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jngles · 4 years

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Thoughts You Definitely All Asked For on ‘The Mandalorian’ Season 2 Finale!!

These are in chronological order for the show.

One of my biggest fears about them reintroducing Boba Fett was that by removing some of his mystery, they would make him less cool. Thank god that has not been the case. He’s still an aloof and nasty piece of work but with dimensions added.

We all know the Empire is most often a metaphor for America right? At least when it’s not being Nazi Germany? The Imperial pilot talking about destroying an entire planet (of peaceful weaponless civilians no less) to stop terrorism hits a little too close to home of the nuclear bombs the US has dropped and the endless destruction of the Middle East in the “war against terror.” And of course we frame all our wars in similar language like “our troops died to keep our country safe,” which hasn’t really been true since WWII.

I do think it’s worth noting that this is the first time SW has had someone acknowledge the human losses of the Death Star blasts. Usually it’s framed as a loss in construction time, strategical advantage, and power. The Empire proved time and time again that the lives of its soldiers were utterly expendable, which always made me question why people remained loyal outside of fear. Through this pilot’s phrasing, you can see the propaganda Imperial superiors used to twist the truth to their followers, always blaming those deaths on Rebel aggression instead of prideful Imperial neglect (I.e. not abandoning ship when there was still time) or even direct Imperial aggression like Operation Cinder where they fired on thousands of their own (discussed in S2E7.)

You can’t tell me Din wasn’t into it when Cara shot that asshole pilot. That cold faced revenge shot? 100% Mandalorian style, and also very very hot.

I appreciate that it was a pretty equal match between Boba and Koska Reeves. So much of Boba’s advantage comes from his suit, but since she also has one, it’s a battle of wits on how to use it, and they even out. This both maintains his legendary badassery and also that of highly trained Mandalorian warriors, and hopefully avoids asshole chauvinist SW fans on the internet complaining abujt “pandering to feminism” (fuck off @ all of them, especially since Mercedes Vernado who plays Reeves is a WWE champ and could kick all of your asses.)

Din point blank asked how many Death Troopers there are and Dr. Pershing never answered, and that annoys me.

Why is no one suspicious why Dr. Pershing is being so helpful and revealing so much information? He totally did not have to tell them about the Dark Troopers or any of the specifics of locations on the ship. He’s still with the empire post-fall, implying he’s a loyalist, so... wtf on his part (since no tricks come of it), and “be smarter” on the part of everyone else. Unless he’s been captive as a clone engineer all this time. But couldn’t he have made his escape back in Season 1 when Din killed everyone at that lab to get the kid back?

Bo Katan really could’ve just told them how the retrieval of the dark saber needs to work in the flight before the mission instead of being vague about “he belongs to me.”

Boba Fett’s usage of “Princess” and “don’t worry about me” are a good throwback to Han Solo and the culture they both grew up in. You can never quite tell if it’s based in misogyny or resentment for upper classes, but both of them seem to use it as a shield for begrudging respect they hold for a woman they think is brave but following a fool’s errand (the Rebellion and retaking Mandalore).

The Comms Officer (Katy O’Brian) assisting Moff Gideon will forever and always look like Ilana Glazer to me, and then I get swept up imagining what would happen if the Broad City cast accidentally got transported to Star Wars.

The launch tube sequence has some amazing cinematography.

The second I saw Boba was cut off from the pack, I really thought they were going to kill him again and make his return bittersweet. Glad they didn’t.

God this team of Bo Katan, Koska Reeves, Fennec Shand, and Cara Dune is SO BADASS. I’m just obsessed with all these characters and their various motivations to get shit done. I honestly didn’t even think about the fact it’s all women until my re-watch, showing that the writers made it feel natural, the way women deserve to have their representation done. You can bet I am SO EXCITED for my future daughter and the wealth of possibilities she’s going to have of characters to play pretend as, action figures she can relate to, Halloween costumes to wear, etc. It’s so validating that we’ve gone from only Princess Leia as a female main character to all these women + Rey, Jyn Erso, Ahsoka, etc. etc.

Can’t wait for the trap remix of the Dark Trooper activation noises. (And the transition from that to the minimalist flute theme is perfect.)

The spy movie version of the main theme music is sick.

The Dark Trooper droid faces have a lot of similarity to Darth Vader’s mask. That callback is especially apparent when the one is literally lit from the inside with fire. He was already a martyr/legend to the Imperial remnants, Kylo Ren didn’t start the trend of ignoring his redemption.

Cara’s “excuse me” right before shooting up Stormtroopers is hilarious. Literally “can’t talk rn, doing hot girl shit and murdering space Nazis.”

Finally an Imperial ship got some frickin security cameras. Truly- the amount of times people just wander down hallways they’re not supposed to be in with no one being able to find them throughout the course of Star Wars is ridiculous when you think about the degree of surveillance our real life society carries out. I also love that this means The Mandalorian characters have also seen The Mandalorian.

The storytelling does such a service to Pedro Pascal and his already heroic efforts to portray emotion through a helmet. For example: Din easily could’ve killed the one stormtrooper outside Grogu’s cell much more efficiently, but instead, to show his absolute rage, they wrote in Din choking him out with a spear.

Moff Gideon would have been the BIGGEST pain in the ass in philosophy class. “Assume I know everything” my ass. I want to hear about his backstory (he would’ve been “coming of age” at the time of the Clone Wars) mostly just to hear about him getting bullied at school.

Smart move honestly, to try to tempt Din with the Mandalorian throne, given the Mandalorian power struggles of the past. Proud of our boy for keeping his priorities straight.

So has the blood from Grogu been transferred out of the ship and back to the remnant empire already, or do they have to find a new “donor” to help with building Snoke and Palpatine’s clones? Will they continue to go after him with Luke?

Lmao Din being so annoyed by Bo Katan being stringent about the tradition of winning the Dark Saber through combat is HILARIOUS, coming from a man who up until like a day ago hadn’t shown his face to a living being in decades.

The dark troopers can punch in blast doors but NOT Din’s helmet?? That’s a wild testament to beskar. Somehow that’s the comparison that sticks out to me, more even than its resistance to lightsabers.

This show works because of the cynicism of so many characters adding contrast to the moments of heart. Cara Dune is not a “fan” the way Rey was (for the record I love Rey, don’t come at her, it’s just different). Cara doesn’t see an X-Wing and go OMG THE REBELLION I LOVE THEM. She’s been through too much to believe in the magic saviourism of the “good guys,” and is instead thinking strategically when she, the one Rebel present, brushes off the usefulness of “one X-Wing.” The only positive things she seems to feel in battle situations are moments of relief and brief satisfaction in hurting the empire, with a dark knowledge that it will never make up for the hurt they did to her.

How do you keep a cloak hood on while fighting? Both from a technical standpoint (my hats fall off without me even having to move- is he expending force energy just to keep it on and look cool lol?) and also because idk, maybe it’s just me, but peripheral vision is helpful when surrounded by killer robots on a thin bridge above oblivion. I know his first lesson was to “see” through the force, but every resource helps, right?

Now that she has the ship, I wonder if Bo Katan can reprogram any salvageable Dark Troopers to help with retaking Mandalore?

There is nothing like seeing Luke’s fighting style, with its efficient choppiness and twinge of darkness. I always wonder how much is natural and how much is influenced by his first fights with Vader (that Skywalker diva flair). I love how they’ve advanced his technique but also kept him extremely “grey” here- like to straight up COMBUST a Dark Trooper takes some violent energy lol.

How tf is Moff Gideon alive after threatening Grogu’s life twice directly? That’s a wild testament to Din’s regard for Cara.

I love how seeing Luke slice through a bunch of murder droids like butter probably was a huge point in his favor for Din actually letting Grogu go with him. Like he will only send his child to boarding preschool if he knows the teacher will be a certified killing machine.

Oh my god they finally brought in some OG Star Wars theme music for Luke to take his hood off to 😭 It felt weird seeing him fight to different music, so the emotional payoff is huge when his themes come back for the face reveal.

Whoever added the digital young Mark Hamill face NAILED those classic shining Luke eyes and the earnest eyebrow lift.

Whoever shines the glass of Baby Yoda’s lil puppet eyeballs each day deserves a raise. The light caught in those babies is devastating.

Din is shaking as he takes off his helmet. This is the most enormous show of love he could give him, and possibly the last he’ll be able to for a long time. He only just got Grogu back and is desperate for a moment of real connection before letting him go once again.

This is the first time anyone has touched Din’s face since... likely his parents as a child.

Whoever wrote this scene clearly actually has kids. Anyone who’s ever had to leave a young child even just to go out for a bit or to drop them off somewhere knows that heartbreak of seeing them look in your eyes and hold on to your leg, trying to keep you with them. Especially when they can sense your mutual separation anxiety. The one thing that starts to make them feel better is something fun like a new toy or friend who can be their guide in the new environment, and R2’s friendly introduction is exactly that (since digital Luke isn’t being particularly emotive or child friendly... I hope that’s just because he’s reaching into Grogu’s mind while also keeping an eye on the multiple people with guns trained on him, not because he’s going to be totally unfeeling raising this kid.)

I love that Grogu and R2 are immediately buddies in contrast to Episode 5 when R2 was like “fuck this guy” @ Yoda stealing food and hitting him with a walking stick lol. I would imagine Luke must be reminded of that first introduction too and entertained by this display of playfulness in a *positive* light between R2 and mini-Yoda.

I need to know if Luke and Ahsoka have met- it is KILLING ME.

Does this mean Grogu will get killed by Kylo Ren when he fucks up Luke’s academy??? I will reincarnate Ben just to kill him again if that’s the case.

How does Luke not even fully SMILE at Grogu?? An adorable little baby version of his beloved master Yoda, and you’re telling me he doesn’t have the same heart stopping gasp we all did when we first saw him?? Maybe he did when they first connected through the force. He has a bit of bemusement on his face, and also wonder in his eyes, but I want a grin of recognition and welcome, dammit.

I really wish Luke had somehow acknowledged Cara Dune. Everyone else seems to see the tear drop Rebel sign and know it means Alderaan. He could’ve been like yo I have a badass warrior sister from your planet that you should meet. Or just “thank you for your service.” (I know this actually wouldn’t have been cinematically good but my heart wants it.)

Luke didn’t tell Din his name?? Or ask for any details about the kid and his care?? I could literally never let my kid go with someone, regardless of how worthy, and not be like, “Excuse me sir who are you and where tf are you taking my tiny beloved green goblin in case I need to find him? Here is my contact info. He likes to eat frogs and eggs, and he can have macarons as a treat. He’s 50 years old and his favorite toy is still a ball. Bedtime is 8pm and he’s allergic to dairy.”

