Welcome to Fandom Shmandom, the fandom podcast
that covers everything you love and more. I'm
Sierra Obermark. And I'm Sam Williams. Today's
episode, we will be consequentially chattering
about Star Wars Clone Wars, seasons one through
three. Without further ado, we will, as Roger
Smith says, dive on in. Find your donut holes.
It's our Knives Out category where we sleuth
out which storylines in this whole stinking show
are the most vital to pay attention to. There's
a lot. So many. If you guys are coming in from
our Stranger Things fandom pods, we're doing
things a little differently for a couple of different
reasons. But one of them being we're not trying
to identify three solid storylines. Stranger
Things lends itself really well to that. Clone
Wars. Does not because there are tons of main
characters that exist on this show. So we're
kind of going to go through it character by character
instead of plot point by plot point, which should
be easier because we're doing three whole seasons
in one episode. And within each season, if you
haven't seen Clone Wars or it's been a while
or you can't quite remember, there is a. Each
season is not just one storyline. It is kind
of anthology style. And so there could be up
to 15 different storylines within the 22 episodes
of the season. Yeah, it's very much a kid's show
for the first two seasons before they start to
do just kind of full arcs like they do in season
three, four, five, six. And then season seven
is really more like Stranger Things and like,
here are your distinct different characters on
their specific different quests all leading up
to order 66 and so this is like a saturday morning
cartoon that you know disney went and asked this
was before the disney lucasfilm merger disney
went and asked hey could we create a clone wars
show There had already been a Clone Wars show
created. That one by Lucasfilm was considered
canon. That's the 2D animated Samurai Jack style
one where Mace Windu takes like a thousand droids
out with one force push. It's amazing. Give me
that, Mace. So Disney comes in and gets the rights
to make this non -canon Clone Wars show. Where,
you know, they do all these kind of wacky things
and have fun. And it's a Saturday morning cartoon
and it's going quite well. And then the merger
happens and they decanonize everything except
for what Disney's already created. So suddenly
this show, which starts out non -canonical, becomes
canonical. And we'll talk about what that means
with Ahsoka in a little bit. But the way that
Sierra and I went and prepped for this was obviously
like a lot of research. We've been reading a
ton of books, articles, Reddits. uh, Wikipedia
is occasionally, but also we went and watched
the show in chronological order, which we won't
bore you with those details. Now they will appear
on our Instagram fandom, shmandam pod, and we'll
put the exact order on a little graphic there
for you guys. So that's how we went and watched.
This was to watch the episodes chronologically,
which is a lot of going back and forth between
seasons. Yeah. It definitely takes a little bit
of effort. Uh, And you can't just sit there and
let it play. And then sometimes you do sit there
and you go, oh, I can let it play for three episodes.
And then at the end of the second episode, you
go, wait, shoot, was that two episodes or three
episodes? Oh my gosh, I know, for real. The amount
of like, have I, haven't I? It's wild. But honestly,
this is the first time that I personally have
watched it in chronological order. I've always,
in the past, just watched it in release order.
I think it's worth it, though. I think it's really
worth it. I think it makes so much more sense.
I kind of wonder why they didn't do it. I know.
It's very odd. There's a couple points where
I feel it is very, very confusing. Like, someone
dies in Season 1, and then they're alive in Season
3, and you're going, what is happening here?
And it's because it takes place before it. Specifically,
there's this whole, like, murder of a Rodian
senator that... the murder gets resolved in season
two, but that character's in season three. And
I just remember being like, cause I actually
watched that episode and was like, wait, what?
And then went back. I was like, Oh, I wasn't
supposed to watch this one yet. So when I got
to season three and I went back to that episode,
I was like, Oh, why did they do this? Yes. It's,
it can be a little jarring, but I think watching
it chronologically at least once. I think is
definitely worth it to actually get full storylines
together. Certainly. Certainly. Especially knowing
that there's two episodes that are like before
Ahsoka joins them. Why isn't Ahsoka in this episode?
What's going on here? And I know they do the
whole like newsreel at the top. They're like,
the Jedi will continue to go about their duties
on this year's galaxy show. And like you get
that whole preamble, but, uh, I, as an adult,
do a lot of show watching while making dinner
or doing dishes or taking care of other things.
And so, like, I'm not always listening to that.
And I don't think every six -year -old is listening
to that either. And so it's kind of like, yeah,
that information's there and it's present. So
you can do the work yourself. But from ease of
access, it kind of feels like when somebody gives
you a spreadsheet with multiple clicks. Like,
the answer's in there. But it's harder to get
to than it should be. For sure. So let us start
out our categories of characters with the big
one, the main man, the main village man, Anakin
himself. There are a lot of people complaining
that you didn't say Jar Jar right then. I know.
Sorry. He appears in three episodes. He's mentioned
derogatorily. More than that. But yes, he's in,
I think, just three. But I think only maybe once
or twice more. Senator Binks is there. Padme
couldn't go. I remember that one specifically,
and they're like, I'll be right there. Yeah,
Anakin's interesting. You know, I found it really
cool that Hayden Christensen, in preparation,
for being on the Ahsoka show, went and rewatched
or went and watched Clone Wars for the first
time. And he said he had so much respect and
love for what had been done with Anakin's character.
And I do feel that in even as early on as season
one, because Anakin is just so much more rounded
in what his thought process is once he's beyond
Obi's teaching. So that berating that Obi -Wan
is constantly doing about. being better, being
better, being better. No, that, that has gone
nowhere for him. He only can be taught by getting
results or lack of results. And unfortunately
he's so talented and so good that his ability
to get results teaches him essentially sort of
like a dog with getting a treat. Like it's very
Pavlovian in like, and I think that's what Palpatine
wants is he wants a war where Anakin, the chosen
one is getting trained on this, like, violent
nature where he is good and praised for his war
actions. So Anakin's cocky as all heck. He doesn't
listen to the council. He teaches that sometimes
verbally, almost always through example, but
he gets results. He's given rewards for giving
those results. He's totally war focused and he's
not that focused on the force leading him. And
he needs basically Qui -Gon. To remind him of
the Force, not the Council. Because of the way
that the Council is. And we'll get to the Council
later. But Anakin's character is just so much
more fleshed out in these three seasons because
of how much we get to see this. And he's so young.
He's like 22. And just reminding yourself that,
okay, this is a 22 -year -old boy who basically
is Michael Jordan. Of course he's going to be...
feeling himself right yeah and he's he's very
focused on improving and proving improving his
status proving himself better than everyone else
because let's be honest in most cases he is he
has the natural abilities to be better than most
and to have a lot of really good instinctual
thought processes where he can make a plan on
the fly he can jump into a war zone and figure
out exactly how to plan how to strategize and
it frustrates a lot of the other characters because
they want the plan to be set ahead of time and
then they want everything to go to plan but Anakin
has been developing most of his time as a Jedi
in a war zone and in this situation that no other
Jedi other than ones around his level have had
to deal with. And so they, and so Anakin is really
the one who understands that in war situations,
things don't go to plan. You have to be able
to improvise. You have to be able to change things
up. And it's. interesting because he also develops
and matures over even just these first three
seasons because at the beginning you're still
seeing him be the bait you're seeing him oh you
have to go and get caught and then we'll come
and get you but then he develops and starts kind
of pushing that onto ahsoka and i do think that
in training her he's also realizing that's why
I was trained. That's why I had to do that. Oh,
it makes sense now because the only way you're
going to learn is by being in these situations
and understanding the context. Yeah. To that
point right there. I think that's precisely one
of the reasons why Yoda is like, he gets to have
a Padawan right now because he's going to find
the frustrations of what it is to teach somebody
who's like him. So they go and find, just like
they, they kind of, Obi -Wan is this big rule
breaker and doesn't listen to anybody. And so
they pair him up with Qui -Gon because they know
Obi's nature is to rebel. So they know, okay,
Qui -Gon rebels all the time. So what does a
rebeller do with somebody who's rebelling? They're
now going to be a rule follower because they're
rebelling the guy who likes to rebel. Therefore,
he'll follow rules. And they do this with Ahsoka
where they sort of give this person who's stubborn
and has a mind of their own and thinks they can
do better to Anakin. to try and train. And I
think there are definitely moments where that
works, but then there are also moments where
Mace Windu is looking out the window going, good
God, why did we create two of them? Although
Mace, Samuel L. Jackson's rendition of that might,
might sound a little different. But I, I think
that it's, yeah, definitely seeing in her that,
that same desire to prove them to, they each
want to prove themselves. And he wants to be
the best master that he can be, which like for
Ahsoka, which is honestly touching, especially
considering that that's slightly more selfless
than we usually see from Anakin. Because usually
his motivations are, how can I look really good?
