The Clone Wars: Shadow Warrior + Droid Adventure [071-073/134] ✦ Watchalong Reaction & Review

I had seen the notification earlier but when I went to go read it fully it was gone. Sorry that Patreon thought it was spam! Nothing I can do about that on my end so not sure what flagged it. I have enjoyed all the armor so far for the clones!

kaiielle

Miff

Awesome, thanks Alex! Appreciate your insight in that last paragraph too.

kaiielle

Hey, Kaiielle! SHADOW WARRIOR: Ever the AKIRA KUROSAWA devotees that they are, Lucas and Filoni used the master's latter-day epic "KAGEMUSHA" as the inspiration for this episode. The film is about an ill-suited doppelganger who replaces an infirm warlord and acquits himself well! This episode should have been placed earlier in the chronology. It should have been the PRELUDE to the Mon Cala trilogy. The reasons are numerous and obvious. The Gungans' loyalty is not in question when they are considered as reinforcements by the Jedi Council, Boss Lyonie is free of mental control in the trilogy, Jar Jar reminds the leadership of their debt to Padme and their military commander, General Tarpals, doesn't lead the troops to Mon Cala. Justin Speece proved the official order correct and I address the issue in a reply to his first comment. Although it is his second appearance, this should have been the introduction of BOSS LYONIE. Former Boss, NASS, from "Phantom Menace", appears at Padme's funeral in "Revenge of the Sith" so he's not dead, just retired from office. AHMED BEST voices both Jar Jar Binks and Boss Lyonie again. General TARPALS, last seen in live-action in "Phantom Menace", dies valiantly. When "Clone Wars" starts butchering Gungans, you know shit's gettin' real! The return of QUEEN NEEYUTNEE last seen in "Blue Shadow Virus" (Season 1, Episode 17). She is the successor to Queen Jamillia seen in live-action in "Attack of the Clones" and the predecessor to Queen Apailana seen in live-action in "Revenge of the Sith". This is the sole Jar Jar episode where the character is used to great effect and Ahmed Best's comic timing yields some GENUINELY FUNNY moments as he antagonizes Grievous. In a completely unexpected turnabout that surprises even Darth Sidious, GENERAL GRIEVOUS is soundly beaten and captured by the Gungans! The FIRST DUEL between Anakin and Dooku in Season 4 is spectacular, results in an Anakin defeat and actually leaves the Count winded! PADME's DECISION to sacrifice Anakin for the sake of the war was absolutely the right call! Any Jedi worth his salt would have agreed to it for the sake of the galaxy. She, unlike Anakin in "Revenge of the Sith", resists her emotional impulse to save her husband rather bravely. Unfortunately, she is convinced otherwise by her compatriots who don't need to prod her too hard before she folds. This is the danger of their secret union because it compromises their objectivity and integrity. This episode features the moment in the series when Grievous and Anakin come CLOSEST to meeting each other as Anakin is unconsciously dragged past the shackled General thereby preserving their proper introduction in "Revenge of the Sith"! MERCY MISSION: This duology is a tribute to the 1985 animated series "DROIDS" which featured C-3PO and R2-D2 on various adventures before the events of "A New Hope". One's enjoyment of these two filler episodes is predicated on one's tolerance of the robots being front-and-center. As a one-off that doesn't advance the main themes of the series, I personally enjoyed the first installment's change of pace because I understood that Filoni was honoring the old cartoon and because we get to hang out with cool Commander Wolffe for a bit. However, the two episodes back-to-back feel intrusive and I wouldn't be surprised if this duology were crafted just to fulfill some contractual obligation with Anthony Daniels to appear a certain number of times. The dude's got a sweet deal at Lucasfilm! These two episodes constitute the only arc in the series I classify as OPTIONAL VIEWING unless one is enamored of the droids. The return of Plo Koon's main clone, Commander WOLFFE with his dead eye, last seen on Felucia when Ahsoka got abducted by the Trandoshans in "Hunted" (Season 3, Episode 21). Troopers BOOST and SINKER, who help Artoo with the mainframe, were the clones trapped with Wolffe and Plo Koon in the life-pod after the 'Malevolence' destroyed their cruiser in "Rising Malevolence" (Season 1, Episode 2) . The little aliens are called ALEENA from the planet ALEEN. They've been seen in live-action piloting a podracer in "Phantom Menace" and are a staple species from LEGENDS books and comics. You may not have gotten your requisite dose of Obi, Kaiielle, but James Arnold Taylor voiced KING MANCHUCHO! ORPHNE and THE KINDALOO are interesting creature designs but seem to have wandered in from a fairy-tale fantasy movie. ORPHNE's riddle reminded me of Gollum and Bilbo's riddle game from Tolkien's "THE HOBBIT" and the Sphinx's riddle from Sophocles' "OEDIPUS REX". If the earthquakes were retaliation for the seal breach, WHAT BROKE THE SEAL in the first place? Never answered. ANTHONY DANIELS, as always, voices C-3PO. NOMAD DROIDS: C-3PO and R2-D2 "Rosencrantz-and-Guildenstern" their way through a trinity of captors as an epic Jedi adventure takes place in the background! The real story of this episode is the capture of ADI GALLIA by GENERAL GRIEVOUS and her rescue by PLO KOON! The return of Tholothian Master ADI GALLIA seen in numerous situation room scenes and last featured in "Grievous Intrigue" (Season 2, Episode 9) wherein she first tangled with the cyborg general only to get a rematch here. Adi Gallia was seen in live-action as a member of the Jedi Council in "Phantom Menace" and "Attack of the Clones". The return of Kel Dor Master PLO KOON seen in numerous situation room scenes and last featured in "Wookiee Hunt" (Season 3, Episode 22). The tiny PATITITES are like the Lilliputians of "Gulliver's Travels". The gullible BALNAB are enthralled by an intimidating illusion much like that of Oz, the Great and Terrible in "The Wizard of Oz". Instead of Oscar Zoroaster Diggs of Omaha, the man behind the curtain is a pit droid with delusions of grandeur! The vicious WEEQUAY pirates force the scavenged droids to destroy each other like TV's "Battle Bots". The overhead shot of the valley occupied by the Balnab reveals the half-buried remains of a large space cruiser! As the planet is classified as primordial, the Balnab cannot be indigenous as they are too evolved. Apparently, these Balnab were marooned and have been castaways for a long enough time to develop a culture around the pit droids' hologram! There's a whole story to be told there! I like how Artoo spends the whole episode with HAY-ZU's viscera smeared across his chassis. Threepio forgot to establish a Board of Elections to be certain of the vote count so his little democratic utopia erupted into bloody civil war! As much as this episode tries my patience, the scene of the droids fading away gets me every time. Commander WOLFFE is back only to be exhaustively regaled by Threepio again about his latest odyssey. ANTHONY DANIELS, as ever, provides the voice of C-3PO. Regarding your observation about Artoo's compatibility, Kaiielle, the Star Wars galaxy is a sufficiently advanced civilization that it has a single government, currency, lingua franca, basic medical treatment and common faster-than-light travel routes. Therefore, universal compatibility between technologies is not far-fetched. In LEGENDS, an alien species from outside the galaxy known as the YUUZHAN VONG invade about thirty years after "Return of the Jedi". Their technology is organic and completely alien to the mechanized technology of the Star Wars galaxy. They bombard worlds with terraforming spores. The New Republic is nearly destroyed by this invasion and only an alliance with the Imperial Remnants' Star Destroyer fleets turns the tide. The union of Republic and Empire is called THE GALACTIC ALLIANCE.