Another reason I wish Luke had identified himself would be to see the mishmash of reactions that would ensue. Cara would be like DAMN IT’S THAT GUY WHO BLEW UP THE DEATH STAR AND KILLED THE EMPEROR, ACT COOL (and she would indeed act cool). Fennec would be like ugh it’s that guy who helped kill my best paying client Jabba the Hutt and then fucked over my boss Boba, I helped save the kid for THIS? And I would LOVE to know how Bo Katan feels about him, assuming she’s heard of him, and especially if she knows he’s Anakin Skywalker’s son. That confusion is probably the reason WHY the writers didn’t have him reveal himself- they didn’t want to break the emotion of the scene.

Let‘s all be real I’m just being needy about wanting things from Luke because of what he meant to me as a kid and my resulting innate need to have more canon of him, whatever it is, whenever I can get it. Especially in this form that’s so similar to ROTJ, a movie I watched on endless repeat. Even getting this was incredible though. Who else could we trust this lil heart-stealing green bean with so fully? Yet who would be so arrogant as to try to train a baby yodling (see: Ahsoka’s wise refusal)?

R2 is reckless as hell lmao. Not that we don’t already know that, but for him to just head on in, effectively abandoning Luke’s ship (how can they know if there are more troopers or not who might blow it up?) and also putting himself in the path of the ridiculously deadly Dark Troopers is NUTS. I’m usually on his side but he absolutely deserves a scolding by C3PO for this one.

I wonder if Grogu has any memories of R2 or vice versa since they did occupy the Jedi Temple at the same time. Can Grogu understand droids? They could swap stories about mutual acquaintances.

Does Din pretty much have to go with Bo Katan now since a) he’s shown his face and may not be able to go back to the Watch, and b) because he has the darksaber and has to figure out how to get it back to her without dying?

How in the hell did Bib Fortuna (whose chins age was not kind to) go from being butler to being boss? Were all the henchmen just like, “Fuck yeah, no Hutt parents no rules, let’s do what we want!!” And then they’ve spent the last ten years living off of whatever money they could salvage from Jabba’s non-banked wealth? Why has no one challenged them for that prime real estate and loot? I would love to hear that story.

Fennec Shand says “respect sex workers” so you better fuckin’ do it.

Idk dude Bib Fortuna really was a good butler, and he seemed pretty willing to comply with whoever’s in power. Did he screw Boba over in his attempt to return from the dead and earn that killing shot somehow? Or was this to make sure there was no one left who would have a claim to loyalty? Or maybe Boba just really wanted to sit in that chair.

Does “The Book of Boba Fett” mean we’re not on Din Djarin’s story anymore? Or is it a new show? I would much prefer the latter. I want to see Din help retake Mandalore or at least get a hug.

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hecallsmehischild · 3 years

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Recent Media Consumed

Books

Half-Bad by Sally Green. Man, this is grim. It’s good fantasy, and the writers breaks certain writing conventions to convey the story better, which is fascinating. But it’s so grim. There’s two more books in the series and I want to get ahold of those before I say more.

Zoo City by Lauren Beukes. Did I say Half-Bad was grim? This is grim. Grimdark to the max. But also a fascinating premise, that the crime of murder and its accompanying guilt manifests an animal companion that marks you for the rest of your (shortened) life? If you can stomach some of the imagery and if you do well with being plunged into unknown terminology and figuring it out on the go from context, this is a good read.

Dropped titles: Pursuing God’s Will Together by Ruth Haley Barton and How Should We Then Live by Francis Shaeffer. One was a recommendation, one was semi-assigned reading because I’m a non-voting member of a ministry board. In both cases I got about halfway through. I have the gist of both books and I’m enjoying neither. At all. I started to avoid Audible altogether. The moment I gave myself permission to stop listening to them and pick up the next Thomas Sowell book on my list, I was right back on reading, because I’m actually interested in what Sowell has to say. Note to self: it’s ok to drop books that you find uninteresting. (this preceded a Sowell binge reading session)

Dismantling America (and other controversial essays) by Thomas Sowell. I was surprised at how much more of an edge Sowell has in this book, but the appearance of the edge here makes a certain amount of sense. This is the first collection of newspaper columns I’ve read by him, and he has way less time to make his point in a column than he has in a book. With that in mind, his points have much less groundwork than I’m used to reading from him when he spends a whole book on a topic (though I’d guess that each point he makes probably has a crapton of citations in the printed book, like the rest of his work. He’s quite thorough about his research). This is probably not the best title of his to pick as a first read, but it’s good and interesting. My main take-away point from this book is that politicians look out for politicians, and expecting them to do anything else is naive. And, in fact, many things attributed to a politician’s “stupidity” is far from stupid, in fact they are brilliant within their set of incentives and constraints. It just rarely aligns with the general public’s best interest. Thinking about it again, it MIGHT be a good first book. It sums up a lot of his views into bite-sized digests. It just doesn’t substantiate each and every claim as thoroughly as some of his other books do. That’s my grain of salt.

Compassion Versus Guilt by Thomas Sowell. More of the same, a collection of essays by Sowell. Different ones, on a different theme. A couple that sound like they could have been written by the authors of Politically Correct Bedtime Stories, his satire is on point.

Ethnic America by Thomas Sowell. This was a fascinating read for me. This book traces 8 groups of ethnic migrations to America. I descend from Scottish, Irish, and Russian Jewish immigrants, and seeing what the different groups had to content with over the years was very enlightening. A few things that stood out to me were; each immigrant group seems to have very different cultural strengths and foibles, inter-group violence is not new (but not always in the directions modern people would think), almost every group has its own upper class that disdains and reviles its lower class, and each ethnic group is far more variable and differentiated than the general category (“the Irish” or “the blacks” or “the Jews”) makes them out to be. More and more I’m coming to mistrust the general racial category as referenced by either political party because it seems to be a linguistic expediency that sacrifices the truth of a situation for a fast rallying point.

Civil Rights: Rhetoric or Reality? by Thomas Sowell. I’m not even sure what to say about this book. It’s short and punchy and gives me a lot to think about. Sowell definitely has zero sacred cows. Toward the end of this book he addresses some of his critics who piled onto Ethnic America, which was interesting. Also, while reading this, I have begun to realize how much of a disadvantage I am at in analyzing arguments because I’m unable to understand how people slice numbers into statistics to make their point. I’m at the mercy of the conclusion they draw at the end of the statistics because, until they summarize their findings, I really don’t understand what the raw numbers are saying. I’ve had this feeling for a while, but in this book, Sowell dissects some of the foundational studies and statistics that buttressed later civil rights cases, and I realized that if I just read the statistics and data from those cases and the statistical rebuttals that Sowell has side by side, I would not understand what was being argued at all. I can only rely on the end conclusions put into words at this point, but the written conclusion is not the proof, the numbers are. This gap in my understanding is disheartening, but I hope to continue sponging up knowledge in the hopes that I will be able to think more critically in future years.

Maverick, a Biography of Thomas Sowell by Jason L. Riley. My parents pre-ordered this for my birthday a few months ago and it arrived a few days ago. I have torn through it. I think I got a more cohesive overview of Sowell’s progression through his body of work and added several titles to my wishlist. The biography is fairly minimalist on Sowell’s personal life and focuses more on his ideological clashes with… well, everyone, left and right, people he disdained and people he admired. Maverick, alright. Also Riley takes a look at how each of Sowell’s books (or grouping of books) came about, for what reasons, and what was going on at the time.

People of the Book edited by Rachel Swirsky and Sean Wallace. This is a compilation of Jewish sci-fi and fantasy short stories and can probably be summed up best by this paragraph in the introduction: “These stories allow us to identify with, although briefly, so many different characters and places, they entertain us and they give us comfort. And yet, the tales in this anthology often have a melancholic tinge, similar in tone to the minor keys of our musical liturgy. We don’t want to be too comfortable, too happy. Because that might bring some bad luck onto us, might tempt the evil eye.” I also sensed a whole lot of anger in the undercurrent of these stories, and that saddened me.

On deck/currently reading: The Brothers Karamazov, The Rational Bible: Genesis, re-read of Basic Economics, and War Nerd.

Shows

Dropped series: Hilda. The first season was lovely on so many counts. The second season’s antagonist… bothers me. So does Hilda’s behavior. And given how much time I spent on Star and its accompanying disappointment, I’m not really interested in continuing Hilda any further. I’m shelving it at this point. There are other things I’d like to watch.

Infinity Train Season 4: Now retitled “The Wormhole Judgment Line” I believe, lol. It’s hard to top season 3, but it was a solid story. Good. Interesting. The resolution with the villains int he last episode felt kind of out of nowhere and I’m really not okay with Morgan’s behavior even if the plot wants me to feel sorry for her, but those things aside, it was enjoyable. I hope Infinity Train is picked up again, I’d love to see more.

On Deck: The Mandalorian or Wandavision

Movies

Jiang Ziya. Okay whatever this studio produces in this line of movies, I will be watching it. I definitely don’t understand all the significance of what I’m seeing but it’s creative along COMPLETELY DIFFERENT lines than US animation and it’s an absolute joy to behold.

Raya and the Last Dragon. Suffice it to say, it would take an intensive blog post (or a movie review of the style I used to do as one half of The Storytrollers) to cover all the things that bothered me about this movie. I will take the thing that bothered me the most and be brief: I find the moral to be terrible. I take major issue with the idea that repeated blind trust in the face of repeated betrayal will reshape the world, given that I extended blind trust to people who never changed for many years. I take issue with the worldbuilding, I take issue with some of the designs, and I take issue with the moral. I was exceedingly disappointed in this movie.

Profile. Now THIS was a good movie. I would not be averse to seeing more movies shot like this, using the computer desktop as both film set and character. In addition this was an interesting topic, though I was tense for the whole movie, afraid the main character was going to slip up. Very good, very tense movie to sit through.

Mighty Ira. So, this is a documentary about one of the great leaders of the ACLU. It was interesting to see this, especially since it shed more light on the whole Skokie situation than I’d heard of before. Good watch. Informative.

#child loves movies #child loves shows #child loves books #recent media consumed #mind your peas and queues

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popculturebuffet · 4 years

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Darkwing Duck Reviews: Darkly Dawns the Duck Pts 1 and 2

It’s a Darkwing Double Feature! Just in time for his ducktales special, I take a look at the introduction of everyone’s favorite Daring Duck of Mystery. In his daring debut we meet Darkwing Duck, an egositical and attention hungry superhero who soon finds himself having to look after a feisty orphan to keep her from getting nabbed by local kingpin of crime Taurus Bulba with the help of his biggest fan. Darkwing owns the night under the cut with decades old spoilers.

Let’s Get Dangerous.. is tommorow so with that in mind i’m doing a darkwing double feature to refresh myself before the big special. So i’ll be covering both the original series pilot “Darkly Dawns the Duck” and the ducktales reboot episode “The Duck Knight Returns”. Let’s Get Dangerous Itself because I was so wiped yesterday I didn’t get the other review done and unexpectly got acess to the new episode way earlier than usual so i’d rather focus on that. Got it? Good. Let’s continue past me.

