August 3, 2025 • 55 mins
Join Tom, Stephen, and William as they rewind the clock to 2004 and review Season 2 of the classic Genndy Tartakovsky series Clone Wars.
Synopsis: The Clone Wars television series chronicles the events taking place between Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones and Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. The Clone Wars will ultimately lead to the downfall of the Jedi and the rise of the Galactic Empire.
The Ion Cannon Podcast is your source for entertainment reviews from a galaxy far, far away. Ion Cannon has covered every corner of the saga since 2008, from the films and hit series like The Mandalorian, Andor, The Clone Wars, Rebels, Ahsoka, and Skeleton Crew to books, comics, games, and more. Not affiliated with Disney or Lucasfilm.
Contact Us
- Email: contact@ioncannoncast.com
- Facebook: Ion Cannon Podcast
- X (Twitter): @IonCannonCast, @MasterDevwi, @kal_skirata, @srice08
Thank you for listening and may the Force be with you.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
All Wings reported. Red 10 standing by.
Red 3 standing by. Red 6 standing by.
Goodnight standing by. You're listening to the Ion
Cannon podcast. Laugh it up, fuzzball.
Your source for entertainment reviews from a Galaxy far, far
away? This is it.
Hey, laser clickers. Welcome to the Iron Cannon
(00:25):
podcast. I'm one of your hosts Steven and
I'm joined by my friends and Co hosts Tom and William.
We are back to continue our review of Clone Wars.
Not the Clone Wars, just Clone Wars.
No, the season 2. That was the full title
officially, I'm pretty sure. Yes, yes, clone.
Wars. The I had such a fun time
(00:46):
reviewing the first season of the the old Kenny Tarkovsky
Series A couple weeks ago. We're you know, it's the summer
break right now, but we are backfor our second installment of
the the three installments. It is such a good show.
It is. It's phenomenal.
It's. So good.
It's so good. But before we get into all of
(01:07):
that, couple interesting piece of news in the time since we
recorded our last episode first and or season 2 was nominated
for a whopping 14 Emmys which isvery well deserved and exciting
to see. Outstanding drama series
cinematography, Alan Tudyk for voice over, fantasy sci-fi
(01:28):
costumes, directing Forest Whitaker for guest acting,
Brandon Roberts for the the music, the composition, the
song. We are the gore with music and
lyrics, picture editing, outstanding production design,
outstanding sound editing, outstanding sound mixing,
studying visual effects, outstanding writing.
(01:50):
It is very well deserved becauseit's a phenomenal show.
So I will see if they win 14 Emmys, but the nominations are
are pretty, pretty great to see.Well, they have.
They have to walk away with something.
I mean, probably not all 14, butthey have to walk away with
something. Yeah, I mean, if they can just
walk away with writing, I would be ecstatic.
(02:11):
I I would think writing and directing those two, that would
work for me hands down, period. Yeah, Oh, for for sure.
And yes, well deserved because it's a technical accomplishment
on so, so many levels. We also had San Diego Comic Con
in the last, last weekend, I think it was.
(02:32):
And we got some exciting news. Well, in the book front, some
exciting news. There wasn't a whole lot from
the animation or TV show standpoint, except for two
little screens from some of the I was going to say some of the
only, but really the only, the only active upcoming series in
(02:55):
the pipeline. First we got our first image,
our first still of Darth Maul inMaul Shadow Lord coming next
year. This, the animation on this
looks the the new visual style 'cause they they've, they've,
they've changed it a little bit.You know, they do it every year.
It looks so good, like it almostlooks like a, like a like
(03:19):
watercolors. I I, I don't really know how
else how else to describe it. It looks really cool.
I think for me it looks more of a feature quality than ATV
animation quality for sure. It looks really good and.
And when I first looked at it kind of up close, from far away,
it looked like more like Clone Wars style animation.
But the the closer I look at it,it's got this almost like hazy
(03:43):
watercolory quality to it aroundhis arms and his face.
It's really interesting. I I cannot wait to see how this
looks in as we're we're actuallywatching as it's moving.
I wonder if it's got some of the, I don't know, some of the
animation techniques they use for like visions and things like
(04:04):
that they brought into it just to give it.
A little bit interesting. To know, yeah, yeah, yeah, for,
for sure, for sure. And then we also got our first
look at Ezra Bridger in his new costume for Season 2.
Of course, we saw Ezra at the end of last season, but this
picture of Ezra is just. Iman Esfandi looks 100% like
(04:31):
Ezra. He looks like he just stepped
right out of Rebels. It's.
Grown up, by the way. Yeah, you can see them on
starwars.com. I I obviously you can't see, I
just dropped them in the chat asas we're talking, but you can't
see that our our our chat, but they are on starwars.com and it
is it's really good. It looks so good.
(04:52):
I'm very excited for Ahsoka season 2.
Yeah. So yes, that's exciting there.
On the on the the book front, The Mandalorian, a visual guide
for seasons one through 3 comes out in April.
There's a new Star Wars Outlaws prequel novel called Low Red
(05:13):
Moon that's gonna come out in February, all about ND 5 and
Jaylen Vrax and the underworld. And I'm excited.
You know, there was we found outwe're not getting a sequel to
Star Wars Outlaws, but you know,it was quite a fun game.
But I'm excited about this book,a little prequel novel about ND
(05:34):
5 and Jalen. And then lastly, it was
interesting. This was not covered on
starwars.com at all, but apparently they did announce
that the next two books in the Reign of the Empire series and
the first one was so good, right?
These are the the kind of tie into Andor with Mothma and Bale
(05:54):
and everything. The second and third books are
going to be called Edge of the Abyss by Rebecca Rohnhorse and
From the Ashes by Fran Wilde andthey will be now coming out in
fall 2026 and summer 2027. So I have to wait a year for
those books. But they they tie into and or I
(06:15):
believe the Edge of the Abyss. The second novel takes place a
year before season 1 of Andor. Thank you for explaining that.
Because when I I bought Reign ofEmpire and then I saw Andor and
I'm like, do I really need to read this book if I just saw
yeah, I mean, I'm sitting here watching Andor and I'm like, do
do I really need to? Yeah, no, you don't need to.
(06:38):
But it is it it the the book I really loved the the first, the
first novel, and I think the I'mvery excited about the second
and third. As well see, I think, I think
for me right now, the second andthird are going to be more, more
interesting for me because I just when I'm I would started
(06:59):
reading and I'm like this kind of like is it filling any gaps
that I am missing from? And or I thought and or did
everything fine and it just it didn't.
I got to a point where I had to put it down because I appreciate
you like it. I may now go back and try and
and go through it and read it, but it just seemed like it was.
I felt like it was almost retelling of what I just saw in
(07:20):
Andor. Yeah, that's, I mean that that's
it was I thought they told different like the, you know,
the the first installment and they're only getting spoilers
for those who haven't read it yet, but.
The first book. Please don't.
It's not going to, there's not anything ground breaking that
you didn't already see in Andor,but it adds more flavor to these
these characters and you get to see kind of how they get to
where they are in Andor. So OK.
(07:42):
Then I'm probably going to pick that up and and read it now all
the way through. Yes I do I do.
I do recommend it. I I enjoyed it.
There's also Star Wars Sanctuary, a Bad Batch novel
that does come out the end of the month as well.
I am currently reading it and we'll share thoughts once that's
out. I think it's.
(08:03):
I think it's this week it comes out 'cause I think I got it on
Amazon. It's supposed to come out this
week, I think. The 25th right?
Oh. OK, or very soon, very soon, but
yeah, it that'll be you know, I always love the bad batch and
I'll I'll share my thoughts on the book.
We'll share our thoughts on the book once it's once it's out.
(08:25):
With that, should we get into Clone Wars?
Tom, take us away. So we are reviewing the second
part of the second season of theClone Wars TV animated series
and this was a series of chronicles.
The events taking place between Star Wars episodes 2 Attack of
the clones and Star Wars episode3.
Revenge of the Sith and The Clone Wars will ultimately lead
(08:48):
to the downfall of the Jedi and the rise of the Galactic.
Empire, yes. And Tom, before we begin, I have
to correct myself. Goodreads was saying the 25th
but you were right, it's August 5th, so 2.
Days as we're. Recording this so Tuesday so you
are you are you are correct and I.
Oh should I? I should get it Tuesday then.
(09:10):
Yeah, yeah. Good.
Well, I am yeah, since you guys haven't, I don't think
everyone's finished it yet. I will.
I will hold off, but it's yes, we'll talk about it.
OK, OK, now Clone Wars, sorry. So yeah.
So this is the second-half of Volume 1, as we talked about
(09:31):
last week or not, not last week,but in the last episode.
If you're watching this on Disney Plus, Volume One, season
1 is volume. So there are two seasons on on
Disney Plus, but there's actually three seasons as far as
how they were aired. The first season on Disney Plus
is Volume 1 and covers first season 1 and Season 2.
(09:53):
The second season on Disney Plus, also known as Volume 2, is
just the official Season 3. Very confusing, but just know
that what we're going to be reviewing today is the
second-half of Volume One or thesecond-half of the first season
that you can watch on Disney Plus.
And it picks up right where we left off.
Remember at the end of season 1 or the other first half of
(10:16):
volume 1, Anakin, he's, you know, having this space battle
and all of a sudden this mysterious opponent appears in
this in this Gnotian fan blade starfighter and he's like,
something's going on with her. I have to follow and see what's
(10:37):
up. And season 2 picks up right
where that left off where they had this cliffhanger they were
flying get toward each other. What's going to happen next?
Well, we find out. And Steven, you want to start
with a kind of giving us a, a rundown of of how how the first
part of this arc begins. No, William, I'm not.
(11:03):
No, I was going to try one of myfavorite lines from that first
episode. So Anakin and Asaj Ventress are
duking it out now, first in space above mutilist and then
they fly down to the planet overthere, having a high speed chase
through the the city itself thatObi Wan has just captured.
(11:25):
And it's I mean, it's a start. It's a strong start and it kicks
off with, I think I, I don't know if I want to call it like
the dry humor of the clones. We see a lot more of that come
through, I think, later in the Clone Wars.
But there's just that sequence where Anakin is standing with it
or not, sorry, everyone is standing with his general.
It's like that was Anakin. Yes, General.
He shouldn't be doing that. No general.
(11:47):
So good. I just went back and forth for,
you know, a couple of lines before moving on to the the rest
of the chase. Yeah, that's so good.
Quite the chase. That moment is just phenomenal.
I I loved, I loved this whole this whole sequence.
Anakin massage is just peak. I I mean, actually as I was
(12:11):
watching this season, I was like, this is peak clone wars.
This is like the the quintessential Mason do episode,
the quintessential Anakin episode, the quintessential
Padme episode, whatever it is, it's just the season is so good.
It's so. It really is.
Good, I, I'm tempted to continuewith Anakin, but let's, let's
start with, let's, let's dive into Mace Windu.
(12:34):
So the next two chapters of of this.
So again, remember there we talked about this last time, but
they're these episodes are very short, two 2 1/2, maybe 3
minutes each. So they, they move pretty quick,
right. We had the, the chase through
meaningless, very cool. And then we move on to Dantowine
and the, the, the, the fight on Dantowine.
