At least the Clone Wars is providing us with some entertaining filler before the final two episodes of the season featuring Darth Maul. Last night’s episode ‘Bounty’ was rather excellent, featuring a new planet and a couple of species that I’ve never seen before. Not to mention the newest addition to the growing cast of bounty hunters. Not only do we get to see some of the soon to be veterans such as Bossk, Dengar and Boba Fett but also a couple of newcomers.
The episode follows Ventress after last weeks defeat and general annihilation of the Night Sisters on Dathomir by the Separatist forces of Count Dooku. It seems like Ventress is basically on a path to nowhere, perhaps letting the force lead her to her next point in life which in this episode happens to be on Tatooine where she runs afoul of Boba Fett and his motley crew of bounty hunters. After killing one of their number for the huge mistake of hitting on her, Ventress is sort of forced into joining their team for a job, even though I’m pretty sure that she could have killed them all in about ten seconds flat if she wanted to. And so begins the episode which is ultimately not linked to the storyline for next week’s episode but filled with plenty of action which was beautifully shot against the backdrop of a unique planet where all of the action takes place well below the surface.
The job that the bounty hunters take on for a Belugan (The new species) and his master Otua Blank is a small chest that must be delivered to him by mag lev train and protected due to the threat of maurauders who want the contents of the chest. By the end of the episode, all is not as it seems and Ventress will have a choice to make and the right choice may cast her in a very different light to the viewers and Star Wars fans in general. The underground of the planet Quarzite was a vibrant purple color with crystals jutting out every which way from above and below, that combined with the lighting changes occurring as the train moved by made for some beautiful animation as the fight for the chest ensued. It seemed like the fighting went on for most of the second half of the episode which was fine by me. It was nice to see Boba back and not such a whiny little kid as we saw in season 2. Don’t get me wrong, he’s still a bit whiny, but he’s definitely moving up in the bounty hunting world and is definitely able to hold his own in a fight whether it be hand to hand or blaster to blaster.
I think it worth pointing out that the bounty hunter Dengar, who made his first appearance in Empire Strikes Back, was voiced by the one and only Simon Pegg! I was thrilled to see Simon Pegg involved in the series and that he doesn’t discriminate between Star Trek and Star Wars. Even though it was a small part in this episode, I’m hoping we’ll see Dengar back or at least Simon Pegg back in some sort of voice action capacity.
As for Ventress, I’m not exactly sure where they are going with this whole thing. I’m not really one to root for the villain turned good guy and Ventress has done enough terrible stuff to be worthy of redemption. I’m also a little worried if they’ll maintain continuity with whatever they do in the TV series. Only time will tell what happens with her and I fully expect that she’ll be in at least one of the final two episodes this season. I give the episode 5 out 5. Excellent animation, action and a decent storyline plus Simon Pegg? Awesome sauce.
Grizzly Bomb 