Attack of the Cones and then there was like loads of games, there was comics, there was like books and things but nothing really stood out more than what we're going to talk about just now. What ended up falling was this. I don't think anyone really expected it but it was just this out of the blue cartoon wasn't it?
00:07:51
Speaker
from Cartoon Network and it initially began as like about three to five minutes so it was like a continuous story wasn't it? It was, it was and it wasn't. There were certain aspects of it being episodic and there were certain serialized aspects of it but yeah so it did kind of jump from one short segment to the other but would sometimes return to a segment that it addressed previously and it would
00:08:17
Speaker
And I remember it being very bizarre at the time where you just get kind of snippets of a show on Cartoon Network. And so it was a very interesting concept, one that like they haven't really explored again for cartoons as far as I'm aware, where they have these small little snippets in between other shows.
00:08:35
Speaker
I remember when I was younger and this was the time I was still in high school and I remember trying to run back home to try and catch these episodes because they kind of came on like yeah they would just like come on and then they would be off like instantly so we get like this really flashy lightsaber battle or you catch the tail end of it and then that was it just gone from existence I don't think it was until like a couple of years later where I managed to like sit down and watch it from start to finish which yeah was an absolute lifesaver
00:09:05
Speaker
getting the DVDs and just managing to sit through it. I don't believe I ever got any physical media for it. So I would just rely on its syndication on Cartoon Network. But there were certain episodes I remember watching over and over and over again. The very last episode in particular was one that I watched a lot of. But then many years later I discovered that the entirety of it was posted on YouTube.
00:09:31
Speaker
and so I was able to watch it through that means and the recent announcement that the entire series is going to be put on to Disney Plus that is hopefully going to encourage a new generation of fans and old fans as well to watch it on there and
00:09:46
Speaker
rediscover
Aesthetic and Storytelling Differences
00:09:47
Speaker
it. And I do hope that it kind of sparks a new interest in it because it is, it's a great series and it does deserve like a lot of love. But before we go into like dissecting you know like the bits we like, the bits we think maybe didn't work as well, Andrew do you want to give like a brief overview of what this first part especially is about?
00:10:05
Speaker
So the first half, it covers a lot of different topics. We're looking at the rise of the clone troopers, these clones that were made in the second Star Wars movie that we were introduced to then, what they are being utilized for by the Republic. And then we're exploring the adventures of both Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan, who in between these films, Anakin is still a Padawan, and so is
00:10:31
Speaker
trying to earn his way to being a Jedi Knight and exploring various different themes of how he's going to earn passageway to being a Jedi Knight. And then we're also exploring lots of different characters throughout, so we're meeting new Jedi and fighting off the Separatist threat. And would you say that this flashes out the story that was started in Attack of the Cones?
00:10:53
Speaker
I think so. I think it dives a lot deeper into what the clones were created for, what they can do, and military tactics surrounding the Republic and the Separatist armies. Something that I don't think any of the movies delves that deeply into. And we should also note the elephant in the room of the Clone Wars, the CGI cartoon, which I think we're both fans of.
00:11:19
Speaker
I have not completely finished it, I know you have. There's very different themes in that, but this one I think delves much more into aesthetic and establishing a world as opposed to the much more dialogue and story-driven later series.
00:11:36
Speaker
Oh yeah, because for the 2008 Clone Wars, the CGI one, it's definitely a lot more slower in some regards and it's a lot more, and this is going to sound weird considering it's like a space fantasy series but it does kind of ground itself in a bit of reality when it comes to like warfare and sorry, I think I've described this like this to you before but it's like trying to explain war to children.
00:12:04
Speaker
It can be enjoyed, you know, by adults and kids anyway, but I do think it does an amazing job at breaking down and describing, you know, like from, you know, all the cheery subjects you want to teach kids from war crimes to tactics, you know, that kind of thing. Whereas for this one, it's got like a hairy emphasis on the action and there's actually nothing really wrong with that. It's like,
00:12:26
Speaker
I think it's something that the series probably needed at the time because one of the main
Creative Tactics and Imagination
00:12:31
Speaker
criticisms of the prequels was the kind of political dialogue. Probably one day in the future episode we'll talk about the 2008 series but for this one having like three minute episodes where it was just like a heap of action
00:12:46
Speaker
to catch kids' eyes, to be like, oh look, that's Jedi Master Anakin Skywalker fighting against this random assassin, you know, just completely bombarding you with these amazing visuals. And especially for Gendi's art style, it's just beautiful, isn't it?