As usual with a new show a breif bit about my history with it: I watched it years ago, as a friend of mine lent me the first two discs of the season 1 dvd and never found the third one nor asked for them back, nor cared I had them. I thoughtly enjoyed it, had a great time and then it took me a decade or so to actually watch the series again due to a combination of being too stubborn to just buy the season 1 dvd again, a very darkwing move of me in hindsight, and then when disney plus meant I had all episodes at my finger tips I.. sat on them till now.. though to be fair i’ve sat on a LOT of great shows on there including the mandalorian, gargoyles and boy meets world. I have a bad tendency to procastinate, the fact this is coming out so late in the day should be a giveaway. I did read about half of volume 1 of the comic and all of volume 2, so there’s that at least. Point is this new episode finally made me decide to get off my ass and watch darkwing once again, starting with the pilot and the episodes related to the fearsome four to be ready for tomorrow to see what the differences are (Thoguh I did remember bushroot vividly, so I had that at least). Something to note before I get started talking about the pilot itself though, is the episode order for Darkwing Duck is a Darkwing Clusterfuck. Now I do understand WHY they aired this way: While some episodes do logically take place after other episodes, you can reasonably pop on just about any darkwing and watch it and enjoy it with minimal need to know what happened in previous episodes, kinda like batman the animated series oddly enough. It was also aired between two networks so on some level I get disney’s confusion here.. but on the other hand it’d take ten minutes, they clearly can call up the creator easily as Tad Stones made a cameo in ducktales 2017 we’ll get to so they could easily get a better order from the creator himself, so they really don’t have an excuse for this, or for slapping the pilot in the middle of season 1. Then again both ducktales 2017 and x-men the animated series were sort of a mess order wise when first put up, so not giving a shit about where episodes are placed for re-watching clearly is a pastime of theirs.

Now i’ve got that out of my system we can dive into the episode itself and a breif plot synopsis. Darkwing Duck is the superhero protector of St. Canard, a masked vigiliante who takes out crime but wishes he actually got fame and credit for his work. Kind of like Booster Gold but without taking endorsments or as far as we know coming from the future. He also has nothing else as shown by the fact he fights crime, does a training regimine to prepare his breakfast that’s a delight to watch then prepares to sleep. It’s an intresting concept, a hero who HAD a civlian identity once, as the rest of the series would play out, he just no longer needs it. And it’s also ahead of it’s time as batman would explore this idea both seriously with bruce wayne murderer and comedically and seriously with the lego batman movie LONG after this series aired, meaning the writers here figured out what many probably knew about batman and put it into their parody version: Batman is the real identity and Bruce is the mask. Batman only keeps his old self because the bruce id is useful to him: It keeps people away from his company, puts up a playboy facade that draws attention away from him being batman, and allows him to do various charities and what not and help honor his parents in a way that dosen’t involve swooping in and kicking people in the throat. And as seen with bruce wayne murderer when the option to throw bruce away for good came up Batman gladly took it. This is the same idea: Drake Mallard ONLY cares about crime fighting, has no friends no family, we never do find out jack about his family hopefully if there’s a full reboot series Frank and Matt fix it for their version. He has nothing, and is fine with that. He hasn’t really had a reason to care about anything else than his own glory and works alone not because it’s less efficent but because his oversized ego means he dosen’t want to share credit. IT’s an intresting start and his ego would be a defining bit of who he is and used intrestingly int he reboot but we’ll get to that there.

His life changes forever though when local crime boss Taurus Bulba unleashes his latest scheme: To steal the Ramrod, a gravity manipulating device created by the late Dr. Quackmeyer.. late because Bulba’s men killed him and were dumb enough not to get the arming code for the ramrod first a year ago. Bulba is also behind bars but in one of my faviorite gags of the episode despite the warden’s constnat gloating, Bulba has taken the “Supervillian makes jail into a base” Or “Jail is nothing to a supervillian who can easily get out trope” to ludcrious machines. He has whole meetings with his minions, keeps the ramrod once he gets his hands on it in the laundry and has a ship SHAPED LIKE HIS FACE built into his cellblock. I’ts just so over the top it’s glorious. But yeah since Bulba can’t go after it at first he sends his three goofy minons, one played by eddie “Mandark” deezen in.. love that guy.

THey do end up stealing the ramrod thanks to the help of bulba’s cool, non-anthromporhic condor who he uses as his right hand man and as his link to his minons via a small tv aroudn it’s neck. That.. is awesome. Darkwing spots the condor but fails to stop the three stooges or the condor and gets unknowingly blamed for the robbery..and stopped to get glamor shots not realizing the guy thought he was a criminla which.. fair enough. It is a shadowy disguise after all.

Darkwing ends up grabbing onto the vulture sonic 3 style, but ends up falling off him into a hangar where we meet the original version of Launchpad McQuack, whose apparently quit working for scrooge and has his own hangar now though it wouldn’t be a stretch that scrooge bought it for him.. he does , stingy as he is, appricate hard work and launchpad wanting to start his own buisness and while hte planes were probably all on launchpad, Scrooge would gladly buy a run down buliding for a loyal friend who wants to put in some hard honest work. Plus it’s a free place to store any vehicles he has in the st canard area.. I mean it’s still scrooge. And yes I know the whole “Tad stones said they aren’t the same universe” non sense. I do have the utmost respect for the guy and he seems really, nice but I don’ tlike that, no one likes that and both the comics and the current duckverse with the ducktales reboot entirely ignore that for good reason.While the two shows are diffrent in tone they stil lfit and it’s not a stretch for launchpad to want to spread his wings or failing that scrooge to help push him out of the nest and give him his own buisness or one of scrooge’s to run.

But while Launchpad does help DW with a propeller plane they fail and while launchpad offers to be his sidekick, DW gives him the old I work alone bit. However him being alone won’t last for long as Bulba still needs that arming code and since his only lead is Waddlemeyer’s grandaughter who grew up in his lab, he sends his buffonish minons to go get him. Why he never sends his lone female minon with them is because it’s funnier if she dosen’t I guess. Which it is so fair enough. So thus we enter Goslyn, who the head of the orphanage is fed up with due to her antics. Goslyn is played as most of you knwo by christine cavanagh.. I honestly forgot and it still throws me off a bit she’s using what would later be her chucky finster voice for a character so completely diffrent. Granted it’s not unusual in voice acting, just weird here and only for me personally having grown up with rugrats but not darkwing. The orphanage head is a bit less jarring as she’s played by Marcia Wallace, aka Edna Krabable from the simpsons but A) that show was already running at this point and B), the character is basically a nicer version of edna versus chuckies voice coming out of a tiny if immensly fun to watch hellion. I do like goslyn, sh’es a fun character even in her shadier moments, it’s just something i’d forgotten about i’ll need to get used to is all.

Bulba’s hired goons come in claming ot be friends of her grandpas and we actually get some really heartwrenching context for Gos’ behavior: While she does act out she actually LIKES THE orphanage.. ti’s just her friends keep getting adopted while no one wants someone “full of spirit”. It’s heartwrecnhing to hear.. and only gets worse when the goons try and kidnap her. Thankfully Darkwing.. also kidnaps her, but he kindaps her from kidnappers and while Goslyn naturally takes a second to realize he’s the good guy them shooting at him clues her in. Darkwing, in a rare for the series as a whole moment of reason and not wanting to just power though something himself TRIES to do the responsible thing and leave gos with the police where she’ll be protected.. but given they think he’s a wanted criminal they shoot at him.. and the small child in his motorcycle. Yup that’s the police alright.

So with no other options Darkwing takes gos home, hyjinks insue including her activintg the breakfast thing. But the two genuinely start to bond. While Darkwing dosen’t WANT to keep her around, the whole not wanting connections thing, it’s clear he’s growing fond of the little snot as she holds her own with his trianing course, they have a tickle fight and in the sweetest moment of the episode the two sing little girl blue, a song her grandfather used to sing her to sleep that she teaches darkwing. It’s an utterly heartmelting bit and Cummings and Cavanagh really sell the hell out of it. It also however turns out ot be plot relevant: Turns out just in case Dr. Waddlemeyer hid the code for the ramrod in the song, and when Darkwing sees a photo Goslyn got from bulba’s goons, he realizes this and realizes that depsite thinking she didn’t know it Goslyn had it all along.. and that as long as h’es around she won’t know. Bulba is naturally livid at his minons failure and decides now’s the time to take this into his own hands and while he actually liked the prison hq setup, as it did make sense as it was the perfect cover and the warden was too full of himself to realize Bulba was still active and too convinced the bull was beaten down when he clearly wasn’t, but instead as mentioned above awesomely converts his cellblock into a flying ship in the shape of his own head. Bulba.. is a great villian and I only think the show didn’t use him more because he’s a dead serious, deadly dangerous villian in an otherwise goofy but fun superhero parody show. The show later gained Negaduck, so they had a more dangerous threat for darkwing that fit the show’s tone better while still being utterly terrifying, and likely simply didn’t need him till the idea for the steerminator came up. But I love the guy: he reminds me a lot of the kingpin, a threatning villian who uses his sheer size to beat our hero down, is cool and suave and is an utter mastermind at planning. He also wears a nice suit. And naturlaly he has a plan to take out darkwing since despite the two never having met, as Darkwing disparages when Goslyn assumes their lifelong mortal enmies like in the comics, they know of each other.. and thus bulba knows exactly what trap to spring to get him out of the way and goslyn into his ship: He flashes a message in morris code that he wants to surrender to Darkwing while stroking his ego a LOT. And it works... while i’ts an obvious trap Darkwing’s so full of himself he goes despite Goslyn telling him it’s very obviously a trap. Naturally everything goes pear shaped as a result: Bulba shows up, revealing gos not only to be right but easily pummling Darkwing. Which makes sense: While Darkwing is a vetran crime fighter and secret agent, Bulba’s been at being a villian longer clearly as he’s built up enough of a rep both for Darkwing to know him out of hand and for the warden to be proud capturing him. Given what univese this is, it probably isn’t Bulba’s first round with a superhero and given at this stage St Canard only has one.. yeah Darkwing is outclasssed and the police grab him while Bulba scarpers. And while Gos puts up a good fight using the trianing course, Bulba’s vulture gets her. Bulba has everything he needs. Darkwing meanwhile actually bemoans what a dick he’s been, that the first person he’s cared about besides himself in possibly ever is now in the hands of a murderous mastermind, and that he’s stuck in jail with no one to call on for help. Thankfully.. help arrives.. and by help I mean launchpad backing the ratcatcher, Darkwing’s bike, into the prisoin. He DID come just to bail DW out despite his earlier jerkishness, but backed in and Darkwing not beliving superheroes have time for paperwork, decides to just bust out. And to be ifair int his case he’s probably right as you know, a ten year old might die if they don’t get there in time. So off they go.. but with Bulba in the air they need something with wings to catch him. ANd luckily as Launchpad mentioned earlier he’s been working on something special for darkwing. It’s with this we enter the thunderquack, which is DW”S awesome headshaped plane. It’s just cool it’s got a nice design, goofy enough tof it the universe but cool enoguh to still be fun to watch. Darkwing has really damn cool vehicles, as the ratcatcher is also awesomely iconic. But yeah the thunderquack impresses darkwing and rightfully so and he decides to make LP his sidekick afterall. So now our heroes fly into the danger zone and attack bulba’s airship with Darkwing landing on the bow and a scuffle insues with darkwing and hte minons.. who use actual guns which for a 90′s kids show is a suprise, especially one this intentioanlly goofy, but boy is it nice. However Bulba, being awesomely evil, isn’t dumb and instead of fighting darkwing, which he could win but would win him nothing and having gotten nothing out of goslyn, figures the hero might know the code.. and while Darkwing lies and says he dosen’t, Bulba points out .. he’s right.. but he’s always been a gambling man and has his condor drop goslyn to lure drake into telling him , with DW putting in the code and bulba testing it with a bank robbery.. before predictably having his condor drop the girl because he no longer needs her. Thankfully launchpad catches her in time and then they get revenge on the condor with the thunderquack BITING IT.. which is awesome. Hopefully the reboot version does that.

