The Clone Wars: D-Squad [098-101/134] ✦ Watchalong Reaction & Review

Yes, such a great explosion! Definitely one that will always be remembered. And I don't want to show Tarkin any love. 😅 Plus, I showed him plenty of "love" back during The Citadel Trilogy (and talked about him again in my review of Season 3).

kaiielle

Hey, Kaiielle! POINT OF NO RETURN: BLUE logo again in honor of Artoo. An empty flight deck isn't the HERO'S WELCOME Meebur was expecting. HOLOGRAM CREW! I like it when WAC PUPPETEERS the inert battle droid to throw off reinforcements! Lol. The hold is bursting with RHYDONIUM! The cruiser itself is a bomb! DROID SURVIVORS: a Treadwell, two Gonks, a mouse and a bunny. BUZZ DROID SWARM! Buzz droids were seen in live-action tearing Obi-Wan Kenobi's fighter to shreds during the Battle of Coruscant in "Revenge of the Sith". ARTOO creates a RING OF FIRE to protect the squad but they're completely surrounded! The DEATH of BZ! The astromech exposes the gun deck to the vacuum of hyperspace sucking out the swarm and himself. Another casualty! TREADWELL gets blasted racing to the shuttle! I like how QT rockets to the shuttle to speed their escape with her tow cable pulling the bunny and Gonk piled on the mouse. ARTOO vs. SUPER TACTICAL DROID over the detonator! At the VALOR SPACE STATION conference room, Anakin notices the cruiser's ramming speed. The RETURN of WILHUFF TARKIN last seen in the Citadel Trilogy of Season 3! The credits reveal he's been promoted to ADMIRAL! The MOST SPECTACULAR EXPLOSION in all of Star Wars! What a blast! I like the effect of the twisted debris pelting the station with the klaxons blaring! A battered Artoo is salvaged from the debris field by an INSISTENT ANAKIN and restored! Since BZ's MEMORY BANKS were removed to accommodate Meebur's command center maybe they can plug that data into a replica chassis and MASTER SINUBE could be reunited with his astromech. MEEBUR finally recognizes his unit as COLLEAGUES and gets his just desserts of being stuck with WAC. Lol. Kaiielle, you didn't show TARKIN any love! The old boy looks and sounds like PETER CUSHING but he didn't get a shout-out from you!

Alex Vazquez

Hey, Kaiielle! MISSING IN ACTION: BLUE logo again in honor of Artoo. You can tell that the backwater burg of PONS ORA is a tough town when a cute little ALEENA is seen mugging a BALNAB of his NUNA DRUMSTICK in the alley behind the droids. The AQUALISH at the edge of town was designed to look exactly like the early KENNER ACTION FIGURE from the '70's called "Walrus Man" even though Aqualish evolved from arachnids. WAC applies what he learned about INSTINCT from the herd to the local vermin but the results are less than appetizing. I think a little DUMPSTER DIVING could do Meebur some good! BORKUS is a SULLUSTAN, the same species as NIEN NUNB, Lando's co-pilot in "Return of the Jedi". Borkus' diner is called 'POWER SLIDERS' in Aurebesh except the 'P' has fallen from the sign. The INTRODUCTION of GREGOR, the amnesiac clone! Gregor is actually a REPUBLIC COMMANDO! The last time Republic Commandos were seen was when DELTA SQUAD transported the bodies of Roonan Master Halsey and Nautolan Padawan Knox to Coruscant from Devaron where they had been slain by SAVAGE OPRESS in "Witches of the Mist" (Season 3, Episode 14). The Squad was making a cameo appearance from the 2005 LucasArts video game "Republic Commando". Devastating battles have altered the fates of the show's ROGUE CLONES with Geonosis prompting CUT's desertion, Christophsis prompting SLICK's treachery and Sarrish prompting GREGOR's amnesia. SARRISH was a battle featured in Dark Horse LEGENDS comics in which Commander Cody found himself in an indefensible position against an unassailable target! Trussed-up Borkus reveals a SEPARATIST PLOT that proves to be the castaways' salvation! Gregor is an ARMY OF ONE striking with surgical precision and optimal effect! MEEBUR gets waylaid! Overly dramatic Meebur says to go on without him and WAC hilariously obliges! Lol. What price VALOR? Gregor VOWS to make his way home but that explosion was MASSIVE and I fear Col. Gascon will watch for his return in vain.

Alex Vazquez

Agree, some very good lines in this episode. I'm kind of surprised it's George's favourite, but he has his reasons and they are valid!

kaiielle

Hey, Kaiielle! A SUNNY DAY IN THE VOID: BLUE logo again in honor of Artoo. Amazing COMET SWARM! Both beautiful and deadly. Love the astromech LIFELINE CHAIN! ABAFAR would be a hellish place to try and survive: featureless, oppressively hot, bone dry. Meebur and WAC both still think they're CALLING THE SHOTS but it's Artoo who secures the module and TAKES THE LEAD again. MEEBUR finally loses it at the second crash site and sees a MIRAGE. Poor guy's just a little amphibian in a desiccated waste. The ASTROMECHS follow sensible Artoo and LEAVE THE TWO BLOWHARDS behind to wallow in self-pity. WAC gets the two best lines of the episode: "I do not know who he is talking to. Maybe whoever programmed him." Lol. Unintentionally profound and subtly existential! "Giving up is not in my programming. I am surprised it is in yours, Colonel." An unexpectedly inspiring jab! LIFE FINDS A WAY! Follow the herd of wildlife! Artoo and the astromechs beat Meebur and WAC to the settlement but, as soon as he wets his whistle, Meebur's BLUSTER RETURNS and he puffs up WAC, too, by promoting him to CORPORAL! I love Artoo's WICKED LITTLE CHUCKLE. He knows the score. I like how the settlement of PONS ORA is nestled sub-surface and encircled by canals. "A Sunny Day in the Void" happens to be GEORGE LUCAS' FAVORITE episode of the series because the landscape reminds him of the wasteland revelation at the end of his debut feature "THX-1138" and because of the "Waiting for Godot"-like existential sentiments expressed by WAC and Meebur!

