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Clone Wars Debriefing: "Mercy Mission"
Oct. 8th, 2011 10:04 amArtoo and Threepio are pressed into service on a planet struck by an earthquake. Accompanying several clones doing relief work--the first time I've seen any military in Star Wars do this sort of thing--Threepio is there to interpret and Artoo is there to help set up the technical stuff.
What follows is 22 minutes of well-animated pure whimsical fun that in many ways is a throwback to the kind of pure whimsical fun that was fashionable in the early 1980s. Threepio's interaction with the cute Aleena is reminiscent of his interaction with the Ewoks in ROTJ (Ratts Tyrrell, one of the pod racers from TPM, was an Aleena). Once he and Artoo fall down a big hole into the subterranean world, the episode becomes as surreal as a Salvador Dali painting viewed on LSD. How about those big talking stick people? There's no Alice to ask how to get out, so they look for and encounter Orphne, a magical creature who reveals that the earthquakes are a result of a "breach." The only reason why all of these incompatible beings can co-exist is that they are separated by the ground. This is emphasized by toxic gas that wafts out of the hole where Artoo and Threepio fell and sickens the Aleena.
When asked how to get out, Orphne issues a riddle that Artoo solves by peeing on a river symbol on the floor. Well, it looked like he was peeing. I guess it was just water. Artoo and Threepio figure out the breach and close it, saving the day.
Balancing out the fantastical elements of the episode is the no-nonsense Commander Wolffe and his men. Threepio drives him nuts, very much the same way his chattiness irritates Uncle Owen or Han Solo. All Wolffe wants to do is the job and get the heck out of there. He has little patience for cultural nuances or Threepio's overall personality. Of course he doesn't believe it when the droids saved the day. The best line is at the end where he tells his men they're offloading the droids at the rendezvous.
Threepio and Artoo are pitch-perfect individually and in how they interact. It really is hard to imagine anyone besides Anthony Daniels doing Threepio just as nobody quite gets Jar Jar like Ahmed Best or General Grievous like Matthew Wood.
Kids and kids-at-heart would find a lot to enjoy in "Mercy Mission." The droids return next week in "Nomad Droids."
What follows is 22 minutes of well-animated pure whimsical fun that in many ways is a throwback to the kind of pure whimsical fun that was fashionable in the early 1980s. Threepio's interaction with the cute Aleena is reminiscent of his interaction with the Ewoks in ROTJ (Ratts Tyrrell, one of the pod racers from TPM, was an Aleena). Once he and Artoo fall down a big hole into the subterranean world, the episode becomes as surreal as a Salvador Dali painting viewed on LSD. How about those big talking stick people? There's no Alice to ask how to get out, so they look for and encounter Orphne, a magical creature who reveals that the earthquakes are a result of a "breach." The only reason why all of these incompatible beings can co-exist is that they are separated by the ground. This is emphasized by toxic gas that wafts out of the hole where Artoo and Threepio fell and sickens the Aleena.
When asked how to get out, Orphne issues a riddle that Artoo solves by peeing on a river symbol on the floor. Well, it looked like he was peeing. I guess it was just water. Artoo and Threepio figure out the breach and close it, saving the day.
Balancing out the fantastical elements of the episode is the no-nonsense Commander Wolffe and his men. Threepio drives him nuts, very much the same way his chattiness irritates Uncle Owen or Han Solo. All Wolffe wants to do is the job and get the heck out of there. He has little patience for cultural nuances or Threepio's overall personality. Of course he doesn't believe it when the droids saved the day. The best line is at the end where he tells his men they're offloading the droids at the rendezvous.
Threepio and Artoo are pitch-perfect individually and in how they interact. It really is hard to imagine anyone besides Anthony Daniels doing Threepio just as nobody quite gets Jar Jar like Ahmed Best or General Grievous like Matthew Wood.
Kids and kids-at-heart would find a lot to enjoy in "Mercy Mission." The droids return next week in "Nomad Droids."