Darkwing meanwhile saves the day, his new daughter and the city by simply sneaking over to the ramrod and mashign the keys till it overloads, silly, but undeniably awesome and effective. Bulba TRIES to finish off darkwing this time for foiling his plan.. btu the ramrod explodes and while bulba’s minons and goslyn and launchpad are safe... bulba and darkwing are apparently dead and it’s effective. A few weeks later Goslyn’s back at the orphanage utterly distraught and broken at being basically orphaned again. Naturally though Darkwing’s alive, having taken his old identnity back since now he has something worth using it for and adopts her, hinting at who he is so she goes with him. And Drake has changed.. sure he’ll still be as egostical and impuslive as he was here.. but he’s no longer just darkwing.. he’s drake again as he has someone worth fighting for.. two someones in fact. He has a friend, a loyal partner to help him fight cime. And more importantly.. he has a loving daughter. And both needed each other: Goslyn needed someone who understood her despite her manic energy, and Drake needed someone who needed him and not darkwing, a reason to be a person outside the cape and cowl and outside the attention again. He needed a reason to live again... and he’s got it. And it’s going to be great.

Final Thoughts: This pilot is excellent. Well paced, plenty of laughs, tense action and great introductions for everyone involved as well as a hell of a vilian> This is how you do a first episode: it introduces the main themes of the show, both comedically and dramatically, introduces the cast and gives us a one off , or rather two off it’d turn out, villian whose compelling and intresting. IT’s really damn good stuff and I can’t wait ot see what frank does with a simlar story tommorow. Until then, stay safe, and happy hallowen. We’ll be back shortly for The Duck Knight returns and then Let’s Get Dangerous tommorow.

#darkwing duck #reviews #ducktales #darkly dawns the duck #drake mallard #goslyn mallard #launchpad mcquack #tarus bulba #the disney afternoon #the 90's

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jbk405 · 4 years

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Story-arcs of The Clone Wars

Yesterday I was talking about Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and how to watch this series (And Rebels) to catch up and understand Ahsoka’s appearance in The Mandalorian. Since TCW was an anthology series its episodes frequently jumped around in chronological order (The very earliest episode doesn’t come out until the second season, and the pilot movie is technically third) and so there’s a thousand-and-one different “proper” ways to watch the series. Some say to watch it in straight chronological order so that you get the full story, others say to watch it in production/release order since that’s the way it was meant to be experienced, and some have their own personal mishmash based on story-arcs.

Throughout the series they frequently had three- and four-part story-arcs that formed what were essentially mini-movies (This is what they did for the original theatrical release). Quite often these were among the best episodes of the series, and they contributed the most to the ongoing storylines that built towards what happened in the movies, what came next in Rebels, and which are now being followed in The Mandalorian.

I can’t give a final ruling on the overall order to watch the series, but what I can do is give an overview of the various individual story-arcs. My takes on their quality, how accessible they are to new viewers, and where they fit in the story. I will be covering them in release order from beginning to end, skipping over the standalone and two-part episodes. I won’t do season seven as it is still recent, and that is the climax to all of these arcs.

So, with no further ado:

Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008): The pilot movie, which had a theatrical release. As I said, this was composed of what were originally the first four episodes of the show, and I find that the enjoyment is a lot better if you view it that way instead of as a single whole. As an introduction to the series it serves functionally well: It introduces Ahsoka Tano and it features almost all of the main players of the series (Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Padme, Count Dooku, Asajj Ventress, Rex, Cody, etc.). Quality wise it’s “Okay”. I disliked it when I first saw it back in 2008, but when I rewatched it a few months ago it was a lot better than I remembered so it’s possible I was just in whiny “It’s not REAL Star Wars!” mode back in 2008. If you’re watching it with somebody who doesn’t like ‘cartoons’ or is an Original Trilogy purist this may not be the best place to start since it doesn’t present the best first impression, but if they’ve got an open mind or are interested in the series it could work.

Malevolence Arc (Season 1): Three episodes of the first season revolving around the Separatists’ new superweapon, a powerful ion canon aboard the dreadnought Malevolence. The first episode shows them discovering the weapon, the second disabling it, and the third episode shows their attempts to finish destroying the ship itself. There are numerous references and homages to the original Star Wars film and the effort to escape/destroy the Death Star. This arc has some great character work (Jedi Master Plo Koon is heavily featured and he is a heavy fan favorite, plus a personal favorite of Dave Filoni) and some light debates on the worth of the life of a clone. However, this early the show is still working out its kinks so there’s a few points where characters fundamentally misunderstand the whole “Jedi shouldn’t have attachments” philosophy, and the supposedly competent military commanders make baseline errors that come close to sabotaging their own forces. An adequate jump-on point for the series, just bear in mind that it does get better.

Nute Gunray Arc (Season 1): A very loose three-part arc, it follows a different primary cast each episode as one group initially captures Separatist leader Nute Gunray, another transports him, and a third tries to recapture him after he escapes. Each episode of this arc is very different tonally from the one before, it starts with a semi-comical Jar Jar Binks episode, the middle is a military action story, and the conclusion is a much more intimate military action, almost horror story. Jedi Masters Luminara Unduli and Kit Fisto appear in parts two and three. The episodes themselves are good, but I would recommend against this being your first exposure since their loose connection means they don’t really build to anything as a whole by watching them together.

Ryloth Arc (Season 1): Three episodes towards the end of the first season showing the different stages of the Republic’s attempt to liberate the planet Ryloth from Separatist occupation. Here is where the arcs start to pick up a little bit of steam: Each episode shows a different stage of the invasion and focuses on different characters, but unlike the Gunray arc they are all still the same story. The first episode focuses on Anakin and Ahsoka trying to break the Separatist blockade so they can reach the planet, the second focuses on Obi-Wan Kenobi attempting to destroy ground-based weaponry so they can land their forces on the surface, and the third focuses on Mace Windu leading the attack on the Separatist capital. This is the first arc to really try and show the cost and effects of war: Ahsoka loses a lot of men in the first episode and struggles with that guilt when they need to attack again, Obi-Wan needs to circumvent civilian hostages and human shields that the Separatists are using, and Mace needs to ally with the local resistance and try to forge a partnership despite their admittedly not-identical goals. These aren’t the individually best episodes of the entire season, but it’s probably the best arc of the season.

Children of the Force Arc (Season 2): The three episodes that open season two. This introduces Cad Bane, a bounty hunter hired to steal a Jedi Holocron so that Darth Sidious can get a list of Force-sensitive children the Jedi have found and can kidnap them to raise as his evil lackeys. The first episode is a heist episode, the second an action retrieval episode, and the third a chase episode. I will admit to not liking this arc as much as others seem to, because the main characters keep making ridiculous decisions that only make sense if they have literally forgotten other parts of the story (For example, a Holocron can only be opened by somebody using the Force, so the Jedi initially don’t believe that anybody would bother trying to steal one because it would be useless to them. This requires them to just forget the existence Count Dooku, a former Jedi who is leading the Separatists and who would love to gain their secrets). However, despite not being my personal favorite, this could serve as a good intro if you wanted to start here. Cad Bane recurs in several future episodes so it’s a good introduction, and it features a large portion of the primary cast. It also has good action, and several bits of character development for Ahsoka, Anakin, and their relationship.

Geonosis Arc (Season 2): A four-part arc (Some people actually include the preceding episode as well to make it five episodes, but I don’t), this is in my opinion the first really good arc and starts to show where The Clone Wars is going to excel as a series. This follows the Republic re-invasion of Geonosis (The planet from Attack of the Clones) after the Separatists have somehow managed to overwhelm the forces left there after the film. The first episode is straight military action, often described as being like Saving Private Ryan and other WWII films focusing on the Normany invasions. The second episode is military espionage, a sabotage mission. The third (Believe it or not) switches over to a zombie episode and goes straight horror. The fourth stays horror, but instead of zombies it’s paranoia from spreading mind control. Barriss Offee is introduced here, and her master Luminara Unduli returns. The cast semi-rotates throughout the four episodes, with different Jedi ‘sets’ being primary in different episodes. It gives a perfect highlight of all the different characters and shows some excellent development as well (Including just how much Anakin’s fear of losing those he cares about can cloud his judgement, and how this can push him towards morally questionable actions). If you want to include the episode prior to this arc as well, that one is a political thriller based on the Alfred Hitchock film Notorious. As I said, I don’t really count it as being in this arc, but it does set up the plot so others do count it.

Mandalore Arc (Season 2): This arc introduces a whole new faction to the series: the Mandalorians. The planet Mandalore itself has renounced its violent ways and its leader, the pacifist Duchess Satine Kryze, leads an alliance of 1,500 neutral worlds that want to stay out of the clone wars. However, there are rumors that the Duchess is actually in league with the Separatists, and apart from the rumors there have also been attacks by people wearing Mandalorian armor, so Obi-Wan is sent to figure out what’s going on. He and the Duchess have a history that is separated by their opposed political views. The first episode shows Obi-Wan on Mandalore looking into the subversive group Death Watch, the second episode shows them all journeying to Coruscant to speak with the Galactic Senate, and the third tries to expose a Separatists conspiracy on Coruscant itself. This is the first arc with Obi-Wan as the primary focus for all three episodes, though Anakin and Padme do join in parts two and three. This arc could serve as an intro if you wanted to enter the series here, since the Mandalorians will grow into a major part of the series and will intertwine with Obi-Wan’s personal arc for seasons to come. For those looking to get background on The Mandalorian, this is also where we start learning things about their culture that show up in the live-action series.