00:13:03
Speaker
The art style is gorgeous and he really focuses on the choreographed fighting and just lots of little elements like, for example, the Clone Troopers don't talk to each other as much as they do in the later series. They're more fond of using hand signals like you might see in a military combat in the Middle East or...
00:13:25
Speaker
um elsewhere in a more modern setting and it's it's it's very interesting how so so many episodes uh have either little dialogue or i i think there's probably been a few with no dialogue which is just incredible when you think of it's very very ahead of its time and it's something that gendy tarak tarakowski has uh has done these other properties uh such as samurai jack and and more recently with the show primal where which is entirely
00:13:55
Speaker
without dialogue, and it takes place in a kind of caveman setting, but with dinosaurs. It's almost like a dark Flintstones. I actually need to check that out. I recommend you do it. If you like the Clone Wars, then the two shows that I think you should watch are Samurai Jack and Primal. And if you've seen Samurai Jack and you haven't seen this, then likewise you should definitely check out Star Wars Clone Wars.
00:14:20
Speaker
It's funny you should mention that when you're talking about the dialogue-less episode, because I'm just thinking back to the very first episode, and other than, you know, the very beginning, obviously, with the intro, and I think it was a certain point where it almost becomes like a silent film. So basically the first episode kind of focuses on the invasion of Minilist, which is where the, for all you Star Wars fans out there, it's where the banking plan comes from.
00:14:48
Speaker
they basically invade and the episode centres around these art troopers who I'm sure you'll agree as well Andrew, they are the coolest thing, or second coolest thing of this series.
00:15:01
Speaker
Yeah, I think that the way they portray the troopers is so much more interesting than how they delve into it within both Attack of the Clones and also in the original series with the Stormtroopers, which I know they are different, the Stormtroopers and the Clone Troopers, but you get a lot more identity.
00:15:23
Speaker
throughout this series than you had seen previously with what appears to be faceless men and you establish different ranks within the troopers and responsibilities and different jobs that each of them have. There's the sort of heavy duty ones that has a giant like minigun and the ones with the snipers and all these different kinds of roles which I wouldn't be able to name but
00:15:50
Speaker
It's very identifiable what they do based on their design and the weapons they carry. I do think that is one of the strengths of the series though, isn't it? Beyond the design of it, everything the series sets out to do is very creative and iconic. For example, there's a whole episode that, again, has little to no dialogue and it's basically set underwater. I think you know the one I'm talking about, the Kit Fisto one.
00:16:18
Speaker
Yeah, so the introduction of Kit Fisto, who, if viewers are not aware, he's... Do you know his species? Um... Squidman, probably. I actually don't know. He has, like, tentacle things coming out the back of his head. He's green, and he's a Jedi that can swim underwater, or rather breathe underwater. He can never swim underwater. Yeah.
00:16:44
Speaker
um breathe underwater and he fights underwater and he has a very unique kind of fighting style based on that that it's essentially like watching someone fly with a lightsaber as he sort of travels through the water and fights off the threat against the Mon Calamari I feel as if the series does capitalize on like the environment it sets so like for example for that one Kit Fisto uses the force to create like these giant bubbles or should I say death bubbles essentially
00:17:13
Speaker
Oh yes, he condenses the water with the forest and uses it as a cannon. It's very interesting. That's one of the real strengths of the show, of unique ways of using the forest that you don't see really in any other property.
Entertaining Concepts and Critiques
00:17:28
Speaker
There's an episode where they're set out in an open field and essentially they've just got a giant hole punch, haven't they? The droids.
00:17:39
Speaker
I kind of referred to it as like a big hammer that they had, but it is quite apt to think of it like it wants to get a whole bunch, yeah. Yeah, because the thing is, it's like, if you introduce that now, it would kind of be like, even in the more realistic Clone Wars CGI series, I think that would probably, people would look at it and think, okay, this is a bit weird and far-fetched, but for this, like, series, it fits, like, it fits so perfectly though, doesn't it?
