February 11 2011

view: (720p)



"He who seeks to control fate shall never find peace"

Episode Guide: Ghosts Of Mortis

Episode Air No: 61
Production No: 313

Director: Steward Lee
Writer: Christian Taylor

Synopsis: The Jedi remain stranded on Mortis, and the Son aligned with the dark side of the Force renews his efforts to convert Anakin as the Jedi prepare for a decisive confrontation.

view: (SD HDTV)

[align=center]STILLS • CONCEPT ART • TRIVIA[/align]
[spoil]











































[/spoil]
[spoil]







[/spoil]
[spoil]



[align=left]Secrets Revealed

• It is completely intentional that the Father is the only one of the three Force-wielders that vanishes upon his death as Obi-Wan and Yoda do.

• The lava used in the Well of the Dark Side uses some of the same elements from Revenge of the Sith Mustafar scenes, according to effects supervisor Joel Aron

• The very portable Jedi jumpseeders are based off a speeder bike concept drawings from Return of the Jedi.

• Some of the concept design for the Well of the Dark Side was taken from early Ralph McQuarrie designs for subterranean levels of the Imperial Palace where Luke was going to face the Emperor deep within Coruscant in Return of the Jedi.

• Ahsoka is wearing a re-purposed par of Hondo Ohnaka's pirate goggles with the strap removed.

• Hidden among the constellations etched into in the Father's monastery is a wolf.[/align]
[/spoil]

Anakin can't seem to catch a break. It seems the only way he can bring balance is through the destruction of both sides; starting everything on a clean slate. But I guess no one ever said it was easy being the Chosen One.

The way Anakin interacted with Qui-Gon makes me think how different things may have been if he had lived. There seems to be a reverence there that I've never seen for Obi-wan.

Overall, I thought this episode was very good. Not happy with the ending as much just because you could see it coming from a lightyear away. I will wait to pass further judgment on it until I have a few more chances to see the episode. Initially, my favorite was the first of the arc but after repeated viewings the second proved to be the stronger of the two episodes. I may feel the same way after I re-watch this one. But I do feel it did a good job of furthering the direction of the story while also being able to tie it up in the end.

Also, loved that Ahsoka was rockin' the Han Solo goggles.

[align=center]THE CITADEL PREVIEW VIDEO

[flash width=640 height=385]http://www.youtube.com/v/GBoqRKSYVqc?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0&hd=1[/flash][/align]

A very cool episode even though the ending kinda sucked ... but we saw it coming.

It's probably likely that the symbol featured so prominently in the episode was derived from the previously-existing symbol of the Sith:



http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Sith

Great episode. Better than the last one. But that preview is what I'm excited for.

Loved it - all of it

Not to mention this Sith symbol.

That preview seems to show another EU species, with a Phindian Separatist torturing Anakin. Also, a planet that's partially disintegrated, Malachor V-like? Groovy.

So Vader knew encasing people in Carbonite works perfectly!? - OT inconsistency!!!

This facility is crude, but it should be adequate to freeze Skywalker for his journey to the Emperor.

Vader's used to more advanced freezing technology, so it's rather a continuity nod than an inconsistency, I'd say.

Fantastic episode and conclusion to the Mortis trilogy. I've always believed that TCW was an exceptionally written show, but this was the height of art, craft, and storytelling. Simply fantastic.

Fantastic, love it - what an outstanding story arc. It perfectly flows with the whole saga. I'm glad it doesn't change the concept of the Chosen One and Anakin's story and just get it deeper and richer ... No doubt this has been handled by a team who truly love and respect Star Wars.

Also from the first episode we were seeing those three persons are almost gods, and in this episode they feel more "human". Thus complex that i ever expected, great touch, loved that this is just classic star wars material we have been given. Need to see it many times because there are so much subtleties to spot and think about ... Awesome!!

Ah! That explains it!

I think Qui-gon would be too lenient on Anakin and that wouldn't be a good thing.

To me, the ending seemed more like a natural conclusion than obvious/lazy. I thought Obi-wan, Anakin, and Ahsoka would remember nothing about Mortis. That they did remember was a little bit of a surprise for me.

There's very good article about GL and the Force over at the OS.

[spoil][align=left]Mysteries of the Force By Pete Vilmur

"The Force evolved out of various developments of character and plot," said George Lucas in an interview with Empire Strikes Back publicist Alan Arnold in 1979. "I began to distill the essence of all religions into what I thought was a basic idea common to all religions and common to primitive thinking. I wanted to develop something that was nondenominational but still had a kind of religious reality."

The idea of the Force is what many would agree distinguishes Star Wars from your typical space adventure -- it's at the heart of the Star Wars mythos, lending a spiritual dimension to a classic story which just happens to take place in a galaxy far, far away. The latest set of Clone Wars episodes -- the Mortis trilogy, which ends with Friday's "Ghosts of Mortis" -- have given fans a rare glimpse into the mysteries of the Force, allowing us to form a clearer picture of its influences from the vague clues Lucas has scattered throughout the saga.

