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Not clones. Strand casts. Might be strandcaste, I’ve not seen it written down.

But where the Clones were, well….Clones? Strandcast (or however it’s spelled) as unique lifeforms assembled via cloning tech. Basically taking a Mummy cell and a Daddy cell that love each other very much, then introducing some heavy slap bass and a bunch of genetic material from *whatevs* and thus creating a unique, if strictly speaking unnatural, life form, no more a clone of its donors than we are clones of our parents.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Not clones. Strand casts. Might be strandcaste, I’ve not seen it written down.

Strand-Cast or Strandcast according to Wookiepedia. The same article also has background on the creation of Snoke.

ok, so episode 5:

Solid, but not great episode, with no shocking plot twists. In some senses, it doesn't move the plot along, it mostly just focuses on "doing what needs to be done" to get the characters where they "need" to be for events in the next episode.

but thats a comment, not a criticism. They spent that time doing other stuff thats intresting but not really advancing the greater plot, IMO

That was brilliant.

Some nice high concept stuff, solid plot. And?

We briefly get to see Ashoka’s “hairline” and ears! No sooner was I thinking to myself about how we got to see all the different versions of headgear she’s worn to hide her “hairline” over the years then we suddenly see her without one for I think the first time ever? But then she’s immediately wearing another.

Huh! I noticed that, without noticing I noticed it!

 insaniak wrote:

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
Those didn’t enter the SWEU until much later, after several “episodes” with interesting plots. Heir to the Empire, X-Wing, the Han Solo and Lando Calrission series, etc.. Yeah, Kevin J Anderson brought in the Suncrusher and Kyp Durron early on, but in science fiction Kevin’s a bit of a JJ Abrams himself..

For all that it was a good read, the Han Solo trilogy introduced an ancient space station massively bigger than the Death Star in the home system of the guy who thought the Death Star was too big to be a space station...

.... How did I never realize that before...?


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Whoever designed the K-Wing and thought “yeah, that’s a Star Wars ship for sure” needs to put in a hole until they’ve reflected on their actions.

Because much as I’d have preferred the sequels to have more interesting ships, I’d prefer Newer Models of Classics than that abomination.

You hush your mouth. The K-Wing is a thing of beauty.

If the K-Wing was a car, it’d be a Homer.

Probably a little disappointed just because they aired it in theaters for some reason and it was alright; just not quite what I was anticipating.

This was definitely my least favorite episode so far, but it definitely wasn't outright terrible.

 BertBert wrote:

I've grown to like Jacen quite a bit. It's till a bit contrived for Hera to bring her small child into a potential war zone, but the little fella has some charm.[\spoiler]

I think the kid's a terrible actor even as far as kid actors go, but I wanted to quote this because I made this exact observation too. Why the hell is he there? It's not like Hera didn't know she was jumping into a dangerous situation. Having been denied the support she wanted made it even more perilous, not less. I suspect this was overlooked because the writers thought it too important for him to 'hear' Ahsoka and Anakin fighting in the water and thought to hell with how nonsensical it is.

Oh, I Do remember hearing about that episode being in theaters.

Yeah, that was a good episode.

 creeping-deth87 wrote:
This was definitely my least favorite episode so far, but it definitely wasn't outright terrible.

Spoiler:

I enjoyed seeing the flashbacks with Anakin, even though Hayden is as terrible an actor as ever. I expect little of that was new to people who'd watched CW, but for me it provided some nice context for their relationship. This felt very much like a filler episode, which really makes me scratch my head given how short these Disney + shows are. Surely there's a better way to make use of their limited run time. I was really worried toward the end that Ahsoka was going to just hang onto the space whales when they jumped and was pleasantly surprised at the novel solution of moving the ship into the mouth of one instead.

I'm a little miffed we didn't get to see Sabine's side of the story this episode, as I'm more curious about seeing this other galaxy than anything Ahsoka was up to. Hopefully next week we get to catch up with her.

 Geifer wrote:
It's something far easier to appreciate if you've seen the cartoon shows, though.

TBH this is my biggest problem with the show, the thing keeping it merely good and not great: the need to have watched multiple other shows to really understand what's going on and why things matter. It does a better job of giving at least a decent idea of the essential stuff than the sequel mess but it still struggles a bit to stand on its own merits.

