Two new clips from The Clone Wars! I love Doctor Who and I love Star Wars, so this is a match made in heaven. This week, we’re given further glimpses into the life of Jedi padawans and I couldn’t be more excited about it.

From the official release:

David Tennant, best known as the tenth doctor to play The Doctor on the hit series Doctor Who, will make his Star Wars: The Clone Wars debut this week in “A Test of Strength,” airing Saturday, November 10th at 9:30am ET/PT on Cartoon Network.

Tennant will voice the character Huyang, a droid who greatly impacts the journey of a group of young Jedi, who were just setting out to build their first lightsabers in last week’s episode. The famed actor will continue to appear in the series for the following two episodes, “Bound for Rescue” and “A Necessary Strength.”

“When I heard the Doctor himself, David Tennant, was a fan of Star Wars I knew I had to find a way to get in contact with him to see if he would perform on Star Wars: The Clone Wars,” said Dave Filoni, Supervising Director, Star Wars: The Clone Wars. “The result was ‘Huyang,’ an ancient droid in the service of the Jedi Order, whose sole task in life has been overseeing the construction of lightsabers. I thought David was perfect for the part and he did not disappoint. He delivered a performance which impressed even the Master himself, George Lucas.”

Trivia:

• This episode marks the first appearance of “Huyang,” an ancient droid in the service of the Jedi Order, whose sole task in life has been overseeing the construction of lightsabers. The character is voiced by David Tennant (Doctor Who, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire).
• Petro’s lightsaber training maneuver – the Whirlwind of Destiny – was actually created a young fan as part of the Join the Jedi contest sponsored by Hasbro. The winning entry was animated into the show.
• The training remotes seen aboard the Crucible are the same design as the one seen aboard the Millennium Falcon in Episode IV, and in Jedi Temple youngling training verandah in Episode II.

Oh, and here’s Hondo, coming back to start trouble. Looks like the younglings might be on the menu…

After License to Kill hit screens in 1989, the Bond franchise went into unintentional hibernation, thanks to litigation over film rights. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer/United Artists had a plan to keep Bond in the collective consciousness as well as introduce the super-spy to a younger audience (well, kind of). The product of that little brainstorm is James Bond Jr.

The show was Produced by UA and Murakami/Wolf/Swenson, who is best known for the original TMNT cartoon. The premise is that many of the offspring/younger relatives of prominent government officials around the world   are to attend Warfield Academy, a heavily fortified school meant to educate and protect. If you ask me, that would actually make it a prime target for bombing by the bad guys, but again I’m not a member of S.C.U.M. (Saboteurs and Criminals United in Mayhem).

Anyway, because the show is set up in this way, you can get a nice mix of characters, many of which coincidentally happen to be related to some famous Bond characters. Of particular note are Gordo Leiter, son of Felix, and requisite surfer/party dude. Also in the cast is Horace “I.Q.” Boothroyd III, grandson of Q, who may be even more brilliant than his famous granddad.

Of course, Bond (any Bond) is nothing without his villains, and young James definitely has his fair share. In addition to newcomers like Doctor Derange, Walker D. Plank and Ms. Fortune, we have a slew of returning characters from the original films as well such as:

Auric Goldfinger: He appeared in a few episodes and looked pretty good for a guy who got sucked out of an airplane at 20,000 feet.

Oddjob: Returning as Goldfinger’s henchman, Oddjob’s run in with the electric fence has scrambled his fashion sense, trading his bowler for a top hat and his sleek black suit is exchanged for a purple and green jogging suit with a gold chain that says “OJ”.

Dr. No: Apparently boiling to death just changed his skin to green, like every other Asian villain in 90’s cartoons.

Jaws: After Moonraker, Jaws has appeared to get a literal steel jaw as well as teeth.

Nick Nack: Pretty much relegated to a sidekick of a sidekick, Nick Nack and Jaws are usually paired together like a homicidal Laurel and Hardy.

