Star Wars: The Old Republic - Deceived by Paul S. Kemp

Spoiler Level: Medium - High

Ahh, now this is more like it.  This is what I wanted from the previous Old Republic novel, Fatal Alliance.

I thought that this book was going to climax with the attack on the Jedi Temple and Coruscant as seen in the "Deceived" game trailer, but instead it uses it as a launching point.  Perhaps author Paul S. Kemp figured that at this point we've all seen that trailer a zillion times and it might be anti-climactic.  And he might be right; as excited as I was for this book, I did find that I knew that battle too well already.

Instead we get to learn much more about Darth Malgus, the Sith Lord who kicked so much butt in the trailer, and the Twi-lek girl that's with him as the battle begins.  And he is a much, much more interesting subject that the Sith we saw in Fatal Alliance. This book works much better at showing us the political machinations that come with a Sith Empire, as Malgus, while high up in the Sith hierarchy, isn't quite high enough to make sure things are done his way.  It helps that Malgus isn't particularly good at politics; we see his frustration at being outmaneuvered by his fellow Sith Lords who are a bit more cunning, and more interestingly, in their different interpretations of the Dark Side of the Force; while Malgus believes that war and chaos are essential to burn away the weak and strengthen those who remain, others believe that the Force serves power for power's own sake, and that ruling half a galaxy is preferable to eternal war.

Just like his previous book Crosscurrent, Kemp shows us a Jedi who feels so enraged by a particular Sith that (s)he's willing to throw away everything to kill him.  In this case it's Aryn Leneer, former padawan of Ven Zallow, the Jedi Master we see killed in the trailer. After what the Sith have done to the Jedi Temple (and Zallow in particular) Aryn feels that the Sith must be punished, but the rest of the Jedi instead are willing to continue peace talks.

And so we have Aryn on one side and Malgus on the other, each feeling that they've been let down by their respective orders, and with only one thing in common-- a burning hatred of each other. Kemp crafts a wonderful tale showing us the parallels between the two characters, with Aryn walking too close to the dark out of a need for justice, and Malgus walking too close to the light (by Sith standards) by his love for his Twi-lek slave, both feeling betrayed and deceived by their respective orders.

I'll probably still wait to read any more Old Republic books until I cycle back around to that part in the timeline (and that's gonna take me a few years), but I'd really welcome more books about Darth Malgus, especially since he has such a rich backstory.  Although not as cool as Darth Bane, he is one tough Sith, and it would be great to see his origins, especially if they're written by Paul S. Kemp.  So far I've really enjoyed both of his Star Wars books, which makes me look forward to his Crosscurrent follow-up Riptide all the more.

In addition to the game trailer, this book has its own trailer, along with links to preview the first three chapters at http://www.swtor.com/news/news-article/20110304-1.

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Star Wars: The Clone Wars - ''Wookie Hunt''

Spoiler Level: High

Wookies versus Trandosh- ans!!  Hot damn!!  You know, every now and then this show fulfills my fanboy dreams.  The "Expanded Universe" has always said that Kashyyyk and Dosha were in the same system, and that the two races were mortal enemies because the Trandoshans liked to capture Wookies for slave labor.  And here we get to see a bunch of Wookies kicking Trandoshan butt!  Awesome!!

This story really showed how Ahsoka has come into her own over the last three years.  It seems to me she's ready to become a full-fledged Jedi Knight.  It would also make sense, because it would then mean that Anakin and Ahsoka would start going on separate assignments all the time (something they already toyed with at the beginning of this season) and it would feel a little more believable that there's no mention of her in Revenge of the Sith.

So, all in all this has been a pretty interesting season-- we did a lot of bouncing around in the time line, brought in Darth Maul's brother, met Tarkin, and explored Anakin's destiny.  All in all, a very enjoyable year.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars - ''Padawan Lost''

Spoiler Level: Medium

The Clone Wars returns for a two-parter to close out its third season, as Ahsoka is kidnapped during a battle by a group of Trandoshans to be hunted down for sport.

This episode is great for fleshing out Bossk's species, and works all the better for not having Bossk in it.  Bossk was the second ever Star Wars action figur mail-away figure offer, so he's something of a special character for me, and it really bugged me that the show had him speaking Basic.  I'm okay with some Trandoshans in general speaking Basic, I just don't think Bossk should be one of them.  So here we get a good dozen new Trandoshan characters, some who speak Basic and others who just do a lot of cool hissing and growling, which is what I always felt the Trandoshan language should be, so I'm very happy.

The Trandoshans are generally known as slavers, and while they don't do any slaving here they certainly have the same disregard for any sentient life other than their own.  By capturing and hunting so many other races for sport, it still plays into the same mindset, not to mention creating so many creepy background scenes of others they've hunted.  Check out the Wampa hide:

 

Which brings me to another point about this episode-- the animation looks almost painted.  It gives the whole thing a very exotic look.

I'll be back tomorrow with part two, the season finale!

My Star Wars Vintage Collection R2-D2 Dilemma-- RESOLVED!

Well, I finally come to a decision.  And in my usual style of making mountains out of molehills, I decided to make a production out of it.  And believe it or not, I got it all on the first take!  Wow!

Star Wars: The Clone Wars - ''Citadel Rescue''

Spoiler Level: High

Don't you just hate it when the kids fall in with the wrong crowd?