Alex Vazquez

I don't mind the spoiler on episode titles! It's hard to avoid those anyway. It's easy for me to avoid reading the little episode blurb below the thumbnail when I click on the episode title, but really hard to avoid the title itself.

kaiielle

As far as this ARC goes, it is a neat bunch. Shadow Warriors is very cool, but sad that Tarpals died. Tarpals and the Aleena people are both from the Phantom Menace. There is an Aleena as a Podracer and Tarpals is the General along side Jar Jar in that movie. It is always cool to see Wolfe, he is such a baddass. Fun fact in this episode and a bunch of other ones from before that have Master PLO Koon or the WolfePack Clones in them, there is a bit of artwork on the Clone Gunships that reads “PLO’s Bros”. It is funny that so many native species are nice to C-3P0, otherwise Padme is definitely the nicest to him. I would recommend possibly not reading the titles of episodes sometimes because they can hint or just spoil some of the plots. Like Gungan Attack just tells you that Gungans are coming. If you don’t mind the spoiler that’s cool too though.

Justin

Oh really? I don't even remember that! Very interesting that Shadow Warrior was supposed to be before the Battle of Mon Cala then. I wonder what Alex will say about this.

kaiielle

So I just double checked and Rush loo and Tarpals were in the scene from the last ARC where Yoda asks the Gungans for help meaning that the Battle for Mon Cala definitely did occur before Shadow Warrior. Because Tarpals and Rish Loo are now dead.

Justin

Definitely filler episodes and that's alright! I'm excited too.

kaiielle

This episodes are fun but not that important in the big picture. It is fine. The next arc is one of the best of the series, can't wait for you to get to it.

Guiguioh

Totally valid! And thank you. I'm excited to keep plugging through. Going to watch the next arc tomorrow!

kaiielle

Yeahhhh these episodes were definitely not for me, I completely get why others would like them as it’s just little adventures with more tertiary characters who don’t get focused on often, but in terms of furthering the story of the series, it doesn’t work for me, definitely my least favourite arc(s) of the whole series. Really glad you enjoyed them though! It’s so neat seeing people enjoy content I don’t. As always, a great reaction Kaiielle (: The next arc is absolutely fantastic so I’m looking forward to you seeing it!

Sean H