Friday Night Lineup

I don't think I can say this strongly enough: the new Star Wars cartoon series "The Clone Wars" is freaking awesome, and any Star Wars fan staying away for any reason is a fool.

Episode 1.4 - "Destroy Malevolence"

This episode is the last in the three part "Malevolence" arc, and boy was it worth it. Each episode kept getting better and better, culminating with Padme getting taken hostage on a large enemy ship, Skywalker and Obi Wan sneaking on board to save her, Obi-Wan trying to destroy the hyper-drive, and R2D2/C3PO shenanigans.

Sound familiar?

In what had to be a fun homage/flashback, "Destroy Malevolence" delights in riffing down memory lane. Except, all this actually happened first. Go figure.

The "evil" battle droids continue to be hilarious. I don't care if they're only being used for comic relief. It works.


Padme - Wow. At first I wasn't sure I would like her (as NP doesn't do the voice), but her animation is beautiful, especially the face. Also: there is no possible way her pants could be any tighter. Let's just say she's a valuable "asset," and I hope she's a major character in this series.

Obi-Wan and Anakin had great interaction, as did Anakin and Padme. You can see how much Anakin loves Padme, which helps solidify the explanation for what he does in REVENGE OF THE SITH.

Couple other quick highlights:

When R2D@ rescues C3PO, the golden ponce exclaims, "Oh, R2! You're a sight for short circuits!"

There is a escalator/subway system that moves throughout Grevious's giant ship The Malevolence. It's really well constructed, and obviously took a lot of thought into not only what would make an exciting sequence (a small battle that takes place on the different "tracks"), but someone clearly sat down and thought about how people/droids would move around a ship the size of Rhode Island.

Anyway, at one point General Grevious is going to look for Padme, and he jumps off the moving track. As he stalks around we hear in the background, "Mind the gap."

It's the little details that make Star Wars such a joy.



Crusoe - I didn't see it Friday night, but I'm going to try to catch it on hulu, and then give a quick review. Why? Because I love you. Check back here later.

Update (5:27 pm)

I finally watched Crusoe




I think I had more fun coming up with analogies than I did watching the program. Actually, that isn't fair. Crusoe was perfectly entertaining dumb TV. Friday night is the right time for it. It's the kind of show that works if you have nothing better to do, or you need something to make fun of before going out. I found myself laughing out loud several times, only some of which were intentional (on the show's part).


Crusoe is like Pirates of the Caribbean without the Production Values.

Crusoe is like LOST without the mysticism

Crusoe is like The Swiss Family Robinson without the hot mom

Crusoe is like Gilligan's Island without Mrs. Howell. (You get the idea that even though Crusoe is stuck on an uninhabited desert island thousands of miles from anywhere, he will inexplicably run into humans on a weekly basis.

Crusoe is like McGuyver, without the homosexuality.

Actually, I take that back. There is a huge homoerotic vibe between Crusoe and the Savage "Friday" who is his friend. Call it "Brokeback Island." (If the show were to inexplicably become a big hit, I would expect SNL to jump on that sketch idea.)

There were some cool things in the two hour pilot. Crusoe is a whiz and inventing various contraptions. And there is a lot of flashback, where we (presumably) will eventually learn the big mystery that has this Eric Stoltz look-alike on the island. (In the flashbacks, Sam Neill plays his benefactor and Sean Bean plays his father, so there is some potential there, as why would you cast big names unless they are going to come into play?)


Georgina Rylance was nice to look at in the pilot. Too bad she won't be coming back, but at least it gave me an excuse to put her picture up.

Look, the show's not that great, but it's the kind of bad that's enjoyable. Does that make sense? Sort of a National Treasure bad. You don't worry about it too much. Actually, National Treasure is really entertaining. Hmmm... The show reminds me of Las Vegas.

You totally don't take it seriously. It's fairly mindless, and no one is (EVER) winning any awards.

But it's pretty to look at, and if you're bored on a Friday night, why not?