Clone Wars series (SPOILERS)

[SylasGaunt]

I've got to add, the capital ships slugging it out among the clouds last episode looked really neat.

[Vympel]

New episode (Defenders of Peace)

Pretty entertaining episode, George Takei really pulls it off as Lok Durd. They should've gotten him to be Nute Gunray in the prequel trilogy.

One bizarre thing is how the Separatist transport managed to fit all that equipment to set up that giant wall around the ship and basically construct a base. It seemed like the volume wasn't there, though I suppose it's simply a case of a freighter dropping it off off-screen (since those things can't hold shuttles either).

In TPM and AotC the Neimedoians used the unmanned versions of the Sheathipede shuttles, so it was odd to see them using a manned variant, but to each their own.

The Separatists have so far shown two distinct battlefield shield technologies, both of which appear to be based on the Gungan shield technology of Naboo - the red variant of the movie with the expanding diameter, and the blue variants seen in this episode that are pretty much a carbon copy of the Gungan type, except far more miniaturized.

We also see that Clonetroopers (or commanders at least) can jam communications signals with just their wrist commlink.

And then of course there's the "Defoliator" - the Separatist weapon to destroy organic beings without killing droids - seemed like some sort of huge napalm type weapon, but it didn't affect the droids at all except as if they were being hit by a large wind.

And in a nice nod to RotS, the "Defoliator" shell is a carbon copy of the shells that the Invisible Hand "mass drivers" fire in RotS, except the shell has a glowing orange tip and back, as opposed to red.

Finally, next week's episode, Trespass, looks great - winterized Clonetroopers in AotC-type armor, clearly drawing inspiration from the winterized RotS-armor we saw when the Galactic Marines killed Ki-Adi-Mundi.

I have to wonder if Anakin is really necessary in the next episode. We've seen a lot of him and Ashoka and little of Obi-Wan.

And in the weekly "that's just creepy" category, we have Aayla Secura swinging down to save the life of the asshole who shoots her in the back without batting an eye.

[PainRack]

Is it me, or has this series serious problems with blaster firepower? We seen the crates as cover, even against fire from Super battle droids.....

[Lord Relvenous]

Is it me, or has this series serious problems with blaster firepower? We seen the crates as cover, even against fire from Super battle droids.....

We don't know the composition of the crates, so there's not much we can assume from that scene. It isn't directly contradictory to other scenes showing a seemingly higher level of blaster strength.

Just saw Jedi Crash (I've had to watch the entire series online, so week behind) and there were some moments that made me Anakin and Ashoka are in a gun boat approaching Aayla Secura's ship, breathing normally, and then we hear Aayla secura say "We're entering the atmosphere". Now, she might jsut mean a denser area of the atmosphere, but either way, how are Anakin and Ashoka breathing normally in what would be incredibly thin air?

Also, Aayla asks Anakin if he has a plan for getting them out of there, and he mentions the blockade runner docking. Anakin, Ashoka, Aayla (heh, that's funny) and IIRC 6 clones run aboard. Did they just abandon the rest of the crew to their deaths? I suppose so.

Third, after the crash, they set up a camp out side the ship with a small shelter. Then Rex and Anakin are attacked, yet Rex still stays out there, when he could easily drag Anakin inside the ship, and hole up in a room with a blaster trained on the door. As soon as I thought of that, it bothered me for the rest of the espisode.

It was a good episode, but it had some inconsistencies that soured it for me.

[Serafina]

Well, the gunboats are known to be shielded. Given that SW-shields can be configured to only hold back certain substances (including air), the gunboat propably has its own air supply and life support.

As for Anakin jumping down and breathing, well, he IS a Jedi, and it was a rather short fall anyway.

An yes, they abandoned most of the crew. But then again, better save what you can than no one.
I do not see what they could have possibly done to save all aboard the ship.

About the shelter: Well, moving an injured patient is not rally wise. And he propably wanted Anakin to stay close to the campfire (it being night and propably cold). Also, we do not know how it looks inside the ship - perhaps he would have to clean it up first (i doubt lying on broken parts of sharp metal is healthy).