Although it only lasted for a year, the show made quite an impact, making up it’s own little merchandising empire. Aside from the 65 episodes produced, the show also spawned a toy line, a 12-issue series from Marvel comics, and video games for the Nintendo and the Super Nintendo. The show itself was filled with Bond-isms. James Jr. is witty, and quite the charmer, I.Q. has some crazy gadgets that work both practically and for comedic effect, and the Bond Jr. girls have appropriately punny names (appropriate for a kid’s show, that is). Where else could you find names like Bunny Slopes, Lotta Dinaro and Marci Beaucoup?

When it comes to the aforementioned tie-ins, the comics fared much better than the video games. While starting out as simple adaptations of TV episodes, the comics eventually started telling original stories, culminating in a final issue bash where young Bond has to face all of his villains!

The games? well, they were either were nigh-incomprehensible claptrap, or just plain boring. If you can get through these videos, you’re a better man than I, Gunga Din!

“>httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkI0d1FHlhM

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCn2TvoHyJY

The legacy of James Bond Jr. was felt after the film series re-started with Pierce Brosnan. For instance, one of the villains from GoldenEye, General Ouromov, actually appeared in this show first, with much the same motivations. The longest lasting impression though is probably the gadgets invented by I.Q. that found their way into the films, such as the remote controlled car, and various watch gadgets like the grappling hook.

Unfortunately, the show is pretty much forgotten today, and is not available for purchase, but thanks to the magic of YouTube, you can watch the first episode below. I’ve also included some of the official design sheets used in the show’s production for your perusal. Enjoy!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCd9I8GcmzQ

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKUKmnaU19o

Warning: there are spoilers in this review.

This episode gave us the thrilling conclusion of the Onderon arc. It saw plenty of action, suspense, drama, and references to other pop culture franchises. Once again, our patience through the build-up and context of the entire arc paid off. At the beginning I really couldn’t care less about the fate of Onderon or it’s people, but after this fourth episode, I was invested fully.

The episode was absolutely gorgeous, and the look Onderon has echoes of movies like Casablanca or Raiders of the Lost Ark in the market scenes, but also the look of an exotic western through the battle scenes. There were also hints of classic Star Wars in there, too, with lines like “Yeah, but what good will that do us if (s)he gets (her)himself killed.”

And how could we not discuss the new Cylon Raider-like warships the Separatists are marching out in the war to smash the rebels of Onderon? They even say, “By your command.” I couldn’t have been more giddy as a pop-culture loving geek. And you all noticed the Empire Strikes Back like shot, right? Where Lux and Steela are kissing in the foreground with Ahsoka, the real point of the scene, looking on in the background. It was just like the Carbon freezing chamber with Vader and Fett in the background and Han and Leia staring sadly and sweetly at each other in the foreground.

But this episode certainly has a dark side, and it’s that dark side that makes this, perhaps, my favorite episode of the season so far.

You see, this is Filoni and team toying with us.

In this episode, Steela Gerrera meets her fate, sacrificing herself as a martyr, but there is a significant effort to save her that will have an emotional cost for all of her comrades, especially her brother, Saw. You see, Saw fired the shot that took down the Separatist ship that crashed into Steela’s perch, dangling her precariously over a chasm. Lux Bonteri (the object of Ahsoka’s secret desire) tries to pull her to safety but slips, only to be saved at the last minute by Ahsoka and her mastery of the force. She then sets her sights to Steela herself, but is shot in the back by the barely functioning, crashed ship.

Ahsoka goes down and Steela goes down.

It’s a tragic moment that instantly flooded my tear ducts with concern. Had Ahsoka and Steela both perished?

I forgot entirely that Ahsoka is already slated for more episodes and I thought she might have just been gone. When she got up, baring a wound on a shoulder I realized what had happened, but there was still that split second where I couldn’t be sure. This is what Filoni and team is going to do to us, as often as possible between now and the eventual time her fate is decided.

Will it be death? A turn to the dark side? Leaving the Jedi order?

We have no idea and Filoni and team are going to put pressure on those expectations until the thing we expect least is what’s going to happen.

Seriously, this episode packed a wallop and I couldn’t be more happy with how it ended up. This episode was balanced with the right mixture of angst, drama, and action. More like this, please.

