Clone Wars Debriefing: "Crisis On Naboo"

The four part arc with Obi-Wan going undercover starts out being like a heist movie with all of the bounty hunters making their final plans to abduct Palpatine. Everything is planned to a "t," complete with holo disguises that are the kind of thing you'd find in a sci-fi film from the late '80s or '90s. Dooku promises if the operation's a success, the bounty hunters will get enough credits so they'll never have to work again. Really? Sign me up! Dooku sniffs something different about "Rako" and he tells Cad Bane to keep an eye on him.

Palpatine is returning home to celebrate The Festival Of Light with Padmé and the current Queen. Anakin, Ahsoka, and Mace Windu accompany the Supreme Chancellor, who's not happy about being shadowed by the Jedi. Obi-Wan, assigned as a sniper, is reporting back to Mace what's going on. But as Palpatine kicks off the fireworks show, it ends up with 'splosions, injuries, a ticked off Anakin, and Palpatine unconscious. The disguised bounty hunters switch identities, allowing them to get away with Palpatine.

Then everything changes. The episode is no longer about a simple kidnapping plot and is about The Bigger Picture. Finally we see Anakin furious over the Council's actions and angry at Obi-Wan. He wonders what else the Council has kept from him and from Obi-Wan. After Palpatine is rescued, he leads Anakin to a banquet nobody told Anakin about, only to find Count Dooku chillin' alone in the room. "It's a trap!" Palpatine says, but the trap isn't for him, it's for Anakin. Remember...Dooku does nothing without working in tandem with Sidious. This whole exercise serves to further break down the Jedi's moral code, to create intrigue, confusion, and division. Anakin's anger is stoked and Dooku further damages Anakin's ego by telling Obi-Wan he's a worthy adversary, but basically telling Anakin he sucks.

As I noted in a Tweet to someone, it's all cogs within wheels.

A couple of side notes. There were some cute glances between Anakin and Padmé but even though they've been hanging out together more, there's been virtually no romance with them this season. Based on Clone Wars, one would think Padmé got pregnant with a turkey baster. I'm not asking for bow chicka wow-wow here, just...something. On that note, have you noticed the casual way Anakin and Padmé trade off Ahsoka, like she's their daughter and Ahsoka doesn't realize it? It's like Artoo, Threepio, and Ahsoka are their first three children.

Next time: I have no idea!

Further Thoughts On TPM 3D

Went to see TPM again this afternoon and this was the Kiddie Matinee. It was mostly children with their parents. Fine with me! Not a crazy crowd at all but they did applaud at the end. And this time they ran the Darth Maul Clone Wars preview during the AMC First Look part of the program.

Okay, does anyone know why they put that "Ice Age" short cartoon before the beginning of the movie? It was cute, but what, did they think TPM wasn't long enough? Was it added value for your $14?

I'd forgotten to mention yesterday that the 3D really benefits the digital characters like Jar Jar, Watto, and Yoda. They appear better integrated into the film. They were created as 3D images but put in a 2D environment originally, now they're 3D within the scene. Cool.

Great call on replacing the Yoda original puppet that never really matched up with the one in TESB and ROTJ with a digital image. Now all three prequels look consistent on that front and I loved how Yoda's ears poked out at you as he turned his head.

The Darth Maul glasses were gone, so I'm glad I went yesterday. I didn't get a Battle Pod either.

OT: RIP Whitney Houston

Whitney Houston was found dead this afternoon in her hotel room at the Beverly Hills Hilton. She'd been in town for the Grammys and had been attending parties the last few days. Houston had had drug problems for years, though at this point we don't know what caused her death at 48. Here's a video from just a couple of nights ago, singing a little for the final time in public:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXPO5NNUb-8

Houston hit it big in the mid '80s when I was a teenager. By that time, my musical interests had steered toward punk, new wave, post-punk, goth, garage, and all of that alternative/college radio stuff. While Houston undeniably had a voice, her brand of R&B mellow pop that became the staple of soft rock stations across the land didn't do anything for me.

The irony is Houston's initial good girl image--her mother was a known gospel singer--made her uncool to a lot of her contemporaries. Maybe it was never really her in the first place. But it's obvious that desire to escape her image drew her to New Edition's bad boy, Bobby Brown. We don't know when she started using drugs, but being with Brown turned her into a full-blown addict. (He'd had drug and legal problems for years.) The addiction destroyed her career and ruined her voice.

I don't find her early demise all that surprising. She never seemed to get it together for very long, even with Brown finally out of her life. What's really sad is she leaves a daughter behind. What a shame.

Update: Houston was found submerged in a bathtub. Pending toxicology, it's not known if she drowned after falling asleep/passing out or if she died before slipping under water.

http://www.tmz.com/2012/02/12/whitney-houston-cause-of-death-drowning/#.Tzhko5hc9FI