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Hello Yubcast, we are back to posting about Clone Wars. We recorded these a while back but never posted them until now. Some of the discussion is a bit dated but still good.
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Partial transcript of today’s show below
Jamey: [00:00:00] Hello and welcome to Yub cast, your Star Wars cartoon podcast. My name’s Jamey and this is Getting Out of Hand. Now there are two of them.
Matt: My name is Matt. In a dark place we find ourselves, and a little more knowledge lights our way.
Jamey: what’s that from?
Matt: That’s Yoda from Revenge of the Sith. Okay. Don’t know why I picked the Yoda quote, but I sort of felt like it.
Jamey: that’s alright. I thought I’d pick a, um, a Newt Gunray quote since we’ve been, um, we’ve been doing more just, um… Like, quotes that have something to do with the episode that we’re currently on. And, um, what, uh, we’re doing right now is we are back after a hiatus with Bad Batch and some wrap ups of Mando and…BadBatch again. Uh, we are back with [00:01:00] Clone Wars and we are doing Episode 15, Cloak of Darkness, which is Season 1, Episode 9.
Matt: I actually looked it up tonight and we haven’t done a BadBatch episode since December of 2022. So, we’ve been away for six months. A Bad
Jamey: Batch episode, or?
Matt: No, I meant Clone Wars episode, sorry. Yeah. Um, we haven’t done a Clone Wars episode since December of 2022, so we’ve taken a six month break from Clone Wars, but we are back. We’re going to power through some of these, and get through some of these arcs. Um. And try to make some progress. We basically recorded 15 episodes of Clone Wars and there’s 140 of them.
Matt: Yeah. So we have to make some progress. Unlikely. Unlikely that we’ll ever finish.
Jamey: Yeah, we’ve been recording it from whatever nursing home our families stick us in.
Matt: Yeah. The crooked [00:02:00] home they see on 60 Minutes.
Jamey: Yeah.
Matt: Uh, so, so since we’re back to Clone Wars, this is sort of like a new season of ours. We did, we were doing Clone Wars, and then we did Tales of the Jedi, and then we went right into Bad Batch, and we spent a long time on Bad Batch, 16 episode, 16 episodes in Bad Batch, we recorded 16 episodes, we did the first two together.
Matt: And then we did a wrap up, and then we did a Mando episode, so with, with all of the episodes we did for Tales of the Jedi, and supplemental episodes, and all of those episodes, it’s been 20 plus episodes since we’ve been to Clone Wars, which is why it’s six months. Um, that means we’re back to our old shenanigans.
Matt: I will roll a d20 at the end of this episode, um, which may trigger an Ewoks review, um, much to Jaime’s chagrin. But. Before we do any of that, we didn’t [00:03:00] record last week, but have you done any Star Wars
Jamey: lately? I’m still playing Jedi Survivor. I cannot beat this boss. Um, I’m tempted to lower the difficulty level because I’m just at the normal setting.
Jamey: I don’t know if there’s a special name for it. But, um, it’s gonna get to the point where I’m gonna just, , take it down to easy. And hopefully then I can pass. But it’s, it’s difficult because, uh, every time… Like, with the, with the bosses, you, um, there are like different, there are different stages with the boss.
Jamey: The boss changes, so like you’ll get to a certain point, there’ll be a cutscene, and then say like a quarter of the boss’s health is gone. Then you gotta fight through till you get to the next cutscene, and then something changes with the boss, and they get harder, and so on. And, um, then when you die, you’ve gotta start that all over again.
Jamey: It’s, it’s a real pain in the butt. So, I’m just getting frustrated to the point where I don’t even want to play it. Which [00:04:00] is sad because it’s a really great game. Yeah,
Matt: just put it on baby mode. Yeah. Power through. Um, anything else going on in Star Wars? I know you’re sort of out of books right now.
Jamey: Yeah, I finished all the…
Jamey: The, the high republic books that are out currently, and other than just re watching stuff, um, periodically, , Clone Wars, um, bits of movies, um, Mando and, uh, Andor. Mm, not a whole lot. I, I really need to, uh, I’m, I’m shameably, oh, shamefully, shameably, um, I am shamefully behind on all the comics. They just, there’s so many of them, and they all splinter off, but they all connect at the same time, so it gets daunting, and then I get discouraged, and I just don’t read them.
Jamey: And then like, kinda like, kinda like with um, how TV shows are, , like if you binge them, they don’t mean as much, but . If you’re reading just a little bit at a time, , you absorb [00:05:00] some, you don’t get tired of it. Um, know what I mean?
Matt: Yeah, I know what you mean. It’s very tempting to sit down and blow through a ton of comics, but it just wouldn’t retain anything from them.
Matt: Right. So,
Jamey: how about you?
Matt: Um, since last time we recorded, I got my Jar Jar statue.
Jamey: Yeah.
Matt: So there were, we talked about this in a previous episode, but I picked up the Yoda and Anakin statues from The Phantom Menace. Promotional material made by Pepsi and basically shoved in movie theaters and blockbusters back in 1999.
Matt: Um. I found a collector in West Virginia that had a Jar Jar, um, which is fucking huge. This guy’s like seven feet tall, I put photos on our Twitter. Um, and he also had two Watto’s, and Watto’s are the ones that are all fucked, all got fucked up, um, and so they just don’t exist. WATCH OUT!
Jamey: That
Matt: scared me. [00:06:00] I don’t even know if I have Jar Jar in my…
Matt: Man, I gotta get some… I don’t have any in here, but… Um, so anyway, this guy also had a Watto, and so I asked him if he would sell me both. The Watto I got is sort of damaged. Not severely damaged. But his wings are very weak, and one of the wings has a fold in it. Um, it actually doesn’t look that bad, but it’s like foam rubber, um, the whole thing and the wing is sort of, it’s clearly a separate piece that was glued on probably 30 years ago, almost 25 years ago, and it’s sort of separating a little bit.
Matt: It wouldn’t be hard to fix, but it’s definitely sort of the weak point of the whole, whole thing. But he’s on a stand and he’s like floating, let’s say like three and a half feet off the ground. Um, pretty fascinating to see these things all together. Uh, I think my wife has finally had enough [00:07:00] though. This is, this is sort of the, the last straw for her.
Matt: She said I could do anything I want in the basement, and now she’s like, Okay, you’re done? Like, is this it? Although she, she does find them relatively funny, but I think she’s sort of at her end.
Jamey: Yeah, she’s, she’s like, it’s either me or the, it’s either me or the collectibles. And you’re like, Hmm. , like Jerry Seinfeld thinking about whether he likes the, uh, the, uh, Hello!
Jamey: Uh, thing better than the, uh… Right. She’s like, you took too long.
Matt: Yeah, I mean, there’s no, there’s no ultimatums coming in my relationship like that, but it is… When, I’ll put it this way, when I saw the Jar Jar, I was like, I think I’ve gone too far.
Matt: This thing is huge. I actually had a, I had a moment of panic because my, my ba All of this stuff is in my basement. My basement is a walkout basement. And so it’s sort of like, the front half of my house is higher, is like, on a hill, and the [00:08:00] back half of my house is lower on the hill, ? Mm hmm. It’s like a ranch, kinda?
Matt: Sort of, like, like, the front, if you, if you go in the front of the house, you enter the quote unquote ground floor, and this floor is beneath that floor, so it is a basement, but I can walk out the back of the house and go up three stairs and be in the backyard. I’m not underground, I’m actually… Like partially underground, like half of it’s underground.
Matt: So it’s not like every floor in my house has 12 foot ceilings except the basement has eight foot ceilings, which is good ’cause I’m over six feet tall and I don’t feel cramped down here. But it’s not, it’s not high ceilinged room. And so when charger came, I had a flash of terror when we were standing him up and I’m like, oh shit, he’s too tall.
Matt: I can’t, I can’t keep him. Um, but he, yeah, he’s probably like 8 inches, like we stood him up, and he’s probably 6 to 8 inches from the ceiling. And so if this room were a little [00:09:00] shorter, it wouldn’t work. Um, and I’m just very fortunate that I’m in a very high ceilinged house. This house was built in the fucking 20s of really high ceilings.