Anakin has become quite an admirer of Tarkin, appreciating that Tarkin can take the fight farther than the Jedi can.  And they both try to one-up each other on who's more chummy with Palpatine.  During the final battle, Tarkin attempts to shoot Osi Sobeck in cold blood, but Sobeck is too fast for him; in the end, Tarkin's saved by Sobeck being literally stabbed in the back by Ahsoka, something she learned from Anakin.  Yes, things are starting to look very dark indeed.

Again, this series makes me wonder about Ahsoka's fate.  Will she become a full-fledged Jedi, then go off on her own when the series ends?  Will we get to see Order 66 from her perspective?  Will Fives be the one to turn on her? Or will her fate just be ignored? The darker tone the series has taken this season makes me feel like we should get an answer, but we've got at least two seasons to go, and anything can happen in that time.

The battle scenes in space continue to blow me away. While the characters aren't photo-realistic, the ships are, so the space combat scenes really look as good as anything from the movies.

Only two episodes left to go this season, and those aren't airing until April.  Looks like I'm going to need to find some new shows to watch!

As usual, as of this writing this episode is available to view for free at http://www.starwars.com/video/view/001238.html.

My Star Wars Vintage Collection R2-D2 Dilemma

Like most guys my age, I spent most of my childhood collecting Kenner's original Star Wars action figures.  And when I say "collect," I mean pouring over the racks in every toy store even when my allowance was all gone, longingly examining every detail of the entire collection on the back of the cards, saving up my proof-of-purchase seals for whatever free action figure they were offering next, hanging the cards on my bedroom wall... and of course playing with them.

The line fizzled out when I was in high school, and for years after that I would constantly have dreams of finding Star Wars figures again, so when they brought the line back in 1995 it was literally a dream come true.

Nowadays Kenner has been bought by Hasbro, and Hasbro knows how to try and appeal to the collectors of my generation: vintage packaging.  Oh, they've done the occasional Vintage tribute, with three waves of figures in the classic 70's and 80's packaging, but those were all in special plastic protectors, so it wasn't the same.  But this-- this is uninhibited, all-out nostalgia.  The Vintage Collection figures are a combination of old and new designs, and it's not just a one-off thing:  new waves of figures are coming out in this design all year long!  So the shelves look exactly like they did when I was a kid.  It takes me back and makes me feel like I'm 12 years old again every time I see it.

An amazed Fer discovers the Vintage line for the first time,

 with a figure he always wanted as a kid: Dack!

The crazy thing is... even though I've been oohing and aahing at the toys ever since August, I haven't been buying any.

Take Dack here, for example.  This is what I always wanted them to do when I was a kid. I've had dreams of finding this. So again, literally a dream come true.  But... they put out a Dack figure in 2002.  Oh sure, I had to buy a Snowspeeder and yet another Luke Skywalker to get it, but I did, so what's the point in buying another Dack?  Well, just because of the nostalgic packaging, I guess.

See, the problem is that I'm really not a believer in not opening my toys.  Oh sure, I have a few unopened toys, but it's pretty unusual for me. It's become a real Catch-22.  I want the toys for the packaging, but if I take the toy out of the packaging, it becomes just another Star Wars figure.  And I don't want to just keep the packaging by itself; my New Years Resolution for 2011 is to cut back on clutter.  If you've seen my house, you understand why.

And then there's the Mail Away Boba Fett issue:  to complete the nostalgia, they're re-offering the first ever Star Wars Action Figure Mail Away offer-- a reissue of the original Boba Fett figure, but this time with the actual missile-launching backpack that they had to pull in the 70's.  But to get it, I have to open the figures.  But I don't want to open the figures.  But I want to get that Boba Fett.

So I just haven't been buying any.

Then about two months ago, I found the Return of the Jedi R2-D2.  This R2-D2 has the serving tray and the pop-up lightsaber and the sensorscope and an opening compartment on his chest.  I knew I had an Artoo with Serving Tray, so I held off and waited until I checked my other one to see if it already did all those things.  Nope.  I have four different Artoos that do all those things individually, but this Artoo does it all.

And, of course, the next time I went to the store it was sold out.

No big deal, I told myself, I don't really need it.  Which is true enough.  But it's become one of those figures I regretted not buying when I had the chance.

And then when I went shopping at Wal-Mart last night... they had one again.

So I bought it.

Now what the hell do I do with it?

Do I open it?  If I open it, then I'd be tempted to buy four more figures to get the free Boba Fett.  (Time's running out on that deal; it expires at the end of this month.)  I do want to open it, because this Artoo does all those cool things!

But... it looks sooooo nice.  The classic action figure design.  The Kenner logo.  The "Free Boba Fett" sticker.

What do you think I should do?

Star Wars: The Clone Wars - ''Counterattack''

Spoiler Level: High

A rather brutal episode for our heroes, as they try to escape the Citadel and quite a few Clone Troopers end up dying some very nasty deaths.

I rather like the crab Battle Droid design, probably because it reminds me of the Invid.  I always thought the Invid looked fierce.

Tarkin and Anakin are building a grudging respect for each other, and we're starting to see more hints of how this war is leading Anakin to believe that sometimes the few should decide what's good for the many.  Watching the war as an ongoing story like this helps bring home how its changing him.

And lastly, I have to give a salute to Echo, who at least got to die a valiant death.  This leaves just Fives now from their original squad.  Without his fellow squadmates, will there be anyone to mourn Fives when he finally goes, or will he be just another clone shot down in the line of duty?

