Star Wars The Clone Wars
There were a number of scripts that went unproduced when "The Clone Wars" was unceremoniously cancelled by Cartoon Network. Before we move on to the final season of the show we are going to take a look at those that come to us in the form of four storyboarded episodes, a novel and a graphic novel. Let's get to it.
Season Six, Unproduced Episodes: "A Death on Utapau," "In Search of the Crystal, "Crystal Crisis" & "The Big Bang"
So, rather than look at each one of these episodes individually, I figured we'd talk about this four episode arc as a whole. If you want to watch these episodes, I've embedded the YouTube video for the storyboarded episodes above. I just want to really stress that these are not finished. They are extremely bare bones. The mouths don't move on the characters. The action is difficult to follow sometimes, but if you can get past that, I'd say that it's worth a watch. These episodes initially were released as story reels on starwars.com on September 25, 2014.
The plot of this four episode arc is this: Anankin and Obi-Wan head to the neutral planet of Utapau because Jedi Master Tu-Anh has been found dead. No one is sure why she was on Utapau or how she died. During the course of their investigation, the Jedi encounter push back from the planet governor and they learn quickly that the Separatists are involved. They've engaged local species, the Amani, to assist Sugi mercenaries to guard a giant Kyber Crystal the Separatists hope to use to make a weapon. Tu-Anh discovering this is what led to her death.
I think the thing I liked the most about these episodes is that it's all about Obi-Wan and Anakin teaming up. We saw a lot of this early on in the series, but as it progressed and we got deeper in to the war, arcs that focused on this classic duo dwindled. This felt like classic "The Clone Wars." I don't usually say this, but these episodes were generally funny, which we aren't usually getting this late in the series. I enjoyed the banter between Anakin and Obi-Wan and we did get some serious moments. When the Jedi are on the plains, Obi-Wan senses Anakin's distress at Ahsoka's leaving of the Jedi Order and he tries to talk to him about this. Anakin is initially dismissive of having this conversation but after some gentle pushing from Obi-Wan he voices his unhappiness with Ahsoka's decision. it's really interesting to hear them talk about this. How they both continue to defend the Council even though they both have to know what they did to Ahsoka was wrong. Anakin ends up asking Obi-Wan how he'd sleep at night knowing Anakin failed him, to which Obi-Wan confidently said that would never happen. Which, we all know is not true.
I really wish there had been more of this in these episodes. This is just a pretty small snippet of the second episode. I think there is so much to mine here. This is really the only real mention of Ahsoka in season six and after the emotional scenes with her and Anakin at the end of season five, it would be nice to give this more air and space. It would be nice to see Anakin and Obi-Wan grapple with this a little bit more. It would have added something more to this arc that I think was missing.
Overall, this arc is pretty paint-by-numbers. It is exactly what you've come to expect from the show. It doesn't really break any new ground. Anakin and Obi-Wan head to a strange planet to investigate. They uncover a Separatist plot. Hijinks ensue. They bicker. Anakin is impulsive. Obi-Wan tries to stop him from doing something or silly or follow a plan, Anakin refuses. Somehow things work out. There are thrilling chases and lightsaber battles, which I'm sure would have looked spectacular if the episodes had ended up getting fully animated. But again, at this point in the life of the series, I want more than that.
This idea of the Separatists making massive weapons using Kyber crystals is a really cool concept that the arc sort of perfunctorily mentions at the end of the last episode and that's it. Master Yoda talks very ominously about how bad it would be and how the ancient Sith did this and how he's concerned that this new Sith Lord wants to do the same. I really would have liked maybe a flashback to this. More information about these weapons. It was like the writers decided to drop in these really interesting, cool elements and then just barely do anything with them.
I do want to give a special shout out to James Hong, the voice actor for Endente. He's a 94 year old actor that you have definitely seen in so many things most recently "Everything Everywhere All At Once." It was such a nice surprise to hear his voice here.
Grade: C
This "Clone Wars" novel is based on eight unproduced scripts from season six of the show. The Jedi Council decide that the best way to end the war is to assassinate Count Dooku. They enlist their secret agent, Quinlan Vos, to do the job. The council send Vos to ingratiate himself with Dooku's former apprentice and would-be assassin, Asajj Ventress, who is making a living as a bounty hunter. Ventress agrees to teach Vos how to harness the dark side to try to take down Dooku, but as Vos gets deeper into the dark side it becomes clearer that destroying Dooku might destroy him as well.
