Clone Wars CGI Series

[l33telboi]

New episode again, and a few interesting details.

Dooku's flagship is a mere Munificent-class Frigate, and for some reason it's flying around on its own out on the outer-rim. A single Republic cruiser managed to disable it with ease.

And the Frigate apparently has hangars. Why is this interesting? Because the RotS: ICS says "Destroyers and frigates are not equipped with hangars or ground-attack armies..."

There was some interesting force related things later on when Obi-wan and Anakin fight off a Gundark. Aaand, what else? Oh yes, Dooku got captured by a bunch of pirates. Though it seems that this might've been on purpose. Or at least I'm guessing that's one of the 'twists' we're going to get to see next episode.

EDIT: Looking at the episode commentary, it seems I might be wrong on the whole Dooku getting captured thing. Filoni himself goes into lengths on how Dooku, even though powerful, can't take on 30 pirates all by himself. And then adds that Jedi are not all-powerful and bla bla bla. Really quite interesting.

Apparently it was Lucas's idea to have him captured too.

[Mr. Oragahn]

30 all at once is probably too much.
Obi-Wan and Yoda faced a bunch of clonetroopers at the Jedi temple.

[Mike DiCenso]

New episode again, and a few interesting details.

Dooku's flagship is a mere Munificent-class Frigate, and for some reason it's flying around on its own out on the outer-rim. A single Republic cruiser managed to disable it with ease.

And the Frigate apparently has hangars. Why is this interesting? Because the RotS: ICS says "Destroyers and frigates are not equipped with hangars or ground-attack armies..."

Oh come on, you know what the fanatic Warsies will say... It's Dooku's flagship, so of course it has features that the regular Munificent Frigates don't have! Interesting thing here; if the industrial capacity of SW is so awesome as the Warsies have wanked it up to be, then why hasn't the CIS already built a replacement for the Malevolence? In fact, why don't we see an fleet of hundreds or even thousands of such ships?

There was some interesting force related things later on when Obi-wan and Anakin fight off a Gundark. Aaand, what else? Oh yes, Dooku got captured by a bunch of pirates. Though it seems that this might've been on purpose. Or at least I'm guessing that's one of the 'twists' we're going to get to see next episode.

EDIT: Looking at the episode commentary, it seems I might be wrong on the whole Dooku getting captured thing. Filoni himself goes into lengths on how Dooku, even though powerful, can't take on 30 pirates all by himself. And then adds that Jedi are not all-powerful and bla bla bla. Really quite interesting.

Apparently it was Lucas's idea to have him captured too.

Where did you hear that was Luca's idea? If it is, it might be Lucas trying to undo some of the wankery of the first Clone Wars cartoon series. As for Filoni's statements, it mirrors what we hear Jabba brag to Luke in RoTJ, and it all mirrors the Jedi massacre by superior numbers on Geonosis in AoTC.
-Mike

[Mike DiCenso]

30 all at once is probably too much.
Obi-Wan and Yoda faced a bunch of clonetroopers at the Jedi temple.

Not suprising, as that was the most experianced and powerful Jedi master backed up by a fairly powerful and experianced Jedi Knight.
-Mike

[l33telboi]

Oh come on, you know what the fanatic Warsies will say... It's Dooku's flagship, so of course it has features that the regular Munificent Frigates don't have!

There didn't seem to be anything special about it. But even so, knowing how the entertainment industry works we'll see other Frigates with hangars as well, because you don't model something and then promptly never use it again. That’d be a waste of money.

Where did you hear that was Luca's idea?

First hint was from this interview:

Halfway through the first season, George was so excited with what we were doing, he came in one day with an outline and handed it to me, “Turn that into a script.” It was a story called ‘Count Dooku Captured.” From then on, George got into the writing \ scripting process in a big way. On season two, ALL of the story ideas came from George, except a couple that were originally written in season one by Dave and I (& Dini). I think season three is the same way.

But then Filoni repeated it when he said it was Lucas's idea to have a captured Dooku and Anakin interact.

[Mike DiCenso]

Oh come on, you know what the fanatic Warsies will say... It's Dooku's flagship, so of course it has features that the regular Munificent Frigates don't have!

There didn't seem to be anything special about it. But even so, knowing how the entertainment industry works we'll see other Frigates with hangars as well, because you don't model something and then promptly never use it again. That’d be a waste of money.

True enough. But you know they'll use that excuse until then, and even still they'll probably dismiss any other Munificents with hangers as important command ships or something equally lame.

Where did you hear that was Luca's idea?

First hint was from this interview:

Halfway through the first season, George was so excited with what we were doing, he came in one day with an outline and handed it to me, “Turn that into a script.” It was a story called ‘Count Dooku Captured.” From then on, George got into the writing \ scripting process in a big way. On season two, ALL of the story ideas came from George, except a couple that were originally written in season one by Dave and I (& Dini). I think season three is the same way.

But then Filoni repeated it when he said it was Lucas's idea to have a captured Dooku and Anakin interact.

Okay, so there is an actual interview with Filoni somewhere. Can you link to it?
-Mike

[l33telboi]

Okay, so there is an actual interview with Filoni somewhere. Can you link to it?

Was supposed to but apparently I forgot to include the link. Here's the interview I just quoted. And the interview with Filoni you can find on starwars.com, under the commentary for the episode itself.