Matt: Yeah, people
Jamey: were so, so much taller back then. I didn’t know they weren’t,
Matt: but… There must be a reason for it. There must be a reason. There must be a, like a stylistic or something reason, because there’s so many Victorian style houses in this neighborhood, and they all have fucking high ceilings. We’re all built in the 20s.
Matt: Yeah,
Jamey: I can’t think of a good reason other than just stylistic or just because, I don’t know, that’s where they force their servants to live in the extra foot and a half or so of ceiling. But, uh, it’s actually good, you can, um, , when you go out of town, you can do a home alone sort of thing, and just have Jar Jar, like on a treadmill, uh, or not a treadmill, but like a, like a, like a little, can, train track, train track, that just goes, that just goes [00:10:00] around.
Matt: In the shower. Yeah. Like, didn’t he have, like, his uncle in the shower, saying, like, get the fuck out of here, you dumb kid.
Jamey: Yeah. And he’s like, no, no. Right here, he says, Merry Christmas, you filthy animals, and, and, uh, Jar Jar. I’m not gonna, I’m not gonna attempt it because it’ll sound real bad.
Matt: Yeah, yeah, let’s not do impersonations of Jar Jar.
Matt: No, so, basically, I think I’m finished for a while on… I didn’t get to go to any cons this year, like there’s beer festivals, and then there’s just comic cons, and things like that, and I didn’t do any of that this year. We’ve had a really nice year financially, too, so I feel justified in wasting some money, but like I said, once I saw Jar Jar, I was like, uh, I think I’ve gone too far.
Matt: I really have to focus on sort of finishing some of these projects. Like, I still have the battle droid I haven’t painted all the [00:11:00] way and assembled. So once I have the battle droid, it’ll be another thing from Phantom Menace.
Jamey: Yeah, , these can be, , like, uh, , you tell the… Tell your oldest boy, like, , that Jar Jar, that’s a, that’s gonna pay for your college.
Jamey: That’ll be yours one day. Yeah. Yeah, that’s, and that’s when the next, that’s when the third Menendez brother is born. Right. We Like, why’d you kill your dad? He spent my college money on Jar Jar. Acquitted. Acquitted. He won’t even have to wait for the crazy women to send him marriage proposals in prison.
Jamey: There you
Matt: go. But other than that, I’ve, from like a Star Wars consumption point of view, um, I’ve been working on finishing up some 3D models, like 3D printed models I have, like that. I’ve been doing a lot of work on him. And then I watched, um, um, [00:12:00] Rick’s Road, which is the last episode of Andor, the other day.
Matt: Um, cause I, I wanted to see if that held up, and it did. Oh, it does. And I just, I really just want to watch it again, I’m so excited.
Jamey: I, I want to see more of Brazo. Cause he’s got, he’s got some Brazo balls. Cause he just goes, , just bananas, and like, uses the, the funeral brick to, to bash an Imperial Trooper and just…
Jamey: , just letting out the war cry in, in their band uniforms. It’s just, it’s just awesome that some, , two good, very, two good monologues in that episode. Um, Marva’s at the end, and then, um, Nevik’s, um, manifesto.
Matt: Yeah, exactly. So there’s, the reason why I actually watched it is because I saw a clip of a making of that episode, um, where they said like, The music was, like, the term for music that is happening in the setting is diatonic.
Matt: [00:13:00] Diagetic, I think. Yeah, it’s diagenic. Diagetic.
Jamey: By L. Ron Hubbard?
Matt: Yeah, diagenics. No. Diagetic music. And they said that, like the guy who designed the music, and he said all of those people are actually musicians, and they’re actually playing, they comped in some of the sound, but On set, they were playing it because they wanted it to sound not like professional musicians.
Matt: They wanted it to sound like a community band. And so, all of the instruments were functioning instruments that they, like, glued little greebles onto to make them look Star Wars y. And they said, they said like, it just had to be, it just had to be good enough as like a community band. And I said they, I really think they nailed it.
Matt: Yeah. They were quite proud of what it turned out to be, and I was like, like yeah, I think you did nail it.
Jamey: And they, they found a, uh, they found a, [00:14:00] a um, a mallet player who’s really, who’s got a really good front kick?
Matt: That’s just, like, I don’t, I know that, I know that episode is not supposed to be comedic.
Matt: That moment is laugh out loud funny, and I’ve seen the episode maybe ten times. And when the guy’s like, like, points to a stormtrooper and he’s like, Make him stop! Then the battle keeps like raging, and minutes pass. And then it goes back up to the bell tower, and a stormtrooper is like running up there, and you’re like, Oh, right!
Matt: They did dispatch a stormtrooper to the bell tower. He’s up there for half a second before he gets kicked out
Jamey: the window. Yeah, it makes me think of like when you see, um, when you see videos of tourists getting in the way of like the, uh… Like the Royal Guard in Britain, and they just like, shove them.
Matt: I just saw it, I was, I have a bad habit of like, scrolling through videos on Twitter.
Matt: Um, when I’m bored, and I was doing that today, and there was like a woman trying to take a [00:15:00] selfie with one, and the guy completely lays her out. Doesn’t even like, miss a step. He just like, puts his like, shoulder into her and she completely falls down. Just be like, oh, what a fun job that would be. Except you have to guard a fucking royal.
Jamey: You just march back and forth. If somebody gets in your way, you get to punch them.
Matt: Yeah. I don’t know what kind of gun they carry, but it looks pretty fucking intimidating.
Jamey: Yeah, it looks like the standard British, um, um, battle rifle. It’s, it’s… I don’t know the name of it. It’s a bullpup, uh, rifle. Yeah.
Matt: It’s got a bayonet attached to it, usually.
Matt: When they’re holding it. Yeah. Don’t fuck with them.
Jamey: Yeah, in case those, in case their colonies get out of line, they still got the bayonets.
Matt: Yeah, I don’t know if they have any colonies left, but that’s their business, not mine. Yeah,
Jamey: they’re running out of [00:16:00] jewels, so they need to, they need to pillage India some more.
Matt: I guess the, back to Star Wars, the only other thing that I’ve really done this week is that the boys, um, the boys and I watched the rest of the Visions episodes they hadn’t seen. Um, from Volume 2. And, I don’t know, we haven’t talked, you and I haven’t talked a lot about it. I think those are pretty good, in general, for a second round of Visions.
Matt: But, maybe we can, maybe we can switch up the roll to when we roll one we have to do a Visions episode.
Jamey: Yeah, that’d be fine. I, um, yeah, I saw all of them. I fell asleep through a bunch of them, so… I gotta watch them again. But, um, they were not terrible. I, I didn’t hate, hate them, but, um, they weren’t terrible.
Matt: Right, we had sort of mixed feelings about the first, first volume. Um, I think, I think I like these in general more than the first volume, but, like I said, we don’t have to get into it. [00:17:00] There’s a lot I liked about it, there’s things I didn’t quite get about it, but I think, I think it’s less, now that we’ve, now that this is a thing that happens, in my mind, it’s like, okay, so you can do basically whatever you want with it, and it’s fine.
Matt: Right? Yeah. First, first ones I was trying to like sort of wrap my head around like the whole concept of like hypothetical Star Wars, like a Star Wars what if sort of series. And now that it’s just a thing, I’m like, okay, so this is sort of like take it or leave it Star Wars, , like you want to Wallace and Grom at Star Wars, you got it now.
Matt: ? Yeah, that’d be cool. Well, it’s, it’s in this one, right? Like, one of the, the one called I Am Your Mother is made by the guy who made Wallace and Gromit. I don’t… Well, look it, look it up later. Okay, yeah, I don’t remember. I’ll send you a, a reminder. Alright. Um…
Jamey: Do you want to get into the episode?[00:18:00]
Jamey: This is, uh, Cloak of Darkness, like I said, Season 1, Episode 9, original air date December 5th, 2008. Oh, man. Fifteen… How the hell did the time go? Yeah, where the hell did the time go? Um, okay. So, um… The, um… The kind of the, the quote at the, uh, beginning of this episode is ignore your instincts at your peril.