00:18:06
Speaker
it it it it does and but like one of the things about it is it's so it's so ridiculous because it's so impractical it's a giant hovering like ship that's entire purpose is to just whack the ground really hard with a metal thing and like and it not not only are you taking out your own men with this weapon
00:18:25
Speaker
Because they're taking out more of their own guys than they are the enemy with this weapon. But also, just a laser would have done a much better job, surely, than this big hammer thing. I get the feeling that someone in the Separatists probably designed this and they didn't want to hurt any feelings. So they were like, yeah, you know this planet we're not too keen on. Yeah, let's just test it on that.
00:18:55
Speaker
like Palpatine's grandson who just proposed it and they're like, we can't say no to him. Yeah, Jimothy. Jimothy Palpatine just like, look what I drew. And he put it on the fridge, but what he didn't realise was that's where all the separatist plans were. And they're just like, oh yes. And all the blueprints go on the fridge.
00:19:13
Speaker
Yeah, just kind of over the top. I mean, another episode, going back to the invasion of Minnows, is when they literally have... Oh, what is that again? It's like they have jousting speeders? Yeah, I knew you were gonna bring that up. I made a note of that when I watched it the other day. Why in this world where everything is lightsabers and laser guns, why do they have jousting sticks?
00:19:45
Speaker
like it is that's the thing and that's what he does he does he does aesthetic and like with what hell of an aesthetic but he it like very if you like stop to think about it you're just like this is stupid yeah there's just so much of this you think like see if it was in the films or anything else you would think this is so ridiculous and over the top could you imagine in the most recent movies if if they'd introduced someone like that it would get absolutely ripped apart by uh
00:20:04
Speaker
what what what purpose oh it's so cool
00:20:12
Speaker
by the fanboys. Oh, absolutely. But I'm just thinking of like so much, so much stuff that happens throughout it. Because it's just basically how bizarre the series is in terms of its designs, its characters and things. And as you said, if they did that nowadays, it would kind of be like, oh, this is ridiculous. Oh, they're just pandering to the rule of cool. But back then, there was this huge vacuum and there wasn't a lot of Star Wars content coming out then.
00:20:42
Speaker
Or there was Star Wars content, but you know, this was the main one. This was the main series beyond the games and things that people were latching on to. And yeah, I think it left it. Much like the giant hole punch, it left its impression of this.
00:20:58
Speaker
Within that episode as well, we are introduced to what Mace Windu, played by Samuel L. Jackson in the live-action movies, but voiced by a different actor in the show, what he can do. You kind of got a feeling that he was quite a senior member of the Jedi Council and that he was very strong, but you didn't really get to see that much of what he could do. In this episode, we are introduced to
00:21:23
Speaker
to him, and he develops some sort of forest-based martial arts where he's essentially punching the droids at rapid speeds, supposedly using the forest while he's doing it, so he's just completely dismantling these droids by punching and karate chopping them.
00:21:41
Speaker
I still maintain to this day that that wasn't the Force. He literally just uses bare hands and he just bet them off. He's that much of a Force badass that he just bet them up. One of my favourite kills from that episode is when he goes up to one of the droids and he puts his hand out to use the Force and all the screws come out.
00:22:02
Speaker
um of the like so he's face to face with this super battle droid this big hulking machine he puts his hand out all the screws come out of him and it just like collapses into a heap and then he uses that as projectiles to like destroy all the other droids behind him it's just fantastic and i could fanboy about this for hours but like just a single episode to be like oh this is amazing yeah that episode in particular is absolutely fantastic and uh if anyone wants to talk to me more
00:22:31
Speaker
about it. I do think you can talk about that for ages. What I also was introduced to in the series, and you can correct me if you know of a different time when this has been introduced, but the creation of the lightsaber, that we see a lightsaber being created, we see the crystal, the force crystal, going inside. I don't think prior to this that I even knew there was a crystal inside of a lightsaber.
00:23:00
Speaker
See, this is kind of... Technically, no, there wasn't. Unless it's been mentioned in a book or things, but we're not gonna count that, you know, like outside of the media. But there technically is apparently a deleted scene where a Return of the Jedi looks building his new lightsaber.