[Mike DiCenso]

Thanks, that's an interesting interview. This one part down at the bottom of page was really interesting:


Dave: I tried to talk about this in the commentary I do online. Henry and I knew this would be a big one for EU fans. I tend to think of the Episode “Lair of Grievous” as a look more into the mind of Grievous. How you interpret the story depends largely on what backstory you like. If you believe Grievous was shot down in a shuttle by Dooku and put back together, I think that story is there, it’s just that Grievous has invented this new “story” of choosing his alterations. If you don’t believe in the EU version of the story or didn’t like it, then perhaps this new revelation that Grievous was a warrior whose lust for power made him choose to be altered, suits you better. Again a great many of the truths we cling to depend largely on our own point of view. Grievous was a great warrior in both stories, he was a Kaleesh in both stories, the major differences depend on what you believe about his past. In the end I have to say this, many die hard EU fans pick and choose the stories they think are canon based on what they like and what they don’t like. They read a novel they like it and it’s ‘in’, they don’t like it, and it’s ‘out.’ Well, we get our like and dislike in the EU directly from George and he created Star Wars, I have to say that’s a pretty big trump card. Regardless, much effort goes into trying to word things or shoot things so that the existing EU can remain, if only at times from a certain point of view.

So basically this reconfirms that the EU is very subordinate to George Lucas' whims and vision, if he decides he doesn't like something, or doesn't want it to be included in the series.
-Mike

[Mr. Oragahn]

I'm thinking of Bothawui right now.

The novelization of ROTJ described Sulust as a blue tinted planet, nothing to do with the fire and brimstone place.

Still, GL himself is not above contradictions, but the thing is they happen within his own... canon?

[Jedi Master Spock]

Halfway through the first season, George was so excited with what we were doing, he came in one day with an outline and handed it to me, “Turn that into a script.” It was a story called ‘Count Dooku Captured.” From then on, George got into the writing \ scripting process in a big way. On season two, ALL of the story ideas came from George, except a couple that were originally written in season one by Dave and I (& Dini). I think season three is the same way.

But then Filoni repeated it when he said it was Lucas's idea to have a captured Dooku and Anakin interact.

So here's where things get messy in the traditional LL heirarchy (i.e., G-T-C-S-N): If it comes from George, it's G-canon. So this would mean that most of the second season, part of the first season, and apparently much of the third season, has G-canon plot.

In general, when it happens in the same level, newer material retcons older material, and the novelizations themselves are pretty old (and the new Clone Wars series... well... very new).

[Mr. Oragahn]

And of course the Ewok movies...

[Mike DiCenso]

The Ewok movies... heh, there's some deep hurting. But that aside, is there anything to be found in these made-for-television movies that is useful from a versus debate standpoint?
-Mike

[Mr. Oragahn]

The Ewok movies... heh, there's some deep hurting. But that aside, is there anything to be found in these made-for-television movies that is useful from a versus debate standpoint?
-Mike

Amusingly, quite a lot.
From the few bits I found, you get a different view of Endor, which in some parts looks like Kansas.
There's still a space ship that crashed there, there's data about the fauna, there's evidence of a creature which can move so fast it reminds me of Qui-Gon's and Obi-Wan's Force Dash in TPM, safe that the creature can do it effortlessly, many times.
There's more data on the traps Ewoks use, probably some stuff about sensors at the beginning.

I think I'm going to grab them, just for the suffering and the fun of it.

In the end, these movies are precisely in that region between G and T.
They would actually rank higher than the sacrosanct ICSes, but are still C canon.

EDIT:

Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure

Ewoks: The Battle for Endor

Star Wars: Ewoks (which got a DVD release in 2004)

Star Wars: Droids (not reedited yet)

[Mike DiCenso]

The Ewok movies... heh, there's some deep hurting. But that aside, is there anything to be found in these made-for-television movies that is useful from a versus debate standpoint?
-Mike

Amusingly, quite a lot.
From the few bits I found, you get a different view of Endor, which in some parts looks like Kansas.
There's still a space ship that crashed there, there's data about the fauna, there's evidence of a creature which can move so fast it reminds me of Qui-Gon's and Obi-Wan's Force Dash in TPM, safe that the creature can do it effortlessly, many times.
There's more data on the traps Ewoks use, probably some stuff about sensors at the beginning.

I think I'm going to grab them, just for the suffering and the fun of it.

In the end, these movies are precisely in that region between G and T.
They would actually rank higher than the sacrosanct ICSes, but are still C canon.

<<links to the Wookiepedia articles snipped>>

Yes, I've read the summaries on Wookiepedia, but it's been a very long time since I last watched any of them, and they were generally pretty awful movies (a forerunner to the mess Willow and the PT?), though not anywhere near the level of the Holiday Special Bad. But specifically what can we observe about SW technology from them, if anything... The Ewok traps are certainly of interest since they were built before the Battle of Endor. The Towani family's starcruiser and it's tech are of interest, including the reasons for it's crash... how fast it was going when it crashed and so on. It may also be that the Imperial presence on Endor was already long established as an ewok was shown playing with an Imperial walker toy.

But already of interest is the condition of the Towani starcrusier after it's crash landing; the exterior and interiorshots show it to be in fairly bad shape, though this ship was very nearly salvaged and made operational several months later by Jeremitt Towani. Only apparently the Sanyassan Marauders' attack prevented it from being finished.
-Mike

[ILikeDeathNote]

What was the nature of the crash? Either way, for it to survive even in that state shows pretty good engineering.