To Catch a Jedi Review

Well folks, I'm sorry to say this, but I'm pretty sure that Barriss Offee is the Jedi behind the attacks on the temple, and the disenfranchising of Ahsoka. When Eric Goldman from IGN proposed that idea, I didn't believe it at first, but all the evidence points towards that direction. We got to see more of that 1313 videogame scenario, and part of the Coruscant underworld, which is meant to be seen more in the upcoming Star Wars live action series in a few years. We also got to see how much further redeemed Asajj Ventress is at this point, and the alliance she had with Ahsoka was quite interesting. Mace Windu has been doubting on Anakin's ability from this time period, which will later turn out to be a catalyst in Anakin's fall to the dark side.

Anakin and Plo Koon managed to capture Ahsoka in the end, and the next and final episode of  Season 5 pinpoints towards the fact that we will see the trial Ahsoka will apparently be on. I wish to see how all of this is connected with the Sith Grand Plan, and see more questions answered on the next episode.

Top 100 Star Wars Characters 90-81

One thing that I would like to point out, which I didn't say before in the past, was that once Episode VII and beyond get released, this list will change for better or worse. So, in more than one way, this list serves as a celebration of everything that has come in the past from Star Wars, and a way of commemorating the hopefully bright future that Star Wars has.

Here's the link to the Top 100 Star Wars characters, from 100-91 http://thestarwarsdefender.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-top-100-greatest-star-wars.html

Mark Hamill on Episode VII

Well friends, some of the biggest questions regarding Episode VII, have been at least, to a certain extent revealed, in an interview they did to Mark Hamill. We happen to know certain things which are shown below:

"They're talking to us," he reveals. "George [Lucas] wanted to know whether we'd be interested. He did say that if we didn't want to do it, they wouldn't cast another actor in our parts – they would write us out. … I can tell you right away that we haven't signed any contracts. We're in the stage where they want us to go in and meet with Michael Arndt, who is the writer, and Kathleen Kennedy, who is going to run Lucasfilm. Both have had meetings set that were postponed -- on their end, not mine. They're more busy than I am."

Right from those few sentences Hamill said, we already see that Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher have been in the talks to see if they will reprise their famous roles. And by the looks of things, if they decide not to appear, their characters will be taken off the film and they could potentially move the film even further into the future. The film is going to be set somewhere around 30-40 years after Return of the Jedi, in which the EU will likely be overwritten. The thing that perhaps worries me the most, is that if they decide not to be a part of Episode VII,then things could go potentially bad.

When we do the jump from Revenge of the Sith to A New Hope, we get to see in Episode IV and beyond, many of the familiar faces we saw in the previous films: Obi-Wan, Darth Vader, Boba Fett, Chewbacca and Tarkin show up in Episode IV while Yoda and Palpatine later make an appearance in Episodes V and VI. So, I don't know. It's too much of a risk if C-3PO and R2D2 are the only familiar characters who will show up in the next episode.

 "I said to George that I wanted to go back to the way it was, in the sense that ours was much more carefree and lighthearted and humorous – in my opinion, anyway. And another thing I'd want to make sure of is are we going to have the whole gang back? Is Carrie and Harrison and Billy Dee and Tony Daniels, everybody that's around from the original [returning]? I want to make sure that everybody's on board here, rather than just one. I guess I'll have to tune into your show to figure out who's on board."

I have to agree with Hamill on this one. While Episodes I-III where telling the tragic story of Anakin Skywalker's generation, Episodes IV-VI show that the generation of Luke Skywalker managed to triumph. This is one of the key points in which the EU failed at magnificently, and one that Hamill will likely assert in Episode VII and beyond being like. Of course, they will tell a different story from the one told in Episodes IV-VI, but it should be more lighthearted than Episode III. Anthony Daniels will more than likely reprise his C-3PO role, and the others have expressed interest in returning. Let's cross our fingers that all of these guys return, people!!!!!!

John Williams wishes to return and compose in Episode VII

One of the key pieces to what makes a great Star Wars movie is the score of John Williams. Williams in a recent audition of his, declared that he wished to continue scoring the next itineration of Star Wars. Here are his comments:

"We're about to play Star Wars and each time we play it, I'm reminded of the first time we played it decades ago. Neither I, nor George [Lucas], nor anyone else involved thought this would go far or in a few years there would be a sequel and I'd have to revisit the themes... and years later another trilogy.Now we're hearing of a new set of movies coming in 2015, 2016... so I need to make sure I'm still ready to go in a few years for what I hope would be continued work with George.''

