Star Wars Weekends Season 5 Trailer

We recently got a trailer from Star Wars Weekends, so in this post I will be giving my thoughts on the trailer, as well as pointing out various things I noticed in the trailer.

First off, I have to say the trailer was simply amazing. Easily the best trailer The Clone Wars has given us over the seasons, in my opinion. Great trailer, great action scenes, some really cool characters in there (including one in particular) and just plain awesomeness!

Now to what I noticed in the trailer, and then I will link to the trailer below:

-The same teaser trailer released a few weeks ago started off this trailer.

-The Separatists are going to invade a planet with their Droid forces, possibly invading the Corellians.

-There were a couple of speeches, one for Anakin Skywalker and one for Pre Vizsla.

-A planet that looks of Rugosa, Ryloth and Kiros.

-AAT Battle Droids return.

-Lux Bonteri returns, now with longer hair.

-Some weird species.

-Still no Oppo Rancisis.

-Droid Gunships (Heavy Missile Platform) finally show up.

-Some huge explosions.

-Jedi finally have robes with sleeves.

-Darth Maul vs Obi-Wan again.

-A new Clone Pilot.

-Savage Opress vs either Adi Gallia or Stass Allie.

-Bounty hunters Dengar, Embo and Sugi confronting Savage and Maul.

-Death Watch on a planet that looks like Mustafar.

-Pre Vizsla duelling somebody.

-Some really cool Mandalorian armour.

-Commander Cody and the 212th legion show up.

-Obi-Wan vs Grievous again.

-Space battle.

-Satine returns.

-Pre Vizsla confronting Satine.

-Ahsoka fighting with what may be Kota's Militia.

-Savage Opress with a robotic arm.

-Hondo talking with Ahsoka and Lux.

Go check out the trailer for yourself now!

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

Escape from Kadavo:

This was a great episode to start off the second half of the season. We had some good fighting scenes, character development for Rex (still hate him though), nice music and great scenes of Obi-Wan in prison. Anakin was again a hypocrite in this episode. It was great to see the Wolfpack (and especially Clone Commander Wolffe), get a cameo in this episode. Rating: 9/10.
A Friend In Need:

Another marvellous episode the crew gave us. I really enjoyed this episode, it was awesome. Especially as there was almost no Anakin at all, which really helped this episode. The "fake" Separatist's at the start and the weird scenes stopped this episode being perfect for me. The action and music was top-notch though, and the development of Lux & Ahsoka was amazing. Rating: 9/10
Deception:

This was a good episode, but not quite as good as the previous two. I liked the whole idea of this episode, but it could have been executed a little better. But the prison scenes were nice, especially the prison break and Boba vs Hardeen. Rating: 8/10
Friends and Enemies:

This is where the second half started to show it had really bad episodes. This episode was terrible. It achieved nothing, the whole episode was set around the same thing, ship's exploding. The action at the end was very forced, it did nothing, and the scenes that looked good from the preview's weren't good at all. Rating: 2/10
The Box:

Compared to the previous episode, this one was a heck of a lot better. This episode was amazing. My only real flaw with it were the bounty hunter's. For so-called best bounty hunter's in the galaxy, almost all of them were very lame, except Twazzi & Derrown. Embo was cool to see but did absolutely nothing. Cad Bane saving Obi-Wan's life was a great and unexpected twist in this episode, and I loved seeing Hardeen beat up Eval. Rating: 9/10
Crisis on Naboo:

This was another terrible episode. The last episode had hinted this arc might have had a purpose after all, perhaps freeing the Separatist prisoners, but this episode completely ruined that. It went nowhere, it ended right where this whole arc started, and you can't do that in a story. And the action it did have was poor. Rating: 1.5/10
Massacre:

This episode more than made up for the failure of the last one, and was both epic and brutal. The zombie's were nice, but didn't scare me at all, Riff Tamson's floating skull was much worse. The action was great though, and Asdajj Ventress became a much better character in my book, and Mother Talzin wasn't dull anymore. Plus, Grievous was finally portrayed perfectly. Rating: 10/10
Bounty:

This was another great episode, but not quite as good as the last one. The bounty hunter's were great though, and all got their chance to be a badass and throw down. It was great to finally see the debut of my favourite bounty hunter, Dengar, on the show, and he was amazing. The end twist was so funny. Rating: 9/10
Brothers:

This was the only bad episode from the season finale. Over half of it was pointless, the scenes with Anakin/Ahoka, Dooku/Grievous & Latts/Ventress were pointless. The saving part was Maul when he finally showed up, and Sam Witwer did an amazing job. Rating: 2.5/10
Revenge:

This episode was another amazing episode. Totally redeemed the previous one. Not quite a perfect episode, but it was still really good. Seeing Obi-Wan dueling with a red lightsaber was really funny, and the dialogue was top-notch. Rating: 9.5/10


Here's to hoping season 5 will be even better than this season, and hoping for that season 5 trailer already!

Star Wars: The Clone Wars "Revenge"

The conclusion to season 4 is here. After a disastrous episode last week, let's see if season 4 goes out with a bang!

This episode started off with a rather weird scene. Ok, maybe the scene itself wasn't weird (gotta love the Nightsister magic), but Maul's expressions were very wacky and weird. Watching him chasing that green mist/ball was like watching a kid chasing his favourite toy. No joke, that's what I was thinking when watching that scene. The scene where Maul got his new legs and lost the spider butt was a very good scene, and also had Maul regaining his memory. The animation was beyond stunning in this scene. 

