CW 2x01 & 2x02
My weekly SW is back! My TV viewing schedule is officially complete once again. ;)
Despite the general tone of some of my comments below, I did enjoy the premiere, but I'm also left with a lot more mixed feelings than I usually am - perhaps because this is the first new episode I've had in seven months. And the feel of these first two episodes alone is definitely different than season 1.
Oh, this is going to end well.
-- The general level of the animation doesn't appear too drastically changed over season 1 yet, except with the characters' facial expressions, which appear more nuanced, especially on Anakin, Ahsoka, and Bane.
-- Still "eh" on Bane as a villain. Visually I like the Western-inspired design (complete with toothpick-chewing), and there's no denying he's clever and a hard-ass, but the completely amoral bounty hunter type of character has just never compelled me. It's not the first time. Hell, I didn't find Boba Fett remotely interesting either until we got his backstory in AotC.
-- Watching the Council-reprimanding-Ahsoka scene, I wondered two things. 1) If Mace's punishment of Ahsoka is at all motivated by wanting Anakin taken down a peg, and/or 2) whether something catastrophic happening to Ahsoka as a result of Anakin's judgment is why Mace seems particularly vitriolic towards him in RotS.
-- I sure don't want to come across whatever big-ass bugs pollinate the plants on Felucia.
-- Even though they don't seem to share many similar specific features, I can't help but look at Jocasta and see a female Palpatine.
-- The portable holoprojector's a clever little touch to allow for the changeling's wardrobe adaptations.
-- I like this idea of the Kaiburr/Kyber crystal better than what I remember from "Splinter of the Mind's Eye," where I believe it was some sort of super-Force nexus?
-- Good job on Ahsoka's scuffles with the changeling and Bane. Most bounty hunters aren't trained with a lightsaber, so it makes sense that Ahsoka would have the upper hand there. (I say "most" bounty hunters - I think there's some EU that mentions the Jedi figuring into Aurra Sing's background somehow? Wonder if that'll come into play this season.) And in the fight with Bane, it wasn't lack of skill that brought her down, it was that Skywalker-enhanced overconfidence.
-- Why didn't Anakin just use the Force to snatch the Holocron back from Bane during their little hangar standoff? Did Bane inject himself with ysalamiri blood or something? (While I've been okay with most of the EU inclusions in the series so far, I hope to hell they don't bring in those ridiculous creatures.)
-- Just what are the rules for Jedi being able to "sense" someone's presence? I can accept that the level of personal attachment/familiarity (Anakin/Padmé, Vader/Luke, Ahsoka/Plo, Vader/Obi-Wan, etc.) seems to play a part in the likelihood that a Jedi will sense a particular person. It would partially explain why out of all the Jedi in proximity to Bane at various points in this duology it seems that Anakin is the only one at any time who specifically senses Bane, after he's been in close contact with him - but even then, he's still not able to tell that Bane is right behind him hiding in a clonetrooper suit. Go figure.
-- I've seen some comments that Anakin's cockiness at the end of CoD was "douchey," that he should feel remorse for potentially putting younglings in danger. One point: he did take blame for things going wrong when he was comforting Ahsoka. Two, he thinks Bane's dead and the Holocron's destroyed and thus did ultimately win, and so of course he's going to enjoy needling the by-the-book Yularen with it. When Anakin does realize he failed, though, and knowing Anakin's track record with failures... he'll probably beat himself up for not being powerful and/or smart enough. Which is self-centered, but then, if Anakin was a perfectly well-adjusted dude, he wouldn't have turned to the Dark Side.
-- Speaking of which, hello again, attachment issue! Of course given the immediate choice between a bunch of would-be Jedi he's never met, and someone he loves, we all know which he'll pick. The enhanced character animation is particularly apparent here in Anakin and Ahsoka's expressions as he weighs his dilemma. And now that Bane's made their conflict even more personal with this, is Anakin now going to make it his own obsession mission to bring Bane down?
-- "Where's Ahsoka?" "Following your teachings." "Is she winning?" Heh, Ahsoka's not the only one missing the big picture.
