The Clone Wars - Season Four Discussion Thread

[TheSon]

I wonder how much Toys R Us is going to charge for the inevitable Darth Maul Exclusive w/ Spider-legs and pet snake Deluxe set? Oh wait, they are too bust making battle packs of figures we have 5 times over. Never mind. 

[Darby]

Spider Maul is an instant deluxe figure, I would think.  I loved the LOTR overtones, as well as Maul so far.  I like that they are taking such an extreme angle with him.

[Scockery]

The return of 50's style diner over the almost obligatory cantina. No quaint Irish pubs in this galaxy!

[McMetal]

Kinda huh? Not what I was expecting I guess.

I'm already on record that the whole premise is just silly, but if they're going to go there I guess I am in.

I liked the opening logo in red...good touch.

I can never read the credits when the show airs live, but I would bet anything the voice of the weird snake thing was James Hong, the very esteemed David Lopan from Big Trouble in Little China and also of Blade Runner fame. He is AWESOME, great choice.

It felt weird to see Anakin and Ahsoka again. Naturally they happen to stop in for a bite to eat at the exact same restaurant in the galaxy that their Sith adversary just left. Hell, everybody loves that diner - best waffles in the outer rim, right? 

I like the opening too where Savage is just randomly strangling some chick for apparently no reason. Did she spill coffee on him or something? And yet he runs away like a little girl from those scary police robots?

Kind of odd cameos for Mother Talzin and Asajj too. So I guess Moms is alive someplace after all. Good, more appearances = higher probability for eventual action figure. And I like that Asajj is taking the time to explore her new alternative lifestyle with the freaky purple chick. They make a cute couple. 

The junkyard planet was cool, their backgrounds always are on this show, but I agree it was straight out of Soldier. I guess they could rip off worse movies though. As for Maul? I kind of liked the weird spider legs, but the crazy act seemed a little over the top. I'm sure Sam was into it and all, but all the crying and giggling doesn't really befit a Sith apprentice. Kinda wish he had toned it down a bit more, like with the "revenge" line, that was well done.

But seriously, HOW THE HELL would Yoda and Obi-Wan know Darth Maul by name?!?!

[Darby]

I don't know, it makes sense Maul would descend into madness.  He got cut in half, after all.  For all we know the dark side kept him alive - any other explanation would be as silly as this whole idea, really - and the cost of that was his sanity.  It gives him some dimension, but hopefully the fog lifts a little as we go forward. 

[Darby]

Oh, and the junkers were cool as well.

[McMetal]

I think Lucas needs to go back and ret-con that scene with Yoda from APM.

"Two there are always, well, not always...usually, but it's actually more like FIVE there are. The Master and his apprentice. And then his other apprentice. And that guy's apprentice. And then her apprentice."

So yeah, there really is no rule of Two and Sith never die they just multiply. 

Someone needs to do an EU story that consists of Darth Vader hunting down all these other Sith wanna-be's and brutally murdering them to restore order to the Sith again. That would be some cool stuff.

[Darby]

Good point.  I agree the rule of two thing seems to be more of a suggestion.  Good thing too, as the arc of Assaj over this entire series has turned out to be the most interesting aspect probably of the prequels.  She's sort of the inverse Anakin, tracking towards the light.

[Jesse James]

On the rule of two thing, I've always felt like Assajj, Oppress, Grievous, (and other EU guys) aren't truly Sith...  they're maybe led to believe they are, or will be, but they're just pawns Dooku and Sidious are using since they need commanders and "heroes" to battle the Jedi rather than relying on doing it themselves, or tryign to just overwhelm them with numbers.

I think characters like Ventress are ultimately no more Sithy than Durge or Cad Bane are...  They just like to think they are.  Tartakovsky had a far greater handle on Ventress' character.

[Greedo The Green Menace]

Interesting so far, but is there only one more episode after this? Seems like an awful lot of ground to cover if so. I don't really find the premise that far fetched really. The force can do some pretty crazy things and we don't really know anything about Zabrak physiology. Maybe surviving bisection is a common thing, all thier vital organs might be up in the top half. In any case, it doesn't bother me. I really can't imagine they're gonna kill him off right away though, I'm guessing Maul and Savage must survive to fight another season. Why go through all the trouble of reviving this dead guy and hyping him up only to kill him off an episode later right?