Star Wars: The Clone Wars - ''The Citadel''

Spoiler Level: High

It's back to the war, with lots of big time space battles, close combat, and Clone Troopers getting offed!

Lots of cool moments that made me go "woah!"  The planet of Lola Sayu, which is missing a great big chunk out of it and yet still manages to have a burning core, won the honors for top image to become my screen capture for this episode.  The scene where Obi-Wan sets off the charges and blows a Battle Droid all the way down the corridor right into the camera was pretty impressive as well.

And of course, the top surprise has to go to Captain Tarkin.  The look that's exchanged between Tarkin and Anakin when they first meet is fantastic... you can almost hear Tarkin thinking, "Someday I'm going to be the one holding your leash."

Am I the only one who remembers Lando saying "We only use this facility for carbon freezing, you put him in there it might kill him"?  In The Empire Strikes Back, carbon freezing a person was a radical concept.  That was the whole point of testing it on Han.  Why would Vader need to test if a person could survive carbon freezing if he'd already been through it himself?  Well, I guess you could say that it was because he was a Sith Lord at that point and just did it to be eeeeevil.  Or it could be that Cloud City's carbon freezing facility was more "crude" and a higher risk than the Jedi Temple's carbon freezing facility.  Really though, I thought it was bad enough that carbon freezing people had become a run-of-the-mill thing in the Fate of the Jedi novels, but this episode really treats it as something even more humdrum, and that's some 25 years before Vader does it to Han.

But despite that nit-pick, it's still an interesting tactic and an enjoyable episode.  It's great to see Echo and Fives back, and it's nice to see Even Piell and Plo Koon get a lot of screen time.

Bit of a sudden ending; it's not so much a cliffhanger as much as it just stops.  It's a shame it couldn't have been structured to end on the scene where Obi-Wan was dangling over the cliff by one hand!

As of this writing, this episode is still available to watch for free at http://www.starwars.com/theclonewars/guide/episode318.html.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars - ''Altar of Mortis''

Spoiler Level: High

A pretty straight- forward follow up to the previous episode.  There's still talk of Anakin being the Chosen One, but now that that's been established the story is focusing completely on the power struggle between the Son and the Daughter.

The Son wants Anakin to join him, tipping the scales to the dark side.  To bring that about, he abducts Ahsoka and infects her; not so much turning her to the dark side as much as just "turning her bad," and then finally killing her.  It's actually a good ploy, since we know it's Anakin's fear of losing his loved ones that will in the end tip him over to the dark side; but while Anakin does show desperation at Ahsoka's imminent demise, he faces it much stronger and with more resolve.  Of course, he also refuses to let it stand, and his ability to be the vessel that the Daughter uses to heal Ahsoka may be another element that leads to his later overconfidence that he should be strong enough in the Force to turn back death in Revenge of the Sith.

So all in all it's a good story and a very enjoyable episode, but I'm a bit disappointed that it doesn't follow up on the implications of Anakin being the Chosen One and exactly what the Prophecy is meant to be.

You Know You're Truly a Fanboy When...

So my local Barnes & Noble is where I usually buy my Star Wars books.  They always had a wonderful display, with all the nice, shiny Star Wars novels in chronological order according to the guide in the front of the books.  It was quite a sight.  And since I've started reading so many of them at my local library and have long since given up on owning them all, seeing that beautiful display every week always gave me a little thrill.  It's one of the few times I could say "Wow, what a great rack!" in public and not get slapped.

Then sometime before Christmas, Barnes & Noble rearranged their shelves.  No big deal, most stores do to prepare for the holiday sales.  But when they moved the Star Wars books, they just tossed them on to the new shelf.  No order at all, not by author or title or series, and certainly not in the nice chronological order it had been in.  Eh, whoever organized it before will probably get to it eventually, I thought.  It's not like it really matters.

But then December came and went and no one had organized them.  And then January.  Then February hit, and last week I found myself just, kind of... organizing the first shelf.  Just the first row of books.  Just a little.

I came back this week and found my first shelf more or less intact... more or less.  So I decided to tidy it up again and work on the second shelf.  Then I thought, you know, this would really go quicker if I just move all the Prequel books to the top shelf and all the Classic books to the middle shelf and the New Jedi Order books to the third shelf... it was like a puzzle, and I was starting to have a lot of fun solving it.  I was going full steam now, and before I knew it a half hour had passed.

Then, while checking the listings in one of the books, I happened to notice my shirt out of the corner of my eye.

I only own two Star Wars shirts.  One is a design I picked up while vacationing in Disney World, from their Star Wars Weekends.  The other was a gift from a friend of mine, a Clone Wars T-shirt that he gave me for my birthday.  And --honest to God-- it was on the top of my pile of clean shirts that morning, so I had just grabbed it and put it on.

I was organizing all the Star Wars books, that weren't even mine, into chronological order, while wearing a Star Wars t-shirt.


I might as well have been wandering around the bookstore wearing a Jedi robe and a lightsaber.

It's one of those Hall of Fame/Shame moments.  One of those moments of startling clarity when you realize just how much this silly little enthusiasm you have for something truly rules your life, how deeply it truly runs through your blood, and how absolutely absurd it must look to anyone who doesn't get it.  I literally started laughing out loud, and -- once I'd finished organizing the books, of course-- went to get to my wife and have her immortalize this moment with her camera phone.

Sometimes, your inner geek just bursts out of your chest like an Alien, refusing to be denied!

