Tags
deus ex machina, long rants, spontaneous expedient character defamation syndrome, star wars, the clone wars
Hello, everyone!
I loved the show Star Wars: The Clone Wars as long as it lasted, but it has left me scarred for life… (Not as badly as Sherlock… though it was close!) Warning: here on out contains spoilers, so be forewarned.
Mainly, I’m scarred and upset because of the final arc of the fifth season, which was the last season to premiere on the air at all. I mean… Ahsoka leaving the Order. Tarkin. Padme’s defense. Obi-Wan’s (inexplicable and in my opinion, painfully out-of-character) silence. Palpatine being voiced by someone other than Ian Abercrombie. (What?!) And last but not least, Barriss Offee’s betrayal.
This is pretty weighty stuff on its own. But taken together with the fact that other than the “bonus arcs” which constitute Season Six (The Lost Missions,) there is no more Clone Wars… It’s crushing.
There is no more Obi-Wan and Anakin bantering every week on Friday nights. No more Ahsoka being her perky, cheeky, lovable self. No more Echo or Fives or Cody or Rex. And last but not least, Barriss is dead. (At least to me.)
Not only is a good thing gone–for good, we understand–but there are numerous questions left unanswered by this show. So, without further ado, I present the Top Ten Incomplete Stories of the Clone Wars!
10. The Zillo Beast. After all, Palpatine ordered it cloned, did he not? How did that go? Did he gain some more scars for his stupidity and just plain evilness? (I seriously hope so.)
9. Cut Lawquayne. What happens to him and his family? Are they ever discovered? I mean, after all, Order 66 would be a pretty rocky time for the Lawquaynes!
8. Lux Bonteri. We left him as the soon-to-be Senator of Onderon as it re-joined the Republic. Where has he gone?
7. The Younglings of the Gathering arc. What became of them? Surely they weren’t all slaughtered in Order 66? But sadly, we will never know.
6. Mandalore, and Bo-Katan Kryze. What happened to them? Was Mandalore reclaimed by the pacifists, or at least by the Death Watch’s more honorable contingent? Will Mandalore burn into a hollow shell and be left as a testament to the evil of the Dark Side and of the Clone Wars, or will it rise once more?
5. Darth Maul. What was his continued purpose in Palpatine’s plan? (And why on earth has he not been completely slaughtered by Obi-Wan yet? Oh wait… that stupid hulk of a half-brother. *snorts*)
4. What about Mortis? I know the arc felt complete, but there are things that still confuse me, things that are left unexplained. (I think that “bringing balance to the Force” must not be what most people think, due to something the Father implied– that the Son was not always evil, and he had some modicum of control. Thus, bringing balance to the Force simply means the eradication of that evil–but apparently not since evil came back. So perhaps rather than restoring balance, Anakin was originally supposed to maintain it, to hold back the Dark Side a little longer? But no! He had to fall to the Dark Side and plunge the whole galaxy over the edge of a precipice for twenty years or so!)
3. Okay, so technically this is not a story that was left hanging, but I want to know more about Bail Organa.
2. What will Ahsoka do now? (If she doesn’t turn up in Rebels, I don’t think it’ll be worth watching at all, unless I need something mindless to do in the evenings!)
1. This is so big it far out-shadows anything else on this list…. get ready…. take a deep breath…
HOW IN THE SCREAMING UNIVERSE DID BARRISS OFFEE (of all people!) TURN TO THE HOWLING, HELL-SPAWNED DARK SIDE!?
I honestly am so mad about this one, I swear it’s like Dave Filoni finally cracked and sacrificed poor Barriss to his Deus Ex Machina. No offense, but it is a freaking Deus Ex Machina. No one foresaw it. Well, some people foresaw it, but they didn’t show us or even hint that something was wrong with Barriss! And it was completely out of character for her! I mean, this is the girl I met in Weapons Factory. The first time, I thought she was a little cold. The second time I watched the episode, I loved her. And then when she was effectively possessed in Brain Invaders, I was so upset! And then, when the episode ended happily, I was so relieved. I never dreamed that maybe that worm might’ve planted something insidious in her head. After all, it was only controlling her. It wasn’t actually a part of her! (Though, that would be an interesting theory, that Barriss thought that some of that evil was still in her and her, effectively, melodrama was what what made her turn. It would also tie in with the line from this episode: “Please, kill me.” But that’s another line of reasoning entirely.) I would like to point out that Barriss was nowhere near dark in these episodes. Yet, when we see her again, she’s a full-on mass murderer!
What in the screaming Wild-blue-Space happened here?!
Does anyone else feel the way I do?
