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The Clone Wars: “Water War” and “Gungan Attack” Reviews

the clone wars s4 d5dSeason 4 of The Clone Wars is back in full force. Finally! The premiere consisted of 2 episodes of a 3-part arc. And, while I was a little concerned about the episodes taking place underwater, I was relieved to see that these episodes really delivered. Even though it had Gungans…

“Water War” and “Gungan Attack”

¨When Destiny Calls, The Chosen Have No Choice¨

The opening ¨fortune cookie¨ kinda made me laugh. When silly fish people are in trouble, the Jedi have no choice but to help. Never catch a break. But, in all seriousness, I have to say I was a little surprised that they decided to start the episode with the image of a Mon Calamari corpse floating in the water. Murder? In the first 5 seconds of the show? OK, I’m in.

As I mentioned earlier, I was a bit weary of these underwater episodes. I mean, shark people, squid faces, and Gungans? Sigh. Not how I’m trying to start off my season to be honest. Though, I was all for the Mon Calamari and a young Ackbar. I love how The Clone Wars incorporates original trilogy characters into the show and doesn’t make it a gimmick. Who wouldn’t be excited to see a young Ackbar? And, the voice actor they got really nailed it. Though, I did nearly lose it when he screamed, ¨It’s an attack!¨ since that was a line my buddy once said accidentally, instead of the famous ¨It’s a trap¨ line.

Then, we have Riff Tamson, or Sharkface, as I called him. When I first saw his character model in the previews, I shuddered a little. With a name like Riff Tamson, I pictured him as a sort of underwater high school bully stealing lunch money from the Mon Calamari equivalent of Peter Parker. Lucky for us, though, Quarren are actually pretty bad-ass. I tried to think of other aquatic species they could have used, instead, but there’s something less threatening about seeing an Ithorian tearing apart Troopers limb from limb. Do Ithorians even have teeth? Or, a mouth for that matter?

Mon Cala looked absolutely beautiful. As a kid playing Rogue Squadron on the N64, I always remembered the Calamari level and wondered just what it looked like beneath the surface. Well, now I have my answer. It’s amazing. We had a nice little run through the city’s tubing system, thanks to Ackbar, which was a nice treat.

I am often afraid of new things, so I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel about the Jedi and Troopers riding along on these little gliding ships. They were actually kinda cool. I loved the moment where Kit Fisto, the Matthew McConaughey of Jedi Knights (always looking to take that shirt off), was picking off the bad guys and hurling the ships down to his team mates.

The exact moment I was about to yell at the TV screen, ¨When am I gonna see some underwater Force action already??¨ I got it. And, it was a lot of the little things that made me happy. Fisto throwing one of the gliders down to Anakin, and him using a quick, little Force Pull to bring it in the rest of the way and even it out. I LOVE little things like that. Like Darth Maul using a small piece of debris to hurl and the door controls in Menace.

Speaking of debris, what an amazing sequence after the ship blows up! How do we get out of here? Hop off the speeding debris as it plummets full force to the depths of the ocean. It was a thing of beauty, and I can’t help but think of all the amazing ideas that get bounced around in the writers’ room for this show.

Another part I enjoyed was Flash Thompson – I mean Riff Tamson – chasing Ahsoka and the young Calamari Prince through the tubing. The impact he would make after slamming himself into the glass would create this awesome shockwave of bubbles that shot all the way down the tube. A really cool effect and awesome attention to detail. And, although they had rather silly names, I thought the Hydroid Medusas were pretty rad.

My favorite line in this episode was Anakin saying, ¨As you wish…¨ Nice call back to Vader in the original trilogy. Gave me goosebumps.

The battles in these episodes were pretty damn epic. Ahsoka and Kit Fisto really tore it up! Ahsoka had my favorite move, where she did this ridiculous spin attack and a flip kick. It reminded me about how much I can’t wait to sit down and write my ¨Ahsoka Entry.¨ I’ve been kicking around the idea for awhile now and realized I want to write a whole paper on my love of her character and how she has matured and progressed.

A cool touch was having Anakin and Padme wearing full-on helmets for breathing, but Ahsoka had to wear a custom-fit mask to wrap around her lekku (head-tails). But, my immediate thought after seeing the helmets was, ¨Where are those mouth pieces used in Phantom Menace?¨ I hated those things, but it also makes sense here since they would not be able to communicate with those damn things in their mouths. And, Anakin losing his helmet was still a really tense scene, even though we knew he obviously wasn’t going to die. I thought that was really well handled and suspenseful. Nice touch getting the new helmet and the water getting sucked out at the touch of a button. Again, it’s the little things.

Free falling Gungans? That was pretty slick. Maybe next time, the water will be replaced with a solid surface, and we can wipe out the majority of the Gungan race. I can dream, can’t I?

I am super pumped for this season. I know we have a lot to look forward to. What’s going to happen with the information both Ahsoka and Tarkin carry? And, what’s this I hear about the return of Death Watch? Written by the man himself, Filoni?? Season 4 is looking pretty damn good so far.

 

Sean Foster, Fanbase Press Graphic Designer

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