Crystal Crisis on Utapau - The Clone Wars Legacy [TV&Film]

It was a real surprise when The Clone Wars ended, though not totally unexpected. Whisperings began as far back as before Season Five even aired, with the change in time slot on American Cartoon Network, some believed the show was to end soon. After all, Disney had just recently acquired Lucas Film at the time. Season Five airs as normal, and then we get the video of Dave Filoni announcing the end of The Clone Wars, but that the stories weren't finished. Indeed they weren't.
Despite Rebels being the main focus of Filoni and his team, thirteen episodes of The Clone Wars were put out onto Netflix, delving deeper into both Order 66 and the clones' origin. Oh, and Yoda learning the true meaning of victory. But the team gave out yet another part of The Clone Wars in the form of the Darth Maul: Son of Dathomir comic mini series. And then, not even two weeks ago, the full outline of this program - The Clone Wars Legacy - was revealed to us. The aforementioned comic mini series is a part of that. Also included is a novel set for release the coming summer. Dark Disciple. It's a story of Asajj Ventress and Quinlan Vos. Both of these are a part of The Clone Wars Legacy, both based on scripts created for the series, and both considered canon.
But the real interesting part of The Clone Wars Legacy was a four part arc released to the website. These might be full episodes, but they aren't full animation. Instead, they are animatics, using all the voice and sound effects that would have been in the proper episodes. The basis of this review then, is on story and pacing.

MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD
Do not read on if you intend to watch for yourself and do not want story details revealed.

