Episode 5: Rookies

"The best confidence builder is experience."

Experience is something the audience have in abundance when it comes to the events between Attack Of The Clones and Revenge Of The Sith, what with the magnificent 2D animated version and the recent theatrical release. But it's refreshing to see the makers of The Clone Wars have the confidence to base an entire story (and we’re only five episodes in!) on ‘non-characters’; in this case, Clone Troopers and droids.

Despite the title, Rookies shows little in the way of greenness or ineptness but displays a great deal of flair and imagination. As usual, the visuals and direction are delivered with expertise (something I have become used to though I feel it’s always worth commenting on) but it’s the story told – a simple base under siege tale – and the characters presented that intrigued me most. Ironically, these ‘characters’ are all the same person – the Clone Troopers.

There’s a small team of the Fett facsimiles manning a tracking station, protecting access to their home planet Kamino, when a meteor shower heads their way. But this is no ordinary meteor shower. It is, in fact, a shower of pod hunters (first seen a couple of episodes back) with the all-new, updated version of the Battle Droids - the Commando Droids. These metallic menaces (I’ll refrain from calling them ‘clankers’) are much darker imitations of their comic cousins and do not mess about.

The first Clone (on outlook duty) meets a grisly end at the Droids’ hands during their initial attack on the base and then three of the heartless (and thankfully jokeless) automatons blast a poor Clone right in his face! There’s more gruesome events with a Clone screaming in pain as he’s eaten alive by a Giant Eel. Full marks for realism though.

The Commando Droids are also much brighter than their Chaplin-esque ancestors. They manage to imitate the vocals of the products of Kamino and even ‘Clone Up’ (as I think its referred to), ie. dressing up in their armour. Of course, they do give themselves away by uttering “Roger, Roger” which now becomes a chilling signifier. Oh, and when these guys lose their blasters, they have huge flippin’ blades to do some damage with. Nasty.

The Clones themselves have a great deal of personality and this is highlighted even more so when we cut to scenes with Obi Wan and Anakin (don’t worry though, there’s only a couple) where the Jedi come off as quite wooden in comparison to their soldiers. It’s credit to the voice artist that he’s managed to create a subtle blend of characters that all have the same voice. Top marks and a gold star go to Dee Bradley Baker.

As usual, we are presented with some nice nods to the films: the station is almost exactly the same as the Detention Block from A New Hope; in said station there’s pin-ups of some Twi’lek ladies (though you have to look close mind!); there’s thermal detonators; an appearance of the ‘gonk’ droid; and a mention of liquid Tibanna (for those wondering – Cloud City is a Tibanna gas mining colony). But this is the first story so far that doesn’t rely on our previous cinematic Star Wars experiences - it’s an all new adventure with its own distinctive feel and I hope that the rest of the series takes its cue from this outstanding episode.

Sadly, we have to wait two weeks for the next installment (bloody Hallowe’en!) but the future looks fresh for The Clone Wars if they can produce a tale like this every few weeks.

Check out Cameron's review of the episode 4 here.

Complete list of the DoG Clone Wars reviews