We've gathered a selection of quotes in which Lucas defines his concept of the Force, from the earliest mention in A New Hope's 1975 second draft to the introduction of midi-chlorians in 1999, a concept which Lucas actually established in an internal 1977 story discussion:

1975:

(Note: The following two passages come from a very early draft of A New Hope in which the Force is defined as having two parts, the Ashla -- a name later considered for Ahsoka's character -- and the Bogan, both of which could be channeled through a talisman called the "Kiber Crystal." These concepts would ultimately be dropped from the script as it evolved)

"...[T]he "FORCE OF OTHERS" has two halves: Ashla, the good, and Bogan, the paraforce or evil part. Fortunately, [a holy man called the Skywalker] came to know the good half and was able to resist the paraforce; but he realized that if he taught others the way of the Ashla, some, with less strength, might come to know Bogan, the dark side, and bring unthinkable suffering to the Universe." — Luke's dialog, Star Wars: Adventures of the Starkiller (second draft, Jan 28, 1975)

"A Jedi can use [the Kiber Crystal] to intensify the Ashla force a hundred fold; but, remember it can also be used to intensify the power of the Bogan...It must not fall into the hands of the Sith...They would do anything to have it. — Owen's dialog, Star Wars: Adventures of the Starkiller (second draft, Jan 28, 1975)

1976:

"Well, the Force is what gives the Jedi his power. It's an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us. It binds the galaxy together." — Obi-Wan's dialog, Star Wars: A New Hope screenplay (final)

1977:

"I have come to the conclusion that there is a force larger than the individual. It is controlled by the individuals, and it controls them. All I'm saying is that the pure soul is connected to a larger energy field that you would begin to understand if you went all the way back and saw yourself in your purest sense." — 1977 interview excerpt published in The Making of Star Wars

"The Force is really a way of feeling; it's a way of being with life. It really has nothing to do with weapons. The Force gives you the power to have extrasensory perception and to be able to see things and hear things, read minds and levitate things. It is said that certain creatures are born with a higher awareness of the Force than humans. Their brains are different; they have more midi-chlorians in their cells." — 1977 interview excerpt published in The Making of Star Wars

"The act of living generates a force field, an energy. That energy surrounds us; when we die, that energy joins with all the other energy. There is a giant mass of energy in the universe that has a good side and a bad side. We are part of the Force because we generate the power that makes the Force live. When we die, we become part of that Force, so we never really die; we continue as part of the Force." — Lucas quotes paraphrased from 1977 Empire story conference transcripts for Star Wars: The Annotated Screenplays 1979:

1979:

"For my ally is the Force. And a powerful ally it is. Life creates it, makes it grow. Its energy surrounds us and binds us. Luminous beings are we...(Yoda pinches Luke's shoulder)...not this crude matter. You must feel the Force around you. Here, between you...me...the tree...the rock...everywhere! Yes, even between this land and that ship!" — Yoda's dialog, The Empire Strikes Back screenplay

1980:

"The Force has two sides. It is not a malevolent or a benevolent thing. It has a bad side to it, involving hate and fear, and it has a good side, involving love, charity, fairness and hope. If you use it well, you can see the future and the past. You can sort of read minds and you can levitate and use that whole netherworld of psychic energy." — Time Magazine (May 1980)

1999:

"Midi-chlorians are a microscopic life form that reside within all living cells and communicates with the Force... Without the midi-chlorians, life could not exist, and we would have no knowledge of the Force. They continually speak to you, telling you the will of the Force." — Qui-Gon's dialog, The Phantom Menace screenplay

"Bringing midi-chlorians into it as a device is something that existed from the beginning but I never really had the time to go into any explanation...why the Force is strong with some people and not strong with other people. I also liked the idea of symbiotic relationships -- which again is an ongoing theme in the whole movie, people helping people, that there may be a completely different race of life form that lives inside your body that are completely independent of you but has some influence over you." — Episode I DVD commentary

"The overriding philosophy in Episode I -- and in all the Star Wars movies, for that matter -- is the balance between good and evil. The Force itself breaks into two sides: the living Force and a greater, cosmic Force. The living Force makes you sensitive to other living things, makes you intuitive, and allows you to read other people's minds, et cetera. But the greater Force has to do with destiny. In working with the Force, you can find your destiny and you can choose to either follow it, or not." — Star Wars: The Making of Episode I (book) [/align][/spoil]

The bar has been raised on this series, thanks to this three-episode arc.

Where do you get those HD pictures on the first post of the episode threads?

Mortis. Where else?

Be sure to check out the commentary available for this episode at the main site.

Really interesting to hear that they were going to include Revan and Bane into this episode. Would've been cool to see them in CW form, but I'm glad that didn't turn out to be the case. Don't like the idea of just about anybody being able to "separate from the Force". I'm glad that they reserved that for only the big three of the OT and now Qui-Gon.

That's the most depressive thing I've seen in a while. The fact that Lucas was cool with it from the get-go just makes it more sad to see Filoni nix the idea himself. If he really does know a lot of EU trivia and elements, he should realize that some Sith do come back from the dead, as spirits bound to a place or a person, like a parasite. Having Revan and Bane return for something like this would have made the episode much better, showing how once again, a Darksider is influenced by the past mistakes, much like Exar Kun and Ulic Qel-Droma (they get visits from Sith ghosts and so did Revan in the game and Bane in the books).

