Interview with Chris Edgerly

This is my interview with voice-actor Chris Edgerly, who voiced Jedi Master Eeth Koth in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, in the episode "Grievous Intrigue". Keep reading to see the interview!

1. Did you audition for the role? If so, how many other people would you say also auditioned for the role of Eeth Koth?

A. Yes, I auditioned once at my agency and I heard a little while after that I had booked the job. There's no way of knowing how many people took a shot at the role, because they sometimes cast a very wide net for these parts. If I had to guess I'd say a few dozen others, at least.

2. I hear the accent you gave Eeth Koth was a soft Indian accent. Was this accent hard to do? Was this the accent you were instructed to do or was it your choice to give the character this accent?

A. The accent was indeed a softer, Indian accent. It wasn't very hard for me, but I think you'd have to ask someone from India just how accurate I was. The character's breakdown included a note on an Indian-style accent, but nothing over the top, so I took that note and gave it my take. I think it made Eeth sound more dignified, IMHO.

3. Were you aware that previous material had stated Eeth Koth was dead, before Dave Filoni resurrected him?

A. I wasn't aware of Eeth Koth as a character, even though I'd seen episodes 1-3 of the movies. In those he's basically a background character with no dialogue. Dave told me when we recorded that the character was supposed to have died, and they just didn't want to do that to him yet.

4. This is a opinion question, would you say it's necessary for Eeth to die on the show so they can bring Agen Kolar (the Jedi of Eeth's species killed in Revenge of the Sith), into the series?

A. My opinion will count for very little on this question since I'm not nearly as versed in Star Wars canon as you. But for my part, if Eeth Koth dying somehow strengthens the story, then that's what should happen. Much as I'd hate to see him go, of course.

5.  Will you be voicing on The Clone Wars again?

A. I'd love to record for The Clone Wars again, whether it's as Eeth Koth or a new character. It's great to be part of that universe.

6. What advice would you give for aspiring voice-actors?

A. The best advice I could give to any aspiring voice actor is to check out Dee Bradley Baker's page he created specifically to answer that question. Dee's one of the best in the business, so I think someone would get more out of a visit to that page than anything I could share. I will say that if it's something you love, then nothing should deter you. Study the craft and work, work, work at it. But check out this link:

http://iwanttobeavoiceactor.com/

Star Wars: The Clone Wars "Tipping Points"

And now we reach the conclusion of the Onderon arc, and what a conclusion it was! In my opinion, this is one of the best episodes of the series to date!

The episode started off really nicely, though at the same time brought up one of my minor nitpicks. General Tandin, who was so important in allowing the Rebel cause to still exist in this episode, was barely involved in this episode, and more often than not you could forget he was even in this episode! To add insult to injury for Tandin, he was demoted so that Steela Gerrera could be the new leader of the army. I found it amusing when Lux Bonteri tried to congratulate Steela, but she walked right past him. Lux caught himself so he could summon a creature to fly him and Ahsoka Tano. Having thought otherwise, Steela turns around and kisses Lux, saying, "Just in case". Ahsoka (who Lux previously kissed in a episode in Season 4, "A Friend in Need"), tries not to act jealous and gives Lux a playful punch on the arm, but behind his back Ahsoka is upset.

The battle scenes in this episode were amazing, really well done. Admittedly, I again felt the Droid Army had its ground forces taken out WAY too easily again, but there was so much going on in this episode it was understandable. The main treat here was finally seeing the Droid Gunships on the show, known as HMP Predators in the trivia. It was really cool finally seeing them in action, and they kicked some major butt! It was also cool when the weaponry the Rebels had been using before wouldn't work on the Gunships. Explosions like the one pictured above were superbly animated. I liked a move too where Saw is knocked off his flying beast to the ground, and Tandin picks him up in a move similar to Tarpals helping Jar-Jar Binks up in The Phantom Menace.

This above scene was important in several ways: First of all, we see how Saw's character has changed a lot: He used to be arrogant earlier in the arc, but now even he has come to admit that his sister Steela is the best leader among the Rebels, and Steela says she learnt from the best, referring to Saw, her brother. We also see Lux get frustrated with Ahsoka for what I think is the first time, and that she hasn't been able to do as much as she'd like, as she can only really observe. Thirdly is that in A War on Two Fronts, the first Onderon episode, Steela appears to challenge Ahsoka as she wonders why Lux trusts this Ahsoka, but in this scene Steela shows she now completely trusts Ahsoka. This might also be cause for Ahsoka to feel bad in a later scene...

With the dark tone of this episode, it needed a funny character to shed a bit of light on this episode. That light came in the form of everyone's favourite Weequay Pirate, Hondo Ohnaka. As always, Hondo added a humour side to an episode that would otherwise miss it. He was only in two small scenes, but they were still great to watch. Surprisingly, out of the two I preferred the scene where Anakin Skywalker comes to visit Hondo on Florrum, maybe because most of the other scene (the scene pictured above), was shown in a trailer before the season, though there were some dialogue differences. It amused me when Anakin told Hondo he was the man to go to for shipping weapons, but only illegally. This won't be the last we see of Hondo this season, as he's coming in the next arc as well!