Boba Fett arc (Season 2): The three-part finale to season two. Boba Fett -- still a child keep in mind -- infiltrates a Republic cruiser with a group of clone cadets in a plot to kill Mace Windu in revenge for Windu killing Jango Fett. He has a group of bounty hunters helping him, and when Windu survives the original assassination attempt things spin further and further out of control. I honestly don’t have much to say about this arc. It’s not bad, but I find it kinda forgettable. It’s got some good character scenes, and a few good action pieces, but other than that....eh. Despite this, this arc could also serve as an entry to the series since it builds off the Attack of the Clones film more than it does any previous episodes of this series.

Nightsisters arc (Season 3): Here is where the series takes a hard left turn. This arc focuses primarily on Asajj Ventress, Count Dooku’s assassin. Darth Sidious feels that Ventress is growing too powerful, and Dooku may be thinking of using her to help overthrow him, so he orders Dooku to kill her. Ventress survives, and escapes back to her people: the Nightsisters of Dathomir. They accept her back, and help her try to get revenge on Dooku. First through a direct assassination attempt, and when that fails they trick Dooku into accepting a new apprentice that they have brainwashed to betray him at their command, Savage Oppress. This is the first arc to focus primarily on one of the villains (None of the heroic main cast appear in its second episode at all) and when it ends both Ventress and Oppress are alive and working independently as new factions in the plot. This changes the status quo for the rest of the series, and introduces a new plot thread as well: The return of Darth Maul, the brother of Savage Oppress.

Mortis arc (Season 3): Another three-part arc, this is the first real foray of Star Wars into straight fantasy, and the first attempt of this series to address the Prophecy of the Chosen One. Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Ahsoka find themselves on a mysterious planet with properties they cannot explain, populated by ‘Force Wielders’ of immense power and who represent the Light, the Dark, and the Balance. Almost all of the sci-fi trappings around the Force are dropped, these people are clearly wizards/angels/demons. It gives a lot of character focus on the three leads, directly addressing their hopes and fears and their destinies. It’s so different from the rest of the series that it may not function as a good introduction, but it gives such a good presentation of each character I heavily recommend against skipping it.

Citadel arc (Season 3): This is a military rescue arc, with Anakin, Ahsoka and Obi-Wan attempting to rescue a Jedi Master and a naval officer who have been captured by the Separatists, and who have vital military information that could change the course of the war. This is where you can first begin to really see The Empire growing unseen within the Republic, as the officer is in fact Captain Wilhuff Tarkin (AKA Grand Moff Tarkin, the villain of the original Star Wars film). Throughout the arc Tarkin and the Jedi have several debates about politics, the military, and the current war, as well as what the Jedi’s role should be in all three. At this point I think we’re past “introductions” to the series, as the series becomes ever more tightly interwoven over the remaining seasons. Tarkin will return as an antagonist in the future, and the cracks between Anakin (And Ahsoka) and the Jedi really start to widen.

Calamari arc (Season 4): The season four opener, this is a Water arc, which I have to applaud the franchise for finally doing. The water world of Mon Cala falls into civil war when the Quarren ally with the Separatists against the Republic-aligned Mon Calamari. We get to see Jedi Kit Fisto, an amphibious Nautolan, at home underwater while our air-breathing main cast are in scuba suits and helmets. Unfortunately, when the underwater fighting spills out of control the Republic needs to bring in the also-amphibious Gungans to fight and I find this part of the story ridiculous (They’re the only other amphibious species with an army? The Republic has never had to fight on a water world before, so they don’t have any widely available submersibles? Come on). Despite this contrivance, I very much like that the series finally addresses how different species require different environments. The Separatists use shark people on this planet, as they would be useless on other worlds but this is the perfect locale for them. The arc doesn’t have much of a story impact for later, it’s self-contained action/adventure.

Umbara arc (Season 4): One of the best arcs of the series, this arc (As reviewer SF Debris put it), “Puts the ‘war’ in ‘Star Wars’”. A four-part arc, the focus is almost entirely on the Clone Troopers of the 501st, who are normally under Anakin’s command but are being transferred to Jedi General Pong Krell when Anakin is recalled to Coruscant. Anakin only appears in the first episode, and none of the Jedi main cast appear in the other three episodes except for holo-communications with Obi-Wan. All the episodes are filled with intense action, but the series also finally really digs in to what it means to be a Clone, and the morality around using them for battle. ALL the props for Dee Bradley Baker who spends all four episodes talking to himself as dozens of different clone characters. They debate loyalty, duty, training, the values of their own lives, and the value of a system that claims to stand for freedom but which doesn’t offer it to them. These concepts had been touched before in individual episodes which also focused on the clones, but never to this extent or depth. I consider this arc one of the stand-out entries of the entire Star Wars franchise.

Slaver arc (Season 4): To be honest, I’ve never quite been able to get a good grasp on this three-part arc. After a village full of Togrutas (Ahsoka’s people) are kidnapped by slavers allied with the Separatists, Anakin, Obi-Wan and Ahsoka go undercover to locate and rescue them. I suppose it’s an okay arc, but it just never clicked for me. Nobody seems to recognize the problems with forcing Anakin -- a former slave -- to go undercover as a slaver. The slavers sometimes try to pull a “Slavery is actually moral because the strong are supposed to dominate the weak” speech, but it never comes close to working on Anakin (Again, he is a former slave) so there’s never any tension of “Oh no, will he decide the villain is right and betray his friends?”. Individual parts of the arc are well done (There’s a hilarious part of the first episode where Obi-Wan is getting his ass kicked, only to reveal that he was just playing along to buy time and just effortlessly mops the floor once he knows he can stop pretending) but as a whole....eh.

Deception arc (Season 4): A four-part arc, Obi-Wan has to go undercover as an assassin in order to infiltrate a Separatist criminal plot. To do so, he stages his own murder and then impersonates the assassin. You really see Anakin start to come apart in this arc, he’s a hair's breadth from just executing the ‘assassin’ when he catches him, and he is barely holding on to any of the Jedi teachings in his anger. Ahsoka is likewise conflicted, and though not as completely overcome as Anakin she likewise questions their responsibilities in this case. Obi-Wan faces the standard moral quandaries of being undercover: How far does he go to retain his cover when it comes to harming innocents? How much harm does he let the other criminals do before interfering? This is one of the arcs where each episode has its own type as they progress, from Prison Episode to Fugitive Episode to Planning Episode to Crime Episode. Cad Bane returns, along with several other criminal characters.

Ventress/Oppress arc (Season 4): Some classify this is as two separate two-episode arcs, but I view them as one. The first two episodes focus on Asajj Ventress (No Jedi characters appear at all) as she first tries to re-assimilate to the Nightsisters, but they are soon wiped out by the Separatists in revenge for their plot against Count Dooku in season three. Ventress escapes with no personal goals or direction, and eventually falls in with a group of bounty hunters. The last two episodes follow Savage Oppress on his quest to find his brother, Darth Maul, guided by a magic amulet from Mother Talzin of the Nightsisters. Maul is living in madness on a junkyard planet with a mechanical spider’s body grafted to his torso to replace the legs Obi-Wan cut off in The Phantom Menace. Obi-Wan attempts to stop their mutual rampage, and Ventress shows up for her own revenge against Oppress, but they are overpowered and barely manage to escape. This arc mainly serves as set-up for later arcs in season five, which build to the climaxes for the series.

Season five gives a slight shift from the earlier seasons: there are only story-arcs in this season, with no standalone episodes at all. Five four-part story-arcs fill out the entire season.

Onderon arc (Season 5): The planet Onderon has allied with the Separatists, but there is a pro-Republic underground fighting a guerilla war against the government. The main cast are sent to Onderon to train the resistance, without involving the Republic forces in an internal matter. Apart from the bizarre Prime Directive issue (The Republic is literally at war with the Separatists, I do not see any logic in saying they can’t ‘interfere’ in an internal matter of a Separatist planet) the arc works very well showing the main cast working from a very different angle from usual. They need to focus on being undetected and secret, taking into account public opinion around them and the effect their efforts have on the civilian populace. They cannot just fight the war themselves, they have to train the locals to take over so that they can leave and return to the primary war. Saw Gerrera is first introduced here, and Lux Bonteri returns from earlier in the series. This arc helps lay the groundwork for Ahsoka’s storyline at the end of this season in particular.

Youngling arc (Season 5): A group of Jedi children trainees come together to gather their first Kyber crystals, and subsequently get entangled in pirate raids and the larger war before they can return home. Ahsoka is present as their chaperone. This arc is almost “filler” since it really doesn’t have much of an effect on the larger story. To some viewers it was a fun arc that remembered that Star Wars isn’t just about war scenes. To others it was a waste of four episodes in a season that was so tightly packed it didn’t have any episodes to waste. For me...it’s better than a lot TV shows which introduce child characters where they really don’t belong, but I agree that it didn’t need full four episodes dedicated to them. A two-parter would have worked just as well, with the other two episodes free for another small story.

Droid Commando arc (Season 5): R2-D2 is added to a special droid commando unto being sent into Separatist space. Despite following this same group for the whole arc, each episode is a very unique and distinct story. Almost avant-garde for some of them. Like the Youngling arc it’s not that critical to the later stories, but it tells its own story.

Maul Mandalore arc (Season 5): Here is where, as they say, shit gets real. Maul decides that if he cannot rule the galaxy as a Sith Lord, he will will take power from the shadows as a Crime Lord. He and Oppress first try to take over a pirate gang, and when that fails (partially due to Obi-Wan) he joins up with Death Watch, the Mandalorian extremist group trying to take over Mandalore. Obi-Wan travels to Mandalore to help Duchess Satine against what he thinks is just a Death Watch takeover, unaware of Maul’s involvement. Simultaneously, Darth Sidious has sensed Maul’s growing power and is unwilling to have another player in his game, so he personally travels to Mandalore to deal with the situation. This arc is big. Several long-time recurring characters are killed off, and it had some of the most standout lightsaber duels of the entire series. This arc, and one other from later in season seven, is probably the most influential towards what happens in Rebels and The Mandalorian.