Between this and dropping the artwork that depicted famous Jedi from different eras (Lord Hoth, Odan-Urr etc.) I'm beginning to wonder about their judgement in including/excluding things from the series. I mean, what harm could a picture-frame depicting EU characters do? Cause more people to get interested in SW EU?

• That's goes again the concept of George. The ability to return from the dead is only achieved by compassion, not greed. Therefore a Sith can't do it.

• I don't think so.

• Regarding this Sith Lords scene, it would go against the concept of the Force itself. I'm glad they took it out.

No, Lucas was ok with having them there, it was Filoni who didn't like it and then Lucas changed his mind. According to the books, comics and games (even the big upcoming one), some Sith do return as ghosts, but not as the Jedi kind. It's established in the lore and they were at least going so far as to make models for that purpose. It wouldn't have conflicted with anything and is just a wasted opportunity, imho.

My view is that, while cool, the return of ancient Sith Lords was not necessary to the story. It would have distracted from the main theme of Anakin trying to avoid his fate by changing his future.

With the inclusion of Revan and Bane I think the story would have focused too much on the seduction of the Son towards the dark side. The Son didn’t need to be swayed, he was already there once Daughter was murdered and the Force became unbalanced. Anakin didn’t need to be seduced (with power, in the way we’re familiar from ROTS) in this episode, either. Instead, he was shown his possible future and because of greed/fear/whatever decided to align with the Son.

The important thing to take away from this episode is that Anakin will do whatever is necessary to avoid his destructive future and will align with whatever power can make that happen. It foreshadows what decisions he will make in the future in order to bring peace and avoid losing ones he loves. The inclusion of the Sith Lords would have been cool thing to tie to the Son, but it would do nothing to drive forward Anakin’s story.

These are 22-minute episodes after all and I would have a hard time finding a place to put it without cutting something necessary out. This episode felt that it was rushed enough as it is.

This is true.

No matter what the EU states; Sith cannot reappear as Force Spirits. The key to eternal life; this is what Palpatine is desperately searching for in ROTS. He knows it's possible, but just can't figure out what it is, to make it work. The Jedi are able to do it, because of their compassion for others - their selflessness and in Anakin's case, his capacity to love.
Qui-Gon stumbles across this, when he dies - it's accidental.

If you read the dialogue from Qui-Gon's omitted scene with Yoda from ROTS, it explains it all there. It really should be completed and put back into the film. In my opinion, it is one of the most important parts of the entire six-part story and shouldn't be relegated to an exchange, in between Obi-Wan and Yoda, at the end of ROTS.

You have to consider, the EU games and books, exist on a lower tier of canon, to that of the films and TV series, created by Lucas himself. They are, more-or-less glorified fan-fiction. I'm not knocking it - I enjoy some of it, but it takes a back seat, where the films and TV series are concerned.

Onto the actual episode; to me the entire Mortis trilogy, will go down as some of the greatest story-telling, in the entire history of Star Wars. It's many layers, deep symbolic meaning and mythological overtones, may be lost on it's younger viewers, but I applaud George, Dave & Co, for making this happen and for making it work so damn well. While watching The Clone Wars, I am so into the story, that I forget that I'm watching a cartoon. I cannot, for the life of me, see how they could possibly top this one - but; do they really have to! Bring on The Citadel and "Kyeptin Tarken"

Well, he was going to have them in there even after writing that for ROTS five years ago, so obviously he doesn't care or he doesn't remember. Given how he didn't remember which film he himself cameo'd in, I wouldn't be surprised if it's the latter.

Still though, Sith do appear as ghosts or spirits or shades or whatever you'd call it, even being integral to the story in some cases. Unless LFL wants to retcon over 20 years of established stories that feature Sith spirits, they're gonna continue showing up. Like I said, even in stories with Bane and Revan, ironically, they interacted with some.

But this is getting silly, we've already established that different Force traditions exist in the Lucas-SW continuity, Nightsisters making stuff appear out of thin air, the Shaman of the Whills finding the secret to eternal life, the cave on Dagobah making apparitions, a bug queen that can control the dead etc. Different cultures come up with different abilities. It's not inconsistent if some Sith came up with an alternate way to extend their lives or retain their intellect after death. Since Sam Witwer makes a point of his character being a personification of various dark siders, we now also have Force Schizophrenia in SW. It's not too far from that to a Sith afterlife.

Lucas didn't change his mind because of Dave.

Carbonite, bitches:

[flash width=640 height=390]http://www.youtube.com/v/B3i1A8svnTo?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0&hd=1[/flash]

The 1920x1080 screen images are Lucasfilm Press Release images. I have no idea why certain other sites either receive smaller size or downscale them. The HD images are part of MF Quality Control - featuring only the best images, filehosts, and video.

Speaking of which last week's episode Altar Of Mortis has been upgraded to SKY OAR.