 

Family Guy: It's a Trap!

Spoiler Level: Low

You know, I've gotta say, while I've enjoyed these Star Wars spoofs, I haven't been a huge fan of them.  I wasn't even going to watch Blue Harvest, but my DVR accidentally recorded the second half of it instead of The Daily Show one night, so I watched it and found it amusing enough.  Never did go back to find the first half, but y'know, it was cute.  Then Something Something Something Dark Side came out as a DVD only realease, and since I had Netflix by then I rented it.  I considered posting a blog about it at the time but came to the conclusion that I didn't have much to say about it besides "I wish they would have had more jokes and less footage just aping the original's ship shots."  And I love ship shots.  Now don't get me wrong, the jokes were good ones and I had quite a few belly laughs, but I just felt there weren't enough jokes in it.  But again, I thought it was cute enough.

So when It's a Trap! showed up at the top of my Netflix queue, I was up for it, but had low expectations.

Maybe that's why I found this one to be the funniest yet.

I mean, right from the opening crawl it had me really laughing.  Laughing hard.  And the jokes came a lot quicker this time, and didn't feel like they were playing second to the animation.  And it stayed funny-- I have favorite scenes in Jabba's palace and in the Endor attack.

My only complaint is that this one actually had a good deal of blood in it.  Now I know people find blood funny these days, but it just doesn't work for me. I find it gross and generally disturbing and it doesn't make me laugh at all.  That's probably the main reason I quit watching Drawn Together.  But hey, that's just me.

I don't want to hype it up too much because I think part of why It's a Trap! succeeds so well is the low expectations I had after the first two-- which in itself is great, because people tend to bash Return of the Jedi so much because they're expectations were so high after the first two.  As such, it's the perfect counterbalance to the Classic Trilogy.  So if you were going to skip this one, go ahead and at least rent it anyway.  How's that for a ringing endorsement?

Star Wars: Outbound Flight by Timothy Zahn

Spoiler Level: High

I was expecting a different kind of Star Wars book with this one; You don't often get a Star Wars premise on taking a great big ship to explore deep space.  And I knew this was supposed to be a first contact story with the Chiss.

What I did not expect was Thrawn himself, Jorus C'Boath, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker.  As a result this is much more a story of political intrigue.  Both among the Chiss, as Thrawn tries to stop threats to the Chiss Ascendancy that Chiss policy won't let him address until he believes it's too late, and among the Republic, as Darth Sidious takes further steps to thin out the Jedi in preparation for his upcoming rise to power.  And being a proper Star Wars book, it has lots of big battles between the Chiss, the Vagaari and the Trade Federation.

Outbound Flight (the ship itself) is intended as a colony ship, which simply intended to pass through the Unknown Regions on its way out of the galaxy, with the intention of setting up a colony in another galaxy before returning. C'Boath's motivation for doing this is he foresees a dark cataclysm coming for the Jedi, and wants to make sure there is a Jedi colony outside the Republic, guaranteeing the Jedi Order will survive. In that sense, he's on the right track.  We know the Purge is coming, and his plan may very well have been the Jedi's salvation.  The only problem is, C'Boath is quite full of himself and thinks he knows what's best for everyone. and he quickly becomes a tyrant.

This book does address one thing I never liked about the prequels:  the implication that the Jedi were baby snatchers.  When Qui-Gon talks to Shmi Skywalker about Anakin's midichlorian levels in Phantom Menace, he tells Shmi "Had he been born in the Republic, we would have identified him early."  That always sounded to me like midichlorian checks were one of the standard health checks a baby got, and if your kid's results were positive, then it's "Sorry, we're taking your kid for everyone's own good."  I mean, how terrible is that?  We go from the Force being portrayed in the original Star Wars as something special inside all of us that can be unlocked with the right training, to something in your blood that means you're now part of the Master Race and have to be ripped from the arms of your parents to be trained properly, lest you fall to the Dark Side.  Brrrrrr.  That's another one of the reasons I felt that the Jedi Order had become corrupt and needed to be rebuilt from scratch.

But this book paints a completely different picture.  Here, Zahn states that testing for midichlorians is optional.  Only families who are willing to take the test do it, and the families consider having a member of their family join the Jedi Order a great honor.  It's definitely a much more palatable interpretation, and while I still don't feel it completely meshes with Qui-Gon's statement, it's another example of why Zahn's books are so enjoyable.

Another concept raised here is that Darth Sidious foresees the arrival of the Yuuzhan Vong, and that's part of his motivation for setting up the Empire.  It's often been said in New Jedi Order that had the Empire still been around, they would have been more equipped to deal with Yuuzhan Vong invasion, and while I have no doubt that's true I hardly think Palpatine's motivations were that altruistic.  More likely this was the angle Sidious used to sway his servant Doriana, or simply the angle Doriana felt he needed to sway Thrawn.  I can see Sidious taking advantage of the knowledge of the impending Yuuzhan Vong threat, but I sincerely doubt it was his goal to protect the Republic by turning it into an Empire; I feel it was more that he felt as Sith, he deserved to rule.

But these aren't complaints; if anything, these are examples of what make Timothy Zahn's books fun to read, and things that make me have fun pondering the details of the Star Wars universe.  (Like, for example, how did a clone of C'Boath get made if he wasn't a part of the Clone Wars?  Okay, maybe that one's a bit of a nitpick; perhaps it'll be explained in one of the later books.)  His characters are always engaging and the stories are always filled with enough intrigue to keep me interested, and his endings are always big.

