Rewatch These Clone Wars Arcs

From the village jedi, watch these!!
If you haven't watched The Clone Wars, what even are you doing. Let's dive into it. What is the show, why is it great, and what stories should you pay close attention to. These stories are the BACKBONE of Star Wars.

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Transcript

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I have a message from the Village Jedi. Max Rebo hit it. Happy Friday, everybody, and welcome back to the Village Jedi Podcast. My name is Marina, and if you are new here, welcome. And if you're not, welcome back. I'm so happy to have you here. I have a lot of exciting things to talk about today. Starting with, if you don't know yet already, you don't follow me on social media, that's fine. You can follow me on Instagram or TikTok at the Village Jedi Podcast. Um, I was reached out by a fun Star Wars podcast called Explore the Force, and they invited me to come on their show as a guest and talk about unused concepts for Star Wars projects. We went over three, they interviewed me a little bit, asked me some questions about my show, and all around it just was a really fun time. Um, they reached out to me on TikTok. Uh they said they're just kind of scrolling through and they saw my page and they thought, you know, oh, this girl seems kind of cool. So then they invited me on their show and we had a great time. So if you haven't seen that yet, I encourage you to go check it out. I'll put the link in the show notes. Go follow their YouTube, check out some of their videos. It was just a really good time. And that's one of the things that I'm looking forward to, just having my show is getting to connect with other Star Wars podcasts because I've been an avid listener, a loyal listener to the ones that I love for so long. But now that I actually have mine, I get to meet other hosts and get to know other shows. And so that has just been so fun already. I'm looking forward to doing different collaborations, and I'm just really grateful all around to be able to have some new opportunities on the horizon. So go check that out. Explore the force. It was a lot of fun. Um, the next thing I wanted to talk about is, like I said, if you're new here, we discuss a little bit about how to join the village, join the discussion, send me an email if you want at tvjpod at gmail.com. I'll read it on air and we can talk about it together. Cause like I said, I'm trying to just build a solid community of people who just want to talk about Star Wars. You know, it's fun, it's entertaining, we all love it. So why not talk about it together? Um, if you want to yap a lot about something, start a podcast. And I wanted to yap about Star Wars. So this is my show, and that's a way that you can get involved. Again, that's TVJpod at gmail.com. Or you can follow my socials Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, whatever. It's all the same. The Village Jedi, that's me. You're in the right place. So, with all that out of the way, I have a yacht, a lot, a yacht, a yacht, I have a lot to yap about, and I'm really looking forward to it. I announced on my socials a couple weeks ago that I was going to be doing this episode, and it's the one that I've been looking forward to all month, I'm not gonna lie. It is breaking down some of my favorite Clone Wars arcs, and if you guys aren't familiar with the Clone Wars television series, I encourage you to go check it out. You can watch all the seasons, all the episodes on Disney Plus, as well as the animated movie that you watch before the show starts. I did it backwards, it doesn't really matter, but as long as you're consuming that kind of content, that's all that matters. Like you're gonna enjoy it no matter where you start or when you start. Because the chances are, if you're on my show, you found my show, you're out there listening, obviously I'm happy to have you here, but that also means that maybe you want to consume more Star Wars, and I would encourage anyone who listens to the show, go watch Clone Wars, go check it out. We're gonna be talking a lot about it today, this week, this Friday is all about the Clone Wars. So let's go ahead and dive into it, shall we? I think we shall. So, as I mentioned, Star Wars The Clone Wars is an animated show. I have a lot of notes on my iPad, iPad kid locked in. Star Wars and the Clone Wars, it was an animated show. It aired in 2008. It was on Cartoon Network for a long time, and it ran successfully for six seasons. Um, it had a tremendous impact on what we now consider canon Star Wars lore, and it was then moved to Netflix where a whole new wave of fans were completely introduced, myself included. I kind of watched one or two episodes on Cartoon Network when there were like reruns, but I never really understood the full like purpose, the scope. Like, I don't know, I thought Ahsoka was cool, but that's kind of about it. It was when it was on Netflix that I picked it up and I started to really dive into the whole the whole of it. So, um after it was moved to Netflix, it got moved to Disney Plus. When Disney Plus started, they bought out Star Wars. So obviously, when Disney Plus was launched, they were like, we gotta put a bunch of Star Wars stuff, and they started putting money toward future Star Wars projects, which included season seven, which was written, animated, and released in 2020. Fans love this show, myself included, because when it was all out there, all seven seasons, a completed saga, it brought in new fans, but it also just gave old fans, OG fans, this like wave of nostalgia, right? Like if you think about it, I was born in '99, so 2008, I was nine years old when I met Ahsoka Tano. So now here I am, 2020. I'm like 21 years old, and I'm watching Ahsoka in season seven. It's just a full circle moment. So great show, great storylines. Um, season seven covered three story arcs, which an arc just means like a story, and it can be told over the course of like two to four episodes typically. And so in season seven, there are three story arcs, and each played an important role in character progression. Future characters, current characters. It just was a really great way to set up for future Star Wars projects, such as The Bad Batch, um, Tales of the Jedi. It gave us a lot of insight into what was going on with the clones um at that time. Because season seven ends right when Revenge of the Sith is ending. So it's right there, right at the beginning. Order 66, that's how the show ends. And Bad Batch picks up right when Order 66 starts. So it just flawlessly set up for the next wave of Clone Wars animated media that we started to get. It is allergy season around here, y'all. Like my chest is starting to get a little