I am not going to beat around the bush here. This book is really great. I am so glad that it exists. This is the type of story that I wanted to see when I was originally watching the sixth season on Netflix. Something with real stakes that gave closure to characters that I'd really grown to care about throughout the run of the show. I am still kind of upset that these episodes didn't get the chance to be animated particularly when I look at some of the garbage that did. I'm looking at you Jar Jar Binks and Mace Windu two-parter.
I'm going to say that I will definitely be talking about some specifics parts of this book, so this is your spoiler alert. If you haven't read this and you want to go into it knowing nothing, I'd suggest stopping here, reading the book and then coming back when you are finished. I am sure in the course of these "The Clone Wars" recaps, I have mentioned that the best thing this show has done is giving the Star Wars universe Ahsoka Tano and Asajj Ventress. It's nice to have Ventress get the spotlight that she really deserves here and get closure to her story. Ventress gets a really great redemption arc here. I think when it comes to a character like Ventress, who has done really terrible things, including murdering Jedi, it can be difficult to make something like redemption feel unrealistic. That's not what happens here. Ventress's actions aren't ignored. The things she's done are acknowledged and their are real repercussions that she is still dealing with even on this redemptive path.
If you read any of the old Dark Horse "Clone Wars" comics, you're probably familiar with Quinlan Vos. He featured in an arc earlier in the series and if you've watched "Obi-Wan Kenobi" you know that he survives Order 66. Vos goes through so much in this book. I love watching Jedi question their place in the order and that definitely happens here. We don't get a lot of stories in the Star Wars universe where we actually see the transformation a Jedi goes through when they turn to the Dark Side. To get that internal monologue was extremely impactful and I wish we'd see more of it in this media. Not only that, but we actually get a compelling love story? I'm shocked because that rarely happens in "Star Wars."
There is just a ton of good stuff here. We get moments with the Council. We get Obi-Wan questioning things and pushing back against the Council. We get Mace Windu being the absolute worst. A friend of mine were talking about how Mace Windu is maybe the worst Jedi in the Star Wars universe and how he is kind of a piece of shit and I think that this book really encapsulates why that is. He is unwilling to give grace. He's unmoving. He doesn't listen. He's just really terrible and if he's your fave, it might be time to do some soul searching.
This is a really great book all around. It's necessary for fans and that is usually not true of a lot of "Star Wars" books. What are you waiting for?
Grade: A
This four issue mini series tells the tale of what happened after Darth Maul was taken by Sidious on Mandalore. Maul's Mandalorian and criminal associates rescue him from the Sith's tender mercies and Maul launches a plan to get revenge on Sidious with the help of Mother Talzin.
This is another arc I would have loved to see actually animated instead of a lot of the scripts that did make it to screen in season six. The return of Darth Maul was such an epic moment in "The Clone Wars" and how they sort of abandon his story after season five never made a ton of sense to me. This is another piece of non movie/TV media that I would really recommend to Star Wars fans. There is a lot of information here that I think fans would appreciate, particularly Darth Maul fans.
One of the things I enjoyed the most about this story was Darth Sidious taking a more hand son approach. It was great seeing him go toe to toe with Darth Maul and Savage Oppress in the last few episodes of season five and he's here again taking an active role in trying to take down his ex apprentice. We learn a little bit about Sidious's past with Mother Talzin. It turns out the Sith Lord trained with her but betrayed her and almost killed her when he tried to steal her powers. He also stole her newborn son who was, you guessed it, Darth Maul. That is a pretty big revelation and I feel like the series kind of drops it and moves on pretty quickly from it.
The big problem with this mini, is that it feels like there is a lot of padding here. This story could have probably been told in two issues so it feels extremely stretched out. Barlow doesn't really bring anything interesting to the table when it comes to the Pyke Syndicate or the Black Sun. It's clear that Maul has a connection to the Mandalorian, Kast, which it would have been cool to see explored more, but it isn't. It would also have been nice to learn more about the inner workings of the Shadow Collective that Maul has started. This is an interesting concept but the TV series and this comic series just kind of scrape the surface of it. I don't know I'm totally convinced with Sidious's reasoning for keeping Maul alive.
The art by Juan Frigeri is serviceable. You can follow it pretty easily. This is a pretty action forward series and I wish Frigeri's art was a little more fluid. It makes the action sequences pretty stiff. I think that playing around with panel layout could have also made the art a little more dynamic.
I still say that this is worth a read, even if you just read the final issue. It sets up where Maul is for season seven and it reveals the final fate of Mother Talzin.
Grade: B-
Next up, we begin the final season and check in with Ahsoka Tano to see what she's been up to since she left the Jedi Order.
I'd love to know what others think of these stories. Are you bummed out you didn't get to see them on the actual show? Any other Ventress stans out there? Let me know in the comments.
No comments:
Post a Comment