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