The next couple of scenes were very interesting. There was a great scene of dialogue between Maul & Savage Opress that sent a chill down my spine (no joke). I'll put the quote further down in the review. That scene was great and really gave you a feeling of how Darth Maul had been feeling in the 10+ years since he was sliced in half on Naboo. I also loved how Darth Maul planned to kill innocent people just to get Obi-Wan Kenobi to come after him. It was a great and daring plan. And I also like how the shot in the picture above is very reminiscent of Anakin about to kill the Jedi younglings in Revenge of the Sith.
"My hatred kept my spirit intact even though my body was not. As I was lost and became a rabid animal, and such as how you found me, brother. Discarded, forgotten. I have missed so much. The force feels out of balance. 
"Yes, there is conflict. The clone wars."
"Oh, yes. So it began, without me."
"You can begin again, brother."

At the same time, I both liked this brief fighting scene and disliked it. Having slaughtered all the innocent people on the planet, Obi-Wan went out alone to confront both Maul & Savage. The scene where Obi-Wan & Maul meet again for the first time in many years was nice, with some great dialogue. Obi-Wan was made to look like a punk and a weak fighter in this scene, which he is not. I understand the concept that Obi-Wan needed to be captured, but there are so many ways they could have had Obi-Wan captured, in manners not as easily as he was here. He was taken out WAY too quickly and easily, even without Savage needing to use both blades in his lightsaber. 

This scene right here was epic, and among the best scenes in the series. Even when getting beaten up like heck, Obi-Wan still has his awesome sense of humour, with great quotes to Maul like, "You know, when I cut you in half, I should have aimed for the neck instead." And another great one, "I like your new legs, they make you look taller." Then when Asajj Ventress arrived, it got even better. The moment when Asajj gave Obi-Wan a red lightsaber was jaw-dropping for me personally, as I could never have imagined Obi-Wan with a red lightsaber before this episode. The moment when Obi-Wan said, "That's fine. Red's not my colour", was so full of win, and the fighting scenes that occurred were amazing. The moment where Maul started putting Obi-Wan down by talking about how he killed Qui-Gon Jinn, Obi-Wan's master, was quite moving and well written. It was great to see Obi-Wan feeling the effect of the dark side while fighting Maul, and it was obvious that Obi-Wan was full of anger as well. The remark's passing between Obi-Wan & Ventress were well done as usual.

And then we come to the concluding scene of not just this episode, but season 4 as a whole. And it was a well-written scene between Savage and Maul. Maul's expressions especially helped this scene, and Sam Witwer has done an amazing job at voicing Maul. And is it just me, or does anyone else think of Lord Voldemort from Harry Potter at some points about Maul? May just be me, but I see resemblances between this Maul and Voldemort.


My rating: This was another stunning episode, easily much, MUCH better than last week's disaster of an episode. The fighting scenes were especially great at the end, but there was too much dialogue in this episode for me. Rating: 9.5/10


PS: And after all the hype, no season 5 trailer aired afterwards. Let's hope for one at Wondercon later today.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars "Brothers"

Darth Maul is finally here! Prepare yourselves for a lot of drama, but in this review, and not in the episode.

I have to say it first before I go all-out berserker mode (kinda like Maul is), I LOVE Katie Lucas's writing! She is the best writer the show has, so what makes this episode even worse, she wrote this, and after all the great episodes she has given us in the series. She now gives us this junk? There's so much I dislike in just the first several minutes alone, I'll try and go through them. The Dooku/Grievous scene for a start, pointless. If they appeared again throughout the episode and did something, it would not have been so pointless, but no. Then THEY showed up. One reason I've loved this arc so far is the lack of the main trio, so you can imagine how sick I got when Ahsoka and George Lucas's child *Anakin* got out of the speeder. Were these brat's necessary in the episode? As it turned out, no. Were Jedi at all neccessary? No, not until Revenge. Then we got the owner of the diner having a tizzy fit about what Savage did in the bar, Anakin wanting some food *I hope he choked on it*. Then, we got the EXACT same scene (or close enough) as the Dooku/Grievous scene but with Anakin/Ahsoka. I was almost ready to go insane like Maul at this stage. Unfortunately, I did later on...

Surely now that Savage has actually reached the planet after several minutes of pointless crap, we'll now get somewhere good, right? Why must I be so WRONG? We get MORE crap. Ok, the episode was a little better here, but one high-pitched thing helped ruin it. His name: Morley. WHY? What was the point of this character. I have little time right now, so I'll say why I didn't like him very quickly. His voice was terrible, it sounded like a banshee at times. He had no role, unless acting stupid counts. He appeared too much, 5 seconds was bad enough. Did I mention Morley wrecked my head? Ok, I'll shut up on Morley just long enough to try and be a tiny bit positive. There was at least a little bit of action in it. Unfortunately, it wasn't good action. Why is that you ask? It was pointless. It's the kind of scene you get when the writer is struggling to fill up 22 minutes, and just throws a little action in there to keep people watching. I know I'm being very critical with what I don't like in this episode, but I'm making the points as exactly how they are. The one good thing to come out of the action scene truthfully, was that we got to see Savage Opress using his bada** double-bladed lightsabers again. But like I said, pointless action.

