Clone Wars Review: "Brothers"

By Chris Seekell

Oh brother... There are two types of episodes that are fun to review, ones that are mind-blowingly epic and ones that just leave you scratching your head. This episode made me want to scream like insectoid Maul. It had so much potential, it had so much hype, and it had so many eyes watching it. I know there are a few people that really enjoyed this. Katie Lucas is a good writer, but I feel like she wrote this episode to a minority of fans who liked a certain type of story-telling, and that type is not necessarily classic Star Wars. I am really risking writing an extremely negative review, so I'm just going to get all the positives out of the way first to be objective, then I'll get to the meat.

Clone Wars Review: "Bounty"

By Chris Seekell

Alright, I just want to start by saying that usually my enjoyment of an episode is directly tied to its quality. If an episode has a good plot, fluid animation, and great action, I will usually have a favorable opinion of it, and if it lacks some of those things, I will tend to dislike the episode. But with this episode, my enjoyment of the story is probably a little irrational. So I will start with the disclaimer that this review isn't about how good the episode was, but rather why I enjoyed it so much. There are some things that I thought could have been better, but the overall meat of the episode was enough to please me very, very much. So let me explain why.

Clone Wars Review: "Massacre"

By Chris Seekell

Well, here we are. It seems like just yesterday that Season 4 started, and now we have reached the beginning of the final arc. I believe a lot of people feel like this final group of episodes needs to be very good in order to push Season 4 above the previous 2 seasons, but if the opener was any indication, the show has a good chance of doing that. Massacre was simply evil versus evil, power versus power, and hatred versus hatred. It was a conflict between the twisted and the corrupted, and for some, a battle to the death. The real winners were the Jedi and all followers of the "light side" philosophies though. A good deal of darkness itself was "massacred".

Clone Wars Review: "Crisis On Naboo"

By Chris Seekell

After a fairly good trio of episodes, I was anticipating the conclusion of the Bounty Hunter Arc to at least match the level of the prior episodes. But unfortunately for me it did not. There were a few cool moments in "Crisis On Naboo", but the overall story lacked cohesiveness and relevance. It felt a bit rushed and forced, similar to "Shadow Warrior". It also had dropped plot points, like the previous arc concluding episode "Escape From Kadavo". But ultimately this episode suffered from a lack of both originality and suspense. Everything transpired the way I expected it to, and whenever there was a deviance, it was for the worse and not the better. I knew nothing about the plot save a short description, yet I felt like I was watching the episode for the second or third time. It only mildly entertained me, and there were no laugh-out-loud or eye-popping-awesome moments.

Clone Wars Review: "The Box"

By Chris Seekell

It's ironic that the most "outside of the box" story that this series has seen actually took place in a giant box. I can imagine the brainstorming session. Filoni: "Gungans? Comic book adaptations? Wizard of Oz references? Come on, guys, we need to think outside of the box!" Writer: "Well, how about we take a bunch of bounty hunters and put them inside a box!" Regardless of how the idea was realized, I give major props to whoever was creative enough to come up with it. Usually the concepts for Clone Wars episodes fit a very wide but still predictable pattern. They involve conflict between a protagonist faction, and an antagonist faction. Recently episodes have started off fast, slowed down to bring us character stuff, and then featured some type of climactic confrontation at the end. This pattern has caused the concept behind episodes to become a secondary factor to content elements like plot development, dialog, and action. But for this episode, the concept was so radically different, that it actually transcended the content for me.

Clone Wars Review: "Friends And Enemies"

By Chris Seekell

After the past couple episodes that featured Death Watch and scores of fan favorite bounty hunters, Friends And Enemies had a lot to live up to. In my opinion, this was the best episode since Umbara, not only because it contained great characters, dialog, and sequences, but was actually the first post Carnage Of Krell episode that was relevant to the overall story of the Clone Wars, in the form of the dynamics between Anakin, Obi-Wan, the Jedi Council, and Chancellor Palpatine. It contained the right mix of humor, plot, action, and suspense for me, and really exemplified a quintessential bounty hunter espionage story in the Star Wars universe.