The first episode only hints at what will come in the next three episodes. As it stands, 'Death on Utapau' is about Anakin and Obi-Wan investigating a mysterious death of a Jedi. This leads them on to a deal about some super weapon the Separatists intend to buy from some dealers. The episode starts with Anakin and Obi-Wan only intending to bring the body back, but upon discovering scuff marks on both elbows and knees of the body, and finding it odd, they set out to investigate the last known position of the Jedi in question. It leads them to a room where they find out a high powered dart was used. With a meeting between the two Jedi and the Governor of Utapau getting them nowhere, the two head to the lower depths of the planet's sinkhole, where they discover two Magnaguards hidden in a cave. This then leads them onto a chase through the cave and up the sinkhole.
The opening of the episode is really about setting the scene, and it does that well enough without feeling too rushed or too slow. The first half is the serious part of the episode, with the second half getting some fun in. We hear Obi-Wan telling Anakin that they need one of the droids to download their memory banks 'so no chopping off their heads'. It gives the sense that they both know each other well enough by now that they know what the other is thinking. This is referened further down the line in a heartfelt conversation between the two further into the arc. The chase itself is well shot, and the battle itself shows the battle styles of both Jedi well. When the MagnaGuard Anakin is facing manages to get through his defences, he gets carried away and ultimately calls end game by Force Pushing it into a turbine. Anakin then helps Obi-Wan with his, and both of them overcome it to fit a download device onto it. Before they can get too far with the download, the droid activates its self-destruct. This is the point where the story is really set in motion, with the arms deal now being a major point in the investigation. Obi-Wan contacts the Jedi Council about it, and we can see a slight distrust of the Council from Anakin when he says "Let me guess. They want us to return to Coruscant immediately." "Quite the contrary," Obi-Wan replies.
The second episode, 'In Search of the Crystal', Obi-Wan and Anakin come across a band of Sugi on the plains of Utapau, and Anakin rushes in as usual, getting their dardactilli - the flying creatures they ride - killed. Obi-Wan even comments on Anakin's actions, saying that he was going to tell Anakin about the 'high precision laser darts before you rushed into things'. The Sugi have spread and disappeared, and so Anakin and Obi-Wan follow the trail of the largest group of footprints. Upon coming to a stop to look some more, Anakin says he'll contact Ahsoka so she can- But Ahsoka's gone, and Anakin remembers that. Obi-Wan tries to comfort him, but Anakin won't have it. Obi-Wan realises he'll have to try and get through to Anakin, and suggests making a camp. Anakin is essentially in denial of how Ahsoka could have left, and here, we can really feel Anakin's distrust of the Council. He says 'She's a Jedi! She belongs with us!' But there's a deeper meaning in that. He's saying that she belongs with him. Obi-Wan saying it was her decision to leave the order fires Anakin up even more. He rants about how the Jedi didn't give her any choice. But we can see Obi-Wan knows better, but reasoning with Anakin doesn't help things. The pain of Anakin is visible. We know he has a problem with remaining detached, and this is showing that when something leaves him, he can't cope. A foreshadowing of what will happen with Padme on Mustafar in Revenge of the Sith. He might have turned at that point, but he still had his love for Padme. Even the line Anakin says 'How would you feel if I turned into a major dissapointment?' is foreshadowing of what Obi-Wan will think of Anakin. 'How well would you sleep if I failed you?' says that Anakin will probably never let Ahsoka go - no matter what. It makes you wonder that, if the two were ever to meet again, except this time Anakin was Vader - would he spare her? Or would turning to the dark side have made him distrust her? And what of Ahsoka, if she ever found out who Vader really was? Would she try reasoning with him, or avoid him? While Ahsoka's fate is uncertain now she's no longer a Jedi, we can be certain the Story Group wouldn't want her killed during Order 66.
We get some parts that are really hit or miss on this next part. Obi-Wan wants to take night watch first, but Anakin says he will. We know he is still dwelling on Ahsoka leaving, and won't be able to sleep. But he does. And so they are captured. Banter between the two resumes, and it feels a little forced. But the bouncing off each other is good. Anakin doesn't like his 'plan' and so wants to escape. When Anakin tries taking the guard, a primitive Sugi talks to them. Obi-Wan tries his own plan, convincing the Sugi that they are dealers, but Anakin interupts, saying the whole galaxy knows of the deal between them and Grievous. The two are then lead to the leaders. The leaders see through the two, and secretly capture them. Anakin's restlessness at how slow the plan is going really shows the more they walk. Anakin is even driven to sarcasm about the scenery, a real joy to listen to, and the two are lead to a holding cell. Meanwhile, the leader is in contact with Dooku, who orders the Jedi killed. The leader wants more pay, and hopes to get it. Meanwhile, Anakin and Obi-Wan have broken out, and are battling through the corridors, when they come to a weapons depot. Obi-Wan's reluctance to blasters is evident here, as he refuses to use one, while Anakin is all too eager to use them - which Obi-Wan calls showing off. It's here that things start to feel a bit too drawn out, if you haven't felt that way already. One of the Sugi comes with their lightsabers. Anakin destroys him. They spot the dealer and chase him. They are led to another entrance where the Sugi escape, but the Jedi spot the overly large Kyber Crystal, and intend to take the ship and the crystal back to the Jedi. End second episode.
The first half of 'Crystal Crisis' is one big session of plan and action. The ship fails, they find an animal, lower the crystal onto a trailer and trek across the plains to a spaceport. Anakin is in charge of finding the animal 'to improve his relations' as Obi-Wan puts it. The Sugi aim to get the crystal back though, and roughly halfway into the episode, the action starts. Anakin captures a speeder to get them to the spaceport faster. Grievous arrives on Utapau, and we learn that the Governor is a part of the deal. But the crystal isn't at the port, like he was promised. Grievous sends MagnaGuards to see what the hold up is. The second wave comes along, and we see the destructive power of the crystal. It absorbs the power hit at it, and sends it back at double strength. After being told that the Jedi are in command of the crystal, and the dealer lies about where it is, Grievous kills him and joins the fight himself. A chase through the city, like Revenge of the Sith, ensues. A back and forth battle, between Grievous and Obi-Wan, with Anakin driving the trailer, which climaxes with Grievous crashing into a herd of the creatures Obi-Wan uses during the Revenge of the Sith chase. But the Jedi find they've been double crossed. Battle Droids surround them and take control of the crystal. The Jedi use the Governor as live bait. The droids are destroyed, a ship is taken control of to get Anakin and Obi-Wan in chase of the crystal.
With 'The Big Bang', Obi-Wan makes contact with the Jedi Council, with Yoda warning Obi-Wan not to be cavalier, to which Obi-Wan exclaims to Anakin that no-one ever calls him out on being cavalier. Banter back and forth comes in again, as Anakin exclaims 'No-one likes a backseat driver'. Grievous is doing all he can to stop the Jedi reaching the cruiser the shuttle is landing at. They do, but in escape pods. Obi-Wan is captured, but Anakin isn't, which means he explores and finds out where the crystal is being kept. It then becomes a matter of getting the crystal away from the cruiser. In the end, they have to destroy it.
I can honestly say that, aside from the back and forth banter, this is the weakest of the episodes. Grievous and Obi-Wan have another fight, with it being over in a matter of moments. Obi-Wan is captured instead of killed. The droids give hardly any funny moments, but one part where Anakin says to a cowering droid 'That belongs to my friend' and the droid just gives him the lightsaber hoping to survive was good, because it's just so out of the ordinary. Dooku orders Obi-Wan executed, but Anakin rescues him from his guard. The two follow the droids into the chamber where the crystal is being kept, and are then stuck inside the room. When more droids check the room, they use the crystal to escape. Yet another fight occurs for the crystal, where Obi-Wan decides to destroy it. The scene itself is well choreographed, but the droids still can't aim for the floor where two Jedi are obviously hiding. But then again, the crystal is in the way. Aside from the last seven minutes though, I feel the entire of this episode could have been cut in half and it still wouldn't make a difference to the story.