Jamey: So, uh, it’s, uh, the, the little, um, the news, um, I say the kind of like the news reel portion of it where just kind of like. Gets you, uh, caught up on, uh, on what happened, , the, in the very, like, um, war, , um, war, , like World War II propaganda kind of stuff that would be played, , in front of movies, , tells about how [00:19:00] Vice Gunroy was captured on Rhodia.
Jamey: Luminara and Ahsoka are to escort the Viceroy to Coruscant for his many war crimes. Now, before we get into this, it’s strange. I got so, I guess got so spoiled with Bad Batch coming back to this, it was hard to watch a bit because the animation is so rough. Which, which back for his day, it’s perfect. And it’s actually, it’s still good, , it’s like, it’s like, um, maybe like an Xbox 360 level cutscenes.
Matt: Yeah, so, I was going to talk a little bit about this later, but a few things right up top. So, I know we took six months off of Clone Wars doing a bunch of other stuff, but this is a continuation of the previous episode, which is Bombad Jedi. Which is the Jar Jar episode, the knight in shining armor, Jester puts on a suit of armor sort of thing.
Matt: Episode where Jar Jar accidentally saves the day, or, , Jar Jar is the hero on Rhodia when, um, Pharr is [00:20:00] betraying Padme, she gets captured, Viceroy’s going to execute her, everything goes a different direction, and, um, that. That whole thing. I’ll put a link to that show in the show notes for this show.
Matt: So if people want to re listen to that one leading into this one, this is sort of the arc. Um, but this is also, like you said, very early in Clone Wars. This might be the third episode that they completed. Third or fourth episode they completed. Um, The animation for and there are animation mistakes, not, not just, it’s not just rough animation for what we’ve been seeing in Bad Batch and later in Clone Wars.
Matt: This is them still figuring it out how to do things. And so there’s just straight up mistakes in this. in this show, but this is, like I said, I think this is the fourth one that they completed, the fourth episode they completed. It’s the only, only the ninth episode they ever released, um, but they, they did them out of order.
Matt: If you [00:21:00] recall, we talked about the very first one that they They did where there’s a ton of mistakes where like Anakin’s belt disappears and there’s no explosions in space. They forgot to add them. There’s audio sync problems and all sorts of weird stuff happening in that episode. So this is, this is way better in my opinion than that first episode, that first episode they animated.
Matt: But yeah, we’re still in sort of the Nascent stages of this media for them.
Jamey: Mm hmm. Cool. All right. So, so, uh, Luminara’s on a shuttle, and she’s asked if they’ve made contact with a cruiser Tranquility. Uh, that’s a kind of cool name. A Senate guard named Captain… Argaïus responds and says that he will await the Jedi and the prisoner to give them clearance to dock with the cruiser.
Jamey: Gunray tries to bribe the clones in Gree’s unit. Captain Gree puts Viceroy in binders. Ahsoka says the trip has been boring so far. [00:22:00] So, on the cruiser, Gunray demands a lawyer. Our Gaius takes the Viceroy into the brig. Ahsoka comments that Gunray is a weak opponent and doesn’t deserve this level of attention.
Jamey: Luminara scolds Ahsoka for underestimating her enemy because he’s a super rich guy, and super rich guys don’t normally go to jail. So… On another ship, Palpatine is calling Dooku to tell him that Gunroy will sing like a canary and that he needs to be dealt with. Dooku says that he already has a plan in motion.
Jamey: He’s sending Ventress after Gunray on an infiltration mission. Palpatine is not impressed, but Dooku defends her. Palpatine signs off on the plan. Um, Ventress shows up. Dooku says there’s no margin for error. She has to prove herself on this mission. Ventress says he has nothing to worry about. So, on the cruiser, Agaius checks in on the interrogation.
Jamey: Luminara and Ahsoka are probing, uh, Gunray’s mind. So, Gunray, he only really cares about money, but he does, uh, hold [00:23:00] a lot of intelligence. Gun but, uh, this is, , this is wild, actually. Um, , with the news cycle currently. , he just claims that he’s a pawn. Yeah. Yeah, .
Matt: Good. Good call. This is an accident,
Jamey: I did, , he, he, he stored all those, uh, Republic talk secret documents in his bathroom, his cold
Matt: flitted bathroom. This is a witch hunt. This is a witch hunt to go, go get gun. Ray . He’s a meaningless victim of a. Of a witch hunt by the, the Republic, uh, Justice Department.
Jamey: Yeah, the globalist Jedi. Um, So, uh, Ahsoka snaps and she pulls her lightsaber and threatens to gut Konroi if he doesn’t talk.
Jamey: Luminara pulls her away and tells her that terror is not the way, and Ahsoka says she was bluffing, and all of a sudden, Gunray wants to negotiate.
Matt: Yeah, I want to stop here for a second. There’s just a, like a couple of themes that are brought up here. Um, Like [00:24:00] Ahsoka is super green and wants to prove herself to Luminara because Anakin is off someplace and Luminara’s Padawan Barriss is off someplace too.
Matt: We’ll find out where shortly. Um, but basically Luminara doesn’t trust Ahsoka and Ahsoka wants to prove herself to Luminara and she’s overly eager and basically is playing good cop bad cop. With Gunray, except she’s playing good cop psycho cop. Yeah,
Jamey: yeah, Luminara offers him a coke, and then she’s, uh, Ahsoka’s just like, You’re going away for a long
Matt: time!
Matt: Yeah, Gunray’s on the ground saying, I can’t breathe. Yeah. Like, it’s, it’s really, it’s a very violent thing for her to do. And, Luminara rightfully, like, pushes her back. And then on the other side of the theme, of this theme of, like, approving your worth to your commander, Palpatine is basically telling Dooku, like, yeah, your assassin sucks.
Matt: And Dooku turns around and shit rolls downhill, right, everywhere. He turns around [00:25:00] to Ventress and says, Don’t fuck this up. And Ventress is like, I’m not gonna fuck it up. And she spends the rest of the episode proving that to her master. Right, they’re both under the thumbs, Both, both Ahsoka and, um, Asajj, are under the thumbs of their masters, and they’re both, they both have something to prove here.
Matt: And how they go about that is sort of the nature of this episode. What did you think about Ahsoka in this scene, though? Yeah,
Jamey: I thought it was very kind of out of character, but she’s still, like, young and immature. So, it kind of, um, it
Matt: tracks. It’s also, I think her, I do think it’s out of character as well.
Matt: I think it’s also part of the clunkiness of them getting this off the ground, that she’s this short tempered, because she definitely doesn’t stay this way. Um, they have to, they have to mature her to keep her in the story. And we’re still at the very beginning of Ahsoka here. I think [00:26:00] she, this might be her third episode, um, ever since the movie.
Matt: So, I think this is… Wait, the movie hasn’t been released yet. I think the movie is released after this episode is released. And so I think this might be the second or third episode she’s in. Yeah. Um, period.
Jamey: Yeah. And she actually does a Star Wars tradition where she says she’ll gut him like a, uh, exotic name, Arian, and then Mud Fish or whatever.
Jamey: Yeah. So, so, , so the, yeah, the, uh, the kinda, the formula is, , some exotic name and then either just a, a name of a, a, a regular animal on. Uh, on Earth, or like a combination, um, of, uh, names. , so, so, so it leads you to think like, Ooh, that sounds interesting. But, uh, anyways, okay, so, okay. So then all of a sudden the cruiser is under attack from droid [00:27:00] fighters.
Jamey: And they’re a boarding ship. These, these boarding ships were pretty cool. Um, They’re just, like, big. They’re big, like, spikes, and they just…
Matt: They look like, they look like juicers to me, like those things you, like, run an orange over. Yeah, yeah. And they, like, break it up, and they’re, there’s, like, spears, and they just, like, stick into the ships, and then they open up with, like, these teeth.
Matt: Yeah. You’ve seen them before, but, yeah.