And… that must be the most (near) profanity I’ve used in my life. *is embarrassed* Get the feeling I’m annoyed, much?
(The only time I used more was when my dad had rearranged things in the closet and I opened the door and a heavy box fell out and landed on my foot… I said d**n. *blushes* But I think I might’ve been excused… the thing cut me! And it had BLUNT edges!)
Poor Barriss. She is officially the victim of SECDS. Spontaneous Character Defamation Syndrome.
A special pet peeve of mine is people who start stories like the Clone Wars and then, leave them hanging. It’s so disappointing. And painful. And it’s cruel of the author/director. (Author cruelty to characters is another thing entirely, but trust me, the Clone Wars has that too. Think of poor, innocent Barriss, sacrificed on the altar of expediency, and then also think of how many times Obi-Wan got injured/beaten up/tortured in the Clone Wars. Seriously, next to him, Anakin has it easy. I should think he needs to spend more energy on not getting into those messes in the first place than his wit!)
I’m sorry… it has not been my intent to overly criticize the writers or director of the Clone Wars… or Anakin, either… but I’m pretty annoyed with them all.
Ah well.
At least there’s always the fan community.
So, anyway, please comment, thanks for reading, and God bless…. and please, God, give me the strength to forgive people who leave stories hanging like that.
The Upstairs Archives 
Haha! I would excuse you for that.
Now, I’m surprised at your complaints. But I agree. Don’t you think Maul is more powerful than Obi-Wan?
Yeah, that’s one of my pet peeves… what is started MUST be finished.
Did you happen to see any Clone Wars episodes perchance, Professor?
Maul more powerful than Obi-Wan… perhaps. But when Obi-Wan’s properly focused (when he’s got control of himself after Maul’s thrown Qui-Gon’s death in his face which was so EVIL and squeeeee the look on Obi-Wan’s face if looks could kill Maul would be smoking ashes by now!!!!) Obi-Wan is more directed than Maul, and besides, he’s a Soresu master–nothing gets by him. He can wear Maul down, and then make the blow. It’s not always power that tips the outcome. 😉
Incidentally, I need a name for Winter’s mentor (who is somewhat reminiscent of Qui-Gon, only with a different hair cut. 😛 If this gets made into a movie and Liam Neeson plays the mentor character, I could probably die happy. I also want Martin Freeman to play the Rangers’ leader… :-P)
Anyway… name ideas please???
That’s true about power.
Well…should it be an earth-like name?
Well, not science fiction, anyway. “Normal” names are okay (ish.) Names with a background in mythology are awesome! It should be sort of fantasy because this is sort of fantasy. 😉
Ooo…let me see…how about Norm something?
Definitely NOT “Normal”! 😛
But “Norman” might work… hmm… 🙂
I like Norman.
So do I… but I’m not going to write it into the text until I get something that clicks…
How about Charlie Click?
Don’t know who that is. :-S
It’s a name suggestion.
Oh. *smacks self in head* Mmm… I don’t think so. I don’t think “Paul” will cut it either. Perhaps I should give him a really super-cool name in Shendi? That’s my made-up language. In Shendi, Obi-Wan’s name is Ae’enn Narshala… “wind-bound wanderer.” Then there’s a girl named Sharya, from shar’ya, “hope,” and the skill name Amatane, which is a portmanteau of ama, “to cut off,” tan’e, “to flow”, and eltane, “to change (shape or appearance.)” I suppose that in the vernacular an Amatane Wielder could be said to channel others’ power, to siphon it away, or to cut them off permanently from the ability to use magic. (Technically, Amatane should be pronounced Ama’tan’e, but it’s been corrupted into a more Anglicized pronunciation over the years.) Then, there’s Nagrai’eltane, plural Negrai’eltane, which comes from the same root “eltane”, and literally means shape-changer.
That’s so cool you have your own language, too. You’ve got a whole world, it sounds!
Yep… I sometimes speak it to myself. Which is pretty crazy when anyone else walks on when I’m talking to myself… it’s been mistaken for Quenya, Sindarin, Latin (?!), and Mando’a at times. 😛
That is super, super, super cool! When is the book coming, Erin?
