The Clone Wars Season 4 Episode 16 Review
Hello and welcome back to another The Clone Wars review here on the Star Wars Report! This week Moralo Eval, Cad Bane, and Rako Hardeen (aka Obi-Wan Kenobi) desperately evade authorities after escaping a Republic prison, encountering hutt thugs, Jedi, and double crossings in Friends and Enemies!
Immediately in this episode we notice tension. As Obi-Wan tries harder to gain the trust of the two galactic terrorists by helping cover their tracks on Nal Hutta, Cad Bane either is becoming more suspicious, or more worried that he might not get his cut of the bounty as promised. A lot of this episode is centered around the rivalry they have developed from the first episode. It leads the group to not only have to avoid the Republic and the Hutt’s they’ve upset, but also avoid upsetting each other a bit too. I loved seeing Obi-Wan using the tactics of his fellow bounty hunters to make sure they didn’t get away without him, and by the end of the episode, Bane doesn’t have much choice but to bring him along. Although he may not like his fellow bounty hunter, I think Bane’s suspicion that there’s more to Rako Hardeen than meets the eye has substantially decreased from when they first met. That’s what this episode for me was about, allowing Obi-Wan and Cad Bane to let go of their problems and suspicions with one another so they can move on to the real task at hand, kidnapping the Chancellor. I think it was done marvelously too that in an arc about the low life of the galaxy, backstabbing and bribery are the best way to solve problems.
Another pivotal part of this episode was the role of the Chancellor himself. I think we can say with surety now that he’s behind this plot, it could be another attempt by the Chancellor to get rid of Obi-Wan as an influence on Anakin. Now, I’m not too sure that the Chancellor knew the specifics of the Jedi’s plan, so that confused me a little, and how he could know to set up a plot just so Obi-Wan would go undercover is an unknown. But I thought it was good all the same to have another factor working into this plot, it really shows how complex these episodes can get where there’s so much going on behind the scenes rather than just showing a simple “Lets-save-the-chancellor!” type mission.
While the rivalry between Obi-Wan and Bane was well done, and the Chancellor’s plot to deceive Anakin was intriguing, what made this episode was the climax! The Jedi have caught up to the bounty hunters and the two forces clash in a duel with cruisers, lightsabers, blasters, and rocket boots. The fight was choreographed wonderfully and had me on the edge of my seat the entire time. This is the Cad Bane we saw in season 2, but a thousand times better! Also, I’m curious as to how much Anakin knows now about Obi-Wan, other than that he’s alive, and what he’ll do now that he knows Rako Hardeen didn’t kill his former Master.
And that wraps up my review this week! All in all, Friends and Enemies was a vast improvement from last episode, the characters have all been set up, and now we’re developing them for what’s to come. I can’t wait to see the next episode, The Box, it already looks great! Now what did you think of this episode? Love it? Hate it? Let us know by leaving a comment below! Thanks for reading and may the Force be with you… always!
-Ryan
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/starwarsreport/~3/4ow1hiEfB1c/
The Clone Wars Crew Remembers Ian Ambercrombie
Ian Ambercrombie, best known to Star Wars fans as the voice of Supreme Chancellor Palpatine in The Clone Wars, sadly passed away on Friday. He will be deeply missed by The Clone Wars crew and the many Star Wars fans who have enjoyed his Clone Wars characterization of Palpatine and his alter-ego, Darth Sidious.
The Clone Wars supervising director and producer relayed their regrets on Friday to the Lucasfilm Animation crew and the many fans of Ambercrombie’s work on The Clone Wars:
Supervising Director Dave Filoni:
“Today is a very sad day for Star Wars fans, as we lost a dear friend in Ian Abercrombie. I cannot express how thankful I am to have had the opportunity to work with Ian. He was extremely passionate about his role on the series and he was brilliant at it. I always called him ‘Chancellor’ no matter where we were, in the studio or out at a restaurant. I think he enjoyed that a great deal. I learned so much from him about directing actors, and working with dialog. His advice and mentoring will be sorely missed by all of us. Though he played a villain on our show, you would be hard pressed to meet a kinder person. He loved to laugh and his sense of humor always lightened our record sessions. I will miss his stories, I will miss his performances, and I will miss his contribution to our show.
“My friend, the Force will be with you, always, and you will never be forgotten.”
Producer Cary Silver:
“Today is a sad day in the Star Wars galaxy. We lost not only an incredible actor but also a very dear man. Ian Abercrombie was an integral part of Clone Wars from the beginning and we will deeply miss not only his portrayal of the Supreme Chancellor, but also his professionalism and especially, his stories. We owe a great debt of gratitude for the time we did get to spend with Ian. May the force be with him.”
You can read more about the work of Ian Ambercrombie (who is also well known to Seinfeld fans as Mr. Pitt) at imdb.com.
This entry was posted
on January 30, 2012 at 11:37 am and is filed under Behind-The-Scenes, Celebrities, Clone Wars.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
The Clone Wars Season 4 Episode 15 Review
Hello and welcome back to another review of Star Wars: The Clone Wars here on the Star Wars Report! This week, Obi-Wan dies in order to infiltrate a group of terrorists aiming to kidnap the chancellor in Deception! This is the first episode in our second to last four part arc in season four; I can’t believe we’re getting so close to the end of the season!