Jamey: Yeah, they, yeah, we have, like, these, um… Hockey puck lights in our yard. They’re just solar powered, they’re just like these, they’re flat, , kind of the size of a hockey puck. And there’s like this big spike you can attach to the bottom so you can just stick it in the ground.
Jamey: That was the first thing I thought of. Um, but yeah, these are pretty
Matt: That reminds me I have to call your HOA.
Jamey: Please don’t.
Jamey: Um, Yeah, so, so yeah, so these are pretty cool. So, um,
Matt: We also see, sorry, but we [00:28:00] see them in the, in the episode on the asteroid, um, where Domino Squadron’s hanging out. These are the same ships that infiltrate during that. And we brought up on that episode that these were the same design as the pod crushers in the Plo Koon episode.
Matt: Malevolence arc. But these are wonderful designs. I 100 percent agree. I watched this a bunch of times today and I was excited every time it came on screen. I was like, this is cool.
Jamey: So, uh, Gree tells Green Company so that’s kind of weird. I guess maybe he gets his name from the company? I don’t know. And he’s a…
Jamey: I just want to talk briefly about this clone. He’s got, um, two mohawks, basically. Um, so, , instead of just one down the center, he’s got two up top, so.
Matt: Yeah, do you want to talk about him now or do you want to talk about him later? We can
Jamey: talk about him, , whenever. [00:29:00] I just thought I’d bring it up.
Matt: Yeah, so Gree, Gree’s name is Gree because, um, when he was at the clone academy, he was really into, um, different species of aliens. And the Gree are an ancient species in the Star Wars universe. And so he gave himself his nickname after that species and then ended up in Green Squadron out of coincidence.
Matt: Um, he’s not named Gree because he’s in Green Squadron. He’s named Gree because of the alien Grees.
Jamey: Okay, where’d you get this info from?
Matt: I’m reading about him in Wikipedia and things. He’s actually, we can also talk about, um, we can also talk about his fate. Um, because Gree is a character in the movies. And Gree is the clone that Yoda decapitates in Revenge of the Sith on Kashyyyk.
Matt: No. Yep, Gree is the guy that receives the Order 60, Order 66, turns to shoot [00:30:00] Yoda, and Yoda jumps up and decapitates him.
Jamey: Wow, that’s pretty
Matt: rad. And so there’s a lot written about Gree. About like his backstory and things, and he, he’s got a bunch of comics in the old continuity, Um, and is mentioned in all sorts of reference materials of Revenge of the Sith things.
Matt: And the Gree are sort of a tentacled alien, um, uh, I can send you the page on them if you want to see them, but they’re, they’re a legend species mostly. But they, they do, they are brought up in a few Clone Wars cartoon episodes. You never see one though.
Jamey: Alright, okay, and, um, before we get too into it, do we want to talk about, uh, uh, Argaïs?
Jamey: Because he’s, um, he’s a Senate Guard. Um, except he’s like an officer, he’s got like a special, like, pauldron. , He is the, , they’re, I guess they called them Senate Commandos, but they are guards. They’re, they’re the guys in [00:31:00] the blue armor with the, the plumage, who, , end up becoming the, the uh, Imperial, uh, Royal Guards.
Jamey: And he, his hair, he looks like he’s from, like, Flock of Seagulls or something.
Matt: Yeah, they, so our guy, back, back in this period of Clone Wars, they had a very tight budget for new character design, and just new design in general. Um, and Argaïus wasn’t a brand new character, and so they took the clone armor and recolored it.
Matt: They gave him a huge pauldron, because that was relatively easy to animate for them, because it was a solid piece. And they called it like a scarab shell or something, because it’s just huge. Then they painted an interesting design on there. But yeah, the helmets are straight out of episode one. Um. You can see them following Palpatine.
Matt: So, all of the design budget for him went into his head. Right, so, because they could get away with using clone armor and clone body. [00:32:00] So you call it like a flock of seagulls hair. They were actually really proud of the way the hair turned out. Because it was, it was different. Um, but, we’ll get to it in a minute, I think.
Matt: Because our guy is a huge character in this episode. And we have to talk about him in this episode. Because he’s not in any others. Spoiler alert. Um, but him, his model. And Luminara’s model are the new models in Clone Wars, because Luminara, this is her first appearance. Um, she was in Tartovoski’s Clone Wars, um, but, but in, in this continuity, not counting Tartovoski’s Clone Wars, this is Luminara’s first speaking role.
Matt: Like, she’s in the Battle of Geonosis, and she gets killed, or she doesn’t get killed. She doesn’t appear in Revenge of the Sith and Order 66 scenes, because we find out later that she was captured. Um. And held by the Empire, but this is her first character moment [00:33:00] outside of holding a lightsaber in the arena on Geonosis.
Matt: So, this is a big deal that they spent a lot of time on Luminara. Let’s keep going.
Jamey: Right on. Okay, so Gree tells Green Company to prepare to repel the enemy. The boarding ships pierce the hull and the Super Battle Droids drop out into the cargo bays. Green Squad is under attack and taking losses and, um, they’re definitely being overrun.
Jamey: Green Leader checks in. They say the Battle Droids are headed to the detention level and they need reinforcements. Ahsoka wants to go help with Luminara, but Luminara tells Ahsoka to stay behind and guard the Viceroy. Gunray gloats he’s going to be rescued. Ahsoka taunts that this might not be a rescue mission.
Jamey: So, um, someplace on the ship, a clone tries to give a report, but Ventress kills him before he signals anyone. Ventress takes his comm and goes into the ventilation system. Now, back to Green Squad, uh, they’re taking heavy losses. Uh, Luminar shows up and cuts through the droids, uh, pretty [00:34:00] effortlessly.
Matt: This, when I was watching this again today…
Matt: I didn’t have this thought when I watched this months ago, when we thought we were going to do this next. Um, but uh, when I watched this today, this felt like a Luminar hallway scene. I know hallway scenes have become a thing. But uh, she’s basically in a hallway with a bunch of super battle droids. And she was just cutting them apart.
Matt: And I was like, oh, this is sort of like Luke. Yeah. Fighting those, uh, those droids in Mando. I just, I sort of liked it. So,
Jamey: uh, there’s a treadwheel droid in the reactor room. Uh, this is actually a pretty cool scene. So it’s really dark. This treadwheel droid is just basically a stick with, like, binoculars, uh, for a head.
Jamey: And it, uh, has kind of like Flashlight. It’s where, like, it’s kind of like a sentry, kind of looking around. And Ventress is bouncing around, , outside of its, um, outside of its view, , uh, planting explosives in the reactor room. Uh, two clones do check in and they [00:35:00] leave the droid, uh, 327T in charge.
Jamey: Ventress, um… She then jumps back into the vents. Luminar is still fighting the droids in the hallway and all the droids are destroyed. But Luminar senses something in the force as Soka taunts gun Ray, who’s again ready to deal since the attack, uh, seems to have failed her Garris
Matt: report. This is, this is also sort of a comedic, sorry, this is just also sort of like a comedic beat through the whole episode where gun ray is like, like, I’m ready to deal.
Matt: Deal’s off! Ready to deal. Deal’s off! Yeah. It’s just very, it’s very comical how quickly he switches sides. It just really underscores like how cowardly he is, I guess. Yeah.
Jamey: Um. Yeah, um, okay. Um, um, Archives reports the all clear signal was sent and the attack is over just then Ventress drops into the brig.
Jamey: Ahsoka calls her the hairless [00:36:00] harpy. Ventress calls her, uh, calls Ahsoka Anakin Skywalker’s filthy, obnoxious pet. Which is pretty funny. Uh, Luminar ascends to the fight. and heads to the brig, Ahsoka promises Ventress a merciful death that the senate guards fire on Ventress and they are killed and they’re all killed but Argaïs.
Jamey: So Ahsoka is still kind of pretty cocky and there’s some other, there’s at least one other scene where she’s just kind of like , it’s, she’s very young, immature, to just keep her mouth shut, . She’s a brain It’s
Matt: good, it’s good banter, like, Obi Wan and, Obi Wan and Ahsoka have banter, or Obi Wan and Ahsoka have banter too, where he calls her, like, my sweet, right?