Along those lines, Thrawn's origin story is fantastic.  He always was a great character, and I really enjoyed getting to revisit him.  I'm hoping Zahn's later books set during the classic trilogy, Allegiance and the upcoming Choices of One, delve more into how he came to be in the service of the Empire.

Lastly, while I love the original cover, I have to point out how amazing the Japanese cover to this novel is.  There it was split up into two novels, and in addition to the Outbound Flight itself and Thrawn, we also get Master C'Boath, his Padawan Lorana Jinzler, Palpatine, Car'das, and wonderful interpretations of how Anakin and Obi-Wan would have looked a few years before Attack of the Clones!  Thanks to Outer Rim and their international cover gallery for the image below!

Star Wars: The Clone Wars - ''Overlords''

Spoiler Level: High


Well, that was very...

Umm...

...what was that?


This may have been the most unStarWarsish Star Wars thing I've ever seen.  No, no, I take that back-- Marvel's Star Wars #38 comic still holds that title.

Which is not to say it's bad.  Like Star Wars #38, it's actually quite interesting, exotic looking and feels fresh.  Not only is it great to have Qui-Gon Jinn and Shmi Skywalker make appearances, they're actually voiced by Liam Neeson and Pernilla August!

And I do like that The Clone Wars is going to take advantage of being able to delve deeply into what makes Anakin Skywalker who he is, and in turn the whole prophecy surrounding him.  Forgive me if I've gone on about this before, but I always felt the Jedi totally misunderstood the Prophecy.  The assumption has always been that Anakin would "bring balance to the Force." George Lucas says on one of the bonus features on the Episode III DVD that Anakin fulfills this prophecy by turning back to the light and destroying Darth Sidious in the end.

But from the get-go, I always got a different interpretation.  There are only two Sith and hundreds of Jedi.  So logically, if things are going to be in balance, there should be only two Sith and only two Jedi.  And that's exactly what Anakin helps bring about-- Sidious and Vader on one side, Obi-Wan and Yoda on the other.  (And then Luke and Yoda on the other, after Vader kills Obi-Wan.)  Thus, he fulfills the prophecy.

Add to that the fact that the Jedi Order as we see it in the Prequel Trilogy does strike me as something that needs to be replaced.  The Jedi themselves are manipulated into becoming generals and fighting a civil war "for the good of the Republic," an institution they know has become corrupt.  Everything the Jedi do is motivated by fear of the dark side-- children are taken from their parents as infants, and Jedi are not allowed to love.  When I was 12 I wanted to be a Jedi.  If I had known at the time that would mean I had to have never known my mom, had to give up my dreams of getting married someday and oh, by the way, it's a members-only club based on a blood test, I don't think I would have been interested.  So in many ways the new Jedi Order as built by Luke is far superior to the order as it stood before Anakin brought it down.  Which lends itself to my interpretation of the Prophecy-- Anakin was meant to wipe the slate clean so something better could rise from it.

But from there I start to have bigger problems.  See, I'm not big on fate as a concept.  Yes, we know Anakin is going to fall to the Dark Side, but that doesn't necessarily mean he was destined to fall.  The fall itself comes from bad choices on Anakin's part; it's only seems destined to us, because we came into the story after the fact and we know it's going to happen.  But to Anakin, it should still be a future in motion.  When he says "I'll never turn to the dark side," you can hear in his voice that he believes it.

But this episode seems to take the approach that Anakin is destined to become Darth Vader, and his only hope of avoiding that destiny is to stay on Mortis and take The Father's place.  Now, we know The Father is correct; if Anakin did take that offer, he would be saved.  But we also know that Anakin won't do it, because this is Chapter 2.5 in a 6 Chapter story, and we've seen the ending.  But The Father acts as if he's seen the ending too.  Maybe he's the only one who fully understands the Prophecy, and that yes, Anakin will eventually bring balance to the Force by turning back to the light and killing Sidious, but the cost of everything leading up to that moment is too high.

One last thing I'm curious about is Ahsoka's vision.  I assume we get to see a future version of herself because she has no past to speak of, at least not one that would be instantly recognizable to viewers.  But this future self is certainly more than 3 years older, which would be the furthest point possible before Order 66 is given.  Now I'm assuming Ahsoka's fate after Order 66 will never be addressed, and there's no reason to believe this was her actual future self talking to her.  (In fact, we flat-out see that Shmi is The Son in disguise trying to turn Anakin.)  But this makes me wonder if they might address Ahoska's fate at some point after all.

The way the episode closed, with our heroes in their shuttle flying away, I figured that was the end of it, but it thanks to the previews we now know that this episode is actually part 1 of 3.  I'm actually kind of relieved... the doors it opens and questions its bringing up are too big to be resolved in 22 minutes.  I'm looking forward to seeing how it unfolds from here, and even scrapping my entire interpretation of the Prophecy if necessary depending on what we learn.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars - ''Witches of the Mist''

Spoiler Level: Very High

See, now this is why the Sith set up the Rule of Two in the first place.  You get more than two Sith, and they all start turning on each other.

I'm actually surprised that neither Ventress nor Savage were killed in this episode.  Dooku is bulletproof of course, as he can't die until Revenge of the Sith. But Ventress is only bullet proof if this series is determined to stay consistent with the comics, and I think it's safe to say it isn't.  The only problem there would be if they killed her off here was Lucasfilm would have to come up with another explanation how she survived / returned from the dead to make the comics fit.

