Back to the Clone Wars: Trespass
Jun. 17th, 2011 09:05 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
krpalmerAgain, it seems to have been entirely too long since I last watched one of the episodes from the Clone Wars first season DVD set; I suppose thinking in terms not just of finding time to rewatch episodes but also to write up comments on them has something to do with it. Maybe by the time I get to the second season set I won't feel so compelled to do both; I am, after all, not dwelling quite so much on the creators making a big deal of connections to the old movies in the little documentaries attached to each episode.
With "Trespass," though, I suppose I was expecting lots of connections established to The Empire Strikes Back, given the episode takes place on an ice planet... but almost to my surprise, what the creators made a big deal of was Ralph McQuarrie's production paintings, specifically how the blues of the ice and the clonetrooper snow armour was drawn from them. In an extended digression wondering just what the primitive natives ate and used for fuel (happening to point out "we can be obsessed with this sort of thing too"), they also managed to mention another painting that had plants of some sort growing in an ice cavern. I suppose that in rewatching the episode, I realised how both Anakin and Obi-Wan's snow coats had hoods with furry trim, which reduced my feeling they were wearing different callbacks to the cold-weather gear of the movie, even if both of them were now admitted by the creators to be based on Han Solo's distinctive parka.
After all of that, commenting on the episode almost amounts to an afterthought (one of the reasons, perhaps, why I might even be looking forward to not feeling compelled to make up these posts any more.) I seem to recall some dismissive opinions of this episode, but at the time I was able to convince myself "arrogant colonizers get their comeuppance" is a theme in science fiction. As well, when the creators pointed out how Anakin and Obi-Wan wound up in a more "diplomatic" role, calling back to pre-Clone Wars days, I was able to think the episode wasn't just referencing the old movies.
With "Trespass," though, I suppose I was expecting lots of connections established to The Empire Strikes Back, given the episode takes place on an ice planet... but almost to my surprise, what the creators made a big deal of was Ralph McQuarrie's production paintings, specifically how the blues of the ice and the clonetrooper snow armour was drawn from them. In an extended digression wondering just what the primitive natives ate and used for fuel (happening to point out "we can be obsessed with this sort of thing too"), they also managed to mention another painting that had plants of some sort growing in an ice cavern. I suppose that in rewatching the episode, I realised how both Anakin and Obi-Wan's snow coats had hoods with furry trim, which reduced my feeling they were wearing different callbacks to the cold-weather gear of the movie, even if both of them were now admitted by the creators to be based on Han Solo's distinctive parka.
After all of that, commenting on the episode almost amounts to an afterthought (one of the reasons, perhaps, why I might even be looking forward to not feeling compelled to make up these posts any more.) I seem to recall some dismissive opinions of this episode, but at the time I was able to convince myself "arrogant colonizers get their comeuppance" is a theme in science fiction. As well, when the creators pointed out how Anakin and Obi-Wan wound up in a more "diplomatic" role, calling back to pre-Clone Wars days, I was able to think the episode wasn't just referencing the old movies.