Actually it's kind of funny, but Maul is a threat to pretty much everyone. Particularly if he regains his sanity, imagine if his ambitions start to go beyond just revenge and he decides he wants to be king sith? He knows Palpatines true identity, he could easily rat him out and screw him over big time. Shame that we already know that won't happen.

[Jabba the Slug]

I was getting extremely impatient with the episode - it wasn't until the last 10 minutes that we actually saw Maul. I wish they took Anakin and Ahsoka out of the episode - it was irritating to see them appear with no actual relevance to the episode other than for Anakin to have a "Yoda" moment and say "sinister" for what I'm sure was the second time in the episode. I thought it was overplayed when Dooku said that in the beginning.

Also kinda irked that here we have Savage, this giant fearsome-looking dude, and he acts like a tall, awkward dude that no one can take seriously. The cargo pilot and the annoying snake dude both seemed not to be able to take him seriously... and I'm still trying to figure out why the TCW crew would be unoriginal enough than to put a talking snake in Star Wars.

Witwer's take as Darth Maul, though, was amazing. The whole mentally insane was very suiting and it really makes you feel pity for the guy - he was this badass Sith Lord in EpI, and now he's living in his own scum and only half the person he was.

I love how he's ranting, half-crying and giggling in insanity and Savage asks him who cut him in half - for a second Maul stops the whining and looks right at him and says "REVENGE"... a total "oh, sh**'s going down" moment.   

[Scott]

I think Lucas needs to go back and ret-con that scene with Yoda from APM.

"Two there are always, well, not always...usually, but it's actually more like FIVE there are. The Master and his apprentice. And then his other apprentice. And that guy's apprentice. And then her apprentice."

So yeah, there really is no rule of Two and Sith never die they just multiply. 

This is actually talked about in the Plageuis book...which is pretty good so far I have to say (and I usually hate most EU)

[Nicklab]

Witwer's take as Darth Maul, though, was amazing. The whole mentally insane was very suiting and it really makes you feel pity for the guy - he was this badass Sith Lord in EpI, and now he's living in his own scum and only half the person he was.

I love how he's ranting, half-crying and giggling in insanity and Savage asks him who cut him in half - for a second Maul stops the whining and looks right at him and says "REVENGE"... a total "oh, sh**'s going down" moment.   

When I first saw the behind the scenes video with Sam Witwer, I thought "OMG, he is totally over-acting, and he's gonna blow this".  But in the context of the animation and Maul's manic behavior it works.  And the "Revenge" moment at the end of the episode was a great way to wrap things up.

The serpent came across as something out of Paradise Lost to me.  And I also see the echoes of LOTR, too.

As for Obi-Wan and Yoda knowing Darth Maul's name?  I would suspect that the Jedi learned Maul's name following the Naboo crisis depicted in TPM.  Sidious told the Neimoidians that he was sending Darth Maul to them, so they knew him by name.  Nute Gunray and Rune Haako may not have given up Sidious in interrogations following the invasion of Naboo, but they may have given up Darth Maul's name.

One thing that momentarily took me out of the episode though?  The cargo ship's walker landing gear.  It just seemed like too much of a stretch considering that this starship was just some bulk freighter.

[Brian]

I thought this week's episode was pretty good, and I'm definitely anticipating the finale.  I haven't seen it mentioned elsewhere, but our DVR guide has a description for the episode and mentions Obi-Wan teaming up with Asaaj to fight the "brothers", which could be cool if that's true.  I think this season has been pretty good overall, a huge step up from a fairly lackluster Season 3.  The second half in particular has been lots of fun I thought, although not many Jedi to be seen.

[Scockery]

I like the opening too where Savage is just randomly strangling some chick for apparently no reason. Did she spill coffee on him or something? And yet he runs away like a little girl from those scary police robots?

From the slideshow on the official Clone Wars site:

"The diner scene originally began with the waitress droid -- Marwigo -- not having much luck getting Opress's order, and passing off the customer to her human colleague, Sassi. When Sassi reaches toward Opress's amulet, he reacts violently."

Also of note:

In the script, the cook Loubo is holding a blaster to which the spaceport police droid says, "Lou! Are you crazy, pointing that thing at a Jedi?" Changing the prop into a frying pan turned this moment into a joke.

I can never read the credits when the show airs live, but I would bet anything the voice of the weird snake thing was James Hong, the very esteemed David Lopan from Big Trouble in Little China and also of Blade Runner fame. He is AWESOME, great choice.

You'd lose that bet. Ben Diskin did the voice of Morley the snake.