And speaking of returning from the dead... Savage's long-lost brother hiding in the outer rim is Darth Maul?  Really?  I know bacta tanks are good, but they can heal a guy who's been cut in half?  Well, we're at least meant to think he's Darth Maul... we'll see.  This is the Clone Wars, after all.

Kudos to the makers of the episode for acknowledging the whole Iridonia / Dathomir thing in the dialogue.  Still haven't referred to Savage's species as Zabraks that I've noticed, but at least they've addressed the discrepancy up front, which reassures me that they are paying some attention to this whole Expanded Universe they've built.

I also loved that the Toydarian ship that Anakin and Obi-Wan appropriated had it's entry hatch a good ten feet up in the air!  It makes sense for a species that flies around.  It's little touches like that that make me really love this series.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars - "Monster"

Spoiler Level: High

I'm going to review this episode in two ways:  First, on its own merits as a stand-alone episode in a stand-alone TV series based on six movies; and secondly, in a sort of silly high-pitched whine as a nit-picky fanboy who has spent a good deal of time in the "Expanded Universe."

This episode continues the story arc of Count Dooku and the Nightsisters of Dathomir, as Dooku comes to them for a new replacement.  They direct him towards the tribe of men on the other side of the planet, saying this is where Darth Maul came from, and that they can provide him with another assassin of Maul's proficiency.  It's all part of a trap, of course; the Nightsisters of Dathomir are still out for revenge against Dooku for betraying Ventress, so they send Ventress to bring back this replacement.  So we see a tribe full of Nightbrothers, aliens all the same species as Darth Maul, some red but most of them yellowish-orange.  There are absolutely no women there, so the implication is they've split their species in half.  The Nightbrothers are aggressive but honorable, and totally ruled by the Nightsisters.  As Ventress tries to weed out which one is strongest, we meet Savage (pronounced "Sah-VAHGE") Opress, who is ultimately chosen.  He's tough, an excellent fighter, yet he also cares for his brother.  It's easy to see how Darth Maul could have come from a place like this, and it all fits quite nicely with what we've seen before.  It's also heartbreaking to watch the Nightsisters wring all his compassion out of him to turn him into a true monster, ready to be handed over to Count Dooku.

Now, the show works fine if you stop there.  But this is Star Wars-- we can never just stop there. See, according to the Star Wars: Legacy comics, the tribal tattoos are a Sith thing, not a Zabrak thing.  Oh, and I suppose Nightbrothers can cover multiple species, but Maul was always said to have been a Zabrak, and that the Zabraks come from Iridonia.

 Ahh, but never fear, it's the starwars.com episode guide to the rescue!  Zabraks have colonized lots of planets.  Okay, I'll buy that.  Many artists and writers have assumed that Maul's tattoos were Sith, but they're actually more of a warrior thing.  Hmm.  Okay, I suppose that'll fit. But... well...

...I think it's become pretty obvious that the makers of the show are simply trying to make a good show based on what they know-- the six Star Wars movies.  The writers don't necessarily have links to wookieepedia fused into their word processors, and they're probably working under production deadlines or something inexcusable like that.

Which would also be fine if, y'know, Star Wars treated its properties like everyone else treats theirs-- film trumps print.  But no, in Star Wars, it ALL has to be canon.  So what appears to be happening is after the episode is completed, its thrown to the starwars.com staff, who then get the apologist work of trying to find ways to make it all fit together.

Really, it's absolutely no plastic off of my nose (as 2-XL used to say) if Darth Maul got his tattoos as a Nightbrother warrior, in a Sith ritual, or if he just went out on a drinking binge on Coruscant one night and woke the next morning going "what the--?!?" And while I admire Lucas's staff trying so hard to come up with reasons why it all still works together, the bigger the Star Wars universe gets the harder it's going to be to keep doing this.  I enjoy reading the episode guide for inside views on points I didn't catch and such, but I really think they're making it harder on themselves by not simply declaring that only the films are canon and everything else is just for fun.

Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi - Vortex by Troy Denning

Spoiler Level: High

We've crossed the halfway point in the Fate of the Jedi series, so things are finally kicking into high gear.

As far as Luke & Ben are concerned, they're still in the middle of their uneasy alliance with the Lost Tribe of the Sith.  You would have thought that since they've already discovered & killed Abeloth, an evil so strong that even the Sith would be willing to team up with Jedi to face her, that we'd be on the downswing.  But no, Abeloth doesn't have the decency to stay dead for even one book.  So it's back on the chase for her, with Ben Skywalker and his Sith would-be-girlfriend Vestara playing more of their mind games with each other.  By this point, Luke feels (and I'm right there with him) that there's no way Ben is going to be able to turn Vestara to the light.  Vestara is Sith born and bred, and she not only has no interest in being saved, she honestly believes Jedi morals to be pointless and counterproductive to survival.  Even Vestara is starting to realize that just as she'll never be turned to the light, she'll never be able to turn Ben to the dark side, so their relationship (such as it is) can only end in tragedy.  And to be honest, her constant betrayals are starting to become tiresome.