And now the episode really gets to it's major point, which is why the episode is titled "Tipping Points", after all. Saw and the other Rebels start to use the rocket launchers delivered by Hondo illegally to blast the new Droid Gunships, and the Rebels seemed to have got the upper hand again. However, Droids started attacking "The Nest", which was where the Rebels were hiding King Dendup to protect him. The Commando Droids, (finally menacing again for the first time in a while), eliminated many Rebels. There was a brutal moment where one Commando Droid demanded a wounded Rebel tell them where Dendup was. The Rebel refused to tell, and the red lighting created from the blaster bolt was reflected off the Droid as it executed the wounded Rebel. When Steela arrives to destroy a Droid Gunship around "The Nest", Dendup and two guards try to make a run for it. They get trapped at the edge of a cliff, but Steela arrives to shoot the last Commando Droid with both guards dead. The odds are back on the Rebels side and they seem to have won completely, or so they think, as we now hit what may be the most emotional scene so far in the show.

All the ground army Droids are destroyed, but two Gunships still remain. Saw orders for the Rebels to shoot one down, then he insists on taking down the last one himself. Saw scores a direct hit, and raises his arm to celebrate, but an unfortunate twist to occur. With his sister, Steela, and Dendup still on the edge of the cliff, the Gunship crashes against the cliff, and it cracks. Steela pushes Dendup to safety, but can't reach safety herself, and slips closer to a long fall. Her "boyfriend", Lux Bonteri, tries to grab her, and almost falls off the cliff himself, but Ahsoka uses the force to save him. As Ahsoka does the same with Steela, with it's last bit of  energy, the Droid Gunship/HMP Predator, opens fire. It's bolt pierces Ahsoka's shoulder, and Ahsoka falls backwards, and Steela plummets to her death. In my opinion, there is NO way they could have done this death scene any better. The actions, the music, Lux's reaction to her death, the way he drops his gun and all that heavy breathing, Saw shouting, "Steela!", and even Ahsoka stunned by Steela's death. It was gut-wrenching to watch as Saw, Steela's own brother who had downed the gunship that resulted in her death, blamed himself for the loss, leaving him alone. Lux tried to console Saw, saying Steela knew what the risks were.

And now we reach another important moment, how is it going to finish on the villain end of things? Again, the crew didn't disappoint with another amazing scene. King Sanjay Rash again demands reinforcements from Dooku, who asks General Kalani for his input on the situation. Kalani tells Dooku it will take time to crush the Rebels, but Dooku is fed up and doesn't want a "prolonged war", and tells Kalani to take the remaining Droids elsewhere, to the Agamar system. Confused, King Rash prepares to ask what they plan to do with Onderon, but General Kalani executes King Rash by shooting him in the heart like a badass. This signify's an important thing, the Separatists DID NOT lose the Battle of Onderon. So often we see the Separatists lose battles on the show, but this wasn't a defeat, because they chose to focus their efforts and resources elsewhere, rather than continue to do so on Onderon. 

The final scene from this episode, much like the other two final scenes previously, was also critical. We see how Saw and Lux feel about Steela's death, the hand Lux places on Saw's shoulder shows how things have changed between them, as Saw perhaps was a bully towards Lux at the start, but now Lux shares Saw's pain. Anakin & Obi-Wan, back on Onderon for this final scene, remark on how this journey has been a important one for Ahsoka, and agree that Steela will be looked up to as a hero by many people. Ahsoka offers her condolences to Saw about Steela's death, while perhaps also feeling a little bad, maybe blaming herself for dropping Steela when she was shot, but Saw just walks away. Then we come to what I consider a crucial moment in this show: And that is how much Lux Bonteri's character has changed: Back when we first met him in Season 3, he had full support for the Separatists, he had his mother, he had what we presume a good life, but also presumably he was immature, but after what he's being through he has completely changed, and it's been great to watch him change. His mother was executed by Count Dooku's orders, a man who Lux probably looked up to, he tried to join Death Watch to get revenge on Dooku, but Ahsoka helped him realize it was a bad call and escaped. Now, at the end of the Onderon journey, Lux has finally decided the Republic is the right side to be on, and announces Dendup has made him the Senator of Onderon. THIS highlights how much has changed for Lux ever since we first met him two seasons ago, and I really don't care one bit what anyone else says, but to me Lux is one of the most developed characters of the show and has one of the most interesting stories, plus is one of the best original The Clone Wars characters. That is all...

My verdict: A stunning episode, one which I consider to be among the best episodes in the show. They ended the Onderon arc on a high, and the three final scenes were amazing. Rating: 10/10 

Star Wars: The Clone Wars "The Soft War"

Next up is "The Soft War", the third episode in the four-part Onderon arc! This is where things really started to get serious!

This episode certainly opened up dramatically! Within minutes we saw Droid Army reinforcements completely massacred and destroyed in a Rebel ambush. It was actually quite hard to watch. Props to the crew because back in the day the Droid Army didn't always look like as huge a army as it did here, but the army was taken out WAY too quickly. Many Battle Droids & Super Battle Droids in mere moments were wiped out, and I swear that MTT vehicle didn't get hit by any grenades, only blaster bolts. Hmmm...