(12:56):
And this, as I was just saying aminute ago, is classic Mace
Windu action. Mace Windu against a ginormous
army of super battle droids. And he just kicks butt and and
like is. It is it?
OK, OK, so is it. Is it This whole thing was so
(13:21):
exaggerated. Oh, it's what?
Makes it, I love it. I know, I know, I know.
But just it's just the the exaggeration of he's using his
hands to literally take apart droids with bare hands.
Before we even get to that point.
Though I know, I'm sorry I jumped ahead, but no.
No, I just I love so much the sothere.
(13:43):
It's a clone versus, you know, Droid battle on the plains
immunalist and the Separatist secret weapon shows up.
And it's honestly, it might be one of my favorite like ground
combat vehicles. I guess it's not technically on
the ground, but. It it it does, it does pound the
ground. Real hard it it's a just a giant
(14:05):
piston that smashes the ground so good it is so clearly
ridiculous. And it's like a sand, like a
giant pit with a sand tsunami ofsand.
It's great. And indestructible, because here
you have the and here you have the well and indestructible and
indiscriminate. Cause here are the droids firing
up at this thing, doing absolutely no damage.
(14:25):
But here's battle droids underneath it and they don't
care. They're just squashing battle
droids. And clones.
Yeah, yeah. Yeah.
It just doesn't matter. It's so good.
I just, and, and I love the way it's framed too, right?
You have this young kid Paxy Silo, who's watching this battle
from afar and he sees this this,you know, Hero of the Republic,
Mace Windu. And I guess you could maybe
(14:48):
could argue that it's he's telling the story and maybe
that's why it's exaggerated. Although a lot of the Clone
wars, this Clone Wars micro series is exaggerated, but it's
exaggerated in a good way, right?
I think sometimes one of my critiques of like comics, for
example, is sometimes it feels like they're trying to be too
serious and also exaggerate and it the the tones just don't
(15:09):
match in this it you you can kind of tell they're doing with
like a smile to it, right? And and it's.
The nudge, nudge, wink wink. Exactly, Exactly.
Yeah. And I think that's why it works,
right? It, it's, it's over the top, but
not so over the top. It gets to just be like, you
just roll your eyes at it. It's like the perfect level of,
(15:32):
of, of action and, and I don't know, awesomeness, I guess I'll
say. Well, and and I guess I'm going
to for. For Mace as well.
Right, that's what I was going to.
Say Mace can do, could be the one, as you said, Tom, that is
going hand to hand, literally breaking apart metal with his
bare hand. Yeah.
(15:53):
Well, what else? What?
Else do. You need and, and 1st off
before, before he does that, he does do it with his lightsaber.
I mean, come on, he's sitting there.
He's sitting there with all thismassive front of battle droids
in front of his own clone troopers and just nonchalantly
is deflecting all the blaster bolts coming at him.
And I mean, he's got his, he's turned sideways, almost
(16:15):
nonchalant, one hand deflecting all these, these lightsaber, I
mean, blaster bolts. It is what I again, it's all
that I enjoy most about this episode is we see a Jedi, Mace
Windu taking down no lightsaber.He still is decimating battle
droids. He's using the Force to remove,
you know, all the individual screws.
Yeah, that was funny. That was so.
Fun, you know, but you can tell he's he's having to work for it
(16:38):
and his coat, his robes are, youknow, have been shot and are are
ragged. And then, as you said, he gets
his lightsaber in the the following episode, chapter 13,
and it's just like he's almost yawning as he perfectly blocks
all of it, jumps into the giant piston ground smashing machine,
destroys it, flies out, lands infront of the kid.
(17:01):
And then you get like the nice moment of fear.
You know, he takes the water, hedrinks water and then back into
the fray. It this episode, I think more
than any like particularly with the kid framing it is what makes
this feel to me like propaganda,like Republic propaganda, if you
will. Like these are your heroes, Jedi
who can fight weapon, no weapon,it doesn't matter.
(17:23):
Saving the populace like it's perfect.
It is. And this also makes the
argument, William, that it couldhave been from the kids point of
view because a kid would exaggerate everything that we
saw, right? Especially especially the part
where he sits here, jumps and does that full on hands right
against his chest, spinning in the air like a top, almost
(17:45):
looking like this, this pen justspinning in the air really quick
and then lands perfectly in the hero pose.
Yep. Yeah, or like running up, you
know, the crater. He just, it is Mace Windu at the
top of his game. And even to this day, what, 20 /
20 years later, 2122 years later, when I think of Mace
(18:06):
Windu, I think of this, these two episodes like that is the
first thing that comes to my mind is these, these moments.
It, it might be. Is it the best Mace Windu we've
seen by far on? Screen.
I think so by far. Yeah, I I would think so.
Currently in animated I I'm trying if there's anything that
was even close to matching it in3D Clone Wars and I I can't.
(18:29):
Think of anything. No, that's the thing.
It literally is the best. There's a lot of great Mace one
do stories, stories in the clonewars or and then, you know, in
the books or in, you know, even like this party's over, right,
Great moments from the films, but no, this is peak.
This is peak Mace one do. It doesn't get any better.
(18:50):
No, no, I, no, no 'cause I I wasthinking.
The only one that I can rememberis the episode in which he was
paired up with Jar Jar Binks, but I don't think that was even
close. It was good from a pairing
standpoint, like, oh, Jar Jar and Mace Windu are such an odd
pairing and it makes for a very entertaining storyline.
But as far as like just pure, like a pure phenomenal episode,
(19:15):
it's yeah, it's not close. Yeah, not even close.
It's this. Yeah, not even.
And then everything else, Yep, it's so good.
And then and so then the show takes a pivots a little bit
right after a brief intro, kind of continuing on what happened
at the end of last season and then makes one.
Do we then take a three episode detour to Ilum?
(19:40):
And this is the first time we'd ever seen Ilum on screen.
I'm trying to recall if we'd seen it in many video games
prior to this. I think we.
Had I think we had maybe, but like.
There's like the Clone Wars tankgame that was, I think it was
All Star Wars fun ones. I I I seem to recall going to
(20:00):
Ilum. Yeah, but it either way, this is
the first time we've seen him onscreen in a in a in a show or a
movie. And Ilum was was a huge planet
in the books, right. And so to see it in the clone in
the clone wars micro series, right, we had Munalis, which was
a a somewhat well known planet from the expanded universe at
(20:24):
the time. And then we go to Dantooine and
we go to we'll talk about more in a little bit.
Yavin 4. But Ilum is like, oh, it's Ilum.
It's, you know, the place where you're the Jedi get their
lightsaber crystals and it, it'skind of this very famous planet
and we get to see it for the first time and, and that just is
(20:46):
so cool already. And then to have it be a story
where Yoda is going to rescue these these Jedi and who we'll
talk more about in a moment, 'cause they become very
important Jedi in, in the Clone Wars.
And to have them fight the chameleon droids that can
basically blend in with their surroundings.
(21:08):
It's just a great it's. A great.
It's a great pairing. So the first piece introduces us
to Luminara Unduli and Beresafi,who at the time we'd only seen
an Attack of the Clones. Now, having seen The Clone Wars,
we know how Luminara is. And Beresafi, you know, Beresafi
(21:33):
is the one who suppose for thosewho haven't seen Clone wars,
ultimately, you know, turn to the dark side and and betrays
frames Ahsoka and eventually is somewhat redeemed in in Tales of
the Jedi or Tales of the Sith. I think the you know, that that
(21:54):
hasn't happened yet at this point.
This is just, you know, a a master and an apprentice who are
on illum training and Luminara completes Beresafi's training
again, canonically different from the Clone Wars where she's
a padawan for much longer, only for the chameleon droids who've
been secretly placing mines in the Jedi Temple to attack and
(22:18):
ultimately they are trapped under a a pile of rubble and use
the force to create a little pocket for themselves.
Tom, your thoughts on the beginning of this this arc and
and the whole duels with the chameleon droids?
The one thing I find, and I willsay this all the time is the
over exaggeration of everything to where all these chameleon
(22:41):
droids were planning all those explosives.
You would think that mountain would have been completely down
by the time those explosives youknow went off.
The other thing was to sit thereand watch a couple jet, I think
was Barrister this in which she pulled the the explosives off
the wall and threw them onto a troid itself to blow the Droid
(23:04):
up. It just it's, it was fun First
off to watch Barris and Luminar work together because there was
that section in which the two ofthem were next to each other or
just about in front of each other and their movements were
like in the opposite, but In Sync working together.
And that you could tell carried over from the clone wars because
(23:26):
you saw them do that when they were doing that battle of
geonosis. So I, I, I appreciate all that.
But again, it gets back to the over exaggeration to where
they're almost like so quick within the temple.
I think they were like in one shot.
You see them like streak out before something happened and
then just it works. I mean, everything within this
(23:49):
episode works. And and then to see them as the
ceilings coming down, where hereyou've got Barris basically with
her hand up trying to hold it and realize that her Master is
basically just meditating to hold it and she joins it, but
the crystals are still around them, which made it really cool.
Yeah. Steven, your your thoughts on
(24:11):
this whole sequence, especially as we get into?
The rescuer. It's also cool, I think, in that
we don't get a lot in like classic Star Wars.
I don't know if I want to call this classic Star Wars, but you
know what I mean? Like at this point in time
Luminara and Barris were not like super common characters.
No, they weren't. Like we got, you know what,
(24:32):
we'll end up being like an episode and a half.
I would say kind of dedicated tothem is really cool.
Yeah, it is. It is because yeah, they're
effectively UN. I don't say unknowns, I guess,
but they were. You see them in the arena.
Exactly. And that's.
You know, like Kit also wasn't aa huge character at this point
in time. Well, yeah, 'cause this was a
(24:54):
this was I guess what was the 2004.
So it's two years post EP Attackof the Clones, a little bit of
stories with these different characters we saw in the Gian
Ocean Arena, but not the depth and breadth of storytelling
we've had now. And I, I, I would argue that,
you know, Clone Wars, yeah, there was the, there were the
(25:16):
many of the many, many books andmany comics, but the Clone War,
this Clone Wars micro series really, I think took these
characters to a, a whole new level.
And, and, and so anyway, so the,the story continues.
They're they're trapped. And, and now while it's the same
storyline, we get a different perspective each, each episode
in this little arc gives a different perspective.
(25:38):
And we get to see Yoda for the first time in the show.
And good old Yoda, he he and Padme and Captain Taifo and, and
of course R2D2 and C through PO are, are in hyperspace.
And they get the, the call from Baris and and Luminara that
(26:02):
something is up. They need help.
And so, you know, very insistentYoda, he mind tricks Captain
Typho to get him to agree to take Padme to.
Definitely a questionable use ofthe force.
I would say I was. Going to say very and and the
(26:22):
little smirk on Padme's face. Yes, in animation it was there,
but that little smirk of she knew what Yoda was doing for
sure and let him basically get away with it.
She even says I will not requiremy captain's further persuasion.