How can I do the best? How can I be the hero?
And when he's training Ahsoka, It's very much,
how can I be the best for her? And we see this
especially once we get to the end of season three.
There's a very, very good moment at the very
end of season three where she's gotten herself
into a very difficult situation. She got herself
out of it. And he the whole time has just been
essentially panicking about her because he's
supposed to be there for her. He's supposed to
protect her. That's his job. And he's not there.
And she basically turns it around and says, well,
everything that you've taught me up until this
point is how I was able to save myself. So you
were there. And it's it is a very, very touching
moment. And you can see that. Anakin is very
moved by this, and I think it's a really great
example of the maturity of their relationship,
the maturity of just Anakin in general coming
into his own, the maturity of Ahsoka becoming
her own person as well. Yeah. It's wonderful.
One of the reasons why I like that. moment so
much when he's apologizing to Ahsoka for not
being there is we get a little bit more of Tatooine
Anakin, like nine -year -old kid, 10 -year -old
kid. And Matt Lanter's voice acting is just so
soft and vulnerable. Yeah. So this moment with
Ahsoka, he's like, I'm sorry, I should have tried
harder. I should have done, I should have, I
should have, I should have, I should have, really
leads us to Revenge of the Sith quite nicely.
Where he's beyond I should have. He's had a couple
moments where he's messed up. And now it's I'm
going to no matter what. Nothing is outside of
my control. And this show really leads you up
to that where, A, almost nothing is outside of
his control. He can always figure out a way to
defeat the enemy, to beat the bad guy, to escape
the evil lair, to get through all sorts of different,
you know. mines and, and citadels and traps and
all that sort of stuff. So a, he should be able
to say Padme from death, but then also I should
have tried harder. This is who he is as well,
where I feel like I can do this and it will be
my fault. I am culpable. If the person that was
relying on me in this case, Ahsoka, but in revenge,
Padme, if I can't do anything for them. Right.
And it's very interesting because that also,
works with his general focus more on death and
loss and failure rather than life and success
and gain. There's a specific quote, someone,
I think maybe Plo Koon says to him, do not take
the lives you saved too lightly. And he says,
I don't, but I also don't take the lives I lost
lightly. It seems as though kind of in these
earlier seasons, he has a little bit more of
that balance where he is appreciating what they
have been able to achieve while also mourning
the loss of his troops or mourning the loss of
a friend or something like that. But as it continues
on, he does start to linger more on. But if I
had done something differently, I could have
stopped. this loss from happening. Yes. You know,
we won the battle, but we lost these key people
and I am responsible for it. He takes a lot of
personal responsibility. And it's very interesting
though, too, because there's a, there's a couple
of moments where they really tried to hammer
home Anakin's attachment issues. And how he's
very focused on being attached to Ahsoka and
being her master and being there for her. And
therefore he won't let her go. However, the two
main examples of this in the first three seasons,
I don't think do an adequate job of proving this
point because I'm a hundred percent on Anakin's
side, both situations. And it frustrates me to
no end, these other Jedi who are speaking to
him about how he needs to let Ahsoka go if it's
her time or she's, you know, she's lost. She
must be gone. You can't get her. And his response
is, she's not completely gone. She's not dead.
She's still alive. She's still out there. And
I am her master. And it is literally my responsibility.
To be there for her and to help her. And we sent
her into this situation. I sent her into this
situation. So I need to help get her out. And
there's... There's specifically... The one that
bothers me the most is this plot line with Luminara.
Where Luminara is Padawan and... Ahsoka go off
on this mission that they're sent on to go infiltrate
somewhere. And they end up getting stuck in a
collapse. I think it is. And Luminara is just
going, well, if it's their time, I can feel them
fading away, but then it cuts to them and they
are not fading away. They are completely like,
they're moving away. They're going further away
physically, but they're not dying. No, they're
not dying at all. They're completely able to
be rescued. They're just right there. And Anakin
is going, but we have to go get them. And Luminar
is like, well, you know, we've talked about it
and it's okay. No one is not okay. And I'm completely
right there with Anakin where he's going, but
she's right there. We know where they are. We
can get to them. It might be tricky, but we can
get to them. And we can pull them out of the
situation that we put them in. It's interesting
because there's this whole sort of stratosphere
of detachment that is cold. That is definitely
not like... what the light side should be about
that the Jedi struggle. Right. And there's so
much corruption going on within the Jedi, not
from like a political corruption standpoint,
where like people are taking bribes or whatever,
but there is this like idea of, well, it's just
really easy to let go of everything. And so.
We can let go of these troops. We can let go
of these civilians because they got it. Like
they're going to be casualties. We can let go
of these Padawans because it's their time to
die as the force wills it, which anytime, whether
it's real life or not, that people are like,
well, if blank blank wills it. And I'm like,
that's apathy. And to me, action is the right
step of whatever religious sort of things you
need to do. You have to go and. and manifest
in some way, shape or form. And, and so for Anakin
to be like, no, like this is my responsibility
as a teacher. Yeah, absolutely. Ahsoka is your
responsibility. Go get her. Right. And Luminar
is like, and I'm like, well, maybe there's a
reason why your Padawan isn't, uh, the best of
people. Yeah. Well, we haven't got there yet.
That's why it was a hint and a wink and a nod.
Yeah. I mean, And it's very frustrating because
this whole time I'm kind of frustrated with Luminara
and then later Plo Koon in a similar situation
where Anakin wants to go after Ahsoka and find
her and rescue her. And they're both being very,
oh no, but you can't do anything, Anakin. And
Anakin's like, I very well can do something.
And both of them kind of end with this. Anakin,
you can't keep everyone around and alive all
the time. But that's not what he's trying to
do. I mean, it's factual, but in these situations,
that's not what he's trying to achieve. He's
literally trying to save someone who can very
well be saved. It comes across very fatalistic
to me. Yes, absolutely. And it's, yeah, like
you said, the apathy. And it's very frustrating
because if you can... do something and there's
an action to be done why would you not do that
well and again it he continues to be told you
can't keep everybody alive in short like i'm
not sure that anybody's has literally said to
him i don't i can't remember if that's an actual
line or not where they're like you can't keep
everybody alive around you but so by the time
we get to revenge by the time we get to revenge
then and he sees padme's dying and his force
vision well you can't keep everybody alive and
he's like i've been i've been hearing that for
three years and i've been I have been correct
most of the times. And so no one is going to
stop me from doing this because the council keeps
giving him bad advice. Right. The council keeps
doing all of these things that are antithetical
to the spirit of the Jedi way. Right. And so
what's going to stop him? Only himself, which
is the problem. Right. Exactly. What I think
Anakin is actually too attached to is not his
student. is not the people around him i think
he's showing a love that is universal sort of
sort of the love that he uh is wooing padme with
in attack of the clones where he doesn't actually
mean that he's trying to get romantic with her
but uh he actually is showing a universal love
to the people around him where you know he is
loyal in his love and he will strive to go to
to the ends of his abilities to get them and
if that doesn't work then okay i will let you
go But he is too attached to his status as the
most talented. He is too attached and too in
love with who he is as a warrior, as a general,
as a pilot, and not as a Jedi. Right. There's
a great quote that we'll get to in the I'm going
to give it enough or you can't refuse category.