tight, so I'm having to like pause once in a while to take some water breaks and like let's take a deep breath. It's not that deep, but man, I'm getting excited, and I got my my asthma chest going, so bear with me. Um, so really going back to kind of the reason that we got the clone wars in the first place is overall seven seasons. You think about that, that is a lot of episodes. I didn't get the current count um on the internet, I should have, but it's a lot. Um, you think about your some of your other favorite shows, how many episodes there are in those seasons, not counting like Sherlock. I think there's only like three episodes per season, but they're all movies. In Clone Wars, a typical episode runs between like 19 minutes to 24 minutes, it just kind of depends. And it was really well done. I feel like it falls into the same category as Rebels, where they didn't know what they had. So the first couple seasons, you're kind of like, really? You know, the animation's a little choppy, the voice acting, you're kind of like, uh, because the vision, like, they didn't know what they had until the fans were on board. And once the fans were on board, they knew exactly what direction they wanted to go, and they accomplished every goal on that chart. Um, I actually read something a while ago that said Rex and Ahsoka Tano are the main characters of Clone Wars. So every episode is kind of central and affects both of these characters, if not um together, then one or the other. And more or less, I would 100% argue that this is true because Clone Wars, the TV show, covers a three-year span. Okay, it covers between episode two, Attack of the Clones, and Revenge of the Sith, um, episode three. So at the end of Attack of the Clones, if you remember, if you don't, that's okay. We're on Geonosis, the Jedi are lighting up their sabers, there's this whole battle going on, there's droids coming at all angles, and just when all hope is lost, Yoda and a bunch of clone trooper soldiers come in and just like completely help the Jedi, and they win the battle. There are a lot of casualties, but if it weren't for the clones, then the Jedi would have totally lost that whole battle against the droids. So let's dive into that a little bit then, because like I said, my show is for people of all journeys, fans of all ages, wherever you are in your your time as a Star Wars fan, we are we're covering that for you. We're covering all our bases. And those of you that already know, you know, you know. It's good to hear it again because it's fun to talk about. I enjoy talking about it. So kind of the way the clone wars worked, as we learned, is the Jedi who for centuries had a strong sense of justice in their code of honor, they were pretty much they used this term protectors of the peace. Um, to the rest of the galaxy, they were kind of like glorified police officers with laser swords, they wore like mysterious cloaks, they always traveled in pairs. So their role wasn't super defined in the galaxy, but you you knew if a Jedi showed up, like it meant business. Something nefarious was going on, and it w it was like pretty serious. Um, but some also served as like ancient relic collectors building the stocks of the Jedi temples. Um, and some were also personal bodyguards to politicians, so there weren't like set rules for what a Jedi was, they all kind of had a different way of going about things in the galaxy. It wasn't like, okay, you're a Jedi, that means this, this, and this, like your role description. It was pretty broad. And because the clones are heavily featured characters in the animated TV show, um, they they needed someone. Let me back up. I kind of jumped ahead in my notes. Um, so going back to the Jedi, didn't have a defined role, that's fine. Their role in the galaxy changed once the clone wars started. There we go. Their role took on a more political significance once that war began. So we'll go into that. It's because the clones, who again were heavily featured centric characters of the clone war animated TV show, obviously, duh, these clone soldiers are genetically engineered. They're an army that was grown in a lab on the world of Camino. All these brothers, that's what they refer to themselves as brothers, these brothers uh view Camino as their home world, but it's not what you would imagine. It's not like cozy in little huts and fires. There's no independency. They all were grown in a lab, and when they go back home, it's mostly to like get checked out medically, um, get some training. Like, it's not cozy. So, regardless, they're from Camino, genetically engineered soldiers. This army was owned by the Galactic Republic. So they were a military owned by the government that Chancellor Palpatine was appointed over. Yes, Palpatine, the big baddie. Palpatine and the senators aren't really gonna be out on the front lines, so they needed somebody to lead these battles. They needed someone to lead these soldiers. That's where the Jedi stepped in. They made an agreement with the Republic, so now our Jedi serve as military generals for the Republic, they're working together. And this is when George started cooking, George Lucas, because he was like, this is the fall of the Jedi Order. At first, they were kind of mysterious, these like guys in little robes, they carry laser swords, but now they work and answer to the republic. They're political icons now. So the condition was then, okay, if you're gonna work for us as our military generals, you gotta answer to us for your decisions. And the Jedi, that's when when heads would start button because the Jedi were like, well, we're kind of our own thing and we have been our own thing for hundreds of years. So if we do anything, we're gonna answer to our own council and our own selves. And that's when Palpatine, who's pulling the strings, is like, how about you just answer to both? How about you go debrief the Jedi Council and then run your little self over to my office and debrief what happened with me? So that's how the war, you know, that's you know, Chancellor Palpatine, he's he's orchestrating everything behind the scenes, and the Jedi are just going along with it because it's just the way certain events progressed. So, with that in mind, the clone army and their Jedi generals are on one side of the war. They're working for Chancellor Palpatine and the Republic government. We're squared away. We got that. So obviously, we need someone else to fight against. We need someone on this side. So rewind of Geonosis, um, the bug aliens that all the Jedi are fighting together, Yoda and the clones come to the rescue, that's where we're at. At that time, Obi-Wan Kenobi had discovered that Count Dooku, who works with Darth Sidious, who is also Chancellor Palpatine's