Star Wars: The Clone Wars Season 4 First Half Overall Opinion

Water War:

This was a solid start to the season, but it wasn't really premiere material. However, I did enjoy this episode, although the fact it was underwater may have made the action a bit sluggish at times. The debuts of Ackbar & Tamson were really cool, and Tamson was a excellent villain addition. Nothing major happened in this episode, but it was still enjoyable. The underwater animation was top-notch, much better than Kamino last season. Rating: 8/10
Gungan Attack:

This was another solid, if not premiere quality standard. In a way, this episode is actually better than the last one, because when taking animation, plot etc into account, it actually beats Water War, even though I give them the same rating. The Gungans was a fairly obvious choice, and probably the only flaw in the plot. The Tamson VS Kit Fisto duel was epic, and the use of no lightsabers there was great. Rating: 8/10
Prisoners:

This was definitly the best of the Mon Calamari arc. It had plenty of drama, and was really cool, especially seeing Anakin tortured like a wimp, while Fisto was all cool about being tortured. The Jar Jar spit was so disgusting, and I hated that moment. Tamson's death was excellently done, though I would rather have not seen Tamson die at all. Rating: 9/10
Shadow Warrior:

This was where the season started to fall downhill momentarily. It was SUCH a rushed episode, and would have worked much better as a 2-part story, instead of cramming it into one episode. Padme's Naboo battle gear was designed and detailed well. The Tarpals sacrifice scene was excellent, but too rushed, plus made Grievous look like such a terrible fighter. Anakin VS Dooku was uneccessary, but I liked the action and music of that scene. The ending was controversial, and I wouldn't have even considered it had I been the writer. Rating: 6/10
Mercy Mission:

This was a horrible, horrible episode. Definitly the joint-worst in the series with Evil Plans. It had nothing. It kept getting gradually worse as the episode went on, until you had pretty much fallen asleep. The one bright point was the clones, especially Wolffe (my Clone). The detail on Wolffe was great, expressions, everything. This episode suffers from being more of a fairytale adventure, than a Star Wars thing. Tragic episode, and what a waste to put Wolffe in. The ending was just so awful and predictable. Rating: 0/10.
Nomad Droids:

This episode picked up from the last one, but not by much at all. This was even more rushed than Shadow Warrior, and was another fairytale adventure which was horrible. Those species were terrible. A whole plot on Adi Gallia's capture and then rescue would have been so much better. The ending was decent enough, and at least this had action. Rating: 3/10
Darkness on Umbara:

This is where the season really kicked into high gear. Full out action, lots of character development, this whole arc was a joy to behold. Finally, Hardcase was given something to do on the show, and he was so awesome. The introduction of Pong Krell really gave the darker side to this arc, especially when he drew his lightsaber on Fives. Rex's speech was very inspirational for the clones. Rating: 10/10
The General:

I really liked this episode, but to me, it was too similar to the previous one in a way. The Umbaran thechnology was so cool, as was Hardcase. The end scene in those starfighters was so hilarious, and the funniest moment on the show. The character development was especially great in this episode. Rating: 10/10
Plan of Dissent:

Another solid Umbara episode. This one however, was more dialogue-focused, but the dialogue was really cool. The ending really hit Clone fans, first with Hardcase's great sacrifice to effectively win the battle as a whole, and then hearing Fives & Jesse are going to be court-martialed. Rating: 9/10
Carnage of Krell:

This is by far, the best written episode of the series. This was a top-notch episode. The character expressions were excellent. The Clones VS Clones really tore at the ultimate Clone fanboy that I am, as did Waxer's death. Krell's "It's treason then..." was a great touch to the episode. Seeing Krell in action finally was definitly a sight worth waiting for. I hated the execution of Krell, as it tore up so many writing potentials for the show. I found it interesting that it was the two newbie clones, Tup & Dogma, that effectively put paid to Krell. Rating: 10/10
Kidnapped:

This was never going to reach the standards of Umbara, but it was good for what it was. It was great to see Cody do something really in his phase II armour. The cameo's of Boil & Kix were cool. Darts D'Nar was a great villain addition, and his fight with Obi-Wan was both epic and brutal. The one real flaw of this episode was Anakin. Rating: 8/10
Slaves of the Republic

This episode wasn't as good as the first episode in the arc. The references to Star Wars movies and other things were nice touches, as they were actually good things to reference from. It was cool, but Anakin & Ahsoka's acting was truly horrible. Rating: 6/10

Already, I feel this has been the best season of the show. Umbara has really picked this season up, and hopefully the rest of the season will continue to be excellent...

Star Wars: The Clone Wars Season 4 "Slaves of the Republic"

To get this latest review going, I'll start off by talking about Anakin, Obi-Wan, Ahsoka & Rex's new disguises. I really like the detail they put into the helmets for Anakin, Obi-Wan and Rex. Instead of giving them all the same helmet, they molded and detailed them differently, which was nice to see. My favourite gear by far is Ahsoka's. It just looked really cool, and blue is a nice colour for it. Though as a slave gear, it was too "fancy" to put it one way, to be a slave gear. Still, better than the comic-trash any day. My one complaint about the gears? It gives Hasbro an excuse to release ANOTHER Anakin, Ahsoka, Obi-Wan & Rex action figures. I liked the landing scene at the start of this episode, the detail put in was great, especially in space, and the ship landing with the smoke underneath it was a neat touch.

