Clone Wars Debriefing: "Revenge"
Mar. 17th, 2012 09:38 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lazypadawanClone Wars wraps up Season Four with its darkest, most violent finale to date.
Savage brings Maul back to Dathomir, where Mother Talzin uses her hocus pocus to refit Maul with new mechanical legs--originated in the comics and now immortalized in a Sideshow Collectibles statue--and heal him psychologically, so that he is some semblance of his old self. Maul is focused on one thing and that is revenge against Obi-Wan. So off Maul goes with Savage to draw out the attention of the Jedi. They land on a lollipop planet where Maul murders children and sends out a snuff holo where he decapitates several hostages. He is still one evil mo-fo.
Mace Windu suggests they send out a team to capture Maul. Really?! Were they planning to put him in the same prison Obi-Wan, Cad Bane, Boba Fett, etc. escaped from a few weeks ago?? But Obi-Wan insists he has to go alone. I suppose Anakin was on scheduled vacation. Yoda shrugs and says, "Fine." Once Obi-Wan leaves the room, Yoda reassures Mace that someone will help him.
Meanwhile, there's a price on Savage's head and several bounty hunters slobber at the idea of tackling this guy for some reason. Asajj Ventress coolly reassures them she's the girl for the job.
Well, the inevitable happens and Obi-Wan encounters Maul again. Interestingly enough, DOTF wasn't used but I guess they thought that might be a little on-the-nose. Here's the song that kept running through my head during the fight scenes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAwWPadFsOA
Obi-Wan gets some good lines in there, i.e. "the last time I cut you in half, I should have aimed at the neck" and "I like your new legs...they make you taller." (Not exact quotes.) Even though he is a Master, he's still at a disadvantage being trapped on a ship with Maul and eventually Savage attacking him. It is after all the Season of Pain, and Obi-Wan is contractually obligated to get his butt kicked. But looky here, Asajj has snuck onto the ship and she jumps in to save her long-time crush. Of course, there's more than that. Not only is this episode about Maul's revenge, it's about Ventress's revenge against Savage. Realizing they're not about to beat the gruesome two-some, Asajj and Obi-Wan (who learned about escaping from Asajj, heh heh) flee in an escape pod. Well, that will fuel some interesting fan fic! Maul and Savage are left to stare off into space, vowing to return during ratings sweeps.
The only clue we've had on Maul's unlikely survival was that his hate kept him alive and I suppose he might have snuck off of Naboo on a trash ship. There's a part of me that's still screaming, "Fanservice!" But I have to say this episode made the most of having Maul back. If you think about it, this really messes things up not only for Obi-Wan and the Jedi, but the Sith as well. Sidious has moved on to a new apprentice. Maul knows Sidious's plans. Could there be not only a conflict with the Obi-Wan in the future, but with the Sith as well?
The animation was top-notch. Obi-Wan's hair gets messy during the fight and you can tell he's been hit in the eye by the way his face looks at the end of the battle. The lollipop planet was reminiscent of Felucia.
Witwer sounded more like the movie Maul this episode. His performance was really good. Nika Futterman's Ventress was fantastic and James Arnold Taylor was as funny as always while doing Obi-Wan.
But you know what was the only disappointment with last night's finale? No preview of Season Five! What's up with that?
I'll have an overview of Season Four soon.
Savage brings Maul back to Dathomir, where Mother Talzin uses her hocus pocus to refit Maul with new mechanical legs--originated in the comics and now immortalized in a Sideshow Collectibles statue--and heal him psychologically, so that he is some semblance of his old self. Maul is focused on one thing and that is revenge against Obi-Wan. So off Maul goes with Savage to draw out the attention of the Jedi. They land on a lollipop planet where Maul murders children and sends out a snuff holo where he decapitates several hostages. He is still one evil mo-fo.
Mace Windu suggests they send out a team to capture Maul. Really?! Were they planning to put him in the same prison Obi-Wan, Cad Bane, Boba Fett, etc. escaped from a few weeks ago?? But Obi-Wan insists he has to go alone. I suppose Anakin was on scheduled vacation. Yoda shrugs and says, "Fine." Once Obi-Wan leaves the room, Yoda reassures Mace that someone will help him.
Meanwhile, there's a price on Savage's head and several bounty hunters slobber at the idea of tackling this guy for some reason. Asajj Ventress coolly reassures them she's the girl for the job.