personality after ours, um, Count Dooku was gonna be the leader of his own army made entirely of droids. And he um appoints General Grievous to kind of lead that. But they were called the separatists. So you've got the clones and Jedi are the republic, the droids, Dooku, General Grievous, they're the separatists. But now let's think about this. Dooku answers to Darth Sidious slash Chancellor Palpatine, and the clones and Jedi answer to Chancellor Palpatine slash Darth Sidious. So that's why he is so mega smart is because he orchestrated the war both sides, right? Both sides. The man is playing 3D chess. So the stage is set for this TV show. What kind of battles took place between these two sides? How did each Jedi handle the new role of becoming a military leader when they had been keepers of the peace? And how did the clones cope with basically being grown in a test tube, living weapons, who also had deep feelings of loyalty to the Jedi and to each other? So that's the Clone Wars. That's the television show. That's what it is in a nutshell. Thank you for coming to my TED Talk. We can now move on. There is a lot to cover. Um, when I was putting these show notes together, I did a lot of this stuff. I'm we're just gonna go off the dome from memory because if I did a serious deep dive, we'd be here all day, which is fine if you all want that. I'll give you a bonus episode that's like four hours long. I'll do it. I'll do it if the people speak. But we're just we're just gonna cover kind of the generalities because there's a lot. Seven whole seasons, three years of stories to tell. Um, not how long the show ran, but just in history between episode two, episode three, three year span. So we're gonna pick out a couple that I love in particular as far as the stories. Um right off the bat, I wrote in my notes, we're gonna call them the duh arcs, the duh stories. Because when someone is like, oh, what's your favorite story in Clone Wars? What's your favorite arc? You go, Siege of Mandalore, duh. Duh. Mortise, duh. Anything that has to do with mall. Duh. Duh. Because these are the backbone stories that made the show good. Duh. So I didn't want to pick those. As much as I love talking about them, I would love to do a debrief on why all three of those are so significant, but I wanted to pick three that are more kind of in tune with like why I think the show is great, not just so much duh. These stories in the Clone Wars fundamentally altered Star Wars creatively for the better. They were rock solid, they hit every time. It makes the show so easy to binge. Obviously, this is a kid's show, so there's some episodes, some arcs where you're like, ah, all right, skip, you know, duh. Duh. But for the most part, this show is rich with character development, plot complexity, and all around just creative, deep thinking. You watch an episode once and you're like, yo, that was actually really good. You watch it a second time, you pick something new out. You watch it a third time, oh wow, okay. I didn't even notice that before. Okay, now you watch the entire show and then you come back and re-watch it. Now you're picking out a whole bunch of stuff. You're right. So that's what makes this show good, at least in my opinion, is there's constantly something new to pick out. And then later projects like Bad Batch, Um, Ahsoka, Um Rebels, Now We're Getting Maul. There's all these new shows that tie in perfectly to the Clone Wars that are pulling deep cuts from this show. So you don't have to watch this show to enjoy those, but you definitely should. Because this show builds the foundation for what made those shows good. It gave them content to build it. It's kind of like for any plant lovers out there, like a starter, right? So if you want to build a a garden, um, I sound like I'm in Minecraft. If you want to construct and build a garden, like no girl, you grow. So if you want to grow a garden, um, a lot of times you'll have your starters, and they are the beginnings of what's going to be the vision. And you're like, this is gonna be great. But at first it starts kind of small and and it looks kind of pathetic. And then once you realize just how wonderful this is, the garden is just green, it's overflowing, then you start like taking little leaves off of the big plants, or you harvest seeds, and then you start growing new plants from those established ones. And so it's the same concept with the clone wars. The clone wars was the baseline. It's why so many people in my generation glaze it, because we're just it really did set the tone for so many future Star Wars projects, and that's why they were so good, is because we started with gold, and now we're just gonna, we're just gonna glitter with whatever else we sprinkle this on. Okay, moving on. We're just yap, yap, yap. And if you saw on my Instagram, I posted a little screenshot of my show notes for today, and it's really like a whole essay. Like I was like, oh yeah, this is gonna be yap fest. Hopefully, y'all are ready to just just dive in. Um, while I was researching a little bit, there's a lot of online articles where people kind of have their ranked lists of their favorite Clone Wars arcs, which is valid. Duh. Um, I don't have a personal ranking, I kind of go wherever the wind takes me. My journey with Star Wars has always been based on vibes. Um, and so when I sit down and watch the Clone Wars, a lot of times I'll start it from the beginning and just go. But sometimes I'm vibing with a certain arc. And I'm like, I kind of want to watch this one. Or, you know, it's it's been a long day, let's watch this one. Um, so I just kind of picked three uh that I was able to narrow down that I personally think are the ones that I find myself going back to besides Mortis, besides Maul, besides Siege Mandalore. These are ones that I'm more like, yeah, these ones are these ones are on the rotation. So we're gonna do top three, which means we're gonna start with number three. Number three is the fives conspiracy. I wrote my notes explained from memory, y'all. Now that the cameras are rolling, I'm I'm literally blank. So the fives conspiracy. This part of the show is pivotal because the whole premise of this story is a clone trooper named Fives, his best friend named Tup. They're involved in a battle, everything's going great, and then all of a sudden his buddy Tup starts getting like a headache and his eyes twitching, he's acting kind of funny, he starts mumbling, you know, he's like, Good soldiers follow orders, and and Fives is just kind of like, yo, you need to lay down. And Tup's like, nah, bro, I'm fine. Uh then the man just full on murders one of the Jedi generals that they're working with, and everyone is like, I cut the cameras like, what the heck just happened?