Matt: This just shows that they have a history, I guess.
Jamey: Right, yeah. Ventress, uh, frees Gunray and traps Ahsoka in the cell. Gunray taunts Ahsoka the same way that she taunted him. Luminar shows up and attacks Ventress while freeing Ahsoka using the Force [00:37:00] to push the button. Which, I find it kind of funny because, like, couldn’t Ahsoka just, like, cut through, like, the, the, the walls that, uh, To, , create the projector of the force field, but whatever, plot
Matt: point.
Matt: If you could hit, if you could hit the button with the force, why wouldn’t Ahsoka just hit the button with the force?
Jamey: Right, and there’s that too.
Matt: Right, plot, plot plot plot though. Yeah.
Jamey: Um, , the force is, the force is kind of there for, as a plot device, um, cause things are, it’d actually be interesting to like, to think about like, all the, all the ways that Star Wars would be different if, , , Jedi, , just force users just remember that the force is a thing, , while they’re doing, while they’re in various, , scenarios, and they, Yeah,
Matt: it’d be different, it’d be a different story altogether.
Matt: Yeah. Right? Like, like, Tie Fighters would just be exploding. Mm hmm. And I don’t know. I guess the guy put a bullet through his head. Yeah. There’s, there’s like a scene, there’s like a [00:38:00] scene in a Rick and Morty episode where Rick is trying to prove that he’s still dangerous and he like opens up portals and a bunch of enemy spacecraft and shoots into all of them simultaneously or something.
Matt: It would be something like God level power, ?
Jamey: Yeah. I always thought it would be cool to see, like, have somebody just like… , like, either, like, force some, , just force somebody out of the cockpit of, like, a TIE Fighter. Or something like that, , the TIE Fighter’s going and all of a sudden you just, somebody just waves their hand and just, all of a sudden, all of a sudden you just see a pilot go flying out of the, out of the cockpit and TIE Fighter, or whatever, crashes.
Matt: Wasn’t that, wasn’t that in, like, the trailer for Jedi Survivor? Doesn’t he, like, fling a guy out of a TIE Fighter cockpit?
Jamey: Um… I don’t know, I’d have to, I’d have to watch it again.
Matt: But we, we do sort of get a sense of what happens when someone is sort of out of control using the Force. Um, with Ezra, when he, the season after he opens the Sith Holocron, and he like uses like a Jedi mind trick to get like a walker to walk [00:39:00] off the edge of a cliff.
Matt: Yeah, after, after firing on their own men. Yeah, and that’s sort of, so, sometimes, sometimes the Force is almost betrayed, portrayed as like a drug. Or it’s like, like, maybe the dark side more so than the light side, but it’s like… Like, people get high on the power of it, and they have to, like, control themselves.
Matt: So they don’t become, like, addicts to it. Yeah.
Jamey: I mean, like, while he was, like, overpowered, , um, Starkiller, or, um, or, um, Galen Merrick from, uh, the Force Unleashed games was the, uh, I love the idea of a character who was not, who didn’t know boundaries. I mean, he was powerful, but was never shown boundaries.
Jamey: So, the idea was that he’s just insanely powerful because he doesn’t know that he’s supposed to stop. Um… And, , like, he pulls a Star Destroyer out of the sky at a certain point, , and he’s able to do, like, wild things [00:40:00] because, , he’s gotten, like, no… He doesn’t have the limitations that, like, other, , people who use the Force have.
Jamey: Either Sith or Jedi. So, I’ve always liked the idea of somebody who could just like, um, say like somebody who was like in a coma and like, , like say like a Jedi who was like in a coma or something and then just coming out and then being like, Being like a god level force user because he’s been in a dreamlike state, , he’s been in a dreamlike state for so long.
Jamey: He doesn’t know, , what’s reality, what’s real, so he’s just, , um, , he doesn’t have the boundaries on reality like everybody else who works. Or, sorry, not works, everybody who else lives in the real world does. Alright,
Matt: I’m adding this to our short story list. A Jedi, a Jedi that comes out of a…
Matt: He’s in a comatose state where he’s been living like a meditative dream for decades, doesn’t understand the difference between reality and fiction, and overuses the force to compensate because he thinks he’s in a waking dream. Yeah.
Jamey: Yeah, [00:41:00] exactly. Okay, so, uh, back to the, back to the episode, uh, that’s trademarked, by the way, um, and we’ll be selling that to Disney, so don’t even try.
Matt: It’ll be a Hyrule Republic short story and Star Wars Insider in two years, so everyone cool your fucking jackets.
Jamey: Yeah. Um. Okay, so, uh, um, let’s see. So, uh, Luminar demands Ventress surrender. She complies, but the explosive goes off and Ventress runs down the hall evading Plasters as she goes. Luminar falls in the explosion and she gives chase with Ahsoka behind.
Jamey: Ventress escapes down an elevator shaft. Ahsoka wants to go after her but is almost hit by an elevator.
Matt: How many shafts? It’s not supposed to be funny, but it is one of those things where Luminar is like, Wait.
Jamey: Yeah. How we go. Yeah, it’s a little kid. How many times have you, like, stopped your kid from, like, walking directly into traffic just because they were just, , just doop doop do do, , not, .
Jamey: Only once today. [00:42:00] Yeah. It’s, I mean, it’s, it’s. It’s a, it’s a real sort of thing, so it’s very, , very kid like thing. So anyways, so the, uh, so the ship is a mess. Luminar decides to fight Ventress alone. Ahsoka suggests that they both go, but Luminar orders Ahsoka to stay with Argaïs and to guard Gunray, as he’s the target.
Jamey: Luminar will face Ventress alone. Luminara jumps into the shaft and exits a few floors below a pile of dead clones. Ahsoka begins to debate what to do, and she’s worried about Luminara. So, I’m, I’m a little torn on this, and I’m gonna take it to just like, that she’s just supposed to be written as like an impulsive teenager.
Jamey: She’s not really, she’s trying to prove herself, cause like, she seems overly confident that she can, , defeat Ventress on her own. And then, then she’s trying to tell Luminara that no, she needs to go with her because you can’t. Um, you can’t face her alone, and then she kind of has like a temper tantrum, , like, [00:43:00] venting, , like, in front of the, uh, clones in the Senate Guard.
Matt: Um, Yeah, it’s hard. It’s hard to know what her motivation is here, other than to be part of the most exciting piece of action.
Jamey: Yeah. And also, probably doing like something that I do, where like you just, you know you want to do something, but you need somebody else to validate it for you. Uh, then once somebody says that, oh yeah, you should totally do that, then you’re like, okay, it is a good idea, .
Jamey: Whether it’s a good idea or not. You just need that external validation.
Matt: Um. Jamie, do you want to start a Star Wars podcast? Yes, I do.
Matt: You, you had to wait for me to say it. Yeah.
Jamey: I get it. Yeah, I’ve been, I mean, I, I’ve been thinking about trying heroin, I mean, I mean, it seems like it would be good, I mean, I, I don’t know, but it’s also bad, I mean, I don’t know, I mean, I mean, it looked pretty cool in Trainspotting, I mean, like, Matt, what do you think?
Jamey: I
Matt: think if you watched [00:44:00] Trainspotting and thought heroin was cool, you sort of missed the point.
Jamey: Well, I, I was on heroin, I’m sorry.
Matt: You win McGregor though, prior to Star Wars. Yes.
Jamey: So, so what you’re saying is, I should try
Matt: heroin? Yes, I’m validating it, I’m validating
Jamey: your argument. Okay, alright. I’m already tying off my arm.
Jamey: That’s, that sounded to me like finding a vein. Don’t do heroin, guys. Yeah, don’t. Please don’t. Don’t do drugs, period.
Matt: We’re actually dropping the kid off at camp today, and there was a sign, um, put up by a public health department in Maryland, where I live. The camp’s in Maryland. And it was on the way to the camp, just on, like, on a county road.