I, I think, you know, this is again where it's a little over
the top because did he have to mind trick Taifo?
(26:44):
Probably not. I think he could just say, hey,
Padme, I we really need to go here.
And Padme would immediately say,Yep, let's go.
I'm going to override you, Captain Taifo.
But it's a great moment where hehe mind tricks Taifo and then,
you know, they head to Padme. Of course, classic Padme wants
(27:05):
to join and Yoda's like, Nope, you got to stay behind.
We'll see you in the next episode effectively.
And then again, we get a quintessential Yoda episode.
This is again, when I think of Yoda first, I think of Yoda.
Well, at least Yoda from Clone Wars era, right?
(27:26):
Yoda at the end of Attack of theClones, amazing.
Yoda Revenge of the Sith. Amazing.
But like when I think of animated Yoda, I think I still
might go to this Yoda first as far as like what jumps in my
mind first from an animation standpoint, as amazing as the
Clone Wars Yoda is and I. Guess I would have to agree.
(27:51):
It's not a it's not a terribly long episode, but it's Yoda
finding the chameleon droids in the snow as he makes his way
over to the temple. And it's just, again, so, so
good. It's classic Yoda.
It really does feel like it's channeling Attack of the Clones.
The end of Attack of the Clones.I think the one thing for me
(28:12):
that I completely wholeheartedlyagree with you, this is like, to
me, the quintessential Yoda is when he's running, he's
basically just holding his cane.There's no limp anymore.
He's flat out running. Yeah, I do.
I always love the shot where he's running between the droid's
legs and just swinging. Like almost.
(28:35):
Also a good example of just likethe style of the show versus,
you know, slightly less realistic, but makes for.
Great. Usual.
Yeah, it does. Yeah, and it's the episode ends
there. It's hard to go into these
intuitive details because they're only 2 1/2 minutes long,
but they are just. If you haven't seen it, well, I
(28:57):
don't know why you're listening to us at this point.
Go watch it and come back you. Can go watch it.
But it really is just just peak perfection.
And then of course, we switch over to Padme, who's been
worrying about Yoda. And in classic Padme fashion,
she's like, I am not going to stay here alone.
I'm going to go after Yoda and help him.
(29:21):
And so she she brings 3PO and R2along and they they trek through
the snow and have to fight chameleon droids.
It sounds all very similar to these three episodes, but it's
so good and they each have such a different style, right?
Yoda's flipping and bouncing around.
Padme is hiding and using 3PO asa distraction to go get her coat
(29:45):
and lure out the their attackers.
It's again is classic, classic Padme and yeah, again, I'd
probably say when I think of Padme animated Padme, I think of
this episode. It that's how much this this
series is seared into my my memory and and how I.
(30:05):
Just find it fascinating. Impact it had.
I just find it fascinating how gullible 3PO was to go get that
case. I mean, talk about gullibility.
This is Padme, yeah. Yeah, and just.
And luckily for him, the droids were just like stormtroopers.
They couldn't hit anything that they were shooting at.
(30:26):
No. Yeah.
Helps have plot armor, but. Yeah, it did.
And of course, you know, at the end of the episode, Yoda, Barris
and Luminara all walk out of thesnowstorm.
He successfully rescued them, and they realized that who gave
up this? Who could have possibly,
possibly given up this secret Jedi temple?
(30:47):
Well, maybe the former Jedi who is now leading Separatists?
Dooku himself. It's not a stretch.
You notice, like, who could havedone this?
And it's like, well, it's quite obvious.
I don't know, I guess maybe R2 got it from the one of the
chameleon droids. Well, he did.
He didn't sit there and put the probe inside.
Yeah, Yeah, he did. He did.
(31:08):
So yeah. Yeah, I mean, as cruel as it is,
you could sit there and say, could R2 have set him?
I'm just kidding. R2 would not have set up to
Count Dooku. No, it's it was count.
Dooku Yeah. Yeah.
Anyway. Yeah, OK, so then that leads us
to the final trilogy of episodesbefore we get to the climactic
(31:35):
ending of the season, which I'm very excited to get to.
But this storyline alone is quite good.
That's Anakin Anasage. Steven, are you starting to say
something? No, no, I just you, you were
calling it, you know, like not anticlimactic, but you know,
this, this final arc, I also would say ranks among the best
(31:56):
arcs of Star Wars. Television, without a doubt.
Without a doubt. Without a doubt.
Yes, yes, it is. I don't mean to dismiss it at
all. It is phenomenal.
So, Steven, you want to talk us through this this arc?
So Anakin, last we saw him about5 minutes ago, you know, in in
show running time, it's probablya.
Little maybe? Maybe like 12?
Maybe 12. He is chasing down Asaj
(32:20):
Ventress, who has landed on a planet very, very familiar to
all of us. On Yavin 4 Anakin lands, the
clones that Obi Wan had send after Anakin also land and they
begin searching through the jungle for Asajj and what
follows is. A.
(32:41):
Horror sequence, I think I wouldcall it, yeah.
I think you're right. Yes, the clones are picked off 1
by 1 using the force as Asajj really just decimates them.
And I guess I I I calling it horror implies there's like some
subtlety to it. There's a few that are like
smashed multiple times against the tree only to disappear
(33:04):
before Anakin turns and looks. It's it's so good.
I love this. Sequence, but, but you have to
sit there and I think he says a line.
After all this is happening. He goes, and I'm going to
paraphrase because I can't remember exactly, but something
doesn't feel right with all the stuff going on.
He gets his, he gets his feelingsomething here is not right.
(33:24):
And. And The funny thing is, out of
all the troopers who disappearedleft and right in the most
brutal way, the one I think thatgot it, that got it off easy,
was the one that was walking over the swamp that was
basically just tripped. That was it.
All the other ones were brutallytaken down.
Yeah, pulled into the water, slammed like like flipped up at
(33:46):
the forest and bam, bam, bam on the ground or at a tree or
whatever it was. It's or pulled into the into the
the branches high above. It's it's so good.
And, and he's still wondering what's going on.
And he gets over to, he walks over to the Republic ship, which
is I think the only time we've seen this, this that's more of a
like an old Republic, almost more like a, a consular ship
(34:10):
type of. Yeah, I was going to ask.
I think I haven't seen it again.Yeah, we haven't seen they kind
of switched over to using loud eyes after in in future
storytelling, but you know he heAnakin walks up to the Republic
ship. He sees the clone trooper there
he calls out to him and boom thethe ship explodes.
(34:31):
It takes the clone trooper with it and then Anakin starfighters
right behind and the starfighter, the blue
starfighter. And poor R4 also just.
Detonated I I do love why. This also explains why he has R4
instead of R2 at this point. Yep, just they they needed they
(34:51):
needed a red shirt Droid. To be the same.
Yeah, literally. It's a red Droid.
Literally. Yeah, exactly.
And. Yeah, thus begins the the
beginning of the duel, which is going to go over like almost all
three episodes, I believe, between Asaach and Anakin.
Yeah, Yeah. And it is phenomenal.
(35:13):
They I don't know Tarzan throughthe the the jungle.
Is that maybe the best way to describe?
It that's fair. I think it's fair and I think
it's also probably this style ofanimation which the only time
you see it, one of the best lightsaber fights you have seen
period. That's over that amount of time,
(35:33):
just unbelievably storyboard andchoreographed.
This show is just so creative inthe way they they choreograph
the battles and the way they usethe force and, and everything.
It's just it's so good. It is very different from what
you've seen anywhere else, and it just makes it one thing I.
(35:55):
Really appreciate though, particularly I think it's the
second episode where this primarily occurs is watching
Asajj use the same tricks trickson Anakin that Vader will use on
Luke. You know the, you know, she, as
she hides in the jungle, she is the one who is throwing stuff at
Anakin or dropping tree branchesunderneath him or dropping
(36:18):
branches he's reaching for. Each of what you can tell is
frustrating him as he's unable to get to grips with her and
just with it, just as it did with Luke.
It leads to anger and frustration and hate, which
will, you know, perhaps come to fruition at the at the finale of
(36:40):
this arc, they continue. Well I just, I like how right
before the fight actually started, you're the oh God the
confidence that Asajj had to where basically Anik in your
downfall is going to be my rise as a Sith.
That's right. Yeah, great line as.
Well, oh, by far. And that standoff to where
(37:01):
they're just standing at, you know, they're staring at each
other, massage at the base of the Masasi temple, kind of, you
know, below. And then Anakin is on the ground
and it begins to rain. And you just see that Anakin's
anger start to mount and the rain burning on the lightsabers.
Going back to the temple part. Going back to the temple part.
(37:23):
That reminded me of the episode of Star Wars Rebels where you
had Vader fighting Ahsoka on, where they were trying to get
that crystal with Ezra and Canaan.
Because if you watch that, some of that not, oh, sorry, it's
Darth Maul and Ahsoka, Vader showed up.
(37:43):
But some of that kind of layout reminded me of that battle with
trying to get that crystal within that whole lightsaber
fight for sure. So yeah.
Yeah, no, it's it is so good. And that that leads us into the
the the 3rd and final part of the of the trilogy where they
(38:06):
finally enter the Masasi temple.And again, I love that it's, you
know, it is a Masasi temple, butit's it's great.
They the episode descriptions really lean into that, right.
There's even a reference to likeX Arkun in it because I was
like, yeah, we haven't heard these things in forever.
I love it. But you know, they they.
Sorry, Stephen. No, I was agreeing.
(38:27):
But they go into the Masasi Temple and as they they enter
the dark hallways, you can see the the blue of Anakin's
lightsaber and the, you know, red of Ventress's lightsabers
reflecting off of them at throughout this whole sequence,
whether they're crossing lightsabers and you see the blue
on one side and the red on the other, or they're just running
(38:49):
through the dark hallways and one is always bathed in red and
the other is bathed in blue. It is beautifully, beautifully
shot and and and animated. Yep.
And it and it culminates in the moment when, you know, Assange
manages the disarm Anakin's, oh,remove his lightsaber and she
(39:09):
thinks she has him. And Anakin grabs on to her arm
as she swings for the kill with his, the metal arm, pulls the
lightsaber down now bathing him in red and then uses her
lightsaber. And now it's, you know, red
versus red as Anakin unleashes the anger within him and
(39:30):
metaphorically and figuratively,you know, drives Ventress into
the Cliff. It's so good.
Yeah. It's so good.
And you know, I think the question is like, did she?
You don't really know right now.Did she did she die or did she?
(39:53):
Who knows, right? It it's it's they, they leave it
very open-ended in this this episode.
I just love how you see the anger in Anakin too, right?
How he is. He's not good at controlling his
his emotions whatsoever. I think at the end he did sit
there and give out that promo yell when after she fell.
(40:13):
Right, exactly. And and you know, he you see the
flashes of Obi Wan and Yoda and Qui Gon.
It's just, it is so good. It's phenomenal, Yeah.
And it's, it's a very different representation of Anakin than we
got in the 3D Clone Wars, the Clone Wars.
But I I think it works so well. It really does.
(40:41):
So yeah, that's that's the end of the Ventures arc.