The Wrong Jedi arc (Season 5): Did I say that the last arc was where shit got real? Well, now it’s realer. There’s a bombing of the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, and Anakin & Ahsoka are investigating. However, it looks like it may have been an inside job by a Jedi, and Ahsoka herself is framed as the bomber. As Ahsoka is accused, imprisoned, and eventually a fugitive, this arc finally shows what the audience has known was coming all along: The Empire isn’t just coming, it’s here. The institutions of the Republic have been corrupted, and with the rationales of “it’s temporary” and “we need security” the freedoms and liberties that the entire clone wars were about have already been wiped away. Even the Jedi are not free from this corruption (Although personally, I very much disagree with the way the episode seems to accept the villain’s motivation speech as correct. It’s the only real flaw in the arc). This arc originally served as a pseudo-series finale since the series was cancelled after season five, and though I’m happy we got more, if it had to end here it would have been monumental.

Season six (Also known as “The Lost Missions”) is composed of the episodes that had been competed before the show was cancelled after Disney purchased Lucasfilm. It’s about half the length of a full season, and returns to the earlier mix of different-sized arcs.

Fives arc (Season 6): The four-part arc that opens the season, this finally addresses the point that has been looming over the series from the beginning: How could these stalwart, heroic Clone Troopers betray the Jedi they have fought side-by-side with for years when they receive Order 66? Clone Trooper Tup snaps and murders a Jedi, and this leads to an investigation amongst the Jedi if his is an isolated incident, or some sort of Separatist plot. Fives accompanies Tup back to Kamino for treatment, and is drawn deeper and deeper in as the Kaminoans seem more interested on covering things up than actually figuring anything out. The conspiracy widens more and more, until Fives believes that it is galaxy-wide and manipulating them all. This arc continues several of the moral and ethical questions surrounding the clones from earlier in the series, and moves the series firmly more towards the inevitable film storyline instead of the clone wars adventures themselves. This is another one of the arcs where each episode has its own tone, from the “No one gets left behind” military mission, to the rogue patient plot, to the paranoid conspiracy pursuit.

Clovis arc (Season 6): This is another one of the arcs that never quite clicked for me. Rush Clovis returns from earlier in the series in the hopes of reforming the Banking Clan and bringing ‘honor’ back after it has been corrupted by the greed of the clone wars. However he was previously a Separatist, and despite their explanation of how it’s okay I keep thinking at every scene that they should arrest him for treason, not let him continue to operate in the Republic government. Plus, when has anybody ever viewed banks as Honorable Institutions with Good Old Ways? I do believe that it is possible for a bank to act honorably and treat its customers fairly, but not that banking itself is some sort of Ancient Honorable Institution. Maybe if season 6 had a full complement of episodes I wouldn’t mind this detour, but since it was cut short I begrudge every wasted episode.

Yoda arc (Season 6): Another pseudo-series finale, these are the final episodes of the season and would have served as the end of the series if season seven had not been revived. Yoda goes on a vision quest to try and parse out so many of the mysteries of the clone wars and the manipulations of the Dark Side. Like the earlier Mortis arc, these episodes are straight fantasy as Yoda faces the ghosts of people from his past and his own internal demons. They make an effort to address what it means when people say that the Jedi have become corrupted by fighting in this war, and they try to reconcile their peacekeeper philosophy with serving as soldiers. The arc ends on the depressed-yet-hopeful note which is the mantra of Star Wars of this era, as the Empire’s rise may be inevitable but there is still hope for afterwards.

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aion-rsa · 4 years

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The Mandalorian Season 2: Boba Fett’s Return Explained

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This Star Wars article contains spoilers.

From the very beginning, Boba Fett has inspired The Mandalorian. Showrunner Jon Favreau’s “toy box” approach pitched protagonist Din Djarin as a Boba Fett-like figure, and although the two are quite different in terms of personality and history, the iconic silhouette of the space western gunslinger is very similar.

But now Boba Fett himself is back in The Mandalorian season 2, played by none other than Temuera Morrison in a very brief cameo. At the very end of the season 2 premiere “The Marshall,” we find Boba watching from a hill as Mando rides off with his old armor, a scowl on the old Mandalorian’s face that would silence a krayt dragon. With all the Mandalorian history and bounty hunting on the show, it was only a matter of time before we finally got to see Boba in the flesh!

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While new Star Wars fans may not be as familiar with Boba Fett, fans who’ve spent hours rewatching the Original Trilogy of movies likely let out a shriek when Morrison hit the screen on the live-action series. The helmeted bounty hunter first appeared in the Star Wars Holiday Special in animated form, but more famously in The Empire Strikes Back as a mysterious figure able to talk back to Darth Vader without consequences. Although he’s barely on screen and speaks very few lines in Empire and Return of the Jedi, his iconic look and intimidating swagger have made him one of the most popular characters in the saga. Most Star Wars fans will recognize his iconic T-visored Mandalorian helmet, jetpack, and gauntlets that can shoot either missiles or ropes for capturing bounties alive. His entire storyline in the Original Trilogy involved hunting down Han Solo for Jabba the Hutt, and he’d fit right in The Mandalorian’s Bounty Hunter’s Guild.

Morrison isn’t the original actor to play Boba Fett: that’s Jeremy Bulloch, who wore the helmet in the Original Trilogy. Other people helped bring the character to life, too. John Morton filled in as body double for Bulloch and Jason Wingreen provided the voice. But Morrison played Jango Fett in Attack of the Clones and is, therefore, the live-action face for all of Jango’s clones, including Boba. This is also why George Lucas later dubbed Morrison’s voice over Wingreen’s performance for the DVD release of the Original Trilogy in 2004.

Unsurprisingly, Boba Fett’s return has sparked a lot of talk among fans, who will likely spend the entire season theorizing how the bounty hunter was able to escape his fate in Return of the Jedi and what his arrival might mean for The Mandalorian. Let’s discuss…

Why Is Boba Fett Returning in The Mandalorian?

Disney has already tried to bring Boba Fett back to live-action twice since it purchased Lucasfilm and the rights to Star Wars in 2012. In 2015, Fantastic Four director Josh Trank was attached to direct a Boba Fett movie that was originally going to be announced as a third Star Wars Story standalone movie, along with Rogue One and Solo. According to an interview with Polygon, Trank “quit because I knew I was going to be fired if I didn’t quit” after Fantastic Four‘s dismal performance and the well-known behind-the-scenes drama during production.

The Boba Fett project was revived in 2018, with Logan director James Mangold set to helm the movie, but this second attempt was also shelved after Solo‘s tepid turn at the box office that same year. Simon Kinberg, Rebels producer and Dark Phoenix director, would have co-written the movie.

In 2020, The Mandalorian provides perhaps the best re-entry point for Boba Fett. Not only does it star a main character with a similar occupation and a taste for carbonite, but it delves deeper into Mandalorian culture as well as what happened to places like Tatooine after the fall of the Empire. Even though Boba Fett isn’t Mandalorian by blood, the fate of Mandalore could still affect him personally, especially since his father was a member of that culture, even if Jango was treated like an outcast by the planet’s pacifist government. Would Fett still be an ally of the Empire after what they did to his father’s people?

The show first teased the return of Boba Fett in the season 1 episode “The Gunslinger.” That episode ends with a mysterious figure inspecting the body of Din Djarin’s latest target on Tatooine. When does this moment take place with respect to Fett’s timeline? Has he just escaped the sarlacc or has he spent the years since Return of the Jedi as a hermit in the desert? Has he been following Din’s tracks all along? The cameo seems to confirm Boba’s hermit status, as we see him wearing black robes and carrying a rifle as his own protection. (He very likely wants his armor back.)

But has he also been tracking Mando? When it comes to a bounty as big as the one on Din and Baby Yoda‘s heads in season 1, there’s no doubt that the greatest bounty hunter in the galaxy would have heard about it. And if the underworld has forgotten him after he was swallowed whole by the sarlacc, what better way to reclaim his reputation than by collecting the bounty no one else could?

That’s not to say that the bounty hunter has definitely returned as a villain. For one thing, this could just be a cameo or perhaps the very start of an arc that will see Boba following our heroes around, waiting for the right moment to reveal himself.

However Fett’s story plays out, it could set up future adventures for the character, just like the ones he had before Disney erased the classic Legends continuity from canon.

How Did Boba Fett Survive the Sarlacc Pit?

Fett’s death in Return of the Jedi wasn’t the end for the bounty hunter in the pre-Disney Legends continuity. In fact, he lived a long life that stretched decades beyond the events of the Original Trilogy. But how did he survive a fate as gruesome as being slowly digested over a thousand years inside of the sarlacc?

Fans learned in the classic Dark Horse comic series Dark Empire by Tom Veitch and Cam Kennedy that Fett’s armor allowed him to survive inside the sarlacc and fight his way out, blowing up the creature in the process (a move very similar to how Mando escaped the belly of the krayt dragon in “The Marshall”). The novel The Mandalorian Armor by K.W. Jeter further explained that it was rival bounty hunter Dengar who found Boba Fett half-dead in the desert and nursed him back to health.

From that point on, Fett became a regular character in the Legends Expanded Universe, featuring in many bounty-hunter focused books. He also made a brief cameo in the 19-book New Jedi Order series and appeared in the Jedi-focused Legacy of the Force and Fate of the Jedi books. In fact, Fett lived on until the very end of the Legends timeline, completely defying the odds after his initial demise in Return of the Jedi.

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Boba Fett eventually became the leader of the Mandalorians, which had a sprawling culture and even their own official language in Legends. Fett had a family and his granddaughter ended up assisting in the training of Jaina Solo, Han and Leia’s daughter.

As in the Sequel Trilogy, Legends included the continuation of the Skywalker-Solo clan, and, while Fett mostly kept to himself as the leader of a third faction sometimes opposed and sometimes allied with the Republic, he was involved with incorporating Mandalorian fighting into Jaina’s Jedi training. He also became a formal ally of the Jedi in the war against Jaina’s brother, Jacen Solo/Darth Caedus, in Legacy of the Force.

Will the Disney canon do something similar with Boba Fett’s post-Return of the Jedi story? We don’t know what the studio might have in mind for Fett, or whether he will eventually turn into a more sympathetic anti-hero character, but it wouldn’t be surprising if some elements from his Legends storyline were brought into the new canon. That’s exactly what Disney did with Grand Admiral Thrawn, another character whose Legends story was pieced together in a new way in the canon animated series Rebels.

How Boba Fett Might Connect to Baby Yoda

Boba, as we all know, isn’t a traditional Mandalorian — he’s a clone. He wasn’t born on Mandalore, he wasn’t connected to a traditional cultural/religious covert like Din Djarin in The Mandalorian, and his father Jango, a killer willing to sell his clones to the Republic, doesn’t exactly seem like a traditionalist in the vein of the Armorer or Mandalorian leader Bo-Katan Kryze.

There’s certainly some kind of cloning plot being woven into The Mandalorian. In season 1, Ugnaught hero Kuill suggested that Baby Yoda could be a “strand-cast,” a type of bio-engineered clone that Emperor Palpatine hoped to use as the perfect vessel for his spirit after his original body was destroyed in the Battle of Endor. We know that Dr. Pershing, an Imperial scientist, wanted to experiment on the Child before Din decided to rescue him. Was Baby Yoda part of the Emperor’s plan to find a new vessel or a clone of Master Yoda the Emperor planned to turn to the dark side?