Well, the inevitable happens and Obi-Wan encounters Maul again. Interestingly enough, DOTF wasn't used but I guess they thought that might be a little on-the-nose. Here's the song that kept running through my head during the fight scenes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAwWPadFsOA
Obi-Wan gets some good lines in there, i.e. "the last time I cut you in half, I should have aimed at the neck" and "I like your new legs...they make you taller." (Not exact quotes.) Even though he is a Master, he's still at a disadvantage being trapped on a ship with Maul and eventually Savage attacking him. It is after all the Season of Pain, and Obi-Wan is contractually obligated to get his butt kicked. But looky here, Asajj has snuck onto the ship and she jumps in to save her long-time crush. Of course, there's more than that. Not only is this episode about Maul's revenge, it's about Ventress's revenge against Savage. Realizing they're not about to beat the gruesome two-some, Asajj and Obi-Wan (who learned about escaping from Asajj, heh heh) flee in an escape pod. Well, that will fuel some interesting fan fic! Maul and Savage are left to stare off into space, vowing to return during ratings sweeps.
The only clue we've had on Maul's unlikely survival was that his hate kept him alive and I suppose he might have snuck off of Naboo on a trash ship. There's a part of me that's still screaming, "Fanservice!" But I have to say this episode made the most of having Maul back. If you think about it, this really messes things up not only for Obi-Wan and the Jedi, but the Sith as well. Sidious has moved on to a new apprentice. Maul knows Sidious's plans. Could there be not only a conflict with the Obi-Wan in the future, but with the Sith as well?
The animation was top-notch. Obi-Wan's hair gets messy during the fight and you can tell he's been hit in the eye by the way his face looks at the end of the battle. The lollipop planet was reminiscent of Felucia.
Witwer sounded more like the movie Maul this episode. His performance was really good. Nika Futterman's Ventress was fantastic and James Arnold Taylor was as funny as always while doing Obi-Wan.
But you know what was the only disappointment with last night's finale? No preview of Season Five! What's up with that?
I'll have an overview of Season Four soon.
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no subject
Date: 2012-03-17 06:10 pm (UTC)Logic issues aside, this episode was totally awesome. Maul's return is fanwank but it IS awesome fanwank.
-Definitely loved the Obi-Wan and Asajj team-up. I actually thought she was going to kiss him awake. The interaction between them continues to remain engaging and let's be honest, Asajj has more personality than Satine. I never expecte the two of them to fight together side-by-side.
-The duels were fantastic, complete with a very good score. Not to mention Obi-Wan's great wisecracks on Maul.
-Witwer does crazy Maul very well but I was surprised how he changed the way he did his voice and really sounded like TPM Maul when he was "healed." The guy does steller work no matter what he does.
-Was very surprised that Maul survived but I guess they realized they could do more with him alive. Really, Maul and Savage continuing to be at large lends an air of unpredictability to the Clone Wars which is difficult for this show to have considering we know how things turn out. But characters like Maul, Savage, Asajj, Ahsoka, and Rex provide that.
-My guess on Maul's next course of action...he goes to Sidious and demands 13 years of workman's comp. Palpatine as we seen is a bad employer. He commits age discrimination against Dooku and tries to replace Darth Vader (a man with handicaps) when a younger and healthier Jedi comes along.
Great finale to another great season...but I want a Season 5 preview, damn it! ;)
no subject
Date: 2012-03-17 08:38 pm (UTC)I'm actually surprised he didn't duel Anakin in this episode, considering all the "Vader vs. Maul" fanboy speculation that ran rampant for a while.
I'll watch the episodes eventually, I'm sure - it is a long hiatus, after all, and who knows - maybe I'll even enjoy them. I'm just in no hurry, which on its own is kind of sobering because catching the newest ep of CW as soon as possible on Saturday mornings used to be a ritual for me.
no subject
Date: 2012-03-17 10:30 pm (UTC)"I'm actually surprised he didn't duel Anakin in this episode, considering all the "Vader vs. Maul" fanboy speculation that ran rampant for a while."
Shhh, don't give them any ideas ;).
no subject
Date: 2012-03-18 08:47 pm (UTC)In some ways, I do wonder if the massacre was "gratuitous" (after all, Maul seems to have no trouble getting the Jedi Temple to pick up his transmission), but they did get away with including it. The aftermath (including the astromech droid bumping into the building over and over, something that made me think a little bit of THX 1138) might have been one of the more impressive parts of the episode.