I'm sure you all hate me by this point, but I'll get to something I did like I wasn't expecting to like much (as much as others, shall I say). Darth Maul. His portrayal was stunning, I loved it so much, there just wasn't enough of him. And for all you fans out there who think he's WAY overdone or something. Well, I'd like to see you get chopped in half, fall down a shaft, somehow climb back out, somehow crawl to a ship, somehow fly the ship, get to Lotho Minor, and find a hideout, and stay very much sane after all that happened. Darth Maul was portrayed perfectly here, the only thing I don't like is how he looks like a spider. But his model in Revenge with two legs looks great. The guy's insane and mad in the head with good reason, and Sam Witwer does an amazing job voicing him. Screw everyone who thinks Maul doesn't sound episode 1, THIS voice is a million times better than his episode 1 voice. Sam Witwer for the win. I can't wait to see more of Maul in next week's episode, the last of season 4, and then the highly-anticipated season 5 trailer!


My rating: Overall, this was a very bad episode. I understand it's purpose in being a build-up to the next episode, but so many scenes were pointless, and it felt like the amazing Katie Lucas was trying to delay Maul appearing as long as possible. When he did appear, Maul was the best part of the episode. Rating: 3.5/10 (and even that in my opinion is generous).


But Revenge already looks so much better than this episode, with Maul facing off against his "killer":

What I would like to see in Star Wars: The Clone Wars season Five

Many fans of the Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated series have already begun talking about what they want to see/or see more of in season five, as it's just under two weeks until we get the first season five trailer on March 16th.

Anyway, here's what I want:

-New Jedi: This one may seem a little stupid and unnecessary, but when you think about it, it's not. Over the course of season four, we've only had ONE new Jedi during the entire season, and that one doesn't actually count as he fought against the Clones, and that of course, is Pong Krell. So definitely new Jedi characters needed in season five, as they can be explored, Anakin and co. can not...

-New Clones: Again, you might start off thinking why, but this is a relevant thing. Ever since the Clones switched to their awesome phase II armour, we've only had two new named Clones. (technically three, but that one is Scuba, technically not phase II). Those two are Dogma and Tup from the Umbara arc. The rest of the named Clones this season have just been previously-shown new Clones but in phase II armour, so we totally need to see new Clone characters shown and explored, and thankfully Dave Filoni has promised us some awesome new troopers.

-CIS Council Leaders: Now this is such a relevant topic, it cannot be dismissed. We haven't had a Separatist council leader since Poggle the Lesser, all the way back in season two. And no, Seppie's like Riff Tamson, Osi Sobeck etc are COMMANDER'S, the CIS council leaders are people like Nute Gunray, Rune Haako, etc. And we were so close to getting one, Tikkes, in the Mon Calamari arc, but was cut out because it would screw canon. But not bringing Tikkes in, DID screw canon. That's because Tikkes is the Quarren senator during the Clone Wars, but in the show, that is Nossor Ri. Yet another screwing of canon by the crew. And it has to be said, we NEED these guys on the show. Sure, you can argue they may be boring characters (I personally don't think they are), but these guys are pretty much the reason this war exists. After all, Nute Gunray invented the Battle Droids, Destroyer Droids etc...

-212th Attack Battalion: Ok, I must say it, I am very surprised we have not seen more of this battalion in their phase II armour. We've only had these guys in a couple of episodes, around half of Carnage of Krell, and a few scenes in Kidnapped. And their commander, CC-2224 Cody, has only had a cameo in Darkness on Umbara and a good few scenes in Kidnapped. So we definitely need to see more of them next season, and see some new 212th named Clones, as Waxer tragically has passed away, leaving just Cody and Boil.

-More Dengar: I already liked Dengar a lot and found him a badass before Bounty, but that episode left me wanting to see a lot more of Dengar. He was such a great fighter in hand-to-hand combat, and I'd love to see some more of his crude side to him, especially when he blew up those two guys on the train. Never mind Bane and Embo, we need Dengar back! Let's have some more Dengar action. Must be said, Cad Bane & Dengar would make quite a sweet team.

-CC-3636 Wolffe: We definitely need to see a hell of a lot more of my favourite Clone. Wolffe was certainly given a personality in Mercy Mission (only good thing to come out of that episode), but I'd like to see this gruff personality developed more, and made more dramatic. A great way to show this would be for a Jedi to order Wolffe's men into a death trap, and Wolffe has to show gruff authority to this Jedi. That's just my opinion, but I'd love to see a story like that for Wolffe. It would work much better than what the show has done with Wolffe.

-Republic Commando's: We so need some epic Republic Commando's on the show! Sure, Delta Squad's cameo in season 3 was cool and all, but now we need Commando's that actually fight and do something badass. Filoni did say if they brought anymore Commando's in, then it wouldn't be Delta Squad, but I wouldn't mind that, because all Republic Commando's, for the win...

-Oppo Rancissis: We need Oppo Rancissis on this show, 'nuff said. He's the last member of the Jedi Council that is left to appear on the show, so season five would be about time we got him. And he's one of only two of the Jedi council that hasn't appeared in the Hasbro Clone Wars line, the other is Adi Gallia. It was actually reported a while ago by some "fake" website that Oppo would appear in the season 2 episode Cargo of Doom, but that turned out false...

-Commander Bacara/Commander Neyo: A couple of Clone Commander's from Revenge of the Sith we need to see on the show, for different reasons. Starting with Neyo, his legion actually already appeared this season in "Nomad Droids", minus Neyo. Considering Neyo has exactly the same markings as his generic troops (I think), there's really no excuse not to bring Neyo into the show. As for Bacara, I can only guess Commander Jet is part of a different company altogether to Bacara, unless they both appear in an upcoming episode, which Jet dies in, and Bacara gets promoted. I'd like to see a Clone-story like that.