The villains were again great to watch in this episode, with two new ones as well. General Kalani, the Droid, who was briefly introduced by Dooku in the last episode, now appeared in full form, and the voice-acting was terrific for Kalani. The other new villain was General Tandin, leader of the Onderon Army. However, Tandin and thus his army would have a change of heart later in the episode. It was really cool watching the Generals, Kalani and Tandin, arguing with each other about what they should do. Again, King Rash talks to the "true" King, Dendup, and asks him to tell the "terrorists" or Rebels to stand down, he also tried in the last episode. Again, Dendup says he can't, and that it is the will of the people. 

At the Rebel camp, the minor Rebel known as Dono brings shocking news to Ahsoka, Steela, Saw & Lux: King Dendup is sentenced to be executed in public the next day. The Rebels are divided on what to do, and Saw brashly decides to try and free Dendup on his own, against his sister and the leader of the Rebels, Steela's, orders. Saw is captured trying to escape with Dendup. With all eyes on Steela, she refuses to launch another mission to rescue her brother, stating Dendup is the priority. This helps mark Steela out as the true leader for the Rebels, placing no one above each other.

General Kalani tortures Saw to try and get any info out of him regarding the Rebels. However, Saw refuses to give in and doesn't give anything away. Tandin insists on talking to Saw himself, and in the talk we see signs that Tandin is ready to change sides, after Saw makes a well-reasoned argument, stating that Tandin is just a tool under the Separatist rule, and they all will be unless they free Onderon. This causes Tandin's change of sides in the next scene.

Finally we reach the execution scene, where they prepare to execute Dendup (pictured above). To demonstrate how they will execute Dendup, King Rash takes a bite of some fruit (like I mentioned about Rash in the last review, he always leaves it after the first bite), and drops the fruit onto the device. The Magnaguards stab the device, leaving a cut in the fruit. As the Magnaguards ready themselves to execute Dendup, the Rebels make their move. Steela shoots both Magnaguards with clean shots to the head, and Lux Bonteri tosses a couple of smoke grenades. With King Rash and the Droids blinded, the Rebels charge. Lux smacks King Rash on the back of the head, while the other Rebels target the Battle Droids. Soon, Dendup is freed and they prepare to escape, but Dono is shot dead as Super Battle Droids arrive and surround them. The execution is back on again, and Dendup is back in the same position, with Saw Gerrera, Steela Gerrera and Lux Bonteri also to be executed after. Jedi Padawan Ahsoka Tano, who has been on Onderon as an observer, now prepares to blow her cover to save them. But she doesn't have to, as General Tandin rushes in with his army to stop the execution. King Rash calls Tandin a traitor, to which Tandin replies, "I was, not anymore." The watching Onderon civilians cheer as Tandin grabs King Rash around the neck to use as a shield. The Rebels, along with Dendup, make their escape. However, the Droids and General Kalani surround Tandin, but Ahsoka this time does blow her cover by force-pushing all the Droids over as if they were skittles in bowling. As they make their escape, the civilians turn on Rash and announce they want him and the Separatists gone, standing in the way of the Super Battle Droids attempting to follow the Rebels. This scene marks how much has changed since the first Onderon episode, and that the civilians now completely back the Rebels.

Back at the camp, they are joined by General Tandin and his army. Tandin announces that Dendup has his full trust, and the Rebels celebrate this victory. While the celebrations go on, Ahsoka & Lux have a brief but interesting moment:
"Ahsoka! I knew you couldn't resist a good fight." -Lux
"Am I becoming that predictable?" -Ahsoka
"Only to me." -Lux

My verdict: This arc just kept getting better! The execution scene was really cool, and while only a minor character (Dono), was killed, we still had our first named character death of the arc. Rating: 9/10

Star Wars: The Clone Wars "Front Runners"

Finally getting around to catching up on my The Clone Wars episode reviews, starting with "Front Runners"!

One aspect of this episode I enjoyed was how the Rebels went about doing their business to free Onderon, such as ambushing Battle Droid squads in the streets. In the picture above, Rebel Saw Gerrera saved a civilian from a couple of Battle Droids who wanted to arrest him. The Rebels didn't have a wide variety of weaponry, but they did well in making use of what they did have, such as the Droid poppers used to stun Droids. It was also interesting to watch the reactions of the civilians towards the Rebels, and at first the civilians don't like the Rebels whatsoever, thinking of them as terrorists, unaware that the Rebels just want to free Onderon from the Separatist control. It was interesting to watch as the civilians perspective changes further on in this arc.

Another thing I liked in this episode was the introduction of the main villain in this arc, or main at least as far as keeping the Separatists on Onderon goes. The "puppet" King the Separatists placed in control of Onderon known as Sanjay Rash. Lame the name of the character may be, but the actual character was anything but in my opinion. I really liked the voice-acting for his character, which I thought was really cool. I also find it interesting how much he likes fruit, yet only takes one bite each time, very different. The "true" king who is a good guy was also introduced in this episode, King Dendup. Dendup reminds me a lot of Albus Dumbledore from Harry Potter, because both of them are very old but are really wise. The voice-acting for Dendup was also really good.