I really hope that Williams can make it back and compose with the help of George Lucas. Sure, Abrams has composed several times with Michael Giacchino, but John Willliams is John Williams, and his score is one that has brought great songs in EVERY Star Wars film. So yes people. Let's pray that Williams, at Age 81, can come back for at least another Star Wars film.

The Jedi Who Knew Too Much Review

Sadly, Ahsoka is being set up by some Jedi in order to arrest her and not find out who killed Letta or bombed the Jedi Temple. By the looks of things, Tarkin is working for Palpatine/Sidious in order to carry out his plans of disenfranchising the Jedi Order. How the pieces of the puzzle are put, is something we don't yet know the answers to.

Anakin is of course, worried about the situation and wants to help Ahsoka. Ahsoka on the other hand, has to find out who set her up in order to clear her good name. I really hate Admiral Tarkin at this point, showing he was always the villain we see in A New Hope. One thing that called my attention was how the detention cell was very reminiscent to the first Death Star. It brings to mind how much the rise of the Empire is taking place at this point, and how the Republic is being transformed into a militaristic and shadowy tyranny.

I wonder if the Jedi won't be conducting as many battles against the Separatists as they used to. I also wonder how Order 66 factors into all of this, with Rex clearly showing she cares for Ahsoka. Fox on the other hand, probably shot someone when Order 66 got carried out. I also liked the fact about how Yoda talked about being luminous beings and how our bodies are a mere vessel. It really brings to mind Empire, and brings to mind the one of the central philosophies of Star Wars: the fact that we are spiritual beings.

We will have to wait until next week to see how Ahsoka figures out the mystery.

The Top 100 Greatest Star Wars characters- 100-91

I wanted to create a list of what I personally considered to be the Top 100 Greatest Star Wars Characters. This particularly came to my mind once I saw the Top 100 Star Wars Characters in IGN and I noticed the prevalence that the EU and Episodes IV-VI had over the Clone Wars and Episodes I-III was astonishing. It seemed to me as if they were pleasing the hateboy nation by NOT including Jar Jar, and such. So, in order to bring more justice to this ranking, I decided to create my own, one in which the characters of both trilogies are of equal consideration, and have a level of prevalence to the Clone Wars, due to the fact that well, they ARE the films. One thing you will not see here will be EU characters set in the times of the Old Republic and characters set after Return of the Jedi. I want to concentrate on the time-period close to the films as much as possible.

Anyway, it is very likely that you will not find some characters that maybe you think deserve to be on the list, and others that you think don't deserve to be in it at all. And even though this is a personal list, I in no way tried to be biased by my favorite characters and such when making up this list, but tried to follow them more on story importance and other factors. If you disagree with any ranking, feel free to discuss it here, respectfully of course.

Sabotage Review

Besides the fact that Cin Drallig (as seen above) made a cameo appearance in the last Clone Wars episode, the starter of a four part arc went on to center on Ahsoka and Anakin trying to discover who was behind the bombing of the Jedi Temple. They have gone into the interesting subject of nano-droids, and the anti-Jedi protests. I still wonder, why would Letta purposely fill her husband with a bomb? 

The Clone Wars went into being a detective show, which is somewhat unusual for a show centered on epic battles and lightsaber duels. The beginning was a nice homage to Revenge of the Sith, and I hope that the next episodes bring in more suspense and drama, just like any good ol' cops show.

The Style and Tone of the next Star Wars films

One of the biggest questions that come up with Episode VII and beyond, have to do with how the style and tone of the next films will be. And this question folks, may be one of the most important. Let me explain why. 

Pretty much ever since this film was announced, several fans have wanted the next trilogy of Star Wars to be basically, a repeating formula of the Original trilogy, The Empire Strikes Back on steroids. Even in this article from USA Today, the presence of that feeling is evidently clear: 

''"Abrams is a better marketer than he is a filmmaker, and he has very specific ideas about how to market his stuff," Faraci explains. "They will want to re-assure audiences that Abrams is doing old-school Star Wars, not the prequels, and they'll need to release lots of information for that to happen.''''