And then the Volume One Season 2ends with a extended episode
much longer than our usual 2 1/2three minutes.
We get a whole, I think like almost 767 minutes, 5 to 7
(41:03):
minutes sequence where they first kind of wrap up the main
storyline, right? They're public.
They've won the battle on Munalis.
It's over Obi Wan skulls Anakin for leaving and Anakin's can
return immunalist and he's defeated Asajj and Obi Wan
scolds Anakin and and and tells him, you know, you shouldn't do
(41:24):
that. And, and, and it kind of shows.
Yep. OK, that whole sequence we've
been watching throughout this, you know, first two seasons is,
is done and then Obi Wan gets a call from Master Bark on Hypori
asking for help. And we've never heard of hypori
before, right? I think this is the first time
(41:45):
we've ever heard of Hypori at the time.
And there is someone hunting them, General Grievous.
And we cut to High Pori. We see Grievous's foot and then
his arm and then his back. And you have to remember this is
again April, April 8th, 2004. This is a year before Revenge of
(42:12):
the Sith debuted with Grievous as the main villain over a year,
and it is the IT was the very first time anyone ever saw
General Grievous. We never heard him.
We never. I think I don't even know if
we'd seen Have we seen concept art of him?
(42:33):
I'm trying to remember. I don't think I feel like maybe
we. Haven't.
It's been over 20 years and I can't remember if they released
any kind of concept art of General Grievous 'cause I think
at that point, yeah, I can't remember.
It was a solid year before the movie came out.
Yeah, I don't remember if there was anything in like Star Wars
Insider or those types of things.
I want to say, no, I want to saythis was like literally the
(42:56):
first time we ever had a, a, a, a, you know, got to see the, the
main villain in the upcoming Star Wars movie.
And they told us that, right? They were like, hey, this is
this is going to be Grievous's introduction.
Whether or not he was technically unveiled before
that. I'm, I'm pretty sure he wasn't.
If it's possible, he was like, this was a big, big deal and the
(43:19):
way they do this episode is justagain, so good.
You get, you really get the sense of how dangerous Grievous
is. I'd argue he's even more far
more menacing in this episode than he even is in in the movie
itself in Revenge of the Sith. This is my favorite
(43:39):
representation of Grievous. Without without a doubt.
Yes. Every time I watch, I watch this
Grievous, I get kind of sad withwhat we ended up getting.
No, it, it, I think the, the waythat they presented it to make
him feel menacing is when all the Jedi's basically retreated
into that ship, the fallen ship.And all of a sudden you heard
(44:01):
just basically the Droid army, Droid army Droid army and you
just had no idea where the soundwas coming from.
And then it went dead silent andit took one padawan who looked
like Shaggy to go nuts and go running out screaming and just
get flattened. I mean, his name was Shaggy.
(44:24):
Yeah. So yeah, he looks exactly like
Shaggy from scooby-doo, but his name was Shaggy.
Well, I. I do have to say one other thing
I want to back up a bit that thehologram of the Jedi Master that
got a hold of Obi Wan saying, hey, but we're in trouble.
He was the most generic design of a Jedi Master I have ever
seen. Because I've sat here and
(44:45):
watched it this last time and I'm looking at it going, it's
just a guy in a robe. That's all it looks like.
He gives me like, I don't know, Disney father vibes like classic
animated 2D. Disney.
Pinocchio's father, I don't. What's his name?
Geppetto. Geppetto, Yeah, but it really
does. But it's just, it's just the,
(45:10):
the clink, clink of Grievous outside this crash cruiser, the,
you know, Chiati Mundi trying toget everyone to stay steady.
And then Grievous shows up and just flattens Shaggy.
Like what? What a sequence.
(45:35):
It's so good. It is so good.
Yeah. There is nothing better.
And there is this. The Jedi in this group is like a
who's who of of many of the famous Jedi.
You've got Keanamundi, Shakti, Ayla, Sakura and some other ones
(45:55):
who are like we know from the comic Kakrook, right?
Tarsir document Barrack and of course Shah guy document barrack
and Shah guy are they're they'rethey're fodder, let's just say.
But yeah, poor, poor Shah guy and man, the way he just goes
out just gets crushed is so good.
(46:19):
But no Grievous is he's terrifying, right?
He he's throwing these Jedi around, even the name Jedi who
we know super well, and it's like did Alice security gets
thrown into the into a wall? Does she survive?
Who knows at this point. Shakti right seemingly gets
injured, but you don't really know.
There's even Katamundi is like acliffhanger.
(46:43):
Does he survive? Does he not?
It is truly terrifying the way Grievous is.
The way Grievous even just movesis so, so move in like, yeah,
almost martial arts like, you know, very fluid.
Which again, is like the opposite of how he's portrayed
in episode 3 where he's much more of like a tank.
(47:03):
He doesn't move. He just stationary swings with a
bunch of arms. This version where he's it's
almost like art watching him work through and it's just
watching him slowly unveil each bag of tricks as you see him
work through the Jedi where he spins, he, you know, at one
point grabs other lightsabers, grabs people by the head with
(47:27):
his feet. You know, it is just beautiful
destruction. Yeah, and and it is.
I agree with you, Steven. This is the one thing I would
love to have seen Grievous carryover into the actual live action
film. And I don't know how you do like
without I mean, well, Grievous Iguess was fully animated at the
time, but just how how to do this in a way that looked
(47:47):
realistic I I have to imagine would have been difficult would.
Have been difficult, but at least give it give him a little
bit more of a menace to him because this this grievous that
we got was scary and made it made him basically oh God, what
am I trying to? Think you understand why the
(48:08):
Jedi killer is term? Do you understand why the in
episode 3 everyone is scared about Obi Wan going after
Grievous and trying to end this?It is very, very clear who who
this person is. And it I, you know, the the
first season or sorry, the firsttwo seasons technically are what
(48:29):
like and what do we say the total runtime is between the
two. Only about an hour and 5 minutes
I think. Something like that.
It it is worth it to watch only for this last sequence like this
last sequence might be perfect Star Wars.
Agreed. Spoilers for reviews coming down
(48:52):
the line, but like, it is so good and it, yeah, just a plus.
Yeah. I couldn't agree more.
And, you know, you really don't know where what happens next,
right? Is yeah, the money going to die.
Grievous is he's attacking. It's it's a great way to set up
again. It's the first time you've ever
seen Grievous. And you just have this
(49:13):
phenomenal intro of this character.
And, you know, it ends with, youknow, Yoda saying darker, the
coming storm grows. I fear the dark shroud of the
Sith clouds us all. And that's that's it.
That's that's where it ends. And we have to wait a year, a
year for season 3, which is alsoso good, but it's, it's a
(49:39):
different style. It we'll, we'll talk about it
more in a couple weeks, but it's, it's only 5 episodes long
and the each episode is much longer around 12 minutes instead
of 3 to 4. But it's it's really good and
and season 3 will lead into Revenge of the Sith in a big,
big way. But for now, this is just peak
(50:03):
some peak Star Wars. I I I love the clone wars don't
get me wrong, but the clone warsmicro series specifically this
season is like some of the best.Yeah, without it out.
Agreed. Well.
With that, should we get into our review, Steven, you, you
already gave some some hints about where you're leaning, so
(50:24):
you want. To I can go first.
I'll I'm going to give this season A10 out of. 10 like I had
to be. Like sorry, I the only arc here
I don't really care for, and it's not even like it's a bad
arc, it's just the LM arc. It's fine.
Like the LMR gets like a 7 out of 10 or whatever, but Asajj
versus Anakin, Mace Windu, Grievous, you know, of the 30
(50:48):
minutes of runtime in the season, 25 of them are just
perfect television and perfect Star Wars. 10 out of 10.
All 10 of my womp rats are just watching the Grievous fight from
the rafters of the the downed acclimator ship.
And they're just watching and clapping because, you know,
they're, they're very excited about how things have gone
today. I love it.
(51:11):
I love it. Tom, you want to go next or?
I'm going to go next, so I'm going to, I'm going to mirror
what Steven said. I'm going to give it a 10 out of
10. I do agree.
I think for me, the weakest episode was a little mark, but I
think the the weakest arc, the weakest episode I think was the
one with Padme and three PO. That whole little comedic thing
(51:34):
that was like probably, but not by much.
I mean, I'm not going to sit there and knock my score down
for that because this was brilliant television the way it
was for The Clone Wars. So it's 10 out of 10.
And I hate to say I'm going to also mirror Steven on this, but
my wombats are going to be sitting there taking bets on
which ones are going to live andwhich ones are going to survive
when it comes to the Jedi or down below.
(51:55):
They're going to sit there with the popcorn, but they're going
to be placing their bets, Yeah. Well, I think as they say in the
Clone Wars, then it is decided because I'm going to have to go
with the same thing. It's this is 10 out of 10 for
me. Clear 10 out of 10.
I even, I love the Lamarck too. I love every single arc.
(52:17):
I'm hard pressed to pick which one's my favorite, especially,
you know, episodes, individual episodes are, you know, a little
harder to rate, but it's just look at the season overall or
the the set of arcs they they give us in the season.
So good. It it, it is just peak Star
Wars. Like I said multiple times,
there are so many, almost every single character who shows up in
(52:40):
this. When I, when I think of their
best moments, I think of momentsfrom this micro, this this micro
series and specifically this season.
Yeah, whether it's Grievous or or or Mason do or Yoda or Padme
or whomever, right. It, it is this Anakin, right?
(53:01):
Or Asajj. I guess the Asajj one, the
probably the one that sticks outthe most to me is her, her intro
in in the arena from last season.
But like, it's so good. So let me give it 10 whopper
outs out of 10 and my 10 womp rats, you know, they're, they're
using those, those invisible Shields from the, the chameleon
(53:22):
droids used. And so you never know how many
womp rats there are. There are 10 of them.
Who knows? Good one, but.
You gotta be extra careful 'cause sometimes they'll grab
one of those seismic tanks and then you're really in trouble.
Yeah, they could sneak up on youif you're not looking.
(53:42):
Oh yeah. Well, I think that about wraps
up our review this week. We will come back in a couple
weeks with our review of the finale Season 3.
It's so good, it's continues, it's amazing, amazing trend.
(54:05):
But for now, I think that'll wrap it up.
Thank you for all for listening.We're excited.
There's a lot coming up after, of course, our season 3 review.
We've got Lego Star Wars coming up, we've got Star Wars Visions.
There is a lot of great Star Wars content coming, some some
some good books coming up. So stay tuned for that's a great
time to be a Star Wars fan. As always, thank you all for
(54:27):
listening and may the Force be with you.
Thank you for listening to the Ion Cannon Podcast, your source
for entertainment reviews from aGalaxy far, far away.
For over a decade, Ion Cannon has covered every corner of the
saga, from the films and animated series like The Clone
Wars and Rebels to books, comics, games, and more.
If you like what you hear, please rate US in your favorite
(54:48):
podcast client. Your review will help this show
grow within the Star Wars community.
We can be found at our website, ioncannoncast.com and you can
follow us through Facebook and Twitter.