So, to sum up, this is a well choreographed arc, which reveals its story in chunks at a time, but goes on for what felt like one episode too many. And with at least three battles that take place over different areas but with the same objective, even with the different choreography, makes it feel a bit drawn out. We have plenty of back and forth between Obi-Wan and Anakin though, as well as the heartfelt part of the second episode, but there are parts you'll see that have nothing going for them. The music, as always, is great, and really sets the tone of the arc. While the episodes of season five and season six have been mostly good, there are plenty of moments that, like with this arc, feel too drawn out. With this arc, it was the battles and especially the slow pacing of the first half of the third episode. Even so, another part of The Clone Wars that I would really recommend to anyone.

October Nights [Network]

So, yesterday. The sneak peek was posted, end of the month like I said, and though the title will stay in its anagram form for now, I'm sure observant people might have seen what it could be already. I won't be saying any more on it yet, and I definitely won't be giving a release date. Not after what happened with the other novel I said would 'soon' be published.
Either way, onto this month.
Super Smash Bros. 3DS is released in two days, and I hope to be enjoying that. As I predicted, the WiiU refuses to connect to the wireless at this accommadation, and so there won't be any uploads to iDarkRula's MKTV. Or maybe there will. After all, I only need a USB LAN hookup for a wired connection. There might be more on the way.
Uploads to Custom Digital Stories have been sparse. Call it getting used to being back at university, but I should be continuing with them more regularly now. And on top of that, the second half of the banner should be ready this month too.
Now. Blogs posts this month. Star Wars related - what I thought of the newly released Utapau arc of The Clone Wars, and a possible follow up bringing all of the Clone Wars Legacy works together. Sticking with Star Wars, a blog post on what I think of Spark of Rebellion, the Rebels season opener. Its possible that I might have a few things to say on Smash Bros. as well.
On the animation front, let's just say I'll post something up on Youtube by the end of this month. And it all relates to the work I'm doing in this university course. And speaking of Youtube, I haven't forgotten about the fan game video. I'm just preparing.

SRC - A Novel Sneak Peek 1 [Network]

NOTE: This preview is from an old draft, remaining here for preservation purposes. The current draft preview is available in all of my self-published novels.

[05/04-0085]

Two spacecraft, a Y/26t Galaxy and a G/0ld45 D.O.T., were lined up at the starting line. A place of empty space between two other vessels, in the hangar bay of a dark grey plated capital cruiser. A blinking red light flashed between the two racers. Then suddenly, it flashed green. The two spacecraft sped out of the hangar bay and into the deep black of space.

Outside, the race had entered a small asteroid field with the Y/26t falling behind. The asteroids were a dark reddish-brown, with a few of them drifting lazily around. The G/0ld45 had gained an early lead. Gold in colour, it was shaped like an oblong, with a long, thin rotating turret attached on either side, with two red thunder decals on the sides of the main part of the ‘craft. It flipped and rolled over the asteroids, opening up with speed when the driver thought he could chance it.

The Y/26t Galaxy on the other hand, was taking things at a much slower pace. Dark blue in colour, this ‘craft was also shaped like an oblong, but with a spoiler-like rectangle at the back. The decals on this ‘craft were green with two arrows pointing inward on the spoiler and a green arrow pointing centre front on each side of the cockpit. Instead of the fancy tricks the G/0ld45 was performing, the Y/26t just lumbered along and around the asteroids. An asteroid hit the ‘craft and rocked it. Hard. The shields winked out.

The last of the asteroids blasted past the G/0ld45 and soon it was back around to the beginning of the asteroid field by going the longer way, following the course. Soon the capital cruiser the two racers had started at came back into view.

By this time, the Y/26t was edging closely toward the capital cruiser as well. The finishing point was at the same hangar bay the two spacecraft had started at. Unfortunately, the Y/26t scraped the capital cruiser, and with no shields, disintegrated.