Matt: And it had the number of deaths by opioids in that county as of, as of today. this year. And I was like, that’s it. It said, here’s number of opioid overdoses in Anne Arundel County, Maryland. Here’s number of opioid deaths in Anne Arundel County, Maryland. And it was just on like a [00:45:00] small billboard. And I was like, okay, so I guess they’re really, they’re really trying to put it out there.
Matt: People shouldn’t use street opioids for, just don’t use opioids in general. I never accept opioids from doctors, but that’s my own choice. If you need them, you need them, but Use them with caution.
Jamey: As prescribed. I need them to escape reality. Not what they’re prescribed for. Yeah. No, they’re no good for me.
Jamey: I’ve, um, got really some wisdom teeth pulled and I had like one like, um, oxy and I was just like, I’m flying high and I’m holding my daughter, who was a baby at the time and like, I can’t hold her. So yeah, I’m, I don’t I suffer through or find different ways to medicate myself.
Matt: When I had that, when I had that surgery, and they couldn’t close the surgical wound, I had…
Matt: I had to change the dressing of the surgical wound, um, twice a day. [00:46:00] They gave, they prescribed me Dilaudid, which is, which is heroin, like that’s just, that’s just prescription heroin. Um, and I took it for one day when I was changing the dressings, and it made me feel so shitty. For like, the whole fuckin day, or hours after, that the next day when I went to go change the dressing, I just told my wife, I was like, uh, I just need you to help me, because this is gonna fuckin hurt, and I have to get through it.
Matt: And we just did that for four weeks together. It was like, change this dressing every day. And I never took, never took it again. I just wasn’t gonna let it, like, wipe me out. Like that. I hate it. But, it works for people. Didn’t work for me. Don’t like it. It’s funny to joke about sometimes. Funny to make fun of Transpotting.
Matt: Go watch Transpotting, everybody. It’s a fucked up shi fucked up, fucked up movie. Yeah, I can’t remember Don’t do it if you’ve ever had a dead baby, though.
Jamey: I, I don’t re I don’t remember what they, I mean I remember getting [00:47:00] morphine in the ER and I hated that because I felt like I was being crushed. Um, um, and then another time I think they gave it to me and I guess I was flirting with one of the nurses in front of my wife.
Jamey: Um, so that, she told me about that later, which was like, oh I’m sorry. You weren’t supposed to be here for
Matt: that. I was under, I was under general anesthesia for that surgery. And I woke up and I had a restraint on. Like I was like seat belted into the bed. And the nurse came in and I said, Why am I belted to the bed?
Matt: And she’s like, Oh, when they brought you up from anesthesia you took a swing at the doctor.
Jamey: Yeah, I had a, I had a similar reaction. Uh, a few years back for a procedure, , and they asked me if I was, like, a combat veteran, because I just came out just, like, insanely, like, violent. Not saying all combat veterans are insanely violent, but I guess [00:48:00] it’s enough of a They
Matt: said they said that.
Matt: You didn’t say that. Yeah, that You a combat veteran, because you came out
Jamey: swinging. Yeah, because that, . Guys who’ve, like, had to deal with, like, PTSD might, , been, their experience that they didn’t come out of anesthesia. Uh, they didn’t take it very well, coming out. Um… Anyway, enough about
Matt: that
Jamey: stuff.
Jamey: Yeah, well, , we gotta put some science in to every episode so people learn. Okay, um… So, Ventress attacks Luminara and breaks a steam pipe, partially blinding Luminara. And this is actually cool because you see her eye is bloodshot. They actually add that detail. So they battle and Ventress says that she will decapitate Luminara.
Jamey: Luminara taunts Ventress saying she fights like Count Dooku, but amateurish and sloppy. And Ventress lashes out.
Matt: Luminar basically gets partially blinded. Um, so, [00:49:00] or massage says, I’m gonna cut your fucking head off. And Luminar says, you suck. Yeah. , it’s, it’s, it’s very, it’s very good banter between these two.
Matt: Um, but yeah, let’s keep going ’cause there’s a lot to talk about.
Jamey: Well, yeah. I do like the fact that like, massage is like, they do a very good job of showing her, just going into like a rage. Yes. Um,
Matt: this is a very satisfying fight overall from a light labor fight point of view.
Jamey: Yeah, so, um, Ahsoka debates if she can leave her post to help Luminara.
Jamey: Argeus says that they can guard the Viceroy by themselves, and Gunray says that he never risks his own skin if he doesn’t have to. That convinces Ahsoka to go. Argaea says that she can trust them to guard. Okay, so back with Luminara and Ventress. They fight with the force, and eventually Ventress knocks Luminara down and pins her under some pipes.
Jamey: Ventress goes for the kill, and Ahsoka uses the [00:50:00] force to push her away. Ahsoka frees Luminara from the pipes and apologizes for disobar Disobeying Luminara and Osaka continues to fight Ventress, and Ventress flees. Ventress signals someone, and Argaïs turns and kills all the clones and frees Gunray.
Jamey: Using Gunray as a shield, Argaïs shoots his way out of the brig and Tells Gunray that Dooku is paying him, um, back, or paying him a lot to break Gunray out of prison, so try and stay alive.
Matt: So, it’s like I say that he kills all the clones in the notes, but he doesn’t kill Gree. Yeah. That’s a mistake, sorry.
Matt: Just wanted to make sure that was clear. So Gree is still there.
Jamey: So, it just goes to show, , rich and powerful guys. Well connected guys, , like, they can like, I mean, I don’t know who this, we don’t know, we’ve, we don’t know anything about this Argaius, but in order to get, um, to get to be that level of a Senate guard, , you assume he has to be like insanely loyal and competent,[00:51:00] , just like Secret Service.
Jamey: Um, well, you would think, or, or just like a FBI, CIA, , NSA, whatever, . Um, so, they probably offered, , offered him like so much money that he’s just like, okay, sure, I’ll betray my oaths and everybody to, , for, , that much
Matt: money. I would say out of all federal law enforcement that I know of, um, the Secret Service are just a bunch of high functioning psychopaths, so.
Matt: Come at me guys. Those guys would kill anybody.
Jamey: Okay and here you are calling them psychopaths, okay great. Um. Okay, so, um, So, back with Luminara, she tells Ahsoka that she’s never faced an adversary like, uh, Ventress before. Her arrogance got in the way. Ahsoka tries to apologize, but the clones over the comm tell Luminara that Argaïus has betrayed them, and Ventress shows up to fight some more.[00:52:00]
Jamey: It’s, uh, basically, um… Basically to, um, seem just to keep them there. Uh, to keep…
Matt: Divide and conquer sort of… Yeah. strategy. Like, keep the forces divided, so they have to fight on two fronts, and all they have to do is complete one objective, which is get, um, Gunray off of the ship.
Jamey: Mm-Hmm. . So, uh, commander gr and uh, Arga are gonna standoff.
Jamey: Arga is still using gun ray as a shield. Gr cannot harm gun ray, so he shoots a blaster out of ar guy’s hand. Pretty nice shot. Arga kicks, uh, gun ray into gr and ar gaas attacks. The stun clone Luminar and a socalled adventurous continue to fight. Gre Ask Otoka why he, sorry, ouris, why he did it. Our Ouris goes for the blaster and GRE stops him, but gun ray hits gre in the back of the head and knocks him out.
Jamey: Ventress, uh, gets the signal that they have Gunray and she sets out the detonator and she jumps back into the ventilation systems. Uh, [00:53:00] Luminara saves Ahsoka from falling, um, to the battle. Then Argeus and Gunray escape in the shuttle. Uh, Ventress is still in the cruiser and fights her way into an escape pod.
Jamey: And Ahsoka and Luminara show up too late but they see the escape pod dock with the shuttle. Argaïs brags about the operation. Ventress shows up and he’s bragging to Ventress again and Ventress doesn’t take kindly to this because she’s, she’s on, um, she’s not on sure footing with Dooku so she kills Argaïs and then she greets the Viceroy and Gunray sucks up to her.
