Star Wars: The Clone Wars Season 4 "Kidnapped"

With the high standards that the Umbara arc set, could the 3-part "Slavers" arc, adapted from a personal favourite comic series of mine, reach those same standards?

The opening scene was a great introduction, the music fitting in nicely for what was to come. Only problem with the music here, they used it twice inside these first few minutes, the show does use some music repeatedly over different episodes, but I think this is the first time they have used any music repeatedly in the same episode, but I can't be sure of that. This was a great scene, that introduced a new great villain, Darts D'Nar. It also showed the Droid army to it's full, something the show has failed to do until now. It was also interesting to see all these Togruta people in one place, especially the male Togruta's, of which I have only seen in the comic version and this episode version. By the way, did I mention we got yet another of those over-used tactical droids? Dooku was very dark in this scene, with his "Think of our presence as a peaceful occupation, for you're protection, as well as ours." When Dooku really was doing the opposite, as his droids procceed to take the Togruta off the planet, which was another scene that the same music was used in.

It feels so long since we've had a Obi-Wan, Anakin & Ahsoka episode with all three of them, but they are all back together here. This was the scene I was originally looking forward to most in this episode, because it had a biker fight with my favourite droids, Commando droids. However, I am unhappy that StarWars.com showed the whole scene in their preview clip, ruining the scene I was looking forward to most. They did add onto that scene though, with a cool shot of blowing up of two AAT's. Ahsoka was also cool in this shot, calmly taking out commando droids with both her lightsabers in the biker fight, before jumping onto the AAT, tossing in some detonators, before a awesome leap back onto her and Anakin's speeder. The animation in the explosion of the two AAT's was a sight to see. Rex also blew up an AAT here.

One thing I was not looking forward to was Anakin's personal issues about slavery that I have not being looking forward to for a while. This is because the writers have being portraying him woefully. After this episode, eh, it's improved slightly, but there is still a lot of room for more improvement. It did show a darker side to Anakin here though, something that he's supposed to have all series, not at random times. His smashing of the hologram Cody holds in the picture, and his quote "Zygerrian scum! I'll handle that slaver!" was executed fine, just not in a way I would have chose to do it, it also makes Anakin sounds like he is gasping his last breaths, which unfortunately, he is not. I liked the scene where Obi-Wan explains Anakin's past to Ahsoka, one scene I have been looking forward to, as I enjoy Obi-Wan/Ahsoka only scenes. I also liked the brief cameo's of Boil & Kix in this episode. A interesting note is the comic adaption has Waxer do Boil's role, and it would have been Waxer here, but Waxer died in the last episode, so that role was instead given to Boil.

As Obi-Wan Kenobi is my favourite Star Wars character of all time, it was awesome to see him get into a major fight with a epic villain. I'll be doing epic quotes for Darts D'Nar later in the review. This was a great fighting scene, and the show weren't afraid to get brutal here, with Obi-Wan especially getting hurt. A good part of this fight was when a battle droid contacted D'Nar, but when the droid tried to tell him about the Jedi defusing the bombs, Obi-Wan smashed D'Nar's head into the hologram.  My complaint here would be the lame writing, D'Nar has practically killed Obi-Wan at one stage, yet when D'Nar's back is turned, Obi-Wan gets up as good as new, which is writer's talk for, we can't allow the hero to be beaten by the villain, so we must get him back up. Another complaint I have here is the over-used method of getting a cool bad guy to plant a bomb on his droid's back. Cad Bane did it to Todo 360 in season 2, now Darts D'Nar does it here to his tactical droid, Obi-Wan managing to save himself by force-pushing the droid out the window. Darts D'Nar seems to relish violence. Something that I just found stupid and odd, is D'Nar's association with that Kiros bird, ughh...

I've started to grow wary of Anakin/Ahsoka scenes, but I have to say, this one was handeled pretty well, and not something that just makes you roll you're eyes at them. The humour was also good here, and there were some good fighting scenes against Droid forces, while defusing the bombs. My one complaint with this scene had nothing to do with Anakin & Ahsoka, but the scene with those Sniper Droidekas. How obvious can it get that they were weak at the sides? Why did Anakin & Ahsoka have to go into cover before realizing this? It was so freakin' obvious by just staring at the droids, and it was such a pathetic standard of writing, especially after Umbara. Again, the heroes prosper at the last moment. Where's a villain victory when you need one? Oh, nowhere, this show doesn't allow bad guy victories...

The end scene was honestly, exactly the ending I expected from this show, and the writers proved me right. When D'Nar tries to make his escape, Anakin & Ahsoka board his ship in an attempt to stop him. That creature that D'Nar had aboard his ship, must be THE most disgusting thing on the show, and had I directed this episode, I probably would have fired the person who even considered this creature on the spot. When the creature grabbed Anakin & Ahsoka, I was cringing, not out of fear for the two heroes obviously, but at how disgusting it looked. And I thought a Sarlaac was disgusting. Once the creature was out of the ship, the scene got good, with Anakin threataning D'Nar in a way I've been hoping Anakin's darker side would produce, with Anakin holding his lightsaber hilt to D'Nar's neck, and had Anakin activated it, it would mean certain death for D'Nar immediately. The end scene at the Jedi Temple was a nice touch, especially the view of the two empty seats in the background, one for the character Oppo Rancissis, who has yet to appear on the show, and Anakin's seat, after he becames a council member in ROTS (Revenge of the Sith).

My verdict: This was never going to reach the standards of Umbara, and we all know that. However, this episode was really good and enjoyable for what it was. I can't wait for the remaining two episodes of this arc, before the Christmas break. Rating: 8/10

Darts D'Nar's epic quotes:
"I'm going to make the Jedi pay for their arragonce. I have them right where I want them!"
"You will surrender."
"Here is my counter-offer!"
"Now, bow down and surrender to me, you Jedi filth!"
"Long before this war, you Jedi destroyed the great Zygerrian slave empire. I would kill you now, but Dooku would prefer you alive."

Good humour:
"How did you know that would work?"
"I trusted my instincts."
"You mean you guessed?"
"Ah, but it was an educated guess."