A Game of Clones (original) (raw)

Star Wars: The Clone Wars – I’ve been watching this series on and off for a few years now, in between other things when I could find the time. It’s been so long since I watched the earlier episodes that I’m not sure I can give a good overview, but I’ll try. My viewing did include the 2008 film, although I don’t remember that much about it specifically, other than that it introduced Ahsoka Tano, one of the main players in the series and a quite interesting character, a young padawan learning the Jedi way and eventually defecting from it.

And now she has her own show. Even from the beginning, viewers would have already known that the whole war was manufactured by Palpatine in order to gain power, so certain aspects of it are a foregone conclusion. I just recently thought that, since Attack of the Clones came out in 2002, did that inspire any of the September 11th conspiracy theories, since the Clone Wars WERE an inside job? Probably not, but it does illustrate how such theories often involve real life operating more like fiction. And it’s weird seeing characters in Storm Trooper armor as the good guys (or at least the ones manipulated into evil rather than willingly participating in it).

Some of the clone troopers are significant characters themselves, particularly Rex, whom Ahsoka managed to cure from Order 66. Isn’t Rex the name of the droid in Star Tours? I guess this is the series that, from the beginning, had two unrelated characters with the last name Antilles. It strikes me as kind of weird that the clones were living beings with chips installed, in a setting where robots are common. Are they cyborgs of a sort? A lot of the episodes are about Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Ahsoka taking place in battles on various planets, but they aren’t even in every one, and other characters sometimes get their time in the spotlight. There was one that had C-3PO and R2-D2 stumbling from one planet to another and inadvertently overthrowing bad leaders, eventually ending up back where they started. They crush one and expose another as a fraud, so the Wizard of Oz comparison is pretty obvious. Was the Droids cartoon anything like that? The series delved into a few previously unexplored aspects of the series, and introduced some new ones. There’s quite a bit about Mandalore, including Obi-Wan’s feelings for the planet’s Duchess.

Darth Maul, a cool-looking character who didn’t get a lot to do, comes back and actually has lines. He’s from Dathomir, a planet known for its witches, and others of his clan become important as well. I suppose witchcraft in this galaxy would be based on the Dark Side of the Force. Apparently Maul is not his original name, but since his brother is Savage Opress, there’s no particular reason it couldn’t have been.

Cad Bane, a Western bounty hunter in space, makes his first appearance on the show.

I was also interested in Admiral Trench, the Separatist officer who resembles a spider, although I think his mandibles kind of look like walrus tusks as well.

I wonder if his tactical droid TI-99 was named after the kind of computer my family used to have. The final season, which came out after six years after the previous one, ties in its story with the plot of Revenge of the Sith. Anyway, I have a bunch more Star Wars shows to catch up on, so we’ll see what happens with that.

This entry was posted in Cartoons, Conspiracy Theories, Magic, Names, Star Wars, Technology, Television, VoVat Goes to the Movies and tagged admiral trench, ahsoka tano, anakin skywalker, attack of the clones, c-3po, cad bane, clone wars, darth maul, dathomir, duchess satine of mandalore, emperor palpatine, jedi, mandalore, obi-wan kenobi, r2-d2, robots, sith, the clone wars, witchcraft. Bookmark the permalink.