We’re back with another pair of previews from The Clone Wars. This is the conclusion to the Onderon arc, so my guess is that things are going to heat up for all involved. It will prove to be interesting to see how the Jedi (or, just Anakin, by the looks of this) justify their Jedi code with the parameters of their mission.

Here’s the official blurb:

As a full-scale revolt embroils Onderon, the rebels strike a decisive blow against the planet’s Separatist-aligned king. Unfortunately for the rebels, such victory comes at a high price in “Tipping Points,” airing this Saturday, October 27th at 9:30am ET/PT on Cartoon Network.

Episode Trivia:

• An unscripted response from the lead droid gunship mechanically intones “by your command,” a nod to the classic Cylons from the original Battlestar Galactica series.
• Hondo’s yacht is named the Fortune and Glory, a nod to Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, wherein Indy and Short Round talk about seeking out “fortune and glory.”
• When Lux points out to Ahsoka that Steela’s courage is all well and good but, “What good would that do us if she gets herself killed?”, it’s a deliberate echo of a line Luke Skywalker delivers about Han Solo in Episode IV.

We’ve been treated with two new clips from Saturday’s new episode of The Clone Wars. Hopefully it isn’t suddenly and deliberately yanked without warning like the entire DC block, which I was the only thing that made the time switch to Saturday bearable.

Here’s the rundown on “The Soft War”:

After an unsuccessful rebel attempt to rescue Onderon’s true king, Ramsis Dendup, an unexpected ally steps forward to halt Dendup’s execution and aid the rebel cause in “The Soft War,” airing this Saturday, October 20^th at 9:30am ET/PT on Cartoon Network.

Episode Trivia:

• Gregg Berger joins the cast of The Clone Wars as General Kalani. He is a veteran voice actor known for his work on Transformers (as Grimlock), G.I.Joe (as Spirit), and perhaps most famously, Garfield (as Odie).
• David Kaye plays General Tandin. He’s known as the voice of Clank of Ratchet & Clank videogames, the voice of Optimus Prime in Transformers: Animated and Megatron in Beast Wars: Transformers.
• General Kalani is the first super tactical droid seen in the series. A more robust version of the spindly tactical droid introduced in Season One, several tactical droid designs will appear throughout Season Five.

This was unveiled earlier today at NYCC. It looks like Marvel is trying again to catch up to DC with their animation department.

And maybe The Clone Wars has spoiled me from digital animation.

Here’s the official synopsis:

This is the ultimate Marvel Animation Studios Super Hero team-up starring iconic Marvel characters, Iron Man and Hulk. Audiences will enjoy an adrenaline rush as they see their favorite Super Heroes as never before in this all-new groundbreaking Marvel CG-animation movie experience available only on Blu-ray™, DVD and Digital platforms. Marvel’s Iron Man & Hulk: Heroes United is an incredible pairing of Hulk’s brute strength and Iron Man’s high-tech intellect. Presented in the mighty Marvel manner, their combined force is unstoppable in this feature-length original animated adventure.

I wonder if the Separatists expected to be greeted as liberators on Onderon. If so, a robust insurgency probably wasn’t in their plan.

The second installment of the Onderon arc throws us into the middle of an armed rebellion on the planet Onderon with the Separatists and local authorities trying to find ways to repel them and crush their political ideology. Though I felt this episode was incredibly straight-forward with the action, I think it raises a lot of moral gray areas, and that’s where it does the best.

I expect a lot of people will dismiss this episode and not give it a second thought. Onderon is a planet we’ve barely heard of, the fate of its people doesn’t matter a whole lot in the grandest of schemes, and, in this episode, we’re left watching Ahsoka oversee the rebellion. But this is an episode that’s going to be working on the brains of many who follow the news and many who are interested in talking about these political quandaries with their children.

I know Filoni and crew told us we wouldn’t be seeing more politics episodes, at least not in the senate, but I would argue that this is the most political arc we’ve seen. Perhaps not in the politics of Star Wars, but real world politics.

