Secret Weapons is the first part of the D-Squad arc and I have to admit, it’s a wonderful setup and a great side-story to the heart of The Clone Wars. It follows a very James Bond-like storyline with a Dirty Dozen style of mission. Colonel Gascon (played quite wonderfully by Stephen Stanton) is assigned a team of droids of varying abilities and told to infiltrate the Separatist fleet to steal an encryption module so they can crack enemy cryptography. It’s the same sort of set up you saw repeatedly in James Bond films, starting with Sean Connery’s hunt for a Lektor in From Russia With Love.
Then, the team is taken to a Peter Lorre-like Doctor (played by Dee Bradley Baker) who gives them gadgets specific to their mission. Then, they’re left to carry out the assignment.
This episode is quite wisely played for laughs and charm, but it also has action and suspense elements to it that can’t help but be compelling.
Artoo, WAC (a wise-cracking screw up of a Pit Droid), and a few other astromechs (including an adorable and indispensable pink QT-KT droid) infiltrate the Seperatist fleet and go on their covert mission to steal the codes that will aid the Republic. It’s straightforward, fun, and incredibly well-lit and animated. It’s amazing how much personality can be infused into a group of faceless astromech droids and a Plankton-like colonel with a Napoleon complex when they’re arrayed against an entire army of Seperatist droids.
The lighting through the ships, on the display panels, and coming from the droids themselves is second-to-none. Even in what some might consider to be a series of throwaway episodes, the artistry on display is nothing short of jaw-dropping.
And more than anything? This episode just made me laugh. The whole way through. I’ve really enjoyed when the series gets silly now and again. Star Wars is fun. Bombad Jedi is still one of my favorite episodes. This is very much in that vain and it’s a good thing.
This episode put a smile on my face the whole way through, and that’s all you can ask for. It was good Star Wars and I’m excited to see the rest of this arc play out.