Or is Baby Yoda the result of a separate strand-cast experiment that worked where so many of the Sith’s failed? If this is the case, the Empire would undoubtedly want to see how the Child not only survived the cloning process but also became powerful in the Force. As we learn in The Rise of Skywalker, the Emperor’s own clones were all massive disappointments on that front.

What if Boba Fett is hunting Baby Yoda for what’s left of the Empire? Would they feel any sort of affinity toward each other if they’re both clones, or would Boba Fett be the cold-hearted killer to Din Djarin’s heartfelt foundling? The potential clone connection could make for a captivating storyline in season 2.

Fans certainly have had a lot of time to come up with opinions, headcanon, and theories about the bounty hunter. Fett speaks sparingly and radiates intimidation, even if his most famous role features him falling into a large pit. Attack of the Clones and The Clone Wars added to Fett’s backstory and showed him learning the ropes of the bounty hunting trade. All that could be paid off in The Mandalorian, depending on how the show incorporates Morrison now that he’s made his return.

The Star Wars franchise has been in a rather uncertain place since the Disney purchase, with movies doing well at the box office but cultural cache falling. The Mandalorian is one of the most unquestionably successful and high-quality parts of the franchise right now, so it’s a good business decision to bring a very popular character to the show. We’ll see what that means for the story.

The Mandalorian season 2 airs Fridays at 12:01 pm PT/3:01 am ET on Disney+.

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forceprojecdin · 5 years

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Hero’s Journey of The Mandalorian (Season 1)

The first live action Star Wars TV show The Mandalorian is a master class in 2 elements that are central to the ongoing success of this franchise. One is its expertly woven Joseph Campbell “Hero’s Journey”, the other is the cinema, and how the artful design, cinematography and editing lure the viewer into repeat viewings. The latter has not been see in modern blockbuster movies at this level for a long time. Only possible because George Lucas hand-picked and well trained apprentice Dave Filoni is at the co-helm. Lucas has said if he wasn’t a movie maker, he would have been an abstract painter, and that is one reason his movies are more re-watchable than others. His student is also a visual artist. But I digress, this post will show the Hero’s Journey of season one, of which, Jon Favreau has admittedly studied and admired from Lucas’ work. Bravo F&F! Everything ahead is a spoiler.

Chapter One: The Mandalorian

The premiere is about the Call To Adventure (step 1). Par for the saga. Except, this time there is no usual hesitation, which is known as Refusal Of The Call (step 2). One might think the call to adventure comes from Werner Herzog’s ”The Client” or Carl Weathers’ ”Greef Carga” characters, who send him on the path of a life changing bounty. While this is the case in part, the true call comes from his conscience, when he is faced with saving the life a child SPOILER .... of the Yoda species, from the attempted infanticide by co-bounty hunter IG-11.

Before setting off on his true adventure, he receives Supernatural Aid (step 3) from an Ugnaught named Kuiil, played by Nick Nolte. This isn’t the usual “wizard” type, but he is an elder, and in classic myth, especially Indigenous mythology The Elder usually poses a high wisdom, compassion and spiritual understanding, which Kuiil fully possesses as well.

Almost every journey in the saga starts with a shot of our hero over some sort of cliff, and this is always symbolic of Crossing First Threshold (step 4). The cliff is the jumping off point, into the “field of adventure”. Mando is leaving his “known limits” Just like Luke and Ben over the cliff before Mos Eisley, like Jyn and Cassian over the Jedha cliff, Finn over the cliff of a Jakku dune etc. Now it’s Mando riding with Kuiil past cliffs, or looking over the cliff to a guarded western style town, about to find his bounty.

We also get a glimpse into the Belly Of The Whale (step 5) when Mando enters the dark cave to submit the Besker steel he earned for taking the job from “The Client". Here he is ceremoniously awarded a new shoulder piece, made from the sacred steel, and shows his “willingness to undergo a metamorphosis.” This metamorphosis is represented in full in the coming chapter, when Din literally loses his old armour, which lost it’s “integrity” (which symbolizes him losing his way), to be replaced by new Beskar armour, which like a snake, is new skin. The Road Of Trials (step 6) is expressed in pretty much every episode, like when Kuiil tries to teach The Mandalorian how to ride the big Blurrg creature. In order to “begin the transformation, often the person fails one or more of these tests, which often occur in threes”. He fails his first few attempts, but aided by his guide, he achieves a connection to the creature, and then successfully mounts it. This connection was also shown in Filoni’s Star Wars: Rebels animated show, with Ezra and a Lothcat, which is also an expression of the oneness of The Force. The oneness is also the end of the journey for the hero, and the “knowledge” that every hero returns with. But we will have to wait until the finale for that! In the meantime, these are the hints.

* * *

Chapter Two: The Child

“The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek.” — Joseph Campbell More Road Of Trials when he fails to keep his ship The Razorcrest safe, and has to undergo a trial to restore it. Metamorphic symbolism. The Belly Of The Whale step appears again in form of a cave, and our hero quite literally has to enter it to find his treasure - the egg of a prehistoric style creature that the Jawa’s demand in order for them to give back his ship parts. However what blows me away (aside from the massive spoilery surprise from “The Child”), is that the creature is an homage to the oldest form of cave imagery known. The oft depicted cave bison from prehistoric times, like this one from Niaux Cave in France.

This is also the step known is Meeting The Goddess (step 7). This is the point where the hero experiences a love which is “all-powerful, all encompassing and unconditional” - all three of which The Child shows Din. Like the code that Lucas figured out with the first film in ‘77, this show is embedded with the steepest symbols of mythology to activate it in our DNA’s consciousness. Looking forward to more in the 3rd episode!

* * *

Chapter Three: The Sin

This one is so bad ass (directed by #DeborahChow) that it’s almost beyond words, and might actually be the best representation of the Temptation (step 7) I have ever seen. This step being simply about what material temptations can derail the hero on the quest. Anyways, wow! Mandos flying in on jet packs to save the day in a shot that looks right out of Dave Filoni’s ‘The Clone Wars’. Oh my Force! Anyhow, the significant Hero’s Journey element in this one is that Campbell claims trials come in threes. It would seem this is his second trial of conscience in saving “Baby Yoda”, and sinning against The Way of the bounty hunter code. Of course, the real sin here would be to leave a baby to abuse or even infanticide at the hands of his captors.

Finally, there is always a danger of taking Campbell’s very spiritual works and improperly distilling down his insights into the simple steps, as presented in charts. He wrote books. Lots of books. Where he constantly emphasized the whole inner spiritual point of the journey. He said, “It is the compassion for the suffering one that awakens the human heart.” The point of the Crucifixion. I digress. The Mandalorian’s heart was opened fully in this episode by compassion for Baby Yoda. I don’t expect this will be that last we see of that, but I can say that his armour and religious code will never be able to contain the love awoken in him.

This would also be the fist inklings of a future Atonement With The Father (Step 9), as Din has clearly rebelled against bounty hunter creed, and the one fatherly figure he thus far in Greef Carga. In this episode we begin to see his identity being split in two between two creeds; that of the Mandalorian way (to protect Foundlings) and that of the bounty hunter guild

Oh, and big congratulations to the first women director in Star Wars, fellow Canadian Deborah Chow. She seems like the obvious heir apparent Padawan to Filoni. This episode was that good.

* * *

Chapter 4: Sanctuary

In this episode, new director Bryce Dallas Howard delivers the most Lord Of The Rings inspired Star Wars yet. The Mandalorian arrives on the sparsely populated forest planet Sorgan, which is actually more The Shire, than Endor. Complete with a serenely Shire-like idyllic village, garden imagery, village radiers (that evoke Frodo’s vision of the Scouring of the Shire by Orcs), and a folky Shire like musical theme by the utterly brilliant composer Ludwig Göransson. What I love about the tone (a word J.R.R. Tolkien loved) of all this, is that it evokes a feeling of the Garden Of Eden. Which I would claim is perhaps among the oldest archetypes we have in mythology, appearing prior to even Egyptian myths in ancient Sumeria.

It seems to me that this part of Din’s tale serves to add layers to the already presented Meeting With The Goddess and Temptation steps. He is tempted from his journey to live a simpler life with Omera, a widowed mother. While I would assume he could find a future home and even state of oneness (which as Campbell states is the point of all this “The hero always returns to show their community they are one”) he has yet to complete his journey which would earn him a place, and return to “Eden.” For now, he is living in the state of ‘Sin’, and will have to heal this separation - which was symbolized when he briefly separated himself from The Child - before he can return to “Eve” and wholeness. Realizing that neither the village nor the Child would be safe there, the Mandalorian departs with the Child.

* * *

Up Next, Chapter 5: The Gunslinger

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aion-rsa · 3 years

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Star Wars The Bad Batch: Who Is Omega?

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This Star Wars: The Bad Batch article contains spoilers.

The newest Star Wars hero is a bit of a mystery. Omega, a young clone who joins the titular heroes in The Bad Batch, is a mix of audience surrogate and riddle. She’s eager to join the fight, and has some skills of her own, but she’s obviously not cut from the exact same cloth as the other clones. That serves her well as she escapes Order 66 from the clones’ side, with her and the Batch some of the few residents of Kamino who don’t go all-in on the Empire’s slaughter. So, who is Omega, really?

At a press conference held over Zoom last week, lead The Bad Batch actor Dee Bradley Baker described Omega’s relationship with the other clones of the Bad Batch as familial. “It’s a fascinating relationship that unfolds,” he says. “Because at first of course the team [is] their own sealed unit not used to having anyone along or working with everyone else.” Ultimately, Omega does end up joining the Bad Batch, and this newfound friendship among “genetic mutants” will inform the 16-episode season as a whole.

“It’s interesting in terms of the story and the writing to have this kind of personal relationship with a younger character and to see how that changes and how they accommodate that,” Baker says. “It’s more of an uncle-niece or father-child dynamic, but not entirely, because Omega has her own potential powers maybe. It’ll be interesting to see that unfold. It connects you to the story in a personal way.”

There’s a lot to unpack when it comes to Omega’s origin and potential enhancements, especially after the series premiere, “Aftermath.” Here’s what we know about Omega and what she might mean for the future of The Bad Batch.

Just the Facts

Omega, played by Michelle Ang, follows in the tradition of protagonists like Ahsoka Tano, Ezra Bridger, and Luke Skywalker himself as the audience’s eyes into a new world. She’s also plainly familiar with the Bad Batch, knowing them by name even though they aren’t familiar with her.