The point of any military action against a people is to demonize the enemy in the eyes of the folks back at home. But no one sees themselves as the bad guy, and we only know enough about any given conflict to settle into an “us vs. them” ideology. In conflicts around the world today and over the last ten years, we in America have been conditioned to see “insurgencies” and “rebels” as the bad guys. They’re shooting at our men and they must be dealt with. But drilling down into the motives of those doing the harm you see a group of patriots working to liberate their country from an occupying force. We’re being given a taste of something on a much smaller scale with these episodes, and I think it’s important to develop that empathy for “freedom fighters” and try to understand where our “enemies” are coming from. By wrapping these episodes up in the language we’d been given for those fighting for freedom in the Middle East, we’re forced to draw those parallels with the real world.

This episode reinforced that broader point.

The other thing we were given is a lot of Star Wars dialogue references that brought a smile to my face. “No. No problem, why?” “Let’s blow this thing!” “He’s my brother…” and a few others that I didn’t catch quickly enough to write down. Talking to Filoni over the years, he’s said that the show will be getting back to Star Wars basics and these bits of dialogue are really that showing on the surface. This entire episode permeates that idea, that we’d be seeing beleaguered rebels, outmatched and outgunned, fighting the good fight against forces of evil.

The other moment I found very telling is the subtle jealousy issues we keep seeing Ahsoka forced to deal with. Lux Bonteri, Steela, and Saw are very much a Han/Luke/Leia love triangle turned on its ear a bit, with Ahsoka looking in from the outside. We see Anakin pick up on this immediately and open up to her about it, even in full view of Obi-wan… It’s a step in their relationship that I think could very easily lead to Anakin opening up to Ahsoka completely. Wouldn’t it be tragic if Anakin finally lets Ahsoka in on the secret, and it’s Ahsoka somehow saving Padme because of that knowledge that causes her death? It would enhance and reinforce Anakin’s actions concerning his relationship in Revenge of the Sith and make his turn that much more heartbreaking.

This was a solid episode and I enjoyed it much more than the last, though I could do with more drama and less action. The action means more when the story has built up the stakes and I think Onderon could use a lot more building up in the grand scheme of things.

If this is just a taste of the broader conflict, I can’t wait for the main course.

The next episode of the Onderon arc is coming and it looks like it’s going to be action packed with infiltration. It feels very much like a city version of the rebels in Return of the Jedi infiltrating the bunker.

Here’s the official breakdown and trivia:

Supervised by Ahsoka, the Onderon rebels infiltrate the capital and carry out a series of strikes on targets throughout the city. As the Separatist-aligned king comes under increasing pressure to deal with the growing rebellion, the rebels choose a new leader in “Front Runners,” airing this Saturday, October 13th at 9:30am ET/PT on Cartoon Network.

Episode Trivia:
· As is evident in this episode, the design of Iziz draws heavily from ancient Rome. King Sanjay Rash’s design heavily features Roman influences, included a headband that suggest gilded laurel leaves at his temples.

The look of the Onderon rebels are very much inspired by the look of the commandos in Return of the Jedi.

The droid watchtower seen in Iziz resembles a similar platform used by Rebel sentries on Yavin 4 in Star Wars, except these are elevated by repulsorlift technology as opposed to mounted on a physical stalk.

A War on Two Fronts might well be the start of something new for The Clone Wars. The episode starts with a compelling debate about the difference between terrorists and rebels. These are shades of gray in the argument and such nuance to an issue so hotly debated isn’t something you’d expect to see in a kids show. It’s to the credit of George Lucas, Filoni, and team that they’d bring elements like this into the show.

Onderon is a planet taken over by the Separatists, making it a target for the Republic, but there is a sizable guerilla force on the planet who isn’t happy that their leaders have rolled over and joined the enemy. They’re led by a fellow named Saw Gerrera, which sounds startlingly similar to another guerilla freedom fighter, Che Guevara… Anakin goes to the Jedi council and convinces them to support the rebels, which is so logical for his character. We’ve seen Anakin, through the prequels and this series, use the most stunning leaps in logic to support bending and breaking the rules, ultimately to his destruction. Justifying the use of terrorist tactics in areas populated by civilians seems to be the direction this episode is heading and we’ll see how that goes for the Jedi who are reluctantly going along with Anakin’s plan.