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It goes through this whole cycle. Like he gets taken back to Camino. Like I said, they go back to home to get med evaluations. And it ends up that uh they determine, well, what if he was like we were on this, we were just at this other battle with a bunch of separatist droids? Like, what if the separatists got a hold of him and drugged him? And in that case, this is really bad because what if this drug can like force the um soldiers that we're working with to just turn on our generals? That's really, really bad. What kind of high technology did they get their hands a hold of? And we can't do that to droids, we have to program them. So they're freaking out. There's this whole spiral. Um, I remember on my first watch, you see a thumbnail of Shock T, who's a Tagruda, which is Ahsoka's species. This arc happens after Ahsoka leaves the show. So I remember thinking, like, I saw her on the thumbnail and I was like, yo, where is this going? Like, is this there gonna be a major time jump or something? No. So Shock T, like I said, she's this Tagruda Jedi, very wise. She ends up being an ambassador on behalf of the Jedi. And so she goes with with Tup, and she's, you know, like give me give me the rundown. What do you guys think is happening? Well, it's discovered by fives, because he gets checked out too. That's his buddy. They were they were with each other the whole time. He's like, oh man, what if I'm poisoned too? This is kind of this is kind of this is kind of sketchy. So Shock T goes with them to Camino. It's discovered then that by fives that he has this chip in his head. And Shock T is like, wait, this is really bad. Like, we didn't know about this. What is this? And the Camino med people, they're like, girly, calm it down. Let's run it back. It's not that big a deal. It's this just this chip that we we give them to help them kind of regulate their emotions. Like, if you remember, they're clones of a bounty hunter. Like, it's is really not that big a deal, trust me. And Shakti is like, well, you didn't tell us about this, and she's like, Well, it's kind of science-y. I didn't think it would be that big a deal. And Shakti is like, this is a huge deal, and I'm gonna go to the Jedi Council about it. And then she kind of the med med girl is freaking out. She's like, uh, you don't have to do that because I secretly work for for Palpatine, and I'm kind of scared that he's gonna get mad at me. So there's this whole thing. Fives finds out, circle around, fives ends up finding out that the chip is in every single clone trooper. It starts from the very, very beginnings of their growth process, and that it actually is programmed with a like basically like a code phrase, like a kill switch. If they flip the switch, say the code, we're gonna turn on the Jedi. He finds this all out. And I'm summarizing here big time, guys. Fives starts freaking out. Tup ends up dying because they removed the chip, and he's just like, This is really, really, really bad. So he tells the med droid that he's working with, who's actually a pretty nice guy. He's like, Take take the chip out of me. And the medroid's like, bro, if I do that to you, like what if you die like your friend? And Fives is like, I don't care, bro. Get this out of my head. Like, this needs to go straight to the top. We gotta tell my buddy Anakin Skywalker, he's a Jedi general, he'll believe me. Like, we gotta take this to the top. This is bad. We do not want to hurt the Jedi, they're our friends. And the Medroid's like, I so they successfully remove the tri the chip from Fives. He's fine, he survives. The Camp Minoan medical girl is freaking out at this point. She's like, What are you doing? What are you doing? Palpatine is literally gonna he's gonna kill me. Like, what is happening? Shock T is like, you shouldn't have done that, Fives. You shouldn't have done that, but like I'm low-key glad you did because this gives me more evidence to talk to the Jedi Council about. Long story short, no one believes him. No one believes Fives that this is actually a really big deal. He comes face to face with Palpatine, he confronts him, he's like, I know what you did, I know what you are, and Palpatine's like, no one's gonna believe you. So he goes on the run. And the only way that they're able to catch him is Anakin and his other buddies, because he works under Anakin, hunt him down, find him, they're able to have a meeting, and he just kind of starts sharing, like, this is what's happening. I'm freaking out. Well, at this point, Anakin and the other clones have been informed like he's crazy. Don't listen to a word he says. We did tests, he's on the run from the medical facility. Do not listen to him. He is considered armed and highly dangerous. And Anakin's like, I know that you need help, Fives. I know that you need help. And Fives is like, no one is believing me. He he thinks he's just going crazy. So at this point, Anakin's like, dude, it's it's it's not that big a deal. Like, we'll get this sorted out, we'll talk to the chancellor, and and that just sets Fives off. He's like, I am not going to Palpatine. I am not talking to that guy again. He's the one that's trying to tell everyone that I'm crazy. This chip is the detriment of the Jedi, it is the detriment of the war. And Anakin's just like, it's going over his head. He's like, bruh, slow your old calma down. Understandably, Fives is freaking out. Unfortunately, he ends up getting shot because um they're under direction by Chancellor Palpatine. This guy doesn't know what he's talking about, he's crazy, and he gets assassinated. So it's a very emotional arc because the whole time you're just, you're like, you know. You know he's not gonna be successful because if he is, he's thwarted Order 66, which completely undoes everything. We all know Order 66 happens, we know the clones turn on the Jedi, but this whole arc, you're just rooting for him, even though you know deep down it's not gonna work. And he gets so close, it literally comes down to his word versus mine, but the the word he's up against is Chancellor Palpatine, and he's just a lowly clone soldier, right? Like in the eyes of everyone else. Like, who are you gonna believe? The chancellor, the head of the republic, or this soldier whose buddy killed a Jedi. Like, I ain't gonna believe him. So, anyways, that's that's the arc, that's what happens, and it really does set the stage for clone chip technology as we understand it now. Previously, it was kind of murky, like George hadn't really fully explained before this show came out how that worked. Like, why did the clones just turn on the Jedi? Why did why did he say execute order 66 and it worked? Like what happened? But this ARC answered all those questions. It's a genetically engineered chip that's in their heads, and when the code phrase is said, it just snaps. Like it like completely overrides their consciousness. So I wrote down that this is my number three in my top three because it really does just set up for why is that? It answers an age-old question that so many fans up until that point had been wondering. Like, we need some serious clarification on this, and it makes so much sense. I know some fans out there do not agree with this, they don't think that the chip, you know, it's it doesn't, whatever. I love it. I love it because it shows you how smart Palpatine is for one, but it also shows you how smart the Kaminoan medical scientists are for two. Not only have they figured out how to clone someone, but they've also figured out how to put a chip in their head that controls them. So they are very, very smart. Palpatine is smart, but he's only as smart as he is because he knows what tools