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This episode is probably going to piss a lot of people off and excite a lot of others. I thought this was a good episode and had some great bits in it, but I’m certainly not angry and I’m not as excited as a lot of people probably are.
“Mandalore Plot” begins with Obi-Wan Kenobi sent to Mandalore to investigate claims that the Duchess Satine (whom he has some form of past with) is taking the council of neutral systems, which represents 1,500 neutral planets, in league with the Separatists. This frustrates her immensely, though she seems grateful to see her old friend, the Jedi Master. Obi-wan is concerned about a terrorist group called the Death Watch, but Satine insists they’re a bunch of hoodlums. Unfortunately, as they discuss this, one of those hooligans blows up a bomb in a public place, killing many civilians.
This leads them to the autonomous moon of Concordia and in the domain of Governer Pre Vizsla (voiced by Jon Favreau). Soon, Obi-wan is taken by a pair of Death Watch commandos and Satine needs to come to his rescue. Turns out Vizsla is in charge of the Death Watch and wants to kill some Jedi.
Seeing a dozen Mandalorian’s in action against a Jedi was very, very cool to see. But there are things in this episode that make it clear that a lot of preconceived notions that people had of characters in the movies (and their extensions in the expanded universe) are completely false. I thought that Jango Fett and Boba Fett were part of a proud Mandalorian tradition, but it turns out that they’re just a pair of dirty thugs and no one knows why they’d have Mandalorian armour or where they got it. My impression of Mandalore reading the Legacy of the Force series of Star Wars books was very different as well.
I can see why hardcore EU fans (and some of the writers *cough*Karen Travis*cough*) might have a problem with this, but at the end of the day, this is George Lucas’ sandbox and when you play in it in the Expanded Universe, you have to expect that things can still change while he’s working on stuff. I, for one, think that this Clone Wars cartoon series and the movies are the highest priority of what’s what in the Star Wars canon, and I could really care less about the rest of it, even though I may enjoy quite a bit of it.
A lot of people won’t feel this way.
Aside from the shockwaves this will have on the Expanded Universe, this episode was a solid action entry into the series. Watching Obi-wan get captured by a pair of Death Watch commandos was incredibly fun to watch and the animation during the lightsaber duel between Obi-wan and Vizsla was a cut above. I want to see more of the canon version of the Mandalorians. They were much cooler than I thought they would be.
I liked this episode, but felt the ending lacked a little bit, but the preview for the next episode made me think that this might be the weakest entry in the Mandalore Plot arc.
So, until next week, make mine Star Wars.
Responses to “REVIEW: Star Wars: The Clone Wars 2.12”
on January 30th, 2010 at 9:25 am said:
Thanks for this review, I agree whole-heartedly. It’s becoming very clear over the years that there are two factions to Star Wars “fandom”…fans of the canon movies and TV, and fans of the expanded universe. The fact of the matter is, Lucas has always gone on record as saying anyone can play in his sandbox, but it doesn’t make it canon. The EU is “fiction within fiction”, and anyone who gets upset about the inconsistencies should just stick to the EU and not pay attention to canon. For me, I am the opposite…whatever Lucas does is wonderful, and I stay away from the EU. Fans of the EU have been warned all along…it’s approved material, but it isn’t canon. This was a great episode, lots of action and insight into Mandalorians. Vizsla’s comment that Jango Fett was just a bounty hunter and not Mandalorian could have come from the fact that they are a proud race, and bounty hunters are looked down on as common criminals in most of the galaxy. In a way, Jango “disgraced” the planet and its heritage by being a bounty hunter, so the race no longer recognizes him as one of their own. It will be fun to see how it plays out in the future.
on January 31st, 2010 at 3:09 pm said:
….I will start with a analogy to the new STAR TREK movie…
soooo, the great travesty that occured this past summer that was the demise of old STAR TREK canon because of the need to get the ADD-kid’s back in the multiplexes to sell MORE movie tickets…. is in a sense, what’s in store for STAR WARS! It’s the end of a GRAND story idea, and a marvelous STAR WARS continuum because young staff writers and conceptual artists may be just as ADD as the audiences they make it for.