00:23:18
Speaker
I always remember watching the video for when that was introduced and it's literally just him like screwing in the parts so he's lightsaber and see the fanboys watching that they were going absolutely honestly it was like you know when you go to like a football stadium and one of the teams of one and they're just going that's what it was like they're like oh my god he's building his lightsaber and you're like yeah yeah okay
00:23:41
Speaker
Just calm down guys, calm down. But yeah, going back to your point. Yeah, I think that is the first time you see like a visual representation of that and the idea of the crystals. Because it's not in... No, I don't think it is in any of the other films. I don't think any film actually discusses the creation of a lightsaber. I think it only gets discussed in both this and in the Clone Wars of 2008.
00:24:07
Speaker
I'm sure it's mentioned in the Star Wars comics, in the books, and whatnot. But in actual physical media, or rather in film and television, I think the only time it's mentioned is in these two series. It's incredible.
00:24:27
Speaker
Now you're definitely right, and that is cool that they kind of... Because it's weird, do you think, because there's so much emphasis on action, that that's all it's gonna be? And don't get me wrong, like 90% of this is like cool over-the-top action, but there are like kind of in-between episodes. Like as I said, there's the one with Kit Fisto where, you know, it's like a one-off, he just goes down to save Mon Calamari from, um, I can't even remember, like what, like evil shrimp people?
00:24:55
Speaker
Yeah, the squid guys who I forgot the name for. I think it was the first time I was introduced to them as well. Yeah. I mean, I do remember them. I vaguely remember seeing them pop up. But yeah, there's that episode, and then there's the episode you're talking about. In fact, I think that might have been two episodes, but I could be wrong. Probably two episodes back to back, but it's the episode where you see Jedi making their lightsabers and Yoda coming to save them, and then the majority of it's focused on the invasion.
00:25:23
Speaker
of the Republic on this world and the kind of subplot about Dooku hiding this assassin to go hunt down Anakin. And the assassin in question is Asajj Ventress, who those who have watched the 2008 Clone Wars will be very familiar with Asajj Ventress but this was our introduction to her in the 2003 Clone Wars series. She isn't as well developed
00:25:49
Speaker
In this, as she later is in the other series, and she isn't in it as long either. She's only in it for a couple of segments. But you get a lot of the basic or other fundamentals of what the character is and what she will still be in the later season. What is worth noting as well is that this is no longer considered to be canon, I don't believe.
00:26:14
Speaker
I think Disney, when they acquired Lucasfilm, they drew the line as to what was to be maintained as canon and what wasn't. And unfortunately, Star Wars Clone Wars 2003 series didn't make the cut. And so a lot of what we're seeing is it maintains to be my head canon, but is not official canon within the Star Wars universe.
00:26:35
Speaker
I think it's probably the Harley Quinn effect, isn't it? Where it's a character that's been introduced in something like another show and it's like the character themselves have become so popular that they've just taken them and then put them into the official canon. That's quite possible. It's also quite likely that George Lucas was such a fan of various concepts and characters that he wanted it to be carried over into the new series when the new Clone Wars series came into being.
00:27:05
Speaker
Yeah, she was like content art for another character I'm sure, and they kept her in as this other character. And I do like the fact that with this series, although there's not much development, I mean I think this is probably a good time for us to talk about the characters because the, I don't know, I feel as if the villains by far are better than the heroes in this case.
00:27:27
Speaker
with the exception of a couple of noticeable examples. For the heroes, I feel as if Mace Windu, Kit Fisto, the clones especially, they're all shining examples of characters that stick in your mind because they do so many amazing things.
00:27:45
Speaker
Like from the arm. I think I think I think Obi-Wan deserves a spot there cuz there's some very interesting stuff They do some very interesting stuff with Obi-Wan in particular. This is a very small thing But first much of the show when especially when he's in the battle scene He's wearing the armor that the clone troopers also wear which kind of establishes it as a more like united unifying kind of uniform
00:28:10
Speaker
I always thought that was so cool when I watched it. Yes, his luck when he's wearing, he's got the cape and the Plunterby outfit and the lightsaber, it looks really cool and it's something that I don't think gets explored again in other properties but it's such a, I'm gonna say this word a lot,
00:28:29
Speaker
And I have already said this word a lot, but the aesthetic is just unbelievable with what they do. I think Gendy was given the property to work with, and I think he went flying with it. He went full on into the property and really, really sort of took a big bite out of what he could get from Star Wars.
