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Star Wars Books' up-to-date book & comic Release Schedule
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Star Wars Books' guide to the books from the Fate of the Jedi series
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Star Wars Books' guide to the books and comics from The Clone Wars TV series
Thank you,
Zee Zee.
MTFBWY
The Clone Wars episodes #102: Rising Malevolence, #103: Shadow of Malevolence, #104: Destroy Malevolence
Belief is not a matter of choice, but of conviction.
Easy is the path to wisdom for those not blinded by themselves.
A plan is only as good as those who see it through.
The strong impression that is given by this three-part story arc is its assertion by action that the Separatist droid army of Dooku and Grievous are the bad guys in this series. However there is a reservation about how this implication is asserted that reservation is in methodology of the visual and the implied images of murderous killing during war that are used. The killing of the clone survivors in the escape pod (in the first episode of the trilogy) was disturbing, and to consider that this is designated suitable for children's viewing puts such a designation under question. This is especially significant as we live in a western society that has come to respect certain "rules of war", including those laws of the Geneva Convention that are designed to protect prisoners of war, and those laws that prosecute for "war crimes" and "crimes against humanity". It is therefore surprising to see that the animation creators has chosen to forgo these rules and laws in their attempt to assert that Dooku and Grievous are the bad guys and the Jedi and clones are the good guys. Then there was the attempt to destroy a medical station with all of its 60,000 wounded inhabitants. Even though the attempt failed, nevertheless several medical transports were implied to have been destroyed accompanied by the line "this is too easy" from Grievous. It is difficult to reconcile any of these events in children's storytelling when the very first episode of this animation, Ambush, had already established the good guy, bad guy roles each side would be given.
As for the episodes themselves, the constant and continual dialogue nods to the films, especially the Original Trilogy, became irritating at times. Does every episode need "I've got a bad feeling about this", or "from a certain point of view", or some other piece of original dialogue? Better was the use of recurring imagery, one of George Lucas's cinematic trademarks in his Star Wars films, as with the closing scene in Episode 3 that mirrors the last scene in The Empire Strikes Back; or the Y-Wing fight chase over and across the hull of the Malevolence reminiscent of the space battles in The Phantom Menace and Return of the Jedi.
Although this story arc was dark in places, properly placed humour lightened the heavy atmospheric tone: the droid pilot of the podhunter in Episode 102 humming the Imperial March; the clone trooper camaraderie; Ahsoka's nickname for R2-D2: "R-Twoey". And for the fanboys: use of Y-Wings - just sheer delight watching them streak across the screen!
The implication by action that this trilogy asserts was disturbing in places to watch but, more than that, it is also in apparent conflict with information supplied at the beginning of Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, when we are informed that during this conflict there were "heroes on both sides". Clearly these three episodes of The Clone Wars show that that statement is going to be somewhat difficult to justify in future episodes of this animation.
The Clone Wars episode #101: Ambush
Great leaders inspire greatness in others.
First up it was really nice to see that the opening episode for the TV series featured Yoda rather than Anakin, Ahsoka or Obi-Wan. This was extremely refreshing, and must of presented a certain amount of risk for the producers LucasFilm Animation, although without a doubt everybody would instantly recognise "the small, shriveled green one with a lightsaber", even if a battle droid had never heard of him.
Key points of this episode was watching an Empire-Yoda rather than a Prequel-Yoda, his mischievous laugh whenever he engaged in battle with the droids was welcome - almost as if Yoda was trully enjoying himself! Of course, he wasn't killing, merely destroying mindless droids, but are the battle droids really mindless? On one occassion a droid uttered "but I just got promoted!" as it 'died'; others discussed why they are such lousy shots: "it's my programming"; and another showed some self-awareness as it pleaded for other battle droids not to shot it: "don't shoot! I'm on your side". All of these were obvious comedic elements to amuse the target audience but at the sametime it still raises certain issues when we consider the anthropomorphic nature of others droids such as C-3P0 and R2-D2. We shall see how this develops through the series.
Yoda's confidence in his clone troops was inspiring, even when they believed that they were beaten. Such inspiration is what drives people to do the most amazing things, not just on the battlefields of war, but everyday in real life and this message was clear for everyone to see without it being forced down our throats.
Animation (I watched it in SDTV as I don't have HDTV) was sharp and certainly unlike anything else on TV at the moment (not that I watch much animation apart from The Simpsons and Family Guy!), but when compared to other popular children's animations such as Spongebob, Scooby-Doo, Ed Edd and Eddie, etc The Clone Wars stands apart.