to use, and he has a really good tool with the Kaminoan technology advancements. So I love that arc. Um, it also is a there's a callback to it in the Siege of Mandalore. Um Rex, Order 66 happens. He starts crying when he turns to kill Ahsoka, and Ahsoka's just like, what's going on? And that's kind of the last conscious words that Rex says to Ahsoka is find fives. And Ahsoka wasn't around for this. Like I said, she already left the show. She didn't, she wasn't around for fives, she hadn't seen what happened, but she successfully breaks into Anakin's medical and like technology reports and finds a hologram of Rex explaining what happened to fives because Rex works for Anakin, and so he does a good job kind of keeping tabs on his guys. And Rex came to him and was like, if you don't mind, like I would like to record what happened, what just happened. And Anakin's like, yeah, yeah, no problem. So Rex records, he does this hologram, and one of the things he says, he's like, I don't know if anyone's gonna hear this because this happened a while ago. And so that Ahsoka, that's how she's able to liberate Rex is Rex was smart enough to film a like little little uh kind of like in reality TV when they when they just pan to the one person and they're like sitting in a very well-decorated room and they just start talking about their experience with that situation. That's what happened to Rex. He's he's in reality television, he's telling his side what he's thinking in those moments. And that information, that critical information allows Ahsoka to then save him. And then that sets up Rex for his character arc in the Bad Batch, where his whole personal mission is to liberate clones. It's just and it all started because of Fives, his conspiracy. So that whole arc, that whole storyline is so well done, so well written. It it really does add to the complexity of Order 66, how they were able to pull it off. It sets up Rex for some very good like justice missions. Very well done, very well done. So that's my number three is the Fives Conspiracy arc. Okay, number two is the Citadel. Explain from memory. So basically, what happens is this very important Jedi master and his co-worker Tarkin. Yes, you heard that correctly. At this point, Tarkin is a Republic Navy officer. He hates clones, whatever. He's working with this Jedi master. They come into um some very serious, important information that will help the war effort, um, hyperspace trade routes or something like that. Basically, like we understand the hyperspace routes. I don't really remember, like I said, from memory. It's just really important, crucial information that this Jedi Master and Tarkin have. Tarkin has half the message, Jedi Master has the other half. This whole episode arc, this whole story, is a rescue mission. The point is to break into a prison that was designed to hold Jedi prisoners because the separatists run that place. It's corrupted. And so they find out that this Jedi Master and Tarkin have a hold of this valuable information, and they're like, Yeah, we gotta catch those guys. So they catch them and put them in this this super secure, corrupted prison that they have their, that they have under their thumb. So the whole point of the story is Anakin and Obi-Wan, like they send the best to the best. This group of soldiers, they need to rescue these guys, but it's super dangerous. So Ahsoka, who is Anakin's Padawan, she's young. She's like, I want to go too. Like where you go, I go. And Anakin is like, absolutely not. Like, I love you, and so this is too dangerous for you. And Ahsoka's like, that's dumb. Like, I really, really want to go. Basically, what happens is she asks Plo Koon, like, should I go? And Plo is like, I mean, I'm not gonna tell you not to, but I don't really want to hear about this if Anakin gets mad at you. And she's like, so I'm going. In true teenage girl fashion. She's like, I didn't hear no. I heard what I wanted to hear. So the plan to get into this prison, because they have this system set up where it's very similar to like if you're going shopping and you find this really cute purse, well, you can't just walk out of the store with it because an alarm will start blaring. So they have a similar system designed. An alarm will start blaring if a ship comes into proximity coming into the prison with any sort of life forms, because that indicates that there's people on board. And if there's people on board, then that means we're bringing in prisoners. So if they look on their little records and they see that there's not supposed to be any prisoners coming today, and then a ship shows up and the alarm goes off that there's life forms, uh it's an invasion. Especially because they know that the Jedi want this guy. They want Tarkin, they want the Jedi because they have this super important war effort secret. So the whole time that um the Jedi are trying to scramble and figure out a plan to rescue him, he's getting tortured because they the separatists want this information as well. And he's just like, I will not give it to you. They're torturing him. So it's kind of a time crunch because if we don't get there in time, the separatists are gonna kill this guy because we know him, his Jedi honor code, he is not going to give up this information. So their plan to get through the censors is to be carbon frozen, which, if you know, oh, that sounds kind of familiar. Han Solo was carbon froze at the end of Empire Strikes Back. You know, Leia's like, I love you. And he's like, I know, which is literally the most red flag cringe thing you can ever say to a woman who says, I love you, by the way, for the first time. So, anyways, that's a separate conversation. They're gonna freeze, carbon freeze themselves so that there is no like life form detections. Their heartbeats aren't going. There's no way to tell that there's living people on this ship. Okay, well then who's gonna fly this thing? Well, R2D2 has reprogrammed some B1 battle droids, the like Roger, Roger, those guys. So they're gonna be flying the ship. And in the back, we have some carbon frozen soldiers, clone troopers, and we have some carbon frozen Jedi who are gonna bust this guy out of here. Which it's actually kind of a funny moment then because Obi-Wan and Anakin get carbon froze, and then Ahsoka has this conversation with Plo. She's like, Should I go? And he's like, get on that ship, girl. So she gets on the ship, excuse me, these allergies, man. So she gets on the ship, and after they get through the sensors, they get to the super scary, high-secure prison. They successfully get through the sensors, the prison guard is like, what are you doing here? And the droids are like, Roger, Roger, blah, blah, blah. You know, you're a separatist, we're a separatist, we're just coming through. I can't really remember their cover story, but basically, it works. They get through, their transport ship gets through, and Obi-Wan and Anakin defrost. And Anakin is like, I think I have carbon frozen sickness because that looks like Ahsoka. And Anakin is like, oh yeah, hey, Ahsoka. And Ahsoka's like, hey, Master, like she's like, you know, cracking her neck and like stretching, and Anakin's like, he does the double take. He's like, what are you doing here? And she's like, uh, Master Plo told me to go. And I just imagine, like, if Master Flo was there, Plokun would be like, Girly, please. I threw me right under the bus. So she's here now, and Anakin's all mad about it, and Obi-Wan's like, well, she's here now. Which ends up working because they run into a couple slip-ups with the mission that would only work if Ahsoka is there. Like, obviously, it's good that she came. But and what ends up happening, they break into the into the um