[Lord Relvenous]

About the shelter: Well, moving an injured patient is not rally wise. And he propably wanted Anakin to stay close to the campfire (it being night and propably cold). Also, we do not know how it looks inside the ship - perhaps he would have to clean it up first (i doubt lying on broken parts of sharp metal is healthy).

That's what I thought at first too, but look at the placement of the fire.


Not only is Anakin 8+ feet away from it, he has a metal wall between it and him. So it can't be doing him anything.

On the other points, all I can say is yeah, probably, but I think they could have handled it better. We know Star Wars ships are equipped with escape pods, but I didn't see any firing off from the ship. Also, I guess my problem with it is that Aayla shows no concern over the fate of the crew. She asks about what her and the other Jedi's escape plan is, then leaves it at that. A simple line "All hands, this is General Secura, abandon ship. Authorization Alpha-Tango-Niner-Zero. All hands, abandon ship." oir soemthing to that effect would have resolved it, and it seems like lazy writing to leave out any concern for the thousands of clones on the ship.

Edit: for clarity.

[Serafina]

Wasnt there a fire (or something similar, at least a source of light) inside the shelter?

Also, just because we do not see Aayla give such an order does not mean she never did.

But yeah, it is somewhat lazy writing.

[Ender]

Is it me, or has this series serious problems with blaster firepower? We seen the crates as cover, even against fire from Super battle droids.....

We don't know the composition of the crates, so there's not much we can assume from that scene. It isn't directly contradictory to other scenes showing a seemingly higher level of blaster strength.

It's a crate. You don't build them out of uber materials, you build them out of the cheapest stuff you have around so theat the last about 15 seconds longer then it takes for the cargo to get where it is going.

[The Romulan Republic]

It's a crate. You don't build them out of uber materials, you build them out of the cheapest stuff you have around so theat the last about 15 seconds longer then it takes for the cargo to get where it is going.

Unless perhaps there's something in the crate that requires extra protection? Something highly fragile or valuable?

[Connor MacLeod]

There are other incidents though of blaster firepower. In Ep5 we see those commando droids blast through the blast door with their blasters (They're holding htem when it falls down) and in Ep 11 a couple of clones blast down a huge avalanche of stones to block an entrancewy against that Gundark with a couple dozen shots (a few seconds sustained fire, tops)

I imagine it depends entirely upon settings and modes. Some blasts are designed to be higher power than others (explosive effect rather than thermal damage.)

[Thanas]

And in the weekly "that's just creepy" category, we have Aayla Secura swinging down to save the life of the asshole who shoots her in the back without batting an eye.

Yeah, was creepy and highlighted once more why Palpatine had to make it a genetically imprinted order.

Aayla really impressed me in this episode - I was kinda expecting her to be more of a semi-useful sidekick like last episode, but in this one she actually was the most competent jedi around.

[Knife]

Hmm, first espisode I've watched, minus the CW movie (I was bored and curious one day and it was only a dollar at redbox). I was gently surprised, still not eye rocking, thought jolting experience but it was ok. I'm caught now with a dilemea; whether to continue watching or wait until I can figure out where to get the older ones and 'catch up' at once.

[Agent Sorchus]

On the whole crates thing:
If you are stupid enough to leave crates on the floor and laying around on an active flight deck that does not mean you are stupid enough to make them out of materials that would not stand up to the stress of a flight deck, such as thruster's throwing around energy.
The other options would be for those "crates" to be like sand bags and intentionally used to fortify an infantry position vs boarders, Or for them to be carrying delicate emergency response gear in extra resistant casing.

[evillejedi]

for the durability of starwars crates look at the infrastructure that exists on earth just to move the same tired old worn pallets and modular containers around, sure they are cheap in comparison to what they carry, but in most commercial applications they probably have a longer lifespan than the products they carry and have a huge resale and refurbishment market. In fact I'd image that given the cheap ultra strong materials used in day to day products and construction materials the average star wars box is probably nigh indestructible. Not to mention that military grade equipment usually exceeds the lifespan and durability of any commercial product (and in SW there are many instances of shielded and mag-shielded containers) and on top of that there are examples of stored crates that last for hundreads of years without an sort of environmental controls or maintenance. I wouldn't count out the lowly crate's durability.