 ThePaintingOwl wrote:


TBH this is my biggest problem with the show, the thing keeping it merely good and not great: the need to have watched multiple other shows to really understand what's going on and why things matter. It does a better job of giving at least a decent idea of the essential stuff than the sequel mess but it still struggles a bit to stand on its own merits.

So, i haven't watched most of the clone wars, and none of Rebels, but i'm able to follow the story of ahoska well enough. I think the relevant story beats, and the relationships of the characters are established well enough in this series it's not a major problem. It helps that all the existing bad guys are basically new ones with no connection back to the older series, with the exception of Thrawn, who so far is just a Macguffin for the plot.

Off the top of my head, the only parts that really needed "out of series" explanations were the Pergil space whales, as their ability to make natural hyper jumps, and their role in the fate of Ezra and Thrawn, isn't really talked about clearly enough in this series. Fans of the clone wars and rebels will obviously spot some details that aren't obvious otherwise, or maybe spot them, sooner but really its just easter eggs or geek bonus stuff.

xerxeskingofking wrote:
So, i haven't watched most of the clone wars, and none of Rebels, but i'm able to follow the story of ahoska well enough. I think the relevant story beats, and the relationships of the characters are established well enough in this series it's not a major problem.

That's what I meant. It's better than the sequel movies since you can follow the necessary story elements without watching the other shows but "well enough" still isn't the same as standing fully on its own. The whole thing with Anakin is a good example. It's clear enough what the intent was but it feels like something that is supposed to have far more emotional weight than it has for me. I understand it but I don't fully appreciate it because a prequel cartoon isn't really appealing to me.

Why has Rosario Dawson decided that "Lean back with my arms folded and speak really slowly" is the angle she's going with for Ahsoka? The AI-written dialogue only makes it worse.

Anyway, kid Ahsoka was great and we got to see live action Rex for the first time ever. That bit of the Siege of Mandalore had Ahsoka kill more people than she did in the last two seasons of Clone Wars combined.

 ThePaintingOwl wrote:

xerxeskingofking wrote:
So, i haven't watched most of the clone wars, and none of Rebels, but i'm able to follow the story of ahoska well enough. I think the relevant story beats, and the relationships of the characters are established well enough in this series it's not a major problem.

That's what I meant. It's better than the sequel movies since you can follow the necessary story elements without watching the other shows but "well enough" still isn't the same as standing fully on its own. The whole thing with Anakin is a good example. It's clear enough what the intent was but it feels like something that is supposed to have far more emotional weight than it has for me. I understand it but I don't fully appreciate it because a prequel cartoon isn't really appealing to me.

I don't think that can be helped. Ahsoka is at this point a character with a long history. I'm not sure how you would even accomplish making a standalone adventure of such a character. Or why you would want to if the alternative is to keep developing Ahsoka within the existing context (which, as noted, needs some background for the viewer to fully appreciate it).

I do see the problem for people who haven't watched the animated shows for one reason or another, but I'd argue that there is a need to choose your audience with an established character. If you make a standalone show that is at it's most basic a story about blank of a character with a familiar togruta skin, with no connection to anything else but the visual and narrative conventions of the setting, that's how you get The Force Awakens. Flashy stuff happening with all the right looks and music, but not much in the way of substance. Or you aim to please fans of the character, in which case you don't get around referencing her past and providing more context and some development.

The goal has to be to reconcile those things, of course. Give fans what they want but to try write the story in such a way that first time viewers can follow it reasonably well. I don't think you can cater equally to both groups, and I for one think that they did pick the right part of the audience to focus on. That being said, since I have watched all the other shows, I couldn't possibly say how easy Ahsoka is to follow without that knowledge. So I try not to comment on that.

 H.B.M.C. wrote:
Why has Rosario Dawson decided that "Lean back with my arms folded and speak really slowly" is the angle she's going with for Ahsoka?

How else would the younglings know that you're older and wiser than them?

Was gonna say, pretty sure fold her arms and lean back has been Ashoka’s thing since day one.

Also worth keeping in mind Ahsoka’s pretty unique experience within the Jedi Order.

She was Anakin’s sole Padawan. She herself felt the sharp end of the Order’s corruption when she was tried (and I think convicted?) of a crime she didn’t commit, leading her to walk away from the Order. That the person who framed her had a solid point? Here’s the relevant quote.

Barriss Offee wrote: I did it. Because I've come to realize what many people in the Republic have come to realize. That the Jedi are the ones responsible for this war. That we've so lost our way that we have become villains in this conflict. That we are the ones that should be put on trial. All of us! And my attack on the Temple was an attack on what the Jedi have become. An army fighting for the dark side. Fallen from the light that we once held so dear. This Republic is failing! It's only a matter of time.