00:28:46
Speaker
I actually think that's what George Lucas said behind the scenes. He said that he wanted something similar to anime for Star Wars during that time, and I think that's kind of what inspired him to go to Gendy to create this kind of... because obviously it's not anime anime, but it is very anime-like. It's western, rather anime-inspired western cartoon.
00:29:10
Speaker
and it's the est as you were saying to book sorry i'm gonna borrow this word from you but the aesthetic of it is just such a distinctive one like it's something that as soon as you see the characters the way they fight you know it's just Clone Wars 2003 it's just that show and you immediately pick it up and think this is amazing
00:29:34
Speaker
But yeah, sort of going back to the characters quickly. Yeah, the only character I feel isn't as good except for his fight with Ventress as Anakin. I feel as if he is just... I don't know if it's just they didn't know what to do with him or they thought, you know, just keep him like a whiny padawan. He's very different in this property than he is in the later series. They keep him
00:30:00
Speaker
I think he's a lot more like the movies in this than he is in the newer series. But I do think that there is a lot lacking with his character in this series and the development of him. But they try to show his descent from being a typical Padawan him to his descent towards the dark side to try and make it more apparent when he switches over in the third prequel movie.
00:30:28
Speaker
because this does act as we've already said it acts as a bridging property between the two and so lots of the events in this show are supposed to connect the prior movie to the next one and there's lots of little aspects of that which we'll delve into at a later point.
00:30:44
Speaker
One more kind of thing, just about, don't worry, I'll hop off the heating anakin train for a second. Or not heating, but just mildly annoyed. But there's one standout moment in the series, and as I was saying, that's when he gets lured to this, I was about to say island, it's not an island.
00:31:03
Speaker
Yeah, it lured to this tropical planet. I think it's actually meant to be the same, and I could be wrong on this again, but is it not like Yavin 4 or the moon of Yavin 4? The same place that the original trilogy takes place, at least in the fourth one, where it's like the rebel base there. I think it's meant to be like, if it's not the same planet, then I think it's meant to be a similar design. I can't say I can remember it a bit well enough just to say.
00:31:30
Speaker
Yeah this is another fact-checking edit. Don't worry. I'm sure it's something like that but yeah like there's a huge fight scene between, although it does start quite humorously, where he lands on the planet and then a couple of clone troopers follow him to help him and then he turns around and he's like something's not right and they're all gone because she's just murdered and blown them up and everything. One thing that they they do in this is
00:31:59
Speaker
In the original movies, the phrase that gets said all the time is I have a bad feeling about this. Oh yeah, and it's, it's supposedly one of the most used lines in all of Hollywood in all Hollywood movies that line is one of the most utilized lines, and they go.
00:32:16
Speaker
ham with it in this show. I don't remember if you picked up on it and if you have a rewatch of it you might notice it now but they fit that in to almost every scene where one character will say I have a bad feeling about this. It's usually Anakin or Obi-Wan but there are other characters that also say it. Yeah because they also do it for the 2008 Clone Wars as well.
00:32:38
Speaker
where it's like randomly they'll be in the middle of like this life and death battle and they'll go oh I've got a bad feeling about this and it's like you're not in Tesco's or you know you're not in the supermarket paying for your shopping and your card doesn't scan it's like you're literally about to die you should have more than a bad feeling it's like oh just I think it's because if we're watching it back to back it kind of going off in a slight tangent here but I remember during the lockdown I was watching
00:33:05
Speaker
and I know this is heresy to bring up on the starboard podcast or podcast episode but i was watching deep space 9 and i know i know heresy but if you put your pitchforks down for just a minute let me explain so there's a character in that who's genetically engineered and
00:33:22
Speaker
The Deep Space Nine has got more of a continual story, rather than being episodic like the previous series. As I was saying, one character is revealed to be genetically altered, which is a big taboo in the universe.
