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tori_reviews2021-03-12 07:53 pm
jedi_of_urth) wrote in tori_reviews2021-03-12 07:53 pm
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Star Wars: The Clone Wars – 2x18 - 19
Star Wars: The Clone Wars – 2x18: “The Zillo Beast”
This episode is...interesting. I'm not sure it's very good or if I like it, but it has a lot worth thinking about in it. So if I like it, I do for the exact opposite reason the show's focus on action would expect people to like it for.
But before I get to the deeper thoughts, I do not like the design of the dougg. Every time we'd see them do basically anything I'd be distracted by how they were moving. I find the Zillo's body portions odd and offputting, but less bothersome that the dougg. (I know I've heard of the dougg somewhere in the SW universe before, but I don't remember where, and I'm fairly certain I didn't have this as a mental image).
I find the look at diplomacy we get here rather odd. On one hand, I like that it shows some dirty politics at play; I thought even before it got dirtier that the Republic was being a little too open with them being in a desperate situation as that gave the dougg a stronger hand in the negotiations. And had Palpatine not been won over by how useful the Zillo could be, things would probably have swung in the dougg's favor (or at least put Mace in a rough spot); the Jedi, or just Mace, might put conservation efforts above the needs of the war effort, but not everyone would. On the other hand, this episode makes resolving the diplomatic disputes really easy instead of having to make an actual compromise. Obviously that doesn't end up being the final point of the episode, but it feels like they nodded to something more complex but then went the opposite direction, and I feel the absence.
Even if I couldn't see on my episode list that this was going to go badly, I would expect it to and think that there have to be more secure locations to bringing the Zillo than back to Corescant. Somewhere with an unpopulated island perhaps,; or the ice planet from season 1, or anywhere with some distance to a population center, which Corescant has none of. Sure, Palpatine probably wants to have this under his watch, but it still seems like a bad plan that hasn't been thought out, or just flat out evil if they actually want to cause a catastrophe.
I'm having some half-baked ideas about the way the arcs work on this show, but I think they need to bake a little longer. The fact that the next episode is when this arc continues is why I have thoughts on it, and why I will have the option of getting to them soon if I want.
Star Wars: The Clone Wars – 2x19: “The Zillo Beast Strikes Back”
I don't know if this episode is just straight up bad, or I just found too many things too distracting to appreciate the good parts of it. There was one part I liked; with Mace, Obi-wan, and Rex all commenting on how kind of dumb Anakin is, that got a chuckle out of me. But basically every other part of the episode had something I disliked.
Hanging over all of it is the problem with bringing the Zillo to to Corescant in the first place. I might accept that Corescant has super secure facilities with loads of research staff, but a) that still wouldn't be a better option than keeping it on a ship in orbit and b) that's not what we see. It's the same doctor that was already with them to deal with the dougg, who was a weapons developer. This doesn't even make sense as a Palpatine plan, because I don't see how he gains anything by not doing this under more secure conditions. And it gets worse since he almost immediately orders it to be killed, on a ship they could have just spaced it or something. They don't know that this thing doesn't explode when it dies or release a bunch of spores that they may not be able to contain; they don't know what it is in the fuel that the Zillo is allergic to; it could be a contact paralytic instead of an inhaled poison. Doing this on Corescant makes no sense; so when Padme says towards the end that they shouldn't have brought it there, my only response is 'no shit Sherlock.'
And firing the missals at the end annoyed me because those surely aren't just toxic to the Zillo; especially when you're dealing with so many different species as you get of Corescant. At least they eventually showed that the Jedi needed to put up a protective bubble around them, but there could easily have been other people out there who could have been exposed to the gas; and how much does it need to dissipate before you don't need a protective bubble? It was one thing to use it in the lab, but they should have been using stun weapons against it again out in the open. Chemical weapons are pretty dangerous, and pretty infamous for having unintended (but probably foreseeable) consequences.
In general, the portrayal of Palpatine in this episode doesn't work for me. Having him make really dumb decisions about how to deal with the Zillo is a lot of the problem. So when he compounds is terrible decisions with heartless ones, it makes his evil side seem very close to the surface in a way that doesn't suit the story. If it justified the initial decision with any kind of sense, even slightly twisted sense, and then his further choices were presented as cold and analytical it would work a lot better.
And all around, there's a vibe that this episode could have been set pretty close to RotS. Mace does seem to be mistrusting Palpatine (and considering Palpatine seems to be turning into Mr. Burns, he has good reason to be suspicious); Anakin coming up on Obi-wan and Padme talking would feed into his paranoia about the two of them being/working together; they're already setting up Anakin being used as a go-between with the Council and Palpatine. The fact that it's not very close to RotS makes these elements feel out of place since they're going to have to keep going for quite a while.
It does make me wonder; what was the plan for how long the series would run? Were they always in danger of cancellation so they ended most seasons as if they might need to be the last piece before RotS? Or did they have a pretty firm commitment to a number of season? I know the show was 'prematurely canceled' after s6 when Disney got involved, and then bringing it back for s7 was seen as making things right with the production and fans, but how far in advance did they expect to have that number of seasons?
Then we get to the most me problem of my issues with this episode. I really hated the animation in this one. It's the first time in a while that I've been conscious of just being annoyed at the show for being animated. And it's because the episode kind of highlighted the more stylized choices in the character models, and that didn't work for me. Like with so much else, this was centered on Palpatine. I think part of it was that they picked some weird angles to show him from, making it a two fold problem that it was an angle I didn't like on the model I don't particularly like and it seemed to be done to paint him in a more evil light. But it felt off-model somehow, because he just doesn't look or move right; and I found his sleeves really distractingly terrible.