[Ender]

We could assume that for some reason they are transporting rare, valuable and delicate materials into the middle of a warzone for kicks and giggles, and thus have packing crates made out of stuff that us usially used to plate armored war machines.

Or we could assume that they were in the presence of a theater shield. Being a volumetric effect, inside you would still see a limited shielding capacity with shots being scattered and absorbed enroute to the target, greatly weakening them.

Given that we know canonically that inside a shield, even freaking grass can be blaster proof, I know which of these is more sensible to me.

[PainRack]

There are other incidents though of blaster firepower. In Ep5 we see those commando droids blast through the blast door with their blasters (They're holding htem when it falls down) and in Ep 11 a couple of clones blast down a huge avalanche of stones to block an entrancewy against that Gundark with a couple dozen shots (a few seconds sustained fire, tops)

I imagine it depends entirely upon settings and modes. Some blasts are designed to be higher power than others (explosive effect rather than thermal damage.)

Errr..... Those crates were repelling blasts from the SBD...... What's the point of the SBD repeating blaster if not to provide heavy fire support? Hell, the reason why the M-16 has an auto mode is to provide AP capability.

And if anything, the fact that the SBDs weren't dialing up the power to punch through the enemy cover is just another proof against the droids stupidity again............... Given the design of the battledroid armies and their strategy so far in the EU and G canon, one really cannot discount the possibility the reason the Republic armies held out so well is due to the immense stupidity and design of Seperatist armies.

[VT-16]

What crates are we talking about?

[Vympel]

I got the Clone Wars Blu-Ray today - included in the special features was a (full HD) 24 minute preview of Season 1 - with the exception of the upcoming Ryloth arc, it covered some of the episodes that have already aired.

In the preview for the Ryloth arc, we see what look to be Invisible Hand projectile cannons as self-propelled droids on four legs, firing flak at three Acclamators as they fly overhead. This lends support to the theory that these guns were a field modification to the Invisible Hand's firepower, and that they're actually modified self-propelled droids.

It's bizarre - we see some LAATs getting destroyed (presumably by flak though it's not certain) but in another shot we see some LAATs flying at the camera with the same (presumably) three Acclamators flying in the background - except one of them is falling out of the sky with damage/ smoke emanating from its hull (it's far away). It's possible that a projectile barrage brought it down, if so, it would presumably mean:-

* For some reason it had no shields; and
* The shells either struck something vital (like it's repulsorlifts) by fluke or are significantly more powerful than the shells that tore through the Venator gun-bay.

[PainRack]

What crates are we talking about?

The most memorable incident is the crates Anakin and the clonetroopers were hiding behind when they went in to rescue R2D2 from General Grievous.

[Connor MacLeod]

Errr..... Those crates were repelling blasts from the SBD...... What's the point of the SBD repeating blaster if not to provide heavy fire support? Hell, the reason why the M-16 has an auto mode is to provide AP capability.

And if anything, the fact that the SBDs weren't dialing up the power to punch through the enemy cover is just another proof against the droids stupidity again............... Given the design of the battledroid armies and their strategy so far in the EU and G canon, one really cannot discount the possibility the reason the Republic armies held out so well is due to the immense stupidity and design of Seperatist armies.

And you assume they can somehow use these weapons indefinitely at maximum power.. why? For all we know there are significant cooling or rate of fire problems associated with that level of fire.

More to the point, they were used to board the ship and invade it, power usage (as well as cooling limitations) may have imposed limits on firepower (so they don't run out of power too soon, basically.)

A lower power blast may be less energetic, but it doesn't mean its incapable of hurting an enemey - you'd have to rely more on mechanical/blast effects from explosive vaporization rather than thermal heating, but they could do it.

[PainRack]

And you assume they can somehow use these weapons indefinitely at maximum power.. why? For all we know there are significant cooling or rate of fire problems associated with that level of fire.

More to the point, they were used to board the ship and invade it, power usage (as well as cooling limitations) may have imposed limits on firepower (so they don't run out of power too soon, basically.)

A lower power blast may be less energetic, but it doesn't mean its incapable of hurting an enemey - you'd have to rely more on mechanical/blast effects from explosive vaporization rather than thermal heating, but they could do it.