Things have also finally kicked into high gear on Coruscant.  The Jedi have decided they've been doing the wrong thing by allowing themselves to be pushed into a corner by Chief of State Daala, and that the needs of the oppressed in the Galaxy at large and the threat of Abeloth and the Lost Tribe of the Sith in specific require they put an end to it now.  Sadly the only one who disagrees is (acting) Grand Master Kenth Hamner, who believes in loyalty to the Alliance first and foremost.  It's an honorable belief, but it's also what caused the downfall of the Jedi in the Clone Wars, and it's good to see the rest of the Jedi Council recognizing that problem this time, even if they don't make the exact parallel on their own.  Not that Daala is as evil as Palpatine, but she's certainly not upholding the spirit of freedom that the Galactic Alliance and the Jedi are supposed to represent.  It hasn't happened yet, but events in this series seem to be moving to drive the Jedi off of Coruscant altogether.  They've already established their training center on Ossus, which we know will become the home of the Jedi in the Legacy comic books, and at this point it would make sense if that's what the "Fate of the Jedi" referrs to.

Tahiri's trial for the assassination of Imperial Grand Admiral Pellaeon continues to fascinate me.  I keep expecting her lawyer to pull some amazing Perry Mason move, but he's much more subtle than that, and Tahiri's misunderstanding his approach almost derails it completely.  But the trial has switched from the prosecution stage to the defense stage now, so hopefully we'll be getting to see more of the trial in future books.  I'd really enjoy a whole book focused on just the trial.  (Law & Order: Coruscant, anyone?)

And Jag and Jaina are back on again, I'm happy to say.  At one point in the book, someone makes the observation that the problem with their relationship is they keep trying to serve three masters-- the needs of the Jedi, the needs of the Empire, and the needs of their relationship.  They need to put their relationship first for it to really work.  I imagine they'll learn that themselves at some point and Jaina will end up leaving the Jedi Order to be with Jag full time, which is how we'll wind up with Imperial Knights.  I hope we get to see the details of how that unfolds.

Hopefully Jaina & Jag will do better than poor Luke.  His romantic interests keep meeting nasty ends.  Has he got any left at this point?  Whoever Kol & Nat's mother is, at this point she can't be Mara Jade, Shira Brie, Callista or Akanah.  Seriously, if Luke Skywalker falls in love with you, you need to run.

No more Fate of the Jedi books until May!  Man, I miss being able to just dive right into the next book!

Star Wars: The Clone Wars - "Pursuit of Peace"

Spoiler Level: High

Another politics- heavy episode, which I always enjoy.  It's great to get to see Bail Organa doing his thing.  There is some action as well, in the form of a very cool speeder chase scene through the streets of Coruscant.

This episode also does a wonderful job of building up Rodian senator Onacanda Farr, who's killed in the second season episode "Senate Murders."  Padmé had talked about how good a friend he was, but that friendship was off camera before; now we see it first hand, so his death has more impact.  (Or at least it will, when I rewatch these episodes in chronological order when this is all over...)

I also loved the look of Selkath bounty hunter Chata Hyoki.  Now that's a cool alien design.

The final scene with Chancellor Palpatine came very close to revealing his true intentions.  Which is of course obvious to the audience, since we all know that Emperor Palpatine is Darth Vader's master, but everything I've seen set in the Prequel Era, be it books, comics, this show and even the movies themselves never came straight out and admitted it until the climax of Episode III.   So when Palpatine says "For now, we must adhere to the principles of our democracy," it's coming very close to crossing that line.  Not that I would necessarily be against it; I find Palpatine's machinations fascinating, and the lesson that comes with him-- that under the right conditions, people can be willing to sacrifice their democracy-- is a crucial one.  I'm just surprised to see it come so close to happening here.

"Pursuit of Peace" is the 56th episode aired and #55 in the known chronology to date. This will be the last new episode until January 7, 2011, which hopefully means I'll be able to keep up with NextGen for the next month!

As of this writing, this episode is available to watch for free at http://www.starwars.com/video/view/001161.html.

Star Wars: Rogue Planet by Greg Bear

Spoiler Level: High

I originally started reading this novel when the paperback version was first released in 2001.  I was really looking forward to the further adventures of young Obi-Wan and Anakin Skywalker, but I had a hard time getting into the book and only finished the first third of it before I got distracted by something else.  Then I started reading New Jedi Order, and Zonama Sekot started sounding familiar, so I checked this book and low and behold, Zonama Sekot was the "Rogue Planet" in question.

In hindsight, that was the best possible way for me to read it.  Vergere is only mentioned as the missing Jedi in the portion I had read, so I had totally forgotten the name when she showed up early on in New Jedi Order.  As a result I had no idea what her story was which made her very mysterious, and I learned it in bits and pieces along with Jacen Solo.  Had I finished this book at the time, I would have already known exactly who she was and what she was all about, which would have demystified her quite a bit.  So I feel this book works best as a prequel to NJO, best when read after wards to fill in Vergere's (and Zonama Sekot's) back story.

Another reason this book worked better for me this time around is it's easier for me to picture the actors this time.  When it first came out, Episode II was still a year away, and all I had to go on was Episode I's portrayal of Ewan McGregor's as a Padawan and Jake Lloyd as a 9-year-old Anakin.  However, the characters are 3 years older in this book, and well on their way to being the characters we now know them as in Episode II; so now I can draw on Hayden Christensen's and Matt Lanter's performances, and McGregor's much more Alec Guiness-like Episode II portrayal, and picture the characters here as somewhere in the middle of those.