prison successfully. They rescue the Jedi Master, they rescue Tarkin, and um, this is the first time that Tarkin interacts with Anakin, and surprisingly, they have a couple things in common, um, which is exciting because later, the next time we see those characters together, he's Darth Vader, and Tarkin is kind of a higher up in the Empire, um, in a new hope. So, what goes on then is he's not happy. Tarkin is not happy. He's like, we need to be out of here faster. Like, is there any faster way? He's just not having a good time. And Anakin's like, bro, chill. He doesn't like the clones, he thinks the plan is stupid, he doesn't respect Ahsoka, and actually what ends up happening is the Jedi master dies, he gets killed because first off, he's just been absolutely brutally interrogated, and then he gets killed because once the separatists find out that they've successfully liberated these guys from the prison and they're on their run, they're trying to escape, they send the guards after him, you gotta bring them back because we haven't got the information we need. This whole big thing. Jedi Master ends up dying, and uh, he gives his half of the important message to Ahsoka. And so Ahsoka meets up with the rest of the crew, and the guys, they're just like, on one hand, I'm super frustrated at you for disobeying, but on the other hand, like I'm really glad that you got here. They end up escaping after kind of a crazy way of of going about because the Jedi can't just like send in a transport ship to help them, like they've got to jump it through these hoops um to, you know, not have any sort of like legal repercussions. But regardless, they end up getting rescued, and this is actually where Echo, who is a clone trooper of the 501st Army under Anakin, ends up dying, um, who later goes on to be a very key character in the Bad Batch um animated series. So, anyways, we get back to Coruscant, Ahsoka has her half of the message, and Tarkin has his half of the message. Well, they get back and Tarkin is like, I told my higher-ups that I was only gonna give my half of the message to Palpatine. And Ahsoka's like, well, I told my dead Jedi master that I was only gonna give my half of the message to the Jedi Council. So then they have to figure out, like, okay, what are we gonna do? Yet another example of the Jedi Council being in cahoots with the Republic and then wondering what the heck happened. Like that, bruh. So that's how that how that story ends. I wrote down that this is my number two because one, I watch it a lot. I like the dynamic that we see between Obi-Wan and Anakin and Anakin and Ahsoka because Obi-Wan is Anakin's master, and Anakin is Ahsoka's master. So they're just like three of them together. It is always a good time. Um, so but I also love the way that this episode is framed because it really does show how Ahsoka reflects Anakin's teachings. This whole time he's just kind of like, you know, who needs the rules? We can bend the rules, we do it our way as long as the job gets done. And Ahsoka really does reflect that way of thinking and training in this episode. And Anakin gets mad at her for it, but it's like, dude, I'm just I'm pretty much just doing what you taught me. Like, I am you. And he's like, oh, yikes. So I just think the way that this episode is, it really does a good job as far as the overall show. First off, it introduces Tarkin, which was actually really cool, and then it also just really helps you understand their dynamic, their relationship is so different than any other master Padawan relationship we see. And it you really do see it in this episode, just how they're able to like feed off of each other, bounce off each other, very sibling relationship, and I just enjoy it. I find myself going back to watch it. It's a high-stakes rescue mission, the cinematography of it. There's like a lot of yellow and shadows, it's just very well done. Ahsoka's in this really cool outfit. Like, I don't know. I just really like that. That that is one that I I do find myself going back to watch pretty repeatedly. So that's my number two. Before we get to number one, I wanted to do some honorable mentions. We're not gonna go too deep into them, but why these would be on my list if I didn't have to narrow it down to three for time reasons. First honorable mention is Ahsoka on the Run. We already discussed this. She ends up leaving the Jedi Order right before the Fives conspiracy happens. That is a wonderful arc just because it is the conclusion of her character. It's the last time we see her before season seven got renewed and rebooted and released. But basically, what happens at the end of that arc is she's faced with a choice to either walk away from the Jedi Order or forgive them for a tremendous injustice that they've done to her and continue down this path as Anakin's Padawan. She ends up deciding to walk away because. She really is just so betrayed by these people who have claimed to look out for her best interests. They've been there since she was young. And in reality, they've just they're they're fake. Like they failed her. They didn't believe her. And she just really took that to heart. Very, very well done. The arc does an amazing job at really encapsulating and capturing what the real problems were with the Jedi Order at that time. So I really like that arc. Number two is the Youngling training arc, which, if you were here with us last week, I talked a lot about kyber crystals. And this arc is heavily discussed when talking about kyber crystals because we see how kyber crystals um are bonded to their users. Um we see like the ice cave on Ilum with the Younglings, and they they they select their crystals and then they build their lightsabers. So it's just a really fun arc that I find myself going back to because it shows you different personalities from Younglings, kind of what the mentality was of all younglings at that age and kind of their hopes and dreams and how they idealize the galaxy. But then it also shows you some cool things that we've never seen before, which is getting your kyber crystals, bonding with your crystal, and then building your lightsaber. I think that is really, really fun to watch. So that's my second honorable mention. Third honorable mention is Maul's rule on Mandalore and his slow crime climb through the crime syndicates. Bringing back Darth Maul was potentially one of the best things that Clone Wars ever did. There's a lot of amazing things they did, but bringing back that character in such a poetic way and then executing it in a way that fans responded to, respected, and continue to be grateful for, executed flawlessly. And so we see his character kind of his whole MO is revenge, but not on who you think. Like at first, he's his he's driven by revenge for Kenobi, but a lot of it is driven toward revenge for Palpatine. Because you think about it, he was completely discarded. And leading up to the Maul Shadow Lord Animated Series um uh episode premiere on April 6th, I would love to do an episode discussing my final thoughts on the trailer, my takeaway. Um, so we're gonna be doing that in two weeks. So if you're here in two weeks, we'll talk a little bit more about Maul and my thoughts on his upcoming show because the trailer that just came out last week is really, really good. Um, so I really like that one. Everything they did with his character, everything makes sense. There's not a second that you don't believe that he actually belongs in this narrative. Really, really love everything that they did with him. Okay, number one is Yapfest, just so y'all know. My number one Clone Wars arc, besides Siege of Mandalorda, is the Battle of Umbara. Explain from memory. We've already discussed that the