Inside the hangar bay of the capital cruiser, the G/0ld45 D.O.T. came to a gradual stop and landed. Then, weirdly, red words of ‘YOU WON’ flashed on the screen. A faint whine could be heard and all was back to reality.

“Yes!” Tom Hughs shouted, “Another victory for me.”

“Well done,” his friend, Lee Johnson said darkly. “Again.” This was a very faint whisper. But Tom heard it.

“What was that?” Tom said sharply.

“I said great work, and also well done for winning,” Lee replied. Then added in his thoughts for the fifteenth time this year.

The two boys were in a room generally called the games room. This room was plain white, and with good reason. The game the two boys had just been playing, Space Racer, was played on the Virtual Disk. This Virtual Disk could project 3D reality images into a plain coloured room to play games, films, music and video viewing channels.

The two boys however, were a lot more different in appearance. Tom was 15 years old with peachy skin and short, brown hair. Lee was also 15 years old with pale skin and spiky, light brownish red hair. Both boys had light blue eyes and there was only 2 centimetres difference between the two. Tom was 145 centimetres and Lee was 143 centimetres.

“Wouldn’t it be good to actually be in a Space Race Championship?” Lee questioned aloud as he unstrapped himself from the supporting seat he was sat in.

“Suppose it would, yeah,” Tom replied absently.

“Come on. You know you want to,” Lee goaded. He had a light, airy sort of voice.

“How can I if I don’t even have a spacecraft!” Tom almost raised his voice to a shout. “And then there’s the transportation and the training and the mone-”

“Okay. Okay. I was only wondering aloud,” Lee hastily backed down.

Tom doesn’t have to know yet. He can’t know yet.

What I'm Waiting For - Volume 2 [Gaming]

Due to the transition from Weebly to here, and the fact that it has been over a year since I last did one of these, I thought I'd do a recap of what I'd said in my last one, as well as what's transpired since then.

The first game I mentioned I'm waiting for was a new installment of Sonic the Hedgehog. I mentioned the Adventure games, and where 06 and Unleashed fit into them [06 only part Adventure and Unleashed only in name] before giving a bit of an opinion of Colours and Generations. Key quote from the next part was "Through all of that though, the handheld games never faltered".

And in a way, that is still true. Let's go from this point on. Lost World on 3DS was just under what the WiiU version gave us. Some considered it better, others worse. But it was given a review score by most critics of just under what they gave the WiiU version. That was 2013, and Volume 1 of What I'm Waiting For was released before Lost World was even announced. So that would have been way before the announcement of Sonic Boom. The 3DS version of this game is critically recieving a lot more praise than its WiiU brother.

Then we get to Star Wars, where at least one of the things I talked about is happening. Sort of.
LucasArts has been reeshablished as a publisher only, Disney gave EA the license for the more core of Star Wars games, and the only core game annouced so far is Battlefront 2015 [of which we're all faithfully waiting until Spring for more info]. And only Battlefront 2015. No other Star Wars core games have been announced so far, though numerous mobile games have been released [most recent of which being Commander].

Either way, there are two more games I'm covering today. Now, it's easy to just say Smash Bros. 3DS and Fantasy Life and be done with it. Fact of the matter is though, both of those games have already been released in Japan, and both are near to release in the US and Europe. I feel it would be pointless to cover those games, because they fall less under 'what I'm waiting for' and more under 'so close now that they'll soon be in my card slot'.

And so, the first game I'll say I'm waiting for is Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker. Our first taste of this came from Super Mario 3D World, in the aptly named Captain Toad levels. We had to guide Captain Toad through an obstacle course, of sorts, to collect five stars. The only thing Captain Toad couldn't do was jump. And now he's back, in a game all by himself. This time, we've got one gold star to collect in each of the levels. But hidden within those levels are three gems to be collected. These are optional though, much like the green stars within 3D World. Collecting them nabs you unlockables, so it pays to go out of your way to get them. When this game was first announced, I was interested, but recent livestreams, especially the Nintendo Treehouse one, have me wanting this game. It's full of charm, as all Mario games are, but has that skill involved in the fact that you cannot jump. Enemies usually dispatched with a thwomp on the head need to be evaded. The level design is also varied, from what has been shown, with a level mostly underwater, a level where you cannot stop, and even the usual haunted house level. Whether there's anything else, like new modes, to be shown for the game yet is unknown, but I'm already waiting to add it to my console's list of owned games.