This is the stuff I talk about, folks. About the moronic hateboys who call themselves ''Star Wars fans'' but don't like half of the films in the saga, and who don't even understand what Star Wars is about. A particular portion of the Star Wars fans, ACTUAL fans who also have blogs similar to mine, have shared the fear that Lucasfilm ''postponed the release of Episodes II and III because everything else that is coming now will pretend as if Episodes I-III never happened.'' While I understand their paranoia, at the same time, the hateboys dream is not likely to come true. Here are the reasons why: 

George Lucas cemented early in the making of Star Wars that each trilogy would encompass different themes. Episodes I-III were going to be mainly about politics, Episodes IV-VI about a hero's journey and Episodes VII-IX would be about moral and philosophical problems. Already two-thirds of this statement has become true. Episodes I-III, besides focusing on Anakin's transformation into Vader, focused on how the Sith, in particular Palpatine, managed to manipulate a series of events in the galaxy that leaded him to go from Senator to Chancellor and eventually, as Emperor. Episodes IV-VI focused on the journey of Luke Skywalker, from a simple farm boy to a Jedi Knight, while at the same dealing with Darth Vader's redemption. Perhaps the single biggest thing we know about the next trilogy is that, since the story treatments will come from George, he will likely stem the details and the story from this general idea. So, at the end of the day, the next series of Star Wars films will be neither the originals nor the prequels, they will be the sequels. They will be their own thing. What moral and philosophical problems will the films center on, is the question. 

In fact, if you were to ask me simply based on the general idea of what the films will be about, I would say that the most interesting of all the topics would be the one of the final trilogy. So, who knows, only time will tell if it lives up to being part of the same universe we have grown to love in Star Wars, but at the same time, be unique and tell a different story.

New Star Wars spinoff films announced

Well, my friends, the rumors have finally been debunked. Lawrence Kasdan, the writer of Episodes V and VI in the Star Wars saga and Simon Kilberg will be writing two spinoff films apart from the main saga films announced to be released. As Bob Iger, CEO of Disney said: "We are in development of a few standalone films," he said, "that are not part of the Star Wars saga...there are now creative entities working on developing scripts for what would be those standalone films." 

Know that this is official the question is: On which characters will the films be on? Some rumors over the Internet are saying that it will deal with Boba Fett in one film, and Han Solo in the other. Others say that one spinoff will be based on Yoda, and another on Jabba the Hutt. I have an idea: Wouldn't it be awesome if the next films would be based on say, Clone Wars characters, like Ahsoka and Cad Bane? Wouldn't that be awesome!!

Obviously, the likelihood of either of these happening is anyone's wild guess. It's ultimately the decision of George Lucas, and I sure do hope that the stories come from the man himself.

It would be interesting for a spinoff centering Ahsoka if she survives the Clone Wars, to depict what happens to her after the war and how she survives. A Cad Bane one would be probably the first Star Wars Western film, which would honestly be unbelievably cool. 

But yeah, I said myself, the next spinoffs don't have to center around those characters-but it sure would be fun if they did!!

The Lawless Review

Man, that was some episode. I'm going to have to restate my previous comment from ''Shades of Reason'' because THIS episode was the one closest to Revenge of the Sith in tone and emotion in the entire show.

Darth Maul had quite the plan to enact his ultimate revenge on Obi-Wan. The sad part was that ultimately his plan worked, and he killed Satine right in front of him. I was on the verge of tears when I saw Satine tell Obi-Wan how she had always loved him and the look on his face clearly showed how he felt. I really feel Obi-Wan's pain now and I really hate Darth Maul at this point. Especially due to the fact that Maul has killed both Kenobi's Lover and his Master.

The incredible thing was that Obi-Wan showed no signs of hatred to Maul, and tried to understand why he had become the bad person he was. It clearly highlights how similar Luke Skywalker is to Obi-Wan when he faces a similar situation in Return of the Jedi and faces Palpatine,  contrary to Anakin, who can't control his emotions and acts much more severely when Padme dies.

Once Maul realized that he was feeling the presence of his Master, his look of fear was clearly highlighted. Not only was Sidious shown to be incredibly powerful in the Force, we saw that no matter how sadistic Maul is, Sidious is the incarnation of the devil. I was left wondering if Mother Talzin's magic was just some kind of an illusion after Savage died and he reverted to his original state. That leaves us with the million dollar question: What will Sidious use Maul for now? Help him hunt down Talzin? Have him duel Darth Tyranus/Count Dooku to see who is the most worthy apprentice? I guess we will have to tune in Season 6 to find out.

It also brings to question: what will happen to Bo-Katan after the Republic goes to Mandalore to reorganize the planet? We found out somewhat shockingly that Bo-Katan and Satine were sisters, which I hope their relationship is further addressed in future episodes.

The only thing that I didn't really like was that it was made a bit too obvious in the episode that Sidious and Palpatine are the same persona. I guess some kids who haven't seen Episode III and think that Palpatine is still a good guy might have changed their mind. Otherwise, it was a fantastic episode, one in which made me have more respect for Obi-Wan, my favorite Star Wars character.