January 26 2012

view: (720p)






"Alliances can stall true intentions."

Episode Guide: Shades Of Reason

Director: Bosco Ng
Writer: Chris Collins

Synopsis: Backed by the criminal underworld, the Sith and Death Watch launch an attack on Mandalore.

view: (480p)

Well, it’s not been a good Star Wars week for Favreau. Even though I anticipated Vizsla’s death, I'm a little sad to see him go. I think this is partially because there were a few untold stories for the character. Stylistically, this was probably a matter of choice by Filoni. It harkens back to OT Boba (who had his most epic battles played out in the fan’s heads).

For me, the most surprising aspect of this episode is the Shakespearean nature of the story. With its matters of political machinations, duplicitous rulers, and deposed royalty, the plot seems like a Star Wars amalgamation of Macbeth, Richard III, and/or Julius Cesar. Cool.

I read a post over at that criticized the ease with which the Mandalorian citizens accepted the deposition of Duchess Satine and supported Death Watch. And I kinda agree. Some major shifts in the story took place a hair too quickly. But that's a minor gripe.

The centerpiece of this episode was the fight between Maul and Vizsla. And what a show that was! I loved how Vizsla used everything in his arsenal to combat Maul. And I really admired Vizsla's sticking to his code of honor and the rules of the game right up 'til the end. Anyways, loved this episode far more than the previous one.

I think they should distribute the number of episodes per arc a bit better. While the previous droid arc didn't need 4 episodes, this one would be a bit better with one or two more.

I agree. The duel was really good and I'm glad he went out putting up a decent fight. Some people criticize that it wasn't too honorable since Pre Vizsla used most of his weapons and equipment and it should have just been a saber vs saber or melee fight.

I forgot to point out the quality of the music during the duel - awesome gripping stuff. A new preview is below. "There are alternatives to fighting."

[flash width=645 height=385]http://www.youtube.com/v/ECyv_nTAhBs?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0&hd=1[/flash]

Not sure where else to put this. Cartoon Network had it's yearly update on what shows are going to be shown on it's network.

Notably:

Young Justice
Green Lantern
Thundercats

All Cancelled.

Of important note, Star Wars: Clone Wars is not on their schedule. I'm guessing that it means they'll be shifting to Disney XD, but no word on it as of yet.

This episode had me on the edge of my seat. Witwer is doing an impeccable job voicing Maul. Fantastic!

I doubt it. They will still air some Star Wars specials, and apparently some shows are missing (and weren't cancelled either).

That's CN MO - they sometimes don't officially cancel shows, they just leave them hanging and never order any more episodes. Normally I wouldn't worry, but this comment by Filoni during their recent USO gig made me pause:



Clone Wars has always done OK in the ratings, not great, and the move to Saturday morning did cause a drop. It's not a stretch that it might just be canceled.

That would suck some serious Bantha balls. If it ends sooner than later, it at least has to have some sort of closure, otherwise the entire series has been a build up to nothing, and just so much filler fodder that takes place between Episodes II and III.

I don't see this show cancelling just because ratings fall down a bit. The Clone Wars is a machine that runs around games, toys, clothes, LEGOs etc. If they brought the show down, it would affect these as well, and [s]Lucas[/s] Disney don't want that to happen.

Wow...that's a...non-answer. Which in itself is quite an answer. It's also clearly BS - you don't just expend resources on animation week after week without at least an idea that there is a season you're filling. Well, if it has to end, I want a shot-accurate match to the opening of RotS. I loved the way Tartakovsky left his micro-series.

quite true that this is a cash machine well beyond the show itself

actually i've not read anything about it on usa website, but one here in france has reported that teletoon, the quebec channel which airs season 5 episodes on friday nights, had season 6 planned on their program grid to air this july, to end in december. I've not found the actual source link so this is the only place where i've seen this, so it's not quite sure of course.

Maybe it was removed from teletoon until official announcement...... would be cool if ending up true. Otherwise it appears now pretty clear that we're getting only 20episodes and no clovis arc this season

here is also a bad quality preview i found with more ahsoka: can't wait for this arc, i expect the big plot twist but not ahsoka's death, however i do hope they don't kill ventress in this

Merchandising $$$ means jack squat to WB/CN, as they don't get a cut. As to LFL continuing production without knowing if they have a season order, er - thats exactly how they used to operate. See the Live Action show and Detours. Clone Wars was in production for a couple of years before CN signed them up. Of course, with Disney now in charge, it's all up in the air how they want to continue to do business.

I certainly hope a move to one of the Disney channels is on the agenda, but the silence right now is deafening.