-- Nice to have a story not centering on some alien/outer space battlefield, but the Temple itself. Looks great!
-- Some of Seth Green's comments about the prequels haven't thrilled me, but I'd love to have him return to voice another character. You could tell he was having a blast playing the underappreciated, fussy - and alas, doomed - little droid. (James Marsters, Seth Green... how many more Whedon alums will we get in here? Actually, considering how huge a fanboy Whedon himself is, I wouldn't be terribly surprised if he popped up at some point.)
-- So Ahsoka's "new" outfit seems to be temporary after all. Pity. I liked the bodysuit, although depending on the angle, I think it's just as "revealing" as the tube top, in the same way Padmé's Geonosis getup was. And I guess Anakin was wearing his space-tights under his uniform. ;)
-- Speaking of uniforms... I don't know why, but I was struck anew in these episodes just how damn sexy I find the ones Obi-Wan and Anakin wear in this series. Maybe it is something different about the animation, or maybe it's just that seven-month absence.
-- Ahsoka calling Bane "sleemo." Aww. Ahsoka's not becoming a chip off the block so much as a boulder.
-- Good thing those Separatist auto-destruct sequences apparently take a lot longer than they do on Star Trek. ;) And that Bane's boot-propulsion devices have more fine motor control than Spock's. I also chuckled when I heard that Anakin and Ahsoka were going to the "Dev(a)ron system," because that was the site of the universe-destroying temporal anomaly in the TNG finale. Maybe the original story idea for 2x02 was for Q to show up and send A/A back and forth through time to stop Bane? ;)
-- Nice reference to the klutzy Death Star stormtrooper in ANH with Rex conking his own head.
-- Anakin's not at all fazed by the sudden zero-G, in fact seems to enjoy it. Of course.
-- "We'll take him together!" = you know the cocky Padawan's going to soon perform an impression of a fork stuck in a power socket. But at least Ahsoka kept all her limbs. ;)
Judging from a clip I saw on a French fansite, looks like next week's episode picks up exactly where this one left off. Bring it! :)
Despite the general tone of some of my comments below, I did enjoy the premiere, but I'm also left with a lot more mixed feelings than I usually am - perhaps because this is the first new episode I've had in seven months. And the feel of these first two episodes alone is definitely different than season 1.
Oh, this is going to end well.
-- The general level of the animation doesn't appear too drastically changed over season 1 yet, except with the characters' facial expressions, which appear more nuanced, especially on Anakin, Ahsoka, and Bane.
-- Still "eh" on Bane as a villain. Visually I like the Western-inspired design (complete with toothpick-chewing), and there's no denying he's clever and a hard-ass, but the completely amoral bounty hunter type of character has just never compelled me. It's not the first time. Hell, I didn't find Boba Fett remotely interesting either until we got his backstory in AotC.
-- Watching the Council-reprimanding-Ahsoka scene, I wondered two things. 1) If Mace's punishment of Ahsoka is at all motivated by wanting Anakin taken down a peg, and/or 2) whether something catastrophic happening to Ahsoka as a result of Anakin's judgment is why Mace seems particularly vitriolic towards him in RotS.
-- I sure don't want to come across whatever big-ass bugs pollinate the plants on Felucia.
-- Even though they don't seem to share many similar specific features, I can't help but look at Jocasta and see a female Palpatine.
-- The portable holoprojector's a clever little touch to allow for the changeling's wardrobe adaptations.
-- I like this idea of the Kaiburr/Kyber crystal better than what I remember from "Splinter of the Mind's Eye," where I believe it was some sort of super-Force nexus?
-- Good job on Ahsoka's scuffles with the changeling and Bane. Most bounty hunters aren't trained with a lightsaber, so it makes sense that Ahsoka would have the upper hand there. (I say "most" bounty hunters - I think there's some EU that mentions the Jedi figuring into Aurra Sing's background somehow? Wonder if that'll come into play this season.) And in the fight with Bane, it wasn't lack of skill that brought her down, it was that Skywalker-enhanced overconfidence.
