TCW6 on Netflix
Posted: Sat Mar 08, 2014 8:08 pm
13 episodes are now available on Netflix, constituting the sixth and final season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars.
I just burned through the first three at speed and figured I'd post some details.
The arc regards a clone who malfunctions, or more accurately his biochip malfunctions. The biochip is claimed to be the means by which they altered the clones to make them more docile. This malfunction causes the clone to go nuts and want to Order 66 every Jedi he sees.
Interesting other details include a visit to Kamino, a ring station encircling a planet, and the return of Admiral Trench (the cloak guy, though he looks a little worse for wear).
Other points:
1. The Kaminoans knew about Order 66, and Lama Su calls up Lord Tyrannus to consult on the topic. Of course their knowledge was suspected, but was never really 100% clear. I was under the impression that this was a relatively benign-looking detail in a mess of orders that could be passed off as being a last resort against a rogue Jedi (where otherwise the clones couldn't kill them), but it seems pretty clear that the Kaminoans are aware of it as a secret from the Jedi generally speaking. I don't have the sense they recognized it as an order that would be used on all the Jedi at once, but further re-watching will make this more clear.
2. The ring station seen from afar and assuming a normal sized planet would absolutely dwarf the Death Star many, many times over. This would of course run counter to Han's notion that the Death Star is too big to be a space station.
However, further looks at different scenes suggest that the planet below is not a 'real' planet. Republic Attack Cruisers near the station . . . bearing in mind I never hit "pause" to look closely . . . would seem to preclude the ring being thicker than a couple of kilometers. And yet, we can see the ring all around the planet-thing, scarcely shrinking in the distance as it passes the limb of the world. The whole assembly of planet-thing and ring is thus probably not more than 100 kilometers in size, maybe 50 kilometers.
3. For operations in a ship with a hull breach and thus loss of cabin pressure, the clones pulled out backpacks with hoses that attached to their helmets. This corresponds well with the idea that the clone suits can provide some protection but are not actually vacuum-worthy. Another clone is seen with a nose and mouth mask operating in the same environment, and he is still capable of seeing, hearing, and otherwise operating, suggesting it was not a full vacuum. (Temperature would not have been much of an issue excepting for the loss of cabin pressure . . . the ship walls were still the same temperature, after all.)
During the above encounter, a fighter pilot in a craft that suffers a cockpit breach dies when his helmet pops off with no apparent force applied to make it do so (unless I just missed it in the first viewing). The pilot himself also flies out moments later.
Later, similar hosed breathing gear is seen in use by other clones who were fully prepared for operations in what is said to be vacuum. It is not clear if there was any additional sealing involved.
4. In-depth scanning of the afflicted clone is very difficult. A large machine like an MRI is used for the purpose. The biochip, when finally discovered, is initially thought to be a tumor of some kind (which, a medical droid notes, has never been seen in the clones) until it is extracted in a very quick and impressive bit of droid-performed neurosurgery. This process is later repeated on another clone, albeit in less of a rush.
Similar MRI-like devices are used to scan infant clones for the biochips. They all have them.
5. We see young clones being educated. Unless these are supposed to be the five million clones ordered in another episode, it seems most likely that the Kaminoans must be raising clones of this type on a speculative basis . . . after all, ordering five million new soldiers in a war is relatively easy if you're talking about a draft, but makes less sense if you're supposed to wait ten years.
6. The medical droid (with protocol droid eyes, nice) is capable of spot-welding metal and cutting a hole in a surprisingly thick window that features an electronic privacy screen technology, similar to "smart glass". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_glass
The cut window edges glow as if from a lightsaber cut, but are apparently cool to the touch . . . Fives has his boot and I believe a hand or two on the glowing "glass".
7. A floating stretcher is used . . . it's only a couple of inches thick, and seems to be used for a long while. So, just ballparking off the top of my head, either the whole thing's a fusion reactor and fuel, or else the levitation technology can't be extremely power intensive. I'm guessing the latter, but will refrain from firm assertions until I can do a little math.
