September 24 2010

view: (720p)



"Where there is a will - there is a way."

Episode Guide: Supply Lines

Episode Air No: 47
Production No: 224

Director: Brian Kalin O'Connell
Writer: Steven Melching & Eoghan Mahony

Ahmed Best as Jar Jar Binks & Toydarian Defense Minister

view: (SD HDTV)

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Great to get the episodes as we are in a desert here in the UK (in terms of Season 3) until the end of October.

This was a pretty good episode in my opinion. Jar Jar wasn't too bad or cringe worthy like past episodes, and he was actually pretty humorous. The death of Master Di and his men was very noble and epic. Probably the only good death scenes so far along with 99 from the last episode.

Going in with low expectations really worked out. Speed through the Bail and Dod debates although watching the Neimodians just doing and saying stuff for some reason is cool to me. The best part however is the credits showing next week's espisode.


Again next four episodes:

Episode S03E04 • Sphere Of Influence
Episode S03E05 • Corruption
Episode S03E06 • The Academy
Episode S03E07 • Assassins

A visually stunning episode. The plot was OK, but the animation was what really stood out. There weren't any epic space battles or even ground battles, for that matter, but you can tell the look of this show has made many steps forward since the first season.

What stood out to me:
- The animators have nailed facial animation. They have gotten very good at credibly displaying a character's emotions through the face. The result is a portrayal just as nuanced as in the movies (and in some cases, more so).
- The detail in the scene when Master Di is drawing in the sand. This actually caught me off guard. If not for the stylized nature of the show, I would have thought this was shot live-action. It was great to see the individual grains of sand move around as he drew the diagram. Also, the characters have become much more naturally fluid in their movements since early in the show.

Looking forward to seeing more out of this animation team. It's as if we're being treated with a big-budget animated film every week.

I also had low expectations for this episode, but was amazed at how much I actually enjoyed it.

The animation is fantastic and as a show, it's just stunning to sit back and watch something like this every week. Great voice work - love all of the different accents for different cultures! My only criticism would be that they should get Jimmy Smits, to voice the Organa character. After the great job he did in TFU, I would have thought Filoni wouldn't settle for anyone else, but the man who is Bail Organa.

Next week's should be interesting - who will voice the Baron, I wonder?

There's good news for the rest of Season 3 and even Season 4. From a Season 4 script writer (no spoilers, just general thoughts):

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[align=left]Having had the pleasure of working on the 4th Season of Clone Wars, I was privy to all the scripts for Season 3. And I can assure you that, as the new season progresses, the audience is in for a real thrill ride. Not only will the show go in exciting and unexpected places, but the episodes will dig deeper into the characters that populate the series. Furthermore, the animation continues to evolve and astound. So fasten your seat belts!

Additionally, I may be biased but the scripts for Season 4 push the dramatic boundaries even further, in both moral complexity and political intrigue.
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The episode looked and sounded great, as always, but the end result was thoroughly underwhelming. The characters basically spend the entire episode rooted where they stand doing nothing except talking. At first it's all repetitive exposition and then it's dry debate (a debate rendered completely irrelevant in the very next scene as the Toydarian king basically ignores his the debate). Heck, they even have exposition dialogue on Ryloth.

I liked the final moments with Jedi Master Di - exceptionally well done. But considering Jar Jar's antics were by no means the worst part of the episode, the results are abysmal.

A peek at next week's episode Sphere of Influence:

[flash width=640 height=385]http://www.youtube.com/v/rNH5WhWTGHY?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0&hd=1[/flash]

EP thats pretty that you have Clone Wars production members lurking the comments section of your site.

Re-embedded in JWFan's post is a higher-quality version of next episode's Sphere Of Influence preview. Below is a HI-RES still with a official press release hidden below:


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When Pantoran Chairman Papanoida's family is kidnapped and held for ransom, Ahsoka Tano must team up with Senator Riyo Chuchi to aid the new chairman in recovering his family. It’s a journey deep into the dark underbelly of the Coruscant crime scene, with an unlikely – and immediately recognizable – protagonist painted into a corner and forced into action in “Sphere of Influence,” an all-new episode of Star Wars: The Clone Wars – airing at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT Friday, October 1 on Cartoon Network.

Seen only briefly as a background character in Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith, Papanoida will nonetheless appear very familiar to Star Wars fans, film buffs and pop culture aficionados. He is, of course, modeled after Star Wars creator George Lucas – who also wore blue face paint for the character’s live-action cameo debut.

“My appearance in Episode III was just for fun. Mostly, I did it for my kids,” says Lucas. “I was wrapping the series, and I’d never been on-screen in a Star Wars film, even though I’d been making them for decades. With The Clone Wars, I get the best of both worlds, because I get a starring role but don’t have to do any acting or wear any blue make-up.”

Lucas’ children – Amanda, Katie and Jett – also appeared with the director in the live-action outing, and they, too, make their Clone Wars debut in “Sphere of Influence.” None of the Lucas family provides voice-acting for the series, however; Jett’s doppelganger is voiced by Robot Chicken’s Seth Green, while Amanda and Katie’s avatars are voiced by Meredith Salenger (who also voices Barriss Offee) and Nika Futerman (Asajj Ventress), respectively. Lucas himself is voiced by Clone Wars regular Corey Burton (Count Dooku, Cad Bane) – who based the character’s distinctive sound on Orson Welles’ Harry Lime from The Third Man.

While Papanoida is featured fairly passively in his live-action incarnation, the character has an opportunity for a considerably more active role in The Clone Wars. Taking him deep into the Coruscant underground, the Pantoran Chairman’s mission gives him the chance to demonstrate his chops in a few decidedly action-oriented sequences.

“We actually made Papanoida into kind of an action hero,” says Dave Filoni, supervising director of The Clone Wars. “The bad guys have his family, and he goes after them, blasters blazing. Shoot first, ask questions later. His character is very focused on finding and protecting his kids; it’s a desperate situation, and he steps up. It’s a fun episode with a lot of action – and it’s unique, in that our normal heroes give up the spotlight while Papanoida takes matters into his own hands. This was a surreal episode to produce, since the guy on screen was sitting right next to me while we were making it.”
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For those who didn't read that wall of text none of the Lucas-es voice their respective characters.

Senator Dodd almost quoting Al Gore was my favorite part of this episode! Brilliant stuff.