One of the main things I looked forward to ahead of this episode was the departure of Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker and Captain Rex from Onderon. This definitely allowed for better story-telling for the character Ahsoka Tano in this arc, and needless to say I was very happy. Let's face it, most of you know that I dislike Anakin & Rex on this show, Anakin especially, so I was glad they left. Yes, they both had a purpose in the previous episode, A War on Two Fronts, and for both characters it was one of their better episodes in a while. However, it was right for them to leave Onderon as they had done what they needed to do already. While Obi-Wan is my favourite Star Wars character, he was pointless in that previous episode so he wasn't needed either. 

I enjoyed the action in this episode. It was a bit repetitive in that the Rebels kept using the same weaponry, but it was still good, plus by the end of the episode it felt like the Rebel cause was actually going somewhere, as they had achieved something. Having captured a AAT vehicle, they successfully blew up the city's power generator, which greatly damaged the Battle Droids in the city.

 The final two scenes played a important part in setting up for the rest of the arc. First of all, as the Rebels celebrated their small accomplishment, they knew they needed a leader from among them to rally behind. Whilst Saw Gerrera, a arrogant character who thought of himself as the best leader, was completely sure he would be voted leader, the majority of the Rebels voted on his sister, Steela Gerrera, as the best leader, with Captain Rex even commenting, "Steela is a born leader". Whilst Saw tries to be happy for her, it is clear to all how annoyed he is, especially when he walks out. What confused me there was Steela's "bombshell" to Ahsoka that Saw was her brother, as I thought Ahsoka would know or it would appear obvious, which it really did, one of my more major complaints with the episode. Even cooler was on the villain side of things, with King Rash pleading for reinforcements, Dooku decides to send his best, and introduces to us the first Super Tactical Droid on the show, known as General Kalani, who you will hear more about from me in other reviews. Dooku remarks, "he will succeed where you have failed," to King Rash.

My verdict: A fairly good episode. Not amazing, but it served as a good set-up for the final two episodes, with the Rebels getting somewhere, Steela becoming the Rebel leader and the introduction of General Kalani. Rating: 8.5/10

Star Wars: The Clone Wars "A War on Two Fronts"

Exactly a week after the episode airs, I finally am doing my review for A War on Two fronts. Blame the slowness of StarWars.com in putting up the guide images for that, they only put it up when I had no time to do this review, but better late than never!

To start off, we were introduced to two new characters in this episode, Saw and Steela Gerrera. Saw I think I will get to like perhaps, but I can already tell I dislike Steela. I understand they wanted to throw someone else into the mix between Ahsoka Tano and Lux Bonteri, but she's an adult and easily from watching the interactions just too old for Lux. The love triangle between Ahsoka, Lux & Steela was intriguing to watch though, but the execution could have been better. My hope at some point in the arc is we see Ahsoka forced to tap into the Dark Side and to slay Steela, which I think would be a perfect ending for the arc, and add a twist for Ahsoka's character.

The training scenes were pretty decent in my opinion. I didn't hate them like other people I know did. The one with the tanks was a bit silly, I will admit, but watching the interaction between Lux & Saw was interesting to watch. I really liked the training scene with the Destroyer Droids though. After all, the Jedi and Clones make it look so easy whenever we've seen them use detonators or droid poppers against Destroyers, so I didn't think others would actually have trouble with it, or that it wasn't plain easy like the Jedi make it look to do it. But as we saw, both Saw and Steela missed, although Saw eventually got it while Steela just got frustrated. While I dislike the character of Captain Rex, he definitely had his purpose in this episode, rather annoyingly for me, same goes for Anakin Skywalker.  I really liked the music they used in this scene. It fit quite well in my opinion, especially the part where Ahsoka walks over to talk to Steela.

The brief battle at the end was pretty good. The brief talking scene between Anakin & Obi-Wan Kenobi was unnecessary, as was Obi-Wan's appearance in this episode. It was good to see Saw and Lux put their differences aside to take out that AAT though, and the fighting was pretty well done. I honestly wasn't too impressed with how easily they got into the city afterwards though. I understand they had to get into the city before the next episode, and that Battle Droids are stupid of course, but it just felt way too obvious a tactic and it was more by luck than anything that they got in.

My verdict: I enjoyed this episode, the idea of Anakin training Rebels was simplistic but interesting to watch, and I look forward to seeing what happens between Ahsoka and Lux in the remainder of the arc. However, there were a few plot-holes and pointless scenes in this episode, and it was nowhere near as good as Revival. Rating: 7.5/10

My Thoughts on Invasion Belfast V

As most of you know, I was at the event called Invasion Belfast last weekend. This was its fifth time in Belfast, but my first at the Belfast one. I'd been to two Invasion's in Dublin, the city where I live, before, but this was my first Belfast one, and I definitely am happy I changed my mind as I originally wasn't going to go. Let me try and run through what I liked best at the event. I hope I remember everything after waiting almost a week to do this post!

First off is the costumed characters. Most were great, and above are just two examples of two of them. A 212th Attack Battalion Clone and a Clone Captain Rex, and the interesting thing is that the guy who made the Rex costume did it realistic style, rather than animated, and still came out great! Let me just briefly say, I posted a ton of costumed characters that would be there on my SeparatistDestroyers group before the event, around 16 costumes in all. I didn't see all of the ones I posted, but there were also some that hadn't been posted on the Invasion Belfast page! Off the top of my head there were Darth Revan, Gamorrean Guard, a female Rebel Pilot and a Clone Commander that hadn't been posted before. Almost all of the costumes were so cool and it was great to see ones I had seen pictures of online in person, and I did get several pictures with costumed characters. Only one I didn't get which I would have liked to would be the one costuming as Maris Brood from The Force Unleashed, but I'm not too disappointed about that, as I do still have some really cool photos, including Darth Revan trying to slice my head off!

