S05E06: The Gathering
Quite a cool episode last week, and a nice change of pace. We move from Onderon to the wintry ice plains of what appears to be Ilum the crystal rich ice world first explored in the 2d Genndy Tartakovsky produced Clone Wars animated series. The world proving sacred to the Jedi and the source of the crystals they use to build their lightsabers.
Ahsoka continues on her sort of mentoring path this episode by being the guide for a group of Younglings as they travel to Ilum to perform a rite of passage, the 'Gathering' of the title. Sure I'm not the only one that got a shiver up their spine hoping that no alienified Immortals with a penchant for lobbing off heads with swords would suddenly spring up hailing from the planet Ziest when they heard that title.
The ritual involves the young Jedi's quest to hunt down the crystal that they need to build their own lightsaber and take their first steps to becoming a Jedi. Yoda is at the temple to greet them, and they find that they must enter the caves to find their crystal and get out again before the sun goes down and traps them down there due to an ice gateway only kept open as long as direct sunlight shines on it to keep the ice from freezing over, so it is an against the clock mission. The Younglings are mostly a likable bunch, but all have little character traits or faults which they need to overcome, and each one deals with a challenge in their quest to find their crystal which deals with this, some in some quite clever ways. It is an enjoyable enough stand alone episode that takes us away from the war for a bit and explores some interesting territory with regards to the Jedi's training methods and way of life. Thinking about it I wonder with these well developed characters if we aren't going to see more of them in a similar fashion to what the series did earlier with the Rookies episode which eventually led to further episodes which followed those Clone cadets careers right though to the surviving ones becoming ARC Troopers, just this time dealing with Jedi training. Personally I wouldn't find this as interesting as those stories involving Clonetrooper training, since Jedi training is already quite extensively dealt with in the movies, but it could still develop into an interesting arc I guess.
As if to confirm my suspicions this news has just popped up regarding the next episode due to air:
http://www.starwars.com/explore/the-clone-wars/ep507/
Oh, and there is news over on SFX about it too, due I have no doubt to the fact that a certain former Doctor of time & space is involved.
http://www.sfx.co.uk/2012/11/08/david-t … tch-right/
Closed Alpha Test & Deth..