To e-mail us, you can do so at contact@ioncannoncast.com.
The Ion Cannon Podcast is not associated with Lucasfilm, The
Walt Disney Company, or any and all of their respective
(55:09):
trademarks or copyright holders.Any opinion expressed on the
show are that of the hosts. This podcast is a production by
fans, for fans and its copyright2018.
All Wings reported. Red 10 standing by.
Red 3 standing by. Red 6 standing by.
Goodnight standing by. You're listening to the Ion
Cannon podcast. Laugh it up, fuzzball.
Your source for entertainment reviews from a Galaxy far, far
away? This is it.
Hey, laser clickers. Welcome to the Iron Cannon
(00:25):
podcast. I'm one of your hosts Steven and
I'm joined by my friends and Co hosts Tom and William.
We are back to continue our review of Clone Wars.
Not the Clone Wars, just Clone Wars.
No, the season 2. That was the full title
officially, I'm pretty sure. Yes, yes, clone.
Wars. The I had such a fun time
(00:46):
reviewing the first season of the the old Kenny Tarkovsky
Series A couple weeks ago. We're you know, it's the summer
break right now, but we are backfor our second installment of
the the three installments. It is such a good show.
It is. It's phenomenal.
It's. So good.
It's so good. But before we get into all of
(01:07):
that, couple interesting piece of news in the time since we
recorded our last episode first and or season 2 was nominated
for a whopping 14 Emmys which isvery well deserved and exciting
to see. Outstanding drama series
cinematography, Alan Tudyk for voice over, fantasy sci-fi
(01:28):
costumes, directing Forest Whitaker for guest acting,
Brandon Roberts for the the music, the composition, the
song. We are the gore with music and
lyrics, picture editing, outstanding production design,
outstanding sound editing, outstanding sound mixing,
studying visual effects, outstanding writing.
(01:50):
It is very well deserved becauseit's a phenomenal show.
So I will see if they win 14 Emmys, but the nominations are
are pretty, pretty great to see.Well, they have.
They have to walk away with something.
I mean, probably not all 14, butthey have to walk away with
something. Yeah, I mean, if they can just
walk away with writing, I would be ecstatic.
(02:11):
I I would think writing and directing those two, that would
work for me hands down, period. Yeah, Oh, for for sure.
And yes, well deserved because it's a technical accomplishment
on so, so many levels. We also had San Diego Comic Con
in the last, last weekend, I think it was.
(02:32):
And we got some exciting news. Well, in the book front, some
exciting news. There wasn't a whole lot from
the animation or TV show standpoint, except for two
little screens from some of the I was going to say some of the
only, but really the only, the only active upcoming series in
(02:55):
the pipeline. First we got our first image,
our first still of Darth Maul inMaul Shadow Lord coming next
year. This, the animation on this
looks the the new visual style 'cause they they've, they've,
they've changed it a little bit.You know, they do it every year.
It looks so good, like it almostlooks like a, like a like
(03:19):
watercolors. I I, I don't really know how
else how else to describe it. It looks really cool.
I think for me it looks more of a feature quality than ATV
animation quality for sure. It looks really good and.
And when I first looked at it kind of up close, from far away,
it looked like more like Clone Wars style animation.
But the the closer I look at it,it's got this almost like hazy
(03:43):
watercolory quality to it aroundhis arms and his face.
It's really interesting. I I cannot wait to see how this
looks in as we're we're actuallywatching as it's moving.
I wonder if it's got some of the, I don't know, some of the
animation techniques they use for like visions and things like
(04:04):
that they brought into it just to give it.
A little bit interesting. To know, yeah, yeah, yeah, for,
for sure, for sure. And then we also got our first
look at Ezra Bridger in his new costume for Season 2.
Of course, we saw Ezra at the end of last season, but this
picture of Ezra is just. Iman Esfandi looks 100% like
(04:31):
Ezra. He looks like he just stepped
right out of Rebels. It's.
Grown up, by the way. Yeah, you can see them on
starwars.com. I I obviously you can't see, I
just dropped them in the chat asas we're talking, but you can't
see that our our our chat, but they are on starwars.com and it
is it's really good. It looks so good.
(04:52):
I'm very excited for Ahsoka season 2.
Yeah. So yes, that's exciting there.
On the on the the book front, The Mandalorian, a visual guide
for seasons one through 3 comes out in April.
There's a new Star Wars Outlaws prequel novel called Low Red
(05:13):
Moon that's gonna come out in February, all about ND 5 and
Jaylen Vrax and the underworld. And I'm excited.
You know, there was we found outwe're not getting a sequel to
Star Wars Outlaws, but you know,it was quite a fun game.
But I'm excited about this book,a little prequel novel about ND
(05:34):
5 and Jalen. And then lastly, it was
interesting. This was not covered on
starwars.com at all, but apparently they did announce
that the next two books in the Reign of the Empire series and
the first one was so good, right?
These are the the kind of tie into Andor with Mothma and Bale
(05:54):
and everything. The second and third books are
going to be called Edge of the Abyss by Rebecca Rohnhorse and
From the Ashes by Fran Wilde andthey will be now coming out in
fall 2026 and summer 2027. So I have to wait a year for
those books. But they they tie into and or I
(06:15):
believe the Edge of the Abyss. The second novel takes place a
year before season 1 of Andor. Thank you for explaining that.
Because when I I bought Reign ofEmpire and then I saw Andor and
I'm like, do I really need to read this book if I just saw
yeah, I mean, I'm sitting here watching Andor and I'm like, do
do I really need to? Yeah, no, you don't need to.
(06:38):
But it is it it the the book I really loved the the first, the
first novel, and I think the I'mvery excited about the second
and third. As well see, I think, I think
for me right now, the second andthird are going to be more, more
interesting for me because I just when I'm I would started
(06:59):
reading and I'm like this kind of like is it filling any gaps
that I am missing from? And or I thought and or did
everything fine and it just it didn't.
I got to a point where I had to put it down because I appreciate
you like it. I may now go back and try and
and go through it and read it, but it just seemed like it was.
I felt like it was almost retelling of what I just saw in
(07:20):
Andor. Yeah, that's, I mean that that's
it was I thought they told different like the, you know,
the the first installment and they're only getting spoilers
for those who haven't read it yet, but.
The first book. Please don't.
It's not going to, there's not anything ground breaking that
you didn't already see in Andor,but it adds more flavor to these
these characters and you get to see kind of how they get to
where they are in Andor. So OK.
(07:42):
Then I'm probably going to pick that up and and read it now all
the way through. Yes I do I do.
I do recommend it. I I enjoyed it.
There's also Star Wars Sanctuary, a Bad Batch novel
that does come out the end of the month as well.
I am currently reading it and we'll share thoughts once that's
out. I think it's.
(08:03):
I think it's this week it comes out 'cause I think I got it on
Amazon. It's supposed to come out this
week, I think. The 25th right?
Oh. OK, or very soon, very soon, but
yeah, it that'll be you know, I always love the bad batch and
I'll I'll share my thoughts on the book.
We'll share our thoughts on the book once it's once it's out.
(08:25):
With that, should we get into Clone Wars?
Tom, take us away. So we are reviewing the second
part of the second season of theClone Wars TV animated series
and this was a series of chronicles.
The events taking place between Star Wars episodes 2 Attack of
the clones and Star Wars episode3.
Revenge of the Sith and The Clone Wars will ultimately lead
(08:48):
to the downfall of the Jedi and the rise of the Galactic.
Empire, yes. And Tom, before we begin, I have
to correct myself. Goodreads was saying the 25th
but you were right, it's August 5th, so 2.
Days as we're. Recording this so Tuesday so you
are you are you are correct and I.
Oh should I? I should get it Tuesday then.
(09:10):
Yeah, yeah. Good.
Well, I am yeah, since you guys haven't, I don't think
everyone's finished it yet. I will.
I will hold off, but it's yes, we'll talk about it.
OK, OK, now Clone Wars, sorry. So yeah.
So this is the second-half of Volume 1, as we talked about
(09:31):
last week or not, not last week,but in the last episode.
If you're watching this on Disney Plus, Volume One, season
1 is volume. So there are two seasons on on
Disney Plus, but there's actually three seasons as far as
how they were aired. The first season on Disney Plus
is Volume 1 and covers first season 1 and Season 2.
(09:53):
The second season on Disney Plus, also known as Volume 2, is
just the official Season 3. Very confusing, but just know
that what we're going to be reviewing today is the
second-half of Volume One or thesecond-half of the first season
that you can watch on Disney Plus.
And it picks up right where we left off.
Remember at the end of season 1 or the other first half of
(10:16):
volume 1, Anakin, he's, you know, having this space battle
and all of a sudden this mysterious opponent appears in
this in this Gnotian fan blade starfighter and he's like,
something's going on with her. I have to follow and see what's
(10:37):
up. And season 2 picks up right
where that left off where they had this cliffhanger they were
flying get toward each other. What's going to happen next?
Well, we find out. And Steven, you want to start
with a kind of giving us a, a rundown of of how how the first
part of this arc begins. No, William, I'm not.
(11:03):
No, I was going to try one of myfavorite lines from that first
episode. So Anakin and Asaj Ventress are
duking it out now, first in space above mutilist and then
they fly down to the planet overthere, having a high speed chase
through the the city itself thatObi Wan has just captured.
(11:25):
And it's I mean, it's a start. It's a strong start and it kicks
off with, I think I, I don't know if I want to call it like
the dry humor of the clones. We see a lot more of that come
through, I think, later in the Clone Wars.
But there's just that sequence where Anakin is standing with it
or not, sorry, everyone is standing with his general.
It's like that was Anakin. Yes, General.
He shouldn't be doing that. No general.
(11:47):
So good. I just went back and forth for,
you know, a couple of lines before moving on to the the rest
of the chase. Yeah, that's so good.
Quite the chase. That moment is just phenomenal.
I I loved, I loved this whole this whole sequence.
Anakin massage is just peak. I I mean, actually as I was
(12:11):
watching this season, I was like, this is peak clone wars.
This is like the the quintessential Mason do episode,
the quintessential Anakin episode, the quintessential
Padme episode, whatever it is, it's just the season is so good.
It's so. It really is.
Good, I, I'm tempted to continuewith Anakin, but let's, let's
start with, let's, let's dive into Mace Windu.
(12:34):
So the next two chapters of of this.
So again, remember there we talked about this last time, but
they're these episodes are very short, two 2 1/2, maybe 3
minutes each. So they, they move pretty quick,
right. We had the, the chase through
meaningless, very cool. And then we move on to Dantowine
and the, the, the, the fight on Dantowine.
(12:56):
And this, as I was just saying aminute ago, is classic Mace
Windu action. Mace Windu against a ginormous
army of super battle droids. And he just kicks butt and and
like is. It is it?
OK, OK, so is it. Is it This whole thing was so
(13:21):
exaggerated. Oh, it's what?
Makes it, I love it. I know, I know, I know.
But just it's just the the exaggeration of he's using his
hands to literally take apart droids with bare hands.
Before we even get to that point.
Though I know, I'm sorry I jumped ahead, but no.