Clearly, Ahsoka is concerned that if she hadn’t walked away, perhaps Anakin wouldn’t have become Vader, and Palpatine could’ve been stopped at the 11th Hour.

Sure the mess was such that wouldnt just put everything back as it was, but it would’ve prevented untold suffering across the Galaxy at the hands of the Empire.

She also spent time with Asajj Ventress. Former Jedi, former Sith Assassin turned bounty hunter. Someone chewed up and spat out by both sides of the same coin, determined to find her own way (who was later killed off for mangst, mangst of a singularly uninteresting character at that).

That’s what her time in the World between Worlds was about. Was it hallucination in an oxygen starved brain? Who knows!

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
That’s what her time in the World between Worlds was about. Was it hallucination in an oxygen starved brain? Who knows!

I'd go with genuine Force vision. Yoda did something similar in Clone Wars season 6.

 Geifer wrote:
I don't think that can be helped. Ahsoka is at this point a character with a long history. I'm not sure how you would even accomplish making a standalone adventure of such a character. Or why you would want to if the alternative is to keep developing Ahsoka within the existing context (which, as noted, needs some background for the viewer to fully appreciate it).

While Ahsoka is obviously more obscure, no one was really upset about the parts of Kenobi that relied on you knowing why a senator would call an old man on a desert planet light years away or why the guy with the full body inhaler was so mad at him.

I do wish Chopper got more screen time.

Pound for pound, he’s by far the ‘ardest droid we’ve ever seen. Proper little pitbull of a tosspot.

 LunarSol wrote:

 Geifer wrote:
I don't think that can be helped. Ahsoka is at this point a character with a long history. I'm not sure how you would even accomplish making a standalone adventure of such a character. Or why you would want to if the alternative is to keep developing Ahsoka within the existing context (which, as noted, needs some background for the viewer to fully appreciate it).

While Ahsoka is obviously more obscure, no one was really upset about the parts of Kenobi that relied on you knowing why a senator would call an old man on a desert planet light years away or why the guy with the full body inhaler was so mad at him.

Is it because those background bits came from blockbuster movies that were a cultural phenomenon and not from obscure, nearly-unwatchable cartoons that only recently became broadly available?

I would argue that every single Star Wars show has the exact same "issues" with "obscurity".
Who are the Mandolorians? Why do they matter? Why does everyone regard them with the fear and awe that they do?
These are things viewers would only know if they have watched Clone Wars and Rebels or read EU stuff. At best, they can go "Oh hey that guy looks like Boba/Jango Fett".
The same goes for Andor. If you've only seen the main line of films, why does this guy matter?

Personally, I don't see the problem with shows either not explaining every single thing possible or having stuff connected to other shows/films.
They have to come from somewhere and building on a previous story is an excellent way to do that.
Both the Prequels and Sequels had characters from the Original Trilogy. If your first Star Wars film was Force Awakens, you're going to have no clue who this Han Solo guy is or why his death is such a big deal.
But what do you do if you want to learn more? Watch the other films. The exact same thing applies to shows like Ahsoka.

If you don't want to watch these shows, that's your choice as a viewer but a show shouldn't cater to you specifically because you don't want to do a thing.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
I do wish Chopper got more screen time.

Pound for pound, he’s by far the ‘ardest droid we’ve ever seen. Proper little pitbull of a tosspot.

I think that's my one big disappointment with this series so far... Chopper is criminally underutilised, largely just relegated to sitting in the background.

Huyang has been fun, though.

Hyuang, despite being a dedicated Jedi training droid?

As a lump of soggy wet tissue compared to Chop.

Chop is *hatstand* mental. Not even “do or die” crazy, just “do, and if all else fails cause a glorious mess” bonkers.

CHOPPER FOR POPE! CHOPPER FOR POPE!

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
I do wish Chopper got more screen time.

Pound for pound, he’s by far the ‘ardest droid we’ve ever seen. Proper little pitbull of a tosspot.

That reminds me of Dave Filoni's comparison of R2 and Chopper that always makes me laugh:

"The easiest way to sum up Chopper that we took to on the writing team is that if R2's your favorite dog, Chopper's a cat."

I’d say more if R2 was a lovely Labrador, Chop is a Terrier.

But, Dave is the creator!