But he says at one point, essentially, the Jedi
code. gets in the way of us really, truly winning
fights. And it's a very pessimistic view of the
Jedi code, which even Obi -Wan, he's talking
about this Captain Tarkin, who lo and behold
goes to be Grand Moff at some point. But Obi
-Wan is also eyeing Anakin when he's like, that's
a simplistic view on things. But it is. But Anakin
really, I don't think, takes much pride at this
point in being a Jedi. Unless it gets him status.
Right? Master Jedi. He loves being called that.
Not being on the council. Huge deal. But otherwise,
he's much more in love with himself as a general.
As a fighter. As a tactician. As a pilot. Not
as a Jedi. Because the Jedi Order and the Jedi
Code keep getting in the way of the other things
being done properly. He's not wrong. No. And
honestly, I think that the main reason for this
is not necessarily who Anakin is as a person,
but kind of as I was saying before, he's been
created as a wartime Jedi. Yeah. He is seeing
things in a completely different way. He didn't
come up and spend years working as a peacekeeper
Jedi working. just as someone who's there with
archives and studying and learning more about
the force and meditation, he is there to be a
general. He is there to command troops and to
get things done. And not many other Jedi in his
position have not had time to be a Jedi. Right.
Yeah. He's like, he's like, the highest ranked
youngest Jedi general at, you know, right. Which
is also crazy because he started so late as well.
Right. So he's got, instead of being there from
the age of two, or I think Obi -Wan at one point
puts it like, Oh my gosh, I was, I started late
at three and a half. This guy started a five
years old. That's crazy. And Anakin's like 10,
nine or 10 when he gets started. So he's only
had. nine ten years i think 10 specifically because
it's 10 years between phantom and attack of the
clones so he's like 19 years old again we're
all impressionable at 19 years old we're all
in love with ourselves where we succeed and don't
like thinking about our faults and like to push
against authority from 19 to 22 23 years old
of course he's like that is him becoming a man
right so when sierra's saying he's he's brought
up as a wartime general she's not saying Oh,
he was trained as a Padawan in war. There were
skirmishes and battles and, of course, there
was all of that stuff. Yeah. But his time as
a Jedi Knight. Exactly. His time as a Jedi Knight
is when he's developing on his own and it's as
wartime guy. And it's interesting the parallel
here between, like, you know, you get politicians
who are really good for wartimes and you get
politicians that are really good for peacetimes.
And Anakin is being really created into what
is ultimately going to be the best killing machine.
In the galaxy. Right. But because Anakin is not
wrong on all of this stuff, he goes and gets
the results. He saves the people, all that stuff.
He feels very free to ignore the Jedi. Yeah.
The Jedi for all of their faults still have some
pretty good systems in place to avoid the dark
side and maybe even to a fault. Like it seems
at this point in the Jedi order. They've become
so much about not falling to the dark side that
they've forgotten how to properly live in the
light side. Their mindset is dark side avoidant
rather than light side progressive. It feels
like when an organization switches mindset from
trying to go and do the right thing to we just
want to don't get sued. Yeah, exactly. And so,
but at the same time, there are still systems
in place to avoid the dark side that then Anna
gets kind of like. Eh. Eh, it's fine. Which then
gets him some very, very, very clear Vader moments.
So much so that we get Imperial March playing
in the background on a number of occasions. One
in particular being that he tortures a Geonosian
for information. about mind control worms because
they're running out of time. Kind of Ahsoka's
thoughts first. Ahsoka's the first person to
be like, let's just scare them into thinking
we're going to torture. And then Anakin's like,
what if we just did it? Ahsoka always wants to
be the bad cop in every situation. She's always
like, I will lunge at them and hold my lightsaber
an inch away from their neck. Tell me what I
need to know. And everybody goes, Ahsoka, calm
down. Thumbs slips and suddenly the person's
dead. Exactly. And another, probably the most
blatant and clear moment of this, and one that
I actually went, oh, when I was watching it,
because I kind of forgot about it. So there is
a traitor on a ship that has a number of senators
and the Duchess of Mandalore, Satine, who is
Obi -Wan's will -they -won't -they love interest
that already happened offscreen, but they clearly
still love each other. It's fine. And Obi -Wan
and Anakin are there as well, trying to stop.
this traitor from blowing up the ship and everybody
on it he's standing there with a detonator obi
-wan is holding out his lightsaber to him and
satine who is a pacifist to the extreme yeah
is holding a gun to a blaster to him and it's
this standoff situation that we're in and this
traitor He taunts them in this situation because
he thinks he has the upper hand here. Satine,
if you brand yourself a hypocrite to your pacifist
ideals, Obi -Wan, you would be heralded as a
hero to everyone on this ship. Well, almost everyone.
Then he looks at Satine. Exactly. Who then, in
turn, looks at Obi -Wan, basically confirming...
Yeah, if you strike him down, I will hate you.
I'll scream, I'll hate you! And you'll yell to
me, you were supposed to be my lover! You were
supposed to join with me, not plunge me in darkness.
So, there's this tension here, and then he continues,
who will strike first and brand themselves a
cold -blooded killer? And in that moment, Anakin's
lightsaber appears through his chest and then
he falls away, revealing Anakin behind him. Imperial
March plays. Anakin, as nonchalant as can be,
has grabbed the detonator out of this guy's hand
and looks at Obi -Wan and Satine and basically
being like, what? He wasn't going to let him
blow up the ship. He was going to blow up the
whole ship. You heard him. Yeah, exactly. Which.
Fair. I kind of agree. In a situation like that,
I'm sorry, once again, that may be Vader -like,
but I kind of agree with Anakin here. He made
the right call. As you guys are listening to
this, Sierra has put on her Darth Vader helmet
and has started marching around with the red
lightsaber. So speaking of one of the three people
that survived that encounter, Obi -Wan is a huge
part of this show and also gets his character
rounded out a little bit more. I think less so
than Anakin. We have a fairly good understanding
of Obi -Wan as an adult by the time we get to
Revenge of the Sith. Because he's kind of the
best part of Attack of the Clones. In fact, I
don't even think he's kind of. He's the best
part of Attack of the Clones. Yes. He's a fully
formed adult. He's a teacher. He's now a Jedi
Master. And what this show does very beautifully
is show his more emotional side, show the conflict
within Obi -Wan, allow him to explore or us to
explore who he is kind of away from prying eyes.
Yeah, definitely. Because there are moments when
Anakin is struggling with things, like his big
feelings sometimes. And Anakin... is want to
call out Obi -Wan for not feeling these things.