I wasn't really that big a fan of this scene. Perhaps because either Anakin had another of his anger moments about slavery (I believe his mention of his mother is the first time he has mentioned her on the show), or the fact that our new Zygerrian villain, Atai Molec, didn't get to show us his shock whip moves on that weak slave. As far as Ahsoka goes, she's no good at being a slave, is she? By the way, I believe Molec's use of the word "skug" is the first time Star Wars slang has been used on this show. I find it stupid that they make up this character Bruno Denturri, but he doesn't appear, and is only mentioned. It would have worked better if Anakin was to mention someone we knew about, and might feel something if we knew that someone had died, so what use exactly was making up Bruno Denturri? I also found that droid thing that tells Molec to cease hostilities really annoying, and with a horrible voice. I suppose the one thing I really did enjoy in this scene was seeing some characters apprear as background characters here. Examples are Nix Card, Mar Tuuk & Tee Va. Gorga the Hutt also made a cameo later in this episode.

This is what I've been dreading ever since I found out we were getting a comic adapted into an arc, the debut of Queen Miraj Scintel. I hated the ----- in the comic, if possible, I hate her even more now. Not just thanks to her character, but Anakin's role with her to. Anakin's flirting with Miraj was so embarrassing for the show, and just wasn't proper flirting. It was actually very laughable, and not in a good way, the way that you laugh AT it. I really hate how the Twi'Lek slave girl with that dagger failed to kill Miraj. I hated even more the fact that the slave girl was so desperate to get away from slavery, that she took her own life. So desperate and annoying, and something too similar to a Mandalorian scene in season 2. I couldn't agree with Miraj more by the end of the episode, in saying that Anakin is a complicated person. Anakin is so frustrating in this episode for a fan to watch. One moment he's a good guy on the bad side, next he's a bad guy on the good side. So annoying. The writer of this episode really messed that up, he has to be either a good guy on the good side  or a bad guy on the bad side, not poorly messing things up. When Ahsoka said "Unhand me, briggund!" to Anakin, I was making a "what the hell?" expression even before Anakin did. What was that all about? That scene where Miraj inspected Ahsoka was a horrible scene, and isn't how you treat a character that has become a "role model" to the young audience that watches this show.

Okay, can I please get to something I did like? Yes? YAHOO! Fine then, the parts of this episode I did enjoy were references to either Star Wars or other things I liked, not some wacky crap like Alice in Wonderland ("Mercy Mission"). First of all, the desert skiff that flew nearby the palace around the middle of the episode was interesting, because it flew in the same pattern the skiff's in ROTJ (Return of the Jedi) flew beside the sail barge. Another ROTJ reference (pictured above) is one of the few moments of that movie I truly enjoyed, and I'm glad it appears on the show too. A little hand signal, and R2-D2 tosses the lightsaber, or in this case lightsabers, stored inside him. Aside from those two enjoyable Star Wars references, there are also a couple of non-Star Wars ones I enjoyed, because I like what they are based on. First, when Miraj hands Anakin the shockship, there is music that sounds like it's from Call of Duty: World at War. Also, at the same moment, a yell from the Zygerrian's around the palace "URA!!!" sounds exactly like the Russian yell from the game. Another is the end of the episode, where Miraj & Anakin are flying on that creature, which makes me think a lot of How to Train your Dragon.

This was literally the only good action scene of this episode. It was a really good scene. My one complaint is Anakin's line to Obi-Wan "Looks like I have to rescue you again, old man" was so out of place, and the voice-over made it sound like Anakin hates Obi-Wan, which is so not the case. The action was execllent, and it was nice to see the shock whips in some real action, albeit brief. I also liked seeing the Zygerrian blasters, which have a nice design on them. It was cool to see a Clone "Rex" fighting in non-Clone armour, I liked that armour. It was good to see the bad guys win here, the Separatists have too few victories, and canon states that the Separatists win most of the battles in the Clone Wars, but the show doesn't show this. The way Ahsoka was defeated was pretty lame, something Ahsoka should have predicted. Rex & Obi-Wan went down too easily too, but even Anakin wasn't good enough to beat the Zygerrian's.

Now, this is why the writers keep failing with Anakin's portrayal. Anakin should be a darker person like in AOTC (Attack of the Clones) and ROTS (Revenge of the Sith), but he is not. At times he is too good, and then when turns dark, he goes over the top, and makes you wonder what the writer was thinking. I'm still awaiting the episode where Anakin is portrayed exactly right. This was a stupid scene, and so pointless. By the way, they need to get those annoying pink buggers (Kiros birds) off this show. It was bad enough to see them in the last episode, but we are not on Kiros anymore, we should not be seeing them. The part with the birds poking and licking Anakin was such an embarrasment in this pisode.

This scene was pretty funny, and I liked it being a Ahsoka-only scene, with no Anakin around. I loved it when Atai Molec slags Ahsoka off, and she calmly uses the force to send him forwards, leaving Molec to cling onto the edge for dear life. Ahsoka got her rewards for being a terrible slave, when Molec electrocuted her.

This is a scene I've been looking forward to from the season 4 trailer. So many different Togruta's in one place. The part where they drop the Togruta's through the hole right in front of Obi-Wan, Rex & Roshti was a dark moment. I hated that other new Zygerria, Arguss. So annoying, uneccessary and pointless. They leave this episode on a cliff-hangar, though not much of a cliff-hangar if you have read the comic. Now, we wait a month for another episode...

My verdict: While everyone, or most, people on the Underworld said this would be better than "Kidnapped", I suspected all along it wouldn't reach the standards that episode set for this arc, and I was proved correct. This one had it's enjoyable moments, but also it's not enjoyable moments, and those moments were truly horrible. Rating: 6.5/10.