I'm sorry, but that's SHEER stupidity. Your enemy is hiding behind cover, its only stands behind reason that if you want to waste shots shooting away at cover, you SHOULD dial up your firepower so that it works.
That's the exact same reasoning behind the automatic in modern days firearms. The auto-button allows for improved armour penetration.

Unless you're suggesting that the SBDs are unable to increase their weapons firepower at will.

[JointStrikeFighter]

And you assume they can somehow use these weapons indefinitely at maximum power.. why? For all we know there are significant cooling or rate of fire problems associated with that level of fire.

More to the point, they were used to board the ship and invade it, power usage (as well as cooling limitations) may have imposed limits on firepower (so they don't run out of power too soon, basically.)

A lower power blast may be less energetic, but it doesn't mean its incapable of hurting an enemey - you'd have to rely more on mechanical/blast effects from explosive vaporization rather than thermal heating, but they could do it.

I'm sorry, but that's SHEER stupidity. Your enemy is hiding behind cover, its only stands behind reason that if you want to waste shots shooting away at cover, you SHOULD dial up your firepower so that it works.
That's the exact same reasoning behind the automatic in modern days firearms. The auto-button allows for improved armour penetration.

Unless you're suggesting that the SBDs are unable to increase their weapons firepower at will.

PROTIP: Its called supressive fire

[Drooling Iguana]

Having seen every episode of this new series so far, am I alone in thinking that this is by far the best depiction of Anakin Skywalker yet? Everything from his voice to his behavior just seem far more mature and heroic than Hayden Christensen ever did in ROTS. I might have actually enjoyed the prequels if he'd been more like his CG self the whole time.

He does seem more mature and heroic, but I wouldn't necessarily call that a better depiction of the character. This is the guy who becomes Darth Vader, after all.

[PainRack]

PROTIP: Its called supressive fire

Pro-PROTIP: You don't need suppressive fire when you can have penetrating fire. What the hell do you think the auto mechanism is for on the M4 and M-16? Why do you think .50 cal machine guns make "great" urban weapons?

For those of you who don't know, hiding behind a car may protect you from single shot M-16 bullets........ It does absolutely nothing however against the auto 3 shot burst, which increases the penetrating power of a well aimed burst, unless you're hiding behind the engine block.

There are even lessons taught on what kind of trees would provide sufficient cover against GPMG fire. If the sarge finds you hiding behind a trunk of insufficient thickness, you're decleared "dead". And incidently, leaves may work pretty well in protecting you against the MILES system:D
My friend just completed his reservist training, and his MG section chief complaint was that the opposition force were cheating, as it was fucking impossible for 3 belts of ammunition to be fired at ranges of 200m and not a single enemy infantrymen dead:D

[Connor MacLeod]

And you assume they can somehow use these weapons indefinitely at maximum power.. why? For all we know there are significant cooling or rate of fire problems associated with that level of fire.

More to the point, they were used to board the ship and invade it, power usage (as well as cooling limitations) may have imposed limits on firepower (so they don't run out of power too soon, basically.)

A lower power blast may be less energetic, but it doesn't mean its incapable of hurting an enemey - you'd have to rely more on mechanical/blast effects from explosive vaporization rather than thermal heating, but they could do it.

I'm sorry, but that's SHEER stupidity. Your enemy is hiding behind cover, its only stands behind reason that if you want to waste shots shooting away at cover, you SHOULD dial up your firepower so that it works.
That's the exact same reasoning behind the automatic in modern days firearms. The auto-button allows for improved armour penetration.

Unless you're suggesting that the SBDs are unable to increase their weapons firepower at will.

and you can tell me what is in those crates in the hangar? There's bound to be alot of volatile shit lying around, especially since they weren't anticipating a boarding, so you wouldn't want to just blast away widlly at full power. And even if the crates are somehow harmless, there's always the possibility of a stray hit hitting something ELSE potentially volatile. In case you forgot, the SBDs were a diversion to let Ventress get onboard and rescue Gunray. Blowing up the hangar (or possibly destrtoying the ship) was not part of the plan. and I doubt Ventress would want to have had the hangar blown up on her either, if it comes to that.