Obi -Wan just has to remind him, no, I feel it
too. I'm just better at hiding it. And he has
this kind of fresh way about him of trying to
be a perfect Jedi. And that comes back to him
rebelling against Qui -Gon's rebelliousness and
being a very... clear rule follower however i
do feel that he comes about this in more of a
fresh way than the jedi council does where they're
trying to be perfect but in that dark side avoidance
way and being a little bit stuck in the past
and with their ideals and their kind of closed
off cold nature obi -wan is still very warm and
he's still very caring about people and he does
form attachments and he just doesn't let it take
over him. And so while some potentially on the
council may view him as leaning more towards
the dark side, which I would completely disagree
with, he is just that very clear example of what
a Jedi should be, honestly. You should be reaching
out and you should be forming that universal
love bond with those around you. So I think that
he does a very good job. I think he still exemplifies
the problems with the Order, which is the fact
that he's too caught up in ceremony and rules.
Whereas Qui -Gon's ability to sort of let the
Force dictate. and have him move around as the
force needs him to go is where all jedi need
to be they should not be an organized military
force for a government that has corruption in
it just as much as the other one and so he gets
stuck in this general mode that he should really
never be in now he is absolutely one of the best
and and he considers a lot like of all the jedi
that are going to be there i'm like i trust mace
i trust yoda for the most part. And I trust Obi
to be there. Certainly. I trust Anakin to be
there most of all, but I'm also very much on
the side of like, Anakin should have left the
order as soon as he got married. Like what's
stopping him. He still gets to keep his powers.
He still gets to have a lightsaber. He, and then
he could just go and hang around with his hot
wife, like in public. And he could still be a
general. Like, he could still do all of that.
And they would want him to because he's so talented.
So, like, what's stopping you, bud? But Obi -Wan,
I want in the order, but I want him to push back
a little bit more. You can see him being like,
I'm not sure this is exactly right. But then
he does keep Anakin in check sometimes, which
is very, very helpful for Anakin. But what would
have been more helpful for Anakin is Obi -Wan.
not being too proud. And I think that's the problem.
You even see it with Alec Guinness's character.
He's a bit proud and Han, it really rankles Han,
how proud he is. And so like, who's the more
foolish, the fool or the fool who follows him?
And Han's like, damn fool. I knew you were going
to say that, right? That's Alec Guinness's character.
He's a little, he's a little proud of himself.
But if he could just be a little bit. more visibly
ashamed and talk about his shame out in the open
and discuss that with Anakin. I think that would
be one of the main things that saves Anakin from
himself and revenge. I would agree. I think the
clearest example of this is his relationship
with Satine, which mostly has occurred previous
to the show, but There are definite hints when
we see them interact. They make mention. He says
he would have left the order for her. She says
that she's loved him since the first time he
came and saved her. And even though they're kind
of under duress in that moment, and it's a little
bit of a distraction technique, it's clearly
very true. And if Obi -Wan had taken the example
of... Satine and his relationship and shared
that with Anakin and explained why it didn't
work or why it could have worked if they'd done
things differently or really just explore that
with him. Anakin could have decided to leave
the order and go live with his hot wife and raise
their children. And it would have been great.
or he would have realized where the boundary
was or whatever the case may be but they could
have connected on that level and i think it would
have been much better for everyone involved and
potentially completely avoided revenge yeah you
know completely completely avoided yeah and one
of the reasons why you may be saying well obi
-wan doesn't know that he needs to talk about
this stuff with anakin no he definitely does
because especially when Anakin is confronted
with the fact that Clovis and Padme had dated
and had this little relationship. And Anakin
clearly had no idea before this is just revealed
in front of a room of people. Obi -Wan has the
best eyebrow raise I have ever seen in my life,
where he's going, oh, well, that's an interesting
development. And it had me. cackling and so he
definitely knows yeah yeah he does at the end
of the day obi -wan is a follower at heart which
i really love because i i love leaders who are
followers he follows the force not as much as
he should but he does he follows the code like
to a t he follows the jedi he follows his orders
and he's a perfect Balance or counterweight,
I should say, to Anakin. They balance each other
out. And what you need is the mix of those two
in one Jedi. Right. That's who the Jedi need.
And they don't have it. But they think maybe,
maybe if we give Anakin Ahsoka, he'll be the
perfect chosen one baby possum thing ever. But
no. Instead. Now there are two of them. I think
yes. However, she's definitely Anakin light.
Yeah. Well, in more ways than one, like she's
physically Anakin light. I think there's a lot
of interesting things that happen with Ahsoka's
development. She really changes quickly. Throughout
the first three seasons. And you really see her
coming to her own. She starts as very much. Anakin
having to tell her. Go here. Do this. Stand over
there. Don't do this. Breathe in. Breathe out.
Flare your nostrils. Get out your lightsabers.
You need to go to the bathroom. Very much needing.
But she needs that. It's not him being micromanaging.
She just. She's a little too explosive. She's
a little too into what she thinks is right. They
put a 12 -year -old in a war zone. Like, what
do you think is going to happen? Exactly. So
she needs all of that hand -holding. But by the
end of season three, she's already having these
moments where she's listening to the Force on
her own. She's having visions and discovering
what those mean and really pondering and meditating
on that. coming to her own conclusions about
how to stop, potentially, what she thinks that
she is seeing here, and listening to the Force
and being calm and being careful, which ends
up resulting in her being able to save herself
at the very end of Season 3 from a pretty severe
situation. Yeah. Yeah. Those darn Trandoshans.
But at least she's got some Wookiee friends.
Because there's only one Wookiee in this whole
world. Don't, don't even get me started. We'll
get there. So what I was struck by is they have
this whole plot line that occurs on Ryloth and
she really starts to learn a lot of information.
in a very short amount of time during this situation
on Ryloth. She learns that being knocked down
just means to try again differently. She learns
retreating isn't failure, and that you can't
always go against orders. Which is fair, because
Anakin doesn't always go against orders. He frequently
goes against orders. But not always. And Ahsoka
at the beginning very much is like, well, I've
seen you go against orders, so we must always
go against orders. And he has to kind of rein
that back in her, which almost reins himself
back as well, because he has to be an example
for her. Now, does he still come up with his
crazy concocted schemes? Yes. And does she then
come up with crazy concocted schemes? Yes, she
does. But she does have a little bit more. of
that quickly on the end, quickly after this situation
where she's kind of like, oh, I can't always
go against orders. She has this line where she
goes, as you well know, I can follow orders.
And I'm sorry, but up until this point, where
is the evidence? that's insane there are a bunch
of like very small moments in the show throughout
the entire three seasons where he gives an order
and she goes and follow it without argument and
she does that even in season one there are moments
where she goes and does that i understand the
sentiment but i will not let you hyperbolic this
this argument that much it is right after anakin
goes You need to pull back. You need to stop.
You need to stop. And she goes, no, no, no. I
can see. They're retreating. They're retreating.
And he's like, you are about to meet up with
the rest of their army. You need to stop now.
Everybody is going to die. And she is not listening
to orders. And it is directly on the heels of
that, is this quote. Which is a foolish line
by her. And she's like, again, to be fair to
Ahsoka, she is a teenager. And but she definitely
has been able to follow orders before without
complaint. She's just she's also very argumentative
and she does like to push the envelope, especially
to people who really should not be pushed back.
She argues with everyone, everybody, which does
very much feel like Anakin's Padawan. This is
true. This is true. Like she's definitely more
his child than Luke. Yes, but to be fair, he's
kind of raising her. He didn't really have the
opportunity to do that. That's why there's evidence
for what I've just said. I think another interesting
thing when I was rewatching this about Ahsoka
and then also about Obi -Wan is there is a whole.
plotline on a force planet, which we will get
to much more in depth in a little bit. But there
is a plotline. I have so much to say. Good God.