Jamey: Then, uh, back on the, uh, the cruiser, um, there’s a hologram. Ahsoka is apologizing to Anakin and Yoda about Ventress getting away. Yoda says the betrayal of the Senate Guard is a bad sign. Luminara says that they got away in a Republic shuttle, and Anakin says that they can track the shuttle. Yoda cautions that Gunray is a coward, but powerful allies he has.
Jamey: Luminara says Kit Fisto is close to the last known location. Anakin and [00:54:00] Ahsoka will meet at the rendezvous point. Luminara and Ahsoka thank each other for everything. Luminara says that they need to get underway. The end.
Matt: Yeah, so this leads into the next episode, too. So, we’ll cover everything that happens in that episode and that episode.
Matt: But, um, did you like it?
Jamey: Yeah, I did. I thought it was a great episode. , once I kind of got back into the swing of like, okay, this is… The animation style is a little rough compared to how things are now. Um, um, yeah, I thought this was a great episode. , it was, um, the whole, uh, the whole arc is great.
Jamey: I, I look forward to the next episode.
Matt: Right, I think the next episode is an episode you and I have talked about a lot. Um, just in general, so I’m really excited to hear, hear our… Discussion of it on there, but one of the things I love about this is that it connects Bombad Jedi, Cloak of Darkness, and Lair of Grievous together in one story line and they’re very different casts [00:55:00] for each one and they’re also tonally different each one, um, but they’re all still part of the same story.
Matt: It’s really showing Showing early in this Clone Wars Season 1 what they can get away with, um, in Clone Wars and be successful. Um, there’s a few obvious animation issues. Um, with this episode, but, but we don’t have to dwell on that because, like I said, I think this was the fourth one they finished. I don’t, when we were talking about Argyle, I said, I was talking about how tight their rendering budget was.
Matt: Now, I know I had to edit some of that out because we’ve been having some side conversations during this recording. Um, but I want to talk about, like, Argyle was a new character. Not Argyle,
Jamey: but what’s his name? Argus. Argyle is the limo driver in Die Hard.
Matt: Yeah. Well, this movie, this episode is very Die Hard. With Chris scurrying around in the vents all the time. [00:56:00] What I’m saying is Cloak of Darkness is a Christmas movie. Yes.
Jamey: It’s a, it’s a very tower man.
Matt: Alan Rickman, Alan Rickman dies at the end of this episode as well. Yeah.
Jamey: Yeah, it’s a, it’s a very tower man.
Matt: Anyway, um… He was a new character that they rendered, and Luminara is a new character that they rendered, and they, they messed with Luminara. I think I told you offline, or in a part that I edited out, that they’ve talked a ton, they’ve given a ton of interviews about this episode, mostly because they were so proud of themselves for how well they did Luminara.
Matt: So this is her first appearance. As a speaking character, outside of Tartovosky’s Clone Wars. In the Tartovosky’s Clone Wars, she was played by Kree Summers, who is an old actress, old, like a old school, um, voice actor, who actually played Nisa in [00:57:00] Ewok’s series. Um, but now, um, Luminar is played by Olivia de Habbo, someone that we’ve talked about, um, in other episodes.
Matt: Not to go over her, her… Um, IMDB history here, but she goes through the rest of the series as Luminara, so that’s, that’s exciting. Um. We talked about in the previous episode, Bombad Jedi, how hard it was for them to animate the cloak that Jar Jar was wearing. And they still had that problem, and so they made her clothing a little bit stiffer than they were planning, because they didn’t want to go through that again.
Matt: But they also… And one of the stupid easter eggs in this, um, episode, is that’s not Luminara’s lightsaber, because they, they forgot to change it. It’s Plo Koon’s lightsaber that she’s fighting with, and then in future episodes she has her own lightsaber, or lightsaber designed after her. Lightsaber that canonically appears in [00:58:00] the movie, but, but this, in this episode she’s fighting with Plutocoon’s lightsaber, which had already been rendered.
Matt: So these are things that they’re doing still to save money. They put placeholders in and then they forget to take them out. Um, the other thing that, that is in all of the discussions about this episode from the writers is the betrayal. So, um, ARG, they decided that they didn’t want a clone, a clone to be the one that betrays them, because they wanted to make the clone seem unfailingly loyal.
Matt: Um, and so they decided to have a Senate guard be the person that betrays them all. But in our continuity watching order. We’ve already seen the episode Cat and Mouse, which has a clone betrayer. So they did not stick to this plan to keep the clones unfailingly loyal. Which I’m glad they didn’t, [00:59:00] because I like the idea that the clones were sort of a spectrum of behavior, rather than just what I mean?
Matt: Oh yeah. And so the idea was that, the idea at least at this point in, in the plot development, is that you had good soldiers follow orders, and then you had the Senate guards, who were supposed to be just regular people, who were, had the temptations of money and power, etc. And that whole… argument between Gris, um, Argaia, Argaia, Argaia, and Ahsoka was supposed to be sort of setting that tone where Gris was just like I do what I’m told and, and then the Senate guard saying Like, sometimes you have to do what you feel is right.
Matt: And then, ironically, that being the right answer in that particular situation. Because Luminara might have died, um, if she hadn’t have intervened, right? So it’s hard, it’s hard to know what the right answer was there, or if there was [01:00:00] any moral. But we are back to Clone Wars, and so we can talk about the moral.
Matt: And in this part or the Jedi fortune cookie, whatever you want to call it. Um, so this one was Ignore your instincts at your peril. Before we do this, do you have any, any trivia or any commentary on any of the production stuff you want to
Jamey: talk about? No, I really enjoyed the, the lightsaber battle between Ahsoka, um, Ventress, and Luminara.
Jamey: Um, and I did, , I, I, I did enjoy the… , um, our guys design, um, , I think they did a good job, , with what they, , , they, they just had to put, , Malibu Stacy with a new hat, , and it, it, it worked out pretty well. Um, it’s a little, a little rough, but , like, it gets so much better that it’s hard to, um…
Jamey: It’s hard to care, and I get sucked into the story, so at a certain point, I don’t, I don’t notice the, the differences as much, um, [01:01:00] but, um, I don’t know,
Matt: um. I’ll say, I’ll say from a production point of view, the place where I thought the, the primitive nature of the animation was most obvious was in the holograms of Yoda and Anakin.
Matt: And it’s probably the place where you can get away with it. Because you can explain it away in universe, it’s just being a bad transmission, but they look like plastic toys. Mm hmm. They just didn’t look like they were rendered all the way. Yeah. And it was like, but you can, you can absolutely explain that away.
Matt: Yeah. Um, just be like, be like, oh, it’s a bad call, sort of like… Like, earlier tonight when we were trying to figure out why we had so much static on the line. Yeah. But, but I, I don’t know. Overall, I think it’s really good, and I don’t, I don’t suffer these things. There are production problems at this
Jamey: level.
Jamey: Yeah, the, except, I don’t know, how do you explain the weird conspiracy theories that you were talking about as a bad connection?
Matt: Yeah, I saw someone trying to… hook their TV up to my laptop, right? I don’t know if you saw that tweet from [01:02:00] Marjorie Taylor Greene, but she was claiming someone was hacking into her TV.
Jamey: No, I, I, I’m trying to, I’m trying to quit pretty much all social media, except for Facebook because, , they, they want to see pictures of kids and, um, or my family wants to see pictures of kids and whatnot, but I’m trying to just stay away from all that because it just, it just makes me mad. Yeah, me too.
Jamey: And why I invite that sort of stuff into, into my life, but periodically I, uh, stumble in and I’m just like, oh, uh, and then I realize that this is why I stopped in the first place.
Matt: Yeah, I’ve almost successfully blocked all politicians or all political stuff from my social media, but it still pops up. Um, alright, so one thing that we do.
Matt: In Clone Wars, we do talk about the Jedi fortune cookie. Do you want to talk about that for a second, whether it applies?
Jamey: Yeah, so the, um, the little, the little saying at the beginning. Does it,[01:03:00] , does it, um, hold true for this episode? And, so, ignore your instincts at your own peril.
Matt: Um, I’ll go first.
