The Clone Wars - Season Three Discussion Thread

[Lestat]

This story arc is really weird. I thought the characters were manifestations of the force. I didn't really get how they could die as they didn't seem to be people. Hopefully the third episode will explain all of this. I wish they would show Anakin at least being tempted by the Dark side. He never seems the least bit interested in doing anything even a little evil. I was hoping that the show would showcase his journey to the dark side a little more. In the movie he takes a couple of baby steps towards the dark side and then all of a sudden he's ready to murder children.

[iFett]

My DVR poo'd out last night.   

[Jabba the Slug]

I missed the episode last night and wanted to see it this morning... except it wasn't on.

SHOOT. I'll catch it on the Official Site later this week.

[Phantom-like Menace]

So the commentary talks about these three episodes being metaphor, and Filoni mentions the cave on Dagobah, and how they needed to keep that in mind while writing it. Whether or not it felt like that, that was the intent.

I figure the reason Obi-Wan didn't make a big deal about Qui-Gon is fairly easy to explain. Jedi have visions and dreams all the time. They're nothing to make a big deal of. It'd be like you or I wondering if someone in our dream last night was really there or a dream. When Yoda tells Obi-Wan he'll be communing with Qui-Gon, I suppose Obi-Wan figures Yoda knows the difference between a vision and actual contact from beyond death.

I see the Force Wielders in three possible ways. Maybe they're basically nobodies, and they've convinced themselves this whole balance issue is all about them, and actually nothing they do has any effect on anything. Maybe they're one small part of balancing the Force, so while Son's winning may have tipped the scales more toward imbalance, it simply makes it harder to balance it later. Finally, maybe this is way more abstract than any of that. Maybe none of this meant anything and this was simply the way the three of them interpreted the Force letting them know the imbalance was becoming greater and they should do more to act against it. Given that metaphor was intended, I'm leaning toward the latter.

[Jabba the Slug]

Has anyone noticed that when the Son speaks, it sounds like Vader or Palps sometimes?

Sam Witwer even said something about this in a commentary article, that, as the Dark Side embodied, his characters embodies the major villains sometimes.

It could be heard in the first episode, but it's more apparent in this second episode: the way the Son says "My friend" to Anakin at the beginning of the episode, he drags the syllable on 'friend' like Palps does in ROTJ. And also in the scene where the Son is looking on at Ahsoka vs. Obi and Ani, he says 'sister' similar the way Vader does in ROTJ to Luke on the DSII. 

[Jesse James]

Soooooooooo....

Tarkin is making an appearance?  An OT character that certainly makes sense. 

He calls Darth Vader his friend.  He knows and acknolwedges the Jedi in Vader.  He doesn't fear Vader and actually seemed to hold rank over him to some degree. 

Tarkin (and Peter Cushing to be more precise) is a favorite of mine.  I have always loved his character because he's the embodiment of the Empire to me.  Even moreso than Vader of the Emperor.

Tarkin is the power-hungry.  He's the every-man who is willing to kill for this new way of life he envisions for the galaxy.  He's the kind of guy who looks at the Empire as serving his own ideals though, as it makes people like him have an avenue that they wouldn't have had under any legitimate democracy.  He's ruthless and cold, like the weapons of the Empire.  He's distinctly British and we all know that equates pure evil.   He's not all-powerful, but his posture is as though he is as dark and evil as any force-wielder.  He's the career soldier who sees opportunity to make himself stand out in the eyes of his superiors in a time of chaos.

Tarkin, to me, is the prototype for Grand Admiral Thrawn's character...  I like the pure humanity gone awry aspect of them, and that he's just a person, nothing special other than maybe his intelligence, tactical ability, personality, etc.  It's always how I envisioned the Empire.  Not as Clones, but more like the average people taking advantage of the times they live in to institute their ideals.

The Clones were merely a tool to get there...  Once the war ended and the political landscape changed drastically, then the true evil oozed out of the galaxy and Tarkin was the worst of them.  It's very similar to history at various points, and so I've always felt Tarkin had that special tie to human history that made the OT so special.

I love seeing that they're going to delve into a character's backstory that makes sense though.  I just hope they do it justice.  Cushing really made Tarkin evil through his acting, and I'd hate to see The Clone Wars diminish the character in any way.

[McMetal]

Well, he must do something pretty spectaular to leapfrog over Admiral Yularen, who is still alive as of ANH. If he goes from Captain to Grand Moff, dude must have done something besides kiss-ass. I would hope the TCW arc explores that and shows why he is able to ascend ranks so rapidly in the coming years.

[Scott]

Wonder if this is some sort of Death Star tie-in too?  Dooku has the plans, right?   I get that Sidious can get it from Dooku but it would be cooler if the Republic somehow gets the plans.  This whole plot point wasn't ever really explained in the movies

[Jabba the Slug]

I hope there's some sort of foreshadowing as to the Vader/Tarkin relationship in the next TCW episode.

As for last night's episode, I think the ending pretty much wrapped up the fact that we're not really sure if this actually happened - it doesn't even seem that Anakin, Obi, and Ahsoka are exactly sure whether it was an actual occurence or if it was just some loopy Force trick.

[Scott]

Very weird three episode Arc...to me the best scene was the Vader/Future stuff, although I'm not quite sure why Anakin so quickly thought that the Son was telling the truth and only by joining him would the stuff not happen.  But have the Father remove those visions from his memory was also somewhat lame. 

I agree that the quick time warp thing (Lion Witch and the Wardrobesque) will make them think it never happened

Really looking forward to the Tarkin episodes, Carbon freezing, Even Piell, Tarkin...oh my!

[McMetal]

Yeah, kind of a weak Star Trek-y ending there.

I loved the Son talking about joining with Anakin and crushing the Emperor. That's a battle I would have loved to have seen.

All in all, I loved this arc and found it a lot more creative and interesting than the poisoned school drinks or whatever. I hope they do more offbeat stuff like this in the future...great fodder for new figures too.

[Jabba the Slug]

It would have been cool if maybe some alternate future was shown to Anakin, where he had not turned to the dark side. Becoming a Jedi Master, living happily with Padme, had he not gone into kid-killing psycho and all.

[McMetal]

Hmmm...Chewbacca? I think they need to be careful about dragging in too many of the OT/PT characters, they've kind of gone overboard this season. It's a nice touch, but like celebrity guest voices on the Simpsons, best if done infrequently.

Still, I'd buy an animated Chewie in a heartbeat. Ditto Tarkin.

Psyched for "The Citadel"!

[Greg]

Hmmm...Chewbacca? I think they need to be careful about dragging in too many of the OT/PT characters, they've kind of gone overboard this season. It's a nice touch, but like celebrity guest voices on the Simpsons, best if done infrequently.

So far the appearances make sense. Chewie apparently lives forever (like other Wookiees), Tarkin  and Yularen were old in ANH, and Yoda & Boba popped up in the prequels. We'll be in trouble when Han and Lando pop up.   

[P-Siddy]

Having Chewie on will hopefully mean that Yoda will go to Kashyyyk for a mission and form that special bond with the Wookiees that was mentioned in Sith.
Hopefully it won't entail rescuing a Corellian orphan destined for greatness.