Clones, clones, clones (that would be three)
Season 3 of Star Wars: The Clone Wars kicked off a few weeks ago, although I've been too busy to either a) watch all of the episodes or b) write about them, until now.
Last season, the series really began to mature, and it grew on me quite a bit. The characters had more depth, the plots were better, and the production values and quality of the animation increased.
Season 3 started off with more of a whimper than a bang, but it has already had some high points.
The whimper was because the first episode - Clone Cadets - was basically a character piece about a group of clone trainees and how they needed to band together as a team to get through their training. However, since this was a flashback episode about a group of clones we saw waaaaay back in season 1, there was no real doubt about the outcome (admittedly, I'd forgotten about this being the same group, until I read about it online someplace). Still, while not exactly action-packed, there were some interesting behind-the-scenes revelations about how clones get trained and who trains them. And more so, what happens to clones that weren't left in the test-tube quite long enough.
Does the name Quasimodo ring a bell?
The second episode - ARC Troopers - was shown back-to-back with the first one, since it again featured the cloning facilities on Camino, as well as Quasimodo, and the surviving members of the squadron of trainees, most of whom got killed off in that other episode from season 1. (Oops... uh, spoiler alert! There.)
Anyway, the droid army decided to attack the cloning facility on Camino (not Camano), since if they could take that out, then hey - no fresh troops to fight! What was interesting about this episode, was that they mentioned that since Jango Fett died, they were having to stretch out his DNA samples (insert your own joke here), and that some of the more recent clones weren't turning out quite as sharp as a result. So learning a little bit more about the background of the clones (and why eventually there weren't clones in the latter Star Wars movies) was kind of cool. There was also some nifty lightsabering between Anakin and Ventress and Obi-Wan and Grievous, although I think they tend to pace the fights a little too fast, and they aren't as fluid as they should be.
The most impressive part of the episode (and the series) are the space battles. Seriously... they had battles in this half-hour cartoon that blew away anything in Return of the Jedi. It's really quite astonishing the amount of work all of that must take (although anymore, it might be just as well to write a video game that contained all the ships, and fight it out real-time on a PS3, and just show that on TV).
The third episode - Supply Lines - brought more proof that George just can't be trusted with Star Wars anymore, as once again, Jar Jar reared his ugly head. For whatever odd reason, I was glad Ahmed Best came back to do his voice, because the only thing more annoying than Jar Jar's voice, is some other voice actor trying to do Jar Jar's voice. There were some more impressive battle scenes though, and some nice moments with Senator Organa. (Y'know, with all of his galaxy-trotting, he may not even have been on Alderaan when it blew up. Maybe he was just trying to get out of child support.) Anyway, they had to go somewhere and do something... save some of those blue tail-headed people by negotiating with some neutral planet to let them land for medical supplies and accordions or something. I don't know... I kind of tuned that part out.
The fourth episode was Sphere of Influence. Okay, remember the cute blue girl senator from season 1? Well, her chubbier, less attractive sisters get kidnapped by Greedo, and so she teams up with Ahsoka to go find them. Meanwhile, her father and some other guy also go after the kidnappers, and eventually everyone is all happy. And Jabba the Hutt is there, and we get to see his little son, Quonset. I think. Anyway, it's all full of political dreariness intrigue. Something about trade blockades, or treaty violations or something. Whatever.
Then, there was Corruption, which was a morality story about how kids having access to soda machines in schools is making them fat. Or in this case, dead. Y'see, there's (another) trade blockade of some sort, so there's a black market for soda ("tea") that's been diluted with antifreeze ("blavin" or something). Why didn't they just dilute it with water? Wouldn't that be cheaper than poisonous chemicals?
I'm a Mooga, he's a Mooga, she's a Mooga, we're a Mooga,
So of course Padme's on the case, because she's buddies with the senator on that planet, and together they unweave a web of corruption that goes to the very heart of the government of this planet that nobody really cares about - Mandalore. You know - it's where the guys that the Fett's stole their armor from are from. But none of those guys are in this episode. Just lots of talking, a bunch of kids getting sick on expired soda, and a warehouse full of antifreeze burning down. Seems to me the whole thing was just a missed opportunity to slip in a reference to Slurm.
After that, we had The Academy - in which Ahsoka is back, and on assignment to teach the just-poisoned-but-now-better students on Mandalore what "Government Corruption" means.
They need a 14-year-old to teach them that? Can't they just Google it?
Anyway, after taking the lessons to heart, four of the kids go all Scooby-Doo, and go searching for said corruption, and find it. And of course, get into trouble, and have to be bailed out by Ahsoka, who manages to kick butt and save the day without the benefit of a lightsaber. It's actually a pretty good episode, overt educational content notwithstanding.
Also, it brings up a point about Ahsoka. She's turning into an interesting character, even more so as the series goes along. In Sphere of Influence, she used a Jedi mind trick for the first time, and was able to levitate another character out of harm's way. So in a way, it's cool to see her turning into a more full-fledged Jedi. Plus, she's picking up some of Anakin's tendencies (and we're seeing more hints of his dark side as well), so it will be interesting to see how this all works out. George said in a recent interview that they have her story arc planned out (and therefore an end to it), but won't get to it for "hopefully a few more years". Will she turn to the dark side? Be killed by Anakin or someone else? Or does some other fate await her? We can only hope she won't turn out like Lindsay Lohan.
I'll admit, I'm more engrossed in The Clone Wars than I expected to be by this point. The animation is much improved over the first season (although it's still rough in spots) and the locations, sets, design, detail and scale of everything is unparalleled in any made-for-TV "cartoon" (much less sci-fi in general). The characters are likable for the most part, and they've started to develop a decent roster of villains, too. The plots are often still hit or miss, but the series now has a good overall arc going, and it does add some much-needed depth and backstory to the prequel trilogy. Also, it's apparently bringing in a whole new generation of Star Wars fans, for whom this is Star Wars, because it's what they're growing up with - not the originals, not even the prequels.
Man, do I feel old...
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