-Han Solo: Ok... I know MANY people won't agree with me on this one, but this is my opinion. I'd love to see my favourite OT character of all time appear on this show. To my knowledge, he should be around 9-12 years old around the time of this show. If they did bring him in, I wouldn't care what they made him act like or how they portray him, I'd just like to see Han Solo appear on the show. But, I can understand why Lucas isn't interested in bringing him in.


-Bultar Swan: Just like Dengar and Quinlan Vos (plus more), this is another character who is mainly EU-focused and hasn't had much screen-time that I would like to see explored more on the show. Bultar Swan was pretty well-developed in the EU, even though she gets a lame death. Definitely a Jedi I'd be interested in seeing on the show at some point, and as an animated figure. 


-Less focus on the main trio: Sure, Ahsoka and Obi-Wan Kenobi are cool characters, but Anakin is not helping them get developed at all. But, the main trio are just so over-used by now, especially since the latter part of season 3. Anakin has actually appeared in every major battle in the series, (Ryloth, Geonosis, Umbara etc). The only one out of these three that can actually be developed is Ahsoka. But there are stories out there for the other Jedi, and I'm speaking for everyone when I say we would rather see the less shown Jedi on the show.


-Separatist vehicles: While this isn't a major issue, even at this stage in the series we're missing a lot of Separatist technology on the show. The Tri-Droids haven't appeared in ages (in chronological order, not since the movie), and vehicles such as the Spider Walker & Hailfire-Droid have still yet to appear on the show. The Republic themselves have a few missing vehicles as well, but the Separatist's still haven't seen several of their vehicles on the show.


-Important character death's: This has been an issue with the show so far, no one important to the story of the Clone Wars event has died yet really. The closest this season has been Hardcase, in the Umbara arc. If someone like Savage Opress died in the finale, then that would be a fairly important death I guess. But so far, no one relevantly important has actually died yet on the show to be honest...


-More Bly & Gree: It's been so long since these two Clone Commander's have appeared, it's easy to forget they exist anymore. Both of them have only been in two episodes in the series. Gree hasn't appeared since "Weapons Factory", and it was over a year after the episode that it was officially confirmed to be Gree in that episode, even though it was obvious. And Bly hasn't appeared since his debut on the show in the Maridun duology, all the way back in season 1. Now with the change to phase II armour, will we see Bly and Gree finally return, but with their Revenge of the Sith armour?


That's all for what I most want to see in season 5. I could probably write more and come up with more ideas, but to save myself time and energy, and you lot for reading more, I'll leave it at that. Hope you enjoy, and feel free to leave what you would like to see in the comments below!

Star Wars: The Clone Wars "Bounty"

And finally we come to the episode where I get to see my favourite bounty hunter, Dengar, make his debut on the show. Would he be portrayed correctly in this episode?

This episode really starts off on a strong note. We get to see nice Tatoinne scenery, and see cantinia again. Unlike the episode "Sphere of Influence" though, the cantina is now full of life. Ventress killing that guy who was annoying her at the bar was a nice touch, and very reminiscent of A New Hope. The talk scene between Ventress and Bossk was good as well, as was how Bossk pretty much made Ventress join their bounty hunting team.

 This scene is just so full of win. You get a brief cameo by Embo and his Anooba/dog, Marrok (PS: Filoni has stated Embo will return in season 5), and you get something downright awesome, classic Star Wars comedy:
"Hey Bossk, who's your girlfriend?"
"Shut up, Dengar!"
Dengar being witty, just how I always imagined him to be. I still don't agree with Boba Fett being the "boss" of this group of bounty hunter's. Here we have a kid, and at that, one who was a *censored* in the season 2 finale, and now all of a sudden, he's a hard-man like in the original trilogy? It feels very forced upon us fans, especially given how Boba was in season 2. And he's with a couple of the most elite bounty hunter's, even at the time of the Clone Wars, in Bossk & Dengar. Why couldn't either of those two lead it, at least they wouldn't be afraid to get rough in a fight. Bossk as leader of the group, that would have worked so much better. It's just that Lucas probably wanted to explore Boba's character, or try and force an all-new Boba upon us...

The train scenes were so full of win as well, and really showed fans that Dengar can throw down and be awesome. The problem with most of the bounty hunter's in "The Box", was that they were so lame and weren't explored, and didn't show them being effective at all. This episode though, really let the bounty hunter's throw down and show what they could do. I loved all the fighting that was going on. The voice-acting for Dengar was great. And best of all, Dengar's voice is British! So I can easily do a Dengar voice-over. I was really let down though by the order in which bounty hunter's were knocked off the train. We watched in horror as two of the most elite of all time, Bossk and Dengar, were the first two to go. I mean, come on! I'm not siding with Dengar here because he's my favourite bounty hunter, it's not like that. It's been stated before only the VERY best can get a job from Darth Vader himself (as Bossk and Dengar did), and yet it's two of those few that are the ones to go. And it seemed the crew wanted to make Bossk and Dengar go out in the cheesiest way possible. Dengar just stood like a statue while one of the enemies kicked him over the railing, and Bossk was blinded by something before kicked out of the door. Then Latts and Highsinger (who it would have made more sense to kick out first), got knocked out at exactly the same time. Finally was that whale-like guy, Major Rigosso, who I did not like at all, but his death was well-directed. "Over my dead body", and then he actually was killed.