No, I just I love so much the sothere.
(13:43):
It's a clone versus, you know, Droid battle on the plains
immunalist and the Separatist secret weapon shows up.
And it's honestly, it might be one of my favorite like ground
combat vehicles. I guess it's not technically on
the ground, but. It it it does, it does pound the
ground. Real hard it it's a just a giant
(14:05):
piston that smashes the ground so good it is so clearly
ridiculous. And it's like a sand, like a
giant pit with a sand tsunami ofsand.
It's great. And indestructible, because here
you have the and here you have the well and indestructible and
indiscriminate. Cause here are the droids firing
up at this thing, doing absolutely no damage.
(14:25):
But here's battle droids underneath it and they don't
care. They're just squashing battle
droids. And clones.
Yeah, yeah. Yeah.
It just doesn't matter. It's so good.
I just, and, and I love the way it's framed too, right?
You have this young kid Paxy Silo, who's watching this battle
from afar and he sees this this,you know, Hero of the Republic,
Mace Windu. And I guess you could maybe
(14:48):
could argue that it's he's telling the story and maybe
that's why it's exaggerated. Although a lot of the Clone
wars, this Clone Wars micro series is exaggerated, but it's
exaggerated in a good way, right?
I think sometimes one of my critiques of like comics, for
example, is sometimes it feels like they're trying to be too
serious and also exaggerate and it the the tones just don't
(15:09):
match in this it you you can kind of tell they're doing with
like a smile to it, right? And and it's.
The nudge, nudge, wink wink. Exactly, Exactly.
Yeah. And I think that's why it works,
right? It, it's, it's over the top, but
not so over the top. It gets to just be like, you
just roll your eyes at it. It's like the perfect level of,
(15:32):
of, of action and, and I don't know, awesomeness, I guess I'll
say. Well, and and I guess I'm going
to for. For Mace as well.
Right, that's what I was going to.
Say Mace can do, could be the one, as you said, Tom, that is
going hand to hand, literally breaking apart metal with his
bare hand. Yeah.
(15:53):
Well, what else? What?
Else do. You need and, and 1st off
before, before he does that, he does do it with his lightsaber.
I mean, come on, he's sitting there.
He's sitting there with all thismassive front of battle droids
in front of his own clone troopers and just nonchalantly
is deflecting all the blaster bolts coming at him.
And I mean, he's got his, he's turned sideways, almost
(16:15):
nonchalant, one hand deflecting all these, these lightsaber, I
mean, blaster bolts. It is what I again, it's all
that I enjoy most about this episode is we see a Jedi, Mace
Windu taking down no lightsaber.He still is decimating battle
droids. He's using the Force to remove,
you know, all the individual screws.
Yeah, that was funny. That was so.
Fun, you know, but you can tell he's he's having to work for it
(16:38):
and his coat, his robes are, youknow, have been shot and are are
ragged. And then, as you said, he gets
his lightsaber in the the following episode, chapter 13,
and it's just like he's almost yawning as he perfectly blocks
all of it, jumps into the giant piston ground smashing machine,
destroys it, flies out, lands infront of the kid.
(17:01):
And then you get like the nice moment of fear.
You know, he takes the water, hedrinks water and then back into
the fray. It this episode, I think more
than any like particularly with the kid framing it is what makes
this feel to me like propaganda,like Republic propaganda, if you
will. Like these are your heroes, Jedi
who can fight weapon, no weapon,it doesn't matter.
(17:23):
Saving the populace like it's perfect.
It is. And this also makes the
argument, William, that it couldhave been from the kids point of
view because a kid would exaggerate everything that we
saw, right? Especially especially the part
where he sits here, jumps and does that full on hands right
against his chest, spinning in the air like a top, almost
(17:45):
looking like this, this pen justspinning in the air really quick
and then lands perfectly in the hero pose.
Yep. Yeah, or like running up, you
know, the crater. He just, it is Mace Windu at the
top of his game. And even to this day, what, 20 /
20 years later, 2122 years later, when I think of Mace
(18:06):
Windu, I think of this, these two episodes like that is the
first thing that comes to my mind is these, these moments.
It, it might be. Is it the best Mace Windu we've
seen by far on? Screen.
I think so by far. Yeah, I I would think so.
Currently in animated I I'm trying if there's anything that
was even close to matching it in3D Clone Wars and I I can't.
(18:29):
Think of anything. No, that's the thing.
It literally is the best. There's a lot of great Mace one
do stories, stories in the clonewars or and then, you know, in
the books or in, you know, even like this party's over, right,
Great moments from the films, but no, this is peak.
This is peak Mace one do. It doesn't get any better.
(18:50):
No, no, I, no, no 'cause I I wasthinking.
The only one that I can rememberis the episode in which he was
paired up with Jar Jar Binks, but I don't think that was even
close. It was good from a pairing
standpoint, like, oh, Jar Jar and Mace Windu are such an odd
pairing and it makes for a very entertaining storyline.
But as far as like just pure, like a pure phenomenal episode,
(19:15):
it's yeah, it's not close. Yeah, not even close.
It's this. Yeah, not even.
And then everything else, Yep, it's so good.
And then and so then the show takes a pivots a little bit
right after a brief intro, kind of continuing on what happened
at the end of last season and then makes one.
Do we then take a three episode detour to Ilum?
(19:40):
And this is the first time we'd ever seen Ilum on screen.
I'm trying to recall if we'd seen it in many video games
prior to this. I think we.
Had I think we had maybe, but like.
There's like the Clone Wars tankgame that was, I think it was
All Star Wars fun ones. I I I seem to recall going to
(20:00):
Ilum. Yeah, but it either way, this is
the first time we've seen him onscreen in a in a in a show or a
movie. And Ilum was was a huge planet
in the books, right. And so to see it in the clone in
the clone wars micro series, right, we had Munalis, which was
a a somewhat well known planet from the expanded universe at
(20:24):
the time. And then we go to Dantooine and
we go to we'll talk about more in a little bit.
Yavin 4. But Ilum is like, oh, it's Ilum.
It's, you know, the place where you're the Jedi get their
lightsaber crystals and it, it'skind of this very famous planet
and we get to see it for the first time and, and that just is
(20:46):
so cool already. And then to have it be a story
where Yoda is going to rescue these these Jedi and who we'll
talk more about in a moment, 'cause they become very
important Jedi in, in the Clone Wars.
And to have them fight the chameleon droids that can
basically blend in with their surroundings.
(21:08):
It's just a great it's. A great.
It's a great pairing. So the first piece introduces us
to Luminara Unduli and Beresafi,who at the time we'd only seen
an Attack of the Clones. Now, having seen The Clone Wars,
we know how Luminara is. And Beresafi, you know, Beresafi
(21:33):
is the one who suppose for thosewho haven't seen Clone wars,
ultimately, you know, turn to the dark side and and betrays
frames Ahsoka and eventually is somewhat redeemed in in Tales of
the Jedi or Tales of the Sith. I think the you know, that that
(21:54):
hasn't happened yet at this point.
This is just, you know, a a master and an apprentice who are
on illum training and Luminara completes Beresafi's training
again, canonically different from the Clone Wars where she's
a padawan for much longer, only for the chameleon droids who've
been secretly placing mines in the Jedi Temple to attack and
(22:18):
ultimately they are trapped under a a pile of rubble and use
the force to create a little pocket for themselves.
Tom, your thoughts on the beginning of this this arc and
and the whole duels with the chameleon droids?
The one thing I find, and I willsay this all the time is the
over exaggeration of everything to where all these chameleon
(22:41):
droids were planning all those explosives.
You would think that mountain would have been completely down
by the time those explosives youknow went off.
The other thing was to sit thereand watch a couple jet, I think
was Barrister this in which she pulled the the explosives off
the wall and threw them onto a troid itself to blow the Droid
(23:04):
up. It just it's, it was fun First
off to watch Barris and Luminar work together because there was
that section in which the two ofthem were next to each other or
just about in front of each other and their movements were
like in the opposite, but In Sync working together.
And that you could tell carried over from the clone wars because
(23:26):
you saw them do that when they were doing that battle of
geonosis. So I, I, I appreciate all that.
But again, it gets back to the over exaggeration to where
they're almost like so quick within the temple.
I think they were like in one shot.
You see them like streak out before something happened and
then just it works. I mean, everything within this
(23:49):
episode works. And and then to see them as the
ceilings coming down, where hereyou've got Barris basically with
her hand up trying to hold it and realize that her Master is
basically just meditating to hold it and she joins it, but
the crystals are still around them, which made it really cool.
Yeah. Steven, your your thoughts on
(24:11):
this whole sequence, especially as we get into?
The rescuer. It's also cool, I think, in that
we don't get a lot in like classic Star Wars.
I don't know if I want to call this classic Star Wars, but you
know what I mean? Like at this point in time
Luminara and Barris were not like super common characters.
No, they weren't. Like we got, you know what,
(24:32):
we'll end up being like an episode and a half.
I would say kind of dedicated tothem is really cool.
Yeah, it is. It is because yeah, they're
effectively UN. I don't say unknowns, I guess,
but they were. You see them in the arena.
Exactly. And that's.
You know, like Kit also wasn't aa huge character at this point
in time. Well, yeah, 'cause this was a
(24:54):
this was I guess what was the 2004.
So it's two years post EP Attackof the Clones, a little bit of
stories with these different characters we saw in the Gian
Ocean Arena, but not the depth and breadth of storytelling
we've had now. And I, I, I would argue that,
you know, Clone Wars, yeah, there was the, there were the
(25:16):
many of the many, many books andmany comics, but the Clone War,
this Clone Wars micro series really, I think took these
characters to a, a whole new level.
And, and, and so anyway, so the,the story continues.
They're they're trapped. And, and now while it's the same
storyline, we get a different perspective each, each episode
in this little arc gives a different perspective.
(25:38):
And we get to see Yoda for the first time in the show.
And good old Yoda, he he and Padme and Captain Taifo and, and
of course R2D2 and C through PO are, are in hyperspace.
And they get the, the call from Baris and and Luminara that
(26:02):
something is up. They need help.
And so, you know, very insistentYoda, he mind tricks Captain
Typho to get him to agree to take Padme to.
Definitely a questionable use ofthe force.
I would say I was. Going to say very and and the
(26:22):
little smirk on Padme's face. Yes, in animation it was there,
but that little smirk of she knew what Yoda was doing for
sure and let him basically get away with it.
She even says I will not requiremy captain's further persuasion.
I, I think, you know, this is again where it's a little over
the top because did he have to mind trick Taifo?
(26:44):
Probably not. I think he could just say, hey,
Padme, I we really need to go here.
And Padme would immediately say,Yep, let's go.
I'm going to override you, Captain Taifo.
But it's a great moment where hehe mind tricks Taifo and then,
you know, they head to Padme. Of course, classic Padme wants
(27:05):
to join and Yoda's like, Nope, you got to stay behind.
We'll see you in the next episode effectively.
And then again, we get a quintessential Yoda episode.
This is again, when I think of Yoda first, I think of Yoda.