the clone wars while being an exciting and colorful addition to Star wars….is growing considerably in contradictions and such….all because the probable need to get some kind of continued story across and sell more anakin and obi-wan toys…OOPS yup i said it !
just because you need MANDO’s so bad in the storyline they start to change everything that has come before…?! NONESENSE and a travesty for Star wars fans who care about the continuation of a grand story ideal…..not the new toy wave at wall-mart. Yup mando’s sell alright!
up to season 2 of Clone wars, everything from both [supposed canons], actually worked together, with a few hiccups here and there. This can be forgiven as conflicting story ideas across many media will happen!! Even the ‘Asokha experiment ‘ can be KIND OF rationalized but really she’s just there to create needed character drama for Anakin, and to draw the female audiences in. All in all major SW conceptual idea’s [ in regards to the jedi ideals]have been discarded with the intro of her character. She is a creative character, and well done …but we should have realized at the time that major changes and DISAPOINTMENTS were looming..
Now with this PRE-VIZLA [true-leadership] & capital city-SUNDARI nonesense you cause a major schism!
who’s writing this stuff….! and according to the latest’insider’… yup! the issue pertaining to this [awful]ly cool episode, George put this whole plotline on hold for quite some time. its obvious why he did so because it makes no sense. it could have been done in accordance with what K. Traviss has written, and all the other lore.
There is just too much being conceptualized by the likes of Gilroy and Filoni. these guys obviously only care about their own personalized ’stamp’ on the star wars tradition. They could and should be more faithful to all of it….otherwise it becomes confusing, and people will move on to new idea’s like AVATAR
it’s a sad mistake, and it makes me think of TREK t.v. in its waning days.. ‘voyager /enterprise’ anyone?
Is this what we can expect from the new live action television series also…grand inconsistencies and contradictions cause some staff writer ‘ thunk its a neat-o idea’ OR was stumped on what to write about and didn’t do his homework!
maybe its time to leave the greater, older star wars mythos and arctype ideas alone [ mando's / and ARC's becoming ARF-arf troopers]….and focus on new fresh exciting ideas.
this is what happens when we constantly retread upon old established ideas. “the pot’s already full, and there is no more to add…unless you want to empty some of the better, perfectly fine as-it-is contents….”
come on guys….leave it alone already or its gonna be “GREEDO shoot’n first times a googleplex of nonesense” ….
….if you continue doing what your doing. It means that you think us fans are simply rabid unthinking product devouring hounds waiting for any Star wars fix. Man !! i have put a lot of my time on this planet into George’s ’sandbox’…ALL of IT – books / videogames / movies, even this cartoon-show! i have loved it all, until now as i have been stopped cold in my bantha tracks !!!
….I do/ do not apologize for this rant, and i have the utmost respect for George Lucas, and STAR WARS, but this latest episode of this cartoon series has really gone too far!
on January 31st, 2010 at 4:27 pm said:
I can’t really say that I didn’t see that one coming.
on February 1st, 2010 at 10:47 am said:
Saw it coming but still can’t see what it says. I think this person may have a solid argument but it’s far too mixed with gibberish and poor structure to matter.
on February 1st, 2010 at 4:30 pm said:
i see what you and one of the first fans say. I personally hate clone wars in all entirely, but love mandalorians, and knew they were gonna be in there, cause honestly, we all love mandalorians, a few complaits about ‘deathwatch’ it does exist but the helmets are wrong, and wtf is with not painting the armor? mandalorian armor is like a coat of arms, you dont leave it blank and boring. but ya, fans are divided into the tv/movies and expanded and I am definately an expanded, its the only truth, cause really, wtf is with asoka, she doesnt exist, why make a charecter you have to completely obilerate at the end?
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