I know. But Ahsoka is kind of taken almost as
a token for the dark side. And Obi -Wan is taken
as a token for the light side. And I find that
to be very interesting. I would say. Obi -Wan
is the clear choice for the light side, so it
feels like the dark side is kind of like, shrug,
I guess I have to go with this person. Yeah,
exactly. Man, I wish there was literally anybody
else. However, during this, she's infected with
the dark side. Yeah. Obi -Wan is not infected
with the light side. Right. She is absolutely
more susceptible than Obi -Wan is. She's not
as strong. She's not as well trained, right?
And she is young, so she's got more, and I don't
know her biology specifically, but the show is
in general making her a kid going through puberty
of sorts, right? Not physical puberty, but emotional
puberty. So she is more susceptible. I will say,
the dark side then does drain any sense out of
her, and then she's filled with light side stuff.
Yes. So it doesn't really become the token of
the dark side. No, but in the visual where each
is being held, it was just very interesting.
It is fascinating that she is so susceptible
in that entire sort of dealio. Ahsoka is the
perfect parallel, I think, for kids to understand
Anakin a bit more. Because she is who the viewer
is essentially supposed to be. She is a kid learning
the ways of the world. Through Anakin's eyes.
And so you get to know Anakin very well. If you're
a kid looking. At Ahsoka's storyline. So she
follows. His example. All the time. Which is
how kids learn. Some kids learn. Hey I should
sit down and study. And read things. And I will
get information that way. But that's acquiring
knowledge. Which is different than the learning
process. Everybody, every human learns through
an example of some way, shape or form, whether
it's what not to do or what to do, which is why
Anakin occasionally really bothers me as a teacher
because he's so like, why are you like this?
Why can't you just follow orders? You should
just do as you're told. Like you've gone too
far. And Obi -Wan even calls it out in one of
my favorite lines where he goes, he like just
is kind of like. not a parent of divorce he's
just sitting there listening to anakin and ahsoka
and it's like it's not a parent of yours it's
a grandfather father daughter situation he's
just he's just looking at anakin and kind of
judging his training of ahsoka and he goes after
anakin and ahsoka bicker for a while he goes
I see Anakin's leadership style is now do as
I say, not as I do. Yeah, that's stupid. It's
a terrible way to teach. Anakin, if you want
different results, be different. Right. But that's
also something that I think bothers most people
is they're confronted with a mini -me. There
are so many people who have kids or... They're,
you know, a young cousin or something like that.
And they begin to act like you. And then you
look and you're like, that is so annoying. Oh,
my goodness. It's me. Totally. Why is this child
so sassy? Oh, what did I just say? Okay. Well,
they got that quote directly from me. Great.
Shoot. My bad. I'm sorry I'm ruining you, tiny
child. Anakin has a different woman in his life,
one that he's married to and in love with and
wants to go on two week long vacations with in
the middle of a war. What? You do? That's one
of the most out of character moments, I think,
in the whole show. It's the entire time Anakin's
like, I can't abandon. I can't do anything. All
these men depend on me. The war depends on me.
I've got to be there. And then there's one episode
where he shows up with Padme and he's like, let's
go on vacation for two weeks. They'll be fine.
Everyone will be fine. No one will notice. No
one will notice a top general and a senator have
both left. Well, to be fair, he is supposed to
be on a meditation retreat. Like, he isn't supposed
to be there. And where is he supposed to be meditating?
Just his quarters that are under lock and key
the whole time? No one's going to know. How would
they know? How would they know? They're going
to know. Anyways, Padme is the person we're talking
about. Who is very interesting because at the
same time that Anakin is very much, I have to
be there, I have to be there, I have to be there,
Padme is the same. However, in my opinion, I
think she takes it slightly farther than Anakin
does. I agree. Because she still considers herself
to be a public servant first and a wife second.
Whereas Anakin puts his love of her above. everything
in in name only i would say in verbiage because
there are definitely a lot of times where he
chooses everything else over their relationship
although he says he wants to prioritize the opposite
way he wants to prioritize that way he's often
not i think he's really bowed to the pressures
of well if i don't show up if they are calling
me and i don't respond however There are a number
of times when he's with her and ignoring phone
calls or, you know, communicator calls or whatever
they are. He is ignoring calls from important
people to be with her. And he does mention it
a number of times. But she is the first to drop
everything to go make a speech or to go to a
different planet to talk to some random person
or to go behind enemy lines and put herself in
danger for the. Let's see. Times Padme was captured,
three. Times she rescues herself, mostly, of
those three, two. Pretty good. Pretty good odds
there. Times she's poisoned, two. Separate from
the times she's captured. Times she almost dies
in other ways. I believe it's two. There might
have been a third, but I couldn't remember if
that was also a capture and I didn't want to
duplicate myself. So, all that being said, I...
feel like i understand anakin's character a ton
more in this show i understand obi -wan's character
in a way that is satisfying i feel padme's character
in these first three seasons i understand her
less than i did with just the live action yeah
she's much more gullible than i feel like she
is in the live action Like, she trusts all of
these dear friends and old lovers and family
compatriots and other senators and gets captured,
like, constantly. And gets captured and poisoned.
And then, like, she's around the Trade Federation,
which she knows has wanted to kill her since
she was 14 years old. And she's like, don't worry,
Clovis will protect me. And then they poison
her to get to Clovis. And it's like, okay. But
then when we get to Revenge of the Sith. Obi
-Wan's like, yeah, I saw Anakin killing younglings.
She's like, I don't believe you. I'm like, Obi
-Wan, your bestest friend other than Anakin in
the whole world, and you believed Clovis over
Obi? What's happening here? She's also much more
a damsel in distress. Now, as you said, who does
rescue yourself? But she never reads that much
as a damsel in distress in the live action. At
the very beginning, even in Naboo, she's... set
it up with Keira Knightley's character Sabe so
that they've swapped and like she has such ownership
of all the stuff versus in this, they really,
what I think they essentially do is they try
and parallel her a little bit with Leia, which
Leia is captured a bunch and foolish, but also
able to get out of it. But that's also movies
from the 80s, written in the 70s and 80s. Those
are very different. about what women characters
should be. Now, of course, Princess Leia is sort
of a fresh and new take on women characters.
That's one of the reasons why the movie is so
popular. She's a princess and she needs to be
rescued, but she can do it herself. And that's
so cool. And then they improve on that a little
bit for 1990s and aught standards where Padme's
a bit less captured, a bit less foolish. And
can still get herself out of tight situations
that other people force her into. But that's
not at her own stupidity. Yeah. And then we have
this show. And I start to feel like they're almost
being irresponsible from, like, a feminist perspective,
to be honest. Like, I think they're being irresponsible
from a feminist perspective about their women
character here. Where they just kind of nerfed
Padme into being this foolish damsel in distress
to go and get rescued. And then they, like, try
and... fix it, but not really. And it's funny
coming from Dave Filoni's background, who's one
of the main creators of the Clone Wars show,
when he's coming from Avatar The Last Airbender,
where a little bit of that stuff happens never.
That is never a problem with the female characters
in that show. So I just don't understand why
Padme's like this. Yeah, it does frustrate me
as well. That's why I started the whole count,
because I was just going... This is ridiculous.
She got herself tricked by yet another person.
She's only in three arcs. So it's like every
time she's in an arc, she's captured. Yeah. You
know that when you see her, she's. Oh, I'm sorry.
There is another time that she's also a hostage.
Oh, good. Excellent. And she's holding on. Is
that the one where she's holding Anakin's lightsaber?
Yeah. Like, I can't get searched. Why? I have
something. Of consequence, you should just say
it's a lightsaber at this point. Just tell Bale.
He's going to think some weird stuff about you,
Padme. Yeah, it's fine. Bale, keep your secret.
We know him. He's good. He won't bail on you.