00:33:38
Speaker
every single episode, like see if you were watching this on TV you probably wouldn't pick up on it as much or be annoyed but because I was binging it and watching the episode after episode they would always draw attention to the fact that this character was genetically engineered and it would just be like through the most random things it would be like oh I'm gonna drink another drink and it's like why because you're genetically engineered and it's kind of similar to that idea of
00:34:03
Speaker
you know the repeated captures I've got a bad feeling about this like I think if we're watching it as kids we might notice it but we might think oh no maybe I'm just misremembering it but because we're watching it episode after episode it's like yeah so yeah sorry that was a long way to say yeah I agree with you it's very great yeah so yeah let's talk about the villains then because that is definitely a highlight of the well especially the first part
00:34:32
Speaker
Yeah, there's one villain that we have been kind of holding off talking about,
Grievous's Impactful Debut
00:34:37
Speaker
haven't we? Yes, so I assume you're referring to General Grievous. That's the one, yeah. Of course, yeah, the one, the only General Grievous, which is just... Yeah, do you want to explain his introduction? Because I feel as if there's amazing villains in this series you've got.
00:34:54
Speaker
You know, as we said, you've got Asajj Ventress, who's this mysterious Jedi assassin. You've got Dirge, who's this, like, shape... well, not shapeshifting, but like this mutant, like, held together in this, like, suit of armour who's really cool and keeps regenerating and causes a lot of issues. You know, you've got Count Dooku, of course. But I think one character that stands out amongst all of them is the introduction of General Grievous. So, sorry, I'll hand it over to you.
00:35:20
Speaker
So the way they introduce him, it's so iconic. You'll be able to see on YouTube, I'll have millions of views because it's one of the fandom's favorite scenes of his introduction. Essentially, a group of Jedi, both Jedi Knights, Masters, and Padawan are pulled up in this kind of bunker area surrounded by droids. And they're scared because of
00:35:47
Speaker
both they're surrounded by these droids and also they know of a threat outside we don't as the audience yet know what this threat is who this is uh what's going on but they're getting more and more scared and they can hear something and then a panawan who looks a bit like uh shaggy from scooby-doo out of out of sheer sort of terror just runs out to try and escape or just like fight his way out
00:36:08
Speaker
And as soon as he runs out, General Grievous drops down and slams him to the ground, instantly kills him, and then sleuths away. It's almost like a xenomorph from the Alien franchise, sleuths away, and everyone's terrified of what's happening. And he jumps down a pier, fights off multiple Jedi and jumps away and comes back. And you can see the fear in the Jedi there that are fighting him and clearly losing. And it's just one of the most interesting scenes in
00:36:38
Speaker
The entire Star Wars franchise, I think, it's so well done. There's so little dialogue and just everything is shown in the cartoon, in the animation. And yeah, it's absolutely fantastic. It's one of the final scenes of the first season.
00:36:53
Speaker
because I think the interesting thing was that was like the last part that you're left with. So basically, as you were saying, what happens is he drops down on that Jedi that looks like Shaggy from Scooby-Doo, but fun fact, apparently that is the Jedi's name, Shaggy or something like that. Like they actually did call him that in the Star Wars spelling or whatever, but it is quite funny. But he like
00:37:17
Speaker
Because this is the interesting thing, with a lot of the villains, as soon as they're confronted, or they're confronting their prey, let's say, with Dirge and Obi-Wan, you know, they're fighting fist to fist with Count Dooku, he just straight up electrocutes Asajj, and then Asajj, as soon as she comes face to face with Anakin, they start fighting and everything.
00:37:38
Speaker
and with this it's quite interesting because Grievous is very much like a predator. He starts like he doesn't go straight in so to give you context of the scene they're like trapped in this ship and they're completely surrounded on the ground by all these battle rods there's no escape you could easily just say march in and kill them but he decides to toy with them he climbs up like the side of the ship
00:38:04
Speaker
You can hear his footsteps crawling along the side. It's really interesting. As you said, he just starts killing off Jedi and there's nothing really like it in the series. Or really in the films as a whole.
00:38:22
Speaker
Because as soon, and this is another topic for another day, but as soon as it's introduced in the future series, so like the 2008 version, Revenge of the Sith as well, is very much a mustache twirling villain. He's not really, he kind of loses that age almost.
00:38:40
Speaker
but as in this he's just a straight up killer, like he's jumping all over the place, he's out manoeuvring. I remember watching one analysis, someone said he's even faster than the Force at one bit, because Kiadi Mundi, who's one of the Jedi masters of the Council, uses the Force to try and stop him.