Now, I'm a fan of Frontier Developments, and they do have a number of games coming soon. Elite: Dangerous being the one with the nearest to a release date. The game I'm waiting for though, has only recently seen it's reveal. Back in June. And at E3.

Screamride. A game about building a theme park with the only goal to create chaos and get the biggest scream from your... um, test subjects? That's the way the trailer shows it, anyway. Create a coaster or other ride, and just absolutely wreck it to get the biggest scream possible. With only one trailer to go on though, and no gameplay footage or actual information, it is hard to gain a good idea of just how the game will work though. We do have the consoles it will appear on, that being the Xbox One and Xbox 360. Current generation and last generation. So we know that, just like Zoo Tycoon [also by Frontier] the game will be available as a full game on the current generation with a downgrade [not that it was ever really noticeable with Zoo Tycoon] on the previous generation. It's unknown whether there will be a more drastic difference this time around, but I seriously hope so.

Not being against the previous generation, but there are two ways to do cross-generation games. The first way is simply make a game on the least powerful hardware and port up, adding new or improved features on the current generation console. The other way - create two different games of the same core idea, but are essentially their own game. Forza Horizon 2's doing it, and while not much has been shown from the Xbox 360 version, that's understandable. You want the current generation version to succeed, with back up on the previous generation for those still not wanting to leap up a step. And Frontier has to do that, though I can see why they wouldn't. Doing it the latter way requires two teams, or two halves of one team. And unless communication is good with the other team selected, results can vary.

So, another two games I'm waiting for. One soon to be released, and one only recently announced. And two games coming out within two weeks that I said I wasn't going to cover. I'll be keeping my eye on the gaming news, and I expect to get another one of these out sooner than the gap between this one and the last.

What I'm Waiting For Series

Volume 1 / Volume 2 / Volume 3 / Volume 4 / Volume 5 / Volume 6 / E3 Special / Volume 7

September Starts [Network]

I know. I know.
I haven't carried out any animation during the last month, despite saying I would. Fact is, I've been busy with things outside and inside.
First off, I think any readers will have seen the new banner being sported on the website. The Chameleon Chronicles has its second banner presense, and this one shows the critical moment of Oreah's captures. Doctor Who: The Star Wars Chronicles will soon be getting a banner designed by me, which is still in the planning stages. And talking of the website - though I have been making every effort to upload almost every day, Weebly itself has started giving me problems. It does seem server based, as things struggle to load when editing and a message of 'Failed to connect to the server' appears sometimes when I start editing. While it had reached a peak a few days ago, it has since settled down a bit, so over the next month, things should be fine. I hope.
September also brings something else with it. In two weeks, I'm back at university. I begin my animation course proper. I know I haven't had one bit of animation to show since I first said I would, but I figured if I do get anything done over these last two weeks, I wouldn't upload it straight away. I would wait, for maybe one or two more, depending on how long they are, that I make and upload them as one package.
And speaking of uploads, I know I haven't uploaded that sneek peak of the novel either. I'm going to wait for a while before doing that, not least because I want to check some things through before I do. All I will say is that the end of this month is when I expect it will be uploaded. And it will be uploaded here, rather than on the story site. Reason one - I want to keep it away from the fan-fiction on there. Reason two - I'm still not sure that Weebly itself has been compromised. In other words, whether the connection issues are targeted or not, and if they are planned ot accidental. I hope they aren't as that would cause problems, but I'm still going to remove some of those hidden pages to see if that eases it up any.
That about covers it, but last things. I am in the process of converting those stories that have a lot of parts into the right order. Instead of being latest first, the posts will be converted into actual pages instead of the blog posts. You can already see what I'm talking about with the first two acts of Doctor Who: The Star Wars Chronicles.
Also, durng my term at university, posts made to iDarkRula's MKTV might dry up. I have no idea how reliant the wireless is, and so it might be that my WiiU won't be connected to the internet at all. Yes, I know videos have dried up already, but considering how busy I've been, that's not surprising.
Oh, and sticking with Youtube, two more things and then this post is wrapped up. There is another Star Wars Battlefront II multiplayer session soon to be uploaded. After that, the next game I'll be uploading footage for is a fan game. One of the best fan games I've played. But it won't be just the game, as I'll be testing out audio for the videos. In part, this is so the game footage is not alone. Also, it will benefit uploads other than games when it comes to my own works.
Remember, blog posts will still be uploaded here, but until next news update, I am out.