Matt: Um, it’s hard for me to figure out who they’re talking about in this, but if they’re talking about Ahsoka, she does sort of go off on her own to save Luminara, and that does save Luminara. And so if they’re talking about that, um, I guess it applies, but as far as the plot of the episode, it’s mostly about, it’s not, it’s more about like what Yoda says at the end, where he says basically like our enemies are surrounding us.
Matt: Yeah. I would say that’s more of the summary rather than… Because what, what do you think?
Jamey: Well, yeah, like if, , Ahsoka trusted her instinct and went and saved Luminara, but at the same time, , Argaïs was able to escape, er, sorry, Newt Gunray was able to escape thanks to, uh, Argaïs. Luminara,[01:04:00] , she had kind of like, um, she had felt, , that he, um, That there, there was something bad going on, um, and she went to investigate it, and it turned out to be true.
Jamey: But, uh, at the same time, if she would have just stayed with, if she’d stayed with the prisoner, , like, , like, Ventress had already sabotaged everything, , before, , um, , before the battle, so, it would have made more sense for her just to stay put, but, , she sensed the dark side and had to go to it.
Jamey: I, , I don’t know. I, partially it does, I mean, it makes sense, , like, , sometimes, , you get into weird situations and your gut is just like, um, like, I think it’s time to leave this store, or restaurant, or, this might be a bad side of town, we should go back the way we came, , , definitely, , sometimes, , your, your gut’s trying to tell you something, .
Jamey: Um, and like, I don’t know about you or any of our listeners, but there’s been plenty of times where I didn’t listen, [01:05:00] and then I ended up regretting it later. Because, um, just a light example, like, Oh, I’ll just get through this one level in this video game. I don’t need to save. Oh my god, I’ve just lost everything.
Jamey: Um. , even that with like, like work stuff, like, how often do you, um, or like school stuff, like how often did you like, you just kept, you didn’t want to like, just take the, , the two seconds to just save, and you, something happens to your computer and all of a sudden, you lose a ton of
Matt: work.
Matt: Yeah, we’re showing our age with that one, since now everything auto saves and auto recovers and everything, but, um. Or,
Jamey: or like the check engine light. Yeah,
Matt: there it is. I won. How many people go past their recommended oil change
Jamey: mileage? Me, , like, Everybody? Yeah, like, oil… change? Is that some sort me the moral…[01:06:00]
Matt: It’s not a bad, it’s not a bad thing to put on this episode, but, like I said, I just don’t think it applies that well.
Jamey: Yeah, yeah, it, it… It’s a little bit of a mess. Yeah, it takes a little, , it takes some, um, mental gymnastics to kind of get it to fit. And it’s kind of weak, even then. Um, but, yeah. Um, so yeah, so, uh, do you want to get into the ranking now?
Jamey: Yeah, go ahead. Okay. Alright, so now’s the time where we rank an episode. So how we rank episodes on Yumcast is we rank them by a Star Wars character from all sorts of canon media. So a really great episode would be a Han, Luke, Leia, Darth Vader, Chewie, etc. Somebody from the original trilogy. A really bad character would just be [01:07:00] some completely, uh, worthless character, um.
Jamey: Either, , a worthless character or just like, if that character ceased to exist, the, , you wouldn’t even, , you wouldn’t even notice. So, somebody like, um, um, I don’t know, like the, the women that are checking Anakin out at the bar in Episode 2.
Matt: Okay, we did that one, but it’s a good one.
Matt: We did, we, we’ve… That’s fine. We’ve, we’ve re reused this example character. Yeah.
Jamey: And the, yeah, the, uh, the classic is the sli ganio, uh, wanna buy some Death sticks guy
Matt: or the Lag Rubious moat. The, the flea.
Jamey: Yeah. Yeah. That’s ridiculous. Character . Um, but, uh, so Matt, what do you give this, what do you give this episode?
Jamey: Um.
Matt: They liked this episode. I’m trying to decide [01:08:00] how hard I want to go. I think I’m going to give it, like, an Embo. Embo? Okay. Just like the bounty hunter that has, like, the hat. Yeah. The big, wide hat that he throws and things. Yeah, it’s like,
Jamey: uh, he’s like a, uh, odd job, but he wears a sombrero.
Matt: Yeah, yeah, like that.
Matt: Um, that’s a good description. Um, I like Embo a lot, and he’s a good sort of ensemble character. Um. And I like his concept, and it’s sort of a wild concept. But, this is another episode of Clone Wars. And I know we’re in the first, middle of the first season, and it’s like our 15th episode that we’ve recorded on this.
Matt: We’re really early in the first, first quarter. Like, in between like 10 and 20 percent of Clone Wars completion right now. And we’re getting a ton of character depth for the universe. Like, now we have this Gree, and… These Senate guards that are potentially not all on the up and up, and Ventress and her, like, like you said, Ventress walked into that battle [01:09:00] having won, right?
Matt: She had already planted all the explosives. It was hard to imagine a scenario where she didn’t either kill or capture Gunray. Um, so, yeah, I just think, I think it’s just a really solid piece of Clone Wars. What do you, what do you get?
Jamey: Alright, this may seem on the nose, but I’m gonna give this one a Ventress just because she is so wild in this, um, uh, episode.
Jamey: The, , just the, , the back and forth banter and the the, , like her taking the insults, uh, not taking the insults well, uh, from Luminara, that she’s just like a wild animal. So I really just, I just really enjoyed that. And just the, , the idea that like, , that like, like you said, that their enemies are kind of surrounding them.
Jamey: They’ve got to watch their backs now. , it’s not, they just don’t know who to, who they can trust. Which becomes more and [01:10:00] more, , , more and more, uh, a thing. To eventually, , the people that they trust most, uh, betray them and slaughter most of them.
Matt: Oh, I didn’t even think of that.
Matt: Um, that’s really good. I guess, at this point, we’ve, like, Revenge of the Sith happened like three years before this, but that is wonderful foreshadowing for the characters in the story. Wouldn’t you notice as, like, our enemies are surrounding us? Like, that is really foreboding. Wow, I didn’t even think of that.
Matt: That’s wonderful.
Jamey: Yeah, what could I say? I’m, uh, I’m clever, or
Matt: something. You’re clever, yep, that’s why we do this. Do you have anything else about this episode?
Jamey: Uh, no, no, I’m just, uh, I’m excited to talk about the next one, because there’s a, there’s a, um, yeah, it’s a very interesting episode.
Matt: It’s one of the greats, but before we do that, we have to make sure that that is the next episode we’re doing.
Matt: Ah,
Jamey: right. We’ll let fate decide, huh? I just happen to have a chance cube [01:11:00] here. Blue, it’s the boy. Red, uh,
Jamey: His mother. His
Matt: mother. Alright, I know you hate this, but I have my D20, and I’m going to roll a D20, and I’m filming it, and I will text you the video, and I’m going to roll it now. I’m going to roll a 1, we are going to do an Ewoks episode, any other number we will do. Um, Lair of Grievous, which is a wonderful episode.
Matt: I rolled a 19.
Jamey: Well,
Matt: alright. We were doing Lair of Grievous. Sweet. I’ll text you that roll so you know that I did it. Um, and you can see that 19 is next to 1. So close. So close. Um, do you want to take
Jamey: us out? Uh, yeah. Okay, so, , uh, we just want to thank you for listening. We’re glad, , anybody’s listening.
Jamey: , be sure to, um, mention us to a friend, co worker, or random stranger on the [01:12:00] internet, uh, about our podcast, , and if, uh, you hated us, also then just… Just tell some random asshole troll on the internet about us, um, and waste some of their time as they, uh, download and hate our episode just as much as they hated you.
Jamey: Or, yeah, something like that, good enough. Just tell people about us, please. Uh, be sure to give us a high ranking on whatever your podcast aggregator is, um. Stitcher, Apple, um, I don’t, is iTunes actually a thing anymore? Apple
Matt: Podcasts is what it’s
Jamey: called. Yeah, um, or just wherever, or if, , if the one that you use can’t get us, , let us know and we can figure out a way to get there.
Jamey: So, um, we’ll be back hopefully next week with The Lair of Grievous.