-- Why didn't Anakin just use the Force to snatch the Holocron back from Bane during their little hangar standoff? Did Bane inject himself with ysalamiri blood or something? (While I've been okay with most of the EU inclusions in the series so far, I hope to hell they don't bring in those ridiculous creatures.)
-- Just what are the rules for Jedi being able to "sense" someone's presence? I can accept that the level of personal attachment/familiarity (Anakin/Padmé, Vader/Luke, Ahsoka/Plo, Vader/Obi-Wan, etc.) seems to play a part in the likelihood that a Jedi will sense a particular person. It would partially explain why out of all the Jedi in proximity to Bane at various points in this duology it seems that Anakin is the only one at any time who specifically senses Bane, after he's been in close contact with him - but even then, he's still not able to tell that Bane is right behind him hiding in a clonetrooper suit. Go figure.
-- I've seen some comments that Anakin's cockiness at the end of CoD was "douchey," that he should feel remorse for potentially putting younglings in danger. One point: he did take blame for things going wrong when he was comforting Ahsoka. Two, he thinks Bane's dead and the Holocron's destroyed and thus did ultimately win, and so of course he's going to enjoy needling the by-the-book Yularen with it. When Anakin does realize he failed, though, and knowing Anakin's track record with failures... he'll probably beat himself up for not being powerful and/or smart enough. Which is self-centered, but then, if Anakin was a perfectly well-adjusted dude, he wouldn't have turned to the Dark Side.
-- Speaking of which, hello again, attachment issue! Of course given the immediate choice between a bunch of would-be Jedi he's never met, and someone he loves, we all know which he'll pick. The enhanced character animation is particularly apparent here in Anakin and Ahsoka's expressions as he weighs his dilemma. And now that Bane's made their conflict even more personal with this, is Anakin now going to make it his own obsession mission to bring Bane down?
-- "Where's Ahsoka?" "Following your teachings." "Is she winning?" Heh, Ahsoka's not the only one missing the big picture.
-- Nice to have a story not centering on some alien/outer space battlefield, but the Temple itself. Looks great!
-- Some of Seth Green's comments about the prequels haven't thrilled me, but I'd love to have him return to voice another character. You could tell he was having a blast playing the underappreciated, fussy - and alas, doomed - little droid. (James Marsters, Seth Green... how many more Whedon alums will we get in here? Actually, considering how huge a fanboy Whedon himself is, I wouldn't be terribly surprised if he popped up at some point.)
-- So Ahsoka's "new" outfit seems to be temporary after all. Pity. I liked the bodysuit, although depending on the angle, I think it's just as "revealing" as the tube top, in the same way Padmé's Geonosis getup was. And I guess Anakin was wearing his space-tights under his uniform. ;)
-- Speaking of uniforms... I don't know why, but I was struck anew in these episodes just how damn sexy I find the ones Obi-Wan and Anakin wear in this series. Maybe it is something different about the animation, or maybe it's just that seven-month absence.
-- Ahsoka calling Bane "sleemo." Aww. Ahsoka's not becoming a chip off the block so much as a boulder.
-- Good thing those Separatist auto-destruct sequences apparently take a lot longer than they do on Star Trek. ;) And that Bane's boot-propulsion devices have more fine motor control than Spock's. I also chuckled when I heard that Anakin and Ahsoka were going to the "Dev(a)ron system," because that was the site of the universe-destroying temporal anomaly in the TNG finale. Maybe the original story idea for 2x02 was for Q to show up and send A/A back and forth through time to stop Bane? ;)
-- Nice reference to the klutzy Death Star stormtrooper in ANH with Rex conking his own head.
-- Anakin's not at all fazed by the sudden zero-G, in fact seems to enjoy it. Of course.
-- "We'll take him together!" = you know the cocky Padawan's going to soon perform an impression of a fork stuck in a power socket. But at least Ahsoka kept all her limbs. ;)
Judging from a clip I saw on a French fansite, looks like next week's episode picks up exactly where this one left off. Bring it! :)