entirety of the Clone Wars show is covering different battles throughout the three-year span. This battle does such a good job highlighting corruption, clones' morality complex, Jedi role descriptions, how they handled taking up the leadership of being generals in the military. It is beautiful to watch because the majority of the story is captured at nighttime. So you see the blaster bolts, you see the lightsabers, very well done. And it's tragic. There's an ending that happens where the first time you watch it, you don't see it coming, and it's just a gut punch. And then every time after that you watch it, you're you know it's coming, but it's still it still hits. So it's the Battle of Umbara. Basically, Anakin is in charge of the 501st. That's what his military his military legion is called. They are known for kind of non-traditional tactics. They like Anakin, they follow Anakin's lead, they do what he says, and a lot of times that's not by the book. So Captain Rex, who is the leader of Anakin's battalion, has done a great job thinking on his feet. He's a critical thinker. So Anakin is engaged in this battle where kind of their whole whole job is just drive. We've got to get through, we've got to break through this bricade, like we've just gotta, we've gotta get through that. There's a lot of droids, there's a lot of battle, like we just need to put pedal to the metal and just get it done. So they're exhausted. And what ends up happening is Anakin gets called away from the mission. He gets called away from the planet of Umbara, which is where this battle is happening. They're tired, they're exhausted, and now Anakin is like, you expect me to leave? Like, I can't leave my men halfway through a battle. Are you kidding me? And the Jedi are like, don't worry, we're sending in a replacement. Like basically a sub. You'll be back, we'll get you on the front lines again, but in the meantime, we're gonna send um General Krell, Pong Krell. He's the same species as Dex from Attack of the Clones. He works at the Diner. Um, and so he's got like he's kind of like lizardy and tall, and he's got four arms. So Anakin is like, I mean, I guess if if if I have to, I'll go tell the boys. So he tells Rex, gets on his ship, leaves, and then Krell shows up. And this is when it all starts to kind of go down. The boys are already not super happy because Paul and Krell is he's his casualty numbers are through the roof. When he leads a battalion, his men are dying. He's coming out of that battle unscathed himself, but the numbers are just not good. They're constantly, constantly high. And so what ends up happening is Rex has to break the news to the to the men that this guy is gonna lead our our final push. And they're not happy. They're like, Rex, are you serious? This guy, he's evil. Like, he does not care about us. We are not real people to him. And Rex is like, I know, I know, I'm not happy about it. Anakin's not happy about it, but like, come on, like it's just for a little while, we'll just make do. It's not that big a deal. And they're like, whatever. So General Krell shows up, and right away you can just tell what kind of guy this is. Rex walks up to him, he's like, Okay, sir, like welcome. Um, here's here's the battle plan, like here's what we're gonna be doing. And Krell's like, we'll be doing what I want to do. Thank you very much. And by the way, I'm not gonna call you Rex. What's your soldier number? Because they all have CT something, something, something. C so fives is like CT5555, clone trooper. And Rex he's like, CT, you know, whatever his number is, I can't remember. He's like, but I get called Rex. And he's like, No, you get called your number because you are a number. And right away as a viewer, you're just like, oh, I hate this guy. But it gets worse, it gets worse, it gets so much worse. So he does not respect the clones, does not respect Rex as a as a captain, even though he has so many good ideas. He's a critical thinker because he's been working with Anakin for so long. He's got good ideas, and Krell is just like, whatever. I want you guys to drive the front, put as much firepower in the front as we can, and we're just gonna go. And Rex is like, that's a terrible idea. We'll be out in the open, like this is pretty much a suicide mission for my men. And Krell's like, did I stutter? And Rex is like, Yeah, the boys are not gonna like this. Part two. So what is also ridiculous about Krell is his whole battle strategy, the reason he's been able to live as long as he has is because he brings up the rear. So Anakin, his whole thing is like, if you have to fight, I have to fight. So he's constantly on the front lines. Krell is like, no, you guys are the soldiers, you're on the front lines, I'm gonna be bringing up the rear. Yawn, yikes, eye roll, wrap it up. So the boys don't like this, obviously. And what ends up happening with this whole thing is Rex kind of goes behind Krell's back. He he gets tired of it, he does not like the disrespect, he does not, he can't stand for it. He's like, Am I gonna be loyal to you or am I gonna be loyal to my brothers? That's what his morality complex comes down to. And he chooses his brothers because his brothers are like, we have this idea, like, if we infiltrate enemy lines and we get some of their weapons, like we'll be able to better fight them because we'll have stronger weapons. Ours aren't aren't doing as well. And Rex is like, he's kicking around for a while, and then he's like, Okay, fine, like, do it. Well, there's one clone that's like, are you guys serious? Like, we're soldiers, we should not be thinking for ourselves. I don't care who our commander is, we're listening to him. And right now it's General Krell, and all the clones, like immediately, this guy's blackmarked, like they hate him. They're like, Are you serious right now? Like, that guy's horrible. That guy is not the vibe. Regardless. So Rex ends up okaying their secret mission, they go and do it, they're successful. Krell, not happy. He finds out because that one rogue clone rats him out, and Rex takes the fall. He's like, Yeah, I gave the okay. And Pong Krell is like, okay, cool, then put your hands behind your back, like you're arrested, just like these fools. Because I think there's only two clones that went behind enemy lines. This was their idea. So what are you supposed to do? Like, technically on paper, they revolted and rebelled against their military general, and if that happens, like there's gotta be consequences. So, first they get arrested, they're in a holding cell, and then Krell brings them out to be like publicly executed, to be made examples of. Like, you do not go against me, you don't go against your Jedi generals, period. I don't care how good it was, I don't care how successful it made the mission, I care more about my image, and I care more about being respected. Clone lives do not matter. So Rex gives this whole spiel that's like, you know, they're up against the wall, they're about to be publicly executed by their their fellow clone troopers, and Rex is gives this nice, nice speech about like, are you serious? Like, are you guys actually serious right now? You're you're gonna do this, you're gonna go through with this. And they don't they don't like they they try to shoot him, but they miss, like on purpose, like they can't do it. They're like, You're right, Pond Krell's the worst. So as if it can't get worse and get more corrupt, the battle continues and it ensues. And Krell is like, just so you guys know, um, I got word that the enemies hijacked another battalion on the other side of enemy lines because they're coming from both directions. Um, and they stole that battalion's armor. And Rex is like, you're