Book… I might post a page with Shendi translations, but it’s actually not a single book. Shendi appears in almost every story I have written. Of course, it’s a bit different each time (everyone speaks different dialects,) but I figure, why reinvent this when I already have it mostly at my fingertips? So, there’s the “Tales of Teryen” stories (in progress,) “Angels’ Reflections” (nearing completion,) Camelot Cycle (which is basically a retelling of the Arthurian legends and is in progress as well,) Unnamed (which takes place in its own little world, while all the others seem to be able to fit into one continuity; I still haven’t been able to figure that one out,) “Ayn’neir” (which in Shendi means “time walker,” “time wanderer,” “time weaver”: the Shendi words “neir” and “nar’shal” meaning traveler, questor, wanderer, artist… and being almost identical. “Neir” is considered archaic. “Ayn” is closely related to “ae’en” and “ae’en’na”, meaning heaven, time, wind. In this case, the proper translation is time-wanderer.), which is, as you’d guess, a story about time traveling, and then there’s Winter’s story, which is not yet titled… And “Bound to the Flame,” on this blog. I haven’t actually been published anywhere yet… I hope I can sometime. Then I’d probably change the Bound to the Flame page to a teaser and keep the art gallery. 😉
It’s only a matter of time before you get published, I think. It sounds coolio.
Thanks. 🙂 It’s encouraging when people tell me that, even if it’s not true. 😛
Hey, did I just quote Shnodgrate? 😛
Haha! I’m not sure! Did you?
It’s possible, I suppose. ;-P
I can’t believe I forgot to follow your blog before! I just kept forgetting to! 0_0
Haha! Don’t worry about it. It’s funny, but sometime that’s the last thing one remembers to do!
True. 😛
Screaming blue Wild Space… heh heh heh.
I felt like swearing. *blushes*
Nah, it’s just it’s like Steujan – I love it when my little vocabulary quirks wind up contagious.
Ah. 😛
Wow. I’ve thought a lot about how hard it must’ve been for all those loyal fans of TCW when the show ended out of the blue like that….we only just watched through it recently, and until recently I just didn’t like it at all (for various reasons, some of which still hold some wait and some of which are just ridiculously petty) (and I still like Rebels a tad better.) But even still, I just felt so sad realizing what all those fans who watched it while it was on air must have felt, and realizing that so many of their stories may STILL never be completely finished. Like Echo! What happened to him after that mission on Utapua??!! Did the tell him about Fives?? Did he remove his chip too??? Did he die in Order 66, or did he join the Rebellion????!
And I want to know more about Lux, too!! I wonder if he kept in touch with Saw…
At least we’re gonna get some answers to all the Mandalore and Bo-Katan questions real soon!! Eeep, I just can’t wait for SWR season 4!!
Speaking of which, my friend has Netflix now, so I might as well watch the Lost Missions…
I’ve seen the Lost Missions, and they’re fantastic! Yoda’s Quest is really enlightening into how the Force works in the whole ‘life after death” aspect. It still has me wondering about how it could all play into the sequels and any other future stories.
I’m afraid that even if canon contradicts, I will remain stubbornly attached to my headcanons… case in point: Ender’s Game and sequels, specifically about Jane’s origin.
I haven’t read/watched Ender’s Game yet…is it a good read? (I like to read the books before watching the movies. One of those homeschooling things I guess, lol. :D)
Oh yeah, and since I was first talking about the clones…I was talking to a friend recently, and he’s pretty sure Echo was right there with Anakin when they marched on the Jedi Temple. I got tears in my eyes as soon as I read it…
Oh, yes, definitely a good read. 😀
Actually, I’m pretty sure that Echo and Fives both were taken out of the narrative, by being killed off or otherwise removed, before the Temple was attacked. I think one of them went missing in action and the other was killed by the Kaminoans because the control chip in his brain was defective.
Ok, I’ll have to check it out! 😀
Yes, poor Fives….I really hate Palpatine…. 😥 (and I do get that these are all fictional characters, but still…) (And actually it was Tup who died because of the defective chip; Fives is the one who uncovered the conspiracy and true purpose behind the chips, but was killed becuase Palpatine didn’t want the word getting out and everyone thought Fives had gone psycho.)
But Echo! He’s got a whole other story after he goes MIA that most people don’t know about! StarWars.com released the early animation reels for a Clone Wars arc they never finished, but was totally voiced and had the score added and everything. Since the show was cancelled they were unable to totally finish and release them, but a couple of years ago they confirmed them as canon and released them to the official SW website. And it was all about Echo!! Rex and several others managed to infiltrate a Separatist outpost, and while there he found a signal that was a human voice repeating Echo’s birth number over and over. He became convinced that it truly was Echo, still alive and in Separatist imprisonment, so he led a rescue mission to bring him home. It was an incredible story, even though the graphics are pretty awful. You really ought to check it out!! 😀 (if you’re interested, here’s the link: http://www.starwars.com/tv-shows/the-clone-wars-legacy The ones about Echo are the 4 in the “Bad Batch” storyline.)
Wow. I’ll have to check that out! It sounds really cool.