This scene certainly added a very interesting twist to the episode. Boba Fett is busy fighting the leader of the enemy, when the box they are trying to deliver falls open, revealing a girl, much to Boba's shock. The girl is the sister of the leader, who led the attack to try and free her, but Boba and the hunter's were unaware of what was inside the box. Boba gets knocked unconscious as Ventress arrives. The fight between the leader and Ventress was very interesting to watch, especially when Ventress force-chokes the leader. And then the talk between Ventress and the girl when the girl and the leader were tied up was a good addition, as was the talk scene between Boba and Ventress. I loved it so much when Ventress started force-choking Boba as well, putting the brat that he was in this episode in his place. 

I have to say it right here. BEST-ENDING-EVER! The ending of this episode was far and away the best ending of any episode in the series, it is just so funny. Ventress brings the box to the person the hunter's were trying to bring it to her. After collecting her bounty, Ventress leaves. The guy opens the box, only to find the brat (in season 2, I nicknamed him "Baby Fett", now Boba Fett is "The Brat). Looking at Boba emerging inside the box was priceless, and I couldn't stop laughing until after the episode finished. What makes it even funnier? The guy who the box was delivered to kept going on about "bride", because he thought the person inside the box was the girl from before. Funny stuff. The end scene with all the bounty hunter's on the ship was good (especially as the brat was excluded). Though I ound Ventress's comment about having a future to be weird, because if she leaves the bounty hunter's as it seems she might, what future would she have? I guess we'll find out soon...


Rating: This was another strong episode in this arc, and an excellent episode. Lots of action, great dialogue, and the bounty hunters were amazing, especially Dengar, but it wasn't quite as good as "Massacre". Rating: 9.5/10


And here is a preview for next week's episode, as Darth Maul finally comes to the Clone Wars!

Star Wars: The Clone Wars "Massacre"

And now that we are all fully refreshed after an extra week's break from the show, it's back with the reviews. Starting with the first of a 4-part season finale.

Something that really intrigued me in the Nightsisters trilogy was the Nightsister ways, so I liked seeing more of that explored in this episode. The scene with Ventress being turned into a true Nightsister was very interesting. Katie Lucas did a great job exploring character's and giving every character heaps of character development. I'll get to that more later. Has to be said, if Katie Lucas wrote every episode of every season, there would be no flaws with the show. She is THAT good a writer. Arguably better than the maker himself. The talk scene with Dooku and Grievous was a well-directed scene as well. By the way, is it just me, or does Grievous look more like his Revenge of the Sith appearance in that scene? That's just what I thought when I watched it.

The Battle of Dathomir itself was done extremely well. Lots of great action, interesting twists and turns. And for the first time in ages, the commando droids weren't made to look like stupid tinnies. The animation of the explosions was spectacular. It was nice to see the Defoliator tank from season one show up again. I've always felt that ever since they showed a prototype of that tank way back in season 1, they should show a finished version in battle, and it's explosions didn't disappoint. I was kinda disappointed that Lok Durd didn't get a cameo in the tank, but it's not a big deal. 

This isn't the first time we've had zombies in the show. It's the fourth time in Star Wars history, in fact. Twice in the EU, twice in this show. We had zombie Geonosians in season 2 as well. These were kind of creepy in a way. I'm not a fan of the fact they don't even really resemble nightsister's, just your everyday zombie, like in that gameplay mode in a couple of Call of Duty games. The idea was nice, but I wasn't too excited about these, as the idea had already been used on the show before. But, I will say, these would make c-c- creepy action figures!
PS: This episode wins as well because it's combined of ideas from the 3 seasons before this season. Example's being the Defoliator from season one, zombies from season 2 and Nightsisters from season 3.

One thing that has been hyped up for a long time has been the much anticipated Grievous vs Ventress duel. It was different to what I was expecting, but it was still really good and very enjoyable, if not a bit short. As I would have liked to see it go on a bit longer. The death of that Nightsister, who then told Ventress to save herself, was quite touching. Throughout the series, the powerful General Grievous has been underdone and made to look like a fool. This episode changed all that crap. He held his own in a duel against a strong opponent, killed lots of enemies (including the worthless old witch) at the end. Grievous was redeemed so much in this episode.

This was interesting twist in the entire plot to this episode. Speaking of which, yes, we finally had an episode with a plot in it. About time. With Talzin using her magic to torture Dooku, using a kind of small statue in which to cause Dooku pain. The warts that came onto Dooku's face were quite disgusting, but I understand it was a necessary process to add to the pain. You could really tell how much pain Dooku was going through, as this quote below shows:
"Grievous! You must stop Mother Talzin, before she KILLS me."
Have to say, reminded me a bit of Albus Dumbledore in the Half-Blood Prince.

This end scene is extremely touching, has to be said. With pretty much all the nightsister's gone, Ventress talks to the last one remaining, Talzin. Now I admit, I wasn't really a Ventress fan until this episode (I neither liked nor disliked her). But I am definitely a fan now. They did her perfectly in this episode, especially this scene, and the voice-acting was great. We are given many emotional scenes for characters like Anakin in the show, but we just laugh at those because those stories don't work with characters like Anakin. It is not the same for Ventress. We don't know what happens to her (face it, EU is screwed), and she now has one of the most interesting stories out there, for ANY character on this show, and hopefully the last 3 episodes of this finale will show that. Talzin was interesting also, and not dull like in the Nightsisters trilogy last season...