Alex Vazquez

Love these droids!

kaiielle

Hey, Kaiielle! SECRET WEAPONS: BLUE logo in honor of Artoo! Human Knight ANAKIN SKYWALKER loans R2. The INTRODUCTION of QT loaned by Twi'lek Knight AAYLA SECURA. The INTRODUCTION of BZ loaned by Cosian Master TERA SINUBE. The INTRODUCTION of C4 loaned by Anx Master THONGLA JUR. The INTRODUCTION of WAC loaned by Clone Commander NEYO. AAYLA SECURA was last featured in "The Zillo Beast Strikes Back" (Season 2, Episode 19)! TERA SINUBE was last seen in "The Gathering" earlier this season. THONGLA JUR is from a Hadrosaur-like species called ANX. NEYO will betray and murder Tholothian Master STASS ALLIE on her speeder bike during the Order 66 montage in "Revenge of the Sith". WAC is a pit droid like those seen servicing the vehicles at the podrace in "The Phantom Menace" while the others are ASTROMECHS. The INTRODUCTION of MEEBUR GASCON, a miniature martinet with an inflated opinion of himself. His species is called ZILKIN. The Parwan engineer, DR. GUBACHER, tricks out the droids Q-STYLE with Artoo getting souped-up thrusters, QT getting a magnetic coil, C4 getting a laser cutter and BZ getting lobotomized to install Meebur Gascon's command center! Meebur and WAC are OIL and WATER! I love how WAC lures the SUPER BATTLE DROIDS away from their post so easily. Naturally, ARTOO comes through in the clutch while WAC and Meebur jockey for leadership. ANTI-GRAV MELEE yields some actual teamwork from everyone including Meebur who finally sees some action! Meebur nearly gets SQUISHED in the grip of a SUPER TACTICAL DROID! Let's list ARTOO'S CONTRIBUTIONS: zapped their captors, unlocked the vault door, turned off the gravity, retrieved the chip, saved Meebur and insisted on not abandoning BZ. R2-D2 is the droid MVP! Meebur finally shows some RESPECT and gets rewarded by being addressed properly as a Colonel by WAC.

Alex Vazquez

Yes! Completely agree. It's so wonderful. 💛

kaiielle

I think they've pulled something exceptional with Gregor in that episode. In 20 minutes we met him and we got to care for him enough for his sacrifice to have an emotional impact. I think that says a lot about the skill of the creators of the show. It does work because he is a clone, and even if clones are very much individuals and have their own personalities, they also have a lot in common, we know they have a shared experience as soldiers and Gregor's actions and decisions are very much consistent with most clones we have seen across the show, that's why we don't need much development to understand and empathise with him.

Michał Zawisza Alvarez

Thank you for the additional details! And I'm glad you enjoyed it more this time around. Probably helped that I was really enjoying it, I'm sure.

kaiielle

Miff

RIP Gregor indeed. I loved the short time we had him for! What a legend. Oh, that's neat about the game! 😊

kaiielle

This ARC is definitely not the strongest, BUT it is Very fun and has a lot of great monsters in it. That Explosion was INCREDIBLE!!! We got to meet Gregor!!! RIP Gregor😢. And fun fact about him, like they said, he was a Clone Commando who had different Training to regular clones like Echo, Fives, and Cody and Rex. Echo and Fives also later had to be Trained as ARC Troopers which are the skill level between Regular Clones and Commando’s. Clone Commandos have a whole Game about them from like 2005 called “Republic Commando”. Dave and George too the look and much of the lore from that Game and put it into Clone Wars. The Clones from that game have already appeared in this show for 1 scene in like season 3. Not much else to say about this ARC, but you’ll definitely want to keep some tissues ready for the next few😅!

Justin

That's totally valid. O'Raine commented that the "chore" episode of A Sunny Day in the Void is George Lucas' favourite Clone Wars episode, so to me it's pretty obvious why this arc was made in the first place. Thinking about this some more too, I feel like the whole theme of this arc was about programming vs. training, and it was cool to see that through the droids instead of the clones like it has been the entire show (and we've seen it so many times already). I also feel like this arc was a nod to the R2 lovers and fans out there! Definitely not everyone's cup of tea, but I enjoyed it since I'm such a huge fan of droids to begin with. 😅

kaiielle

Yeahhhhh I really, REALLY don’t like this arc, not only do I find it an absolute chore to watch (especially the second one) but it’s just such a nothing story in my opinion, like yeah it’s just silly fun but like, really? We’re five seasons in and this is what they came up with 😂 thankfully the next 3 arcs are consistently some of the best in the entire series, you’re in for a TREAT. Enjoyed the reaction as always KL! You made these episodes much more tolerable (:

Sean H

Good to know!

kaiielle

Fun Fact Kaiielle: A Sunny Day in the Void is George Lucas' favorite Clone Wars episode! ^_^

O'Raine Foster

When you think about it. Palp must not have known about this bomb. Cause Palp's prize future student and Tarkin, one of palp's most trusted officers was on that space station. They'd have died if that bomb hit its target. That bomb explosion scene is my favorite scene in the series. So epic and flashy. Also, R2's godly plot armor kicked in for sure, there's no actual way he'd have servived that being smack in the middle of that.

Yoshi1990