Of all the people that you should trust, he's
probably one of three. Yeah. Anakin, Obi -Wan,
R2 -D2 and C -3PO, and Bale. Well, okay. But
I said, I specifically said people. Yeah. Droids
aren't people. We understand your politics. I
get it. They're a character. They're not people.
They have no rights. They're definitely not slaves,
certainly. I mean, they don't, but... Well, you
and Ron Howard have very different perspective
on the droids. Thank you very much, Solo, for
your little enslaved revolution droid thing.
Well, speaking of some other individuals who
have no say in what... They can do. Or so we
think. Question mark. Oh, wait, no. They literally
are inhibited from it. That's a wink and a nod
again, Sierra. Don't ruin it. The clones. The
clones. Besides Anakin, my favorite part of Clone
Wars. The clones. I love the relationships between.
Cody and Obi -Wan and Rex and Anakin, seeing
them interact is very fun. They have really great
banter. They have this level of respect that
goes both ways, which is wonderful. I think that
in some of the other Jedi clone relationships,
the Jedi don't necessarily have the respect for
the clones that Obi -Wan and Anakin do. And they
definitely see them more as cannon fodder. And
well, this is why they're here is to die, essentially.
And Anakin and Obi -Wan definitely have a clearer
picture of these are still human beings. They
are not droids who are, you know, mechanical
and however much we want to argue that they are
also thinking, feeling. I don't think that there's
any argument that a clone is more so. Thinking
and feeling and has their own personality and
autonomy, despite the fact that they are all
based on one individual. Right. I think the show
makes that point. Yeah. Really clearly. Yes.
And we see this many, many, many times with the
way that they have their own names, with the
way that they name themselves or name each other,
with the way that they interact. Most importantly,
Rex is out and is injured and happens upon this
home. And the children at this home look at him
and say, you look just like my daddy. Which is
extremely unusual because these are Twi 'lek
or Twi 'lek children. Mm hmm. Or are they? Exactly.
So he. is revealed, the father is revealed to
be a clone who has defected, who has left. And
he formed his own family and he's a farmer. And
it really, it's such a huge moment because it
gets to the humanity of the clones in a way that
up until this point and this episode, we don't
see quite yet. There's a lot more following this,
but this is the really big moment where we can
see there. could have been choices for them after
the war, should things have turned out differently.
There were choices for them during the war, even,
if they were given more autonomy. And it's absolutely
crazy that we see this insight so quickly into
the show, and then also from Rex's perspective,
and he decides not to turn cut in. and not to
say anything about it, and to just let Cut live,
and let him continue doing his own thing. Just
as an aside, I'm so excited for when we go and
read Republic Commando books, because if you
liked that story, boy, just you get sued. I could
go on and on about the clones. The entire storyline
with 99... Echo, Heavy, Cutup, and Droidbait,
with them starting their training and Heavy getting
some really important life lessons from 99, who
is this essentially malformed clone. He was part
of a literal bad batch of clones, and he runs
the maintenance department on Kamino. And he,
though... is taken in as a brother just the same
by this group of clones. He is taken in as a
brother to the point when the group get these
medals, Medals of Valor, or similar to that.
Heavy gives his to 99 because he couldn't have
done it without him. And there is this absolute
heartbreaking... moment when Fives and Echo return
to Kamino and run into 99 and 99 just excitedly
asks where's Heavy and they have to tell him
that Heavy died and he unfolds his hand and holds
out the medal that Heavy had given him that he's
still holding on I'm like I'm like gonna cry
again just thinking about it because it's just
so it's this really touching brotherly love and
affection and really this welcoming community
that these clones have created within themselves
and not too long after this 99 himself dies yeah
and i just sob as they're holding him and pulling
him aside and it's it's so beautiful and then
at this point droid bait and cut up and heavy
and 99. They're all gone. And right at the end
of season three, Echo dies. In a moment of intense
bravery. A very intense bravery. It is, it is
very, very impactful, but it's one of those ones
where you almost think he's going to get out
of it. Yeah. And he doesn't. And it leaves fives
alone. And it's, I, I, Yelled because I forgot
that Echo doesn't make it past season three.
And I yelled. I was like, no, no, no, not Echo.
Because I love all those characters. And it's
so heartbreaking to me to see them die so frequently.
Because you know that behind each line of random
clones that you never meet. There's another group
of fives and Echo and Heavy. They all have their
own personalities. They're all their own people.
One of the single biggest components of the show
that I like the most is the exploration around
being made to fight, kill, die. How the Jedi
suddenly are being made to fight, kill, die.
What that does to Anakin. What that does to the
soldiers. And the humanization of the soldiers.
So it's not just like, oh. Clones versus droids.
Therefore, we can have as much mindless violence
and parents won't care that much about it. Instead,
they explore. They take some bravery to go into
the humanization of soldiers. And one of the
reasons is that apparently a lot of military
or ex -military would go up to these creators
and actors that were on the show and at conventions
and stuff and be like, you guys get it right
on the camaraderie here. It's so great to see
this. You don't see a lot of positivity. Around
this. And then here's the positivity. And here's
also the frustration about, I remember my late
grandfather would talk about when he was in the
Vietnam war, being aware of the absolute corruption
of the U S backed government that eventually
lost and being super frustrated with that. But
this is your career. This is your job. These
are the men around you. These are the people
that you have to help. And there's really, you
know, for him, at least no way out. And in fake
life, in this story, there is no way out for
these clones. This is literally what they made
to do. And they made it illegal to leave. Yeah.
Which is a huge human rights conversation that
the Keminoans just, like, do not want to have
and Palpatine doesn't want to have and nobody
really wants to talk about. So I love that exploration
there. And then, of course, I end up hating what
they add in right at the end of the show. But
we'll... Talk about that in a couple of episodes.
We're now going to move to our quick hit section
on the bad guys before we get down to the rest
of our category. So, Sierra, tell me about Palps.
Good old Palpy. Palpy McPapa Palpatine. My dear
friend Palpatine. My dear friend Sheev. I think
we get some really, really good. palpatine working
behind the scenes content in these seasons and
i think he is definitely a character that i feel
like maybe didn't need more development because
i think that what we get from him in the live
actions is fairly fleshed out and we do relatively
understand him in general But this just gives
like bonus material, essentially. Like I feel
like every scene that I get with Palpatine, I'm
like, okay, what is he going to reveal that he's
working on in the background this time? And it's
very interesting, his kind of background machinations
and all of his plots that he's got going. One
in particular happens around this storyline with...
a Zillow beast, which is this supposedly extinct
creature that they accidentally disturb and wake
from its slumber. And now it's out attacking.
And Palpatine is very concerned with forming
a treaty with the inhabitants of the planet that
this monster was found on. And he has this quote.
Well, this may be the only way we get the treaty
signed and rest Master Windu's conscience. And
he has this just disdain on the word conscience
because Windu doesn't want to kill the beast
because it's the last of its kind. you know,
while being dangerous, it's an innocent creature.
And so Windu does not want to kill it. And Palpatine
does. And the Dugs, who are the inhabitants of
the planet, their whole mission is to kill this
creature. So there's a little bit of warring
factions on that one. But Palpatine really lets
his Sidious out in this plot line because he...