Clone Wars Review: "Deception"

By Chris Seekell

There was something about this episode that felt very Season 2, and I don't mean that in a bad way. The flavor reminded me of Lightsaber Lost and Lethal Trackdown, and fit the Rise Of The Bounty Hunters description of the second season more than this season's Battle Lines. This was the type of episode that Season 3 lacked. Only Hunt For Ziro comes close in my book. All sci-fi and fantasy franchises have solid heroes and villains, and possibly a few confused characters in between, but what causes Star Wars to rise above them in my opinion is the depth given to the universe by third party factions like assassins, mercenaries, and bounty hunters. Like many other Star Wars fans, I have always found these hoards of scum and villainy to be both entertaining and fascinating, and I'm really glad that the Clone Wars is shining the spotlight on them once again.

Clone Wars Review: "A Friend In Need"

By Chris Seekell

This was the episode that I was looking forward to the most this season, and it didn't disappoint. From the beginning to the end, it flowed well and brought together the Mandalorian and Lux Bonteri storylines very well. Considering that Mandalore Plot and Heroes On Both Sides were two of my favorite episodes, A Friend In Need naturally measures up. There were a few little things that I would have rather been different, but overall, this episode held my interest, and moved the characters and plot along significantly, which is something that the Clone Wars series doesn't always do effectively.

Clone Wars Review: "Escape From Kadavo"

By Chris Seekell

Escape From Kadavo was the concluding episode to the Zygerrian Slaver arc. I had thought that the first episode was pretty bland and a downer after the high of the Umbaran arc, and the second episode was a solid one with a good balance of plot, action, and humor. I was hoping for this final episode to build on the momentum of the previous one and end this arc strong, but unfortunately, for me it was the Return of the Jedi to Slaves of the Republic's Empire Strikes Back. There were some good moments, and the intensifying action that built through the middle of the episode onward kept things enjoyable, but I felt the plot was very weak and the dialog was a little robotic in the wake of the previous episode.

Clone Wars Review: "Slaves of the Republic"

By Chris Seekell

For me, Slaves of the Republic was an enjoyable episode that didn't suffer from the flawed suspense of its predecessor. I don't see any major faults with it, and feel that it serves its purpose as a plot thickening middle episode to this arc. The thing that stood out to me the most was the artistry in the animation of Slaves of the Republic. The look and feel of Zygerria was well executed, with heavy Egyptian and middle eastern aesthetics, especially in the urban capital. The only other city that feels this fleshed out to me is Coruscant. The designs of the character models were equally well done, from the slavers' helmets, to Ahsoka's outfit, to the Queen's regal attire. The entire look of this episode really impressed me.

Clone Wars Review: "Kindapped"

By Chris Seekell

I can't believe that Season 4 is already half over! It seems like yesterday we were all getting excited about the Mon Cal episodes. However I think the first half of Season 4 has been better and more appreciated by fans than the first half of Season 3, especially due to the strong Umbara episodes. After that mind blowing arc, this episode had a little too much to live up to, in my opinion. But compared to the cringe-worthy droids episodes and rushed Shadow Warrior, Kidnapped still was a solid episode. After the heavy Carnage of Krell, I'm a little glad things loosened up a bit and we got WWE meets the day that Anakin and Obi-Wan ran out of hair gel.

Clone Wars Review: "Carnage of Krell"

By Chris Seekell

The Umbara arc had a lot riding on Carnage of Krell. After two action heavy episodes, the story slowed down a bit for the more character based Plan of Dissent. However that episode didn't really answer any of the questions we had from the start of the arc. With each episode slowing things down further, the finale needed to include both great action and plot development to end the arc right, and I am happy to say that it certainly met both criteria for me. Right off the bat I had two burning questions, why did the Umbarans leave the Republic and why was Krell such a vicious leader? Only one was answered, but is was answered in such a chilling and extensive way, that I was completely satisfied with the episode.