One of the things I was looking forward to was seeing artist William Sliney's work and his workshop, so I took a ton of pictures of his art! He's very popular in Ireland as far as artists go, not sure how well known he is elsewhere though but his work is definitely incredible. The above Boba image just highlights the quality of his art. Will's workshop was fun as well, even though I can tell you personally I am probably one of the worst artists ever! LOL! We had to draw Yoda & Darth Vader in the workshop, even though for the 2nd one Will allowed a group vote to see which the popular choice was, which turned out to be Vader, even though I stood up for the Wolfpack and voted for "Clone Commander Wolffe". My Dad's work was excellent though, and I asked Will to sign them, which he did, for free! So that was pretty cool.

The props were really well detailed as well. I even got to use one of the Snowtrooper cannons in The Empire Strikes Back, which was awesome. There was a lot of Endor props as well, which had a very dark feel to them.

I also got to talk to 3 of the cast members present at the event! Surprised you may be to hear this, but I chose to talk to the three Original Trilogy actors! And as I've mentioned before, Jeremy Bulloch and Tim Rose both remembered my name, so wasn't I pleasantly surprised and happy! I also talked to Anthony Forrest and got a picture with him and one with Jeremy, though Anthony didn't remember my name, but hey ho, I was surprised even those two knew my name, especially as I knew Tim's agent read my email but I was surprised to hear Tim himself had read it too! I also did get videos recorded with both of them, in which they both did a great bit of un-planned acting at the end of both! Unfortunately, I've had problems uploading them and I really hope I can get the problem fixed, as I really want to get those videos up. Jeremy and myself had a brief conversation afterwards about my channel that went something like this, though I'm not too sure of the exact words used by both of us:
Jeremy: "So, are you hoping to be the best reviewer?"
Me: Hopefully, with a lot of effort..."

Last up were the two main panels, which I both really enjoyed. The Actors Q&A was a great bit of fun and a good laugh, especially when Jerome Blake did the Brian Blessed impression. There was an awkward moment though when the woman organiser asked if anyone had questions and no one answered for two minutes so the actors just continued what they were discussing. Lastly was the quiz from Following the Nerd,  in which I got a carded Vintage Collection Darth Maul as a prize, so hopefully I will get Ray Park and/or Sam Witwer to sign it someday! Funny story: The quiz was so easy for me personally, and I got dis-qualified for consistently getting my answers right (oi... I was showing my pride for Star Wars. :P) and so I whispered a few answers in my Dad's ear until he got dis-qualified too! Afterwards I went and talked to one of the Following the Nerd people, and some of you may not know this, but back when Stephen Stanton (Captain Tarkin on The Clone Wars) first became really well-known because of Tarkin, he mentioned MY name on a Following the Nerd podcast, and that person I talked to was one of the two hosts that day, so that was really cool and exciting to learn that...

Verdict: For all my criticism, this event was MUCH better than I expected it would be. I still have to admit though, the cast selection still let me down a bit, but the politeness and generosity of the cast they did have made up for that a lot, and the events were just so cool, as were the costumes and props and all! Verdict: 9/10 PS: Not as good as this year's Invasion Dublin though!

Star Wars: The Clone Wars "Revival"

The Clone Wars is finally back, and back with a bang! We did have to wait a while for the new season, but it was by far more than worth the wait!

The start off the episode wasn't majorly special, I guess because we'd already effectively seen the first two scenes off the episode through preview clips. But after that, it really kicked off. To summarize the early scenes, Darth Maul & Savage Opress take out these interesting-looking Droids, Savage goes weird and starts making noises and attacking objects, Maul tries to dominate over Savage and Savage says there is no need for dominance between them, to which Maul reminds Savage of the Sith rule, a master and an apprentice, and that Savage is the apprentice. That was basically what happened in the clips from this episode, and pretty much as I expected, Maul defeated Savage a few seconds after the clip was cut off, by using one of his cyborg legs to grab Savage in the face and slam him into the ground. Savage then gets up and acts like nothing had happened in how he'd challenged Maul's rule. That scene illustrated how pointless the character of Savage Opress is now and how he is beyond redemption... didn't like that "Blue Snaggletooth" guy they also threw in, don't really know why but he seemed silly to me. 

 The whole plot of the episode was completely genius. Props to the writer of this episode. Getting Maul & Savage to try and recruit the Weequay Pirates was great, and it was a great way to bring the awesome character Hondo Ohnaka back into the show. Another well-worth-the-wait thing, as Hondo hadn't been on the show since the last episode of season 2! He was as awesome as ever in this episode, delivering some hilarious lines. It was also great to watch Pirates vs Pirates, really nice.