I have mixed feelings about the way Anakin's destiny is portrayed.  Anakin keeps feeling brushes with his destiny in this book, and his capability to do dark things.  Greg Bear says he wanted to show how the nice kid in Episode I could become Darth Vader later, and he does that well; I just take question with the concept that he was destined to become Darth Vader.  The impression I got from George Lucas's comments is that Anakin truly was a good person, but his flaws --fear of losing his loved ones-- caused him to make the wrong choices.  And to Greg Bear's credit, Anakin's fear of losing his loved ones is exactly the angle he works. However, here Greg Bear plays it more as if Anakin has this darkness inside that he's afraid to look at because he knows he won't be able to escape it, and hearing his future self give him advice that will lead him down that path.  I feel that until that moment when Anakin intervened in the battle between Mace Windu and Palpatine, his life could have gone a different way.  That Darth Vader wasn't his destiny; Darth Vader was the consequences of making the wrong decision.

(Of course, I also don't believe that Vergere was ever a Sith, so go figure.  Sure, I believe she studied the Sith, but I don't buy her ever becoming an apprentice of Darth Sidious and that's why she had to run away.  And who said that she did?  Other Sith.  Consider the source.  But I digress.)

The portrayal of Zonama Sekot itself is wonderful, and it's easy to picture such a jungle paradise.  The parts of the book where Anakin's new ship is being built is truly breathtaking.  I also rather liked the use of Tarkin and Raith Sienar.  Since Sienar was described as looking as if he could be Tarkin's brother, I imagined him as played by Wayne Pygram.

All in all, an enjoyable read, but I'm glad I didn't read it until now.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars - "Heroes on Both Sides"

Spoiler Level: High

Very, very nice.  This episode gives a very deep perspective to the entire war.  We've always known that Palpatine was playing both sides of the war to give rise to the Sith, but since we've always seen the story from the Republic's side, the assumption was always there that the prime motivation for the Separatists leaving the Republic was their own greed, led by the Trade Federation.

What this episode reveals puts the entire Star Wars saga in a new light-- the Separatists didn't leave the Republic out of greed, the left the Republic because they were sick of greed.  This totally explains why the Trade Federation is still a part of the Republic, and that Nute Gunray has simply gone rogue.  From the point of view of the average Separatist world, the Republic has become corrupt, manipulated by the businessmen into making sure the law always goes their way at the expense of the people.  And from what this episode showed us with the Trade Federation and Banking Clan, they're actually right.

I absolutely LOVE the Infiltator Droids.  I love the cleaning droid look, I love the combat droid look, and I love that they transform from one to the other.  Some truly awesome mecha.  Bring on the toy.

I also love the new character designs; it's nice to see Anakin finally in Jedi robes.  The battle armor makes sense while he's in the field, but not while he's on Coruscant.  I'd like it if this meant he'd actually be changing clothes depending on the situation, but since they've aged him I doubt that will happen.

And speaking of Anakain's age, a little more reading at starwars.com has made me realize that this series has never, ever been shown in chronological order.  Even the first season was jumping back and forth, and I just never noticed.  So I'd like to give a shout-out to Swashbucklingjedi, fanboyskywalker, and all the other fine folks at theforce.net message board for going to all the effort of coming up with a list to put all these episodes into chronological order.  Including the movie (and counting it as one episode), "Heroes on Both Sides" is the 55th episode aired and #54 in the known chronology to date.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars - "Hunt for Ziro"

Spoiler Level: High

QUINLAN VOS!!!  QUINLAN VOS!!!  WOO-HOO, IT'S QUINLAN FREAKIN' VOS!!!!  ::Does happy fanboy dance around the living room::

I've been a big fan of the Dark Horse Clone Wars comics, so for Quinlan Vos to actually appear in the cartoon is freakin' AWESOME!!  You know the blue Twi'lek Jedi girl, Aayla Secura?  She was Vos's padawan, and started out in the comics too.  George Lucas liked her and put her in Episode II.  True story.  George also liked Quinlan enough to put in a reference to "Master Vos" in Episode III, but that was it.  (Which is awesome enough in itself, because I remember wishing that the Hoojibs from the Marvel Star Wars comics had got a reference in Return of the Jedi.)  Rumor has it that Quinlan is even going to be the lead in the live action Star Wars TV show, but y'know, I'll believe that when and if it happens.  But right here, right now, one of the coolest Star Wars comic book characters has made it out of the comics and on to TV!!!

Now all I need is for Shira Brie and Plif to show up, and my geeky dreams will be complete.

Now granted, they took it a little far with making him such a smart-alec, but I was very pleased with everything else. The voice casting, his Clone Wars outfit, his psychometric abilities, his being something of a rogue, everything else was perfect.

It was also cool to see Sy Snootles get such a major part. I don't much care for her speaking Standard-- I mean she's in a romance with a Hutt, why wouldn't they both just speak Huttese? But the over-use of English has always been my biggest complaint with Clone Wars, so I'm pretty used to it by now. I liked that Sy Snootles got another song as well. Mama the Hutt really made me stop and go "Woah. I didn't know Hutts could get uglier," which I'm sure was the point.  And I'll actually miss Ziro now that he's gone.

Okay, okay, I realize this is the wrong time frame for Shira Brie and probably even for Plif... but what about some other Hoojib?!?  They could do a Hoojib!!  Hey, that might even lead to a Hoojib toy!  Or... a PLUSH HOOJIB!!!

Okay, time to calm down.  That's just  crazy talk.

LOOK!  It's QUINLAN VOS!!!