Let it begin! Two new episodes of Clone Wars premiere tonight! And on the same day as the movies on Blu-Ray, what more could a Star Wars geek ask? The first episode being reviewed is ‘Water War’! Sounds like a kid’s theme park or something but trust me it’s anything but. The episode deals with the planet of Mon Calamari and the always constant bickering between the Quarren race and the Mon Cala themselves. (I always called them Mon Cal, but who am I to argue with the fish heads?) Thanks to the meddling of a creepy looking sharky faced Separatist ambassador, the bickering comes to a battle between the two species, with the Quarren obviously siding with the Separatists and the Mon Cala with the Republic. This is the first under water battle we’ve seen on screen from Star Wars and it was quack-tastic….
The visuals and animation on this show gets better and better with each season and season 4 is no different. The underwater battles were breathtaking even though as a geek I still question how blasters are being fired underwater. The Hydroid Medusa weapons of the Separatists were another example of the great animation. Even the underwater sounds throughout the episode stood out to me, because at least if they were following certain aspects of physics throughout, they got the voices and sounds right.
Of course ‘Captain’ Ackbar being in the episode was awesome, but it was nice to have a couple new characters to build on. Prince Lee-Char of the Mon Cala was likeable enough as the wet behind the ears leader of his people…. I guess he’d be wet everywhere but you get the idea. The Shark man Separatist Tamson was certainly a vicious and unrelenting foe. The part where he was pursuing Ahsoka and Lee-Char and tearing into Mon Cala troops kind of creeped me out. But that’s a good thing! Hopefully in the following episode he survives to give a credible villain besides Ventress, Cad Bane and Grievous (the General being credible is debatable). I can’t count Savage Oppress because I’m thinking he’s going to be used sparingly this season.
I give the episode a 4 out of 5 bears. Between the visuals and new characters it was a satisfying premiere for me. It also was a pleasant surprise to have an episode end with the Republic in defeat for the moment. The show itself needs more Separatist victories to stay interesting. Can’t wait for the next episode, check out my review of it: ‘Gungan Attack‘.
Grizzly Bomb 