With the episode kicking off into turbo gear now, we witnessed a epic lightsaber duel between Darth Maul & Savage Opress vs Obi-Wan Kenobi & Adi Gallia, which in my opinion is one of the best lightsaber duels on the show so far. Maybe not the best, but up there. The addition of the music from "Witches of the Mist" was a great addition too, and really worked with this scene. It was really chilling to find out Maul's plans weren't ready yet when the Jedi arrive, as you would expect that he had his plans figured out. This duel also brought our first dark moment of season 5, with more to come this season, with another in this episode, and it was very dark. In their duel, Savage Opress force-pushes Adi Gallia into a wall, and while she's trying to recover he runs in and rams her through the chest with his horns, before stabbing her through the back with his lightsaber while she tries to breathe. So brutal, yet epic and just another example that this is NOT a kids show (also, I am aware Grievous killed Gallia in a comic before, but this show over-rides canon so as far as I'm concerned Grievous never killed Gallia. Case closed. Though while the character choice in the comic was better, death by Grievous, the WAY in which she was killed in this episode was much better, in my opinion). It was also sad when Obi-Wan shouted "Noooooooo!" in typical Star Wars fashion, and when he rendezvous with Hondo, who asks him where Gallia is, and Obi-Wan says, "She's- She's dead." I believe Obi-Wan & Adi Gallia were good friends in the EU so they may have been trying to reference that. 

And now we come to the second of the dark moments in this episode. As Hondo and the Pirates still on his side prepare to "deal" with the Pirates on Maul's side, or in other words get them back on Hondo's side, Maul & Savage go after Obi-Wan. When Maul & Savage have Obi-Wan trapped against a wall it looks hopeless, but Obi-Wan manages to catch Savage off-guard and slice off his arm. And this wasn't some silly cutting off of the arm with little to know care from anyone, like Twazzi last season in the episode "Crisis on Naboo", but no, this time it was proper and it was amazingly done. You could actually tell the pain Savage was in. Maul & Savage were forced to flee, which brings me to another point. In my opinion at least, Savage is weighing Maul down BIG TIME. Maul could achieve big things on his own, but Savage is like a liability from my point of view. I think Maul maybe might have had a chance of defeat Hondo and his Pirates if he didn't have to flee due to Savage lacking one arm, which also ended up being responsible for Maul losing part of one of his cyborg legs. I don't mind the fact that the Pirates beat them illogical, because of the condition Savage was in Maul couldn't really handle two things at once.

And lastly, the final scene was just so chilling and awesome! Palpatine basically telling the Jedi to get back to the war was great, as they need to get back to focusing on the war! Not sure how many of you readers noticed this, but in the episode when Palpatine says, "They're just petty crooks", that doesn't sound like the original TCW Palpatine voice-actor at all, Ian Abercrombie, who died earlier this year but managed to record most of his season 5 lines so we heard... it's almost like they added in another quote for whoever's replacing Ian to do, and it's a stupid little line which takes away from a great speech slightly in my opinion. Almost sounded like Corey Burton did the line, from listening again and again, and that's a problem, because aside from Count Dooku & Cad Bane, almost ALL of Corey's characters sound EXACTLY the same. Plus, it's not like the crew don't have other people who've voiced Palpatine before, Sam Witwer would be a great choice. 

PS: One additional note, Hondo mentions at one point that Obi-Wan failed to stop General Grievous destroying Hondo's old fortress/base we saw in previous seasons, from the sound of it. We can add that to a list of things we should have seen on the show in an episode, just like we never see Dooku give Pre Vizsla a scar, we just see Vizsla after he has it a while.

My verdict: In my opinion, this is THE best episode of the series. It had drama, humour, action, great dialogue, it was just a joy to watch. Rating: 10/10

My Thoughts Ahead of Star Wars: The Clone Wars Season 5

This time I am posting my thoughts ahead of some of the more important or interesting things ahead of Season 5!

Maul/Death Watch: Really looking forward to this! Can't wait to see what ends up coming of most of the major characters in this story (yes, I read the spoilers but I meant now seeing it all visually). The Sidious clip from Comic-Con was very nice, and I look forward especially to Pre Vizsla vs Maul & Sidious vs Maul & Savage Opress!

Onderon: I really look forward to this arc as well! I personally like LuxSoka or just Lux & Ahsoka together over any of the other "options", so I'm looking forward to how this arc develops those two characters. The new character Steela looks interesting too. Very interesting to see where this arc goes, because it sounds like both Ahsoka & Steela have feelings for Lux, but it is like Lux is unsure at first.

Thorn episode: Not sure if this is connected to another arc, probably will be, but I'm definitely looking forward to seeing Commander Thorn in action! He looked very badass in the trailer for sure! Though, like many others who predicted this, I predict Thorn will end up just being another Clone they kill off...

Cato Neimoidia: I'm also excited to see what goes on for this planet next season, especially as we will be seeing the new Jedi Starfighters here. Also, we are apparently going to see that "incident" mentioned in Revenge of the Sith as not counting as a time when Anakin apparently saved Obi-Wan, so I look forward to seeing what that's all about!

Padme/Clovis: I honestly was someone who NEVER believed Rush Clovis was dead back when "Senate Spy" aired, so I think it's cool that they brought him back, as his being there could add something to Anakin & Padme's relationship. I don't generally look forward to too many Anakin-centric episodes, but this I might not mind if done well. It just depends how good this arc turns out to be.