He's like licking his lips at a feast. It's crazy
that nobody looks over him and goes, are we sure
that guy's not the big boss? Are we sure that
guy's not the Sith? Is he really on the up and
up? I am not 100 % sure. He is salivating a lot
about sequencing the DNA of this thing. He gets
so greedy over the potential of an anti -lightsaber
shield because this beast, it's... Its armor,
its scales, the material that its skin is made
of is impervious to lightsabers and many other
weapons. Why does our Chancellor want an anti
-lightsaber? Is he thinking the lightsabers are
going to... Yeah, you know, a Sith might come
and get me. Uh -huh. Yeah, I feel like we're
good enough to protect you, but what if you want
to kill me? Why would we want to do that? No
reason. He... He puts a whole planet and a very
heavily, densely populated one at that Coruscant
at risk because he thinks he has the upper hand
on this creature because he is convinced that
this beast isn't intelligent. Yeah. Which is
absolutely wild because this beast has its eye
on him specifically, does not like him and hunts
him. The beast, the beast is essentially like
Palpatine's like, this thing's not intelligent.
And it looks at him and it essentially goes,
aren't I? I'm coming for you now. It's almost
like predator vision where it's like, you are
the one prey targeted. Just you. This thing's
unintelligent. No, no, no. I figured out that
you're actually in charge of this whole war that
I've been knowing about for five minutes. Wow,
you are really smart. Kill it. Kill it quickly.
Why? It's super stupid. That's so stupid. And
he is openly willing, which is the crazy part,
openly willing to kill this innocent, if dangerous,
creature just for the additional chance to study.
its armor and to potentially use it for something.
Yeah. And he openly says these thoughts, like
he has inside thoughts on the outside and he
has Sidious thoughts on the Palpatine. And he,
I, there's a couple of moments where I kind of
go, really? Nobody's picking up on this. The
other one is. There's Padme has this storyline
where she has gone behind enemy lines to a separatist
planet and has met with a former friend. Another
dear friend of hers. Another dear, dear friend
who wants peace. And she's on the separatist
council, I suppose is the right word. There's
a Senate. They have a whole Senate on the separatist
side and she's on that. And so she pushes forward
this. a resolution to create peace, which they
vote for. But it's kind of a little bit in the
way that Puerto Rico for Forever has voted that
they would like to become a United State. And
the United States government continues to be
like, no. And that's kind of what the Republic
does with this peace. They're like, that's nice.
Yeah. And obviously, you know, Palpatine cannot
allow peace talks to truly occur because that
foils all of his plans right and so when she
gets back from this meeting Padme tells just
Palpatine who the sponsor of this bill was for
peace talks and one day later this sponsor is
dead come on Padme Really? You told one guy.
This is how you figure out which of your friends
have you betrayed. Have betrayed you, I mean.
You tell them each a different lie, except you
only told one person the truth, and that person
got murdered from it. Be smarter. I also, I really
like the politics commentary that happens around
Palpatine. Palpatine is not a person that I need
to find more extra information. As you said,
it's all bonus material. We understand who he
is. All the time. It is fun to have the whole
deregulating the banks, like as an actual political
plot point where I'm like, oh, that's not for
kids. That's for me. I like this. This is cool.
But it's also nice that they're like political
corruption can be found everywhere, but there's
still a line to draw in the sand. And there are
usually good people on both sides of conflicts
that need to figure out a way to get together.
It's trying to wheedle out the people who are
stopping good from happening. That needs to occur,
not kill each other all the time. So I really
like that. On the flip side, we get General Grievous,
who's only about killing people all the time.
And I just got to say, I'm going to be a little
bit of an old man in the next two of these, in
the next two of these characters. Grievous in
the original Clone Wars is way more frightening.
He is essentially a Jedi death machine. And so
anytime. They kind of, in the old Clone Wars,
do what they do in animal documentaries where
they're like, do you see this cute animal now
you're emotionally attacked to? Like, yeah, I'm
attached to it for sure. But OK, now it's in
mortal peril and the mortal peril is grievous
every time for whatever Jedi you want to learn
about. So he's much scarier in the original.
He's kind of a buffoon in this. But and also.
The every time it's so funny, there's that one
line of dialogue in Revenge of the Sith where
Grievous is like General Skywalker. I thought
you would be a little taller. OK, so they've
never met. So then there's all of these times
where like Anakin happens to go left and Obi
-Wan goes right. And oh, Grievous is an Obi -Wan
again. Yeah. Yeah, there's a lot. I actually
noticed there was another moment where because
I believe that in. In Revenge, Obi -Wan is surprised
to see four lightsabers, that he has four arms.
And I noticed that the very first time in the
show that they fight, he pulls out four arms.
Yeah. And Obi -Wan fights him with four arms.
And my husband was actually watching with me.
And he goes, wait, isn't he surprised by that
later? Again. that's that's their first fight
in season one which is non -canon disneyland
yeah that's non -canon at that point when they
created that show so they weren't they weren't
continuity uh as as as tight as they are in the
later seasons right yeah but it was just it was
very interesting to to be like leo dicaprio in
hollywood movie yeah I think, though, Grievous
can really be just summed up with his quote.
Dooku is criticizing that he has made these changes
to his body, and he declares them improvements.
I submit to no one. I chose them. Which I do
find very interesting about him. It's all well
and good, but Duke is looking at it being like,
you've taken out any means of your connection
to the Force. You've removed all this blood from
you. There's no midichlorians in you, so this
isn't an improvement because the Force cannot
work through you. Which is one of the reasons
why Sidious is like, this guy sucks, but he's
useful. Like, he has such disdain for Grievous.
Mm -hmm. Yeah. Well, yeah, and they're always
like, we'll just leave you to your... Droids.
Do you know who was also left to their own? Well,
devices, not droids was little, little Boba Fett.
Little Boba Fett. He has some interesting little
moments. He's on a very many episodes, but he's
pretty impactful because we are seeing a clone,
not raised as a clone who has been immediately
given autonomy. And he has this little plot line
where he's trying to murder Windu in revenge
for killing his father. And he ends up stranding
some other trainee clones about his age, about
his age, his, you know, because he was there
at the they're at the rate that he they're all
in a 10 year old's body at that time. Thank you.
They are five. He's 10. And he ends up kind of
abandoning these other clones to potentially
their death. To their death. And this other clone,
Jax, the other people are like, wow, he's not
like us at all. How could he be like us? And
Jax says, I hope he is like us. If he's like
us, he'll realize he's wrong. Yeah. Which...
is very interesting because in this whole, you
know, focus on clones and how they're so different
from each other, hopefully they do on some level
think alike because they're going to have good
values. And that also brings me to an interesting
situation that comes from a very unexpected place
for me, which is Hondo, the bounty hunter, who
is... wonderful little villain here. And he has
welcomed Boba in for a short period of time following
this situation. And he tells Boba that he needs
to do the honorable thing because that's what
Jango would have wanted. And I honestly believe
Hondo thinks this in this moment. Whether he's
using it to, you know, kind of get Boba to do
whatever he wants, I'm not entirely sure, probably,
because that's kind of who Hondo is. But it is,
it kind of ties back to that, well, all the clones
have some level of built -in honor code. Yeah.
And doing a good thing. Now, Jango was a bounty
hunter and everything, but he did have values.
He knew where he drew his own line in the sand.
Which is, I don't want to kill Padme. I want
to send a bounty hunter to send a droid to send
some bugs to kill her. And if that bounty hunter
fails, then I'll kill her. Yeah. So, you know,
I mean, they have some sort of honor. It's kind
of like an honor amongst thieves situation where
they're not the greatest people, but they have
a code. I think Hondo's doing a little bit of
swindling there by trying to convince Boba and
sort of lean on dead dad. Dead dad makes you
do this. We'll say, though, Hondo might be swindling
him, but he is actually in the right because
the other option is Boba straight up murders
somebody. Yeah, that's true. But I think Jango
would straight up murder. It's all very convoluted.
For money. Yeah, for money. But also like in
the old EU comics, Jenga was like a bad dude.