There were also a couple issues with Padme; though the only one that jumped out was towards the end when Anakin grabs hold of her, her wrist is stupidly tiny. And maybe these issues have always been there with these characters, but like I said, the stylistic choices with them grated on me this time.
This episode is...interesting. I'm not sure it's very good or if I like it, but it has a lot worth thinking about in it. So if I like it, I do for the exact opposite reason the show's focus on action would expect people to like it for.
But before I get to the deeper thoughts, I do not like the design of the dougg. Every time we'd see them do basically anything I'd be distracted by how they were moving. I find the Zillo's body portions odd and offputting, but less bothersome that the dougg. (I know I've heard of the dougg somewhere in the SW universe before, but I don't remember where, and I'm fairly certain I didn't have this as a mental image).
I find the look at diplomacy we get here rather odd. On one hand, I like that it shows some dirty politics at play; I thought even before it got dirtier that the Republic was being a little too open with them being in a desperate situation as that gave the dougg a stronger hand in the negotiations. And had Palpatine not been won over by how useful the Zillo could be, things would probably have swung in the dougg's favor (or at least put Mace in a rough spot); the Jedi, or just Mace, might put conservation efforts above the needs of the war effort, but not everyone would. On the other hand, this episode makes resolving the diplomatic disputes really easy instead of having to make an actual compromise. Obviously that doesn't end up being the final point of the episode, but it feels like they nodded to something more complex but then went the opposite direction, and I feel the absence.
Even if I couldn't see on my episode list that this was going to go badly, I would expect it to and think that there have to be more secure locations to bringing the Zillo than back to Corescant. Somewhere with an unpopulated island perhaps,; or the ice planet from season 1, or anywhere with some distance to a population center, which Corescant has none of. Sure, Palpatine probably wants to have this under his watch, but it still seems like a bad plan that hasn't been thought out, or just flat out evil if they actually want to cause a catastrophe.
I'm having some half-baked ideas about the way the arcs work on this show, but I think they need to bake a little longer. The fact that the next episode is when this arc continues is why I have thoughts on it, and why I will have the option of getting to them soon if I want.
Star Wars: The Clone Wars – 2x19: “The Zillo Beast Strikes Back”
I don't know if this episode is just straight up bad, or I just found too many things too distracting to appreciate the good parts of it. There was one part I liked; with Mace, Obi-wan, and Rex all commenting on how kind of dumb Anakin is, that got a chuckle out of me. But basically every other part of the episode had something I disliked.
Hanging over all of it is the problem with bringing the Zillo to to Corescant in the first place. I might accept that Corescant has super secure facilities with loads of research staff, but a) that still wouldn't be a better option than keeping it on a ship in orbit and b) that's not what we see. It's the same doctor that was already with them to deal with the dougg, who was a weapons developer. This doesn't even make sense as a Palpatine plan, because I don't see how he gains anything by not doing this under more secure conditions. And it gets worse since he almost immediately orders it to be killed, on a ship they could have just spaced it or something. They don't know that this thing doesn't explode when it dies or release a bunch of spores that they may not be able to contain; they don't know what it is in the fuel that the Zillo is allergic to; it could be a contact paralytic instead of an inhaled poison. Doing this on Corescant makes no sense; so when Padme says towards the end that they shouldn't have brought it there, my only response is 'no shit Sherlock.'
And firing the missals at the end annoyed me because those surely aren't just toxic to the Zillo; especially when you're dealing with so many different species as you get of Corescant. At least they eventually showed that the Jedi needed to put up a protective bubble around them, but there could easily have been other people out there who could have been exposed to the gas; and how much does it need to dissipate before you don't need a protective bubble? It was one thing to use it in the lab, but they should have been using stun weapons against it again out in the open. Chemical weapons are pretty dangerous, and pretty infamous for having unintended (but probably foreseeable) consequences.
In general, the portrayal of Palpatine in this episode doesn't work for me. Having him make really dumb decisions about how to deal with the Zillo is a lot of the problem. So when he compounds is terrible decisions with heartless ones, it makes his evil side seem very close to the surface in a way that doesn't suit the story. If it justified the initial decision with any kind of sense, even slightly twisted sense, and then his further choices were presented as cold and analytical it would work a lot better.
And all around, there's a vibe that this episode could have been set pretty close to RotS. Mace does seem to be mistrusting Palpatine (and considering Palpatine seems to be turning into Mr. Burns, he has good reason to be suspicious); Anakin coming up on Obi-wan and Padme talking would feed into his paranoia about the two of them being/working together; they're already setting up Anakin being used as a go-between with the Council and Palpatine. The fact that it's not very close to RotS makes these elements feel out of place since they're going to have to keep going for quite a while.
It does make me wonder; what was the plan for how long the series would run? Were they always in danger of cancellation so they ended most seasons as if they might need to be the last piece before RotS? Or did they have a pretty firm commitment to a number of season? I know the show was 'prematurely canceled' after s6 when Disney got involved, and then bringing it back for s7 was seen as making things right with the production and fans, but how far in advance did they expect to have that number of seasons?
Then we get to the most me problem of my issues with this episode. I really hated the animation in this one. It's the first time in a while that I've been conscious of just being annoyed at the show for being animated. And it's because the episode kind of highlighted the more stylized choices in the character models, and that didn't work for me. Like with so much else, this was centered on Palpatine. I think part of it was that they picked some weird angles to show him from, making it a two fold problem that it was an angle I didn't like on the model I don't particularly like and it seemed to be done to paint him in a more evil light. But it felt off-model somehow, because he just doesn't look or move right; and I found his sleeves really distractingly terrible.
There were also a couple issues with Padme; though the only one that jumped out was towards the end when Anakin grabs hold of her, her wrist is stupidly tiny. And maybe these issues have always been there with these characters, but like I said, the stylistic choices with them grated on me this time.