Droids arc: I'll admit it, I'm honestly not looking forward to this arc, AT ALL! Sure, I love the Republic Commando's as much as the next fan, and can't wait to see the new one, Gregor, in action, but I get the feeling this arc will just be so bad. Generally, the episodes where R2-D2 and/or C-3PO are the worst in the show, so I'd be surprised if this is an exception. Plus, the Commando might only appear in 1 or 2 of the 4 episodes this arc is supposed to be. Hopefully the arc proves me wrong, but I'd be surprised. PS: Though I will add the voice Stephen Stanton does for the little guy is awesome. :)

Ahsoka vs Ventress arc: Totally looking forward to this! We KNOW Ahsoka cannot due though as Ashley Eckstein says she has recorded lines for Season 6 already, but it will still be an awesome lightsaber duel to see. What will happen to both of these characters after the duel? I can't wait to find that out and more next season!!!

The Big Bang Theory Review "The Date Night Variable"

It's finally here! The new season of the comedy show, The Big Bang Theory is here. I've been looking forward to the new season for months to see where they go next with the characters, and the opening episode didn't let me down! 

Characters in the episode: Sheldon Cooper, Leonard Hofstadter, Rajesh Koothrappali, Howard Wolowitz, Penny, Amy Farrah Fowler, Bernadette Rostenkowski Wolowitz, Stuart Bloom, Mrs. Wolwitz & Dimitri. 

An interesting thing to note was the addition of Amy and Bernadette in the final intro shot for the intro this season, as before that it was usually just Sheldon, Leonard, Howard, Raj and Penny in the shot I'm talking about. Also, Stuart who was just a minor character before is now pushed up to be the 8th major character on the show. 

Well, this show is meant to be a comedy show aimed towards "geeks"  or anyone into science-fiction stuff, and the humour certainly wasn't lacking, even after 5 seasons. This was a very funny episode for sure. From just light humour to dark, such as when Leonard pointed out to Sheldon and Raj that the water Howard and the others had in space was supposedly made from each other's recycled urine, which was a disgusting yet funny joke at the same time! And of course, the conversations between Howard and his mother, Mrs. Wolowitz, just never get dull! This below is a good example from this episode:

"HOWARD?! CAN YOU HEAR ME?!"

"I can hear you WITHOUT THE PHONE."

"So, what's this mishegas I hear about you going out to live with the little Polish girl?"

"How about calling her my wife?"

"Wives don't take boys from their mothers..."

"They do, that's why we MARRY THEM."

"I just hope I'm not dead from a broken heart before you get back."

"Ma, please. Everyone from NASA is listening to this phone call."

"Good! They should know what a horrible son you are!" 

Classic humour between those two characters. :)

Also, it was very interesting to see Howard inside the space shuttle, which was barely shown in the season, and how he and his Russian counter-part in the shuttle, Dimitri, dealt with zero-gravity. It was really cool just watching them float inside the shuttle!

We also got to see more conflict between Howard and his his mother and Bernadette are on opposite sides of what they want for him, we got to see how lonely Raj is being the only single guy of the group and how he becomes really good friends with Stuart. We got our first hint at that rocky relationship between Leonard & Penny this season. It was amusing how Sheldon invited Raj to his and Amy's date, making Amy unhappy and forcing Raj to leave. Then we got to a part I really liked in that scene: Amy wasn't happy because she felt Sheldon wasn't being genuine with her anymore, so she prepared to leave but Sheldon called her back to tell her a speech. And I was thinking while watching, "Hey! That speech sounds familiar!", and I was right! It turned out that Sheldon used the very last quote in the first Spider-Man film, which I thought was really cool! Amy reluctantly took it. 

It was also interesting to see more of the rocky relationship that Leonard & Penny are going through, even when he invites her over just to have a few beers and watch a football game it still ends up getting difficult, especially when Raj comes in and tries to force Penny to tells Leonard, "I love you", into Leonard's eyes, something Penny hasn't done yet, and Raj gets kicked out.

I really liked the ending of the episode too. While still in the space shuttle, Howard has to deal with his unhappy mother and wife, Bernadette, and try to make them both happy. He succeeds for now, but knows it won't last, which leads to the other dialogue scene in this review, between Howard & Dimitri:

"Loops, you just lied your ass off to your wife, and your mother." -Dimitri
"I know..." -Howard
"What are you going to do when you get back to Earth?" -Dimitri
"Oh I'm never going back!" -Howard

My verdict: A great start to the new season, with a good sign of things to come. I've already read a bit of what's come in the next episode, and it does sound interesting, and apparently the teasing Howard has been getting from his fellow Space crew will turn into proper bullying! So it will be interesting to see how or if Howard deals with that. Rating: 9/10

New Seasons of two of my favourite TV Shows Coming This Weekend!

As you may have heard or already know, both of my favourite two on-going TV shows start their new seasons this week. The comedy show The Big Bang Theory begins its 6th season, while Star Wars: The Clone Wars will enter Season 5. As of now I'm not too sure if Season 6 is the last for The Big Bang Theory, but I have heard there will be more, and Season 5 definitely isn't the last for The Clone Wars. PS: Technically, the new season of The Big Bang Theory starts on Thursday, but I won't be able to watch it until after school on Friday so it technically for me will be on the weekend!