My rating: This was a splendid episode. Wonderful action, every character got major character development, and it was all-round magnificent entertainment. Katie Lucas for the win. Rating: 10/10.


Next-week's episode could be even better. Looks to have some nice action. Bounty Hunter's such as Boba Fett (*yawn*), Embo and Bossk return. As well as the HIGHLY-anticipated debut of my all-time favourite bounty hunter, Dengar. And already making witty remarks as I hoped.

"Hey Bossk, who's your girlfriend?"
"Shut up, Dengar."

Star Wars: The Clone Wars "Crisis on Naboo"

And finally we come to the conclusion of the 4-part arc about bounty hunter's. The last 3 episodes we were told were leading us up to the main point of the arc, but was it really?

Ok, before I get to the negative's of this episode (lots of those), I will start with a scene I partially enjoyed, until you-know-who showed his ugly mug. That's right, I'm talking about Anakin Skywalker. It was nice of course to see cameo's by other Jedi such as Adi Gallia, Ki-Adi-Mundi etc (main appearances please) and hearing Mace Windu and Yoda's voices are cool. This scene went swimmingly well until Anakin opened his mouth and started mouthing off *pun intended*. Like I said, nice to see some lesser known Jedi making cameo's, but we need them making main appearances Filoni. No one cares about Anakin on the show.

This part right here: best scene in the episode, hands down. Loved this part, especially the bounty hunters killing those technicians was awesome, the noise Embo's hat made were cool, and Derrown's crazy face was frickin' hilarious. Cad Bane wins it again with his line "Well, hello there." Cad Bane executing that technician was awesome. The part where Bane tells everyone their roles was cool, but the transforming into senate commando's was kind of weird, I'm not sure why. Bane and Dooku's little talk was a nice touch as well.

This scene is kind of where it began to go downhill. Alright, it had decent action, and I got to see Anakin electrocuted by Derrown. YEAH! But, it was bad. There was no plot at all in this episode, and this scene really shows that. I mean, we know Palpatine can't die (sadly the same couldn't be said for the voice-actor who perished recently R.I.P) so what was the point? The show really needs to introduce more main new characters instead of re-using the same main old one's who we know won't die. After a while, it gets stupid. But anyway, something that weirded me out was Anakin was nearer to the generator when Derrown blew it up then Palpatine was. Shouldn't it have hurt Anakin instead? Want to know what really disappointed me? The promo's hinted that we would get a epic Mace vs Embo fight, but no. It was just Mace jumps in front of Embo, who gives up. 

The part where Twazzi (disguised as Palpatine) punching Anakin seemed very dramatic, as it looked like Palpatine was punching his soon-to-be apprentice twice in the face, even if we knew it was a bounty hunter disguised as Palpatine.  I liked the touch to Attack of the Clones with Anakin chopping Twazzi's hand off, like he did Zam Wessel in that movie. Cad Bane's quote "So long, Jedi", was cool when he first said it, but it immediately felt over-used when he said it again in this episode. The brief fight between Obi-Wan and Bane was also cool, but Bane was defeated WAY too easily. Moralo Eval's whimpering about his life was utterly pathetic, like the character. Bane and Obi-Wan's quote was very funny also:
Bane: "Reward? I'll give you a reward, when I plug you full of laser bolts!"
Obi-Wan: "Such a pleasant fellow."

You're probably thinking, this episode can't get much worse, can it? Well, it can. As the next two scenes showed so clearly. This scene especially, gives fans a CLEAR example of how messed up the Clone Wars portrayal of Anakin is. Overdone expressions, acting like a child. The voice actor does a good job, but it's the character itself that is the problem. I like Anakin in the movies, but the Clone Wars is essentially ruining his character, and this scene really shows it. Obi-Wan being as innocent as ever, but now Anakin even has issues with him.

Now, surely we would finish this arc on a thriller, right? Guess again! All we get is another poodoo Anakin vs Dooku duel. Does that awesome quote from Revenge of the Sith even matter anymore. Clearly not, because Anakin WINS this duel. It's bad enough we have to see them keep dueling, as they aren't meant to between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, but now Anakin wins a duel. The WHOLE idea in Revenge of the Sith is for this to be Anakin's first (and only) win against Dooku, but no. He won this duel, which completely screws up that quote in question even more now if you think about it. And the duel itself was poor,  very slow and weak, and no real feel to it. I actually laughed when the chair stopped Anakin at one point. Even chairs have had enough of the Anakin/Dooku duels. Very weak ending, and Revenge of the Sith is officially screwed at the start.


My rating: What a poor episode. The arc as a whole (as highlighted by this episode) had no purpose and the arc should never have been made. It ends the way it starts (Bane & Eval in prison). The action was ok, but there was no plot, and absolutely no character development. Rating: 3.5/10


But, what is more exciting is the new clip of Darth Maul that was revealed. Okay, it was 25 seconds of nothing and 5 seconds of Maul, but the animation is awesome and Sam Witwer's voice for Maul is awesome.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars "The Box"

What a title for an episode. But did the episode live up to it's awesome title?