Jumping right into the big topic of the episode, Deception focused primarily on Obi Wan’s faked death, and facial reconstruction to take the appearance of the very cool looking bounty hunter Rako Hardeen. Immediately we are thrown into a very different kind of Clone Wars episode, for better or worse. The entire opening concept of faking Obi Wan’s death reminded me of an old James Bond film (Diamonds Are Forever, I think), and going undercover certainly built upon the spy/undercover agent style of the episode. Though I will say this episode was much more exciting and suspenseful than some of our other espionage geared episodes (mostly from season 3), I’m not too sure how I felt about how they went about infiltrating Moralo Eval’s plan, the facial transformation and voice emulator seemed a little too far-fetched. The technology, for whatever reason, just felt like it did not fit in the Star Wars universe. All complaints aside, I did enjoy Obi-Wan’s portrayal of an evil bounty hunter, which I think makes the cringe worthy facial reconstruction technology worth it. I think there are many pros to creating a brand new bounty hunter character to go undercover for the Jedi, but I don’t think we would have would react the same way to his “tough guy” actions as we would to a Jedi Knight, especially Obi-Wan. His personality transformation was so believable, someone could’ve easily forgotten he was Obi-Wan and thought he was the actual Rako Hardeen!
Another strong point of the episode was the perspective we have looking through the eyes of the bad guys. I know we’ve had episodes focused on characters such as Cad Bane, but the addition of our ability to relate to Obi-Wan throws us right into the den of thieves in such a different way than seen before. We aren’t shown the whole plan because we aren’t seeing these events unfold from Bane’s perspective, or Eval’s, we’re seeing it through Obi-Wan who knows just as much as we do. The writers depicted that feeling of suspense and unpredictability very well, and with some of our favorite villains popping up everywhere! Characters such as Boba Fett, Cad Bane, and Bossk really helped make this episode better.
All in all, this episode was good, though not great by any means. This is one of the strangest episodes I think we’ve seen all season (not counting comedic episodes). I did enjoy all the small details and characters that we don’t normally see (Like hearing Obi-Wan addressed as Ben for the first time in the series!). I think the concept is flawed, but the results and how it all played out was very well done, and I can’t wait for more! That wraps up my review for this episode! We want to know what you thought of Deception, leave a comment below! Thanks for reading and may the Force be with you… always!
-Ryan
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/starwarsreport/~3/yWRGRgjTse0/
Lucas, Filoni and Others Sign Clone Wars Poster for Charity
Clone Wars Supervising Director Dave Filoni
In an effort to support the Aids and Breast Cancer Emergency Fund of San Francisco, Lucasfilm Animation has just posted a 3-day auction at eBay for a rare Clone Wars artwork poster by Dave Filoni, supervising director of The Clone Wars. In addition to the striking artwork, what makes this poster extra cool are the signatures that grace it — here’s the auction description:
This is an extremely rare poster that was only made available to select pass-holders at Star Wars Celebration V (2010). The artwork was done by Dave Filoni, Supervising Director of the hit series Star Wars: The Clone Wars and features fan-favorite characters – Cad Bane and Boba Fett.
The poster includes original signatures from George Lucas, Dave Filoni, Daniel Logan (“Boba Fett” in Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones and Star Wars: The Clone Wars) and Corey Burton (“Cad Bane,” “Count Dooku,” and “Ziro the Hutt” in Star Wars: The Clone Wars).
Opportunities to pick up any officially-sanctioned, multiple-signature posters from Lucasfilm don’t come up too often, and this one’s window will be closing in less than 3 days — head on over now and place your bid!
More images below:
George Lucas
Dave Filoni
Corey Burton
Daniel Logan
This entry was posted
on January 26, 2012 at 1:59 pm and is filed under Clone Wars, Collecting, George Lucas, Lucasfilm, charity.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Virtual Twitter Podrace Recap
To celebrate the upcoming release of The Phantom Menace in 3D, we asked some of our favorite Star Wars fan groups, celebs and Clone Wars actors to rev their engines for our first ever Virtual Podrace on Twitter!
On Jan. 14, 2012, fans gathered together to watch and have fun participating in our virtual podrace. While some tweeted at their favorite racers, other fans went a step further and joined the virtual pit droid crew!
The Podracers included:
Cyborgturkey AKA Robot Chicken, TheForce.net, Darth Vader, Ben Quadinaros, Deathstar PR, 501st Legion, Fanboys director Kyle Newman, Boba Fett actor Daniel Logan, The Clone Wars actor James Arnold Taylor, and Team Unicorn members: Clare Grant, Michele Boyd, and Milynn Sarley.
Podracers tweeted as themselves, or as the characters they play in The Clone Wars. The @StarWars Twitter served as the commentator who called out play by play action by rolling dice to determine who went forward, who had engine problems, who got shot at by a bounty hunter, who sped ahead and who got sideswiped.
As the @StarWars Twitter tweeted play by play actions, the Podracers tweeted what was happening to them and the racers around them.
Everyone used the hashtag #Podrace at the end of their tweets so the Podrace could be followed by fans on Twitter who wanted to see the action.
There were a lot of explosions on the racetrack, surprise sniping from none other than Jaime King as Aurra Sing, a surprising romance with Darth Vader and plenty of hilarious comments from the racers!
And in the end, none other than The 501st Legion won the Podrace!
Our Virtual race was so popular that we even got the hashtag #Podrace to trend on Twitter! Yay us!
For those of you who missed all the action, here’s the play by play for you below. READ THE TWEETS FROM BOTTOM TO TOP to follow the race in its entirety.
This entry was posted
on January 23, 2012 at 3:27 am and is filed under Twitter.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Source: http://starwarsblog.starwars.com/index.php/2012/01/23/virtual-twitter-podrace-recap/