 It will be interesting for sure to see where The Big Bang Theory goes next. After all, Howard Wolowitz has been sent into space and the last season ended with a great scene of Leonard & Penny holding hands, Sheldon & Amy holding hands and Raj and Bernadette holding hands hoping that Howard would be safe, so it will be interesting to see what happens next there. From the few hints I've heard of the future of The Big Bang Theory, Raj will finally get a girl after all this time and all his friends having one and that Leonard & Penny (pictured above), will have another rocky relationship in the new season. Plus, we will finally find out Penny's last name in some episode! She's the only one of the main cast who's surname is still unknown...

I can't say too much about Star Wars: The Clone Wars Season 5 right now as I'm saving up a big blog post later this week on what I think, but I'm really excited for the premiere episode! After initially being sceptical of it because Darth Maul is the main focus, it sounds really good from the spoilers I've heard and the clips I've seen. Really looking forward to the opening episode for sure!

The Voice of the Republic Podcast Episode 1

Me and my friend Daniel Schofield launched the first episode of our new podcast The Voice of the Republic recently! It was an episode filled with fun, and I wouldn't be against saying it's up as one of the best podcasts I've been on so far. Joining us were our friend Alex, known as TexComplex on Youtube, and voice-actor Dave Fennoy, who voiced General Pong Krell in the Umbara arc in Star Wars: The Clone Wars Season 4. After Dave & Tex left, me and Daniel discussed CVI, Celebration Europe II, The Vintage Collection line and The Clone Wars TV show for a bit. 

Link to listen to this episode is below:
http://kiwi6.com/file/t8dhav2sfu

In our 2nd episode coming later this week, we will be chatting with friend David Delgado and Original Trilogy actor Alan Flyng, who played background roles in the Original Trilogy including a Storm Trooper in Empire Strikes Back in the Carbonite Chamber and a Imperial Officer in Return of the Jedi. After our interview with Alan, we plan to discuss Star Wars: Detours, the Lego Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Out TV special and some of The Clone Wars S5 ahead of "Revival". 

My Thoughts Ahead of Invasion Belfast V

So as you probably all know now, I have changed my mind and now will be going to Invasion Belfast V after all! Let me go through the main things I am focusing on for what I will do there!

The panels: This to be honest is what changed my mind on whether to go or not. When they posted the schedule for the two days, I looked through the schedule, and everything going on just sounded really fun! Ok, there are a couple of things for the little kids I don't need to think about, of course, but their are some nice panels for sure. Very excited to see the Drawing Star Wars Workshops by Will Sliney. He's a talented artist, so that panel will be good to see. It's on at three separate times during the day too, so no way will I be able to miss it! The Actors Q&A from the three Original Trilogy actors who will be there (Jeremy Bulloch, Anthony Forrest & Tim Rose) will be good to go to as well, and finally the the Quiz from Following the Nerd! Definitely those are what I look forward to most from this event.

The cast: I will admit, I am still very much let down by the cast selection. No one that blows me away is coming. Don't get me wrong, Jeremy Bulloch is a GREAT guy and very nice to talk to, but when he's at literally every Invasion event it does get a bit redundant (or just crazy if redundant offends anyone, which I don't mean to). I understand Jeremy has been a huge supporter behind Invasion and has helped it become so popular, but I still think it would be ok to leave him out every once in a while. Will Sliney was at Invasion Dublin earlier this year, so again a bit of a silly choice, but I still look forward to his panel I mentioned before. Then we get to the three new guests I haven't met before, and honestly wouldn't mind missing out on them, or two of them at least. First we have Anthony Forrest, who plays the oh-so-iconic (yes, that was sarcasm if you couldn't tell), "Move along!" Sandtrooper from A New Hope and a character called Fixer who was in some deleted scene. I don't want to be too critical of Anthony, but I'm sure there are MANY better cast choices Invasion could've gotten over a Sandtrooper. Next is Jerome Blake, the only Prequel Trilogy actor there who basically plays several of the ugliest Prequel Trilogy characters (Oppo Rancissis, Orn Free Taa, Rune Haako & Mas Ameeda). Nothing too exciting there. Lastly is Tim Rose. I'll admit, I'm a bit interested to meet him, but he wouldn't be anywhere near my first choice. And let's face it, people MAY only go this guy because he said the amazing line, "It's a trap!". Again, I'm trying not to be critical, but I think the cast selection is a let-down, considering how great Invasion Dublin's was in terms of variety and choices.

Collectable stalls: These conventions are a great way to buy some more items for the collection! Unfortunately due to saving for Celebration Europe II next year, I won't be able too buy that many things probably, it all depends on the prices, but I wouldn't mind getting around 3 or 4 figures, new or older.

Photo Area & Props: Let's admit it, how COOL is it for us Star Wars fans to pretend we're getting pictures with actual characters in when you meet people who do great costumes of certain characters? I know I enjoy it, and look forward to seeing the costumed characters at this event and hopefully get a few pics! And it's always great to see what amazing props the designers create! Many of the props are detailed so accurately it's unbelievable! 

Anyway, I can't wait to go on the Saturday of the two days this event will be held, and I hope I will have a good time! Hopefully I can get videos from Jeremy Bulloch & Tim Rose mainly for my Youtube channel. Anything is possible, right?