The opening scenes were well directed and written, but at the same time, I do have a complaint about it. Dave Filoni is constantly saying that they can't put this, that etc in due to limited screen-time. And yet in this scene, the show introduces us to 11 bounty hunter's, the majority of which we knew were going to die and did die. It was a well-worked scene, but Filoni being a hypocrite as usual is annoying. I loved the part when Cad Bane kills Bulduga so he can get his old hat back. I'm disappointed in one part of that scene though, there is no reaction whatsoever from Bulduga's brother, Onca who is right beside him. It's another one of those scenes that's like "Oh, my brother died. Whatever." One of the flaws in this episode is that none of the bounty hunters are developed at all, it's all Rako Hardeen this, Rako Hardeen that, which allowed almost zero development for the others.

The challenges themselves were pretty basic. Nothing really too special, and if it wasn't for the fact that the majority of these so-called best bounty hunters were quite stupid to say the least, then it would have been easy to complete the whole thing. As it was, Hardeen was the only reason most, if not all of them survived. At least until the second challenge, that is. Every bounty hunter's death in this episode was weak. You had Onca trapped against a wall, when the laser misses him, he sighs with relief instead of running away from danger, and another laser gets him. Kiera Swan, also killed by a laser. Jakoli, too slow and got electrocuted. Mantu, slipped and got electrocuted. And I'll save Sixtat's death until later.

Let's talk a little about the character Moralo Eval. After the first episode of this arc, I found him to be a interesting character, but by now I've lost almost all liking for this character. If just he wasn't voiced by the awesome Stephen Stanton! I'll outline some reasons I dislike this character. He's boring, he does nothing, he's not a man (to quote Bane: "If you're gonna kill him, do it like a man."), and to top it all of, his armour is a RIP-OFF of my all-time favourite bounty hunter, the awesomeness that is DENGAR! His talking in the third-person, like "Moralo Eval, will have you slaughted" is unique, but it doesn't make it cool. It's a pity that the character is really quite crap to be honest, because they gave him a good back-story, but the character isn't living up to it.

This scene here was pretty cool. I like sniper rifles, so seeing characters testing their sniper skills was interesting. But Sixtat annoyed me in this scene, and then the show made his death (falling into flames because he missed the target) so cheesy. I was glad to see this bounty hunter die, as he looks too much like a bald Obi-Wan for my liking...

This is the one scene in this episode where any character goes through any character development. Cad Bane. The way he saved Hardeen to defy Moralo Eval was a great moment in this episode, as was his awesome quote. The fight scene between Hardeen and Eval was awesome, especially with Hardeen smashing Eval's annoying face in. Again, Eval makes a threat he can't deliver: "You, my friend, have seen nothing yet!" For me, this whole scene (Cad Bane's save/Hardeen vs Eval) is among the best scenes the show has delivered, when taking everything into account.


My rating: This was a great episode, and by far the best of the arc. I did have a few issues with it though, such as no characters really being developed (except for one Cad Bane moment). But the action and pacing was good, but Moralo Eval will need to improve 100% for him to ever be liked by me. Rating: 9/10.


Rad Cad Bane quote:
"If you're gonna kill him, do it like a man." 

Star Wars: The Clone Wars "Friends and Enemies"

I'll start by saying this, I had high hopes for this episode, it nowhere near reached my expectations. Keep reading to find out why.

One thing that officially sucked about this episode was the plot. Kyle Winner, watch this space. It started off okay, even if the plot started pretty bland, but then it got worse and worse. We followed the same plot the WHOLE episode. That may not sound so bad, but everything done was so repetitive it got stupid. One ship blown up, two ship, and so on, so forth. It was like that ALL episode. There was no change of pace in this episode, it was always the same thing. At least the lame political episodes had a change of pace, this episode was stupid. The plot this season has actually been awful this season, the main problem with the show now, and this episode gave us a clear example why.

 For me, this was one of the very few good scenes in this episode. If you're an Indiana Jones fan (unlike me), then you may have enjoyed the little nod with the Indy hat. Watching the three guys, Cad Bane, Moralo Eval, and Obi-Wan Kenobi pick their new gear was pretty interesting. But now also Cad Bane has become a hypocrite, saying Pablo's place was the best for what they need, then hates on the lousy choice of weaponry. The scene with Bane choking Pablo was pretty uneccessary, and the female's reaction to Obi-Wan trying to give her a credit was pretty stupid.

This scene here was cool but at the same time rather pointless. The scene with Obi-Wan's vision blurred and the Nikto knocking him out was epic though. Obi-Wan using the Nikto's own staff to kill the Nikto was awesome and dark as well. 

I dislike the partnership of Anakin Skywalker and Ahsoka Tano usually, seen as they are so alike and that kind of ruins a story. But this time, I have an exception. In my opinion, this episode was bad anyway, so there partnership turned out to be one of the better parts of this episode. Anakin having more personal issues in the scene with Palpatine was annoying though, and so was this scene above, the cameo of Sy Snootles for one thing, and Anakin force-choking the Ithorian was nothing not seen before. We also got another crazy Anakin expression as pictured above...

Now this scene was epic, but it had been taken up by so much crap that it was rushed and everything we were looking forward to was hardly there at all. The fight on the ship's between Cad Bane and Anakin was done well, but Anakin attacking Obi-Wan was not. If they had added in epic music or carried on the scene where Anakin says "This is for Obi-Wan!" for a few more seconds, it would have been a awesome touch to the episode, but it was not. Another thing I was looking forward to was Ahsoka vs Bane, and that wasn't a duel at all really. And Ahsoka letting Obi-Wan, Bane and Moralo Eval get away was stupid. Anakin feeling the connection that Obi-Wan was still alive was a nice touch to end the episode.