00:38:56
Speaker
and he jumps out the way just before you know he can get hit and then he just he just toys with him really and just he strikes fear in them and it's just such a highlight and that iconic scene at the end where he had a Monday out of like what five or six Jedi is the only one left he's standing his ground General Grievous like jumps in the air to slice him down and then it's back to like Yoda I'm using and then it cuts the credits and it's like no what happens next
00:39:22
Speaker
And it's just such- It's such a, like you really want to know what happens next and it kind of plays with you in that way. So just before we finish, just one bit of really interesting trivia. Apparently when they created this version of Grievous, the creators decided because they were told, you know, generally, ha ha, generally for General Grievous, that he was a
00:39:47
Speaker
like a Jedi killer. So they created like this half, you know, half um, organic, half robot killing machine for Jedi. But then later on George Lucas said that he wanted General Grievous to be more like, as I said, a mustached whirling villain to run away as soon as the bad got going and things and it just doesn't work.
00:40:09
Speaker
later on but that's a whole other rant but in the context of this and it carries on to the second part which is something we're going to talk about next time but the character of Grievous as a whole just leaves such an impression such a good cliffhanger and yeah it's just kind of the final note to an already strong start to this series
00:40:32
Speaker
Yeah, for sure. It's a fantastic way to end it. It leaves you on a cliffhanger and you're really excited for
Conclusion and Recommendations
00:40:37
Speaker
the next section. And yeah, we're going to talk about more about that in the next episode. And I can't wait to talk about that because it's got one of the best openings ever.
00:40:45
Speaker
And I think we both agreed that with our rewatching it, thinking this has got such a good... Yeah, I think so. Yeah, it's so good. Before we finish up, is there any final thoughts from your end? Just that I really recommend anyone who hasn't already watches it. And yeah, stay tuned for our next episode where we talk about the second part of the show and you're going to want to listen to that one.
00:41:05
Speaker
Oh, one more thing, sorry, that I just forgot to bring up earlier. I just wanted to check if you noticed this. So, as I was saying, you know the fight scene between Ventress and Anakin? You can talk about the sizzling lightsabers. Oh, the sizzling lightsabers as well, that is cool. Yeah, they've never done that since. Yeah, so, just for context, they're standing in the rain and it starts raining, and the rain starts bouncing off the lightsabers and sizzling, which might sound like a small thing, but it's really cool.
00:41:32
Speaker
and like, sense it off the atmosphere. Honestly, me saying this is so cool does not do justice. Go watch it. But there's also another scene. See when they're fighting in the temple? Just going back to what you were saying about Anakin's kind of descent into the dark side, where, see when he's fighting in the temple? Did you notice that he's lit up in blue? Obviously because of his lightsaber and the sages lit up in red.
00:41:55
Speaker
That's very clever. But when they get to the top of the mountain, which... Or not the mountain, but the top of the temple, where there's a huge, like, red moon on top, Anakin... When Anakin, like, stops her from, like, chopping them, he, like, turns bright red because of, you know, the moon. But I don't know if that was intentional. Like, that was, like, a subtle always turning dark because he starts, like, just wailing on her.
00:42:19
Speaker
He just grabs the lightsaber, uses his mechanical hand, which I don't know if that's another job, turning into an inhuman monster, and then he just starts beating her when she's down until she falls off. I don't know, I just thought that was a really neat touch. A very subtle touch. But sorry, that was my last point. I just had to end it on that because it's such a good series. If you haven't checked out
00:42:41
Speaker
Yeah, go check it out. Yeah, definitely. And we look forward to talking about it more with you next time. Cannot wait for that one. So yeah, where can these lovely people who are listening to Chat Tsunami find you, Green Shield? They can find me on both Twitch and Twitter at greenshield95. I'm not, I've been streaming so much lately, but I can be found there and yeah, follow me on both platforms. Yep, definitely go check him out, he's an amazing person. I'm not just saying that because you're on the podcast.
00:43:08
Speaker
But no, definitely go check him out. He does amazing content. And yeah, if you want to follow me, you can see me on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Twitch, and of course TikTok. I don't know why I said of course TikTok, but pretend that's the flow of it. Under the name, that's an army fortitude. Without any further ado, thank you so much Andrew for coming on today. No problem at all. I look forward to the next one.
00:43:32
Speaker
That can not wait. And until then, stay safe, stay awesome and most importantly, stay hydrated. Bye guys. Bye everyone.