Clone Wars Review: "Plan of Dissent"

By Chris Seekell

After this episode, it's pretty clear now that the Umbara arc is about the clones and nobody else. Even with the great potential for developments with the Umbaran culture and General Krell, Plan of Dissent extended the story line from the first two episodes, one that revolved around the tension between Krell and his troopers. Although I find this focus on the troops refreshing, I'm a little disappointed that nearly this whole arc has gone by and we don't know much more about Krell and the Umbarans than we did going in.

Clone Wars Review: "The General"

By Chris Seekell

Expectations for The General could not be higher following the top notch Darkness On Umbara episode. However I felt this one went in a slightly different direction than expected. We were all pleased with all the action and character development with the clones in the last episode, but were hungry for more focus on General Krell and the enemy Umbarans. But this episode, despite its misleading title, was again a very clone-centric story, highlighted by heavy action sequences with an underpinning of clone psychology. Measuring this episode up to what it could have been rather than what it was, however, in unfair. So I will review The General for what it was, an extrapolation of the previous episode.

Clone Wars Review: "Darkness On Umbara"

By Chris Seekell

FINALLY! The difference between Darkness on Umbara and the preceding droids duology was like the difference between Lord of the Rings and Teletubbies. It had all of the things that have been missing over the past few weeks. From the animation, to the action, to the music, to the plot, to the dialog, this episode was superb and easily the best episode of Season 4 and one of the best episodes of the entire series, in my opinion.

Hasbro to Layoff 170 Employees

By Chris Seekell

It has been recently announced that Star Wars licensee Hasbro will be laying off 170 employees after sluggish sales in certain toy lines over the holiday season. About 55 of these layoffs will be at Hasbro's headquarters in Rhode Island, USA. Even though certain lines are struggling, as a company Hasbro continues to grow, as its electronic gaming department meets more success. However the future of some its Star Wars products like its famous 3 3/4" action figure line becomes cloudy.

The SWU Podcast Episode 27 - 3/13/2012

By Chris Seekell

In this episode of the SWU Podcast, fan blogger Autumn joins hosts Chris, Savanna, and Jordan in a discussion about the latest Clone Wars episode, Brothers. They read your comments on the episode and this week's news headlines. Plus listen to hear a couple of your voicemails.
Click here to listen! »

Star Wars References on The Big Bang Theory

By Chris Seekell

There were many Star Wars references on March 8th's episode of the geeky sitcom The Big Bang Theory on CBS. The episode was the entitled "The Weekend Vortex" and was the 19th episode of Season 5. In the episode, Leonard, Sheldon, and some friends spend a weekend playing the Star Wars: The Old Republic MMO to their female friends' disgust. You can watch a video with all of the clips related to Star Wars below.

Clone Wars Review: "Nomad Droids"

By Chris Seekell

After a pair of controversial episodes in Shadow Warrior and Mercy Mission, the Clone Wars really needed to step it up for me in Nomad Droids. Once again, I wasn't jumping up and down after watching this episode, but found it to be more entertaining than the past two. As a second part to a droids duology, Nomad Droids felt very distant storywise to Mercy Mission, and was only connected with it through the common characters of R2, C-3PO, and the Wolfpack clones. Yet that's probably for the best, considering the meaningless plot of Mercy Mission.

Star Wars Reference on The Office

By Chris Seekell

There was a Star Wars reference on March 8th's episode of NBC's The Office. In the the 18th episode of season 8, the character Dwight heads to Florida and informs his coworkers back in Pennsylvania that he will not be returning. Immediately they conspire to open his "treasure" box that he had left behind and had told everyone not to touch. Office manager Andy calls a meeting and the staff list out possible guesses as to what could be in Dwight's box.