There be reviews here!

Just a regular update to let everyone know there are reviews up over at Television Zombies for the most recent episodes of Dollhouse and The Clone Wars episode 19. Also, #75 of TVZ is a listener call in show, check it out.

Also, I'm going to start posting my reviews here as well. No reason not to. I hope to drive some traffic to TVZ and I get content as well. Win/win.

To that end, here's a treat, review of episode 20 of The Clone Wars as not yet seen on TVZ. (Tantalizing!)

Review: Clone Wars 1.20 - "Innocents of Ryloth"

In "Storm Over Ryloth" we learn the Separatists have taken the twi'lek homeworld, starving the inhabitants and using them as human shields. The Separatists are using Ryloth as a droid reclamation outpost and the operation is run by Wat Tambor, a Techno Union Foreman and lead strategist. He directed Mar Tuuk's blockade as well as a tactical droid's hostage taking in a small twi'lek city.

The blockade broken by Anakin and Ahsoka, General Kenobi and Master Mace Windu begin their surface attack. However, the droid army, led by a rather egotistical tactical droid, have some major artillery in an outlying city, preventing the main Republic force from landing. The canons are surrounded by twi'lek hostages, making them impossible targets of Republic bombing. Kenobi and a few gunships full of clones set down outside the range of the canons and approach on foot. Some lead scouts find a small girl, Numa, who's been left behind. Her involvement is very reminiscent of both the first time Princess Liea met Wicket and the help Newt gave to Ridley in navigating the facility air ducts. Numa is able to lead the clones underneath the city and avoiding most of the droids. Obi-wan sneaks in and uses one of the canons to blast the others. The hostages then rise up and pull the head off the tactical droid. The Republic can now land safely and plan their assault on the Rylothian capital city.

Obi-wan even withheld offering his trademark smirking one liners. In fact, the General showed some impressive Force control during an attack by a few dozen giant, heavy shelled tick-like beasties. "The Force can have a strong impact on the weak minded," was a line he later used talking to Luke about getting past Stormtroopers, but subtle nudges in disposition are nothing compared to drawing a dozen elephant sized, heavily armored and hungry creatures into a dead end and having your clone troopers collapse the walls behind them.

In fact, "subtle" was clearly avoided in "Innocents." As with most of the show, things exist in heavy contrast to each other, likely to appeal to younger audiences. It's never in doubt who the bad guys are, but smaller things like the twi'leks being such bright ranges of colors, but their city being a drab uniform brown; the clones being so cool and calculating but inherently human versus the slapstick buffoonery of the metal and circuit droids; little Numa who weeps at the loss of her home but is unafraid of rushing head long into unknown, possibly droid infested areas.

"Innocents" has the ignoble position of being the second of three installments and as far as confrontations go, it was not as impressive as "Storm Over Ryloth." The numbers were smaller, the battles were more intimate and yet it still conveyed a sense of urgency. What's little known of the twi'lek race is that their chief export is slaves. This makes the Republic's fight on Ryloth a little deeper than what's seen on the surface. Most viewers will understand the Republic's desire to remove the Separatists from their position at the end of the famed Corellian run and return Ryloth to a Republic friendly status, but they're also freeing a people whose main purpose in the galaxy is to be slaves. It's perhaps the one subtlety this episode provided and it would have shown and even deeper understanding from the writers had they mentioned this fact.

Still, a solid episode. Well worth the four and a half green light sabers.