Latest Updates: Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Reviewed by Andrew Liptak.
Review: The Clone Wars, 105: Rookies
The Clone Wars series has gotten far more impressive than I thought that it could be. This latest installment has proven to be one of my favorite episodes yet, and easily the best of the series.
In the preamble that precedes every episode, we're informed that the war in ongoing, and that many clones are rushed to the battlefield. In this instance, a group of new clones are stationed on an outpost, where they are to protect an outpost at the edge of Republic territory. While there, a meteor shower brings in a group of commando droids, who take control of the base, killing the station's commanding officer and forcing the four survivors to flee the base, while the droids make preparations for an invasion of Kamino. In a short scene, we see that Ventress has infiltrated the water world and is expecting the droid army.
At the same time, Commander Cody and Captain Rex are on the move, inspecting these outposts and come under fire when they attempt to enter it, and link up with the clone survivors. Once together, they retake the base, only to defend it as a Separatist fleet arrives and drops in reinforcements.
The clones, outnumbered and out gunned, rig the base to blow, and escape, save for one, who stays behind to hit the switch, destroying the base and alerting the Republic that the base is under attack. The republic swoops in and the four survivors are carried off to safety.
This episode worked well because it has almost all of the elements that have shown to be successful in the episodes, and that's the Clones. They dominate the episode, at the expense of Jedi and the dim-witted battle droids. Along with this is dialog that is a bit better than some of the prior episodes.
What was also nice to see was a reintroduction of popular characters from the pilot movie that was released to theaters - Rex and Cody. In my mind, these two guys were the absolute highlights of the film, and I was wondering if and when they would be making a reappearance in the show. Like the film, the episode also brought in another element that worked, and that was the action that has been lacking a bit in a couple of these episodes.
The thing that really made me excited was one of the last lines in the episode: "You're exactly the type of men I need in the Five-Hundred and First. " This is the first time that the unit, named for the 501st Legion, has been spoken in a high-level canon feature. While the group was featured in Revenge of the Sith and in numerous books, it's never been explicitly said, and it's really cool to hear, and to see just how this group of fans has impacted the universe that helped create it.
This episode isn't without flaws, however. Some of the main elements, such as the use of a passive signal to the Republic to let them know that everything is all clear is a bit simplistic and illogical, as is the lack of urgency to which the Republic officers and Jedi react to their soldiers falling out of contact. The droids make their own reappearances with irritating dialog, (although the commando droids are a bit more intelligent) which shows that there is work to be done on the series.
But, it is to be remembered that this series is aimed towards children, and not necessarily the generation that first saw the theatrical release thirty years ago. At the Woburn parade, I could see that there was still a lot of enthusiasm from the kids wearing the numerous clone trooper, Darth Vader, Commander Cody and Captain Rex costumes. This episode just helps remind me that I can enjoy this as well.
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