As previously mentioned, Yoda's characteristion was superb but at the sametime was it out of place being set between Episode II and III? For me - not really. Yoda's seriousness in Episodes II and III was always because he was in the company of others - the Jedi Council, Palpatine's Office; or the situation was inappropriate for his mischievous laugh - fighting Dooku, fighting Sidious, walking through the remains of the Temple after Order 66. So here, alone (well, amongst three clone troops who really didn't know him at all), the odds stacked against him, and a challenge that he partly instigated it was nice to see Luke's Yoda rather than Anakin's. To witness a more serious Yoda, just rewatch the battle scenes with the volume muted - it's just not the same!
Overall I really enjoyed this opening episode and look forward to the rest of the series.
Or why does StarWars.com have to be so US-centric?
On 25th September StarWars.com announced that The Clone Wars DVD and Blu-Ray versions (the first time a Star Wars film will be available in High Definition) will be released in the US on November the 11th and include some details regarding the features on the DVD bonus disc and Blu-Ray version. They also feature covers for the official versions as well as those available as "retailer exclusives" from US retailers Target and Best Buy. But nowhere in the announcement is there a mention or even an acknowledgement of the possiblity of the DVD or Blu-Ray releases being available outside the US.
Admittedly, the US is Star Wars' home market but Star Wars itself is a world-wide phenomenon with millions of fans around the world. The films have been dubbed into almost every major world language, books are translated around the planet, and there are fan websites supporting every international community, but still StarWars.com insists on reporting either just US only information or premiering US-centric information before non-US information, all to the detriment of non-US fans.
As a principal source of official information regarding the Star Wars franchise, it is fustrating as a non-US fan to continually read content information that excludes non-US markets even when in most cases the products being discussed will be available outside the US. Alternatively while non-US fans do rely on US companies to produce much of the Star Wars merchandise that is either exported or licensed outside the US, there are still non-US exclusives produced by non-US companies that are not officially reported by StarWars.com. As an example, this week saw the UK-wide launch of "Star Wars: The Official Starships and Vehicles Collection", a collectable fortnightly magazine featuring a metal die-cast model Star Wars starship or vehicle with every issue (check www.x-wing.tv for full details) and similarly "The Official Star Wars Figurine Collection" from a few years ago offered a collection of Star Wars figurines, yet neither didn't even raise an eyebrow on StarWars.com.
So it appears that this recent announcement is just another that ignores Star Wars' foreign markets (including the same-language markets of Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the UK). For Star Wars fans outside of the US following this announcement the big question is: will they also receive a Blu-Ray version of The Clone Wars? If so, when? If not, why not? When will they be able to buy the DVD? How many different "retailer exclusives" will it be available in? (Parts of these questions were asked in the comments section of the announcement - but received no reply).
Of course, it's possible for non-US fans to trawl for themselves some limited information. For example, internet bookseller Amazon has websites in many countries including France, Germany, Japan, Canada and the UK and whilst in many cases listings on these sites can offer tantalising glimpses of material and merchandise to be released in these countries, Amazon's own listings can be uncertain at times with no guarantee of either availability nor of accuracy in release date information.
I can see at least two points at issue for StarWars.com to address why they should be supplying this information:
The first should be simple to understand - it's money. By informing fans themselves as an official source they are forewarning fans with the correct information that a product, whatever it may be, will (or will not) be available in their market. It reduces the amount of indecision the fan has to make in deciding whether or not to purchase that product or even if they are going to be able to.
The second is continual brand loyalty. Star Wars may have one of the most loyal fan bases around, but ignoring the needs and requirements of fans because they're not US citizens, could lead to the alienation of many fans. In the case of The Clone Wars DVDs, the information doesn't have to be as indepth as individual "retailer exclusives" because since DVD releases are divided by region coding, all that was required was something as simple as "all other regions available in December" or something similar.
It's annoying to read announcements from StarWars.com declaring the release of this Star Wars item or that Star Wars item that pertains purely to the US market. In just one week The Clone Wars begins on US television, so when can the rest of the world expect to see The Clone Wars TV series? No announcements from StarWars.com, in fact no hints that it will be available outside the US. Canada, Australia and the UK have some information regarding their ability to watch this TV series - thanks mainly to fan sites such as TheForce.net, Mousedroid.com and JediNews.co.uk - but this is trawled information form a variety of sources, when it should be coming directly from the rancor's mouth: StarWars.com.
Isn't it about time that StarWars.com acknowledge a bit better that Star Wars has a fan base outside the US that to all intentions and purposes, is almost ignored by StarWars.com? I mean lest they forget that there are non-US fans out there who have followed and will continue to support their favourite sci-fi brand in both loyalty and monetary terms, yet seem to have been forgotten in the eyes of StarWars.com.
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