Well, at least Yoda from Clone Wars era, right?
(27:26):
Yoda at the end of Attack of theClones, amazing.
Yoda Revenge of the Sith. Amazing.
But like when I think of animated Yoda, I think I still
might go to this Yoda first as far as like what jumps in my
mind first from an animation standpoint, as amazing as the
Clone Wars Yoda is and I. Guess I would have to agree.
(27:51):
It's not a it's not a terribly long episode, but it's Yoda
finding the chameleon droids in the snow as he makes his way
over to the temple. And it's just, again, so, so
good. It's classic Yoda.
It really does feel like it's channeling Attack of the Clones.
The end of Attack of the Clones.I think the one thing for me
(28:12):
that I completely wholeheartedlyagree with you, this is like, to
me, the quintessential Yoda is when he's running, he's
basically just holding his cane.There's no limp anymore.
He's flat out running. Yeah, I do.
I always love the shot where he's running between the droid's
legs and just swinging. Like almost.
(28:35):
Also a good example of just likethe style of the show versus,
you know, slightly less realistic, but makes for.
Great. Usual.
Yeah, it does. Yeah, and it's the episode ends
there. It's hard to go into these
intuitive details because they're only 2 1/2 minutes long,
but they are just. If you haven't seen it, well, I
(28:57):
don't know why you're listening to us at this point.
Go watch it and come back you. Can go watch it.
But it really is just just peak perfection.
And then of course, we switch over to Padme, who's been
worrying about Yoda. And in classic Padme fashion,
she's like, I am not going to stay here alone.
I'm going to go after Yoda and help him.
(29:21):
And so she she brings 3PO and R2along and they they trek through
the snow and have to fight chameleon droids.
It sounds all very similar to these three episodes, but it's
so good and they each have such a different style, right?
Yoda's flipping and bouncing around.
Padme is hiding and using 3PO asa distraction to go get her coat
(29:45):
and lure out the their attackers.
It's again is classic, classic Padme and yeah, again, I'd
probably say when I think of Padme animated Padme, I think of
this episode. It that's how much this this
series is seared into my my memory and and how I.
(30:05):
Just find it fascinating. Impact it had.
I just find it fascinating how gullible 3PO was to go get that
case. I mean, talk about gullibility.
This is Padme, yeah. Yeah, and just.
And luckily for him, the droids were just like stormtroopers.
They couldn't hit anything that they were shooting at.
(30:26):
No. Yeah.
Helps have plot armor, but. Yeah, it did.
And of course, you know, at the end of the episode, Yoda, Barris
and Luminara all walk out of thesnowstorm.
He successfully rescued them, and they realized that who gave
up this? Who could have possibly,
possibly given up this secret Jedi temple?
(30:47):
Well, maybe the former Jedi who is now leading Separatists?
Dooku himself. It's not a stretch.
You notice, like, who could havedone this?
And it's like, well, it's quite obvious.
I don't know, I guess maybe R2 got it from the one of the
chameleon droids. Well, he did.
He didn't sit there and put the probe inside.
Yeah, Yeah, he did. He did.
(31:08):
So yeah. Yeah, I mean, as cruel as it is,
you could sit there and say, could R2 have set him?
I'm just kidding. R2 would not have set up to
Count Dooku. No, it's it was count.
Dooku Yeah. Yeah.
Anyway. Yeah, OK, so then that leads us
to the final trilogy of episodesbefore we get to the climactic
(31:35):
ending of the season, which I'm very excited to get to.
But this storyline alone is quite good.
That's Anakin Anasage. Steven, are you starting to say
something? No, no, I just you, you were
calling it, you know, like not anticlimactic, but you know,
this, this final arc, I also would say ranks among the best
(31:56):
arcs of Star Wars. Television, without a doubt.
Without a doubt. Without a doubt.
Yes, yes, it is. I don't mean to dismiss it at
all. It is phenomenal.
So, Steven, you want to talk us through this this arc?
So Anakin, last we saw him about5 minutes ago, you know, in in
show running time, it's probablya.
Little maybe? Maybe like 12?
Maybe 12. He is chasing down Asaj
(32:20):
Ventress, who has landed on a planet very, very familiar to
all of us. On Yavin 4 Anakin lands, the
clones that Obi Wan had send after Anakin also land and they
begin searching through the jungle for Asajj and what
follows is. A.
(32:41):
Horror sequence, I think I wouldcall it, yeah.
I think you're right. Yes, the clones are picked off 1
by 1 using the force as Asajj really just decimates them.
And I guess I I I calling it horror implies there's like some
subtlety to it. There's a few that are like
smashed multiple times against the tree only to disappear
(33:04):
before Anakin turns and looks. It's it's so good.
I love this. Sequence, but, but you have to
sit there and I think he says a line.
After all this is happening. He goes, and I'm going to
paraphrase because I can't remember exactly, but something
doesn't feel right with all the stuff going on.
He gets his, he gets his feelingsomething here is not right.
(33:24):
And. And The funny thing is, out of
all the troopers who disappearedleft and right in the most
brutal way, the one I think thatgot it, that got it off easy,
was the one that was walking over the swamp that was
basically just tripped. That was it.
All the other ones were brutallytaken down.
Yeah, pulled into the water, slammed like like flipped up at
(33:46):
the forest and bam, bam, bam on the ground or at a tree or
whatever it was. It's or pulled into the into the
the branches high above. It's it's so good.
And, and he's still wondering what's going on.
And he gets over to, he walks over to the Republic ship, which
is I think the only time we've seen this, this that's more of a
like an old Republic, almost more like a, a consular ship
(34:10):
type of. Yeah, I was going to ask.
I think I haven't seen it again.Yeah, we haven't seen they kind
of switched over to using loud eyes after in in future
storytelling, but you know he heAnakin walks up to the Republic
ship. He sees the clone trooper there
he calls out to him and boom thethe ship explodes.
(34:31):
It takes the clone trooper with it and then Anakin starfighters
right behind and the starfighter, the blue
starfighter. And poor R4 also just.
Detonated I I do love why. This also explains why he has R4
instead of R2 at this point. Yep, just they they needed they
(34:51):
needed a red shirt Droid. To be the same.
Yeah, literally. It's a red Droid.
Literally. Yeah, exactly.
And. Yeah, thus begins the the
beginning of the duel, which is going to go over like almost all
three episodes, I believe, between Asaach and Anakin.
Yeah, Yeah. And it is phenomenal.
(35:13):
They I don't know Tarzan throughthe the the jungle.
Is that maybe the best way to describe?
It that's fair. I think it's fair and I think
it's also probably this style ofanimation which the only time
you see it, one of the best lightsaber fights you have seen
period. That's over that amount of time,
(35:33):
just unbelievably storyboard andchoreographed.
This show is just so creative inthe way they they choreograph
the battles and the way they usethe force and, and everything.
It's just it's so good. It is very different from what
you've seen anywhere else, and it just makes it one thing I.
(35:55):
Really appreciate though, particularly I think it's the
second episode where this primarily occurs is watching
Asajj use the same tricks trickson Anakin that Vader will use on
Luke. You know the, you know, she, as
she hides in the jungle, she is the one who is throwing stuff at
Anakin or dropping tree branchesunderneath him or dropping
(36:18):
branches he's reaching for. Each of what you can tell is
frustrating him as he's unable to get to grips with her and
just with it, just as it did with Luke.
It leads to anger and frustration and hate, which
will, you know, perhaps come to fruition at the at the finale of
(36:40):
this arc, they continue. Well I just, I like how right
before the fight actually started, you're the oh God the
confidence that Asajj had to where basically Anik in your
downfall is going to be my rise as a Sith.
That's right. Yeah, great line as.
Well, oh, by far. And that standoff to where
(37:01):
they're just standing at, you know, they're staring at each
other, massage at the base of the Masasi temple, kind of, you
know, below. And then Anakin is on the ground
and it begins to rain. And you just see that Anakin's
anger start to mount and the rain burning on the lightsabers.
Going back to the temple part. Going back to the temple part.
(37:23):
That reminded me of the episode of Star Wars Rebels where you
had Vader fighting Ahsoka on, where they were trying to get
that crystal with Ezra and Canaan.
Because if you watch that, some of that not, oh, sorry, it's
Darth Maul and Ahsoka, Vader showed up.
(37:43):
But some of that kind of layout reminded me of that battle with
trying to get that crystal within that whole lightsaber
fight for sure. So yeah.
Yeah, no, it's it is so good. And that that leads us into the
the the 3rd and final part of the of the trilogy where they
(38:06):
finally enter the Masasi temple.And again, I love that it's, you
know, it is a Masasi temple, butit's it's great.
They the episode descriptions really lean into that, right.
There's even a reference to likeX Arkun in it because I was
like, yeah, we haven't heard these things in forever.
I love it. But you know, they they.
Sorry, Stephen. No, I was agreeing.
(38:27):
But they go into the Masasi Temple and as they they enter
the dark hallways, you can see the the blue of Anakin's
lightsaber and the, you know, red of Ventress's lightsabers
reflecting off of them at throughout this whole sequence,
whether they're crossing lightsabers and you see the blue
on one side and the red on the other, or they're just running
(38:49):
through the dark hallways and one is always bathed in red and
the other is bathed in blue. It is beautifully, beautifully
shot and and and animated. Yep.
And it and it culminates in the moment when, you know, Assange
manages the disarm Anakin's, oh,remove his lightsaber and she
(39:09):
thinks she has him. And Anakin grabs on to her arm
as she swings for the kill with his, the metal arm, pulls the
lightsaber down now bathing him in red and then uses her
lightsaber. And now it's, you know, red
versus red as Anakin unleashes the anger within him and
(39:30):
metaphorically and figuratively,you know, drives Ventress into
the Cliff. It's so good.
Yeah. It's so good.
And you know, I think the question is like, did she?
You don't really know right now.Did she did she die or did she?
(39:53):
Who knows, right? It it's it's they, they leave it
very open-ended in this this episode.
I just love how you see the anger in Anakin too, right?
How he is. He's not good at controlling his
his emotions whatsoever. I think at the end he did sit
there and give out that promo yell when after she fell.
(40:13):
Right, exactly. And and you know, he you see the
flashes of Obi Wan and Yoda and Qui Gon.
It's just, it is so good. It's phenomenal, Yeah.
And it's, it's a very different representation of Anakin than we
got in the 3D Clone Wars, the Clone Wars.
But I I think it works so well. It really does.
(40:41):
So yeah, that's that's the end of the Ventures arc.
And then the Volume One Season 2ends with a extended episode
much longer than our usual 2 1/2three minutes.
We get a whole, I think like almost 767 minutes, 5 to 7
(41:03):
minutes sequence where they first kind of wrap up the main
storyline, right? They're public.
They've won the battle on Munalis.
It's over Obi Wan skulls Anakin for leaving and Anakin's can
return immunalist and he's defeated Asajj and Obi Wan
scolds Anakin and and and tells him, you know, you shouldn't do
(41:24):
that. And, and, and it kind of shows.