My rating: This episode really was poor. I'm all for having an arc about Bounty Hunter's, but they've a lot to do to improve this garbage episode over the last two episodes of the arc. The plot was bland, repetitive and predictable. The end scenes we thought were going to be good turned out rushed and nothing exciting happened. This is why this episode gets and deserves it's low rating. Rating: 5/10.


And here is the preview for the next episode. Honestly, this clip is 10 times better than the episode I just reviewed already. I look forward to the next episode, and there is a lot of potential here for bounty hunter action figures. Hopefully Dengar will come soon.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars "Deception"

And so we reach the episode where my #1 Star Wars character of all time, Obi-Wan Kenobi, has to fake his death to go undercover. This sounded like an interesting episode, and it didn't disappoint.

The episode made a swift and awesome start. Besides Anakin being here, what was wrong with this scene? Oh right, a pointless bounty hunter who appears for about 5 minutes and most likely won't be on the show again. No Dengar. That and it's the three main trio again= big surprise. It was so obvious as well that when Rako Hardeen shot Obi-Wan, Obi-Wan had let himself get shot as part of the plan. The chase scene where Anakin chases Hardeen was kind of pointless, but whatever. Where this scene really hit me, was when Anakin returned to find Ahsoka in such grief she couldn't bring herself to tell Anakin Obi-Wan was dead, and Ahsoka also in tears. Anakin was then his typical self screaming "OBI-WAN!!!" repeatedly.

And then this scene was very touching. Yes, I am aware that Obi-Wan couldn't really die as he in two movies set after this show, but for what this scene was, it was extremely touching, especially to the Obi-Wan fanboy that I am. Especially seeing/hearing Satine crying over the "death" of her lover. It didn't surprise me when Ahsoka brought up that Anakin hadn't said a word since it happened. This was also a great scene, because we had so many Jedi in one place. I think they were missing Kit Fisto though. For a "faked" death, this scene did a great job of making the death seem so real.

I did not enjoy this scene much though. It was just weird. That bartender was the main reason. That thing, creature, whatever you want to call it, that as a bartender? Yeah right. I found Rako Hardeen announcing to a whole pub "I killed Obi-Wan Kenobi!" to be pretty dumb and uneccessary. I dunno, I just didn't get the reasoning behind that. Especially as he didn't. What was interesting though, this scene reveals that Rako was paid off by the Republic (Obi-Wan included) to shoot Obi-Wan, as part of a plan to get Obi-Wan undercover in a prison. Obi-Wan's casual question to Yoda "How was my funeral?" was pretty funny from a point of view. I didn't like seeing Obi-Wan's amazing hair being shaved off. As a die-hard Obi-Wan fan, that was the last thing I wanted to see. What's funny though, is with his hair shaved off, Obi-Wan actually looks like Obi-Wan from The Phantom Menace, except now bald. His face looked just as young as it did back in The Phantom Menace. I loved hearing about Moralo Eval's backstory, and how he killed his mother because he was "bored". That was certainly a twist in the show. When Obi-Wan showed himself to Hardeen, with both of them looking the same was interesting. Obi-Wan's line "I need one more thing. Your clothes" came out all wrong, and I know my friend Graham will like that. Obi-Wan swallowing the droid was disgusting. "What an odd sensation." Anakin & Ahsoka throwing Obi-Wan into jail, instead of Hardeen was pretty amusing, that it should be those two of all people, who lock Obi-Wan away. The cameo of Clone Commander Fox was nice. You better be planning a phase II Fox, Hasbro!

The prison scenes were by far and away the best part of this episode, they were amazing! I laughed when Obi-Wan tried eating some prison food and said it tasted horrible, because I was thinking it looked horrible. Obi-Wan stabbing his fork into the annoying Karkarodon was hilarious. At least Filoni didn't lie that we would be seeing Karkarodon's out of water. So was Obi-Wan telling the shark-like Karkarodon "Maybe you'd taste better." Obi-Wan and Moralo Eval's chat was a nice touch to the episode, including when Obi was put in the same cell as Moralo temporarily, where we first see Cad Bane back *fanboy moment*. The fight between Boba Fett and Obi-Wan was a great scene, and it was interesting that Boba was working for Bane, It was also great when Bossk joined in, beating the crap out of the shock troopers. When Boba was fighting Obi-Wan, I was half-cheering for Boba to do in Hardeen's scrawny face, but had to keep reminding myself it was Obi-Wan. It was also awesome when the prisoners rebelled and tried to break out. But no Separatist prisoners sadly, who need out more than the bounty hunters.
After all, the quote goes:
"Bounty hunters. We don't need their scum!"
Except maybe Dengar & Bane!

It was great seeing my favourite bounty hunter on the show being his awesome self in this episode (favourite until Dengar shows up). This was a great little fight scene, with Bane using a Clone DC-15 blaster again. It was interesting as one Clone officer accidentaly shot another Clone, quite like what we saw in "Carnage of Krell". It was no surprise that Obi-Wan couldn't bring himself to kill a Clone, as he is really on the same side as them. By the way, the position Moralo Eval is in beating up that Clone is so wrong. Moralo Eval is a cool new villain, especially as he is voiced by the awesome Stephen Stanton.


My rating: This was another great episode, but it did have it's flaws, one being leaving out the awesome Dengar, who is much better than all the bounty hunter poodoo we did get, and not having any Separatist's break out, and they need it more. Rating: 8.5/10


Next weeks episode hopefully will be as good as this one. Not sure I like the idea of Bane having to have a new hat. As the old one is much cooler.