Anakin brings Obi-wan, Rex, Ahsoka to Onderon with him, giving them each a chance to put their mark on the training of the rebels. Rex sports a new, non-Republic uniform that I’d love to see some members of the 501st legion rocking.

It’s important to note that the Jedi are now wearing hooded robes in the course of the episode, something that hasn’t been done before except for quick moments. The animators are proving once again how far they’ve come since the start of the show.

One thing that’s been lost a little bit in the last couple of seasons but seems to be coming back are small touches I loved. First, the humour of the droids. I might have been the only one who thought the droids on this show, voiced by Matthew Wood, were a vital tension breaker, giving us much needed laughs, but they were back to being goofy in this episode. I appreciated it. Another thing I liked that others didn’t seem to (but hopefully they’re into it now) is Anakin calling Ahsoka “Snips.”

After the initial moral question of terrorism, the driving conflict of the episode seems to be Ahsoka’s “love triangle” with Lux Bonteri and one of the other rebels during their training. It’s subtle. Which is where this episode didn’t hit home for me as well as I would have liked. There were very few surprises in the episode. They train the rebels in all the tactics they’ll need to fight the droids when they attack later in the episode.

And it’s important to note how cool the probe droids are. We can add that to the list of classic trilogy characters that appear on the show, right?

This episode really feels like act one of a set up. Until I see the rest and what this builds to, I’m nto sure I can capably say much else about how I felt about it. As a stand-alone, it was gorgeous, but a little dry.

I had the chance to enjoy The AristoCats and both of The Rescuers films on Blu-ray recently, and I was struck by how good they are. I think you’d be hard pressed to find someone to point to any of these three movies as their favorite Disney films. They’re too overshadowed by bonafide classics like Lady and the Tramp, Dumbo, Alice in Wonderland, Robin Hood, Peter Pan, and a dozen other films people seem to like more.

But these films are very unique on their own, beautiful for their own reasons, and quite capably carve out their own place in Disney movie history.

The AristoCats came out in 1970, preceded by The Jungle Book and followed immediately by Robin Hood, it seems to have come out at just the wrong time. Made and conceived in the swingin’ sixties it has all the imagery of a classic acid trip, flashing colors, and seemingly drugged up, jazz playing cats, all set against a proper British backdrop. It is a classic Disney story in every sense, right down to the practically mustache twirling villain, a butler named Edgar, a protagonist voiced by Disney favorite Phil Harris (Baloo in Jungle Book and Little John in Robin Hood), and a bunch of cute anthropmorphized animals. But it was released in the 70s, when perhaps the appetite for such a story and visual story wasn’t as great.

It really isn’t the finest of Disney films, but holds up remarkably well. The sketchy animation is reminiscent of 101 Dalmations, which came out just nine years prior, making one wonder if this was just the film they made for cat lovers.

The music is memorable, the images are catchy, and it looks stunning on Blu-ray. If you’ve overlooked this Disney film because of the reputation of others, you owe it to yourself to check this one out. You can pick it up on Amazon for a limited time.

The Rescuers films fall very much into that same middle ground. It was released in the summer of 1977, competing against Star Wars and another Disney film: The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.

For me, this is actually one of my favorite Disney films. Bob Newhart kills me in every role he’s in and his Bernard character is one of the most charming of Disney’s heroes. Add to it the creepy Louisiana bayou backdrop and a pair of mice trying to defeat a crazy Cruella DeVille sort of character and save an adorable orphan named Penny and you have all the makings of a solid Disney film but overshadowed by everything else going on.

This was also the last Disney cartoon to come out until The Fox and the Hound, which kicked off Disney’s dry spell for a long time.

A sequel was conceived and, for many, holds up better than the original. The Rescuers Down Under was wedged in release right between The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast and you wonder why no one seems to remember it. This brings the Rescue Aid Society to Australia and gives us quite a fun adventure. The technical achievements of the film are stunning in Blu-ray as well. They did a lot of perspective work and landscapes digitally and seeing them play out on a massive TV in high definition is a thing of beauty. Never has the animated outback looked so good.

And since they’re selling both Rescuers films for the price of one, these are two films worth revisiting ASAP.