Yep. OK, that whole sequence we've
been watching throughout this, you know, first two seasons is,
is done and then Obi Wan gets a call from Master Bark on Hypori
asking for help. And we've never heard of hypori
before, right? I think this is the first time
(41:45):
we've ever heard of Hypori at the time.
And there is someone hunting them, General Grievous.
And we cut to High Pori. We see Grievous's foot and then
his arm and then his back. And you have to remember this is
again April, April 8th, 2004. This is a year before Revenge of
(42:12):
the Sith debuted with Grievous as the main villain over a year,
and it is the IT was the very first time anyone ever saw
General Grievous. We never heard him.
We never. I think I don't even know if
we'd seen Have we seen concept art of him?
(42:33):
I'm trying to remember. I don't think I feel like maybe
we. Haven't.
It's been over 20 years and I can't remember if they released
any kind of concept art of General Grievous 'cause I think
at that point, yeah, I can't remember.
It was a solid year before the movie came out.
Yeah, I don't remember if there was anything in like Star Wars
Insider or those types of things.
I want to say, no, I want to saythis was like literally the
(42:56):
first time we ever had a, a, a, a, you know, got to see the, the
main villain in the upcoming Star Wars movie.
And they told us that, right? They were like, hey, this is
this is going to be Grievous's introduction.
Whether or not he was technically unveiled before
that. I'm, I'm pretty sure he wasn't.
If it's possible, he was like, this was a big, big deal and the
(43:19):
way they do this episode is justagain, so good.
You get, you really get the sense of how dangerous Grievous
is. I'd argue he's even more far
more menacing in this episode than he even is in in the movie
itself in Revenge of the Sith. This is my favorite
(43:39):
representation of Grievous. Without without a doubt.
Yes. Every time I watch, I watch this
Grievous, I get kind of sad withwhat we ended up getting.
No, it, it, I think the, the waythat they presented it to make
him feel menacing is when all the Jedi's basically retreated
into that ship, the fallen ship.And all of a sudden you heard
(44:01):
just basically the Droid army, Droid army Droid army and you
just had no idea where the soundwas coming from.
And then it went dead silent andit took one padawan who looked
like Shaggy to go nuts and go running out screaming and just
get flattened. I mean, his name was Shaggy.
(44:24):
Yeah. So yeah, he looks exactly like
Shaggy from scooby-doo, but his name was Shaggy.
Well, I. I do have to say one other thing
I want to back up a bit that thehologram of the Jedi Master that
got a hold of Obi Wan saying, hey, but we're in trouble.
He was the most generic design of a Jedi Master I have ever
seen. Because I've sat here and
(44:45):
watched it this last time and I'm looking at it going, it's
just a guy in a robe. That's all it looks like.
He gives me like, I don't know, Disney father vibes like classic
animated 2D. Disney.
Pinocchio's father, I don't. What's his name?
Geppetto. Geppetto, Yeah, but it really
does. But it's just, it's just the,
(45:10):
the clink, clink of Grievous outside this crash cruiser, the,
you know, Chiati Mundi trying toget everyone to stay steady.
And then Grievous shows up and just flattens Shaggy.
Like what? What a sequence.
(45:35):
It's so good. It is so good.
Yeah. There is nothing better.
And there is this. The Jedi in this group is like a
who's who of of many of the famous Jedi.
You've got Keanamundi, Shakti, Ayla, Sakura and some other ones
(45:55):
who are like we know from the comic Kakrook, right?
Tarsir document Barrack and of course Shah guy document barrack
and Shah guy are they're they'rethey're fodder, let's just say.
But yeah, poor, poor Shah guy and man, the way he just goes
out just gets crushed is so good.
(46:19):
But no Grievous is he's terrifying, right?
He he's throwing these Jedi around, even the name Jedi who
we know super well, and it's like did Alice security gets
thrown into the into a wall? Does she survive?
Who knows at this point. Shakti right seemingly gets
injured, but you don't really know.
There's even Katamundi is like acliffhanger.
(46:43):
Does he survive? Does he not?
It is truly terrifying the way Grievous is.
The way Grievous even just movesis so, so move in like, yeah,
almost martial arts like, you know, very fluid.
Which again, is like the opposite of how he's portrayed
in episode 3 where he's much more of like a tank.
(47:03):
He doesn't move. He just stationary swings with a
bunch of arms. This version where he's it's
almost like art watching him work through and it's just
watching him slowly unveil each bag of tricks as you see him
work through the Jedi where he spins, he, you know, at one
point grabs other lightsabers, grabs people by the head with
(47:27):
his feet. You know, it is just beautiful
destruction. Yeah, and and it is.
I agree with you, Steven. This is the one thing I would
love to have seen Grievous carryover into the actual live action
film. And I don't know how you do like
without I mean, well, Grievous Iguess was fully animated at the
time, but just how how to do this in a way that looked
(47:47):
realistic I I have to imagine would have been difficult would.
Have been difficult, but at least give it give him a little
bit more of a menace to him because this this grievous that
we got was scary and made it made him basically oh God, what
am I trying to? Think you understand why the
(48:08):
Jedi killer is term? Do you understand why the in
episode 3 everyone is scared about Obi Wan going after
Grievous and trying to end this?It is very, very clear who who
this person is. And it I, you know, the the
first season or sorry, the firsttwo seasons technically are what
(48:29):
like and what do we say the total runtime is between the
two. Only about an hour and 5 minutes
I think. Something like that.
It it is worth it to watch only for this last sequence like this
last sequence might be perfect Star Wars.
Agreed. Spoilers for reviews coming down
(48:52):
the line, but like, it is so good and it, yeah, just a plus.
Yeah. I couldn't agree more.
And, you know, you really don't know where what happens next,
right? Is yeah, the money going to die.
Grievous is he's attacking. It's it's a great way to set up
again. It's the first time you've ever
seen Grievous. And you just have this
(49:13):
phenomenal intro of this character.
And, you know, it ends with, youknow, Yoda saying darker, the
coming storm grows. I fear the dark shroud of the
Sith clouds us all. And that's that's it.
That's that's where it ends. And we have to wait a year, a
year for season 3, which is alsoso good, but it's, it's a
(49:39):
different style. It we'll, we'll talk about it
more in a couple weeks, but it's, it's only 5 episodes long
and the each episode is much longer around 12 minutes instead
of 3 to 4. But it's it's really good and
and season 3 will lead into Revenge of the Sith in a big,
big way. But for now, this is just peak
(50:03):
some peak Star Wars. I I I love the clone wars don't
get me wrong, but the clone warsmicro series specifically this
season is like some of the best.Yeah, without it out.
Agreed. Well.
With that, should we get into our review, Steven, you, you
already gave some some hints about where you're leaning, so
(50:24):
you want. To I can go first.
I'll I'm going to give this season A10 out of. 10 like I had
to be. Like sorry, I the only arc here
I don't really care for, and it's not even like it's a bad
arc, it's just the LM arc. It's fine.
Like the LMR gets like a 7 out of 10 or whatever, but Asajj
versus Anakin, Mace Windu, Grievous, you know, of the 30
(50:48):
minutes of runtime in the season, 25 of them are just
perfect television and perfect Star Wars. 10 out of 10.
All 10 of my womp rats are just watching the Grievous fight from
the rafters of the the downed acclimator ship.
And they're just watching and clapping because, you know,
they're, they're very excited about how things have gone
today. I love it.
(51:11):
I love it. Tom, you want to go next or?
I'm going to go next, so I'm going to, I'm going to mirror
what Steven said. I'm going to give it a 10 out of
10. I do agree.
I think for me, the weakest episode was a little mark, but I
think the the weakest arc, the weakest episode I think was the
one with Padme and three PO. That whole little comedic thing
(51:34):
that was like probably, but not by much.
I mean, I'm not going to sit there and knock my score down
for that because this was brilliant television the way it
was for The Clone Wars. So it's 10 out of 10.
And I hate to say I'm going to also mirror Steven on this, but
my wombats are going to be sitting there taking bets on
which ones are going to live andwhich ones are going to survive
when it comes to the Jedi or down below.
(51:55):
They're going to sit there with the popcorn, but they're going
to be placing their bets, Yeah. Well, I think as they say in the
Clone Wars, then it is decided because I'm going to have to go
with the same thing. It's this is 10 out of 10 for
me. Clear 10 out of 10.
I even, I love the Lamarck too. I love every single arc.
(52:17):
I'm hard pressed to pick which one's my favorite, especially,
you know, episodes, individual episodes are, you know, a little
harder to rate, but it's just look at the season overall or
the the set of arcs they they give us in the season.
So good. It it, it is just peak Star
Wars. Like I said multiple times,
there are so many, almost every single character who shows up in
(52:40):
this. When I, when I think of their
best moments, I think of momentsfrom this micro, this this micro
series and specifically this season.
Yeah, whether it's Grievous or or or Mason do or Yoda or Padme
or whomever, right. It, it is this Anakin, right?
(53:01):
Or Asajj. I guess the Asajj one, the
probably the one that sticks outthe most to me is her, her intro
in in the arena from last season.
But like, it's so good. So let me give it 10 whopper
outs out of 10 and my 10 womp rats, you know, they're, they're
using those, those invisible Shields from the, the chameleon
(53:22):
droids used. And so you never know how many
womp rats there are. There are 10 of them.
Who knows? Good one, but.
You gotta be extra careful 'cause sometimes they'll grab
one of those seismic tanks and then you're really in trouble.
Yeah, they could sneak up on youif you're not looking.
(53:42):
Oh yeah. Well, I think that about wraps
up our review this week. We will come back in a couple
weeks with our review of the finale Season 3.
It's so good, it's continues, it's amazing, amazing trend.
(54:05):
But for now, I think that'll wrap it up.
Thank you for all for listening.We're excited.
There's a lot coming up after, of course, our season 3 review.
We've got Lego Star Wars coming up, we've got Star Wars Visions.
There is a lot of great Star Wars content coming, some some
some good books coming up. So stay tuned for that's a great
time to be a Star Wars fan. As always, thank you all for
(54:27):
listening and may the Force be with you.
Thank you for listening to the Ion Cannon Podcast, your source
for entertainment reviews from aGalaxy far, far away.
For over a decade, Ion Cannon has covered every corner of the
saga, from the films and animated series like The Clone
Wars and Rebels to books, comics, games, and more.
If you like what you hear, please rate US in your favorite
(54:48):
podcast client. Your review will help this show
grow within the Star Wars community.
We can be found at our website, ioncannoncast.com and you can
follow us through Facebook and Twitter.
To e-mail us, you can do so at contact@ioncannoncast.com.
The Ion Cannon Podcast is not associated with Lucasfilm, The
Walt Disney Company, or any and all of their respective
(55:09):
trademarks or copyright holders.Any opinion expressed on the
show are that of the hosts. This podcast is a production by
fans, for fans and its copyright2018.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal
Gregg Rosenthal and a rotating crew of elite NFL Media co-hosts, including Patrick Claybon, Colleen Wolfe, Steve Wyche, Nick Shook and Jourdan Rodrigue of The Athletic get you caught up daily on all the NFL news and analysis you need to be smarter and funnier than your friends.