lying. Like, this is actually helpful information. Like, thank you for telling me. He's like, Yeah, go tell the boys. So he runs down, he tells the boys they're fighting, both sides are fighting each other, and the enemies are in clone armor. So it's making everyone confused. Like, we know our guys, because we've got clone armor with blue, we're the 501st, but these other guys, like, it's it's the enemy, like, so they're they're fighting each other. So they end up, it ends up where Rex like fires and he sees in his scope, like one of the helmets is lifted up just enough that you can see like the lower half of a face, and his stomach drops. He runs out into the open, he removes the clone trooper helmet, and he sees a clone. Like, this is not the alien species that stole the clone armor and is posing as enemy clone troopers. This is my brother, and I just watched him die. And so then he starts running, he's waving his hands right in the middle of the battle zone, and it's revealed like, take off your helmets, take off your helmets. So they all kind of take off their helmets and realize that they've been shooting at each other, and they're all just devastated, and you're devastated, like everything kind of goes still and it sinks in, like what just happened, and then they all start to put it together. Like, this was Krell. Like, who told you to shoot at us? And the other, the other battalion is like, Well, we were told that you guys were um the enemies in our armor, that you had stolen our armor, and the 5-0 first, Rex, the boys, they're like, Yeah, that's what we were told too. So you as the viewer are just sick. You hate this guy. So Rex, he gets a few of his of his buddies, and they they go up to Krell and they're like, You're under arrest. Like, sorry, that was horrible. And Krell is like, Yeah, good luck. You can't arrest me. I'm stronger than you, I'm bigger than you, I'm more powerful than you. And he kind of flexes on him, like he holds out his lightsabers because he's got four arms, he's got four blades, so like yikes, it doesn't end very well. And then while he's kind of going off about how he's way bigger and way stronger, um, it's revealed that Krell has like he had a force vision similar to the one that Dooku had, similar to the one that Maul has, where the fall of the Jedi is imminent. And prong Pong Krell's like, and I'm not gonna tell the Jedi because they're too weak. Like, it's too late at this point. I've got to save myself. I don't care what anyone says. So I'm gonna ally myself with Dooku and the Sith, and I'm gonna make it out of here. So he's really just not a good guy. He's full of selfishness and greed, and it's what makes every rewatch that much worse. Because once you once you know that, you see it as soon as you meet him, and how he carries himself and how he talks down to the clones and how he talks to Anakin. It's just not good. So, not a good guy. I had to look it up for a second just to be sure, because this part is important. At this point, you're like, Alright, when when does he when does he go? When is he off my screen? The the rebel clone, as I said earlier, that was like, you guys can't do this. Like, are you serious? We've got to listen to the generals. Like, I don't care who this guy is, he's a Jedi general, and we gotta listen to him. And all the other clones were like, Are you serious? So that guy ends up having a change of heart, and he's the one that kills Krell. Which, you know, not good. He gets arrested, but you know what? Took one for the team, and he's a war hero in the eyes of the clones. So that's how that arc ends. And it is so well written. Like I was saying, the cinematography of it being shot at night, the battles of Umbara, you can see the blaster bolts from both sides, the lightsabers. It has that twist. Like I said, with the with the clone helmets, when they take them off, and you realize it's clone versus clone, and Krell was the one that set this whole thing up. Just devastating. And all that was from memory, by the way. So if anything's missing or wrong, I'm sorry. You can tell me in the comments. Um it's just it's just a very solemn, sobering storyline because it really does set the stage for the complex stories of clones consistently facing the truth of their own creation. They are under the direction of this this guy who claims to be the general. Like, my only job as a military general is to make sure I use my soldiers correctly and efficiently. He doesn't care. He doesn't care about them, he doesn't view them as living individual, independent, unique creatures. He views them as soldiers, as droids, basically. Like you were grown in a lab. If you you die, I'll just grow some more. Sick. And so they also have to deal with this complex thought of like, well, he's kind of right, like we were grown for the war, and if the war never happened, like we wouldn't be here. So, like, how important are we? And so that's kind of what I was getting at when I first started that the whole premise of the Clone Wars really does circle around Rex or Ahsoka or both of them. This story is heavy for Rex. It really does make him face his own morality, it makes him face everything that he thought he stood for, and it does make him decide: am I loyal to the Jedi or am I loyal to my brothers? Am I loyal to myself? Like, what does that even mean? And where am I gonna be once the war is over? So it's just I put it as my number one because like I said, I do watch it a lot, but I also think it does such a good job really nutshelling what makes the Clone Wars so good as a TV show, as a concept, that you have these organic beings, people with real thoughts and feelings and emotions, desires, dreams, and they are grown in a lab, being thrown into battle, and their only purpose is to be a soldier. That's where that term, once Order 66 happens, good soldiers follow orders, like that's kind of driven into their brain. You are a good person if you obey. That's what's driven into their brain. And so I just think that this arc does such a good job capturing that concept as a whole. What is the purpose of a clone once the war is over? We start to see that in Bad Batch. What happens, what happens when the stormtrooper, you know, initiative starts and the the clones are aged out. Like we see an old clone in the Kenobi series live action and he's on the streets begging for money. So it's just a very sad arc because, like I said, because of the twist, there's just a lot of heartbreak, but it also does such a good job propelling the story forward with deeper characters. Rex is a completely different character after this happens to him. How he approaches life, how he approaches battles, how he approaches survival, like he does look inward for the rest of the show. You see it in season seven when he's just like, I don't know, like my gut is telling me this. And Anakin believes him because they have been through so much together at that point that Anakin is bonded to this guy. He's like, You and me, we're we're this. So I don't know. That's my number one. Um, I could talk about Clone Wars for hours and hours, which is why I wanted to take um a week and make a make an episode dedicated to it. Um and that's that's kind of all I got. So uh to end this all out, this is where the fun ends. My only hope is you enjoyed, and I will yap at you guys again next Friday. This has been The Village Jedi. Thank you so much for listening. To support this show, please leave a rating or review wherever you listen to your favorite podcast. Go check out the YouTube channel or send me an email to be read and discussed on air. You can also tell a fellow nerd to build the community. I mean this in the nerdiest way possible. May the force be with you.