That's all I recall right off the top of my head right now.
I just burned through the first three at speed and figured I'd post some details.
The arc regards a clone who malfunctions, or more accurately his biochip malfunctions. The biochip is claimed to be the means by which they altered the clones to make them more docile. This malfunction causes the clone to go nuts and want to Order 66 every Jedi he sees.
Interesting other details include a visit to Kamino, a ring station encircling a planet, and the return of Admiral Trench (the cloak guy, though he looks a little worse for wear).
Other points:
1. The Kaminoans knew about Order 66, and Lama Su calls up Lord Tyrannus to consult on the topic. Of course their knowledge was suspected, but was never really 100% clear. I was under the impression that this was a relatively benign-looking detail in a mess of orders that could be passed off as being a last resort against a rogue Jedi (where otherwise the clones couldn't kill them), but it seems pretty clear that the Kaminoans are aware of it as a secret from the Jedi generally speaking. I don't have the sense they recognized it as an order that would be used on all the Jedi at once, but further re-watching will make this more clear.
2. The ring station seen from afar and assuming a normal sized planet would absolutely dwarf the Death Star many, many times over. This would of course run counter to Han's notion that the Death Star is too big to be a space station.
However, further looks at different scenes suggest that the planet below is not a 'real' planet. Republic Attack Cruisers near the station . . . bearing in mind I never hit "pause" to look closely . . . would seem to preclude the ring being thicker than a couple of kilometers. And yet, we can see the ring all around the planet-thing, scarcely shrinking in the distance as it passes the limb of the world. The whole assembly of planet-thing and ring is thus probably not more than 100 kilometers in size, maybe 50 kilometers.
3. For operations in a ship with a hull breach and thus loss of cabin pressure, the clones pulled out backpacks with hoses that attached to their helmets. This corresponds well with the idea that the clone suits can provide some protection but are not actually vacuum-worthy. Another clone is seen with a nose and mouth mask operating in the same environment, and he is still capable of seeing, hearing, and otherwise operating, suggesting it was not a full vacuum. (Temperature would not have been much of an issue excepting for the loss of cabin pressure . . . the ship walls were still the same temperature, after all.)
During the above encounter, a fighter pilot in a craft that suffers a cockpit breach dies when his helmet pops off with no apparent force applied to make it do so (unless I just missed it in the first viewing). The pilot himself also flies out moments later.
Later, similar hosed breathing gear is seen in use by other clones who were fully prepared for operations in what is said to be vacuum. It is not clear if there was any additional sealing involved.
4. In-depth scanning of the afflicted clone is very difficult. A large machine like an MRI is used for the purpose. The biochip, when finally discovered, is initially thought to be a tumor of some kind (which, a medical droid notes, has never been seen in the clones) until it is extracted in a very quick and impressive bit of droid-performed neurosurgery. This process is later repeated on another clone, albeit in less of a rush.
Similar MRI-like devices are used to scan infant clones for the biochips. They all have them.
5. We see young clones being educated. Unless these are supposed to be the five million clones ordered in another episode, it seems most likely that the Kaminoans must be raising clones of this type on a speculative basis . . . after all, ordering five million new soldiers in a war is relatively easy if you're talking about a draft, but makes less sense if you're supposed to wait ten years.
6. The medical droid (with protocol droid eyes, nice) is capable of spot-welding metal and cutting a hole in a surprisingly thick window that features an electronic privacy screen technology, similar to "smart glass". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_glass
The cut window edges glow as if from a lightsaber cut, but are apparently cool to the touch . . . Fives has his boot and I believe a hand or two on the glowing "glass".
7. A floating stretcher is used . . . it's only a couple of inches thick, and seems to be used for a long while. So, just ballparking off the top of my head, either the whole thing's a fusion reactor and fuel, or else the levitation technology can't be extremely power intensive. I'm guessing the latter, but will refrain from firm assertions until I can do a little math.
That's all I recall right off the top of my head right now.