We’re first introduced to her as a “medical assistant” for Nala Se, the Kaminoan scientist seen often in connection with the Republic’s clones. Omega is confirmed to be a clone, but what exactly that means lives in the realm of theory for now. More on that later.

What we know for sure is that she certainly doesn’t look like Jango Fett, the template for the Clone Army, which seems odd since the deceased bounty hunter was the only genetic template the Kaminoans used…right? Another mystery.

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One clue as to who Omega is seems to be in her headpiece, which looks like Lama Su’s. Omega’s jewelry holds something hidden in a locket that’s important to her, but as of the first episode, the audience (and the Bad Batch) don’t know what that is, either. It could be a personal curio or a key to a larger story. We’re going to bet on the latter.

Producer and head writer Jennifer Corbett told us that Omega’s character didn’t go through a lot of different iterations when she was being developed. “We started by thinking what challenges would push the Batch out of their comfort zone. A young child would challenge them at every turn. We didn’t go back and forth much. She just fit the story, and when Michelle came in and read for her, we knew we had it.”

Is She “The Last Clone”?

Omega being the final clone ever produced from Jango’s genetic template has been a popular fan theory over the last few weeks. It stems mostly from her name: Omega is the last letter of the Greek alphabet and an evocative symbol for finality, opposition, or a complete set (as in “the alpha and the omega.”) As of now, this is entirely speculation.

There’s nothing in the show that suggests she’s the final clone, and, in fact, you can see Jango clones of Omega’s age or younger in the background of some shots. There’s also no precedent for it, no clone named Alpha, at least not in the current canon. There were a few clones named Alpha in the Legends continuity, though, including one introduced as a clone of Jedi Master Kam Solusar in the novel Crosscurrent by Paul S. Kemp. Interestingly enough, that Alpha traveled with a female clone named Hunter… Strange coincidence coming from Corbett and Dave Filoni, a veteran Star Wars creator who loves re-canonizing elements from Legends in new ways. We won’t jump to any conclusions just yet, though.

But going back to the meaning of Omega’s name, there are already a line of canon “last” troopers, the Purge troopers “from the very last production line,” who look like the usual Jango template. Their existence isn’t proof that Omega is one of them; in fact, we’d argue it’s the opposite. But again, that’s all speculation.

It is canon that Jango Fett’s DNA is being “stretched” thin by the cloning process. This bit of pseudoscience explains why the Bad Batch themselves are different, which Omega seems to relate to. So the theory that she might be one of the last because the science simply can’t produce that many, or that the Kaminoans had to make changes in order to make it possible to create more clones, isn’t totally impossible, either.

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Is She a Clone of Palpatine?

Is Omega’s history more ominous? Emperor Palpatine has cloned himself before. Depending on which story you’re experiencing, the clone might be a shell for his Force presence to ooze into after his own body’s death or a brand new person. In The Rise of Skywalker, we learned Rey’s history is closely intertwined with cloning. Palpatine created a clone body for himself to carry on his legacy, but the science was inexact and the body weak. One of his many other plans resulted in the creation of a strand-cast(different from cloning, but it hasn’t exactly been detailed how.)

This strand-cast was Rey’s father, intended to provide Palpatine a Force-sensitive genetic match Palpatine could transfer his own spirit into. But now we’re getting a bit far afield. The point is that Palpatine was trying all kinds of things to figure out how to extend his own life past death, and needed a Force-sensitive vessel to do it. Could Omega be an early prototype?

While she doesn’t show any Force-sensitivity outwardly, she does seem to have remarkable empathy. Her knowledge of the Bad Batch could come from her fondness for them, or it could be something more supernatural.

Even if she isn’t Force-sensitive, there would be plenty of opportunities for her to be an offshoot of Palpatine’s plans. As seen in The Mandalorian and The Rise of Skywalker, when the Emperor starts a project, he makes a lot of backup copies. Omega also looks a lot more like Palpatine than like the Jango clones, although her face shape is reminiscent of the young Boba Fett’s character model in The Clone Wars, but the blonde hair and light skin might suggest something different.

There’s sure to be a lot more information about Omega as The Bad Batch goes on. Will she be as much of a mystery as Grogu and Rey, or will we learn her history sooner rather than later? The 16-episode first season of The Bad Batch will tell.

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aion-rsa · 4 years

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How Fortnite Became Gaming’s Great Shameless Marketing Tool

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“Fortnite is dead” felt like an increasingly popular sentiment in 2020. You certainly didn’t have to look too hard to find comments from gamers who felt that it was the end of an era for a game so popular that it was prominently featured in the highest-grossing movie of all-time.

But in recent months, it felt like the game had fallen off the cultural radar. Whenever you looked at Twitch, it seemed like most of the service’s most popular streamers had moved on to Call of Duty: Warzone, Valorant, and a legion of viral games like Fall Guys, Among Us, and Genshin Impact. Fortnite rarely felt like the game to watch anymore.

Even as the spread of Covid-19 forced most people into quarantine and boosted the success of games like Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Fortnite struggled to work its way back into the narrative the same way that it had in the past. The closest it got to controlling the conversation this year was as the subject of Epic’s war with Apple, as fans and outlets speculated about the impact this high-profile breakup would have on the game’s present and future.

Yet, Fortnite‘s most recent in-game event broke records once again as 15.3 million concurrent players joined the end of season 4 battle against Galactus and over 3.4 million people watched the event play out on Twitch and YouTube. That may sound like an unusual spike in players, but the truth of the matter is that the numbers have always been on Fortnite‘s side.

While Epic doesn’t typically reveal Fortnite‘s official user count or revenue figures, scrapes of the data that is available paint a compelling picture of the game’s continued success. Estimates made in August suggest that over 20 million people still play Fortnite daily. The game also made over $1.8 billion in 2019, which is a drop from the game’s $2.4 billion in revenue in 2018 but is still better than the vast majority of free-to-play games. Meanwhile, Fortnite‘s viewership numbers may have dipped slightly over time, but the game’s “Black Hole” event is still the most-viewed video game event in history while the in-game Travis Scott concert attracted more players than the game’s very first concert.

Fortnite‘s absurd event numbers reveal a key point. The reason why some people seem to think that Fortnite is failing is that they’re still trying to measure the title’s success like it’s any other video game. Instead, they should recognize Fortnite for what it has become: the greatest marketing tool in video game history.

Before Fortnite, ads in video games were typically treated with as much reverence as loot boxes, whether it was the Skittles-inspired Darkened Skye or Pepsiman, which was designed to sell cola. The most these games could hope for in the late ’90s and early ’00s was that word of mouth of how cringeworthy they were would help them sell their intended products. But oddly enough, these games were the precursors for the type of viral marketing that would one day turn Fortnite into a powerhouse.

When Fortnite‘s battle royale mode was released in 2017, it was essentially released as a companion piece to the less successful Fortnite: Save the World base-building shooter, which was originally the game’s main component. To some, the battle royale mode was Epic’s desperate attempt to quickly capitalize on the success of PUBG, the PC game largely credited for popularizing this particular subgenre. However, a little time with the game revealed the truth.

Fortnite: Battle Royale arrived as a well-made, easy-to-play title while PUBG was a rough early access game loaded with bugs. Most importantly, Fortnite was a light, family-friendly alternative packed with raw silliness while PUBG was a “realistic” military-based shooter. In many ways, Fortnite‘s zany art style and gameplay were simply more appealing to general audiences.

The mode’s more casual silliness quickly became its calling card. Take the battle royale mode’s dancing emotes. While some have (perhaps rightfully) called out Epic for stealing certain dance moves, there’s no question that Fortnite popularized many of these moves on such a grand scale that the game became associated with them more than their creators. If you can stomach watching it, this video of Ninja “flossing” in Times Square during the NYC 2018 New Year’s Eve party really captures how Fortnite shamelessly forced its way into the public conscious:

But for all of its success as a video game, Fortnite had yet to evolve into its final form. In 2018, Fortnite kicked off its first major in-game events as well as its first significant promotional tie-in: a campaign for the FIFA World Cup. While it makes sense that a live service game developer would want to capitalize off of a global event like the World Cup, in this instance, the relationship was mutually beneficial. Soccer players across the world were already incorporating Fortnite references into their celebrations, and FIFA enjoyed the viral moments that came with popular footballers like Antoine Griezmann performing the “Take the L” dance after scoring a goal. FIFA and Fortnite seemed to be a natural fit.

“Natural” also perfectly describes Fortnite‘s then-shocking 2018 in-game event which allowed players to hunt down the Infinity Stones from the Avengers movies and become Thanos. Prior to that event, it would have been difficult to name a developer savvy enough to not only quickly capitalize on the release of the year’s hottest movie (Avengers: Infinity War) but to build the kind of platform where such a collaboration felt exciting rather than just another cheap marketing ploy.

But that’s the thing about Fortnite. It’s flexible enough that it can incorporate characters and ideas from just about any universe without feeling like the “core” or “spirit” of the game is being compromised in some way. Fortnite was practically built on a foundation of silliness. In the age of memes, shameless streamers, and yes, the growth of the battle royale concept, Fortnite became this pop culture vessel that elevated, and sometimes re-shaped, nearly everything it touched.

There’s perhaps no greater example of Fortnite‘s marketing power than the case of Keanu Reeves and John Wick. One of Fortnite’s most popular early skins was a character called The Reaper who bore a striking resemblance to John Wick. The resemblance was so striking, in fact, that Reeves helped the team officially add John Wick to the game after he said kids were coming up to him in the street and calling him “Fortnite guy.” It’s another case of Fortnite not only being able to juggle the lead of a Rated R action movie as easily as The Avengers and soccer stars but the game’s ability to weirdly appropriate pieces of pop culture and recontextualize them for an entirely different (often younger) audience.

To the studio’s credit, Epic treats these special events as something truly special. Travis Scott didn’t just put on a concert, he became a towering behemoth that players orbited as he tore through time and space. Fortnite didn’t screen a scene from Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker — Epic designed an elaborate sequence that concluded with the addition of lightsabers to the game.

And that’s where we find Fortnite at the end of 2020 as players finish their battle against Galactus (for now) and don skins from The Mandalorian. Epic has built a marketing platform that is so effective and in-tune with the digital age that it has inspired marketing analysts to study just how the studio did it. In those studies, you hear words like “freemium,” “engagement,” and “community.” Those elements are certainly part of Fortnite‘s success in this arena.

Yet, when trying to wrap your head around just how Epic built the most effective billboard of the digital age, consider the possibility that Epic’s real accomplishment is making Fortnite a fun and wildly engaging game first before it tried to cash-in as a viral marketing tool for other brands. Brands wouldn’t be talking to Epic if Fortnite didn’t have such a strong foundation in the first place.

Fortnite: Battle Royale was built on the idea that Fortnite needed to adapt or die. It’s that philosophy that has allowed the game to become the kind of digital marketing platform that may never be replicated.

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