So it's kind of hard for me to separate out like
what is EU versus anyways. So my point is Boba
clearly has some sort of honor to him in both
what they've done with him at Disney World, Disney,
Star Wars stuff, and also the old EU. Boba's
one of my favorite old EU characters. The Mandalorian
Wars is a trilogy that I really loved. He has
a begrudging respect for Hansel, even though
they're frenemies. So there's a lot there with
Boba. And I kind of think Disney's botched his
character a little bit because we see so little
of him as a little kid. And there's some old
EU books of him as a little kid that are like
super cool in the way that he outsmarts Darth
Tyrannus slash Count Dooku into letting him live.
And then, of course, Lucasfilm was developing
level 1313 on course, which was a Boba Fett.
like origin story video game set on level 1313
in Coruscant that was done. It was in the final
sort of rendering phases and they shut the whole
thing down. That's such a shame. I know it is.
It is one of my least favorite components. So
I think there is an honor that he's appealing
to, but also I think Hondo, I think Hondo just
wants to, we'll say whatever he needs to say
in order to get somebody to do something. I have
no idea if Hondo really knew Jango or not. So
you know who Hondo gets to know eventually at
some point is Ventress and her mate, as the Nightsisters
put it, not her mate at all, just her lackey
servant. Mm -hmm. Savage, for being such a big
character, we don't actually see that much in
these first three seasons. He's only in six episodes.
And he shows up on Dathomir when... So Palpatine,
who is not quite aware that Ventress is actually
Dooku's apprentice and that Dooku's like, I want
to kill Palpatine so that I can be in charge.
Which, come on, Palpatine, get on that. You should
know. You, you know. To be fair, he does figure
it out because he does command Dooku to kill
her. Yes, eventually. But it's kind of like before
that, it's like, bud, come on. You Sith always
do this all the time. Yeah. So you should see,
she's running around with two red lightsabers.
Two red lightsabers is usually the force. I'm
pretty sure. I'm pretty sure her meetings with
Count Dooku when he's teaching her how to use
the force are like apprentice master sort of
level. No, I mean, is that not how anyways? So
I'm like, you know, Palpatine killed his master.
It's just kind of the Sith way. You either kill
your apprentice or the apprentice kills you.
So she ventures, goes out to Dathomir and, Takes
Darth Maul's brother and they do some sort of
witchy stuff to make him be like the biggest
alpha male who's ever followed a female ever.
It's crazy. And then we get Savage. Now, Ventress
is interesting because she's this like Dark Jedi
assassin, but she's very much a at this stage
in these three seasons. She's very much like
a kid's evil character. There's very little we
know about her. She has very little personality.
She's just there to be evil. And then suddenly
in these episodes with Savage, she's got flair
and personality and a cool backstory and all
of this amazing Dathomir stuff that pops up.
Yeah, it's very, very interesting. And we get
a little bit more of what the Dathomir people
are like and where Darth Maul came from and how
there's the split between the men and the women
and they live in completely different areas.
They look absolutely nothing like each other,
which is crazy. And you have Ventress going to
basically pick somebody who's going to be her
replacement, but also her personal assassin and
her apprentice. And so she wants this very impressive
person to step into her shoes and then... with
her command, turn on Dooku and kill him for revenge
for trying to kill her. So we have this very,
very interesting competition between all of the
men to the death, essentially. However, Savage
gives his life to her and everything to protect
his brother, Feral, who... is one of the only
ones left. And he basically is like, just leave
him, let him live and I'll go with you. It's
fine. You know, I'll fight you one -on -one and
you'll see that I'm the right one. And it's quite
touching for what we see from Dathomir and that
they actually have this brotherly connection
and care for each other, especially considering
how kind of almost Spartan and warlike their
people are. Yeah, for real. And then, As soon
as he has all the witchy stuff happen to him,
he immediately has to turn around and kill his
brother, Feral. Yeah, under Ventress's orders,
right? Yes, under Ventress's orders. It basically
is like the Uruk -hai coming out of the pit.
The goo. Yes, exactly. And killing the guy that's
undoing it, yeah. Yeah, that's their first...
their first moment in life is to cause death.
And so it's almost his first moment in this new
life is to cause the death of his family. So,
and it is very interesting because while some
of them call them like brother and sister, it's
very clear that Savage and Farrell are actually
brothers. Yes. Not just brothers in, Oh, we are
all one. We are all brothers, but literal brothers.
And, This also brings us to the very, very, very,
very, very end as well of their storyline where
they have failed to kill Dooku. And they're going
to go prep some more. But Ventress and Savage
have broken up, essentially. And Savage needs
some more training. And so the Nightsisters...
Oh, but Savage, you have a brother. And he's
like, no, I killed my last brother. I have no
more family. And then we see an image of Darth
Maul. Cue the boys are back in town. And he goes
to train with him. Dun, dun, dun. Incredible.
I will note here. I think it's fascinating that
Palpatine. Kind of looks at Dooku, who was trying
to be like, no, no, this isn't my apprentice.
This is just an assassin that's being trained
in the dark, dark ways of the force. Palpatine's
like, oh, yeah, the rule of two. That would be
a way to get about it. Semantics. Yes, I like
semantics. And then makes the Inquisitors, which
are essentially Sith, but not. And then also
maybe, maybe. Hands of the Emperor, cough, cough,
Mara Jade, where you at? We'll see. Very, very
interesting there. Today's public service announcement.
If your whole order is dedicated to peace, don't
join a war. Don't become the generals of a war.
Don't order troops around. It may lead to corruption.
Signed, everybody who's ever been trying to be
a peacekeeper. Ya idiots. Thank you, dear listener
schmistners, for listening to this episode of
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Schmandom was created by Sam Williams and Sierra
Obermark. The show is produced by Aurelia Lieb.
The editor is Brittany Fisher. The music is by
Jeremiah Alves. I also think here that Anakin,
in actuality, he's not too a -toached. Count
number one, mess up noise for Brit. Count number
two, ah, ah, ah. I was just thinking that. I
still can't believe on Stranger Things I made
that joke. One Demogorgon, ah, ah, ah. And you
were like, yep, uh -huh. And then later I had
to explain it to you like, oh, it just I was
just not in the headspace to recognize that you
were quoting anything. I think it was also twelve
forty five in the morning for me during that
podcast record. Yeah. Anyways, should I go all
the way back to like the most important one where
I went? Oh, I'll start from that after my like,
oh, there you go, Brett. There's your cue. Oh,
go find it. Helpful. Indeed. Actually, it's actually
a very good cue in it. I'm just making fun of
you because I can. Yeah. He also does keep Anakin
in check at sometimes. Hold on. He does keep
Anakin in... One more time. Count number four.
Sorry. Caught my throat. There you go. I don't
know what I just said, but it was in support.
There you go. Yeah. There you go. Yeah. I...
Yeah, God. I just, like, called you God. Yeah,
God. I think you were trying to say you're good.
Yeah. I was. Yeah, it was like, yeah, God. But
it's like this weird Sam accent that comes out
every once in a while where I just, like, don't
form words. Yeah, God. What? You're good. Mm
-hmm. Those sound exactly the same. Yeah, definitely.
It's okay. My daughter is doing that right now.
Every sentence. But I'm not five. I'm four. I'm
four. I'm 33. I'm only 33 years old. Which feels
very much like Anakin's Padway. Padway? Padme.
Padway? But... That was a lot of struggling noises.
If you'd like to discuss this episode or any
other episode we've done, please don't burp in
the middle of a sentence. Please. Going down
to the bottom of this to see. My name's Sierra.
I am a hair butt.